Beau Bridges

Film Review: Dax Shepard, Kristin Bell Stall Out in ‘Hit & Run’

BrianTT — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 21:05:13 -0400

CHICAGO – Pardon the clichés for a minute. I can’t help myself. Dax Shepard’s “Hit & Run” doesn’t just lose the drag race. It doesn’t just blow a flat tire or run out of gas. Think of all the Shalit-esque puns you can about a disastrous experience in a car and apply them to this lurching mess of five or six movies that aspires to be Tarantino-esque but completely misses its mark. There are a number of likable people in “Hit & Run” and they’ll walk away clean from this accident but audiences will want to quickly forget they ever took the ride.

Rating: 1.5/5.0

Shepard wrote, co-directed, and stars as Charlie Bronson, a name his character chose for himself when he entered the witness protection program after testifying against a notorious criminal played by Bradley Cooper. Bronson has been living peacefully in a small town with his lovely girlfriend Annie (Kristen Bell) while occasionally meeting with his irritable WitSec Officer Randy (Tom Arnold). When Annie gets an amazing job opportunity in Los Angeles, Charlie decides to take the risk of traveling with her out of his protective bubble. When Annie’s ex Gil (Michael Rosenbaum) gets suspicious enough about Charlie to blow his cover online and get the bad guys back after him, a “True Romance”-esque journey across country ensues.

Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “Hit & Run” in our reviews section.

“Hit & Run” has elements and moments that work. In fact, it opens strong with a tender dialogue scene between Shepard and Bell that feels reminiscent of Shepard’s recent indie film “The Freebie.” And then the film shifts gears and becomes something wacky and broad with Arnold. And then it switches again and becomes a car race movie with extended driving sequences a la “Death Proof.” And then it switches gears again and becomes a relationship dramedy with the arrival of Gil. By the time that Cooper was throwing a leash around a grown man and dragging him around, I had completely tired of keeping track of the references.

Continue reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “Hit & Run” review.

“Hit & Run” stars Dax Shepard, Kristin Bell, Tom Arnold, Bradley Cooper, Joy Bryant, Kristin Chenoweth, Michael Rosenbaum, and Beau Bridges. It was written by Shepard and directed by David Palmer & Shepard. It was released on August 22, 2012.

Hit and Run
Photo credit: Open Road

HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 50 Pairs of Passes to ‘Hit & Run’ With Dax Shepard, Kristen Bell

HollywoodChicago.com — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 23:42:29 -0400

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 50 admit-two movie passes up for grabs to the advance screening of the new comedy “Hit & Run”! The film, which opens on Aug. 22, 2012 from the producer of “Wedding Crashers,” stars Dax Shepard, Kristen Bell, Tom Arnold and Bradley Cooper!

“Hit & Run” also stars Kristin Chenoweth, Beau Bridges, Steve Agee, Kal Bennett, Joy Bryant, Cameron Cruz, John Duff, Ryan Hansen, Carly Hatter, David Koechner, Shannon Joy Rodgers and Michael Rosenbaum from directors David Palmer and Dax Shepard and writer Dax Shepard.

To win your free advance-screening passes to “Hit & Run” courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just get interactive with our unique Hookup technology directly below. That’s it! This screening is on Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012 at 7 p.m. in downtown Chicago. The more social actions you complete, the more points you score and the higher yours odds of winning!

Before entering, make sure you allow pop-ups.
If viewing this on your phone, click “Go to Full Site” at the bottom of the page to enter.
Deadline: Entries can continue being submitted through Sunday, Aug. 18, 2012
at 5 p.m. CST. These Hookup winners will be awarded via e-mail that night.
If necessary: To see your entry count on a repeat visit, submit your name and e-mail again.

Here is the synopsis for “Hit & Run”:

Written, produced and directed by comic talent Dax Shepard (NBC’s “Parenthood”), “Hit & Run” is the story of Charlie Bronson (Shepard): a former getaway driver who busts out of the Witness Protection Program to drive his girlfriend (Kristen Bell) to Los Angeles so she can land her dream job.

Their road trip grows awkwardly complicated when they are chased by the Feds (led by Tom Arnold) and increasingly dangerous when Charlie’s former gang of criminals (led by Bradley Cooper) enter the fray.

The “Hit & Run” movie poster with Dax Shepard, Kristen Bell and Bradley Cooper.
Image credit: Open Road Films

The “Hit & Run” movie trailer can be watched now below.

This HollywoodChicago.com Hookup is simple! Just get interactive in our unique Hookup technology above. We will award 50 admit-two movie tickets based on social entry numbers and/or randomly via e-mail for our “Hit & Run” Hookup. Good luck!

Disclaimer
Winners need to arrive early as seats are consumed on a first-come, first-served basis. Since showings are overbooked to ensure a full house, winners are not guaranteed entrance and must arrive early. We recommend arriving 45 minutes before the showing’s scheduled start time. HollywoodChicago.com LLC is a promotional partner with the studio and its partners and doesn’t assume any liability for this giveaway. Note: Comments are closed in this Hookup.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Publisher
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

Blu-ray Review: Oscar-Winning ‘The Descendants’ with George Clooney

BrianTT — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 17:26:32 -0400

CHICAGO – Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants” was one of my favorite films of 2011 and, no, nothing has changed in the last 12 weeks. The window between theatrical release and Blu-ray has become so small that there’s not even time really to allow a film to age or change between a film review and a Blu-ray review. “The Descendants” was great a few months ago. And it’s still great.

Blu-ray Rating: 5.0/5.0

So, for my opinion of the film itself, check out my Chicago International Film Festival Preview, film review, and my piece on the Best Films of 2011.

But how’s the Blu-ray? Fox wasn’t about to drop the ball here and they’ve truly improved their HD transfers for new theatrical films over the last few years. “The Descendants” looks good, near the high end of Fox HD transfers, which is still a bit below Warner Bros. or Universal. And the film comes with a nice amount of special features, especially for a company that can be a bit skimpy in that department. Some of the featurettes run too short, as Fox special features are known to do, but a number are also meatier than the common mini-featurettes of the company. And there’s a lot of them, covering multiple angles of the film. There are also two deleted scenes that are both interesting but were wisely cut from the final film.

The Descendants
Photo credit: Fox

Synopsis:
From the celebrated director of Sideways (Alexander Payne) comes a wonderfully warm and witty film that Rolling Stone calls “damn near perfect.” Academy Award winner “George Clooney leads the ensemble cast of year” (Chicago Tribune).

Experience a bittersweet drama about a detached father’s attempt to reconnect with his two daughters and their often-hilarious quest for the truth in this “moving, enlightening, funny and unapologetically human” film (Pete Hammond, Boxoffice Magazine).

Special Features:
o Everybody Loves George
o Working With Alexander
o Hawaiian Style
o The Real Descendants
o Casting
o Working With Water
o “Will I Ever See You Again” - Music Video
o “Postcards from Paradise” - Music Video
o “Honolulu’s Whisper” - Music Video
o Waiting For The Light
o The World Parade - Silent Film
o A Conversation With George Clooney and Alexander Payne
o Deleted Scenes

“The Descendants” stars George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Beau Bridges, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard, and Robert Forster. It was written by Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, & Jim Rash and directed by Payne. It was released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 13th, 2012.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Film Review: George Clooney Stars in Stunning ‘The Descendants’

BrianTT — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:27:29 -0500

CHICAGO – If one looks solely at the central male characters, it can seem remarkably easy to classify Alexander Payne’s movies under the subgenre heading of “mid-life crisis comedies”: Jim McAllister (“Election”), Warren Schmidt (“About Schmidt”), Miles (“Sideways”), and now the memorable protagonist of his stellar new dramedy “The Descendants,” Matt King. But these characters are also among the most three-dimensional and fully-defined of the comedy genre in the last twenty years. Payne goes deeper than the cliché of the male mid-life crisis to find what’s real and relatable to people at any time in their lives. His latest is a stunning tightrope act of comedy, sentimentality, drama, and the character definition that can only come from a man who has spent his life observing the complexity of the human race.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

“The Descendants” opens with a woman on the water (and is wonderfully book-ended in that respect by the penultimate to the film). An off-screen tragedy puts that woman, Elizabeth King (Patricia Hastie), in a hospital bed, deep in a coma and looking less likely that she’s going to come out of it by the day. While her emotionally-reserved husband Matt (George Clooney) deals with the grief surrounding his wife’s likely death, he is struck by a series of even-further life-changing situations.

Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “The Descendants” in our reviews section.

First, Matt realizes that he doesn’t have the skill set to take care of his daughters – younger Scottie (Amara Miller) and older Alexandra (Shailene Woodley). It’s not that he can’t develop it, but they’ve clearly never been close to their dad and the fact that they have to be so now through tragedy makes it an even rougher sea to cross. In particular, Alexandra seems to be rebelling against all authority, even bringing home a boyfriend (Nick Krause), seemingly just to annoy dear old dad even more. She knows this guy’s not in her league but it pisses dad off, so he needs to stay.

One of the reasons for family drama with Alexandra comes to the surface when she reveals that she caught her mother cheating on Matt before the accident. Matt is dumbfounded. How do we react to infidelity when the person who betrayed us is on life support? Feeling like it’s the right thing to do, but also clearly to get a good look at the guy himself, Matt and his daughters begin a journey to track down the man who might have broken up their happy home if fate hadn’t stepped in.

Continue reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “The Descendants” review.

The Descendants
Photo credit: Fox Searchlight

“The Descendants” stars George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Nick Krause, Robert Forster, Matthew Lillard, Beau Bridges, and Judy Greer. It was written by Alexander Payne & Nat Faxon & Jim Rash and directed by Payne. It will be released in Chicago on November 18th, 2011 and is rated R.

Interview: Shailene Woodley is All Relative in ‘The Descendants’

PatrickMcD — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:41:27 -0500

CHICAGO – Shailene Woodley has an enviable – and relative to real-life, a truly fictional – role as George Clooney’s daughter in the upcoming film, “The Descendants,’ directed by Alexander Payne. The bright-star actor, also known for “The Secret Life of the American Teen,” was recently in Chicago promoting the film.

Having turned 20 years old yesterday, the American Teen has neatly transitioned into this vital role as the Alexandra, the college age daughter of George Clooney (as Matt), as he tries to corral his dysfunctional family during a time of crisis. Woodley embraces all the uncertainly the character is asked to express, as she transitions from the frivolity of the teen years to the realities of adulthood.

One Man’s Family: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller in ‘The Descendants’
Photo credit: Fox Searchlight

Woodley was in Chicago last month during the Chicago International Film Festival, making the rounds in championing this unusual and hopeful cinematic work. HollywoodChicago.com sat down for a revealing interview with the up-and-coming star.

HollywoodChicago.com: You’ve been playing Amy in ‘The Secret Life of the American Teenager’ for four years now, and you play an American teen in transition in ‘The Descendants.’ Who feels more real to you, Amy or Alexandra?

Shailene Woodley: The both feel extremely real to me, they are both dealing with hard things growing up. Every teenager has their own path and I guess issues are relative, because your issue is what you make it out to be and what you know, what your range of consciousness allows. So I think they are both real to me, just going through two different scenarios, with two very different styles of writing, developing different ways of approaching the experience.

HollywoodChicago.com: What do you think ‘The Descendants’ says about life in the American family in 2011?

Woodley: I think it speaks to the circle of life. ‘The Descendants’ approaches a situation that is highly dysfunctional and by the end it is still highly dysfunctional, but it is a ‘functioning’ dysfunction. And I think that a lot of families are that way, whether people like to admit it or not, every family has a dysfunction. It’s not a bad thing at all, it’s just a life’s journey.

HollywoodChicago.com: While you were on location in Hawaii, what spirit did you derive from the atmosphere there, and was it different than the intense emotionalism you had to experience during the filming of the movie?

Woodley: I had never been to Hawaii, and definitely my body – my capsule if you want to call it – was born in Los Angeles, but my heart is and has been, in my opinion, from Hawaii. [laughs] It’s a magical place, with a very strong energy, which grounded me, centered me and helped me listen to my heart instead of my mind. It basically allowed me to get out of the materialistic bubble with which we often surround ourselves. There are more chickens there than people, and the abundance of nature and oxygen was exceedingly brilliant.

HollywoodChicago.com: What do you think about the adult attitudes that you and your movie sister, and the way you portrayed those characters, says about the way they were raised in that fiction? Did you talk about that back story with director Alexander Payne?

Woodley: This is adapted from a novel, and Alexander’s screenplay is closely related to the novel. The book provided an immediate back story, because the book gave me 300 pages to indulge in. These characters were exaggerated a bit from everyday life, but there are a lot of families where the kids rule the family, and the Mom and Dad are a distant second.

Again, it relates back to dysfunction, these kids had the dysfunction of having parents, but those parents were not present. I think that’s why my character of Alexandra decides very early in life that she wasn’t going to let anybody hurt her, and she protects herself by being her own human being. That is why she does come off as abrupt and rude sometimes, but by the end she learns to be vulnerable, and that she needs a Dad.

Descend ‘It’ Girl: Shailene Woodley, George Clooney, Barbara L. Southern and Robert Forster in ‘The Descendants’
Photo credit: Fox Searchlight

HollywoodChicago.com: Often language was used as a blunt weapon in this film, where your character actually encourages her sister to use a inappropriate epithet against one of her friends. Personally, how does blunt language effect you?

Woodley: I try not to let words have any effect, I try to focus on feeling and emotions rather than words. But because human beings have chose language to communicate, words do have their place in this world. [laughs] I think that every word has a time and place, and has the definition that you want to place on it. It depends on the context. If a human is purposely trying to hurt another and they say a word they know is going to accomplish that, then I think that’s harsh and unnecessary. But if someone is fooling around, to each their own.

HollywoodChicago.com: Again personally, what have you learned from your own descendants and how far back can you go?

Woodley: All I know is that we’re five generations in California, which is rare, I would assume I had descendants in the gold rush. I’m a huge mutt of French, English, all European-wise. I have a picture when I was a baby of my great-great grandmother, my great grandmother, my grandmother and my mother so I did think about it during filming.

HollywoodChicago.com: What did director Alexander Payne, in adding you to this ensemble cast, teach you about being an actor?

Woodley: He didn’t so much teach me anything about being an actor, but he taught me a lot about who I am as human being. I’ve taken acting classes my whole life, and I always say I’ve never learned anything about acting in acting classes, but I’ve learned more about myself than I could ever imagine.

Alexander became, and continues to be, one of my top five favorite human beings on the planet. He is a magical man, and we connected really well. Just from getting to know him as a spiritual, artistic, creative and spectacular human being, I really learned more about myself.

Shailene Woodley in Chicago, October 18th, 2011
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

HollywoodChicago.com: ‘The Descendants’ has much about secrets, both keeping them and opening them up to evolve. Why do you think it is in our nature, and the nature of the characters, to keep secrets?

Woodley: I think secrets are kept because people are fearful of the outcome if they were to be exposed. Secrets are mostly fear driven. I do think the big theme in the film is forgiveness, and generally people are afraid to expose secrets because of the negative effect it might have. But to every negative effect, there can be a positive side, and that is accomplished through the transformative quality of forgiveness. Not only does my character learn to forgive, but so does George’s character, forgiving themselves because everybody has a part in a family.

HollywoodChicago.com: Finally, the last question…

Woodley: George Clooney! Is that the answer? I just assume that is always the last question. [laughs]

HollywoodChicago.com: No, no, no, I don’t go for those cheap, non-consequential inquiries! [laughs] What do you think the future is for your character Alexandra in the context of what happens after her story, better because of what happened or will she still have some directional challenges going forward?

Woodley: She will absolutely benefit from what happened to her. I’m a firm believer in when something challenging occurs in life, you go through that really dark low. And when you’re at that low, something will inspire you – whether it’s a leaf falling from a tree, something someone says or a book you read – and then you transform yourself and your consciousness expands.

I think it takes getting to a low point in life to get to a high place, and where you will be in the future. It’s a low for her, but at the same time she gained a father that she never really had before, and that is huge!

”The Descendants” opens everywhere November 18th. Featuring George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Beau Bridges, Judy Greer and Robert Forster. Adapted Screenplay by Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. Directed by Alexander Payne. Rated “R”

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

Blu-Ray Review: ‘Max Payne’ is Like Watching Someone Else Play Video Games

BrianTT — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:47:39 -0500

Blu-Ray Rating: 1.5/5.0

CHICAGO – It can be so easy to waste multiple hours, even days with great video games, and yet it is sometimes unbearable to sit through 90 minutes of the cinematic adaptation of the same concept. Such is the case with the abysmal “Max Payne,” yet another in a long line of video-game-to-screen disasters that continue to prove how little Hollywood thinks of gamers.

If you have two hours to kill, would you rather spend it playing “Doom,” “Hitman,” or “Resident Evil,” or would you rather watch the movie versions? “Max Payne” doesn’t break the pattern.

Max Payne (Mark Wahlberg) and Mona Sax (Mila Kunis) team up to battle powerful and dark forces.
Photo credit: Michael Gibson/Fox

That pattern is one of low expectations for viewers. What do these movies have in common? Ridiculously lazy scripts. They are clearly produced and written by people who assume that their audience is all 13 year-old boys. What’s ironic is that while writing has improved drastically in the world of gaming, the world of movies based on games has yet to catch up.

Photo credit: Fox Home Video

Where do we start with this Mark Wahlberg vehicle? First off, the usually good lead actor is miscast, although not nearly as much as his co-star, Mila Kunis. The dialogue is horrendously bad and the whole project looks like it was slapped together on someone’s home computer. It’s as if writer Beau Thorne based his screenplay purely on screenshots from the game instead of the story itself and figured that a few demons and slow motion would replace actual storytelling.

Poorly edited, written, and acted, all that even remotely redeems “Max Payne” on Blu-Ray is the presentation. The video and audio are above par and the special features are more interesting than the actual film.

The history of “Max Payne” is a little interesting. Director John Moore was promoting the film at Comic-Con last year as an R-rated action pic, something that fans of the game assumed it would be. Of course, Fox grabbed the editorial reins and released a PG-13 film, completely dismantling the project. Some of us assumed that a drastically different version would pop up on the home market.

So, how different is the unrated version of “Max Payne”? Three minutes. Yes, three minutes can sometimes make the difference between a PG-13 and an R, but the impression that there was massive overhauling done to this film before release was wrong. It’s essentially the same movie with a bit more blood.

For example, when Max finds his wife’s body, the theatrical version has her on a clean bed, while the unrated features her in a pool of blood. Almost every action scene is a bit bloodier, but the overall choppiness that some assumed was a part of the post-production? Not the fault of the rating.

A winged demon becomes an iconic image and important clue for Max Payne (Mark Wahlberg) as he becomes enveloped in a complex conspiracy.
Photo credit: Michael Gibson/Fox

Mark Wahlberg plays Max, a violent cop pushed over the edge by the murder of his wife and child years earlier. He is still trying to solve that crime when he is confronted with a series of violent deaths around the city related to some bizarre new drug. As with all movies like this, one case relates to another.

With casting that you could either call inspired or insane, Mila Kunis plays a gun-wielding Russian, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges brings an Internal Affairs investigator to life, and Amaury Nolasco of “Prison Break” plays a supposedly invincible soldier who is taken down with hilarious ease. Even the cameos, including Nelly Furtado as a cop’s widow are bizarre. And Olga Kurylenko pops up in a small role essentially playing the same character she did in “Hitman”.

If “Max Payne” has anything going for it, that would be that it certainly looks more interesting than a lot of video game movies, a fact that’s amplified by the HD release on Blu-Ray. The color palette - mostly blacks and grays - is intriguing and well-defined in 1080P. The sound design, presented in 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio is also above average. It’s funny how many below-average movies can still have above-average video and audio transfers.

Special features on “Max Payne” include a digital copy of the film, a commentary on the unrated version by director John Moore, production designer Daniel Dorrance, and visual effects supervisor Everett Burrell, BonusView behind-the-scenes information on the theatrical version, an interesting documentary called “Picture,” and a graphic novel called “Michelle Payne” that details what happened to Max’s wife. Like the movie, it’s not very good.

The documentary about the making of “Max Payne” is easily the best thing about the Blu-Ray release. Hopefully, those assigned to adapt video games for the big screen will actually look at the medium they are working from and realize that the writing has developed in the last few years. Critics used to complain that video game movies were nothing more than a series of cut scenes from the games they were based on. Most cut scenes from 2008 games are better than “Max Payne”.

‘Max Payne’ is released by Fox Home Video and stars Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, and Amaury Nolasco. It was written by Beau Thorne and directed by John Moore. It was released on January 20th, 2009. The Blu-Ray release includes both PG-13 and unrated versions of the film.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com