Tim joined Tom Barnard and the Morning Show crew on the “The KQ Morning Show” on KQRS-FM Thursday to review the new theatrical release “No Time to Doe” and theatrical/Premium Video on Demand release “The Addams Family 2.” On Friday, Tim joined Paul Douglas and Jordana Green on the “Paul and Jordana” show on WCCO-AM to talk about the films as well. Click to listen to below. All of Tim’s segments are 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”.
Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen make for appealing candidates, romantic comedy-wise, in “Long Shot,” an oftentimes funny, sometimes heartfelt, sometimes preachy and sometimes gross-out tale set amid the wishy-washy world of United States politics.
Theron plays U.S. Secretary of State Charlotte Field, a rising political star who plans on announcing her candidacy for the 2020 presidential election after a whirlwind, worldwide tour touting her global environmental initiative. Working with image and message consultants to bolster her appeal, Charlotte realizes she could use help interjecting a bit of comedy into her speeches, so he hires on a whim controversial journalist Fred Flarsky (Rogen) with a penchant for flying off the cuff. Even though his behavior, temperament and rage against the government and corporate machines make Fred a risk, Charlotte trusts her instincts because as a teenage girl, she used to babysit Fred as an adolescent.
For as odd a couple as Charlotte and Fred seem, Theron and Rogen have a surprisingly good chemistry, both comedically and romantically in “Long Shot.” The big issue is that while Theron continues to prove to her talents in different genres, Rogen, while funny, seems to play the same role of the stoner bud once again.
For a film about politics, “Long Shot” manages to mostly steer clear of the scumbaggery that pollutes today’s political climate, creating an almost idyllic world where politicians almost act like civil human beings. That’s not to say director Jonathan Levine doesn’t make the GOP a punching bag time and again throughout the film – or at least the party’s cable news supporter, Fox News (thinly veiled here as The Wembley Network). On the flip side, however, “Long Shot” introduces a positive Republican character with Christian values who puts a far-left extremist in his place — who effectively argues that Democrats and Republicans simply need to learn how to compromise to manifest the ideal notion of politicians actually getting work done on behalf of the people that elected them.
With a semi-fresh approach to the way politics are presented (Charlotte is not a complete idealist – she knows the system is deeply flawed if not outright crooked, and full-realizes that she needs to play the game in order to see her vision through), the story on which the foundation of “Long Shot” rests – the romance – is hopelessly predictable. “Long Shot” is an enjoyable film to be sure, it’s just doesn’t rise to anything special in the sea of cookie-cutter plots that have populated the romantic comedy genre for decades.
Levine, Rogan and Theron (who also serve as producers on the film) certainly give it their best to separate itself from other romantic comedies, particularly with the interjection of reckless drug use and graphic sexual humor into the third act, a move that ultimately causes “Long Shot” to lose any shred of believability as the film wraps up.
True, the scenes in the third act are very funny, but for a film that focuses on the serious matter of the long-overdue election of female president, you would have thought the filmmakers would have found a much more dignified way of going about it instead of hinging the endgame on a crude sex gag. As such, “Long Shot” gives the term “dirty politics” a whole new meaning, even if that wasn’t the film’s intention.
Lammometer: 7 (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.
See Tim’s review of “Atomic Blonde” with Adrienne Broaddus on KARE 11.
Atomic Blonde (R)
Charlize Theron mixes a bit of James Bond espionage and a lot of extreme “John Wick”-type action in “Atomic Blonde,” an energizing spy thriller that despite its thrills, still falls short of the wickedness of “Wick” and the intrigue of Daniel Craig’s 007 outings.
“Atomic Blonde” certainly the potential of, at the very least, being another “Wick.” David Leitch, who co-directed the first Keanu Reeves revenge thriller is at the helm of “Atomic Blonde,” and Theron has already well-proven that she has an incredible handle on the action genre with her kick-ass turn as Imperator Furiosa in “Mad Max: Fury Road” and recent turn as the villain in “The Fate of the Furious.”
Set in 1989 in the waning days of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall, “Atomic Blonde” stars Theron as MI:6 spy Lorraine Broughton, a no-nonsense field operative whose myriad of skills includes a lethal form of hand-to-hand combat. When one of her fellow MI:6 agents turns up dead in Berlin, Lorraine is dispatched to the city to not only recover his body, but join the city’s top operative (James McAvoy) to ferret out a double agent betraying the agency and most importantly, recover a list that names several undercover agents and vital personal details about them.
The biggest problem with “Atomic Blonde” is in its pacing, since the film is rooted in a debriefing of Lorraine by her MI:6 superior (Toby Jones) and an American CIA authority (John Goodman), and told almost entirely in flashback scenes.
Hear Tim’s review of “Atomic Blonde” with Tom Barnard on “The KQ Morning Show” on KQRS-FM.
Yes, while Theron’s charisma commands your attention every second she’s on film, “Atomic Blonde” suffers as Leitch builds intensity in scenes with pulse-pounding action (usually though encounters of hand-to-hand combat or car chases), only to suck the energy out of the air by continually reverting to the debriefing.
The “Wick” chapters, on the other hand, had linear narratives that escalated in intensity throughout the film, creating burning anticipation for whatever the end game was going to be. The hopping back and forth in “Atomic Blonde” only lends to confusion.
Founded in New Jersey in 1996, the National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA) has not only long been associated with excellent product, but lauded for its ingenuity to produce action figures for films that didn’t get a toy line when they were released in theaters.
Currently, NECA is preparing for its annual pilgrimage to the San Diego Comic-Con next week to reveal upcoming products and sell exclusives figures from such licenses as “Coraline,” “Aliens” and “Predator.” In the middle of the madness, NECA’s director of product development, Randy Falk, answered a few questions by email about the company’s vintage offerings and SDCC exclusives.
Tim Lammers: Thanks for your time, Randy. I have to admit, I was so thrilled to hear NECA was going to produce “The Lost Wave” of “Prometheus” figures. What factored into that decision? Was it because of the pending release of “Alien: Covenant” or the continuing success of the your “Alien” line?
Randy Falk: Thank you! For the “Prometheus” Lost Wave, it was little of both, actually. There was continued interest from a small but vocal fan base that five years on still wanted to see these figures happen, and with the release of “Covenant” on the horizon it felt like the right time to do it. This is really a gift for the loyal fans.
TL: Could this signal the beginning of more “lost waves” being produced? Is there another example of something NECA had in the prototype phase that didn’t make it to store shelves, which you would like to see completed now?
RF: I don’t know if I would go that far… the tooling is the biggest expense in manufacturing figures of this kind, and usually if something does not get produced it’s for a good reason, so it’s tough to justify those costs.
TL: What are the chances of the first waves of “Prometheus” figures being reproduced to compliment the “Lost Wave” of figures?
RF: Slim to none, unfortunately. The audience has not grown much since release and as far as the toys are concerned, the sales were never near the level of our “Alien” line.
TL: I think what separates NECA from so many other toy/collectible companies is their commitment to develop figures on vintage licenses whereas other companies concentrate solely on current releases. What drives that mindset to produce vintage licenses?
RF: Honestly, I would be thrilled to work in what I call the golden era/decade of ’77 – ’87 as much as I could. That 10-year period encompasses all the best in film, music, and video games and the nostalgia factor makes these brands successful 30 to 40 years on, not only with the people who grew up with them but the younger audience that has discovered that greatness on video or Netflix or cable. I love the classics and for the most part there isn’t much in modern entertainment that comes close. There is a reason Jason or Freddy or “Alien” or “Predator” still resonate today, or why a 4-year-old loves Gizmo as much as a 40-year-old who saw “Gremlins” in the theater in 1984.
TL: I’m thrilled that you’ve reissued the “Rocky” figure line (and I especially love the “Rocky IV” Apollo Creed). Given that these figures were popular enough to reissue, is there any desire to expand the line to include Mickey, etc?
RF: Thanks, and these are a lot of fun to create. It is unlikely we would do a Mickey or Adrian because of all the new tooling costs involved, added to their limited appeal compared to Rocky, Apollo, Clubber, etc. We do have a fantastic set of maquettes coming, though, based on the puppets used in an old iced tea commercial. These are great versions of Rocky and Mickey.
TL: Perhaps one of the biggest surprises for exclusives being produced by any company for SDCC is the “Coraline” Display and figure. Is that tied into the 10th anniversary of LAIKA, and, is it possible NECA will be reissuing any of its previous “Coraline” figures?
RF: I can’t elaborate too much on this at the moment, but yes, we are definitely celebrating Laika’s 10th anniversary. We love all of their films and are thrilled to be working with them again. “Kubo and the Two Strings” was one of my favorite movies last year, in fact! We have a lot of things in the planning stage now, but for the moment I can only say there will be new figures and more.
TL: It’s great to see that NECA is offering the Jungle Briefing Dutch as an exclusive at SDCC. Any chance we’ll get Carl Weathers’ Dillon at some point?
RF: We would absolutely love to produce a Dillon figure and have made many attempts to reach an agreement with Carl for the use of his likeness as Dillon. Fox, which holds the license for “Predator,” does not have any of the likeness rights to the actors within the film. We were able to make a separate agreement with Arnold to include Dutch in the line, but that happened around the 7th series in the “Predator” line, so as you can see it can take a while. This year we celebrate “Predator’s” 30th anniversary, so we have some Dutch figures and classic Jungle Hunter Predator figures back out in the market. We would still love to include Dillon and hope that one day it can happen, but that is still to be negotiated with Carl Weathers.
