by Sumner Strickland | staff writer

Pain & Gain

As far as Michael Bay goes I’m not a fan. That being said Pain & Gain does not look like the worst Michael Bay movie. In Pain and Gain, Danny Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) is sick with his mediocre life and wants to get out with his friend Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie). In the middle of all this is Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub, the monk guy) an uppity business man who pushes Danny over the edge. So, with the help of Paul Doyle (The Rock) a recently released felon, they plan to kidnap Kershaw and acquire his assets. Only problem is that they leave Kershaw alive and he hires a private detective (Ed Harris) to find and kill these guys when the cops fail to. It doesn’t sound terrible – it doesn’t sound like Shakespeare – yet out of all the other Michael Bay efforts this doesn’t sound that bad.  From what it looks like in the trailer, everyone’s having a great time and that’s what’ll drive the movie, the fun.★★1/2 out of ★★★★

The Big Wedding

A long divorced couple Doug and Ellie Griffin ( Robert De Niro and Diane Keaton) are forced to come together for their adopted son’s wedding. Sounds terrible, looks terrible, will be terrible.  ★ out of ★★★★

Mud

Matthew McConaughey has really started to impress me with his last couple of film choices. Killer Joe, which in my opinion had the possibility of ruining his career (watch it and you’ll know what I’m talking about) but he somehow sidestepped the insanely disturbing content and turned it into a good movie. Lincoln Lawyer, opposite Marisa Tomei and Ryan Phillippe, in this movie Matthew McConaughey really proves his chops and that he is more than a movie star. Now, Mud, which is a story about two boys who find a wanted fugitive named Mud (McConaughey), who just wants to just get out of town with his girlfriend (Reese Witherspoon). The two boys agree to help him get out of town, but the authorities begin to crack down further and further. The film was made for a measly 10 million dollars which probably sounds like a lot but to put it into perspective, the lowest budgeted Transformer movie was made for 150 million dollars. That means Matthew McConaughey was getting paid 1/16 of what he usually gets, so props to him for doing something that focusses on form more than action. I have no doubt in my mind the movie will accomplish what it set out to and then some.

★★★1/2 out of ★★★★