Dell's Good, Bad & Ugly Movie Reviews

[dell71]

Peeples
Directed by Tina Gordon Chism.
2013. Rated PG-13, 95 minutes.
Cast:
Craig Robinson
Kerry Washington
David Alan Grier
S. Epatha Merkerson
Kali Hawk
Tyler James Williams
Kimrie Lewis-Davis
Diahann Carroll
Ana Gasteyer

Wade Walker (Robinson) is head-over-heels in love with his live-in girlfriend Grace Peeples (Washington). He wants to propose to her this weekend, but she is off to spend it with her family which he’s never met. For some reason, she is adamantly against introducing him to them. So off she goes. Undeterred, Wade shows up uninvited to her parents summer house. When he arrives, he not only discovers that they have never even heard of him, but also that family patriarch Virgil (Grier) has taken it as his mission in life to be as overbearing as humanly possible. Wade trying to win the old man’s blessing so he can pop the question and also stumbling into every family secret ensues.

It has been said that there is nothing new under the sun. As the adage pertains to the art of cinema, it appears every story that could possible be told has been. Peeples is a movie in support of that theory. Director Tina Gordon Chism’s movie, “presented by” Tyler Perry, blazes no new trails whatsoever. Instead, it travels the most familiar roads, the ones with the landmarks we are all too familiar with. I’ve already mentioned how stern Virgil is which is par for the course of these types of movies. It is no shock at all that Wade is well-intentioned, but can’t do anything right around Virgil. Likewise for the fact that mom Daphne (Merkerson) is kind-hearted, but wouldn’t dare try to outrank her man. Yes, Grace’s brother Simon (Williams) is an eccentric teen whose dying wish to be cool so he can get laid. And yes, her sister Gloria (Hawk) is not only secretly gay, but it’s obvious to everyone except dad. Finally, bits and pieces of Grace’s questionable past keep bubbling to the surface. Yawn.

Since the entire movie is a cliché, why not use one to move this review forward? The devil is in the details. What I mean is since everything feels pre-ordained to work out just fine right from the first scene, whether Peeples is successful in your eyes will hinge on two things. The first is its jokes. The second is the actors carrying out of them. There are several genuinely funny moments and a couple more that make us chuckle. The cast is fairly solid. David Alan Grier gives us his stiffest upper lip. The old In Living Color vet plays it surprisingly straight. Craig Robinson also tones down his usual shtick enough to work in a more watered down climate than we are used to seeing him. This movie has moments of raunch and enough choice words to ensure it’s PG-13 rating. Still, this is far more family friendly than his usual far. In any event, neither guy is bad, but neither is exactly blowing our doors off. Yup, another cliché.

The standout here is S. Epatha Merkerson as the perpetually drunken mom. She brings a sense of whimsy that wisely contrasts her rigid husband and all the tension surrounding him. It’s a bit sad the movie makes light of her being in Alcoholics Anonymous yet so far off the wagon as to not even be able to see it. Still, she is easily the most fun person here. As for the biggest name in the cast, and the apple of daddy’s eye, Kerry Washington, star of my wife’s favorite TV show, Scandal, feels curiously underused here. She certainly has plenty of screen time and a few scenes devoted to her dramatic flourishes. However, she is most often part of the backdrop for the zaniness between her boyfriend and/or her family.

As a whole, the cast does nothing to subtract from the film. As I’ve said, they are solid. Enough of the jokes work to keep things moving at a nice clip. Believe it or not, this pace is also helped by the derivative nature of Peeples. If you’ve seen one or two rom-coms you probably have a checklist of things you know are going to happen. As the movie plays you can simply start placing your mark in each as they occur. You’ll likely find that it gets to the end rather quickly. In summation, it is a movie you’ve seen before, only with different faces. Therefore, this is not something you need to track down and watch immediately. That said it is not the worst way to spend an hour and a half.

MY SCORE: 5/10

[dell71]

The Call
Directed by Brad Anderson.
2013. Rated R, 94 minutes.
Cast:
Halle Berry
Abigail Breslin
Morris Chestnut
Michael Eklund
David Otunga
Michael Imperioli
Roma Maffia
Evie Thompson
Ross Gallo

I imagine being a 911 operator is stressful. Real matters of life and death probably comprise at least several calls a day. Whether someone survives until the next sunrise may depend on your ability to keep a frantic person calm in the face of danger and/or wrestle information from someone currently incapable of thinking clearly. It’s a life Jordan Turner knows all too well. She is good at her job, but as the old saying goes, you can’t win them all. A loss in this case is fielding a call from a scared young girl because an intruder is in her home. As cell phones are wont to do, the call is dropped during this crucial situation. Jordan immediately calls the girl back which turns out to be a very bad idea. When it rings on the girl’s end it clues in the bad guy to the whereabouts of his prey. He proceeds to murder the girl before the police can get there.

Fast-forward six months. Jordan is so distraught, she’s resigned from her post on the boards, takes lots of meds, and now trains newbies. She is giving a tour of the floor when a rookie operator takes a call from another frightened girl. This one is named Casey Welson (Breslin). With the rook proving useless, Jordan has to jump back into her old role in an effort to help the poor child. The firs issue is that she is calling from a disposable, and therefore more difficult to trace, cell phone. The second makes things even tougher. She is traveling, but completely unaware of where she is or where she is going because she has just woken up in the trunk of a moving car.

For a sizable chunk of the movie, we watch and listen as Jordan tries to help Casey find ways to make her presence known to others, figure out where she is, and/or escape. Meanwhile, Jordan’s bosses try to track that call and Officer Phillips (Chestnut), the cop who happens to be Jordan’s boyfriend, chases every lead they throw his way. And just to demonstrate his ruthlessness, our bad guy (Eklund) is forced to hurt and/or kill anyone who figures out too much. This portion of our film is intriguing. At times, it is edge-of-your-seat stuff as we really feel like whatever the girl does next could decide if she lives or dies. Some of the things Jordan has her do are simply brilliant. When these things are mildly successful, civilians get involved with mixed results.

Through it all, Halle Berry gives us her best concerned and horrified look. I’ve written a number of times that I don’t feel she is not nearly as good an actress as she is good looking. However, I will give credit where it is due and say she’s pretty strong here. She manages to make us feel how much she cares about this situation, not just for the girl’s sake, but also for her own. It helps that she has a really good performance to bounce off. The work of Abigail Breslin as the victim is outstanding “scream queen” material. Yes, she screams a lot. She also whimpers, snivels, and pleads her way into our hearts.

Unfortunately, when act three gets cranking everything falls apart. It’s no surprise that our bad guy has been twisted since birth, but just how much so might be overkill, pardon the pun. Still, this isn’t as bothersome as what happens with our other two principals. For starters, our 911 operator turns super-sleuth and is, in fact, a far better detective than anyone in the police department. I won’t tell you what happens after that for fear of spoiling the movie, but suffice it to say it’s overly contrived and completely inconsistent with the characters we’ve been watching until that point. The Call becomes yet another film with a great premise that seems to be delivering on its potential for quite a while until it crumbles under its own weight.

The shame of it all is that the first two acts work so well our anticipation is peaking just as it becomes plain that the conclusion is coming. The entire thing is a situation many of us are fearful of in real life, no matter how remote the chance of it actually happening. Seeing it play out here taps into this anxiety. It does double the damage for those of us with kids who might be out and about on their own. Therefore, we want to see how it ends. Sadly, when we do we can’t help notice it took all that goodness it had going and made a mess of itself.

MY SCORE: 5.5/10

[dell71]

And since it is Christmas...

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
Directed by Nicholas Webster.
1964. Not Rated, 81 minutes.
Cast:
John Call
Leonard Hicks
Vincent Beck
Bill McCutcheon
Victor Stiles
Donna Conforti
Chris Month
Pia Zadora
Leila Martin
Charles Renn
Carl Don
Doris Rich

Children all over Mars are having trouble sleeping. They merely want to watch “Earth programs” on “the video.” The planet’s leader, Kimar (Hicks), is understandably perplexed and searching for an answer. His wife Momar (Martin) suggests he speak with Chochem (Don), a wise old sage who has all the answers. After finding out what month it is, “Septober”, Chochem tells him that the kids are miserable because they don’t have a Santa Claus like they see on all the Earth programs this time of year. Naturally, Kimar decides that the only solution is going to Earth and kidnapping old St. Nick so he can spread Christmas spirit all over Mars. Unintentional hilarity, bad acting, worse dialogue and military stock footage ensues.

When I say bad acting, I’m really serious. We’re talking an entire roster of wooden performers in ridiculous costumes. Actually, the costumes aren’t so bad, but the makeup is terrible. Our martians all have unevenly applied green face paint that makes it look as if they haven’t washed their mugs in a while. However, two actors aren’t so bad. Bill McCutcheon is pretty good as Dropo, essentially the village idiot. McCutcheon would go on to a long career as a character actor. John Call also does well as Santa. Neither blows your doors off, but next to the others, they look like Oscar winners.

There were obviously some budgetary issues, also. The use of military stock footage when the Martians are detected in our skies is a tell-tale sign. The cheap Martian sets are another. Just in case you’re not aware this was made on the cheap, there is a sign you can’t miss. There is a polar bear lurking around The North Pole when they’re trying to grab Santa. Let me re-phrase that. There is a guy in a cheap polar bear suit lurking around what’s supposed to be The North Pole. Even for the era in which this movie was made it’s quite a ways below standard. If this doesn’t make you laugh, you have no soul. Oh, about that North Pole: we’re told it’s 91 degrees below zero up there. That’s fine and dandy except for the fact that our two human children, also kidnapped by Martians, don’t have on nearly enough clothing to avoid freezing to death. The girl has on a skirt! You know what? Never mind. Having them dressed appropriately would make sense where the rest of this flick makes none.

Okay, I’ve really nothing more to say other than one of the Martian children is a young Pia Zadora. She would have a moderately successful music career over the next few decades, along with being more famous for her “celebrity” issues. She’d also totally bomb as an actress. Most infamously she went on to star in the sleaze classic The Lonely Lady. Here, they show her face a number of times but she only has a few lines. Like just about everyone else she delivers them flatly. Ms. Zadora is just a small part of an experience that’s so bad it’s awesome!

MY SCORE: -10/10

[JimLeavy59]

Last Ounce of Courage review anytime soon?

[dell71]

Last Ounce of Courage
Directed by Darrel Campbell and Kevin McAfee.
2012. Rated PG, 101 minutes.
Cast:
Marshall R. Teague
Fred Williamson
Jennifer O’Neill
Hunter Gomez
Jenna Boyd
Nikki Novak
Rusty Joiner
Austin Marks
Lindsey Brinnon
Bill O’Reilly

Tom Revere (Marks) is a good All-American boy who enlists in the service and goes off to war. News that he’s been killed in combat devastates both his young wife Kari (Novak) and his father Mayor (Teague). He’s called Mayor because he is the town mayor…and the pharmacist. We eventually find out his actual name is Bob. The grief-stricken Kari decides to move away from their small town to help her get a fresh start. Of course, Mayor disagrees with her plan of action as it also takes away his newborn grandson. Fast-forward fourteen years. Kari shows up on Mayor’s doorstep ready to move back in with her in-laws. Mayor bristles a bit, but his wife Dottie (O’Neill) welcomes her and their grandson, the obviously named Christian (Gomez) with open arms. Shortly after enrolling in school, Christian finds out that any religious connotations are frowned upon in regards to the upcoming holiday. This is true not just in school, but around town and even the nation. Since this rubs Mayor the wrong way, he goes on a mission to put the Christ back in Christmas.

Last Ounce of Courage plays on the notion there is an all-out institutionalized attack on Christianity in this country. It doesn’t do this subtly, either. Right from the start it takes the stance that Christians are merely doing the just and patriotic thing by openly expressing their love for Christ and are being persecuted for it. That last part is a hard sell. If you agree then you’re part of the choir this movie is preaching to and are likely to enjoy it very much. If you don’t, you may spend a lot of time turning the other cheek. There really is no middle ground, here. Those who don’t share the movie’s sentiments are vilified and seen as a threat to the nation. This makes the whole thing feel like an exercise in ultra-conservative flag waving and bible thumping.

However, the biggest problem with this movie is hardly its message. I have no problem with a film that wants to promote Christianity. The bigger issue is that this is just not compelling cinema. It’s predictable and heavy-handed film-making. By playing up the Christmas angle, Last Ounce goes for the low hanging fruit and never challenges either itself or its audience. It’s a classic case of ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained.’ On top of that, there are so many places where the movie just flat doesn’t make any sense. As an example, the movie repeatedly laments that phrases such as Merry Christmas are often replaced with Happy Holidays or Season’s Greetings. It supposes we aren’t even allowed to utter the word Christmas and ignores the fact that this time of year is filled with multiple holidays including those celebrated by people of other religions. It also ignores the fact that every year many places around the country, including the White House, still put up Christmas trees and call them by that name. At another point, there is a big stink made about everyone questioning whether Mayor is a war hero as if it’s something he made up when it’s known that he won a Congressional Medal of Honor. It comes off as a false way to try and generate drama. I won’t even go into how misplaced the applause for Christian is after publicly showing a video that would mortify any normal audience and possibly scar his own mother for the rest of her days.

Most disappointing about this movie’s lack of artistic ambition and execution is there are some potentially fascinating stories that are not explored whatsoever. For instance, a better film could be made focusing on Kari’s return. The dynamics of her relationship with her in-laws appears to be much more complex than what we’re shown. It could easily be played to examine the various stages of her faith so that is remains a Christian movie. How about the dealing with her feelings, as well as those around her, when her late husband’s best friend comes sniffing around her? Instead, she’s relegated to the sidelines until Mayor needs to make a big emotional speech to address the former and Dottie tells her to go for it to take care of the latter. Even more egregiously left out is Mayor’s actual daughter. Early on, we learn she’s been estranged from the family for quite some time. We see her face once or twice without even knowing who she is until that magical moment when everything changes for her. Sure, that change can, and probably should, take place, but it would have been awfully nice to have some meat on that bone.

All of this leads back to something I am quite fond of saying in regards to any form of art: show, don’t tell. Showing makes the audience work a little for the answers, but that work makes it a far more rewarding experience. Also in making the effort to show, the artist will likely develop a deeper and more resonant piece of work than they even intended. Everyone wins. By telling, the work is limited to whatever it appears to be on the surface, thus not penetrating any further than that in the viewer. Even if delivering the most profound in the universe, just telling it almost always means it will evaporate quicker than a drop of alcohol under a heat lamp. Last Ounce simply tells and tells and tells and wastes just about every opportunity to show.

MY SCORE: 3/10

[dell71]

G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Directed by Jon M. Chu.
2013. Rated PG-13, 110 minutes.
Cast:
Dwayne Johnson
Channing Tatum
Adrianne Palicki
Bruce Willis
Byung-hun Lee
Jonathan Pryce
Elodie Yung
Ray Stevenson
D.J. Cotrona
Ray Park
Luke Bracey
Arnold Vosloo
RZA

With the first paragraph of my reviews, I try to give the reader a synopsis of the movie in question without spoiling it. Usually, this involves me recapping the first ten or fifteen minutes of said movie, but not telling much of anything about what happens the rest of the way. My line of thinking is that if you want to watch a film, regardless of how I feel about it, I don’t want to be the one that completely removes any suspense you may otherwise have found there.

Sometimes, I can’t help myself.

For certain movies, explaining why I like or dislike them has to include events from later in the proceedings. Even then, I try not to give too much away. For others, there may be a spoiler in the setup, or at least something that lets us know it is not going to be quite what people expect. This brings me to G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

Actually, before we get into this particular flick, let’s take a short trip back to the 1990s, ’96 to be exact. My soon-to-be sister-in-law and her husband wer huge Steven Seagal fans. They made sure to be in a theater on opening night of all of his movies. And so they were on Friday evening, just starting to binge on popcorn, candy, and soda as Seagal’s latest, Executive Decision gets rolling. Prior to arriving in their seats they had seen the television commercials which made it appear that their guy was teaming up with Kurt Russell to take back a plane from some hijackers in an action packed adventure and somehow Halle Berry was involved. Those of you that have seen it know that this isn’t quite the case. For the rest of you…SPOILER ALERT…not only is it much more slow-paced thriller than action flick, but Seagal’s character dies about ten minutes in before he kicks any ass whatsoever. Since my in-laws feet hadn’t even had time to get stuck to the floor real good yet, they promptly got up and left. As far as I know, they’ve never bothered trying to watch the rest of it.

Now let’s bring things back to the present. As unbelievable as it seems nowadays, most people don’t actually research a movie before deciding to see it. Maybe they watch a trailer or two online, or happen to see one on TV. Perhaps they don’t even do that if it’s a sequel to something they like and/or it stars someone they are a fan of. In this case, we have the sequel to 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra based on an 80s cartoon which itself was based on a line of Hasbro toys. It raked in hundreds of millions of dollars at the box-office. The star of the show was none other than Channing Tatum. He had been around for years, but this was his first really big movie. It catapulted him to superstar status.

Well, as this one starts up we get way too chummy with Tatum’s character, Duke. We see how close he is to Roadblock, played by The Rock, as the guys talk about lots of personal stuff. He never actually says it, but we get the feeling that Duke is seriously thinking about settling down real soon and maybe starting a family like his buddy. Uh-oh. Astute viewers will notice this sounds suspiciously similar to having less than two weeks until retirement. Sure enough, the boys get sent on one of those missions that turns out to be a setup and guess who doesn’t survive. This causes the movie a two-folded problem. First, they just killed off a good portion of the reason people want to watch this in the first place. This is true not only for people who are fans of the actor, but for Joe fans to whom Duke is an iconic character. Of all the people in this universe to knock off, that’s the one they pick? I wonder how many of those who didn’t know this was coming got up and left the theater.

No matter what, the show must go on. Roadblock gathers up the remaining Joes, which eventually includes Bruce Willis, and decide they have to work off the grid for a while to solve their issue since they easily figure out they were betrayed by none other than the President of the United States. Eventually, this all leads back to Cobra Commander (Bracey) as it must in a G.I. Joe flick. Oh, don’t act like that’s a spoiler. Anyhoo, CC embarks on a plan eerily similar to Dr. Evil’s in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. If you’re unfamiliar with that one, just think about most James Bond movies or any number of films where the bad guy as a super-duper powerful weapon that can blow up everything and threatens to use it unless everyone in the world gives him money.

I know. I’m just spoiling all types of stuff for you today.

Okay. So far we have a major star playing a popular character dying in the opening moments and a generic plot. Let’s add in the fact that it is lazily written and has more than its fair share of hammy acting performances. Sounds like a total nightmare, right? Well, not so fast. This movie knows what we’re here for and gives it to us. If you like the first G.I. Joe then you probably appreciated it for being a big movie filled with action and exciting visuals. This installment gives us much more of the same. Everything goes boom real good and there is lots of martial arts goodness. My favorite sequence is a ridiculous mountainside battle.

What makes it work is that it just is. It doesn’t take itself too seriously nor too lightly. It is simply a spectacle. And unlike a Michael Bay movie, thankfully, it resists the urge to hammer us with a barrage of terrible jokes meant for 13 year-old boys or an overly goofy love story. Best of all, it doesn’t keep going for what feels like 127 hours. Therefore, it might not be exactly true to whatever you think a G.I. Joe should be, but it’s fun.

MY SCORE: 6.5/10

[JimLeavy59]

[dell71]

Grown Ups 2
Directed by Dennis Dugan.
2013. Rated PG-13, 101 minutes.
Cast:
Adam Sandler
Kevin James
Chris Rock
David Spade
Salma Hayek
Maya Rudolph
Maria Bello
Jason Lautner
Nick Swardson
Steve Buscemi
Colin Quinn
Tim Meadows
Jon Lovitz
Shaquille O’Neal

If you loved Grown Ups, you’re in luck. The whole gang is back for another comic adventure through their collective mid-life crisis. Well, almost the whole gang. Rob Schneider is conspicuously absent from this little reunion. The rest of the guys are present, though. This time around, big shot Lenny (Sandler) has already moved back to his hometown and spends as much time as possible goofing off with his buddies Kurt (Rock), Marcus (Spade), and Eric (James). They talk tough when their wives are not around and long to be boys again. Lenny is still having problems with an old bully from his school days. James is secretly spending every afternoon watching soaps with his mother. Spade, the only bachelor of the bunch, finds out he has a son who looks just like him but is roughly three times his size. So is the female body-builder he’s been sneaking around with. Rock just kind of shadw Sandler. As a group, they find themselves at odds with the frat jerks from the local college, led by the overly obnoxious Andy (Lautner). The guys, trying to figure out if they can still kick a little ass ensues.

As expected, each storyline is a running gag. Sometimes they work, other times they don’t. It might be better if it weren’t so repetitive. Therefore, what might be funny early grows tired. We start to anticipate, with solid accuracy, what variation of the joke is coming next. It doesn’t help that almost any character that is not part of the big four, or their wives, are walking punch-lines. I’ve already mentioned that Lautner is obnoxious. The female bodybuilder is manly, Stone Cold Steve Austin is boorish, and so on. Since this is an Adam Sandler flick, Nick Swardson is hanging around. The wives all play into the stereotype that the women we marry are really just our second mothers. So as not to upset the apple cart our story is paint-by-numbers, too.

That said, there is a certain amount of charm to the movie. For all of their flaws and immaturity, these are likable guys. Okay, that’s debatable in Spade’s case. Even though they play out in way over-the-top fashion, their problems are not terribly different than many in the target audience. Plenty of us forty-somethings have moments when we attempt to recapture our youth by trying to do “guy” stuff without our wives knowing. Plenty of us seek an innocent reprieve from them on occasion. Oddly, Sandler himself is a huge help in this regard. Despite the fact his character is wealthy and married to Salma Hayek (drool), he manages to give off a regular joe vibe. In essence, he speaks in his normal voice and gives us his subdued routine. The others make fools of themselves while he generally plays it straight.

Like with all Sandler movies, use however you feel about his other work as an aid when deciding whether to watch this or not. It would be wise to ignore the ones where he speaks with a kooky voice with a dumb accent and/or wears a wig such as That’s My Boy or You Don’t Mess with the Zohan. Instead, focus on your thoughts about those movies where he is more generic and family friendly like Bedtime Stories, Click, and of course, the first Grown Ups. If he is tolerable to you in this guise then you might enjoy Grown Ups 2. Personally, I didn’t hate it and honestly found myself laughing more than I expected.

MY SCORE: 6/10

[dell71]

Escape from Planet Earth
Directed by Cal Brunker.
2013. Rated PG, 89 minutes.
Cast:
Brendan Fraser
Rob Corddry
Ricky Gervais
Jessica Alba
Sofia Vergara
Sarah Jessica Parker
Jonathan Morgan Heit
Paul Scheer

Scorch Supernova (Fraser) is the most famous astronaut/explorer/hero on Planet Baab. His devil-may-care attitude has gotten him into a lot of tight spots. Luckily for him, his brother Gary (Corddry) works back at Mission Control and always knows what to do to get him out of a jam. Of cours, there is no glory for running the show almost anonymously from your desk. Accolades are reserved for the star of the show. Gary is also a good judge of what missions might be too dangerous. Scorch is give one such assignment and decides to accept it against his brother’s better judgement. When Gary expresses his concern, the powers that be shout him down. Frustrated, he quits his job. However, after learning that Scorch has indeed been captured on “The Dark Planet,” Gary sneaks into a spaceship and takes off in hopes of rescuing his brother. If you couldn’t tell by the movie’s title, “The Dark Planet” is Earth.

The flip side of all those alien invasion flicks plays out. Almost. What if we were the bad guys in the close encounter? Not necessarily “we”, but definitely a human. It’s a nice turn of the tables that serves the movie well. More important, however, is the relationship between the two brothers. The big, strong, handsome hero having to be saved by his scrawny sibling is what the story hinges on. It gets lots of mileage out of their differences. The relationship between Gary and his son Kip (Heit) is also given ample time. Our focus here is on the boy’s image of his dad as compared to how he feels about his uncle. Combined with the sibling rivalry we witness, this becomes a nice little commentary on hero worship and who our idols should really be.

In addition to watching those relationships play out we are treated to some sight gags, pop culture references and other jokes that mostly lean ever-so-slightly further on the intellectual side of things than many kiddie flicks. We also get some lively visuals and solid action sequences. There are also a number of recognizable voices who all handle their roles well. One drawback is that the plot plays out without much surprise, even for the little ones. Another, and bigger one is that it doesn’t quite connect on an emotional level the way it seems to want. Therefore, this is a perfectly acceptable movie aimed at kids that is fun to watch, but doesn’t really stand out from the crowd.

MY SCORE: 6/10

[dell71]

Mud
Directed by Jeff Nichols.
2013. Rated PG-13, 130 minutes.
Cast:
Matthew McConaughey
Reese Witherspoon
Tye Sheridan
Jacob Lofland
Sam Shepard
Ray McKinnon
Sarah Paulson
Michael Shannon
Joe Don Baker

Bestest buddies Ellis (Sheridan) and Neckbone (Lofland) are a pair of fourteen year olds who spend most of their summer days exploring their surroundings when they’re not working with someone in their families. On a small island near their homes, the boys discover a boat lodged in a tree. They surmise it got that way due to the recent flooding in the area. With no one around, they claim it as their own. However, they quickly learn that someone has beat them to the punch. Someone has actually been living in the boat. That person is the scraggly looking and aptly name Mud (McConaughey). He appears to be practically coated in a layer of the stuff. Immediately, he begins bartering with the boys to bring him things from the mainland. Eventually, this evolves into running errands pertaining to the girlfriend he says he is waiting for. Meanwhile, we see that Ellis’ houme is not all that stable as his mom and dad appear to be on the verge of breaking up. For him, hard lessons in life and love ensue.

We like Ellis right away. He is adventurous, sure of himself, curious as all get out, and yet, still very naïve about the way relationships between men and wome work. He thinks it’s all black and white. Even when he’s shown it is not, he clings to his most romantic notions. This is the part of him we like most. It’s the part we want to protect. It is also the part that makes us want to shake him enough for him to realize things are not so simple. Tye Sheridan gives a wonderful performance to bring all of this across. He never feels too old nor too young. He feels fourteen.

We are not quite as fond of Ellis’ trusty sidekick Neckbone. It’s just a bit tougher to figure him out. As bits and pieces of his story are revealed, we certainly empathize with him. This stems from the fact that we realize his guardian, his Uncle Galen (Shannon), has very questionable parenting skills.

In that light, it almost becomes easy to see why two seemingly head strong young boys would become enamored with Mud, the homeless guy they bump into. He’s a man by all outward appearances, but he shares many of their same ideals. Mud is a hopelessly romantic man-child hiding from something. Of course, we eventually find out what that is, but even then his problems are revealed to be multi-faceted. We want to hate him, not so much for any harm he’s caused as for his potential to do so. However, his romanticism is so strong we can’t help but feel sorry for the guy. He doesn’t charm us like a number of McConaughey’s other characters. Instead, he comes off desperate and pathetic. This may be what draws the boys to him. Even though Mud is ultimately pulling their strings, he does it in such a way the boys at least feel like they have some measure of control over their interactions with him.

What we are and are not able to control is ultimately the dilemma most of the characters deal with, both emotionally and situationally. This is at the root of nearly every struggle. It is certainly that way with Mud, Ellis, and Ellis’ dad Senior (played wonderfully by Ray McKinnon). It’s interesting to note that the person who seems most in control is Ellis’ mom (Paulson), one of only two adult females in the cast. Arguably, she is the only one. As the movie progresses, she seizes more and more control of her own life.

On the other hand, there is Juniper (Witherspoon), the object of Mud’s desire. She is a complete and perfect mess. What it is that she and Mud see in each other is essentially the same thing. They each look at the other as the one that has already and will continue to save them. Starting with these two and permeating the rest of the movie are these delusions of the heroism of oneself and of others. Even the relationship between Ellis and Neckbone is affected by this.

By the time we get to the end, all the various strands are swirling about but pulled together in a hail of bullets. My first though was that this is taking the easy way out of a story that spends lots of effort to complicate itself. It even sets up what at first glance is your run of the mill happy ending. Studying it a bit more in depth makes me thing the movie ends on an incredibly dark note. True, the main characters are all smiles and the sun in shining when the end credits roll. Still, I’m left with the sinking feeling that I’m merely seeing how the next repetition of a pair of vicious cycles starts. Worse yet, one of these cycles is the same as the other, just at an earlier stage. Therefore, Mud is a movie that allows you to believe everything is neatly tied in a bow, if that’s what you want, but also makes clear the possibility of a not-so-bright future.

MY SCORE: 9/10

[dell71]

30 Minutes or Less
Directed by Ruben Fleischer.
2011. Rated R, 83 minutes.
Cast:
Jesse Eisenberg
Danny McBride
Aziz Ansari
Nick Swardson
Dilshad Vadsaria
Michael Peña
Bianca Kajlich
Fred Ward
Brett Gelman

Dwayne (McBride) isn’t nearly as smart as he thinks. To boot, he is a slacker at odds with his wealthy dad (Ward). Really, he’s just waiting for the old man to die so he can inherit everything. When he lets this bit of info slip to Juicy (Kajlich), the stripper giving him a lap-dance, she tells him she knows someone who could expedite the process for a hundred grand. Of course, he doesn’t have that kind of money. With his sidekick Travis (Swardson), who happens to be good at making explosives, he decides to kidnap someone and force them to rob a bank for him. This is where Nick (Eisenberg) comes in. He’s a pizza delivery guy with problems of his own. He just had a fight with his best friend Chet (Ansari) and he’s attracted to Chet’s sister Kate (Vadsaria), but won’t tell her. He is also the unlucky chap who makes a delivery to Dwayne and Travis. He is quickly knocked out when he gets there. When he wakes up he finds he has a bomb strapped to his chest and is told he will rob a bank today, or else he’s going to go boom. In case you aren’t quite sure, this is a comedy.

Most of the movie consists of us, along with Dwayne and Chet, following Nick around as he decides what to do and figures out how to go about doing it, with Chet’s help, naturally. On both sides of this coin, we get lots of bickering between two guys. There is less where Dwayne and Travis is concerned as the former is mostly in charge. If you boil down all the yelling they do it equals one guy coming up with an idea and the other calling him stupid. Eventually, a course of action is agreed upon which doesn’t go as planned and the cycle starts over. This repetition lends itself to the theory of diminishing returns. The jokes yield fewer and fewer laughs as the movie goes on because they really haven’t changed since the beginning. The only real variation being how inventive the guys get with their swear words, of which there are more than enough.

To the movie’s credit, the plot hurtles forward with a kinetic energy. It rarely slows down, knowing it has to jam everything into an hour and a half. Those brief occasions are to set up our romance, but that’s about it. Most exposition is taken care of during those shouting matches I referenced. The rest of the film is made up of some form of action. Though they lack any real tension, they are occasionally entertaining.

More than any other genre, whether or not we like a comedy depends on how we feel about its stars. You either find certain people funny or you do not. I like Eisenberg okay, but can’t say I think he’s hilarious. I am also lukewarm on Danny McBride. Generally speaking, Ansari and Swardson both annoy me far more than make me laugh. When you add all that up, you get a movie that I believe has some funny moments, but mostly falls flat. The other aspects, like the story and action, are also rather hit-or-miss. Give it an additional demerit for reducing Michael Peña to a total stereotype. Now rewrite sentences three through six of this paragraph to better reflect how you feel about this movie’s stars.

MY SCORE: 5/10

[dell71]

Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor
Directed by Tyler Perry.
2013. Rated PG-13, 111 minutes.
Cast:
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Lance Gross
Vanessa Williams
Brandy Norwood
Robbie Jones
Kim Kardashian
Ella Joyce
Candice Coke

Judith (Smollett-Bell) and Brice (Gross) first met when they were six years old. Now in their mid-twenties, they’ve been married for six years. Things are looking up for them. She has just started her job as the in-house counselor at a dating service while he is pursuing his dream of owning his own pharmacy. Like lots of couples they’ve settled into a routine. It works, but it’s not necessarily thrilling, so she is feeling a little down about the whole thing. Brice has also forgotten his wife’s birthday which adds to her sadness. In comes fabulously wealthy, handsome, and young Harley (Jones). He’s looking to invest in the company Judith works for. The two have been paired together as he also works on a computer program that can assess compatibility between clients. Doesn’t every dating website already have this? I digress. Point is, Harley takes an immediate liking to Judith and begins to woo her with the finer things in life.

That simple premise, maybe tweaked a bit on the details, has been the starting point for numerous movies. We have all seen at least a few of them. However, as writer/director Tyler Perry has consistently shown, he can never leave well enough alone. He insists on stacking the odds much higher than needed against his protagonist. This could have been a thorough, mature examination of the two relationships involved, both Judith’s with Brice and Harley. Instead, we get very easy markers that are never dealt with and heaping helpings melodrama. Then there is always another problem to add to the pile. Each one is not just an emotional issue, either. These are potentially fatal problems so intently focused on our heroine the movie renders itself a farce rather than the engaging character study of a woman in flux. Other similar movies have subplots, occasionally lots of them. However, they generally concern other characters. They don’t bury the lead beneath an avalanche of earth-shattering dilemmas. It gets to the point where we realize the movie itself doesn’t like her. This is most evident in its harsh and cynical conclusion. Admittedly, this fits with his typically southern Christian viewpoint. Breaking the sanctity of marriage is cause for swift and eternal damnation.

To try and deal with all those issues raised, the movie simply shifts into hero vs. villain mode. This exposes another Tyler Perry trait. His bad guys are so over the top they cease to seem human. They are hissing, seething balls of rage. Harley is no exception. Robbie Jones is not a bad actor. The material leaves him no choice but to play it with both fists gripping ham and a mouth constantly full of scenery. This further adds to the feeling we’re watching something comical in nature. This wouldn’t be an issue if the movie didn’t so obviously want to be taken seriously. The mismatch of tone and content wreaks havoc on the film.

If there is one thing Mr. Perry usually gets right, it is wringing heartfelt performances out of his female leads. More than the zany antics of Madea (thankfully not present here) or the sermonizing of his elder characters, these ladies ground his movies. They provide an emotional core for the audience to latch onto. Though she’s not yet the same caliber of actress as Perry alums Kimberly Elise and Angela Bassett, Jurnee Smollett-Bell more than holds her own and shows great potential. She’s been in front of a camera since she was very young, but this is her first grown up role, as far as I know. Hopefully, she’ll have more in her future.

Conversely, Perry could not coax even one convincing line out of supporting player Kim Kardashian. She is just painful to watch. The few lines she had were far too many as it sounds like she’s reading them for the very first time. Also, the normally solid Vanessa Williams was equally as bad. Her faux-French accent was distractingly horrendous. It also doesn’t have to be there at all. It is merely used to set up an unfunny one-liner late in the movie. As the husband, Lance Gross is bland, but likable. This is actually high praise since the character exists to be precisely that. The only strong performance in the movie beside our leading lady’s is given by singer/actress Brandy Norwood. Unfortunately, her character occasionally appears to be in a horror movie all by herself. She eventually joins the rest of the cast in this movie during the third act.

Temptation is a movie that wants to be a mature portrayal of a marriage in crisis and how it might play out in biblical terms. In actuality, it is steeped in so much melodrama, its like the actors are performing a difficult trapeze act sans net. Since what it tries to be and what it is don’t line up it all becomes laughable. It’s also heavy-handed with an over-simplified conclusion. All grays are removed from this world in favor of easily contrasted blacks and whites. Judith ceases to be a woman and becomes a blatant scare tactic used against all women.

MY SCORE: 3.5/10

[dell71]

The Central Park Five
Directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon.
2012. Not Rated, 119 minutes.
Cast:
Antron McCray
Kevin Richardson
Yusef Salaam
Raymond Santana
Korey Wise
Rev. Calvin Butts
Raymond Santana Sr.
Natalie Byfield
Ed Koch

Way back in April of 1989, I was a high school senior in Queens, NY counting down the days until graduation. Having already enlisted in the U.S. Army, I was going to be on my way to New Jersey for basic training shortly after that joyous event. It was then that news broke of The Central Park Jogger Case. A woman was found unconscious in the famed park, having been savagely beaten and raped. Back then I was in the habit of reading the newspaper every day and followed the story this way, as lots of New Yorkers did. Within a few days a group of five teenage boys, ranging in age from fourteen to sixteen, were arrested and charged with the crime to which they confessed. In my seventeen year old eyes, this was pretty much the end of it. There was coverage of it daily which certainly went on well past my July departure from the city, but it appeared to be an open and shut case. Indeed, they were all convicted and sent to jail.

Turns out, there was lots more to the case than I thought. There was never any evidence against any of these kids. They happened to be in the park that night, with as many as twenty-five boys all total, but nothing linking any of them to the rape. The state’s case against them was based solely on the strength of the separately video-taped confessions of each of the boys. Never mind that each of their stories was wildly different than the rest. The point is, they said they did it. The only question was whether these confessions were coerced or not. They were. That might seem like a spoiler, but it’s not. The important part is the odyssey it took to bring this to light. The Central Park Five, co-helmed by documentary god Ken Burns, explores the case from the night the jogger’s body was discovered by some people passing by up to the present.

One thing I did know back in ’89 was that this was a racially charged media sensation right from the start. It had to be. True, New York is as diverse a city as we have in the world. However, at least back then, it was operating under a form of segregation the citizens imposed upon themselves. Every ethnicity had their own neighborhoods. As is the American way, blacks and hispanics were pretty much lumped together. Often, crossing the color lines was met with violence. I have personal friends who were actually chased out of White areas. One such chase ended with the young black male very near my high school. I haven’t lived there since leaving for the Army so I’m not sure if it’s still this way. On top of all that racial tension, crack cocaine had hit the city only about five years prior and brought with it new levels of addiction, money, and violence. Here, we have a case where the victim is white and her alleged assailants are black and hispanic.

The documentary does a wonderful job of capturing the atmosphere of the city at the time. We get the sights and sounds of the day. We see a bleak urban landscape, and occasionally some late 80s hip-hop to go with the soliloquys of the various people involved and others who studied the case. We also see many headlines and snippets of newspaper articles, including editorials damning the boys to the lowest realms of hell. For me, this is a harsh reminder of how fractured and volatile a place New York was.

The boys are all grown now and the ordeal still brings tears to their eyes. The all speak about it with unbridled passion, this being their first reach chance to tell their side of the story. Surprisingly, for guys who had a large chunk of their formative years taken away, they come across as bright, reasonable, and mostly articulate men. None of them exhibit the bitterness they might be expected to harbor. Granted, they have now had some time to cope with it, but it’s still commendable. Their family members alo shed a few tears. Thankfully, these eventually become tears of joy and/or relief as things finally turn in their favor fourteen years later.

The one thing this movie lacks is something it could never have. From archived footage, we get news clips of then New York City Mayor Ed Koch, prosecuting attorneys Linda Fairstein and Elizabeth Lederer, plus various police officers involved in the original investigation. Of these people, all but Koch declined to appear currently. He is the only person interviewed for this documentary on record proclaiming the guilt of these kids back in 1989. Even knowing the facts as we know them today, he is still reluctant to say he was wrong. However, give the man credit. He shows up and speaks about how the entire thing played out from his vantage point in the mayor’s office. Still, he was never actually a part of the proceedings. How could he be? He had a city to run. Many of the people who were involved still have much to lose by an admission of wrong-doing and/or negligence. I fully understand why the would refuse to appear in such a film. That doesn’t stop me from badly wanting to see them and hear them speak to the matter at hand.

The Central Park Five is a movie that reveals a certain truth. That truth is that guilt and innocence are easily manipulated perceptions. Perception gives us the ability to ignore facts. After all, as the old saying goes, perception is reality. On a more grounded level, it is a horrifying tale about gross abuses of power, both illegal and incompetent police work, mob mentality and racism. It details a justice system run amok, one swift to punish those perceived as offenders and hesitant to correct itself when proven wrong, if it does at all. The scariest part of all this, the part left unsaid, is that we know similar things have happened in other cases and continues to happen. Powerful does not even begin to describe this movie.

MY SCORE: 10/10

[Bane]

Was waiting for your Mud review. I found it to be an amazing film.. Those two young boys played their parts pretty well, shockingly well.

[Palooza]

just for dell even though nobody should ever see this film ever

 

Dell is that the Tyler Perry movie where the chick cheats and gets AIDS?