Shmee.Me

July 8, 2015July 8, 2015

Shmee Casts The Young Han Solo!!!!

So I am going to get this out of the way right quick, Chris Pratt is not on this list. Disney is already paying him to play Han Solo in Guardians of the Galaxy, so I am not going to let him double dip, and honestly his name comes up first for everything these days, thus I have a little Chris Pratt fatigue. I actually struggled with this list a little because you need that certain smarmy charm to pull off the famed smuggler, so I had to ask The Paladin what he thought because if you need to know about hot young leading men in Hollywood you ask The Paladin. He knows. I kid, though I did ask him. We agreed on number one, and right off the bat number five was his choice, so here we go!

5: Taron Egerton

He was able to be the likable thug in Kingsman, so changing that to be a smuggler should be an easy adjustment. Plus he is still at the beginning of his career, so the paycheck wouldn’t sink the movie before it started.

4: Shawn Ashmore

I still have a hard time telling him and his brother apart, but Shawn Ashmore is the better actor. He should be done being Ice Man for X-Men for the time being, and he has a great resume. He usually plays things serious, but I think he could make Solo work. He would just need to be a better version of his brother from Killjoys (sorry Aaron, I really like Killjoys though).

3: Emile Hirsch

My problem with Emile Hirsch is that I am not sure he can smile on screen, but the photo above proves he at least has the concept down, and Han mostly smirks anyway. Really he is on this list because of Speed Racer. If you were in Speed Racer I want you to succeed. I am not sure there is anything more successful than Han Solo.

2: Liam Hemsworth

Liam Hemsworth hasn’t sold himself to me as an actor yet, though he hasn’t had a lot to work with in the Hunger Games movies, but he is just so dang dreamy. How can you not get lost in his eyes. Quit mesmerizing me you Australian siren! If he has any acting chops at all he would make a great Han Solo. Though I would be worried he would smuggle away the hearts of my wife and daughter.

1: Chris Pine

In the end there was only ever one choice for the new Solo, Chris Pine. I know he is Kirk already, but he just has the perfect devilish charm that you could hate and love all at the same time. Plus his version of Kirk was pretty much Han Solo anyway, so this would just confirm it. I know that is why I said I didn’t want Pratt to do it, but Pine doesn’t work for Disney just yet. The only real reason I can see him not doing this movie is because he may be the Green Lantern soon, or in Wonder Woman. Possibly both. Anyway that would be a huge loss for this new solo, Solo flick because he is perfect.

That is my list. Who do you think should be the new Han Solo? Let me know!

July 6, 2015July 6, 2015

In Search For The Theory Of Everything!

The 2014 film The Theory of Everything directed by James Marsh is a sweet look in the to the lives of Jane and Stephen Hawking. The sweet part I was expecting, but the fact they didn’t gloss over the troubles of their lives is what made this movie special. Instead of showing the Hawkings as some sort of gods among men, beyond reproach. It just showed them as people, flaws and all.

The Theory of Everything starts when the couple met in college at Cambridge, and then follows them through Stephen’s (Eddie Redmayne) diagnosis, and of course his scientific discoveries. It also shows how Jane (Felicity Jones) had to work hard and sacrifice everything to keep Stephen alive and give him the family they wanted. However, if you are expecting a fairytale ending, you will disappointed.

While I was watching The Theory of Everything, I almost wanted it to end like thirty minutes earlier just so everyone would live happily ever after, but this move shows us the warts of Stephen and Jane’s relationship as well as the joys. While I am not sure how much they changed of the real story to pretty it up for theater going audiences, at least they didn’t fall in the trap of making the characters perfect. Biographies always work better if the people on screen seem like people. AKA flawed.

Of course a good story is important for biographies, but actors are key. We need to see those figures we know come to life on screen, and Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones played their parts brilliantly. Especially Eddie (I guess he did win the Oscar for a reason). To watch him slowly succumb to ALS was an amazing transformation. Though Jones playing the dutiful, but exhausted wife was also perfectly on point.

After recently watching this film and Birdman, I was surprised that The Theory of Everything wasn’t more in the running for the Oscar for Film of the Year. I guess people like their films a little jazzier than I do. The Theory of Everything is a movie that is well worth your time, and if you watch The Theory of Everything, you may learn a little something about time as well. Actually you won’t. You will need to read Steven Hawking’s book for that.

July 2, 2015July 2, 2015

Do You Want To Know How To Train Your Dragon 2?

I wonder if DreamWorks knew they had a hit on their hands when the first How to Train Your Dragon came out? I am guessing since it took four years to make a sequel, probably not, but after the success of How to Train Your Dragon 2 they are making up for that now with a weekly cartoon show, and sequels planned out until the end of time. Luckily for us at least the movies are pretty good.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 picks up a few years after the first, and life is just about prefect on Berk. The dragons love their new masters, and they help the people of Berk do just about everything. Think the dinosaurs from the Flintstones, or at least that is where my mind went to when I saw it. Though Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is still restless and wants to explore with his dragon Toothless, and to see what is beyond their little island. On his adventures he learns there are people that may want to do his people and his dragons harm.

The story was a good follow up to the first one, and it flowed well. However, even though the dragons were bigger and badder this time around, the stakes seemed to feel smaller. Like the threat wasn’t as real. They really pushed the family aspect of this film too, which was nice, but I think it kept the movie from feeling as epic as they wanted it to be.

The voice acting talent all returned for How to Train Your Dragon 2, so it continued to be good. No odd sounding Berkians here. The new additions, Kit Harington and Cate Blanchett, were great, and they will be good to have in the series from now on. Though honestly when is having Cate Blanchett in your movie not a good idea? Never. She should be in everything.

DreamWorks has been looking for a cartoon series to replace Shrek for quite some time now, and I think they finally have it with How to Train Your Dragon. Two just proved that the formula will continue to work for more sequels. I am not sure that I think How to Train Your Dragon 2 was better than the first one like by friend Daniel did, but it was a worthy follow up that has me feeling okay about this becoming a long term series.

June 30, 2015

The Paladin wants off Fury

Fury came out in 2014, starring Brad Pitt, motivational speaker Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Pena, and Jon “Shane” Bernthal as the tank crew of the Sherman Battle Tank FURY. I’ll cut to the chase… I didn’t like it. Fury when it is an actual war movie is tense and brutal. Fury when it is being introspective is awful and stupid. The fighting is done in the new style of Hollywood war films – brutal, bloody, and dirty. This makes the climatic set piece, the part we suffer through the rest of the movie to get to, really quite good. The battle is intense, swinging from hope to despair and then back again with each attack. It’s that desperate Alamo-like last stand we just love in ’MERICA!!! The rest of the movie is the standard Hollywood post-Vietnam war movie that makes every effort to suck the heroism and even humanity out of the soldiers the movie is portraying. Except for Lerman’s wide-eyed clerk turned machine gunner, the rest of the crew of Fury are terrible people. Even the soldiers around and intertwined with the events of the film are terrible people. I don’t doubt that American soldiers killed prisoners in World War 2, but I find fault with the movie’s depiction of soldiers reveling in it.

To me the film was trying to show how war changes those who fight in it, but it does it without us seeing who the men were before the war. For all we know they were all terrible people, the Army just gave them license to kill. So we don’t see the loving family man, the idealistic college student, the friendly mechanic, or the pride of the family go off to war and have their lives forever changed. HBO’s Band of Brothers and American Sniper do a much better job at showing how war changes lives, without glorifying war or wrapping war up in an idealistic American flag.

June 29, 2015June 29, 2015

The Risks Of A Deadly Adoption!

Well you have to hand it to Lifetime, at least they were smart enough to be in on the joke. A Deadly Adoption makes fun of their cheesy melodramatic movies perfectly. Had Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig went full on farce, this movie never would have worked, but instead Ferrell and Wiig played it straight. Proving that in the right context Lifetime Original movies are funny enough on their own.

A Deadly Adoption is about a rich couple, (Ferrell and Wiig) that after a tragic dock accident at their diabetic daughter’s one year birthday party are no longer able to have kids, so when a seemingly nice young pregnant woman (Jessica Lowndes) arrives from the adoption agency they invite her in to their home for her last trimester (it is the only logical thing to do). Things get deadly, as the title promises, after that as you can assume.

This story was perfect for a spoof of Lifetime movies. The tragic accident was nothing more then a slip in to the lake, Jessica Lowndes character’s motivations didn’t make a lick of sense, and they talked about the daughter’s diabetes non-stop just in case you somehow misted it. Plus they assure you that it is all based on a true story. I assume they took it on faith that at some point a pregnant woman has fallen in a lake. I don’t know who green-lit A Deadly Adoption, but they deserve a hug.

Ferrell and Wiig play the leads with the perfect amount of over the top serious cheese. If you didn’t know who they were you may even get through A Deadly Adoption thinking it was just another Lifetime Original with some even odder than normal moments. However, just their presences in this movie makes it hysterical. It is like them being in it gives you the freedom to laugh at the craziness of this movie, and the Lifetime movie formula in general.

I am sure this movie will be replayed a lot by Lifetime, so if you missed it, do yourself a favor and watch it next time it is on, or rent it when it comes out to DVD or VOD. It is not often people are intelligent enough to make fun of themselves, but Lifetime really went for it by getting Ferrell and Co to do A Deadly Adoption for them. They actual made a Lifetime Original must watch TV by making fun of Lifetime Originals. I can only hope someone over at Hallmark was watching!