#48 Valentine's Day
Garry Marshall, I feel for you. You're known for highlighting your favorite actors repeatedly in your films (see: Julia Roberts, Hector Elizondo, Anne Hathaway, Kathleen Marshall [your daughter]) - and I like seeing my favorite actors repeatedly in films, so we have that in common.
I'll admit, I've seen this movie twice, once on its eponymous day and once as a fairly recent rental. I've had a soft spot for Bradley Cooper since Alias and it was great to see him redeem himself from the *spoiler alert* two-timing cad (blast you Jennifer Connelly for being just so crazy in that film and ScarJo for being hideously costumed, although I do like your recent bob) he played in another ensemble film that B simply loved, He's Just Not That Into You (nice character name, btw). And I rather enjoyed the characters played by Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Garner, Hector, Emma Roberts (way too mature for a high schooler), Kristin Schaal (now officially in everything) and, of course, Ashton. All in all, I'm not saying it's fine cinema, but I found it to be an enjoyable 125 minutes of my life that I don't regret devoting (twice) to some by-the-book rom-com escapism. G, if you could back slightly away from the tropes for New Year's Eve, I might actually be tempted to watch - though, to be fair, not at the midnight showing on December 31. With both Ashton Kutcher and Jessica Biel playing different characters this time around, I think that might be more than I could handle with a champagne cocktail or two under my belt.
#47 The Losers
This one was my fault - or, rather, the fault of the Redbox description:
An explosive action tale of betrayal and revenge, The Losers centers around an elite Special Forces unit sent to the Bolivian jungle on a search-and-destroy mission. But the team – Clay, Jensen, Roque, Pooch and Cougar – soon find that they have become the target of a deadly double cross instigated by a powerful enemy known only as Max.
It sounds like the poor man's The A Team (again with the Bradley Cooper!), with Zoe Saldana standing in for Jessica Biel - and who doesn't like Zoe Saldana? But, alas, there were no action-packed *spoiler alert* plummeting tank scenes in The Losers. There was only darkness, and despair, and a shot of ZS in some undies reflected slow-motion style in a shard of broken mirror, which I believe was a highlight for B, though it didn't do enough to counteract the general gratuitous violence (which, for an action comedy, is saying a lot).
Mulhern's review reminded me that there were some lighthearted moments and laugh-out-loud lines in this film - after all, it boasted the classic word-combine "BlaGyver!" - but my overall impression was that I should have opted for a second viewing of The A Team.
