Well the Mrs. and I were at the movies again.
My wife decided she wanted to go out to our favorite steakhouse last night, something about her skipping lunch and being ravenous. So we make the drive out to this tiny place along I45, in the middle of nowhere for these steaks that are just beautiful. They grill them up and then toss them onto the smoker to char the sides before they serve them. I wished I had taken a picture of the steak as you would think it was burned beyond recognition but inside it was perfect. And their sides, so good as a compliment to the meats! The place is Ruston Steakhouse along I45 south of Dallas. If you are traveling up or down that stretch of highway around meal time plan to stop. Oh and by the way, they have live music most weekends
Oh lets get on with the review of the movie...
The Lost City starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, and Brad Pitt. Yeah I know right? That many stars all in one movie? It has to be great right? Well apparently they spent all their money on the big name stars and had nothing left for the writers. Yep, it was a snoozer. If you have seen the previews, you have seen the best parts of this movie. I did not go into this movie expecting an Oscar winner, but every actor in this movie deserves to be slapped by Will Smith for their performances. Maybe I am being too harsh, some of the actors actually did OK, looking at you Channing and Brad, but the other actors were either miscast or have just lost their charm. Maybe the directors and the writers should have been slapped by Will and it would have sparked something cool.
Sandra Bullock plays a widowed romance novel writer whose late husband actually was an archeologist. She writes about his search for the the Lost City of D (yep they teed that one up and let them make their funny one liners) through the lens of a Harlequin romance novel. Now before I go to trashing her, I love Sandra B! I remember her when she was just a fresh face in Demolition Man, when she was the face of the Speed franchise, when she was Ms. Congeniality, and when she played a "cold hearted B who would die alone" in The Proposal. She was America's sweetheart, but not in this movie. I don't know if she knew the script was a stinker, or if the outfit she wore most of the movie caused her to be in pain, but her performance was nothing along the lines of sweet. She did not have the chemistry with Tatum that she had with Keaunu or with Ryan Reynolds and I don't think it was Tatum's fault. He seemed pretty charming. Maybe the Bird Box royalties were dying out and she needed some income but she is better than this and her performance never lived up to what we expect from her. Sandra gets a D for her role in the Lost City of, well you get it.
Channing Tatum plays the hunk in this movie (duh!). He is the cover model for Sandra's romance character and he wants to be her cover model in real life, if you get my drift? Channing is really charming in this movie. He starts off as a total douche bag model type and turns into a hero we can all admire. I mean he has his issues, but at heart he is a guy who longs to be more than just a toned chest and abs on a romance novel cover. He has good comedic timing but his quips don't seem to link up with Sandra's character at all. It is a shame, as I think they could have cast someone else as Sandra's character (I am looking at you Amy Proehler, or Tina Fey, or Anna Kenrick, or any other 30 or 40 something funny gal Hollywood actress) and let Channing carry the movie and it would have been better received. I will give Channing a solid B+ for his role, with another female lead I think he could have crept that up to an A but he did not set the curve in this movie.
Daniel Radcliffe plays the villain in this movie. Personal note to Daniel, stop picking these roles where you are the villain! You are as intimidating as a baby deer, or a newborn rabbit, or an airline ticket desk worker. No matter how much money the character you play has, no matter how much facial hair you grow, you just come across as someone that the average fifth grader would beat up. That might have been too much, I exaggerated and I apologize to Daniel. The average fifth grader is 11 or 12 year old and it would not be a fair fight. I should have said an average fourth grader or a big third grader who would put Daniel's head in the toilet and pull his tighty whities up over his head at recess could beat Daniel up. Anyway I digress, Daniel plays a well to do villain with a cheese fetish and money to burn as he searches for the Lost City of D (insert jokes here) and the Crown of Fire (sounds cool yeah?). He needs help from Sandra whose late husband is dead and is the only person who knows anything about the lost city. But go ahead and force the romance novelist to help you find the lost treasure... idiot. I will give Daniel an F for his role. Just because a pineapple could have been the bad guy in this movie and done better.
Brad Pitt plays the ex Navy Seal mercenary who is really good at finding people. I mean he is really good at finding people. Brad muscled up a little for this role so he isn't holed up in a motel 6 somewhere eating Ho Ho's by the box since his split from Angelina. He is hitting the gym, growing out the hair and working on his tan while meditating on a beach somewhere. Brad actually hits his role out of the park, he was a fun reminder of how an actor can take a fictional character no matter how exotic and bring it to life. He needs to work on his martial arts some, but hey its Hollywood so we will let it slide. Brad gets a solid A-, if he had better martial arts skills I would have given him an A.
Oh and I forgot to mention another actor who just made my day.
Oscar Nunez who plays Oscar (of course) the bush pilot in the movie. You may remember Oscar from the US version of the Office where he plays, yep Oscar. He also plays Ramone in Sandra's other flick The Proposal (I wonder why they did not call him Oscar in that film, that would have been funny) and just continues that Ramone character alas with a name change in this film. Oscar always gets an A+ in my book.
So while the film boast a bevy of big name Hollywood actors, it falls flat in the theatre even watching it in SDX with dolby seven thousand surround sounds and earthquake machines under your seats. Thankfully Tuesday night is $5 night at the movies so I did not lose too much other than the two hours I will never get back. Wait for this on DVD or your streaming service where you can scroll Facebook during the boring parts.
My wife decided she wanted to go out to our favorite steakhouse last night, something about her skipping lunch and being ravenous. So we make the drive out to this tiny place along I45, in the middle of nowhere for these steaks that are just beautiful. They grill them up and then toss them onto the smoker to char the sides before they serve them. I wished I had taken a picture of the steak as you would think it was burned beyond recognition but inside it was perfect. And their sides, so good as a compliment to the meats! The place is Ruston Steakhouse along I45 south of Dallas. If you are traveling up or down that stretch of highway around meal time plan to stop. Oh and by the way, they have live music most weekends
Oh lets get on with the review of the movie...
The Lost City starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, and Brad Pitt. Yeah I know right? That many stars all in one movie? It has to be great right? Well apparently they spent all their money on the big name stars and had nothing left for the writers. Yep, it was a snoozer. If you have seen the previews, you have seen the best parts of this movie. I did not go into this movie expecting an Oscar winner, but every actor in this movie deserves to be slapped by Will Smith for their performances. Maybe I am being too harsh, some of the actors actually did OK, looking at you Channing and Brad, but the other actors were either miscast or have just lost their charm. Maybe the directors and the writers should have been slapped by Will and it would have sparked something cool.
Sandra Bullock plays a widowed romance novel writer whose late husband actually was an archeologist. She writes about his search for the the Lost City of D (yep they teed that one up and let them make their funny one liners) through the lens of a Harlequin romance novel. Now before I go to trashing her, I love Sandra B! I remember her when she was just a fresh face in Demolition Man, when she was the face of the Speed franchise, when she was Ms. Congeniality, and when she played a "cold hearted B who would die alone" in The Proposal. She was America's sweetheart, but not in this movie. I don't know if she knew the script was a stinker, or if the outfit she wore most of the movie caused her to be in pain, but her performance was nothing along the lines of sweet. She did not have the chemistry with Tatum that she had with Keaunu or with Ryan Reynolds and I don't think it was Tatum's fault. He seemed pretty charming. Maybe the Bird Box royalties were dying out and she needed some income but she is better than this and her performance never lived up to what we expect from her. Sandra gets a D for her role in the Lost City of, well you get it.
Channing Tatum plays the hunk in this movie (duh!). He is the cover model for Sandra's romance character and he wants to be her cover model in real life, if you get my drift? Channing is really charming in this movie. He starts off as a total douche bag model type and turns into a hero we can all admire. I mean he has his issues, but at heart he is a guy who longs to be more than just a toned chest and abs on a romance novel cover. He has good comedic timing but his quips don't seem to link up with Sandra's character at all. It is a shame, as I think they could have cast someone else as Sandra's character (I am looking at you Amy Proehler, or Tina Fey, or Anna Kenrick, or any other 30 or 40 something funny gal Hollywood actress) and let Channing carry the movie and it would have been better received. I will give Channing a solid B+ for his role, with another female lead I think he could have crept that up to an A but he did not set the curve in this movie.
Daniel Radcliffe plays the villain in this movie. Personal note to Daniel, stop picking these roles where you are the villain! You are as intimidating as a baby deer, or a newborn rabbit, or an airline ticket desk worker. No matter how much money the character you play has, no matter how much facial hair you grow, you just come across as someone that the average fifth grader would beat up. That might have been too much, I exaggerated and I apologize to Daniel. The average fifth grader is 11 or 12 year old and it would not be a fair fight. I should have said an average fourth grader or a big third grader who would put Daniel's head in the toilet and pull his tighty whities up over his head at recess could beat Daniel up. Anyway I digress, Daniel plays a well to do villain with a cheese fetish and money to burn as he searches for the Lost City of D (insert jokes here) and the Crown of Fire (sounds cool yeah?). He needs help from Sandra whose late husband is dead and is the only person who knows anything about the lost city. But go ahead and force the romance novelist to help you find the lost treasure... idiot. I will give Daniel an F for his role. Just because a pineapple could have been the bad guy in this movie and done better.
Brad Pitt plays the ex Navy Seal mercenary who is really good at finding people. I mean he is really good at finding people. Brad muscled up a little for this role so he isn't holed up in a motel 6 somewhere eating Ho Ho's by the box since his split from Angelina. He is hitting the gym, growing out the hair and working on his tan while meditating on a beach somewhere. Brad actually hits his role out of the park, he was a fun reminder of how an actor can take a fictional character no matter how exotic and bring it to life. He needs to work on his martial arts some, but hey its Hollywood so we will let it slide. Brad gets a solid A-, if he had better martial arts skills I would have given him an A.
Oh and I forgot to mention another actor who just made my day.
Oscar Nunez who plays Oscar (of course) the bush pilot in the movie. You may remember Oscar from the US version of the Office where he plays, yep Oscar. He also plays Ramone in Sandra's other flick The Proposal (I wonder why they did not call him Oscar in that film, that would have been funny) and just continues that Ramone character alas with a name change in this film. Oscar always gets an A+ in my book.
So while the film boast a bevy of big name Hollywood actors, it falls flat in the theatre even watching it in SDX with dolby seven thousand surround sounds and earthquake machines under your seats. Thankfully Tuesday night is $5 night at the movies so I did not lose too much other than the two hours I will never get back. Wait for this on DVD or your streaming service where you can scroll Facebook during the boring parts.
