My Review: Sunshine Cleaning (7/10)

"We come into people's lives when they have experienced something profound - and sad. And they've lost somebody, you know? And um, the circumstances, they're always different. But that's the same. And we help. In some small way we, um, we help."

Directed by Christine Jeffs (Sylvia) and written by Megan Holley, Sunshine Cleaning is one of those small indie films with big performances and a feel good story that allows the audience to connect with its characters. It's hard to resist despite its cliches and flaws, given it has very strong lead performances from Amy Adams and Emily Blunt and very well written female characters that are rare to find making it hard not to sympathize with them. This is a solid indie that manages to balance really well the dark humor with the drama. Many people might have issues with the forced ending, but the emotional detail that Blunt and Adams give to their characters makes this a film worth watching. A lot of credit must be given to screenwriter Holley for creating such strong and believable female characters in a lead role which are really rare to find nowadays. The performance from the cast only enhances this aspect of the film making single parenting look as hard as it really is. The film wouldn't have worked if it weren't for the performances and the balance in shifts of tones between humor and drama which Jeffs found. 

Rose (Amy Adams), a single mother to her seven year old son Oscar (Jason Spevack), is a responsible and hard working parent who is making a living as a house cleaner while she is trying to find time to finish her studies to become a real estate agent. Her sister, Norah (Emily Blunt), is a free spirited woman who finds it difficult to hold on to any job as she continues to live with her father Joe (Alan Arkin). Norah and Rose haven't had a normal childhood since their mother committed suicide when they were still very young. Being the older sister, Rose had to grow up as the responsible child. She was successful in High School but her glory days seem to be behind her as she now has to settle to having an affair with her teenage sweetheart Mac (Steve Zahn) who is now a married cop. When her young son is expelled from yet another school, Rose tries to come up with more money to put him into a private school. Mac tells her how the people who clean up after crime scenes make a lot of money, so she decides to start her own business with her sister and thus begin cleaning up after messy and bloody crime scenes. The cleaning business will also lead Rose and Norah to clean up some of the emotional distress from their past as they begin to recall them through familiar situations.

Sunshine Cleaning might be considered as simply another feel good indie film that tries to manipulate the audience through a roller-coaster of emotions while seeming to tie everything up perfectly and neatly at the end. This forced ending might be a let down, but I found it to work thanks to the amount of time invested in the lives of these unique characters. Adams and Blunt both are superb here as they deliver strong performances and add a lot of emotional depth to their characters. Clifton Collins Jr also gives a memorable performance as a possible future love interest for Rose, but the story really focuses on her as she struggles to manage the different challenges life throws at her. She is a reminder to all of us that life is worth living despite the struggles that we may be forced to go through, and that perhaps those small simple moments are the ones that make our lives a better place. Rose continues to stay positive despite the obstacles she faces and realizes that life is worth living despite it all. The monologue she delivers near the end of the film summarizes what this film was all about. Kudos to the director and screenwriters for presenting us with two strong female characters and allowing them to be the heart and soul of the film.

My Review: Parker (4/10)

"I don't steal from anyone who can't afford it, and I don't hurt anyone who doesn't deserve it."

The title of the film is based on the main character who is a thief with a set of moral codes which he never breaks. Oddly enough, Parker resembles every other Jason Statham character played on film, more than the character he was based on in Donald E. Westlake's novel "Flashfire." If you aren't familiar with the novel, you might be familiar with the 1999 revenge film, Payback, starring Mel Gibson. Despite not being called Parker in that film, Mel's character is supposed to be the same one played here by Statham. If you've seen both movies you will discover that they are completely different, so fans of Westlake's novels featuring Parker might be disappointed if they expect to experience that action hero, because all they will find is another Statham movie. I don't have a problem with Statham, I think he has great charisma on screen and has made some good films, but his act is wearing out if he doesn't try something new. This is the kind of film that he can make with his eyes closed considering he doesn't have as much fighting scenes as he usually does. The same could be said for director, Taylor Hackford, who has made some really strong films in the past like Ray and The Devil's Advocate, but this one is simply another generic and predictable heist film. John L. McLaughlin adapted the novel and this is also one of his weakest efforts considering he has written strong screenplays before (Black Swan and Hitchcock). This film didn't bring anything new to a genre we've seen played out a million times before in even straight to DVD movies. I could probably come up with a list of dozens of other revenge heist films that stand above this one. Parker was simply too generic and poorly executed with a character playing a thief with a strong moral code (which really never seems believable). 

Parker (Jason Statham) is working on his next heist after his long time partner, and now father-in-law, Hurley (Nick Nolte) recommends him and introduces him to four other thieves for an apparently easy heist: Melander (Michael Chiklis), Carlson (Wendell Pierce), Ross (Clifton Collins Jr.), and August (Micah Hauptman) who has close connections with the mafia in Chicago. After the heist the five thieves easily escape with the money, but instead of splitting the 200,000 they had all agreed on, Melander asks Parker and the rest of the gang to invest it in another heist in which they could all walk out of with a couple million dollars each. When Parker doesn't agree and asks for his share of the money, the rest of the members of the team shoot and leave him for dead. Parker survives and sets out to get back at these men because he believes in his set of ethical codes and they have broken it. It is not just about the money anymore, and he doesn't care how connected these men are with the mafia, he is out to set things right. After learning about their whereabouts in West Palm Beach he takes on a new identity and hires a real estate agent, Leslie Rodgers (Jennifer Lopez), as an excuse to look around and find these men. The only problem is that they know Parker is still alive and have set the mafia after him as well.

Parker is supposed to be an anti-hero, but it really doesn't play out like that in this movie. I couldn't identify with him and never found his set of moral codes really believable. Statham has charisma, but it just didn't play out that well with his character Parker. This felt like just another heist film where the audience is sort of forced to pull for the bad guy simply because he has a good heart. He only kills people when they don't do what they are told, he only steals from rich people, etc. He simply doesn't pull it off here and I couldn't root for his character. The film tries so hard to justify his actions in such a way that it never feels authentic. I also found Jennifer Lopez's role pretty pointless. Her character doesn't bring anything to this story and at times her life feels like a soap opera. Nick Nolte's character is another one that is completely pointless and misused. There were so many pointless things going on in this movie that could've been left out. The longer the film played out the more and more I disliked it. There are no thrills, the love triangle is hardly developed, and not even Statham's classic action scenes save this movie. Parker is simply too formulaic and very forgettable. 

My Review: Extract (5/10)

¨If I don't get home before 8, she puts on the sweatpants. And once the sweatpants are on, I get nothing.¨

If I say that Mike Judge directed this movie, then you probably don`t know who I am talking about, but if I tell you that it is directed by the guy who brought us Office Space, Beavis and Butthead, and King of the Hill then we are all more familiar with his work then we thought we were. Office Space was a huge success and became a cult movie, but I don`t think Extract will reach that same status because it isn`t a very funny commedy. It has been 10 years since Judge wrote Office Space and this time with Extract there are some interesting and ok moments, but the movie falls short from its predecessor. The supporting cast is far more interesting than the main characters and that sometimes is a bad sign. Extract is not a terrible movie either, it does have its clever moments or classic work related jokes that we are all familiar with and will bring a couple of smiles to our face, but it isn`t a laugh out loud movie. Judge is good with work related themes and jokes, but in Extract the main events occur outside of the office, and the most interesting characters aren´t even from the workplace. The pace of the movie also seemed a little slow at the beginning and it took me some time to get into it and care for the characters. I just wished more time could have been spent inside the factory developing the employee characters that were just one dimensional. A lot of things happen in this movie in a very short time, the film only lasts about one and a half hours and I think they could have done a better job developing these characters.

Joel (Jason Bateman) owns a vanilla extract company that he has built from scratch, the problem is that he is unhappy with his married life because he hasn`t had sex with his wife, Suzie (Kristen Wiig) in over a month. His best friend is Dean (Ben Affleck with long hair and a beard) who owns a Bar and is always giving Joel some bad advice and recommending him to take drugs in order to forget his problems. Joel also has to deal with his employees from the factory: Brian (JK Simmons) is one of the managers who can never remember any of the names of his workers, Step (Clifton Collins Jr.) is a hard worker who is very close to becoming the new floor manager and takes his job seriously, Hector (Javier Gutierrez) is the recently hired mexican, Mary (Beth Grant) and Gabriella (Lidia Porter) have worked in the factory for years and are constantly complaining about everything, and then there is Rory (T.J. Miller) who is learning how to drive the forklift, but who only really cares about his rock metal band. Besides dealing with his employees, Joel also has a very bothersome neighbor, Nathan (David Koechner), who never seems to shut up. To make matters worse one day at the factory there is an accident and Step loses one of his testicles. He is going to receive a lot of money from the insurance company and decides not to sue Joel. Cindy (Mila Kunis) is a con artist who reads about the accident in the paper and seduces Step in order to convince him to sue the company for a million dollars. Cindy gets a temp job at the factory and Joel falls for her. Dean tries to convince him to have an affair with her by trying to get his wife to have an affair with someone else first. So he convinces Joel to hire a gigolo named Brad (Dustin Milligan) to try to seduce his wife. The movie develops from here and takes all sorts of turns.

JK Simmons is a very funny actor and he is very dependable in any role, but in Extract he really doesn`t get much screen time. Ben Affleck gives a pretty funny performance playing this laid back friend who can`t seem to give the right advice never and only complicates things. Mila Kunis is always a delight to see on screen, but for me she wasn`t enough this time to save the movie. Clifton Collins Jr. was excellent, in my opinion he gives the best performance in the film, but he doesn`t get enough screen time either. Jason Bateman is a good actor, but I just didn`t find his character very funny. For someone who built a pretty modest company he let himself be convinced too easily by Dean and was easily decieved. The movie could have been much better if it focused more on the life inside of the factory, which is what Judge seems to be better at, creating these characters we can relate too from an office or a factory. I wouldn`t reccomend this film unless you are a Ben Affleck fan and want to see one of his funniest performances. David Koechner was also pretty funny and good at being an annoying neighbor. If you happen to come across this movie on TV then it could be a good watch, but I wouldn`t recommend renting it.

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