The Fabulous Baker Boys

Here is another excellent movie I recently watched again for the shear pleasure of it.

Dave Grusin is as well known for his movie music as John Williams. But you may not know his name. If you like jazz however, you know the Grusin brothers. And no, this movie is most definitely not about them.

Rather, this movie is about a pair of other brothers who are part of the small-time lounge entertainment scene in Seattle in the late 80s. As their act grows stale they add a female vocalist.

Jeff and Beau Bridges play the brothers, and Michelle Pfeiffer plays the singer. The chemistry or lack thereof between the 3 is very good and often quite funny. This is probably my favorite Pfeiffer movie and one of only 2 times she has been nominated for a best actress Oscar. Supposedly Madonna turned this role down because the scrip was too "mushy".

If this is a romantic comedy, it is a fairly dark one. If it is a musical, it is one with some great dialogue. If this is a drama, it has some very funny bits. Either way, enjoy the music and the ride. It is a no stress PG-13 (lots of f-bombs) date movie.

Watch this with someone who remembers Swedish knit leisure suits. Oh my.

Max Payne

Normally, the transition from the little screen to the big screen is awkward at best. In this case going from video game to feature film was not all that bad. Admittedly I had low expectations and have never played any of the Max Payne games. Those who are avid fans of the game may feel different however.

Mark Walhberg is stoic and brooding in this role, which is appropriate. In fact, until the end, he showed almost now emotion at all. Since I have no clue as to how the game character behaves I cannot make that comparison. But I was pleasantly surprised at how this story was told in bits and pieces and we were not given too much information too fast or too slow.

For example we are not told until just the right time about the dark angels who haunt the movie from the beginning. I liked that.

Beau Bridges plays an old family friend with conflicting interests. Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges (no relation) plays a similar character on the other side of the law. Nicely done. Mila Kunis, yeah the voice of Meg Griffin, plays a vague assassin for the Russian mob in New York and factors in more prominently as the movie goes along. Bond girl Olga Kurylenko has a delicious role early in the picture as the sister of the Kunis character and the catalyst that brings Payne and the assassin together. Chris O'Donnell and Donal Logue play interesting characters with too-short screen time.

Watch this movie with someone who has, AND someone who has not played the game, and see how their opinions differ. Let me know?