Tag: Kevin Hernandez

Short Term 12 came out to theaters in August of 2013…if you were lucky, I guess. I kind of forgot that it existed, because it came no where close to my area. In fact, when it eventually came out on DVD, I didn’t rush to see it. Didn’t pass through my mind at all.

But a friend of mine requested I watch it, and as always, I try to honor these sacred review requests. They are probably more important to me godfather based responsibilities. So I watched it, and I immediately hated my friend because this film was good. And that meant I would end up writing a more serious review about how good and under appreciated the movie was, instead of a nice review ripping it apart. Sigh.

Two people per bike? Shit, they must be poor.

Short Term 12 takes place at a foster home of sorts for at risk teens. Just a bunch of basically guidance counselors watching over them throughout the days. It isn’t meant to be a long term place for them, usually at most 12 months (boom title). One of the main counselors is Grace (Brie Larson), who came from her own troubled past and can easily relate with some of the kids. She is dating another long term counselor, Mason (John Gallagher Jr.). The movie begins with a new counselor joining the team, Nate (Rami Malek) so they can go over all the things they do here. Anyone else? Yeah, there is also Jessica (Stephanie Beatriz), known for being the hard ass on Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Anyways. Troubled kids. And Grace has her own problems, like pregnancy.

This week is a big one! Marcus (Lakeith Lee Stanfield) is about to turn 18 and thus go out into the real world! We also have Luis (Kevin Hernandez), his enemy. And Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever), a new girl who came from an abusive home, but won’t admit it.

So. Can Grace really help these kids? Or is she too messed up to really help them at all? Or even worse, is she able to help the kids, but not able to being only a counselor?

Dontmakeatimeofthemonthjoke. Dontmakeatimeofthemonthjoke. Dontmakeatimeofthemonthjoke.

Ooooh damn. Like I said in my intro, I was mad that this film was so good. Because I became instantly disappointed. Did the Academy care about this movie? No, of course not. Just like they ignored Rush, and The Place Beyond The Pines, and Pain & Gain. Hmm, some of those might not be in the same caliber.

But this was pretty fantastic in the realism realm. Characters had problems. No one was perfect. The problems weren’t easy to solve and maybe they weren’t solved by the end. Brie Larson was an amazing lead and made this film her bitch. It was exciting to see John Gallagher Jr. in something other than The Newsroom.

Give this film a watch if you want to see something that was totally off the radar as far as I can tell, and pretty dang good.

Mel Gibson‘s real life antics have seemed to put a dimmer on his movie career.

The Beaver came out right after or before one of those recorded racist rants of his, which obviously heart the film monetarily, despite being awesome and Jodie Foster‘s first real try and directing.

He even got kicked out of The Hangover Part II, but that was probably better for him in the long.

Presumably, the same backlash has affected viewings of Get The Gringo, an action movie that came out a year ago, that I have heard maybe one or two people ever talk about.

I personally blame it on his strange ability to look like an adult Eddie Munster.

The Gringo (Gibson) is nicknamed that because he is white, and in a Mexican prison. Why? Well, the film opens with him and a partner getting chased by the cops. They ram through the Mexican border, and crash. Then they get caught by corrupt Mexican police, who give him false charges, and take the $2 million in cash in his vehicle!

The prison he is sent to isn’t a normal prison either. It is a ghetto. You can’t just leave, but their are apartments and stores, and its own viable economy set up in the area. It doesn’t have police roaming the streets either, just outside, so people can basically do what they want and they police themselves. Because of the set up, there are even kids in the prison, born and grown up in this area. Like, for instance, Kid (Kevin Hernandez), a kid here who sees Gringo steal some cash. Whoops.

Well, something is special about this kid, because The Gringo eventually finds out that no one is willing to hurt him or wrong him. Very interesting indeed. Must have something to do with one of the bigger criminals in the joint, Javi (Daniel Gimenez Cacho).

Oh well, Gringo just has to find away to escape, get his money back, and punish the people who set him up. Not too bad. Also featuring Peter Stormare, Dolores Heredia, and some Dean Norris action.

Yep. Two main characters, neither given real names.

Get The Gringo is indeed a strange movie, in that it has comedy. Or non intended comedy. I am not sure. Let’s say it is all intended.

Not in the “Oh its so bad that it is funny” or “so ridiculous/awkward that it is funny” but like, legitimate humorous scenes and narration by Gibson to entertain on a not so action-y level. Which is surprising, because of the three genres listed on IMDB, none of them are comedy. That is silly, I laughed a ton.

Get The Gringo’s first half was strangely entertaining for me. The Gringo was placed in a strange world and he had to use his wits and “charisma” to get him places, and everything seemed to work out.

Unfortunately, the ending and second half left me a bit more bored than I would have liked. I enjoyed the eventual escape that occured, and how it went down, just felt a lot of the build up to get to it was a too dull for me. Too much mindless shooting, not enough sexy shooting. I think most people would enjoy this movie more than me, and it certainly is worth a gander for those who enjoy action with non slapstick comedy.

Here is something I won’t do with The Sitter. I won’t complain about it being similar to Adventures In Babysitting. That seems to be a big complaint. After all, there cannot be more than two movies about babysitting in a 20some year span. That would be crazy. Just like there is only one cop show every 20 years.

Can’t even compare their directors, as The Sitter was directed by the guy who did Pineapple Express, so he is already established. The guy who directed Adventures In Babysitting was doing his first movie ever, and only went on to direct some Harry Potters, Home Alone, Rent, and Percy Jackson. Holy shit, that guy is awesome.

I guess it makes sense that his name is Chris Columbus too, given his ground breaking movies.

Jonah Hill is a bum. Well, kind of. He lives with his mom, after kind of taking a break from college, and has no job or anything going on. He’d rather sit around all day than do anything productive. Or you know, hang out with his “girlfriend”, Ari Graynor, who lets him go down on her! And that is about all they do. Shit.

But when his mom’s future love life is in jeopardy because her friends can’t find a sitter, he reluctantly volunteers. Afterall, he just has to sit in the house and get paid. Just three kids too. The oldest, Slater (Max Records), seems to be bad socially, the daughter, Blithe (Landry Bender), who is going through some wanna be celebrity party phase, and their adopted son, Rodrigo (Kevin Hernandez), who sets off firecrackers and has a bad attitude.

But his girlfriend calls up, asking him to come out and party, and bring her some cocaine (for her friend, not her), and then they can have real sex! Well, time to grab the kids and go! Anything dealing with drugs is probably bad, so when he tries to get the stuff from her friend Karl (Sam Rockwell, who yes, dances in this movie) things go from bad to worse.

Race relations, people with guns, diamond stealing, bathrooms exploding, Bat Mitzvah crashing, and you know, meeting old friends in the form of an old college buddy who just wants to hang out and watch a cool geologic storm with him (hint, true love, played by Kylie Bunbury).

This is also the last movie to feature “Fat Jonah Hill”.

There is a rumor that formerly fat people can’t be funny. That isn’t true, we found that out with 21 Jump Street. But it should be noted that fat people aren’t always funny. This movie being a big example of it.

Was there some funny moments? Sure, but they were few and far between. It was also entirely predictable, and well, just lame. Sequences of the movie didn’t even make sense, one notable part involving a pull over from the police. They didn’t even try to explain that event later in the movie, was just stupid.

Most of the humor derives around Jonah Hill cursing at or around kids, and them possibly doing it back. Hell, even Sam Rockwell’s character wasn’t that funny. I think the best character was the gay roller blading assistant. Name is maybe Julio. Maybe.