Tuesday, December 28, 2010

$1 Movie Night at the Arlington Drafthouse

It was a great night for $1 movies. The Drafthouse was surprisingly full given the big Monday Night Football game between the Saints and Falcons. The movies on the screen tonight have received a little bit of attention from the awards, so I was interested to see if they were worthy.

Love & Other Drugs

Yet another true story, and this one wasn't about what I had originally thought. The movie takes place in 1996 just before the little blue pill first started to make an appearance on nightstands across the country and making men and women happy. What i didn't know was that this movie was about the life of someone with Parkinson's disease and how the illness effects everyone close to them.

The story centers around Jake Gyllenhaal (Jamie Randall) as a guy that likes to be with women more than he likes the responsibilities of everyday life. He gets a job with Phizer selling drugs and uses his skills with the ladies to make himself one of the top drug reps, but along the way meets Anne Hathaway (Maggie Murdock) who has stage one Parkinson's. The movie has a lot of sex scenes between these two hotties. A lot of comic contributions from Josh Gad who at times actually steals the show, but not enough to get any award consideration.

The movie turns when Jamie realizes he loves Maggie and this was when I started to connect with his character. The story starts to focus on the life of someone with Parkinson's, the dependency on medication and the failures of the medical system in finding a cure for the disease. I have never met or known someone with the disease, but the acting performance from Anne Hathaway and this story make you want to do something about it. Earlier attention I read mentioned Gyllenhaal as being a Best Actor nomination, but I strike that down and give the nomination to Anne Hathaway.

I give this one a solid 4 Quacks.

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R.E.D.

Retired Extremely Dangerous, is quite possibly the best shoot 'em up film of the year. But the accolades for this movie pretty much end there. Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren are all amazing. As the story goes, we learn that Bruce Willis is retired and is on a list along with the other old folks to be eliminated.

There really isn't much to say about this movie that the previews don't already tell you. Lots of explosives, funny one-liners, and a relatively okay story to keep you interested. Clearly seeing this for a $1 was the right price. I would be generous to give this one 2 1/2 Quacks, so you can watch this on Netflix or you can wait until it is on USA or FX or whatever network TV stations gets it first.

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Probably my last movie of the year, so see everyone in 2011!!!

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