"I love it when a plan comes together."
Saw The A-Team tonight. I fully admit that I saw it for Bradley Cooper. I like Liam Neeson, Sharlto Copley and Patrick Wilson but Bradley Cooper makes it all go away. I just skimmed through all my entries on him (sample quote from 2007: "Why aren't you really famous yet?") and I have loved him for a really long time! Like five years! I do feel kind of like a fraud since I didn't watch "Alias" in its original run, but considering the thing that got me into Bradley Cooper was a TV show that absolutely nobody watched, I think I'm good.
Cooper plays ladies' man Face (a commenter on EW said they should call him "Gay Face" which I don't think is right; the barking frat-boy demeanor belies those baby blues) and although this is not exactly the role that will make everyone realize what a major talent he is, he's just so enjoyable to watch. He positively glows with megawatt movie star charm. There's a great scene in the movie in which he gets trapped in a tanning booth. Just another reason for him to be shirtless. Bring it on. I was hoping to see him seduce more women (request for the sequel?) but I did enjoy him putting on a fake British accent while wearing a pink scarf. Gave me "Alias" flashbacks. I just love him so much. I am thrilled that he's getting so famous even if it means I have to see crappy action movies. Even a bad review made me giggle: "he grins so smugly that he looks like he's just seen the grosses of The Hangover."
I was pleasantly surprised that Sharlto Copley kind of stole the movie. I really like him. He was very funny in this movie. He had a pretty believable Southern accent, although he slipped up in a few later scenes. In one scene he randomly used his real South African accent; in another he did a dead-on Mel Gibson-in-Braveheart; in another he spoke Swahili. It was badass. I'm a fan.
The dude playing Baracus was kind of lame, but the character sort of sucked. He's afraid of flying and anti-violence? Wasn't Mr. T, like, really hardcore? I'll admit that my knowledge of "The A-Team" begins and ends with Mr. T. I actually thought the character's name was Mr. T, so I'm really unsure of where the character ends and Mr. T begins. This dude had a mohawk but didn't wear crazy gold jewelry or say "I pity the fool!" I guess they didn't want a lame impersonator but the actor barely even registered. I read that they wanted to cast a big rap star but he sucked really hard in the audition (I'm guessing 50 Cent). That's unfortunate since they really needed someone with presence. I kind of wish they had just replaced him with a girl because Jessica Biel's character was no fun at all.
Liam Neeson was reliable as ever (I secretly love to see great Actors slumming it in Hollywood trash). Patrick Wilson had fun playing against type a bit as something of a dim-witted CIA asshole. His name isn't listed on imdb, that's weird. He had kind of a big part...
Overall, the movie was not as bad as I was expecting it to be. It was a dumb action movie with a lot of boring explosive set pieces and really obvious plot twists (many that were given away in the trailer), but there were also quite a few laughs. The $13 I spent on this movie (yes, they raised the prices again!) were totally worth it for the penultimate scene in which JON FUCKING HAMM appeared out of nowhere and basically announced that he is the villain in the next movie. JON HAMM! First of all, I have always wanted a surprise celeb cameo in a movie, but it's so hard to pull that off in the age of spoilers and the internet and everything. Everyone knew to wait until the credits of Iron Man were over so we could see Samuel L. Jackson. Secondly, after Iron Man 2 I thought it would be MIND-BLOWINGLY AWESOME if Jon Hamm just showed up in a post-credits scene as Captain America. "The whole crowd would lose their minds!" I told Katie. So when Jon Hamm just showed up at the end of this movie, uncredited, and the crowd didn't react at all, I just kept hitting Katie going "WHAT WHAT WHAT." My mind, she is BLOWN. The only way it could have been more awesome would have been if the character's name was "Draper," but then I think we would have suspected something instead of being so totally shocked. Thanks for reading my journal, Joe Carnahan. You're awesome. Can't wait for The A-Team 2!
GO SEE THIS MOVIE, PEOPLE. You'll thank me later, I promise.
Cooper plays ladies' man Face (a commenter on EW said they should call him "Gay Face" which I don't think is right; the barking frat-boy demeanor belies those baby blues) and although this is not exactly the role that will make everyone realize what a major talent he is, he's just so enjoyable to watch. He positively glows with megawatt movie star charm. There's a great scene in the movie in which he gets trapped in a tanning booth. Just another reason for him to be shirtless. Bring it on. I was hoping to see him seduce more women (request for the sequel?) but I did enjoy him putting on a fake British accent while wearing a pink scarf. Gave me "Alias" flashbacks. I just love him so much. I am thrilled that he's getting so famous even if it means I have to see crappy action movies. Even a bad review made me giggle: "he grins so smugly that he looks like he's just seen the grosses of The Hangover."
I was pleasantly surprised that Sharlto Copley kind of stole the movie. I really like him. He was very funny in this movie. He had a pretty believable Southern accent, although he slipped up in a few later scenes. In one scene he randomly used his real South African accent; in another he did a dead-on Mel Gibson-in-Braveheart; in another he spoke Swahili. It was badass. I'm a fan.
The dude playing Baracus was kind of lame, but the character sort of sucked. He's afraid of flying and anti-violence? Wasn't Mr. T, like, really hardcore? I'll admit that my knowledge of "The A-Team" begins and ends with Mr. T. I actually thought the character's name was Mr. T, so I'm really unsure of where the character ends and Mr. T begins. This dude had a mohawk but didn't wear crazy gold jewelry or say "I pity the fool!" I guess they didn't want a lame impersonator but the actor barely even registered. I read that they wanted to cast a big rap star but he sucked really hard in the audition (I'm guessing 50 Cent). That's unfortunate since they really needed someone with presence. I kind of wish they had just replaced him with a girl because Jessica Biel's character was no fun at all.
Liam Neeson was reliable as ever (I secretly love to see great Actors slumming it in Hollywood trash). Patrick Wilson had fun playing against type a bit as something of a dim-witted CIA asshole. His name isn't listed on imdb, that's weird. He had kind of a big part...
Overall, the movie was not as bad as I was expecting it to be. It was a dumb action movie with a lot of boring explosive set pieces and really obvious plot twists (many that were given away in the trailer), but there were also quite a few laughs. The $13 I spent on this movie (yes, they raised the prices again!) were totally worth it for the penultimate scene in which JON FUCKING HAMM appeared out of nowhere and basically announced that he is the villain in the next movie. JON HAMM! First of all, I have always wanted a surprise celeb cameo in a movie, but it's so hard to pull that off in the age of spoilers and the internet and everything. Everyone knew to wait until the credits of Iron Man were over so we could see Samuel L. Jackson. Secondly, after Iron Man 2 I thought it would be MIND-BLOWINGLY AWESOME if Jon Hamm just showed up in a post-credits scene as Captain America. "The whole crowd would lose their minds!" I told Katie. So when Jon Hamm just showed up at the end of this movie, uncredited, and the crowd didn't react at all, I just kept hitting Katie going "WHAT WHAT WHAT." My mind, she is BLOWN. The only way it could have been more awesome would have been if the character's name was "Draper," but then I think we would have suspected something instead of being so totally shocked. Thanks for reading my journal, Joe Carnahan. You're awesome. Can't wait for The A-Team 2!
GO SEE THIS MOVIE, PEOPLE. You'll thank me later, I promise.