The film I chose for today wasn’t even a film that I was planning on viewing for today. You see the thing is how can I say no first of all to a film that was based on a Stephen King novel and how could I say no second of all to a film that stars Anton Yelchin (Green Room). The film Hearts In Atlantis follows middle aged Bobby Garfield (David Morse) who attends a friends funeral and starts to recollect his past and one particular year when he was 11 years old (played by Yelchin). Bobby lives with his single mother Liz (Hope Davis) who is hopeless and clueless to what really matters in her life. That all begins to change one day when a mysterious man named Ted (Anthony Hopkins) shows up on their door step as he begins to change their lives to show them what really matters in life. The only problem is that Ted is in trouble and he entrusts Bobby for help against the Low Men. The film also stars Mika Boorem (Blue Crush) as Carol Gerber, Alan Tudyk (Zootopia) as Monte Man, Adam LeFevre (Hitch) as Don Biderman, Will Rothhaar (Kingpin) as John Sullivan, Timothy Reifsnyder (Wide Awake) as Harry Doolin, Celia Watson (Observe And Report) as Alana Files, and the film was directed by Scott Hicks (The Lucky One).
The funny thing about this films is who knew that six years later that Hope Davis and Anton Yelchin would play mother and son again in Charlie Bartlett? She’s not a completely hopeless mother in this film because she’s functional, but she is clueless just like she is in the other film. This film features a young Anton Yelchin and he was just as brilliant then as he was right before he passed away. He was masterful as that young child that is full of hope towards the future that the brilliant Anthony Hopkins character can see it. That is why he gives Bobby the gift of being able to see a bright future. While there is plenty of drama in the film, the mystery part is the most interesting part of the film in my opinion. You see Hopkin’s character is on the run from something and we begin to find out what and who as he let’s Bobby in on it slowly. The premise of it is different and interesting and you wonder if the Government really did try enlisting psychics to find communist spies? I loved the story of the film and I love how the film was set in the 1950’s with the outfits, cars, etc. The 50’s is one of my favorite decades besides the 1980’s because it looked like a simpler time so you know I loved the sets and props in the film. I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade because I truly enjoyed it.
Two of my favorite comedians from the 1980’s was Chevy Chase (Fletch) and Dan Aykroyd (Ghostbusters) because the two always made great films. For today’s film, I decided to check out their first film together since working on Saturday Night Live in Spies Like Us. Emmett Fitz-Hume (Chase) and Austin Millbarge (Aykroyd) are a couple of bumbling idiots that work for the government. Both of them hear about a test that is being administered that if you pass you can become a spy for the government. After noticing that they are idiots, they are assigned to go to Russia where they think that they are becoming spies, but in reality they are decoys for nuclear war. Will they survive and surprise everyone or will they play out their prophecy? The film also stars Steve Forrest (Mommie Dearest) as General Sline, Donna Dixon (Wayne’s World) as Karen Boyer, Bruce Davison (The Lords Of Salem) as Mr. Ruby, Bernie Casey (Never Say Never Again) as Colonel Rhumbus, William Prince (As The World Turns) as Mr. Keyes, Tom Hatten (I Saw What You Did) as General Miegs, Jim Staahl (Bobby’s World) as Bud Schnelker, James Daughton (Animal House) as Bob Hodges, Charles McKeown (Brazil) as Jerry Hadley, Vanessa Angel (Kingpin) as one of the Russian Rocket Crew, and the film was directed by John Landis (An American Werewolf In London).
I don’t know if this is my favorite film to feature Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase, but it definitely has it’s funny moments. Dan Aykroyd plays a typical Aykroyd character while Chevy plays Chevy. Chevy plays that typical smooth talking hound dog that your surprised isn’t humping women’s legs. It’s his character in Fletch, Caddyshack, etc, but I am not saying that’s a bad thing because there have been a lot of memorable moments. One of my favorite scenes in the film is when they are training after the test. The one moment that I love is the G Force moment with their faces and messed up hair. That is classic Aykroyd/Chase comedy that is very physical. Other than that, it has it’s funny moments like the hey it’s the end of the world so let’s have sex like bunnies cause we are all going to die anyways scene. One of the cool facts about the film is that Aykroyd wrote it as an homage to the 
Early in the challenge, we covered a film from the great brother tag team of the Coen Brothers, but now we have another famous brother combo for today’s film. The Farrelly Brothers have made great comedy films like Dumb And Dumber, There’s Something About Mary, and today’s film Kingpin. The film stars Woody Harrelson (Zombieland) as Roy Munson, a bowling prodigy in the 1970’s who unfortunately got his hand cut off after he tried to swindle some guys in a game of bowling with his biggest rival Ernie McCracken (Bill Murray). Now, it’s 17 years later, he is in the dumps, he has no money, but he finds an amish guy named Ishmael (Randy Quaid) who happens to be a decent bowler. Ishmael is a guy who just wants to be noticed, but he gets his chance when he finds that the community needs $500,000 to save it from foreclosure. You see Roy tells him about a bowling tournament that is offering 1 Million dollars and they need to do is when and they’ll split it. What takes place next is one heck of an adventure as they hit the road to Reno. The film also stars Vanessa Angel (Hall Pass) as Claudia, Chris Elliot (Scary Movie 2) as The Gambler, Lin Shaye (Insidious) as the landlady, Zen Gesner (Shallow Hal) as Thomas, and Rob Moran (Dumb And Dumber) as Stanley.
I had always heard that Kingpin was a great movie from so many people, but I just never got the chance to watch the whole film. Thankfully, Netflix had it available to stream and I do not regret one moment of it. This movie was truly hilarious from beginning to end especially with Randy Quaid. Randy Quaid was hilarious whether it was stupid humor or slapstick humor, he brought the goods to the table and he worked well with Woody Harrelson. The two of them made a great combination on the screen as they went through this journey together no matter how outrageous. Bill Murray definitely deserves a nod as well as the sleezy, womanizing, rival who knows just what buttons to push. Without Bill Murray, I don’t know who honestly could have filled those shoes. There is a reason why he is respected in the comedy world, just remember that. Lin Shaye who all of sudden appears in all of these films I had no idea she was in does a terrific job. She looked like that stereotypical comedy landlord who is so gross that our main character has to deal with. I also enjoyed the film’s soundtrack which goes all over the place from Disco to folk to even sound country music thrown in the mix. I definitely enjoyed this film a lot that I am going to give the movie an B+ for a final grade. Check it out on Netflix right now!
365moviesin365dayschallenge 