Marktopia

I enjoy Will Ferrell and purchased the first volume, so I thought it would be worth checking out the second one. I was disappointed there was no second Celebrity Jeopardy, and I thought that some of the scenes were not some of his top work. If you enjoyed Will Ferrell on SNL, I would recommend the first volume, but you probably don’t need the second one.

I can promise you that this review will not be nearly as long as this movie.? That being said, the movie was still well done even for the length.? It touches on many of the common perceptions about Howard Hughes and expounds on them some.?? There were a number of things I also didn’t know about Hughes that the movie introduced.?? The relationship between Hughes and Katherine Hepburn is the most prevalent one throughout the film, played well by both Leonardo DiCaprio and Cate Blanchett. The visuals in the film were also wonderful, often portraying the sense of scale that was Hughes’ life.? If the movie’s job was to introduce me to Hughes and get me intrigued with his life, it did do that.

This movie didn’t make it before Christmas, but it was still worth watching now.? It used an interesting mix of computer animation with motion capture to create the characters in the movie.? Also, Tom Hanks played about 6 different characters in the movie, so that was interesting experiencing him doing different voice acting.? The story loosely follows the classic childrens book of the same name, however the movie embelishes different parts of the book into more detail.? More detail includes a random guy riding the train and the conductor doing all sorts of crazy things.? It was a fun movie, not really a classic, but fun nonetheless.

Another Coen Brothers film, The Ladykillers stars Tom Hanks and a bunch of other folks. The movie is kind of a crime caper with lots and lots of dark humor in it. There are random deaths, a garbage scow, a casino and more. It was a good movie, however just a bit to random for my overall liking. It isn’t bad by any means, but it just wasn’t great.

One other rant, this one about J.K. Simmons. You have probably seen him in a number of things recently since I am sure that a show can’t be made without consulting him first whether he is interested in participating. I actually don’t have a problem with him, he is a good actor and is good in almost all roles he plays. The issue is that for the longest time, the only thing I saw him in was Oz on HBO. For those of you who havn’t seen the show, it isn’t for the faint of heart being about life in a maximum security prison. It is a soap opera basically, but with lots of killing, scheming, etc. J.K. Simmons is the head of the Aryans in prison, and is a really really bad man in the show. Now when I see him in anything else, I am reminded of that role and it just diminishes it a little bit. After some time it has gotten better, but it is still going to take some time before he will just be another actor to me, kinda like this guy.

I had heard a number of good things about this movie, but no one ever told me what it was about. When the title credits said it was based on the Odyssey by Homer, I was more intrigued. George Clooney stars in one of his more unique roles as Ulysses, leading a group of felons through Mississippi during the Great Depression on a journey to find treasure. There is an oracle at the beginning, sirens on the water, a cyclops and more references to the Odyssey thoughout the film. Even if you arn’t familiar with the book it is based on, the story moves at a good pace and throughout the film the music helps make the movie. I really can’t say enough about the soundtrack, you should check it out if you havn’t already. I have found that the soundtrack is even better after having seen the film. This is a top movie, I am sorry it has taken me so long to see it.