Projected Opinions

You’ve heard it before, I’ll tell you again: Brad Bird’s Mission: Impossible -Ghost Protocol is the best of the series. The action is incredibly well done and the script is much less convoluted than past installments. Bird really accomplished his mission at tackling his first live-action movie. Many people love this director’s work and don’t even realize that he is the man behind Ratatouille, The Incredibles and The Iron Giant. It is clear that he has talent and can put together some great, animated films. Now I am fully confident that the man can make an awesome, large-scale, action-packed blockbuster and I hope he continues his career in both animation and live-action filmmaking. Tom Cruise played the same, familiar character of Ethan Hunt, but this time he was surrounded with some great new characters. Among this killer supporting cast is the character of Benji, the man with all the gadgets and intel. Benji is played by Simon Pegg who I have to admit is a favorite actor of mine, but he plays the role very well. It made me very happy to see some great comedic relief in a Mission: Impossible movie. I was worried that the jokes could get really hokey or that the script would be riddled with cheesy one-liners, but that is not the case. The script is solid and the laughs are genuine. Jeremy Renner was another highlight as the new character of Brandt, an ex-agent who gets thrown back into the mix of things by Ethan Hunt. He brings an interesting new source of personal drama for our hero, Hunt, which I will not spoil. The only negative thing I have to say about the movie is that the bad guy is not scary enough. Sure, the threat he poses to the world is great and creates a good problem for our guys to solve, but the character of Hendricks himself isn’t threatening enough. The part is played by Michael Nyqvist whose only facial expression seems to be a blank stare with protruding lips. Not terrorizing at all. Maybe I just feel spoiled because in the third Mission we had a very creepy Phillip Seymore Hoffman as the villain. This time our villain just lacks that special something that great bad guys have. Other than that small part, the movie is a blast! Go see it! -Tiernan

brendan-griffin asked: YO WHY YOU GOIN SOFT ON ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIMPWRECKED? NO REVIEW? IS IT THEREFORE PERFECT? SOLD OUT, YO! FIRST! SUCKADICK.

Oh, I’ll see Chipwrecked! Don’t you worry about that. Although I’ve never seen the first two, I will see the third just for you as soon as it comes out!

            I saw The Sitter because let’s face it, who doesn’t enjoy watching young children do and say inappropriate things to adults? When you add drugs to that equation and life-endangering situations, doesn’t that make any movie more entertaining? These are questions you should ask yourself before seeing The Sitter. If the answer to either of these questions is, “not me” or “no” then don’t see the movie. Even if you choose to stay home and watch the kids before seeing this movie, just remember the significantly important milestone Hollywood has reached with The Sitter: it’s Jonah Hill’s last role as an obese, boyish-looking man. That’s right, next time we’ll see him, it will be next to Channing Tatum in the film adaptation of 21 Jump Street and he’ll be skinny-ish!

            The Sitter is the story of a college drop out named Noah Griffith (Hill) who was recently arrested for a D.U.I. charge and has to find a way to pay back his bail without having a job. Ever so cleverly he decides to start babysitting for his neighbors who have apparently spawned the demon versions of the kids from School of Rock. Surprise, surprise, troubles arise from every which way making it difficult for Noah to baby-sit the kids! Now, don’t get me wrong here, I actually really like Jonah Hill as a comedic actor. I think he has great timing and despite his filthy, filthy style, does great work with improvising lines. The problem with his performance in this movie is that he is completely outshined by the antagonist drug dealer Karl played by Sam Rockwell. Rockwell’s tweaked-out antics are a riot and his gang of steroid-pumped, flamboyant, bodybuilder, cokeheads make for the funniest scenes of the entire movie.

            Director David Gordon Green did a less than fantastic job of putting this movie together. The biggest issue for me was that it felt like a rip off of his other, more successful movie, Pineapple Express. The plot line felt way too similar, but what worked better for Pineapple Express was that it took everything much further over the top. The Sitter had a couple big slumps in the middle that felt more depressing than funny and it took too long to get past them. Either way, he’s still got a talent for directing vulgar comedy and personally, I can’t wait for his third season of the HBO show Eastbound And Down.

See it if you really want to! It’s alright!

-Tiernan

Being able to start off my film reviews with a movie like The Descendants makes me very happy. I am a huge fan of Alexander Payne’s work as a writer and as a director and how can anybody not like the endlessly charming George Clooney? Payne has such an incredible gift for tearing away the wall between watching a character on screen and actually feeling like you know the character on screen and feel what they are going through. He has exhibited this well in his past films like Election, About Schmidt, and Sideways where the characters become so close and personal that you feel like they’ve become a part of your life. The Descendants is no different.

            The Descendants is the story of Matt King (Clooney), a resident of Hawaii whose family owns a large and very valuable plot of land that a lot of investors want to get their hands on. After his wife falls into a coma from a head injury she received from a boating accident, Matt tries to reconnect with his two, young daughters. Shailene Woodley plays Alex King, Matt’s older, teen daughter. These two actors were by far the strongest in the whole ensemble. Don’t get me wrong, their wasn’t a sub-par performance in the entire film, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Clooney and Woodley both got Oscar nominations this year. I would even go so far as to say that this was Clooney’s best performance. I thought that nothing would be able to top his role in last year’s Up In The Air, but I was proven wrong. Never has Clooney played a role so vulnerable and fragile. It’s genuinely hard to watch him go through some of the difficult choices he has to make throughout the story.

            This movie gives the same sense of raw, deep-cutting, human emotion that all of Payne’s films have. The only difference with The Descendants is that there is nowhere near the amount of sharp, funny bits of dialogue and action. This film makes for a much more serious and sad story that is sure to make you writhe in your seat with discomfort over the choices the characters make. There are many moments that I don’t want to spoil because they just hit so incredibly hard. I would be a liar if I said my eyes didn’t get watery at a couple points in the film. Overall, I really loved the movie and can’t wait to see it a second time, even if it puts me through a severe depression.

See it!

-Tiernan

To Anyone Reading This,

I am very glad you made your way to my page, I can see it is very cold out there in the harsh internet and I am hoping you find some comfort and warmth here. If I had any hot cider I would offer some to you, but that won’t be happening. My name is Tiernan O’Rourke and I have set up this page so that you may browse through my future film reviews and any additional reviews involving non-film subjects that I may choose to write about.

I see pretty much everything that comes out these days and if I am missing something you would like to know about, just tell me and I’ll see it and write a review. Now I know you have many choices when deciding on who to trust for your movie recommendations, so thank you for choosing me over all the other hacks who can’t get real jobs. 

Just to Let you know a little more about myself, I am a actor/writer/comedian living in Austin, Texas and I will do my best to keep you interested in this page by posting things like, but not necessarily equal to: jokes, sketches, videos and music. Stay tuned and keep watching movies! 

-Tiernan