Drive Movie Reviews 1-2-09

This week's reviews from Drive "movie guy" Chris Bollini:

“New in Town” is the romantic comedy starring Renée Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr.

Zellweger stars as Lucy Hill, a Miami corporate consultant assigned to the task of restructuring a Minnesota food processing plant. Unfortunately, this assignment will result in lay-offs. Enter the local union representative, Ted Mitchell, played by Harry Connick Jr. As you can imagine, these two develop a heated relationship both on and off the job.

This is a genre film which means it’s pretty predictable; there aren’t any ground breaking story-lines or surprise endings. For the most part, “New in Town” sticks to the formula. That’s not a bad thing. The film is fun, cute and mostly importantly, entertaining. It’s good to see Academy Award winner, Renée Zellweger, return to slapstick, situational comedy. Many critics have described her performance as "flat" and “phoned in”, but I disagree. I think Zellweger is having fun. And watching her have fun is a good time for the audience.

The film has more to offer than just a rehashed love story: it’s also about a town fighting for its livelihood, trying to keep their plant open; it’s about a widowed father (Harry Connick Jr.) trying to deal with the fact that his little girl is becoming a woman. Throw is some pratfalls, a scene stealing performance by Siobhan Fallon as Blanche, and you’ve got an entertaining movie. Sure, some guys won’t like this “chic” flick, but I think everyone can enjoy it.

Three tires.

"Taken", a new action thriller opens in theaters this weekend.

The story follows Bryan Mills, an ex-CIA operative, who has made a successful career out of traveling the world and making bad guys disappear. Of course, being fully committed to his job and his country, Bryan was never able to fully commit to his wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen) and his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace).
Now, years later, he’s re-prioritized his life; he’s quit the business and dedicated himself to rebuilding a relationship with his daughter. As for his wife, it’s too late; she’s remarried and not very forgiving. Bryan’s plan has only one problem: when his daughter goes to Paris for vacation, she’s kidnapped by Albanian slave traders. And that’s not a good thing for the bad guys because Bryan takes his new found commitment to his daughter very seriously. In fact, he growls at the kidnapper, “I’ll will look for you. I will find you. I will kill you”. By the way, Bryan is a man of his word. The film is predictable, and there were a few minor issues I had, but I still really enjoyed it. It’s a straight up revenge story about a man driven to save his daughter. It’s very entertaining watching the bad guys getting what they have coming to them, especially, when it’s Liam Neeson dishing out the punishment. Neeson, an extremely talent
actor, brings extra depth to the character and is a pleasure to watch. There’s plenty of action and some memorable one liners. If you're headed to see this film, you won’t be disappointed.

Three Tires

The Drive Crew

Steve JaxonMike DeWaldFred Wayne

Dan WeirGary the Chief Drive Mechanic

Breaking: Septic Meeting Rescheduled

Straight from Bill Rukeyser at the State Water Board, the Santa Rosa meeting regarding new septic system regulations has been rescheduled:

Session 1 of the Santa Rosa Workshop will be held
on February 9, 2009, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Session 2 of the Santa Rosa workshop will be held
on February 9, 2009, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

(The sessions will be identical in format.
Participants may attend one or both.)

AT:
Wells Fargo Center for the Arts
Ruth Finley Person Theater
50 Mark West Springs Road
Santa Rosa, CA 95403

Steve's Photos from the Whale Watch Inn

Here are the photos from Steve's recent stay at the Whale Watch Inn.  Click here to enter to win a two-night stay! 

(Click to enlarge)

KSRO's Super Bowl Picks

Super Bowl picks for this Sunday's game between the Pittburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals -

Steve Jaxon - Pittsburgh 0 Arizona 0
David Wesley Page - Arizona 24 Pittsburgh 21
Curtiss Kim - Arizona 28 Pittsburgh 24
Brent Alan - Pittsburgh 24 Arizona 17
Fred Wayne - "Don't bother me with this"
Larry Olsen - Arizona 35 Pittsburgh 34
Joe Pasquini - Arizona 35 Pittsburgh 31
Steve Rueter - Arizona 34 Pittsburgh 24

Mike DeWald - Pittsburgh 24 Arizona 13
Dan Weir - Pittsburg 27 Arizona 23

Tonight!!

Join the entire Drive crew tonight at Cinnabar Theater for the opening night of Rick Reynolds - "Only the Truth is Funny - 2009". It will be a great night of comedy! For tickets call 763-8920.

One Last Farewell

(look closely at their hands)