Movie #157 - The Departed

The Departed
2006 - Rated R - 2 hr 31 min
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Vera Farmiga, Alec Baldwin

As expected, this movie's kind of a big deal around Boston.  And with all that swearing and gunfire and all those accents, I can see why.  It's about Boston, crime, double-crosses.  It's all the stuff we love and it's in our hometown.

Watching this movie's like playing a game of "guess who practiced their Boston accent today."  Some of these actors are really good, like Alec Baldwin.  Some of them were born here, so they'd better be good, like Mark Walhberg and Matt Damon.  And some of them get by okay, like Jack Nicholson.  It's jarring at first, how strong all of them lay it on, but after the first half hour you forget about it.

Then, of course, in the last half hour, it's now a race against death.  This movie has all the blood and murders of a Shakespearean tragedy.  But the way half the cast gets mowed down gives new meaning to "sudden death."  Yikes!  Someone's talking and everything fine one minute and then BAM! Bullet to the forehead. 

From beginning to end, a whole 2 1/2 hours later, it holds your attention and keeps you scratching your head.  Who's working for who? Who's gonna die next?

It makes Boston look pretty bad ass, I must say.

Movie #67 - Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice
Warner Bros. Pictures
1988 - Rated PG - 1 hr 32 min
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Catherine O'Hara, Winona Ryder

Here's another example of a movie that's so classic it's on TV all the time. I feel like I just watched this movie a couple of weeks ago, probably on TV, and just because, "Hey, Beetlejuice is on..."

Before Tim Burton directed Michael Keaton in Batman and Batman Returns, he paired up with him on this weird one. I did not know this until, well, about five minutes ago when I went to IMDB for the year. Something in his performance as Beetlejuice said to Tim Burton, "Hey, man. I'd make a sexy Batman." I'm not sure what, but there must've been something there, however tiny.

Anyway, who doesn't love this movie? It's a lighthearted look at death, the afterlife, haunted mansions, and old-school goth culture as demonstrated by an adolescent, pre-shoplifting Winona Ryder. And every time I watch this movie I remember Catherine O'Hara is in it. I have to admit that I also sing "Day-Oh" right along with them.

Here.... you can sing along too!

Movie #23 - Along Came Polly

Along Came Polly
Universal Pictures
2004 - Rated PG-13 - 1 hr 30 min
Director: John Hamburg
Starring: Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Debra Messing, Hank Azaria, Alec Baldwin

Ben Stiller plays the same goofy, lovestruck, hopeless guy he does in most of his movies. In this, he's an insurance adjuster who can't take risks. When his wife unexpectedly cheats on him (on the first day of the honeymoon), he freaks out, goes home, and bumps into the least likely woman to be interested in him... Surprisingly, she is interested (What is it that the ladies love so much about Ben?)

Overall, it's just a funny rom-com with a basic plotline, cast of characters, and a few choice one-liners thrown in for fun. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Alec Baldwin are probably the best parts about this movie. Still, I enjoyed watching it for the first time in a few years.

Movie #4 - Mercury Rising

Mercury Rising
Universal Pictures
1998 - Rated R - 1 hr 52 min
Director: Harold Becker
Starring: Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin, Chi McBride, Kim Dickens

My Bruce Willis triple feature continues with this movie I've never seen. Hooray, a new movie! I should have been more suspicious about it, though, when Mike refused to watch this Bruce Willis action movie with me. Pass on that? Really? As I recall, he said, "Watching that once was enough."

Uh oh.

I purposely did not read the back of the DVD case so I wouldn't know what to expect. Right away, we're at a bank robbery and Bruce Willis is a bad guy. Ooh, a movie where Bruce Willis isn't the hero - I like it! The wall explodes, the FBI comes in, and nope... he's undercover. Oh well. Now we're in a classroom with an autistic kid named Simon, who likes road maps and puzzles.... Rad.

Simon is apparently a Rain-Man genius and can crack hidden code in his World of Puzzles book, cuz he finds a phone number in some weird, primordial Sudoku puzzle thing and calls it. It's The Puzzle Center (are you freaking kidding me?) and because he's cracked some code, they are now freaking out. Enter Alec Baldwin, who is displeased to learn that "Mercury is failing" cuz some autistic kid likes numbers.

Right.

Then some unimportant side characters are quoting "The Simpsons," because it was cool to do that back then. Skip to underlings explaining to Baldwin that they put a code in a puzzle magazine just for funsies, and he is pissssssssssssssed. Cuz the kid that cracked it, "Not only is he nine years old, he is handicapped. He is autistic." But you know, autistic people are often "savants," say the other guys. I'm pretty sure this whole scene is no longer PC, but thanks 1998.

I'm getting the feeling that Bruce Willis is going to have to protect the handicapped savant. And oh! Some FBI poser just killed Simon's mom and dad. But Simon gets away! Tricky little kid. He's in the closet, Bruce Willis! Look in the closet!

Uh oh, the guy who shot Simon's parents wasn't sent by Alec Baldwin! They must protect the Mercury code or else people who are undercover in Saddam's Republic Guard will be revealed!! And now someone else knows.... oh no! (They're losing me here.)

After some chase scenes and a couple close calls with a train, they're going to stay at Chi McBride's! He still had a full head of hair in 1998, by the way. (Bruce Willis did not.)

Lots of crazy things happen, Bruce Willis and Alec Baldwin have a show down... then it's all over. Simon can go back to school, get some foster parents, etc. Bruce Willis feels good about himself now. Warm fuzzies for everyone.

I did not like this movie at all. And I can now see what Mike is talking about. I'm pretty sure he only owns this movie because it came sandwiched between 12 Monkeys and The Jackal. As he says, "It's like buying the 12-pack of Gatorade and getting stuck with 3 orange ones. No one likes the orange."

Well, I like orange Gatorade but I did not like Mercury Rising.