Movie – Terminator Salvation

This the fourth installment of this well loved science fiction drama.
We join the movie finding Marcus Wright played by Sam Worthington (Hart’s war) about to be put to death in a Federal penitentiary, but not before he signs his body over to Cybernet (the precursor to Skynet) headed by Dr. Serena Kogan played by Helena Bonham Carter (Fight Club).

We next see him in the year 2013 where he wakes up as if from a long dream, and happens to come across Kyle Reese played by Anton Yelchin (Star Trek), who lets him know that there is serious danger about in the form of various types of machines, terminators, special machine bikes, as well as harvesters, taking humans to some kind of prison, and even underwater machines. This is where we also meet John Connor with the war with the machines well underway. He is already a highly ranked commander in “The Resistance”, and the pockets of humanity listening to his broadcasts are already slowing turning their allegiance to him, especially when one of the generals of the Resistance General Ashdown played by the veteran Michael Ironside (Total Recall) has found a new weapon that could turn the war for humanity; by disabling a machine by some kind of electromagnetic pulse however he is bent on winning the war regardless of the human cost. He has given use of the weapon to John Connor and a test outing seems to show that the weapon works.

Unfortunately Kyle Reese is captured along with his quiet associate Star played pretty well by the adorable Jadagrace, and they are placed in a harvester headed to one of Skynet’s headquarters, but Marcus escapes. He runs into a female Resistance fighter, Blair Williams who eventually takes him to John Connor, but not before he saves her from some savages, there is a lovely scene where she says she is cold and would like to lie down next to him, she lays her head on his chest and says she hasn’t heard a heartbeat in a while, and says his heartbeat is strong really strong, however something very strange is revealed that makes for edge of the seat excitement. Marcus tells John that Kyle Reese has been captured and is headed to Skynet’s headquarters, knowing what John already knows of the future, he is adamant to save Kyle regardless of the commands of his superiors which is going to lead to the inevitable confrontation that could divide the entire Resistance.

It stars Christian Bale (Batman Begins) as our eponymous hero, and the gorgeous Moon Bloodgood (that name alone just sounds like she belongs in science fiction [it wouldn't be out of place in one of the Twilight saga], however the name isn’t American Indian but Dutch and Korean) as Blair Williams, her character is very similar to that of Jessie Flores played by Stephanie Jacobsen in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

We also get to see a terminator that looks frightening just like Arnold Schwarzenegger, the audience may do a double take if it is really him. Schwarzenegger’s trademark phrase is repeated by none other than John Connor in a scene that is nostalgic for the fans.

The movie is as exciting as the previous sequels, with some great scenes and hopefully more sequels are in the pipeline.

John Connor (Christian Bale


Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 1/13/2010 07:28:00 AM

Movie – Four Christmases

This is a lovely holiday season movie, starring the lovely Resse Witherspoon (playing a far different character these days than the affectionate and effervescing young lady in Legally Blonde) as Kate and the hyperactive Vince Vaughn (The Wedding Crashers) as Brad, a couple who would rather spend Christmas vacationing in Fiji than with their families, in fact they make it a ritual during the holidays to go on vacation but to lie to their families that they are involved in a worthy cause (usually charity) that can justify their exclusion during any holiday event.

Over the years their lies about inoculating babies in Burma, or doing some other charity work has always helped them avoid their families for Christmas, but on this particular time as they are waiting at the airport, it turns out all flights have been cancelled because of a bad fog, and a TV crew happens to be interviewing passengers on how they feel about their flights being cancelled during the holiday period, they so happen to come upon Brad and Kate, much to their embarrassment as their phones soon afterwards start ringing; with their respected families saying they have seen them on TV.

Brad and Kate now see they have no choice but to visit all four of their families (Brad’s mum and dad played by the stalwart Robert Duvall [The GodFather] as Howard and Sissy Spacek [JFK] as Paula, since they are divorced) and Kate’s families (her mum and dad, played by the dependable Jon Voight [Midnight Cowboy] as Creighton and Mary Steenburgen [In The Electric Mist] as Marilyn, who are equally divorced) hence the name Four Christmases.

The first visit is to the home of Brad’s father, it turns out his brothers Denver and Dallas played by Jon Favreau (The Break-Up) and Tim McGraw, are UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) type cage fighters (except there are not professional but only upload their fights on youtube), and no sooner are they re-acquainted does Brad finds himself in some bone crunching wrestling moves, it turns out this is the norm, and that Brad’s real name is Orlando, which Kate didn’t know, she takes him to one side to ask why he didn’t feel comfortable with her after three years of a relationship, to reveal this bit about himself, he says he changed his name because he didn’t like it, and didn’t see a problem. It also turns out that there is a $10 limit to the presents that should be bought for the children, however Brad was unaware of this and bought an Xbox for one of his nephews, while the other nephew has to make do with a torch light, much to the father’s embarrassment.

The visit to Kate’s family also reveals some of her fears, that for some time the kids around the neighbourhood avoided her because they thought she had cooties, calling her “Cootie Kate“, and her passive aggressive older sister Courtney played by the endearing Kristin Chenoweth (RV) reveals these embarrassing secrets.

The visits amongst Brad’s and Kate’s respective families shows that the couple are not as close to each other as they thought, especially during a game where the partner has to guess what card the other half is holding, without giving out the name, and this prompts Kate especially to reconsider if they are true and comfortable with each other to spend the rest of their lives together.

It is a warm festive movie, the whole family will enjoy.

Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) visiting one of their relatives


Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 1/11/2010 03:39:00 AM

Movie – Brothers

This is a very powerful war related drama detailing some of the emotional turmoil that are not touched on when dealing with war, starring Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko) and Tobey Maguire (Spiderman) as Tommy and Capt. Sam Cahill respectively, two brothers with Sam a respected member of the army and about to be deployed to Afghanistan, while Tommy is the brother frequently involved with clashes with the law.

We join the movie as Sam leaves for Afghanistan, but not before collecting his brother Tommy from his most recent stint in prison. It turns out Sam is the pride and joy of their father Hank (played by the veteran Sam Shepard [Stealth]) unlike Tommy, who their father regards as a constant disappointment. The relationship between Tommy and their father is elaborated during a birthday meal at Sam’s place, prepared by his wife Grace, played by the gorgeous Natalie Portman (still the wonderful actress that first graced our screens in Leon), Tommy tells Grace that the meal is very good, to which his father says “Compared to what…jail“?

Soon after being deployed to Afghanistan, Sam’s helicopter is shot down, and the dreaded news is brought to Grace. That same night, Tommy true to form so far, comes to the house drunk, having brought back the keys of Sam’s car, as Sam told him to use it whenever he wanted before he left for Afghanistan, only to be told the sad news.

The news of Sam’s death brings a change to Tommy, and he tries to make up the gap of a father figure Sam’s daughters Maggie and Isabelle, played by Taylor Geare and the wonderfully talented Bailee Madison (Phoebe in Wonderland), when Tommy first came to the house before Sam was deployed to Afghanistan, Isabelle opens the door and tells him that their mother doesn’t like him (which she can overhear, and gently scolds her not to say such things, but to be fair Tommy takes it in his stride), but after a while the two girls cannot get enough of their uncle, as he does all the things they like, ice skating, snowball fights, much to the delight of Grace, and it becomes apparent that there is an attraction between Tommy and Grace, but the morality of taking such a relationship further seeing Sam has just been lost in Afghanistan is a stumbling block that neither Grace nor Tommy may be willing to confront, but this is one of the interesting parts of the movie.

For whatever reason Tommy does enjoy coming to pay Grace a visit (and his father does seem to have taken a change towards him, seeing his most treasured son is lost), and uses the opportunity to fix the kitchen, and play with his nieces, but the audience wonders if some spark may happen between the two.

The stellar cast bring out the conflicting emotions well on screen, from the torn brother, and lonely wife, the movie is exciting on how the various conflicting emotions all pans out, as well as the subject matter that is hardly given any preferential treatment when dealing with the war genre.

Tommy Cahill (Jake Gyllenhaal) with Grace (Natalie Portman) and her daughters Maggie and Isabelle (Taylor Geare and Bailee Madison)


Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 1/09/2010 03:03:00 AM

Up In The Air – Movie

This is an interesting drama starring the stalwart George Clooney (Ocean’s eleven) as Ryan Bingham, whose job is to fire individuals from organisations who have designated Ryan and his company to do this on their behalf. As Ryan gets to travel all over the world he has accumulated a lot of air miles to the point that he gets special reservations, and an assortment of cards entitling him to various incentives due to his air miles accumulation.

Ryan tries to be as sympathetic but yet firm as he tells employees that they have been let go, but his boss Craig Gregory played by Jason Bateman (The Break-up) has brought in Natalie Keener played by the lovely Anna Kendrick (Twilight) a recent Cornell graduate with an interesting software that could mean that staff no longer have to be given the personal touch when they let people know that they have been fired. Ryan is not happy that his personal touch is being replaced by software, but his boss Craig convinces him to take Natalie with him on his visits, to show her the ropes so to speak.

Ryan is also aiming to accumulate enough air miles to get a much sought after gold card, that would mean he had accumulated ten million miles, and will have his name on an airplane wing for his loyalty. While at a bar he comes across Alex Goran played by the lovely Vera Farmiga (Running Scared), who is equally fascinated with loyalty cards. They spend the night, and agree to keep in touch when next they need each other.

Ryan has been away in chasing his dream, that he has neglected his family, where his youngest sister Julie played by the lovely Melanie Lynskey (Coyote Ugly) is getting married, her elder sister Kara played by Amy Morton asks Ryan to take pictures at famous destinations he visits, with a cardboard cut-out of Julie and her groom to be Jim Miller, played by Danny McBride (Tropic Thunder, absolutely hilarious in Pineapple Express), it turns out due to the economic crisis, the couple have suspended any plans for a honeymoon and instead have asked various friends and family who are travelling to take pictures of idyllic destinations with their cardboard cut-out.

During their rounds Ryan’s boss Craig, encourages Ryan to let Natalie fire a few people to see how she gets on, and Craig is so impressed by her performance he gives the go ahead for the software to go live, much to Ryan’s disapproval.

Ryan sees Natalie as someone who has a lot of growing up to do, while she on the other hand wonders why he is not married, has no children and has no intention of settling down, Ryan calmly explains that this is the life he has chosen and he is OK with it. His philosophy so far will soon come into conflict with his personal desires, as he believes all relationships, belongings, including homes, cars, accessories are all baggage that should be put in a rucksack and discarded, as they weigh an individual down, in fact he gives motivational speeches based on this theory, but during their trip, and visiting his sister who is about to be married he begins some reflections on how his life has panned out, and begins to open up to the possibility that he is lonely, and would like to find someone to spend that loneliness with.

It is an interesting romantic drama, and at the end you realise the early documentary style footage were from genuine reactions from people who had been fired.

Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) with Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) as they let an employee know they are no longer required


Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 1/07/2010 04:57:00 AM

Amreeka – Movie

This is a fascinating drama, shot in a documentary style with excellent performances from the largely unknown cast.

It stars Nisreen Faour as Muna Farah, a single mother living in the Palestinian Territories, working in a bank, and recently divorced from her husband, we meet her as she goes shopping for groceries. She sees a well dressed woman, and she immediately hides from her, we find out later that the well dressed woman is the new woman in the life of her husband, and hence the reason for the furtiveness.

We get to see and commiserate with her life, as she deals with the hours of road checks, to get to and from work, as well as pick up her son Fadi played by Melkar Muallem (he reminds me of Lou Ferrigno of the Incredible Hulk) from his private school, as well as looking after her mother.

Muna’s life is about to change, she receives a letter because a visa application to the U.S. when she was still with her husband has been approved, and although Muna is reluctant to go, leaving her elderly mother with her brother, on showing the letter to her son, he encourages her, and she sees this as a new lease of life especially for him, to get away from the hardship of life in the Palestinian Territories.

We get a glimpse of the problems faced by many Palestinians at customs in airports all over the world, because when she arrives, she is asked which country she is a citizen of, she replies that she has no citizenship, the clerk asks her which country she is from, she says she has no country, which the clerk seems amazed, and asks if she is a Palestinian or an Israeli, she says she is from the Palestinian Territories. Prior to this there is a slightly humorous scene when he asks her occupation, and although she speaks English, as well as French and Arabic, she says “Yes we are occupied“.

On arriving she is met by her sister Raghda Halaby (played by Hiam Abbass) and her husband Nabeel who has a medical practice, played by Yussuf Abu-Warda.
Unfortunately customs had seized several belongings including a cookie box, which had her entire savings in it, so she arrives with nothing but the two hundred dollars Fadi’s uncle gave him as a going away present.

She enrols Fadi at a local high school, and goes about looking for a job, but is soon downcast, as even with a degree she is unable to find suitable work. Fadi on the other hand is having to deal with the usual taunts that he is a suicide bomber from his classmates, while his cousin Salma played by the lovely Alia Shawkat tries her best to get him to fit in.

The movie is set soon after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the audience will feel for the plight of Muna and her sister’s family, with undeserved animosity being shown towards them in many areas of their life for simply being Arabs.

It is a lovely movie with superb performances from the stellar cast, that at the end resounds hope.

Muna Farah (Nisreen Faour) with her son Fadi (Melkar Muallem)


Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 1/06/2010 10:12:00 PM

Movie Reviews – Humble Pie

This is a very entertaining comedy drama, focusing on Tracy Orbison played by Hubbel Palmer, a very talented poet working at a Walmart type store, but feeling very low on confidence because of his weight.

His weight has brought some friction between him and his mother Agnes, played by Kathleen Quinlan (Scofield’s mother in Prison Break). His sister Peggy played by the lovely Mary Lynn Rajskub (24), tries to keep the peace between them, while Tracy just takes whatever his mother says as deserved punishment.

As Tracy day dreams with his poetry, he comes upon a chance meeting to visit a theatre show, where Truman Hope played by William Baldwin (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), plays the lead, Tracy is so mesmerised by Truman’s performance, when he finds out that Truman is undertaking an acting class locally, he is eager to sign up, and hopeful for a meeting at the end with Truman.

At work Tracy is promoted to assistant manager by his well meaning boss Mr. Grigoratus, played amicably by Bruce McGil (Time Cop). We get a feeling of the relationship between the two, in the beginning when Mr. Grigoratus tries to set Tracy on a double date with him and his wife, he notes down on a piece of paper to ask his wife if she has any “fat friends“. Tracy is also in charge of looking after the new recruit Kendis Coley, played by Vincent Calo (The Guild), Kendis asks Tracy to help him out by pretending to be his father in order to meet the Principal at his school, as he is in trouble, he says the Principal has never met his father and he is from Laos, at first Tracy refuses, but sees that this would be an impressive stunt to pull for his acting credentials, and that it would also get him the friends he craves, so he agrees to do the favour by pretending to be Kendis’s father in order to get the Principal at his school to go easy on him. After the stunt, Tracy is so impressed that he stays in character a little longer, equally Kendis’s friends are impressed that Tracy was willing to do this for Kendis and pulled it off, and soon become friends with him. Tracy sees this as a window to blossom his acting, and a door into the minds and hearts of the misguided youths, however the leader of the teenage gang Shawn played by Nick Lashaway (The 40 Year Old Virgin), has some ominous plans for Tracy, he indicates this by having Tracy go into the local store and get them some alcohol, when he comes out with the alcohol the teenagers all take it and disperse from him, while Tracy naively asks “I thought this was for your parents“?

It turns out that there is a painful lesson on life for Tracy to learn, and although he is well meaning at most times, he finds out that people are not to be trusted not even Truman, who he idolises at first but finds out he is being used, when he gets tickets to a play for himself and Truman, but on the day Truman turns up with another student from the acting class, and asks Tracy to relinquish his ticket to her. He eventually finds out Truman also has eyes on his sister, much to his despair. The movie also delves into his weight problem, and the possible issues that might have contributed to it, especially from his mother’s side.

It is a very well acted drama, and viewers will be impressed by how the issues are tackled.

Tracy Orbison (Hubbel Palmer), and his mother Agnes (Kathleen Quinlan), get introduced to Truman Hope (William Baldwin), Peggy 's(Mary Lynn Rajskub) date


Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 12/26/2009 04:53:00 AM

Movie Reviews The Messenger

This is a very well made war related drama, following two soldiers who notify relatives of their loved ones who have died in combat.

It stars the stalwart Woody Harrelson (No country for old men, Zombieland) as Captain Tony Stone, who has hand selected Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery, played by the brilliant Ben Foster (Pandorum, Birds of America, Angel in X-men: The Last Stand) to join him on his rounds.

Will has just come back from a deployment in Iraq, where he had three months left for his tour, but he and his platoon were caught up in an IED (Improvised Explosion Device) that has left him with a limp, and constantly needing eye drops for his left eye. We meet Will as he is called in to see his commanding officer, where he is told he is to be assigned to Tony (who is in the room, and a veteran of Operation Desert Storm). His commanding officer says for the job of notifying relatives of the passing of their loved ones, they need someone who is absolutely calm, and they believe he fits the bill, although Will resists that he has no counsellor training, he eventually agrees.

Tony discusses the job and responsibilities of the role, he stipulates there is to be no touching of the relatives, not even a hug, no mincing of their words, use either “dead” or “died“, not “gone missing“, he tells a story of a woman who was told her son “was no longer with us” and she spent a considerable amount of time thinking that he had defected to the other side. He is given a manual of the rules, and a beeper, that he should respond to at any hour of the day or night.

It turns out apart from his injuries Will had another heavy issue on his heart, that of his girlfriend Kelly played by the lovely Lena Malone (Donnie Darko), who he let go, and is soon to be married to someone else, although they do have some kind of a strange relationship, it turns out as Will puts it he let her go so she wouldn’t get any visits from the likes of Tony.

The two soldiers who are at disputes over the interpretation of the rules, and their duties, soon become close, and reveal to each other some of their deepest pain, Tony in his battle with alcoholism, and Will with the pain of his ex.

In amongst this they constantly face up to a barrage of abuse from relatives who have just been told of the terrible news of the passing of their loved ones, and each time you wonder and hope it doesn’t escalate into something ominous for the two soldiers, as there is no one else for the relatives to take out their rage, anger and frustration at that precise moment after learning of the death of a loved one than the two soldiers who are unfortunate enough to have brought them the news.

On one occasion, a wife Olivia Pitterson played by the gorgeous Samantha Morton (Minority Report, The Libertine), who had been told of the bad news, does not display the typical reactions Will and Tony have come to expect, she even thanks them for telling her the news, and mentions it must be difficult for them, Will goes back to find out if there is anything she needs, or maybe to determine why she displayed hardly any emotion, and it soon becomes obvious he is falling for her.

It is a very emotionally charged tale, and puts in focus the very difficult job of passing on the terrible news to relatives of members of the army, who have been lost in combat; in a scrutinizing and raw light.

Left, Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) with Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson)


Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 12/22/2009 11:59:00 PM

Movie Reviews for Wyvern

This is an interesting sci-fi drama, about a monster devouring the inhabitants of a small town in Alaska with barely 300 people in it.

It turns out due to man’s use of fossil fuels the polar ice caps are melting, which imprisoned mythical creatures from Norse legend The Wyvern, that apparently were created to feast on the dead, but were unsatiated that they moved from the dead to the living, then to all they could find even biting Odin the ruler of Valhalla, hence he banished them to be imprisoned in the polar ice caps for all eternity.

We start off when an unlucky camper enjoying a nice day of fishing cuts his finger on his hook, and walking over to the stream to examine it, his blood drops into the river and moments later the Wyvern, with what looks like the head of a dinosaur, the tail of a snake (a very powerful tail for that matter) and a body with two legs and two wings, makes the hapless man a quick meal.

We then meet some of the people in this idyllic town, Claire played by the lovely Erin Karpluk (Being Erica), who runs the local restaurant everyone congregates to, the local doctor, Dr. David Yates played by David Lewis (White Chicks) who is in love with her, while she only has eyes for Joe Suttner played by Nick Chinlund (Ultraviolet), a drifter who is waiting for an insurance payout for his truck, and holding a very sore heart over the loss of his brother in the same incident. He offers to fix the steps of Claire’s restaurant for free, while she offers him breakfast on the house, he politely refuses but she insists that this is the least she can do, we get an idea of how close and friendly everyone is by the fact that some of the customers (if not all of them) don’t have to pay for any meals.

Soon afterwards Dr. Yates visits Joe in his caravan, to fix his arm, but really to ask him to lay off Claire as he reckons Joe will be leaving the town as soon as his insurance payout comes through, while Claire and himself will still be in the town, Joe assures the doctor he is not interested in Claire, the doctor apologises and leaves Joe’s caravan, but unfortunately he is attacked by the Wyvern, and only his arm is left for the Sheriff, Chief Dawson played by John Shaw (Happy Gilmore) and Joe to discover.

The whole town now faces a desperate race against time to get outside help, relying on General Travis Sherman played by the late Don S. Davis (Stargate SG-1), who previously had tried to get an emergency message to be aired from the town radio station after spotting the creature, but his request was denied by the town’s Disc Jockey Hampton played by the lovely Tinsel Korey (The Twilight Saga: New Moon).

When the whole town eventually finds out that there is a monster on the loose, they all face the challenge of contacting help from the outside, and the even more daunting task of what to say to get anyone to believe them.

It is a lovely action thriller very similar in character to Tremors.
General Travis Hampton (The late Don S. Davis) with Hampton (Tinsel Korey) try to avoid the Wyvern in searching for supplies


Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 12/07/2009 01:18:00 AM

Moview Reviews The Ministers

This is a very well made crime drama starring John Leguizamo as two characters Dante Mendoza and his twin brother Perfecto.

It starts off with a seemingly ordinary day where a cop Alberto Santana played by Benny Nieves and his partner Joe Bruno played by the stalwart Harvey Keitel (Pulp Fiction), have come to wish Alberto’s daughter Celeste a happy birthday, as Alberto , his wife Gina played by Diane Venora (The 13th Warrior) and Celeste are walking arm in arm towards Celeste’s present, a gunman from nowhere turns up and shoots Alberto point blank, then hands Celeste a pamphlet that reads “A Message from the Lord“.

We meet Celeste several years later who is now a police officer and played by the gorgeous Florencia Lozano (One Life to Live, she looks very much like Matt Parkman’s wife in Heroes), and whose partner is none other than her father’s partner Joe. She is still very bitter at not having caught the murderer of her father, who also at the same time period that her father was killed, killed two businessmen that had committed insurance fraud, where a fire is set to dilapidated buildings in order to collect the insurance money.

In turns out that a similar murder has just taken place with the trademark of “The Ministers” where two armed men wearing a hairy face mask, enter a drug fueled neighbourhood and proceed to shoot all the men they encounter, but leave the women as witnesses, with one of them quoting scripture to her as his partner kills the others.

Celeste is extremely keen on taking the case, much to the despair of her boss, Captain Diaz played by Wanda De Jesus (Blood Work), as well as Joe. Joe on the other hand feels a little guilty for the death of his partner after so many years, and the last thing he would like is for Celeste to put herself in danger, when he has ingrained himself into their family, and considers her his daughter.

Matters come to an interesting twist when one of the twin brothers responsible for killing her father Dante, takes a liking to her and proceeds to charm his way into her life, first by offering to fix her car which has broken down, if she will go out on a date with him, he asks her if she has a jack, she says no, then he says that would mean extra, as in dinner instead of a date, he then asks her if she has a spare tyre, she says no, and he says that could mean dancing and maybe more.

The other twin Perfecto who has the upper hand amongst the two, is still intent on revenge for the harm that has been done to him, while Dante would like to put the past to rest, seeing he is falling for Celeste, but as things go, it is clear things will never be this straight forward.

John Leguizamo is impressive in both roles, playing the more level headed of the twins Dante charmingly, as well as the psychotic and jealous twin Perfecto in equal measure. The suspense will keep the audience at the edge of their seat, on how it all pans out.

Perfecto and Dante Mendoza (John Leguizamo) contemplate their next act


Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 12/06/2009 01:39:00 PM

Movie reviews Funny Money

This is a very enjoyable comedy starring the legendary Chevy Chase (Caddyshack II) as Henry Perkins, an accountant who is a little tired of his current financial state.

He happens to come across a briefcase containing five million dollars (after mistaking the briefcase for his own in a train) he realises that the briefcase is not his, and contains this large amount of money while at a pub, and rushes to the toilet to verify the amount. Thinking he deserves some good fortune he takes the case home to his wife Carol, played by the lovely Penelope Ann Miller (Kindergarten Cop), he suspects the case belongs to a criminal organisation who he surmises would have his briefcase with all his details, and suggests to his wife that they go on vacation, permanently. Seeing that it is Friday, Henry reckons the criminal organisation will not be on to him until Monday at least, giving him and his wife enough time to run away to Barcelona.

Unfortunately the case belongs to a member of an European mafia gang, and the unlucky fellow who mistakenly took Henry’s case, on bringing it to his leader is shot and dumped in the local river (along with Henry’s case but not before the leader of the gang takes his business card with his phone number). As expected the gang are very keen on getting the case back.

Matters get complicated when a plain clothes policeman Genero played by Armand Assante (Gotti) notices Henry at the pub rush into the toilet, and he assumes he goes in there to solicit men, so he follows Henry home to extract some money from him. Henry seeing the policeman assumes this is about the case and pretends he is Henry’s brother from Australia, with his neighbours (who have come for lunch) Vic played by Christopher McDonald (Requiem for A Dream) and his wife Virginia played by the lovely Rebecca Wisocky having to play along as Henry’s relatives.

Matters get complicated further when another policeman Denis Slater played by the always funny Kevin Sussman (Hitch) comes to the house to ask Carol to come along with him to identify the body of someone who is assumed is her husband, (since he had his briefcase when he was fished from the river), however everyone simply dismisses his request even asking him to make tea, much to his frustration. Henry is forced again to adapt and somehow convince his wife, Genero and the taxi driver, Angel played by Guy Torry (America History X) he has hired to drive him and his wife to the airport; to play along in order not to land him in trouble with the law, all the while the malevolent Mr Big is closing in on Henry’s home.

There is a hilarious segment when the leader of the gang, Mr Big played by Zoltan Butuc (Sex Traffic) eventually gets hold of someone when he phones Henry’s number (since he took his briefcase with all his details in it, and rightly guessed the other person had theirs), and tries to blurt out “briefcase” when he calls him, much to the amusement of Carol as his accent, believable as it is, adds a very amusing twist to the pronunciation.

It is a genuinely great comedy with superb comedy timing all through, many people will enjoy.

Henry Perkins (Chevy Chase) is about to unknowingly swop briefcases


Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 12/05/2009 01:25:00 PM