Movie Review: The Joneses (2009)

The Joneses (2009) - USA - Drama - Rated R

Directed by Derrick Borte

Starring Demi Moore, David Duchovny, Amber Heard, Benjamin Hollingsworth, Gary Cole, Glenne Headly, Lauren Hutton, Chris Williams, Christine Evangelista

An unusual movie premise that still delivers a satisfying story despite going against the conventions of character development and being extremely out of touch with audiences.

A new family is moving in to the posh, upscale, overly rich suburb. They are the Jones family and not only are the neighbors happy to welcome them to the neighborhood, they are also interested in all the latest gadgets, fashions, home entertainment, lawn equipment, sporting goods, jewelry and cars the Joneses are all too happy to show off. Everybody is trying to keep up with the Joneses, but keeping up can be costly, especially as this seemingly normal family is not so normal and has several secrets they are hiding.

In its most basic form storytelling is about the characters involved in the story. Whether plot driven or character driven there is some identity with characters in a story. But what if those characters have no identity? The Joneses takes this unconventional path of storytelling and runs with it. It does make for an interesting story despite not being able to connect with the protagonists of the story.

The movie, for me, has several downsides. The protagonists of the story, whomever they are, are pretty much self-absorbed; the lack of identity alone makes it difficult enough to connect with the characters and it becomes even more so with characters who are all about themselves. The neighborhood into which the characters have moved is truly upscale; if it's not difficult enough to connect with abstract characters add to that an environ that is out of touch, I would think, with the average movie goer. Not only is the movie predictable, the ending seemed rushed and rather like an afterthought that was tacked on to have a nice happy ending, for whomever those people are.

Now I may have seemed to complain a lot, but when all is said and done it is still an enjoyable movie, probably more for its differences than any of its standard ingredients it is lacking in.

My Rating: 3 Fingers

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I Took Off A Little More Than The Summer

I had not intended to take a break from movie reviewing and otherwise tending to my blog, and certainly not for so long. Nothing was wrong, I have just been working a different job and with the summer and especially the summer holidays it has been quite a bit of work.

I have mostly just been online checking my email and doing some occasional online shopping. Pretty much the same thing as most internet users. My laptop did develop problems with its power supply, actually the power supply connector of the laptop itself, preventing me from using it while it is plugged in. Being a few years old it holds a charge for an hour or so limiting the amount of time I can be online.

I pretty much watched movies and worked during the summer months. Aside from neglecting my blog I also gathered quite a backlist of movie reviews to write. But just going to have to take them one at a time and concentrate more on movies I haven't seen, and if I happen to get to my backlist too then that will be all the better.

I'm going to also be doing tech reviews on this blog. Being that some of my online shopping has been for an internet tablet and I've been looking at media players and the possibility of a new cellphone, I thought it would be a good idea to take my recent product experiences, not necessarily a lot of good experiences in there, and share it with others who hopefully will use it to make better choices than I made and won't spend as much as I ended up spending.

Stay Tuned

Toxic Fletch

Movie Review: Venom (1981)

Venom (1981) - UK - Horror Thriller - Rated R

Directed by Piers Haggard

Starring Klaus Kinski, Oliver Reed, Nicol Williamson, Sarah Miles, Sterling Hayden, Susan George, Cornelia Sharpe, Lance Holcomb, Michael Gough

A suspense thriller pitting the police against a hostage for ransom situation spiced up by a deadly Black Mamba on the loose provides an entertaining and tense movie.

An international criminal and his conspirators attempt to take hostage the son of a wealthy woman in exchange for a ransom. The son has had a snake delivered, but it is discovered by a lab that the one delivered to him is a deadly Black Mamba. Tension mounts between the kidnappers even before the discovery of the mistake about the snake as one of them panics and kills a policeman setting in motion a police hostage response while the deadly snake gets loose in the home. Time is not on anybody's side.

Featuring a cast of actors whose reputations precede them in being difficult to work with, it is understandable that the director of this movie had said of his experience [paraphrased] that the snake used on set was the friendliest member of the cast. This is not necessarily a negative, aside from those who had to work with them, as there is an underlying air of tension in the movie that goes beyond the story. In a story where tension mounts, having an additional amount among the actors doesn't hurt and Kinski and Reed have an antagonistic relationship in front of the camera that makes one believe the stories of their feuding behind the scenes.

Although categorized as a horror movie, since it is advertised that way, Venom is actually a tense thriller infused with an element of scares provided by the presence of the snake. It is tense as inside the home is a deteriorating hostage situation not helped by the deteriorating relationship between the kidnappers, heightened by the presence of the police barricade and hostage negotiation that has been setup, and multiplied by the addition of a deadly Black Mamba in the household.

This is not a movie for the squeamish or those who are unsettled easily. Both due to the presence of the snake, for those who are afraid of snakes, and the already mentioned tension of the story and general atmosphere of the movie. If that doesn't bother you then you will likely be in for an entertaining time, especially if you are watching it among a friends who are screamers...that is always fun. ;)

My Rating: 4 Fingers

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TV Review: Leverage - The Office Job (2011)

TV Series: Leverage (2008-2012) - USA

Episode: The Office Job (Season 4, Episode 12; Original Airdate: Dec. 4, 2011)

Directed by Jonathan Frakes

Series Regulars: Timothy Hutton, Gina Bellman, Christian Kane, Beth Riesgraf, Aldis Hodge

Guest Stars: Josh Randall, Gene Freedman, Blake Lindsley, Peter Stormare

It's Leverage meets The Office in perhaps the funniest episode of the series and one of the most entertaining.

A long time employee of the Good Cheer Greeting Card Company has been fired but smells a rat as he suspects the CEO of embezzlement and driving the company into the ground. The team goes in under the guise of efficiency consultants but find themselves in the midst of an ongoing documentary being filmed at the same time. Improvising, they use the camera crew to their advantage, but it soon becomes evident that things aren't as clear cut as a simple embezzlement as the CEO is too dimwitted to accomplish that on his on, if he's even involved, and if it's even embezzlement that is at the heart of the matter.

Leverage often has tongue in cheek moments but this one episode goes for the throat in humor. In a parody of The Office, the Leverage team takes asides from the job at hand to speak to the camera about each other providing some humorous moments. Unlike The Office, this is actually funny.

The one difference I found was the usually astute and well planned Leverage team in this is more improvisational. They roll with the punches well and everything comes out fine in the end as is always the case, but getting there has several detours for the sake of humor that the usual episode does not.

My Rating: 5 Fingers. Although I thoroughly enjoyed this episode and it had become one of my favorites, it is a different approach to both the usual assignment and on the characters themselves which some purists may find a little off-putting...but not me.

Get the complete 4th season of Leverage on DVD