The Adjustment Bureau

When I speak of William Holden being the lead man of his era, I can say that Matt Damon is the lead man of his era. At only 41 years old, Damon continues to put out movies year after year that capture your imagination or your attention, regardless of its material. And he can also successfully slide over to television (Liz Lemon's boyfriend on 30 Rock).

The Adjustment Bureau is Damon's newest movie to be released on DVD (remember I rarely go to the movie theater. Too expensive and people just won't shut the funk up!)

In this movie, Damon is a young Congressman David Norris running for the U.S. Senate. While reflecting upon the day and mentally preparing for his speech, Norris runs into a young lady named Elise (Emily Blunt) and instantly falls in love. Norris' speach is considered a dramatic success, though he loses the election after some frivilous behavior is exposed.

All the while, the audience watches as these men in hats seem to be following him around. Several years later, Harry (Anthony Mackie), one of these hatted men, is instructed to make Norris spill his coffee so that he misses the bus. Harry falls asleep, Norris makes the bus and again runs into Elise. Then he runs into men in his office that seem to be lobotomizing his coworkers. After an unsuccessful flight attempt, Norris is detained and told that the hatted men are from the Adjustment Bureau, men instructed to keep certain people's fate in line. Norris, not wanting to be tied to a predetermined fate which he disagrees with, spends the rest of the movie trying to outrun and mislead the hatted men.

The Adjustment Bureau is based on the romantic science fiction thriller book The Adjustment Team by Philip K. Dick. This movie was captivating to me. I only intended on watching half of it one night and the other half the following night. Instead I found myself watching it through to 11:30pm, which is late for me. I suffered for it the next day at work.

In addition to Damon and Blunt, the movie also stars John Slattery from Mad Men, Anthony Ruivivar, who you may recognize from Third Watch, Michael Kelly, an absolute knock-off for Elliot "Spitz or Swallows" Spitzer, the disgraced former governor of New York. Oh, and left-wing liberal fake news comedian John Stewart's in it, too.

The Adjustment Bureau is an hour and 40 minutes long and Rated R for some strong language, violence, and some minor sexuality.

I really enjoyed The Adjustment Bureau and I think you will, too. You do not have to be a science fiction fan to appreciate this movie. There's romance, action, drama....something for everyone. I'll give The Adjustment Bureau 4.2 stars. Check it out.

True Grit (2010)

I'm not in the habit of going to the movies. In fact, I cannot remember the last time I went to the movies. It may have been to see I Am Legend, the Will Smith movie. And I'm pretty sure the last movie that my wife and I saw together was Bridges of Madison County. That tells you how much I like going to the movies.

I went to the movies because we subscribe to the Baltimore Sun (that's a newspaper - it's made of paper and is sometimes delivered to your house and has news...sometimes). This newspaper has a contests section and she won 2 tickets to see True Grit. Not being a predictable romantic comedy, my wife had no interest in seeing it. So I rounded up a friend and we went to see the premier in Hunt Valley, Maryland.

True Grit is a remake of the 1969 movie of the same name starring the late John Wayne, Glen Campbell (who used to have a career before the heavy drinking and the run-in's with the law), and Kim Darby.

This new version stars Jeff Bridges as Rooster J. Cogburn, the Marshall for hire, Matt Damon as Texas Ranger La Boeuf (pronounced Le-beef), and Hailee Steinfeld, the up-and-coming 14 year old actress as Mattie Ross, the young girl out to avenge her father's murder, and Josh Brolin as the irrascable Tom Chaney, the murder of said father.

The premise of the movie is that Mattie's father is murdered by a drunkard and she goes to town and hires Rooster Cogburn to find her father's killer and bring him to justice. La Boeuf shows up with a warrant for Chaney's arrest of a different crime. Mattie Ross is a strong determined young lady who will have nothing that is not her way. And together the 3 of them head off into Indian Country to find Chaney.

Though not a comedy, Jeff Bridges plays the character of Cogburn with such flair that it is hysterical. The combination of Rooster with the straight-laced La Boeuf and the head-strong Mattie makes for an excellent combination. Unfortuantely, I had not seen the orignial before I saw this remake. But I must say that I was thoroughly impressed with this movie. In fact, I would say it is my favorite movie of the year. Jeff Bridges deserves an Oscar for his performance. Heck, Hailee Steinfeld deserves one, too.

The movie was directed by the Coen brothers, Ethan and Joel, and produced by them with the support of Scott Rudin, and Steven Spielberg. True Grit is rated PG-13 for violence and a snake.

I give True Grit, the 2010 remake a full 5 stars.

Chasing Amy

I'm not sure which of my friends recommended this movie, but when I figure it out I'm going to punch them in the nose.

Now and then you get a movie recommendation that is absolutely wrong. I know one of my friends, or perhaps several of them, recommended the Kevin Smith movie Chasing Amy to me. I've seen several of his other movies including Clerks, Mallrats, Dogma, and Clerks 2, so I figured it was a safe pick. Boy was I wrong.

My first mistake was thinking that Chasing Amy was a comedy. With nearly an hour and 18 minutes of Ben Afflac and Gay Joey screaming at each other trying to make the other feel guilty I came to realize that the movie is actually a romantic drama, because that's what they do in romantic dramas - scream at each other for long periods of time while trying to make each other feel guilty.

Chasing Amy stars the usual suspects for any Kevin Smith movie, including Kevin Smith, Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, Matt Damon, Brian O'Halloran, and Jason Mewes.

Chasing Amy is rated R for language and drug use, if you can believe that in a Kevin Smith movie, and some sexual content. The movie is 113 minutes long.

Outside of some of the Jason Lee parts and the Jay and Silent Bob bit, the rest of the movie sucked. I give this movie 2 stars. If you ever hear me recommending this movie to anyone please smash my Big Mac into my face. This movie is not as funny as anyone will report it to be. And the worst part about it is I wasted a Netflix spot for it. I could have had Emmanuelle 2!

The Bourne Ultimatum

The Bourne Ultimatum is the third (and supposedly last) in the series of the secret spy thrillers starring Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. The previous 2 movies, The Bourne Supremacy and the Bourne Identity, were excellent movies in their own right. The Bourne Ultimatum does not disappoint. However, this movie cannot stand alone. If you have not seen the first two movies, this movie will have you clueless.

The movie is action-packed and there is never a dull moment. It is not loaded down with boring romantic conversation or useless dialog. The movie is filled with 3-5 second clips shifting from one scene to another. This not your epileptic friend's movie. The plot keeps you in constant suspense and there is continuous twists.

Though the "good" guys wind up winning in the end, the movie leaves itself wide open for a sequel. However, I think they may be running out of clever words that go with "born". Perhaps Bourne on the 4th of July? Bourne to Run? Bourne in the U.S.A.?

The movie had me laughing and glued to the television in suspense. Which reminds me of a joke - how do you keep an idiot in suspense?

I give this movie 4 stars. I could have done with a little less 4 second scene changes, but overall I liked the movie.