VH Corner

John C. Reilly, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Diego Luna are all in this crime caper where things just don’t go as planned.

John C. Reilly is a con man who takes Diego Luna under his wing to teach him the art of the con and then lets him in on a big scheme. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Reilly’s sister and he needs her assistance in his scheme, but she doesn’t want to give it to him.

Things go wrong and then get better and then go wrong at the end. Everyone wants in on a cut of the big payout and after a while, you just don’t know who to trust. How can you trust con men though?

it’s a fun movie to watch and it keeps you guessing about what is happening, even if you think you know what’s really going on.

Grade: B

Chris Vaughn (The Rock) is a military man come back to his home town. (They don’t say what town but it looks like it might be in Alaska or something.) During his reunitement (is that a word) with his old friends he discovers that the mill, where his father worked, has been closed but a big indian casino has opened. (This place was like Cheetah’s/LasVegasClub. They had dancers in the casino and a back area where you could get a girl to dance for you behind a window. Gimme a break.) As it turns out one of Chris’s old friends owns the casino and they are dealing drugs out of it. After much beating people up and drama, Chris becomes sheriff, fires all the old deputies, gets the girl and saves the day.

The movie was short (84 minutes.) They didn’t develop the relationships very well at all. I could tell there had to be a story between the dad and Chris about guns but they never tell you why. (I am assuming that left out story is why he picks up a 4×4 instead of a shot gun.) Another story is between Chris and the old girlfriend – but they don’t tell you that either. They could have expanded on these stories to make it a better movie and I am pretty sure not make it horribly long.

The bonus of the movie – Rock freshly out of the shower and a good five minute scene with his shirt off. mmmmmmmmm

LamW – 0 (wasn’t long enough sheesh)

I found this movie very odd. I don’t know how else to describe it. Guess I should have looked more closely at the fact that this is a Coen Brothers movie.

Tom Hanks character (Dorr) is an odd Henry Higgins-esque leader of a very odd group of men. Mr. Pancakes- the dynomite guy, The General – the tunneling guy, MacSam – the inside guy, and Lump – the moronic muscle. Dorr is a southern professor who likes to quote Poe. He secures a room for “let” at Ms. Munson’s house. They use the “root cellar” to “practice their musical instruments.” This is a cover so they can tunnel to the counting room of a river boat-casino.

So this barely covers the basics. I know none of that sounds odd but I assure you that, with the way it was put together, it was odd. A dark comedy, if you will, considering that people die in funny ways. I laughed a couple times but the part I found most rememberable was the cat’s role during the shanigans.

LamW – 1

this movie has me talking funky