Common Guy's Film Reviews Movie Reviews and Fun

A Closer Look - Submit The Documentary We all think we are safe. We all think our kids are safe. We all think that our kids online friends are tame and do nothing wrong. We are wrong. Submit The Documentary takes a look at bullying. Not the kind of bullying that occurs with a punch or a slap. This is the kind of bullying that gets inside of a kids head. And this can be lethal. Behind the anonymity of a computer screen it is easy to become something you are not. Look at the numbers of adults that get scammed daily with a "Send Me Money" email, or "You are a winner, just send me $500 to claim your prize" emails. They get taken even though they know better. Now look at your 12, 13, 14 year old sitting next to you. They have much less general street sense than a 45 year old individual. Sep 16 Weekend Recap - Scaring up Big Bucks Well...it's not October yet -- but that doesn't mean people don't have an appetite for a horror movie as Insidious: Chapter 2 scared up over $41 million at the box office far outdistancing the number two The Family (just over $14 million). film Other notables over the weekend... - Lee Daniels' The Butler crossed through the $100 million threshold this weekend in domestic box office. - This is the End also went through the $100 million mark this weekend. Sep 12 A different kind of post...just me.... For those of you who have been reading awhile...I have tried to keep to movies here on a regular basis and just movies...but it's time to refocus the blog. Don't worry -- the movie content is not going away, I just plan on adding more of me, and other topics to the mix. I hope I won't turn you off, but I'm going to use the blog to talk about a variety of things. I hope you don't mind. Today I just want to put up a couple words about what I do. Sep 6 Milwaukee Film Festival 2013 - Full Lineup Announced Here's an extensive list of all the titles for this year's Milwaukee Film Festival. Lots of good stuff to see here Milwaukee...including August: Osage County and a slew of documentaries on a variety of topics from Wisconsin Politics to Snowboarders. Aug 31 Review - Getaway Should Have Been A Video Game Getaway, starring Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez, is not a movie. Rarely do I start out a review with such a bold statement. But here’s the deal…a movie has a plot. A movie has a story that you invest your time and effort into for 90 minutes (give or take) and come away feeling something. A movie takes you to a far off land and shows you things that intrigue you. A movie has many things that Getaway does not have. Aug 29 Milwaukee Film Festival 2013 - Shorter is Better The release below comes from the folks at Milwaukee Film. The Shorts programs have been announced and are a lot of fun. If you've never been to a shorts program, I urge you to pick a topic that you tend to enjoy and check it out. No, you probably won't like everything over the 80 minutes or so you are there, but if you don't like one short film...the next one is only a couple minutes from starting. Aug 28 Review - Closed Circuit Don’t Close the Door On This Conspiracy It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long since the explosions in Boston and the ensuing manhunt that led to one captured suspect. Now a film goes into a fictitious explosion in another country and the ongoing legal journey to bring the culprit to justice. An explosion rocks Britain in a market and the bomber is in custody. Now it’s off to the legal systems and the complex weavings of what is ok, and not ok to make public. Aug 27 Milwaukee Film Festival 2013 - Cream City Cinema Ok, I'm not going to lie -- this is one of my FAVORITE aspects (well that and the documentaries the festival brings in) of the Milwaukee Film Festival. It's amazing what you can find in your own backyard. -p Milwaukee Film Festival Announces 2013 Cream City Cinema Line-up Popular annual local filmmaker showcase features new shorts and features, awards juried prize. Aug 27 Home Screening Room - Gatsby, Pain, Gain and Anarchy Movies, movies, movies – this week has a bunch of pain…and you may also gain! Big Releases from Theaters The Great Gatsby – Rated PG-13 (Leonardo, DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan) Pain and Gain – Rated R (Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson) Two decent size releases this week that found an audience in theaters earlier this year. The DiCaprio led version of Gatsby and flashy with a twist. Diretor Baz Luhrman adds a different soundtrack that gives scenes in the film a whole different vision. Aug 21 Home Screening Room - It's Baacck, Sorry for being away It's been away for a couple weeks -- but after some time away, I've got the column back up and running. So here is this week's new releases to DVD / Blu-ray. Big Releases from Theaters Amour – Rated PG-13 (Emmanuelle Riva) Epic – Rated PG (Josh Hutcherson, Amanda Seyfried) Scary Movie 5 – Rated PG-13 (Ashley Tisdale, Simon Rex) Three titles this week releasing that come from varied theatrical runs with three different target audiences. Aug 20 Milwaukee Film Festival 2013 - Sound Vision Today, the Milwaukee Film Festival, announced their Sound Vision lineup for 2013. (music documentary showcase). Their are eight films specifically being released in the lineup this year and the topics area as varied as a spin down the radio dial. Aug 14 Milwaukee Film Festival 2013 - Cinema Holigante Are you a fan of late night movies? You know those movies that will be remembered because you saw them in a crowded room at the end of a long day. The ones you want to scare you a little different than most. The ones you want to remember in a different way. Aug 9 Review – Elysium A Visually Stunning, But Emotionally Lacking Future Elysium is utopia, circa 2154. Devastation, disease and destruction have overtaken the Earth. Now the Earth is filled with struggle and discontent. The people who live there work hard and have not had easy lives. Max (Matt Damon) is one of those people. He has worked hard and faced the wrong side of the law on numerous occasions. But he is working hard to try to overcome his life and he sees the one place as an out, Elysium. Aug 9 Review – Planes Planes Refuses to Take Off In the new Disney film Planes (said as From the World of Cars), Dusty Crophopper (Dane Cook) just wants to race. But let’s face it, crop dusters aren't noted for their speed and ability to win airborne speed contests. But Dusty has a dream and goes after it but trying to qualify for the race around the world with some of the fastest total package airplanes on the planet. To compete with these planes, he enlists the help of a military hero. Aug 8 Milwaukee Film Festival 2013 - Passport: Germany With a community that is deep in German heritage, it is only natural that today's announcement of Milwaukee Film Festival's Passport: Germany is bound to resonate in the community. Past features have been focused on India and China. This year's Passport: Germany features Eight German and one Australian filmmaker with films at least partially set in Germany and subjects connected to the country. Aug 7 Review – We’re The Millers A Family Vacation With A Smidge of Raunch…Among Other Things David (Jason Sudeikis) is drug dealer. Sure he did pot in college and he hasn’t grown up much since then. He’s still selling pot and still every bit the slacker. When he tries to stick up for a friend in the middle of a fight he gets robbed of all his pot and all the cash he has in his safe. Now he tries everything to avoid the drug supplier, Brad (Ed Helms) but ends up cutting a deal. Aug 2 Review - 2 Guns 2 Guns are Always Better Than One 2 Guns brings together two immensely talented actors in Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg. Denzel has long been the gold standard for male roles in the industry and Wahlberg is fast establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with as well. Here Stig (Wahlberg) works for Navy intelligence while Bobby (Washington) is undercover DEA. The are both on a mission and using each other to that end, but each of them doesn't know the others' true identity. Jul 31 Review - The Smurfs 2 Smurf Happens The Smurfs 2 is the sequel to 2011's over $500 million worldwide box office winner, The Smurfs. We get Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays and Hank Azaria back in their live action roles along with the new addition of Brendan Gleeson as Harris' father. But even though these actors are all amazingly talented, this is all about the little blue guys. And we've got new, "non-Blue" Smurfs...that Gargamel (Azaria) wants to make blue. Jul 19 Win a copy of The Host Here's your chance... Win a copy of The Host on Blu/DVD combo pack. Head over to the Facebook page to enter... Common Guy's Film Reviews on Facebook OR Simply leave a comment on this thread that you want to win! Winner will be chosen tonight. Jul 13 Brasslands - Music Connects Worldwide If you are in NYC tonight, 7/13/13 -- check out the very special event featuring this film. Details here. Living in America, we don’t always see what music exists around the world. The popularity of bands from One Direction to The Rolling Stones are evident every day. But most musicians toil away in relative anonymity, working from gig to gig as they navigate the landscape that is life outside of a stadium show. Jul 12 Review - Grown Ups 2 I Don't Want To Grow Up, Not Quite Yet.. The Grown Ups are back. Wait…there’s a problem with that title for this movie as Lenny (Adam Sandler), Eric (Kevin James), Kurt (Chris Rock) and Marcus (David Spade) are anything but grown up for the bulk of this sequel. But that’s no surprise here. In this second story Lenny has moved back to his home town to be with his friends. Jul 12 Review - Pacific Rim Not a Slam Dunk, Pacific Rim...Rims Out Monsters, robots, destruction, violence, it all seems too good to be true that all of these great action movie elements are in one movie. But they are in Pacific Rim. Here’s the basic plot of this summer monster spectacular. We’ve been looking to the wrong place to see these invaders. Instead of looking to the sky they are coming from within the sea. And they are destroying the Pacific Rim at a rapid pace. Jul 9 Home Screening Room - Admission for The Host and some Spring Breakers Home Screening Room – Admission for The Host and some Spring Breakers Big Releases from Theaters Admission – Rated PG-13 (Tina Fey, Paul Rudd) Dead Man Down – Rated R (Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace) The Gatekeepers – Rated PG-13 The Host – Rated PG-13 (Saoirse Ronan, Jake Abel) Spring Breakers – Rated R (Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, James Franco) Tyler Perry’s Temptation – Rated PG-13 (Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Lance Gross) An interesting group of titles this week, after a slow release week Jul 3 Review - Despicable Me 2 Daaa Oooooooo Aaaaaahhhhhhh!!!! The Minions are back and the whole family will be impressed with this return to the familiar. Gru has given up the spy game and decided to become CEO of his Jams and Jellies company. That is until he is swept away and asked to become a spy to help determine which evil mastermind is residing in the local mall. Now Gru has a life of good and he must work with a new partner to find the evil that is trying to take over. Jul 3 Review - The Lone Ranger Pirates of the West! Hi Oh Silver...AWAY! I grew up with the Ranger, The Lone Ranger that is. Sunday mornings before going off to church I would sit and watch with my dad, the adventures of this masked crusader for good. They are good memories that I wasn't sure I wanted to appear in a new form, but I was game for anything. This is a Lone Ranger origin story as we go back to see what made him start fighting for the common man on the frontier of the old west. Jun 20 My take on.... Ok...so I haven't put much in the lines of written reviews online in the last couple weeks. I do apologize, my time has been spent elsewhere...but I wanted to share some links to what I had to say about some of this summer's biggest hits. On this Mark on Movies segment from KMOX in St. Louis, Paul joins Mark Reardon to talk about Man of Steel and This is the End...liked both to different degrees and YES I was at Indy Car qualifying during the segment, so you may hear them in the background. May 26 Real Milwaukee - 5/25/13 Yes it seems I've been hiding lately, but that's not true. I've been busy despite traveling around this great country. Still talked with my friends in and around the Seattle area plus all the great people at KMOX in St. Louis with Mark Reardon...but it had been around a month since I had been back to the Real Milwaukee set. May 22 Critics' Choice Television Awards Nominees Revealed My friends "across the hall" at the Broadcast Television Journalists Association (BTJA) announced their award nominees today -- I thought I'd share their list as I get back up to speed around here....here's the list! The Critics' Choice Television Awards will be held Monday, June 10 THE BROADCAST TELEVISION JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES NOMINATIONS FOR 3rd ANNUAL CRITICS’ CHOICE TELEVISION AWARDS HBO AND FX SCORE MOST NOMINATIONS American Horror Story: Asylum and The Big Bang Theory are May 4 Review – Iron Man 3 Suits and Stark and Pepper Oh My! This is the third summer to blast off with Iron Man and a 4th visit with Tony Stark (if you include last summer’s blockbuster The Avengers). And I’ve got good news; Iron Man 3 starts the summer off right yet again. For this installment, Tony Stark is remembering choices he made in the past. You see he is now a one-woman man with Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow), but that was not always the past. May 2 Disney's Oz the Great And Powerful to Blu-ray/DVD on June 11 Announced today, Disney's Oz the Great and Powerful will be coming home to own on June 11. Apr 26 NFL Draft Day today - Filming For A Theater Near You Got this release and being an NFL Fan -- I'm intrigued... I'll share pieces of it below...but Mel Kiper Jr. Apr 23 Home Screening Room - The Gangster Squad will send you to the Promised Land Let’s go to the Promised Land with Matt Damon. But not before the Gangster Squad tried to do the Impossible. Apr 19 Harrison Ford Loses It on Jimmy Kimmel I've been a fan of Jimmy Kimmel for years. Since his show's launch he has been outside the trends of late night and generally doing things his way. In the beginning, he struggled for A-list talent to visit his show. But that has changed. The new, earlier time for his show and the way he has developed has brought in A-list talent many times over. But is that about to change? His show on April 17 featured Harrison Ford promoting his role in 42 (the number one movie in the country last week). Apr 17 Trailer - Man of Steel Well...I guess there was a birthday present for me after all - (well of course other than spending the evening with Tom Cruise and the new movie Oblivion) It's a new trailer for Man Of Steel --- enjoy! Apr 16 Home Screening Room - Django, Nothing But Django My birthday and not much new big being released…but we do have one big one that many have loved, and some haven’t….and a lot of interesting smaller titles to choose from so let’s do it! Big Releases from Theaters Django Unchained – Rated R (Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson) A truly slow week this week as Django Unchained pretty much has the store shelves to itself. Apr 5 Thumbs Down for the Passing of Roger Ebert Today as I ate lunch, I got a text message from a friend. "Did you hear Roger Ebert died?" :-( Immediately my heart skipped a beat. Sure I had read the article only days earlier that said he was taking a break due to deteriorating health it didn't come as a huge shock, but yet I wasn't expecting this kind of turn this quickly.  Roger Ebert is an icon in the business of film criticism. Mar 28 Call For Entries - Milwaukee Film Festival 2013 My friends over at Milwaukee Film Festival just sent this over (sorry didn't have too much time with it, so I've just pasted in their release)...not only can you be a part of a cool film festival...you'll probably be seen by me. Mar 27 Trailer - And Now A Word From Our Sponsor And Now A Word From Our Sponsor No, I haven't added sponsors here yet -- though I should have long ago to actually keep things rolling...but it's a new film with Bruce Greenwood and Parker Posey and it caught my attention. I had just watched this trailer when it showed up in my inbox and I admit, I'm intrigued. I don't share enough of this stuff so hopefully that will change going forward, but I wanted to put this up...Bruce Greenwood and Parker Posey star. Mar 26 Home Screening Room – Lincoln Doesn’t Need Parental Guidance The big historical drama from 2012 comes home and he doesn't even need Parental Guidance. Big Releases from the last two weeks The Collection – Rated R (Emma Fitzpatrick, Josh Stewart) Killing Them Softly – Rated R (Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini) Lincoln – Rated PG-13 (Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones) Parental Guidance – Rated PG (Billy Crystal, Bette Midler) Let’s face it; this week is all about Lincoln. Mar 22 Review – Olympus Has Fallen Under Attack But Rising Up America has a President that is youthful and full of fight. President Asher (Aaron Eckhart) is leading the country during a scary time. With tensions building between North and South Korea the President meets with the leader of South Korea only to end with an ambush of epic proportions. Kang (Rick Yune) and his followers have done the unthinkable. Mar 22 Review – The Croods Review – The Croods Grug (Nicolas Cage) is a family man. He is there to make sure his family thrives and survives in a prehistoric environment. Getting food for his family takes the wits and style of the entire family to creatively acquire their daily meals. The environment is filled with challenges around every corner. To Eep (Emma Stone), the world is full of mystery. Mar 18 Review – The Call Take The Call; But Hang Up Before It’s Over The job of a 911 operator can be a pressure cooker. Jordan Turner (Halle Berry) enjoys her job helping people and getting the right emergency personnel on the scene to solve problems; but that all changes when she takes a call from a young girl. She makes a mistake in trying to help her and leaves actively taking calls to train new employees. Mar 17 Review – The Incredible Burt Wonderstone Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carell) is a Las Vegas headliner. With best friend Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi) at his side, the two have risen from school outcasts to two of the most popular magicians working the Magic Mecca. Now after years of the limelight, the two have grown apart. Anton continues as a bit of an outcast while Burt uses his popularity to its utmost by leaving the performances with a different beautiful companion on a regular basis. Mar 17 KMOX - Guest on Mark on Movies Many already know this but I'm a regular guest on KMOX in St. Louis for the Mark on Movies segment. Even when Mark is on vacation, I usually get a chance to talk with great people like Carol Daniel and whomever is in the big chair. Thought I'd share with everyone the conversation that Mark and I had on The Incredible Burt Wonderstone along with my thoughts on the call. Mar 14 New Trailer - Kick-Ass 2 MTV has just launched the new red band trailer for Kick-Ass 2. Now you can't watch it unless you are old enough...but if you are....I've got it below..Enjoy. Of course...if you can't view it below....try this link. Mar 12 Home Screening Room – Hitchcock searches for the Life of Pi Some very unique titles come home this week that will offer a variety of niche markets some really special films that will delight moviegoers. Mar 11 Real Milwaukee - March 8, 2013 When I visited my friends at Real Milwaukee on Friday, March 8 I had a couple things on my mind. 1) Oz the Great and Powerful was a bit on the "boring" side. 2) Jack the Giant Slayer has a lot of action..but who is it for. 3) The two DVDs my daughter has been waiting for and watching this week. (Barbie and the Pink Shoes and Wreck-It Ralph). Mar 8 Review - Oz the Great and Powerful Oz Strays From The Yellow Brick Road The Wizard of Oz is a classic film that will always live in our hearts. But what happened before Dorothy arrived in Oz? That is the tale that is told in Oz the Great and Powerful. Oscar (James Franco) is a magician that is part con man, part showman and all ladies man. As a magician he is struggling to make ends meet on the carnival circuit. As he travels from town to town he needs to bring the crowds in, entertain them and find a new lady at every turn. Mar 7 Home Screening Room - Red Dawn gets Wrecked My favorite animated film from last year and much more in this week’s release updates. This Week's Big Releases Playing for Keeps – Rated PG-13 (Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Uma Thurman) Red Dawn – Rated PG-13 (Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Josh Hutcherson) Wreck-It Ralph – Rated PG (Voices of John C. Reilly, Jane Lynch, Jack McBrayer) One HUGE title and two also-rans that should provide DVD rentals for a number of individuals are in this week’s Big Releases. Feb 26 Home Screening Room - Argo See The Master The last two weeks have featured the Best Picture of the Year and a pair of the big documentary releases of the last few years.