Terry Pratchett's Going Postal DVD Review

For those who are unaware, Terry Pratchett is the well-loved author of the Discworld series of humorous fantasy novels. There are dozens of them in the series (the Tiffany Aching books being some of my favorite) and each takes the usual tropes and intermixes satire of our own world to yield a funny take on fantasy. Over the last half of the first decade of the 2000s, Sky TV in the UK has commissioned live-action films of three of Terry Pratchett's novels, The Colour of Magic (a funny look at tourism), Hogfather (a take on Santa Claus) and the latest: Going Postal (a take on communication and interconnectivity).

Going Postal is the story of Moist von Lapwing, a con artist, who finds himself in trouble with the Ankh-Morpork (A-M is the main city of the Discworld - think London only dirtier and more magical) constabulary and sentenced to death. Instead of being killed, the city's Patrician, Lord Vetinari, decides that Lipwig might serve another purpose and tasks him with running the A-M post office. This puts Lipwig in direct competition with Reacher Gilt, the owner and operator of the Clacks system (a set of semaphore towers connecting A-M with other cities in the Discworld for rapid communication), which has superseded the post office with its easy/fast communication.

What follows is a romp through obsession with collectibles, hacking of the Clacks, hallucinations and a man fighting for his life, to become respectable and to win the heart of the woman he is falling in love with. You don't have to be versed in the Discworld series to enjoy Going Postal. The story stands on its own while being perched on the back of the deep history the series has developed. There are tons of nods to the rest of the Discworld series and its many characters here, but you don't have to know them to enjoy it all.

The casting for Going Postal was great. Richard Coyle, playing Moist, was a good choice. If you watch British television, you might know him from Coupling where he played Jeff. He has gone on to carve out a good career since then and Going Postal was a good addition. The movie also stars Charles Dance as Lord Vetinari and Clare Foy as Adora Belle Dearheart, the love interest and the daughter of the man who invented the Clacks that were later taken over by Reacher Gilt. Clare recently starred with Richard Coyle in NBC's short-lived pirate show, Crossbones. Good to see them working together years earlier in Going Postal.

Going Postal runs about 3 hours in two 90 minute episodes and has many twists and turns. It is a good movie to start with if you are unfamiliar with Discworld. Just think, if you like it then there are lots of books to enjoy later. Many covering the same characters in more detail. There are differences between the book and the movie and the Wikipedia link above will list some of the differences. Even as a stand-alone movie, Going Postal works. I give it 4 Mick Happies and recommend you (and any pre-teen/teenagers in your house) sit back and enjoy. See you all in Ankh-Morpork.

Weekend Movie Round-Up

Pretty much every weekend you will find my family with butts firmly planted on couch or chair with the dog watching TV. Netflix delivers 1 - 3 new videos for us to watch or we rent something from iTunes or dive into our own collection of DVDs. What better way to spend some time than with the whole family doing something we (typically) enjoy while having a bit of popcorn or frozen yogurt dessert. This weekend has been no exception with 3 new (to us) movies from Netflix and one from our own library. Here are some quick reviews of each.

From the Rough - We started with Pierre Bagley's bio-pic about Catana Starks, the first woman to coach a college men's golf team. The setting is Tennessee State University where the administration has just decided to start a golf program. Coach Starks takes over and has to search far and wide for members of her fledgling team. This is a typical feel-good sports movie with a scrappy coach working hard, running into major challenges mid-way through the movie, and then…(well you know). Tajari P. Henson is very convincing as Coach Starks and our favorite character was Roger played by the great (and unfortunately, late) Michael Clarke Duncan. If you want a sports movie that hits all the right notes, you can't go wrong with From the Rough, it gets 4 Mick Happies. Side note, my family usually won't watch sports-based movies with me but they watched this one and enjoyed it.

Draft Day - To follow one sports movie with another, I was on my own. Draft Day stars Kevin Costner as the General Manager of the Cleveland Browns, Sonny Weaver Jr., on the fictional 2014 NFL Draft Day. Joining Costner are Jennifer Garner as his co-worker and girlfriend and Dennis Leary as the Browns Head Coach. In this movie, we are given a glimpse into the high-pressure behind the scenes work at an NFL franchise on one of the biggest days of the year. It is hard to know if what is portrayed on screen is accurate to what goes on in real life, but what you get in Draft Day is compelling and will keep you interested all the way through. Weaver is tasked with making "a splash" to help put fans in seats or it may cost him his job. We get to go along for the ride as Costner deftly plays a man who is on the edge of losing it on the biggest day of his GM career. By the end of the movie, both my wife and daughter had joined me to see how things wrapped up and asked questions to be caught up on what they missed. There are many many ESPN cameos and interesting characters. Draft Day was an excellent movie and never seemed to have a slow point. Draft Day gets 4.5 Mick Happies.

Moms' Night Out - We followed up the sports movies with a comedy about stressed moms and incompetent dads thinking that would be fun. The Andrew and Jon Erwin directed film includes some familiar actors/actresses/celebrities including Patricia Heaton (who we liked from Everybody Loves Raymond), Sean Astin and Trace Adkins. Sarah Drew plays the lead, Allyson, who is losing her mind trying to deal with 3 kids and needs a break. What follows is a car crash of a night as Allyson and two friends try to get a little down time. The movie started off well and hit many of the right notes with some sharp (and accurate) portrayal of the modern stay-at-home overworked mom. It then proceeds to be less fun as the film progresses with the husbands being nearly useless - it's bad with the men without kids are the ones with the most common sense. Trace Adkins is fun as Bones, a tattoo artist the ladies run into. Another quibble with the film is that it is a bit over the top with the presentation of Christian values - I am completely okay with faith-based films, but this one tends to get a little preachy at times and wastes screen time that could have been used for more laughs or wrapping up minor plot points. Overall, Moms' Night Out was the weakest of the films this weekend at 2 Mick Happies.

Hackers - Last but not least, my wife wanted to end on a proven good movie after Moms' Night Out didn't quite leave us happy. Hackers is the classic 1995 film written by Rafael Moreu, directed by Iain Softley and starring none other than Jonny Lee Miller and Angeline Jolie (both looking very much like teenagers - or at least early 20-somethings). The film also has Jesse Bradford and Matthew Lillard along with Lorraine Bracco and Marc Anthony (yep, that one). This is the fictional story of some high school hackers who get into some trouble when they tap into the wrong company's computer and have to fight the company and the FBI to save themselves. Miller plays a hacker who 7 years previously had been indicted for crashing over 1,500 computer systems with a virus. Jolie plays his present day nemesis and, of course, erstwhile love interest. As I said before, this is a classic. There is chain-smoking teenagers, weird outfits, edgy computer geekery, a laughable visualization of the interior of a computer system and generally a lot of fun. Including one of our favorite lines ever about Spandex. You can't go wrong with a movie that has a character named Cereal Killer who proclaims "Look at that pooper". Hackers is a must see if you haven't already and gets 5 Mick Happies. If only 1995 was really like that.

DVD Quick Reviews - Attack of the 3.5 Mick Happy Movies

Feeling a bit lazy this week, probably due to too many hours playing Path of Exile, so here are some quick reviews of movies I have seen on DVD lately. All of the movies are out and available in the US through Netflix (and other sources).

I don't know about your house, but in our house we like to tease each other regarding our celebrity "girl/boyfriend" - those celebrities we think each of us secretly wants to end up with. This game tends to be more fun for my wife who has decided that there are several actresses I secretly want to date and there are very few actors that she cares about. Her ideal man would be Al Giordino from the Dirk Pitt series of novels by Clive Cussler. Basically a capable, no-nonsense, hands on guy with snarky humor who helps get the job done without having to have all the ego of the main character.  Which brings me to this week's movies - two of which star one of our girlfriend/boyfriend celebrities.

Byzantium - Neil Jordan's (The Crying Game) 2013 vampire movie starring Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan. In modern day, we follow two woman, who look like sisters, as they move from one town to another avoiding discovery. This is a moody and sometimes violent movie that plays with the vampire idea (yes they can walk in the daylight - though they don't seem to like it). It is an interesting film, but a little angsty. My wife thought I only got this movie since it had my "girlfriend", Gemma Arterton, in it. Byzantium gets 3.5 Mick Happies. P.s., if you want to see more of Saoirse Ronan doing a fantastic job in a really good movie, check out Hanna.

The Heat - Paul Feig's follow up to Bridesmaids stars Sandra Bullock as an up-tight FBI agent who has to work with a shoot from the hip detective played by Melissa McCarthy. This straight-up buddy comedy takes us along for the ride as these two learn how to work together to stop a drug ring in Boston. There are laughs here and awkward moments but overall a fun movie. Not as funny as say The Proposal, but worth watching. Doesn't hurt that it had my wife's "girlfriend", Sandra Bullock, in it. The Heat gets 3.5 Mick Happies.

Pacific Rim - We round out this post with Guillermo del Toro's homage to the Japanese Kaiju (monster) movie. Here, gargantuan monsters invade Earth from a inter-dimensional portal under the Pacific Ocean and wreck havoc on the countries in the Pacific Rim. Enter the Jaeger (hunter) program consisting of giant robots piloted by two humans who have melded their consciousnesses to allow them to work together to run the huge machines. The rest of the movie is about mankind's fight to stave off these monsters and save the world. Standard science fiction fare here with some humor, an obligatory love interest story line and a guy who was a cocky hero, fell out and has to come back to try to save the day. There are some cliched bits to the story and nothing here is overly surprising. But it is a visually great film and there are lots of fun battle scenes if that is what you like. All in all, I give Pacific Rim 3.5 Mick Happies.

There you have it. A post full of celebrity girlfriends, action, comedy, vampires and giant robots. What more could you ask for?

Butter Review

Butter is a small budget film written by Jason A. Micallef and directed by Jim Field Smith. Butter is the story of a butter sculpting competition in Iowa where a young girl in foster care competes against the overly ambitious wife of a former 15-time Iowa state butter sculpting champion.

The movie has an all-star cast including Jennifer Garner, Hugh Jackman, Olivia Wilde, Ty Burrell, Alicia Silverstone, Rob Corddry and Ashley Greene. In Butter, Jennifer Garner is looking to parley her husband’s success carving butter into political success, but is derailed when her husband stops competing. Not willing to let things go, she decides to compete herself. Laura’s (Garner) dreams of the future are challenged by newcomer, Destiny; played well by Yara Shahidi, who has a talent for sculpting butter. Many of the funniest parts of the movie involve the side plots featuring a stripper played by Olivia Wilde. Silverstone and Corddry do well as Destiny’s foster parents.

Butter shows you several amazing sculptures made out of butter (my drawing above recreates on of the funniest, “the Scarlet Letter”).  The scene that I liked the best from the film is when Rob Corddry is sitting in the parking lot about to send Destiny in to sign up for a butter competition. They get into a fantastic conversation about how to deal with being nervous by imaging what is the worst thing that could happen when Destiny walks through that door (great parenting in my book).

Be warned, this movie is R rated – mainly for what the characters say and a couple of adult situations. It is worth your time and is available on DVD (I saw it on DVD from Netflix). Definitely worth spending 90 minutes to see – especially if you like the actors listed above. I give Butter three and a half Mick Happies. Here is the trailer for you to enjoy – it will give you a good sense of how the movie goes:

Chuck Season 5 (DVD) Review

It was slightly bittersweet catching up on the final season of Chuck on DVD over the past few weeks. On one hand it was nice to finally see the episodes and see how the show would end and on the other it was like saying goodbye to a fun friend for the last time.

Chuck, created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak, is the story of a smart “nerd” (Chuck, played by Zachary Levi) who has a government database (the Intersect) downloaded into his head and over time becomes a spy. It is also the story of his family, friends, handlers and co-workers who all are part of his normal and spy life over the course of the five seasons of the show. Chuck never takes itself too seriously and while there are poignant moments, for the most part it is a fun comedy with action and unique characters thrown in.

Season 5 finds Chuck and his team no longer working for the CIA and trying to make it on their own as independent contract spies. The season also explores what it is like when Chuck doesn’t have the Intersect…will he be a spy without it? We also get to see Morgan (played by Joshua Gomez) take up the spy and deal with the Intersect.

Some of my favorite parts of Chuck often have to do with the other characters in the show, the people working at the Buy More – Big Mike (Mark Christopher Lawrence), Jeff (Scott Krinsky) and Lester (Vik Sahay), Chuck’s Sister (Sarah Lancaster) and her husband Captain Awesome (Ryan McPartlin). These characters often get involved in Chuck’s spy missions without even knowing what they are caught up in and help save the day (or make it more difficult). Probably the best thing that can be said is that the characters of Chuck are the type of people you would want to hang out with and Chuck makes an electronics store like the Buy More look like a fun place to work.

The only downside for me was that it was the last season and it was over too soon (but doesn’t feel rushed). The show definitely stayed fun the whole way. The final episode was great. Almost like a clip show, but not. On the DVDs, you get an extended cut of the final episode in the Extras, it doesn’t change the story, but adds some length to many of the scenes that just give you more time with the characters before they are gone. You may even get to see Jeffster one last time.

Chuck is a fun show and hopefully will find life with a follow up movie sometime in the future. I didn’t mention them above, but Yvonne Strahovski and Adam Baldwin are great as Sarah Walker and John Casey. If you haven’t seen Chuck, go get the DVDs (Netflix, buy, however you need to). If you have seen Chuck but not Season 5, what are you waiting for? Chuck gets four Mick Happies. Don’t forget to look through the extras on the DVDs – seeing the Buy More set broken down (was a little sad) and the cast discussing where they thought the characters would be in the future  (was interesting) and of course the bloopers (fun). Now, when can I call the Nerd Herd to do some work for me?