Quick takes on 5 films

Vacation is a new take on the classic National Lampoon’s Vacation. Son Rusty from that film is all grown up, and decides to take his family to Wally World to relive his favorite family road trip as a child. Starring Ed Helms and Christina Applegate, with some cameos from the original film, this movie does have some laughs but overall it is a fairly weak remake. Some of the old jokes are even rehashed, and as good as Helms is, he doesn’t have the charm of Chevy Chase in his prime. Good for a few laughs, but that’s about it.

Mississippi Grind is a film that professionals reviewers would love, but the average film goer will probably think is just “ok.” That’s where I am. I think it is well acted and the 2 leading men (played by Ryan Reynolds and Ben Mendelsohn) are almost in a role reversal from typical stereotypes. Gerry is an aging gambler that is about at the end of his rope, owing money all over town in rural Iowa but unable to pull himself away from the tables. His luck seems to turn when Curtis rolls into town, and Gerry latches onto him to take him to a high stakes game in New Orleans. The two make their way down the Mississippi, gambling along the way, and we learn more about the two men and their sometimes surprising history. The viewer has to wonder if either will rise above their current plight before the end. A good movie, but not a great movie.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is based on an old 60’s spy show I think, though being well before my time, I had never heard of it before. In this movie, Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer play a couple of spies on opposite sides of the political spectrum in the early 60’s, with one from England and the other from the USSR. They are forced to team up though to stop a nuclear weapon from ending up in the wrong hands. The movie is funny in a quirky way, and feels like an old film in the way it plays out. I can appreciate the throwback, but some of it becomes tedious. One favorite ploy is to have a plot element happen, and then quickly going back to show the events that led up to that moment. This gets old by the end, but as a whole the film is still all right.

After the above so-so films, I finally hit a winner in The Walk. I greatly enjoyed this one, starring the underrated and always entertaining Joseph Gordon Levitt. He plays tightrope walker Philippe Petit, and the movie is the based-on-a-true story of his planning and eventual pulling off of the tightrope walk between the World Trade Center buildings in the mid-70’s. The film is told as a story, and Levitt’s Petit is an entertainer throughout, providing wit and charm in his tale. The movie does a fantastic job of getting you inside Petit’s mind, feeling his emotions as he gears up for the walk of his life. There are laughs, thrills, and even some emotion, you’ll run the gamut throughout the course of this one.

I’m not sure what to make out of Time Out of Mind. It tells the story of a homeless man, George, and his daily struggles on the streets. I think it is well directed, and definitely well acted by Richard Gere as George. Gere is known for his roles as a charmer and confident man, and this movie certainly takes him out of comfort zone. He is a defeated man, refusing to accept the turn his life has taken. At times he seems uncertain of what is going on around him, and we don’t know if he is just refusing to accept his circumstances or if he really is mentally ill. He struggles to find a shelter, and can’t even apply for aid because he can’t produce a birth certificate or any ID. It is pretty eye opening, the run-around a homeless person deals with just not to die in the cold. I think it is a good movie, but in the end perhaps a little too predictable.