Tim joined Jordana Green Tuesday to review the original series “Hawkeye” (Disney+) and “True Story” (Netflix) on the “Paul and Jordana” show on WCCO-AM. Click to listen below. The segment is brought to you by Michael Bryant and Bradshaw & Bryant.
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for “The KQ92 Morning Show” with Tom Barnard on KQRS-FM, “Paul and Jordana” with Paul Douglas and Jordana Green on WCCO Radio, “It Matters with Kelly Cordes” on WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “Let’s Talk Movies with Tim Lammers” with Tim Matthews on KRWC-AM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere, and reviews streaming programming on WCCO Radio’s “Paul and Jordana” as well. On TV, Tim has made hundreds of guest appearances on NBC affiliate KARE on the news program “KARE 11 News at 11”.
Tim Lammers explains why “1917” is his pick for the best film of 2019 in his review of the World War I epic with Tom Barnard on “The KQ Morning Show” on KQRS-FM. The segment is brought to you by Michael Bryant and Bradshaw & Bryant.
Read Tim’s entire Top 10 list for 2019 below:
No. 10: “Blinded by the Light” – A film that didn’t get the attention it deserves follows the unlikely path of a Pakistani teen who is inspired to pursue his love of writing via the music of Bruce Springsteen. Get ready to see Springsteen’s poetry in a whole new light.
No. 9: “Uncut Gems” – Adam Sandler gets serious for the best performance in his career as a fast-talking jeweler and gambling addict in New York City’s Diamond District who is feeling the heat from loan sharks as an uncut opal he hopes to cash in on goes missing. NBA star Kevin Garnett is impressive playing a heightened version of himself as a member of the Boston Celtics, and Idina Menzel shows she has the dramatic chops apart from the magical singing voice that elevates “Frozen II.”
No. 8: “Avengers: End Game”/”Star Wars: Episode IThe Rise of Skywalker” (tie) – Two epic stories, two emotional conclusions and the end of two eras. “Avengers” ends with a powerful, emotional punch that will leave you in a puddle, while “Skywalker” delivers a satisfying conclusion and assures that The Force will be with us … always.
No. 7: “Joker” – It’s not a comic book movie but instead a deep psychological thriller that will hang with you for days after you see it. Joaquin Phoenix is a shoo-in as this year’s Best Actor Oscar winner as the deranged title character, while writer-director Todd Phillips challenges the Batman story canon with a notably different take on Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen), the father of the future Bat Man, Bruce Wayne.
No. 5: “The Peanut Butter Falcon” – This indie drama about an unlikely friendship between a man with Down syndrome (newcomer Zak Gottsagen) and a damaged troublemaker (Shia LaBeouf) on the lam is the year’s biggest surprise. Gottsagen is phenomenal in the lead and LaBeouf shows while he may have his share of off-screen troubles, he puts it all behind him on the big screen. Dakota Johnson, Thomas Haden Church and Bruce Dern are also impressive in key supporting roles, as the film delivers on all levels.
No. 4: “Toy Story 4” – Just when you thought Disney/Pixar’s marvel couldn’t produce anything to surpass the original film trilogy, Woody, Buzz and the gang come back with a smart, entertaining and sensible end to the world’s greatest toy story.
No. 3: “Ford v. Ferrari” – An incredible look at the Ford Motor Company’s resolve to beat Enzo Ferrari’s race cars at the 24 Hours of LeMans race in the mid-1960s. Matt Damon delivers as usual as race car designer Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale is brilliant as drive Ken Miles, but the true winner of this race car movie is director James Mangold, who straps you into the race cars right along with the drivers risking their lives on the track.
No. 2: “The Irishman” – It took forever to get here, but Martin Scorsese’s gangster opus “The Irishman” – a detailed look at the rise and fall of former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), told from the point of view of hitman and Hoffa confidant Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran (Robert De Niro) – was worth the wait. The prospect of starting this 3 1/2-hour film is daunting, but you’ll also be glad you carved out the time to see it. It’s cinematic storytelling at its very best.
No. 1: “1917” – Director Sam Mendes’ stunning World War 1 epic that follows two British soldiers (Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay) on foot on a six-mile trek behind enemy lines trying to head off an ambush of 1,600 troops catapults the war film genre to a whole new level. What places the film among such modern war film greats such as “Saving Private Ryan” and “Hacksaw Ridge” is how Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakins present the film as one long, continuous shot, literally making you a first-person witness to the horrors the soldiers encounter over the course of one day in April 1917.
Honorable mentions: “Rocketman,” “Bombshell,” “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum,” “Richard Jewell,” “Yesterday,” “Missing Link,” “Dumbo,” “The Two Popes,” “Dolemite is My Name,” “Fighting with My Family.”
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for “The KQ92 Morning Show” on KQRS-FM, “Paul and Jordana” on WCCO Radio, “It Matters with Kelly Cordes on WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere, and reviews streaming programming on WCCO Radio’s “Paul and Jordana” as well. On TV, Tim has made hundreds of guest appearances on “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC).
Despite Dave Bautista and Kumail Nanjiani’s best efforts, the ride-along cop comedy “Stuber” can’t ever gain any speed thanks to a lame premise and dependence on annoying slapstick.
Coming off a small yet another amusing turn as Guardian of the Galaxy Drax in “Avengers: Endgame,” Bautista finds himself in one of the two lead roles in “Stuber,” about Stu (Nanjiani), an Uber driver – hence the nickname Stuber – who finds a ride from hell with Detective Vic Manning (Bautista). Vic has horrible vision without his glasses on, a condition that led to a tragedy involving his detective partner. Wisely, Vic gets Lasik surgery, but shortly after he had the procedure is done and his vision is still poor, the detective gets a tip about the criminal that’s been eluding him.
AUDIO: Tim reviews “Stuber” with Paul Douglas and Jordana Green on “Paul and Jordana” on WCCO-AM. Segment brought to you by Mike Bryant and Bradshaw & Bryant.
Vic’s only option is Stu the Uber driver, who reluctantly carts around the hard-hitting lawman, who seems to leave a thousands of dollars of damage in his wake everywhere he goes. And even though he’s hoping for a golden 5-star Uber rating for driving Vic around, Stu is hoping to get out of the mess as soon as he can so he can meet up with his business partner, Becca (Betty Gilpin), who he’s in love with but can’t quite muster up the courage to tell her.
There’s no question Bautista and Nanjiani make for a likeable duo in “Stuber,” but overall, the film relies too heavy on action comedy tropes that run the film right into the ground. Besides, a plot about a visually challenged cop who damn near kills people because he recklessly insists on getting bad guy is completely unrealistic and is more maddening than funny.
There’s a reason this film was dumped into an unfavorable summer slot the week after “Spider-Man: Far From Home” opens and a week before “The Lion King” dominates the box office. It’s a one-note comedy that will try to make a splash before it’s gone in theaters and likely forgotten.
Lammometer: 3 (out of 10)
AUDIO: Tim talks to the top movies of the summer (so far) and reviews “Stuber” with Tom Barnard on “The KQ Morning Show” on KQRS-FM. Segment brought to you by Mike Bryant and Bradshaw & Bryant.
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for “The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
Tom Holland is back in his second webslinger solo film in “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” a very entertaining follow-up to “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and first chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe post-“Avengers: End Game.” Fans will almost instantly feel that the new “Spider-Man” movie is considerably lighter feels more comic book than the momentous “Avengers: Endgame” and its predecessor “Avengers: Infinity War.”
While “Endgame” bid farewell to some pivotal team members including Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), those team members, “Far From Home” reminds us that while they are gone, they’re definitely not forgotten. “Far From Home” picks up, naturally, after the events of “Endgame,” where “the blip,” as everyone is deeming it, brought back the half of humanity that Thanos destroyed with a snap of the fingers at the end of “Avengers: Infinity War.” Among those returning after five years in cosmic limbo is Peter (Holland), who came back in time to help defeat Thanos, but saw Tony sacrifice himself to destroy the omnipotent enemy and his dark forces.
AUDIO: Listen to Tim’s review of “Spider-Man: Far From Home” with Paul Douglas and Jordana Green on “The Paul and Jordana Show” on WCCO-AM. Segment brought to you by Mike Bryant and Bradshaw & Bryant.
Still struggling with the loss of Tony in “Far From Home,” Spider-Man learns that there are still threats in the world that need superheroes like him to defend. Peter, for the time being, though, would rather ignore those threats and enjoy a simpler life, and take a class trip to Europe instead so he can tell MJ (Zendaya) how he really feels about her. He even wants to leave his Spider-Man suit behind, but Aunt May (the always wonderful Marisa Tomei) makes sure that doesn’t happen and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), also feeling a huge hole left in his life by Tony, is just a phone call away.
Also reminding Peter that he has obligations is Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), who purposefully interferes in the teen superhero’s plan to take on the destructive villains the Elementals, which appear to take shape of the natural elements to wreak havoc in different parts of the world. Fury has already joined forces with Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), a mysterious, crimson caped crusader from another dimension on Earth, who no doubt possesses strong capabilities, yet could use someone the caliber of Spider-Man to end the Elementals threats for good. While he reluctantly takes part with Mysterio in the battle against the Elementals’ Molten Man, Spider-Man realizes that he shouldn’t have been so lax in upholding the justice around the world the way he should have, especially since Tony willed him a powerful tech weapon that could spell disaster if it falls into the wrong hands.
If you’re steeped in the “Spider-Man” comic book lore, it shouldn’t surprise you that not everything is as it seems in “Spider-Man: Far From Home” – and to that end, the more familiar you are with the comic book franchise, the quicker you’ll catch on to which direction the film will go. On the flip side, if you’re a casual fan of the series not necessarily versed in the webslinger’s stable of characters, mostly what you see in “Far From Home” will seem status quo until some big reveals in the third act which catch you by surprise. Either way, serious and casual fans should be entertained just the same when all is said and done, it’s just that diehards have a slight advantage with their knowledge of the material going in.
“Spider-Man: Far From Home” is strong on all fronts, and while Holland is charming, Gyllenhaal is impressive as usual and Jackson is his usual, entertaining badass self, director Jon Watts can’t help but put the trio in the middle of explosive third act that’s loaded with all the CGI that the film can muster. That’s not to say the visuals aren’t incredible (they’re in fact, refreshingly trippy at some points as Spidey enters different dimensions), it just feels par for the course for a genre movie. There is a huge payoff, though, as a mid-credits scene already lays out Peter’s path for the next “Spider-Man” movie with a pair of huge surprises, to boot. After the credits, too, is another revealing scene that, while not as eventful as the mid-credits scene, gives us an inkling what other MCU characters are up to post-“Avengers: Endgame.”
Speaking of “Endgame,” while “Spider-Man: Far From Home” doesn’t come close to matching the greatness of its MCU predecessors (not that any solo MCU film could have – “Endgame” and “Infinity War” was a massive undertaking), it definitely has a life on its own and suggests that the franchise as a whole has healthy legs sans Downey moving forward. “Far From Home” reminds us that there’s still a home for Marvel superhero movies on the big screen, even though the direction of where exactly the franchise is going isn’t mapped out yet.
Lammometer: 8 (out of 10)
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for “The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
