sandwichjohnfilms

The unconventional but flawed comedy Going in Style mostly keeps our attention. Mostly. Review by Matt Cummings There's a trap in this business that many reviewers seem unable to avoid: they expect too much from movies, either in terms of story, characters, or other unrealistic forces. Not every movie needs to be an Oscar winner, nor does it have to be the best movie you've ever seen. Sometimes movies can merely entertain, like a light dessert that's instantly forgettable but still satisfying at the time. Such is the case with Going in Style , an unconventional comedy that spends way too much time building up its story, only to see it end exactly the way we predicted. Three lifelong friends - Willie (Morgan Freeman), Joe (Michael Caine), and Albert (Alan Arkin) - learn that their steel mill pensions are being ended after the company's sale, putting all three out on the street within 30 days. For Joe it's the most recent slap in the face, after hi...

Oscar winners Morgan Freeman (“Million Dollar Baby”), Michael Caine (“The Cider House Rules,” “Hannah and Her Sisters”) and Alan Arkin (“Little Miss Sunshine”) team up as lifelong buddies Willie, Joe and Al, who decide to buck retirement and step off the straight-and-narrow for the first time in their lives when their pension fund becomes a corporate casualty, in director Zach Braff ’s comedy “ Going in Style .” Desperate to pay the bills and come through for their loved ones, the three risk it all by embarking on a daring bid to knock off the very bank that absconded with their money. The film also stars two-time Oscar nominee Ann-Margret (“Tommy,” “Carnal Knowledge”) as Annie, a grocery cashier who’s been checking Al out in more ways than one. Joey King (“Wish I Was Here”) stars as Joe’s whip-smart granddaughter, Brooklyn; with Oscar nominee Matt Dillon (“Crash”) as FBI Agent Hamer; and Christopher Lloyd (“Back to the Future” trilogy) as the guys’ lodge buddy, Milton. ...