Movie Review: GOING IN STYLE

Warner Bros. Pictures
2017
PG-13

“What’s wrong with him?”
“He’s thinking.”
“It looks painful.”

Lifelong buddies Willie, Joe and Albert decide to buck retirement and step off the straight-and-narrow when their pension funds become a corporate casualty. Desperate to pay the bills and come through for their loved ones, the three men risk it all by embarking on a daring adventure to knock off the very bank that absconded with their money.

So, right about now, you’re probably wondering what I, a man that has a certain geek specialties and tastes in movies, am doing watching a movie like Going In Style, a comedy about three octogenarians planning on pulling a robbery on a bank? Oh, no reason…except for the fact that it stars Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Alan Arkin as the three feisty senior citizens. Do I need to say anything more? I do? Oh, all right, then. For the sake of padding up some writing space…

Yeah, back when I saw the theatrical trailer in the front of whatever movie it was that I was at the theater to watch, I thought that the premise was done, but since it stared three of the actors that are on my Watch Regardless Of What Movie They’re In list, I figured it was a matter of time before I actually watched Going In Style, but this would probably be one of those kind of movies I would wait until it was available for rental to get around watching. And wouldn’t you know it? Self-fulfilling prophecy. I did, in fact, watch it as a rental.

So, the story revolves around lifelong friends who are retired and run into some issues with their pension being suddenly revoked from the place they loyally worked at for 30 years of their lives. After finding himself at the bank during a well-planned robbery heist, they all plot to essentially do the same to offset the problem of their sudden lack of retirement income. So, enlisting the help of a pet store owner, they plan out to hit their bank. And things…don’t really go as planned. But, really, you were expecting otherwise?

Going In Style is formulaic, nothing new, and quite predictable…and I absolutely adored this. It’s not exactly Ocean’s Eleven, but then it didn’t pretend to be that. What this is, is a fun little heist movie that is probably going to be played on TBS every Saturday ad nausium for the whole family to enjoy. What can I say, but seeing the likes of Caine, Freeman and Arkin play off each other was great fun. And that’s what Going In Style is, a fun little weekend afternoon movie.

HALLOWEEN’ING 2016 Day 2: Morgan Freeman’s Dracula

MORGAN FREEMAN’S DRACULA (Electric Company)

If you haven’t heard of the Electric Company or have experienced the PBS Children’s Television Workshop original, then I’m afraid that you have missed out on something special. I have some very fond memories watching the original 1971-1977 run via reruns and enjoying the more mature than Sesame Street edutainment offered up in its 28 minute running time. The retro-tastic show boasted a cast consisting not only of a live action Spider-Man, but also one young up-and-comer by the name of Morgan Freeman.

Like Laurence Fishborne on Pee Wee’s Playhouse, discovering that Morgan Freeman was on a children’s show back in the day is rather mind-blowing, considering this man went on to literally play God and pull it off convincingly. Not to mention all of his other iconic performances in movies. But in the great pop culture hangover that was the 1970s, Morgan Freeman played a bevy of characters designed to amuse children while also teaching them reading and word structure. Why am I bringing up this show, you ask? Simple.

One of the characters Morgan Freeman played was Dracula. It’s right there in the title of this blog post, and everything.

Several times, Freeman donned the cape and fangs of the iconic vampire, and not to mention an amusing fake Romanian accent, and brought a certain gravitas to that character. And kudos to the show for not going with a more obvious “Blackula”, instead keeping the original name. There are several clips of this on YouTube, but unfortunately the one that I really wanted to share–the one of him singing “A Peck On The Neck”, which has stuck with me throughout childhood to this day–isn’t available as a video, just an audio. So, here’s another one to feature on this post. Enjoy the awesomeness.