cult film freak: kevin kline

Written by James M. Tate / 8/10/2015 / No comments / 2015 , diablo cody , drama , jonathan demme , kevin kline , meryl streep , music

MERYL STREEP IN RICKI AND THE FLASH

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2015 rating: **</td></tr>
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Family squabbles can be a nerve-wracking chore, for everyone involved. And that's the word of the day here... involved. Just imagine you hardly know the bickering clan, and are stuck, right off the bat, inside arguments that have more weight than can be lifted by the one person you're supposed to center on, feel for or side with. In this case it's a wannabe has-been rock n' roll singer... that is, she wants to be a has-been but actually, never-was...<br />
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And in the title role, Meryl Streep is given potential to not only cross the line, but to move it along to fit her unpredictable rhythm: to hell with everyone else. She's even a staunch Right Winger, which holds (ultimately wasted) potential for arguments and opinions ala Archie Bunker that can give her a limitless rein of blunt terror. But Ricki's really just a singer in a mediocre bar band, still being judged for, years earlier, taking off on the family; and she refuses to dress normally, not even during a big finale wedding.<br />
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Streep's real life daughter Mamie Gummer as Julie, recently dumped and suffering depression, is so high-strung and opinionated her wild mother fails to be as unpredictable as intended, visually contrasting with ex-husband Kevin Kline's mansion and hardly lifting us above the vapid drama. Meanwhile, 1980's rocker <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2014/11/thanks-mr-larson.html">Rick Springfield</a> (who was an actor before coveting "Jessie's Girl") plays the super nice guy musician in Ricki's corner. And that's part of the problem...<br />
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Our heroine has very few enemies or obstacles within her "uphill climb" as a stranger in a strange land. By the end, this FLASH seems more like a reason for Streep to rock out in-between Lifetime Channel style melodrama, failing to connect with the viewing audience the way like she does that rowdy barroom crowd: they truly adore a woman that we hardly get to know.

2015, diablo cody, drama, jonathan demme, kevin kline, meryl streep, music

MERYL STREEP IN RICKI AND THE FLASH

2015 rating: ** Family squabbles can be a nerve-wracking chore, for everyone involved. And that's the word of the day here... involv...

Written by James M. Tate / 11/02/2013 / No comments / 2013 , comedy , kevin kline , michael douglas , morgan freeman , robert deniro , team-up

REVIEW OF' LAST VEGAS' WITH MICHAEL DOUGLAS & ROBERT DENIRO

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>An old wild bunch of LAST VEGAS Year: 2013</u></td></tr>
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With Robert DeNiro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline in the same movie... as old friends taking a trip to Las Vegas... we either needed a longer backstory/flashback of when they were giddy Brooklyn kids, or no flashback at all (preferred)... Either way it doesn’t matter: LAST VEGAS is a personality driven film…<br />
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Douglas, as Billy, is the confident, womanizing leader while polar opposite DeNiro’s Paddy is the most brooding, and keeps the only dramatic subplot intact… Morgan Freeman as Archie is likable, wise and charming: as usual for Freeman... And Sam, played by Kevin Kline – given free reign to cheat on his progressive wife – is doing his sarcastic “Steve Martin light” shtick, providing bouts of comic relief to a comedy film and, as the only non "legend" herein, seems the most busy as the guys have a<i> bachelor party weekend</i> for Douglas's Billy, geared to marry a spry thirty-one year old, and he’s not as aware of his advanced age as if everyone else… Especially DeNiro's Paddy, who had married the girl Billy loved and is still sore Billy, a confident public speaker along with being extremely wealthy, didn’t make her funeral: to host it. This is as tense as things get… DeNiro holds onto a determined, temperamental stubbornness not without likable pathos – but, within the story, his incessant, grouchy whining can’t ruin the endless party…<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>RATES: ***</u></td></tr>
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The best parts are cliché yet entertaining enough to pass the time, as the boys become hosts at an indoor bikini contest, then VIP’s in a backroom nightclub, which isn't all fun and games: there’s actually a love story, kind of: Mary Steenburgen’s lounge singing Diana (who has aged quite well) provides sporadic heartfelt detours which don't slow down the breezy pace that, although soaked in a formulaic mainstream glow, makes for a genuinely enjoyable getaway: If aspiring to be contentedly mediocre — LAST VEGAS delivers.

2013, comedy, kevin kline, michael douglas, morgan freeman, robert deniro, team-up

REVIEW OF' LAST VEGAS' WITH MICHAEL DOUGLAS & ROBERT DENIRO

An old wild bunch of LAST VEGAS Year: 2013 With Robert DeNiro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline in the same movie... as o...

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