Movies - Mostly bad

Being stuck in motels, airports and airplanes gives one the chance to see a lot of movies.  Sadly most of the ones I've caught recently have been bad.

The A-Team - (2010) If this movie were to be allowed to stand on its own it would probably get a passing grade.  Not great, not terrible, a fun little romp.  But it's a re-make and therefore shall always be compared to the original TV series.  The movie cast simply doesn't meet the over the top standards of the iconic TV cast.  Quinton Jackson had to know he was holding a losing hand when cast in the role of B.A. Baracus, the role which made Mr. T.  But all the others fail to make the grade as well.  As per usual the moviemakers decided to hope that fancy effects and combat sequences would make up for the the lack of character and story line.  At the end of the movie I was disappointed by the movie just a little sad for it.


Daredevil - (2003) The leads aren't bad (Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell and Michael Clarke Duncan as the bad guys).  The story is more than sufficient for a super hero movie.  Fight scenes etc.  And yet this movie just stinks.  Flat, uninspired and never getting you to care one tiny little bit.  Garner is terrible when she goes into revenge girl mode, Colin Farrell is a twitchy Barty Crouch Junior clone.  Just bleah.


Mystery Men -(1999) - The story of some, shall we say, lesser super heroes who have to step in when the "real" superhero gets captured by his arch-enemy.  The best part of the movie is the look, the cast (William H. Macy, Janeane Garofalo, Ben Stiller, Paul Ruebens, Hank Azaria, Geoffrey Rush, Eddie Izzard among others) and some of the dialogue.  It's basically a parody of the superhero genre.  The overall effect?  Less than stellar.  For a lazy afternoon with nothing better to do.

Charlie's Angels - (2000)  I actually only saw about 3 minutes of this movie.  It was SO awful I turned it off.  The more I see of Cameron Diaz the less I understand her "stardom".  The more I see of  Drew Barrymore the less I understand why she's not even more highly acclaimed.

On the other hand I saw one movie that surprised me:

The Blind Side - (2009)  I was prepared to be completely underwhelmed by what was obviously a heart warming, tear jerker story.  Based on the true story of Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Michael Oher the movie totally sucked me in.  Sandra Bullock is fabulous as Leigh Anne Tuohy.   I have to admit I don't think of her in terms of the kind of high society gorgeous she plays here.  But she makes it work. Yeah it's heart warming and tear jerking and absolutely fabulous.