Abduction Review

Abduction Review

Nathan is your average teenage boy, he parties, he drinks, he rides a motorcycle, and...oh wait no average teenage boy does these things. From the beginning you have to put aside logic and reason if you want to enjoy Abduction. If you are capable of this then you will likely enjoy your time, if you can't then you won't be pleased in the least.

At first glance at the promotion for this film you see nothing but Taylor Lautner, but look closer and you find all kinds of wasted talent.  Director John Singleton does a great job of putting his star into the best possible company. Great actors like Alfred Molina and Sigourney Weaver, and up and coming talents like Jason Issacs, Michael Nyqvist, and Maria Bello all try to make the best of what they are given. If you haven't heard of these people I am not surprised; but if you have, you understand why I said that Abduction is a waste of talent.

The real problem with the movie is the story and the script. Besides lacking in believability the script has more loose ends than a frayed knot. Every single character has a subplot designed for them that goes absolutely nowhere, slowly. The subplots slow down the movie and force the audience to listen to protracted dialog about character motives. The writer of this movie needs a lesson in "Show me-don't tell me" cinema. And while It's clever for a movie to have paranoia be a driving plot factor, and it is also great to have several suspects, you can't tell the audience to trust someone, then not trust them, only to trust them again all within the same five minute chase scene. It's frustrating, and eventually the audience stops caring.

I don't think Abduction is a terrible movie, I enjoyed a great deal of it because I could shut off my brain, and just go with it. I suppose the best way to describe Abduction is that it's a candy bar. It tastes good, but has no nutritional value. It is just a simple action film designed in an attempt to cash in on Lautner's Twilight Saga popularity. And while financially it really is a no brainer, if Lautner really desires to continue his acting career, he better not alienate "Team Jacob" with mediocre cash grabs like this.

Moneyball Review

Moneyball Review

I am a huge fan of the Oakland A's. I am also a huge fan of Aaron Sorkin. So it would reason that, like peanut butter and chocolate (two great tastes, that taste great together) a movie about my favorite team coupled with a writer that I am also fond of would be nothing short of brilliant. Unfortunately, Moneyball falls short of brilliance and while it is a good movie it is not as entertaining or as factual as I would have liked.

In plain and simple terms, the success of last year's The Social Network

allowed this movie to be made. For those of you who are unfamiliar The Social Network was the "Facebook" movie. While partially about the creation of Facebook, the movie is really about one man's ego and search for power and the people he hurts along the way.

Moneyball is essentially the same film but replaces Facebook with baseball. Specifically it deals with behind the scenes baseball politics. It is a movie less about baseball and more about how owners put together a product. Some baseball teams are wealthy and put together fantastic teams with all star players. Some baseball teams put together modest clubs for modest funds. And then there is everyone else who put together teams with the leftovers. Moneyball is the system Beane created to get the most bang for his buck.

Whether you believe in the system or not doesn't matter to the movie, all you need to know is that he did it and this movie is about his struggles to get it accepted by those who refused to let go of the old ways. Personally I feel like Moneyball was a fabrication of the "steroid era." That most of his successful teams were juiced beyond compare, and that Beane was a "genius" at finding players who were desperate enough to cheat. But you don't read my blog to read about sports, so let's discuss the movie.

The movie is in a word uneven. It is smart, well written and clever. It is also dull and lifeless. The performances are really the only reason to see the movie. Every actor in their role is brilliant, each member of the cast does really become that character. Director Bennet Miller gets one of Brad Pitts most mature and interesting performances as Beane. He also does a brilliant job of coaxing a unique performance out of Jonah Hill. Hill was in danger of being typecast as the slacker character, and hopefully this opens new doors to him.

Basically, Moneyball is a movie about baseball that has absolutely nothing to do with baseball. What the movie really is about is the ego and "genius" of Billy Beane, the man who claims to have changed baseball. The movie is a good drama, with lots of brilliant performances by top notch actors like Brad Pitt and Philip Seymour Hoffman. However, just like the Social Network these performances lift an otherwise lifeless story with not much happening.