Tag Archives: Kevin Corrigan

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At The Theater #43: Unstoppable

Whoever designed the teaser poster for Unstoppable deserves to be fired. Look at it. When I first saw it, all I thought was “Well, that’s going to suck.” The poster screams “GENERIC MOVIE RIGHT HERE!” Because of that, Unstoppable wasn’t even on my list of movies to see as I finish out the year.

But then people started telling me that Unstoppable was really good. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a score of 88, which is pretty damn good. Now that I’ve seen Unstoppable, I agree, it is pretty damn good.

Unstoppable is structured fantastically. This movie should be required viewing in thriller writing classes. The threat of the runaway train continues to escalate throughout Unstoppable, while the chances of stopping the train become progressively worse and the consequences of failure become direr.

Denzel Washington is definitely one of the coolest guys on the planet. It doesn’t seem to matter if he’s playing a corrupt cop, a non-corrupt cop or a motorman; he brings a certain level of coolness to every role he plays. I can’t think of a Denzel Washington movie in recent memory that disappointed me. Inside Man is one of my favorite movies of the past few years. Denzel doesn’t disappoint in Unstoppable.

I’m glad they didn’t go for the romance angle between Rosario Dawson and Denzel Washington’s characters Unstoppable. During the movie, it kind of felt like it was a destination (railroad pun!) they were headed to, which felt a little weird. Rosario Dawson is closer in age to Washington’s character’s daughters than to Washington himself. When his character Frank Grimes started talking about forced early retirement, the possible romance angle seemed even more farfetched.

Alternate endinig to Unstoppable.

This is my second movie this week with Kevin Corrigan in it. No complaints there. But he doesn’t play his usual lowlife in Unstoppable. Instead he plays the Jeff Goldblum of the movie, meaning he’s the science guy who comes through with the plan “that’s just crazy enough to might work” to save the day. Seriously, doesn’t Jeff Goldblum have right of first refusal on any role like this?

Has the casting director never seen Jurassic Park? Independence Day?

Unstoppable is definitely a movie to go out and see right now. To use a tired cliché: it’s Jaws on railroad tracks.

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At The Theater #42: Today’s Special

My primary interest in seeing Today’s Special was that it starred Aasif Mandvi from The Daily Show. I really like him on The Daily Show, not enough to see The Last Airbender, but enough to head to the nearby Brooklyn Heights Cinema to see him in Today’s Special, a low budget comedy for foodies.

I make fun of this movie, but if I wasn’t such a snob, maybe I wouldn’t be so behind on movies right now.

Aasif leaves his acerbic character from The Daily Show behind in Today’s Special, where he plays Samir, a frustrated New York City sous chef. He quits his job after being passed over for promotion one too many times and plans to study in France until a family emergency causes him to take over his father’s failing Indian restaurant in Jackson Heights, Queens. Samir hires Akbar, a taxi driver who claims to be a former chef from Mumbai. Akbar teaches Samir to cook not only with head, but with his heart and stomach too, and sometimes with his groin. Thankfully, no one has sex with a pie in this movie.

Watching Today’s Special made me remember my love of Indian food, especially good Indian food. Growing up I had a lot of Indian friends, even being dubbed an “honorary Indian” by one because of my spice tolerance. Having a lot of Indian friends growing up meant eating a lot of Indian food at their houses. Akbar’s cooking in Today’s Special reminded me of those meals. On the off chance that Mrs. Shah ever reads this, I want her to know that I’ve never had Tandori chicken as good as hers.

Kevin Corrigan, the good-for-nothing brother from Grounded for Life, is great in the small part he has in this movie as one of Samir’s work buddies. Kevin Corrigan is one of those actors that makes me smile whenever he shows up on screen because he does comedy really well.

Also great in Today’s Special is Naseeruddin Shah, who plays Akbar, the taxi driving chef who is the Merlin to Samir’s Arthur. Watching this guy will make you want to go into your kitchen as soon as you get home and just start experimenting.

Akbar will make you want to cook Indian food and wish you looked as cool as he does in a hat.

Today’s Special succeeds where Julie and Julia failed for me. I thought Julie from Julie and Julia was an obnoxious whiner. On the other hand, Samir is a very sympathetic character in Today’s Special. Like Julie, he dreams of being a chef. Unlike Julie, I didn’t want to strangle him by the end of the movie.

If you like food and you like comedy, you should go out and see Today’s Special while it’s in theaters. I have a feeling that this is going to be a movie that nobody sees in the theater, but gains a following on DVD and cable. So If you want to impress your friends a few years from now, go see it now. They will be in awe of you…eventually. For now, their reaction will probably be “What movie?”