Dell's Good, Bad & Ugly Movie Reviews

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Europa Report
<b>Directed by Sebastian Cordero.</b>
<i>2013. Rated PG-13, 90 minutes.
Cast:
Michael Nyqvist
Sharlto Copley
Karolina Wydra
Daniel Wu
Embeth Davidtz
Christian Camargo
Anamaria Marinca
Isiah Whitlock Jr.
Dan Fogler</i>​

The first thing we are shown is the last image transmitted before communications broke down with the man-made space vessel, the Europa One. It carried a crew of six on mankind's first foray into deep space. The name was taken from their destination, one of Jupiter's moons. Their mission was to see if they could find further evidence that we are not alone in the universe. Europa was chosen because apparently scientists learned water is present there. Of course, the theory is where there is water, there is life. So, what happened?

We find out what went wrong through found footage of the fateful flight. This footage is interspersed with "interviews" of some talking heads who were involved with the mission from here on Earth, televised news clips, and some reality TV style confessionals from the astronauts themselves. Combined with the dead serious tone of much of the movie, this gives us the feel of watching a documentary rather than a dramatization. The technique works pretty well. Europa One's crew is natural during the footage of them working and living together and in an explanatory mood during the one-on-one time with the camera. Our Earth-bound higher-ups are sufficiently reflective and stuffy.

The footage itself nicely blends sci-fi with elements of horror. There is plenty of NASA style jargon spoken, but it's all explained. We don't get lost in a see of run-on sentences filled with multi-syllabic words. However, we still feel like these are people far more qualified than ourselves to be embarking on such a journey. On the horror end of things, it borrows heavily from Alien. This isn't a bad thing as it adds a sense of dread to the proceedings. That dread is juxtaposed with their relative calmness, at first, then their excitement over the possibilities. They don't become fearful until late into the movie. Even then, they're not afraid of what we think they should be.

In general, there are two main problems with found footage films. First, someone always has to have a camera and what we should realistically be able to see is limited. If someone isn't already holding the camera, they always have to remember to grab it before running away from whatever is giving them problems. The nature of the mission our heroes are on helps The Europa Report skirt the issue. It's man's first trip beyond our own moon. Communication must be kept with mission control here on Earth. Aside from that, everything that happens is an historic event and worthy of recording. Therefore, there are cameras all over the ship and on just about every piece of mobile equipment the crew has. For the most part, we see whatever any one of them can see without breaking the rules. The other issue is one the movie can't really avoid. The conclusion feels pre-ordained, even to the least astute viewers. The footage is found because the people in it were not. This is not a spoiler, it's a genre fact. Start with The Blair Witch Project, work your way forward and you'll see what I mean. Having this knowledge can rob a film of its impact. And so it does, just a bit. To its credit, the movie manages to retain some power with a well chosen stopping point.

All told, The Europa Report is a solid entry into the found footage canon. Its plot and setting helps it remain unencumbered by many of the genre's normal contrivances. Therefore, the movie is free to concentrate on building tension and suspense the same way as more traditionally narrative films. It does a pretty good job. This isn't quite a horror flick, but it does make solid use of many of that genre's tropes which keeps us engaged.

MY SCORE: 7/10​

 

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Monsters University
<b>Directed by San Scanlon.</b>
<i>2013. Rated PG, 104 minutes.
Cast:
Billy Crystal
John Goodman
Helen Mirren
Steve Buscemi
Alfred Molina
Nathan Fillion
John Krasinski
Bill Hader
AubreyPlaza
Tyler Labine
Julia Sweeney</i>​

Instead of continuing the story of Monsters, Inc., we take a trip back in time to the college days of our heroes. Most of our focus is on Mike (Crystal). He's wanted to be the greatest scarer of all-time since he was a very young monster. He is so obsessed with the idea, he has literally worked toward it his entire life. There is absolutely no question that he will major in Scaring when en enters Monsters University. There is one little bitty issue. Mike is not particularly scary. Soon, he meets Sully (Goodman), our other hero.

Sully is a natural, having descended from some of the industry's greats. He is much more of a jock while Mike is a bookworm. They do not get along. Their bickering even occurs in class and winds up getting them both kicked out of the Scaring program. As a last-ditch effort to get back in, they make a wager with Dean Hardscrabble (Mirren), who dislikes them both. If they, and the fraternity of misfits they're stuck with, win the campus Scare Games, they will be allowed back into the program. If they do not, they must leave school altogether.

Early on, the differences between Mike and Sully form a solid foundation for the movie. It's not just their arguing, but the choices each makes, and the people with whom they surround themselves. Best of all, Mike isn't a meek personality. He's a feisty little guy, not afraid to tell the big bad Sully what he thinks of him. Later on, their having to work together is the satisfactory development of a friendship. It is appropriately rocky, but undoubtedly on an upward swing. What's set up by all of this is a classic underdog story. When the movie launches into the Scare Games, it's fun watching the guys navigate the various events and figure out a way through them. We see them grow and bond as a team and have a good time doing it.

None of this would matter if the movie weren't funny. It is just that all the way through. Many of the jokes don't come from our heroes, though. The supporting players bring much more of the funny. The star of the show, in this regard, is Sherri Squibbles, the mother of one of the misfits. Julia Sweeney does a wonderful job with the voice and she is just a hilarious character. She lights up the screen every time she graces it. Another standout, in less screen time, is Steve Buscemi's reprisal of his role as Randy. As for Mike and Sully, they do have a number of funny moments, but they're more responsible for the drama. That drama is also well-handled. it is tense at the right times. The tension is cranked up the highest during a scene late in the movie when some horror elements are introduced. Also helping in the tension department is Helen Mirren as Dean Hardscrabble. She provides us with a solid villain with a commanding presence.

Though this is an underdog story, Monsters University is to be commended for not being satisfied with the easy finish. It seems to give us this and appears all set to ride off into the sunset. Instead, it throws us a bit of a curveball and the film continues. Rather than feeling like a false finish, it works in service of the developing relationship of our heroes and strengthens the movie for us. It directly leads to the finale which, as I mentioned, makes very nice use of horror movie tropes. When it actually does end, whether the kiddies watching realize this or not, the movie is better for going the extra mile.

MY SCORE: 8/10​

 

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The World's End
<b>Directed by Edgar Wright.</b>
<i>2013. Rated R, 109 minutes.
Cast:
Simon Pegg
Nick Frost
Rosamund Pike
EddieMarsan
Paddy Considine
Martin Freeman
Michael Smiley
David Bradley
PierceBrosnan
Sophie Evans</i>​

In the twenty-plus years since college, Gary King (Pegg) has had a rough go of it. We meet him while he's in rehab, recounting the best night of his life. It was near the end of this senior year when he and his chums tried to complete the "Golden Mile." This includes drinking at least one pint of beer at each of the twelve pubs stretched over a few blocks in their hometown of Newton Haven. They didn't quite make it, but it was still an epic night. Realizing that even his very best night was one of unfulfilled potential he decides to give it another try. He recruits his old buddies, all of whom reluctantly agree despite the fact they've moved on from such antics. Except for repeatedly butting heads with Andy (Frost), his former sidekick, things start off reasonably well. This changes a few pubs in when the gang discovers there is something very strange about the people in their old stomping grounds. It seems much of the population has been replaced by robots. Our heroes trying to survive the night, figure out who is responsible and why, and still complete the "Golden Mile" ensues.

Early on, the movie is just a tad flat. Our hero attempting to convince his buddies to come along and then arguing over the past is okay, but nothing special. It's done to establish the characters, which is fine. It just isn't as funny as one might expect given the track record of the people involved. There are the usual sly references to other films, some overt ones, a healthy dose of sarcasm and smarter-than-you-think jokes. The main issue is we find ourselves waiting on something, anything to happen. Thankfully, just as we're getting restless, something does. The robots show up and the movie shifts into high gear.

With the switch in gears comes a genre change, too. We go from a straight comedy to one that inclues action and sci-fi. The fun factor increases exponentially and the things we did like from earlier in the movie remain. The jokes come a little quicker and the time between them is filled with a much more kinetic energy. Beneath it all, the relationship between Gary and Andy barrels toward a head. Something has to give. As much as dealing with the robots, getting us to brace ourselves for the inevitable moment of truth the two must share propels the movie.

Through all of the goings on, we get a surprisingly intense examination of Gary. He appears to be an acute sufferer of Peter Pan Syndrome. He doesn't wanna grow up. His reasoning is stated plainly early on, but over time we are made aware how deep his scars run. Honestly, much of it is his own doing. This makes him a pathetic figure, though not entirely sympathetic. He's just another big man on campus who drowned when he found himself in deeper waters. Instead of swimming, he chose to sink. We don't necessarily dislike Gary, but our heart belongs more to Andy. Andy is the one who thinks most clearly of the bunch, and stands up to Gary. Most importantly, he has his act together.

I understand depth is not the reason we watch comedies. It's nice that it's there, but we want to laugh. Watching this, we do. How much depends on a few factors. One is how you feel about a style of humor often, but not always, more subtle than much of what passes for comedy these days. For instance, a rather clever running gag involves the etymology of the word 'robot.' Another factor might be whether or not you've seen Shaun of the Dead. The World's End covers a lot of the same territory. At times, it feels like we just swapped out zombies for 'bots. So while it's a fun and funny movie, even a notch above most recent comedies, it doesn't quite achieve greatness.

<b>MY SCORE: 7.5/10</b>​

 

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Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1
<b>Directed by Jay Oliva.</b>
<i>2012. Rated PG-13, 76 minutes.
Cast:
Peter Weller
Ariel Winter
David Selby
Wade Williams
Carlos Alazraqui
Paget Brewster
Maria Canals-Barrera
Richard Doyle
Grey DeLisle
Sam McMurray
Andrea Romano
Tara Strong
Michael Emerson
Michael Jackson</i>​

It has been ten years since Bruce Wayne (Weller) has dressed up as a bat and went crime-fighting. To fill the void, he partakes in other ways of trying to kill himself...er...get the adrenaline pumping. He's also become quite the prolific drinker. He says it helps him stay on the sidelines. He's really using it to cope with the tragedy that eventually led to him becoming Batman, the murder of his parents. In any event, it's getting harder to stay out of the game now that Gotham has a new menace, an out-of-control street gang calling themselves the Mutants. What makes these guys particularly dangerous is they like to commit random acts of violence, making them unpredictabel. They also like to take over Gotham TV and threaten city officials by name. This includes Commissioner Gordon (Selby) who has just announced he is retiring shortly. He vows to get the Mutants off the streets before punching out for the last time. After a couple of these punks have a run-in with Bruce, our hero decides it's time to don the cape and cowl once more.

We get a Batman that's older and not quite as in shape as he once was. Like an aging athlete, he knows all the moves to make yet can't make them as fluidly as he did in his prime. That said, I'm fairly certain the tight-rope walking act he pulls is a new trick. Still, we see him laboring to do things he once did with ease. Of course, as mentioned, he's still haunted by the death of his parents. This helps paint a picture of a more pathetic Batman than we're used to. We wonder if he's finally gotten to the point where he can't always come out on top.

The Mutants are both a help and a hinderance to our uncertainty about our hero. The leader is a help, somewhat. He's definitely not a match for Batman's wits, but he's more than one for him physically. He is huge and vicious. He's also slightly inhuman in appearance. Unfortunately, this could stand to be explained a bit, but the fact he's called a mutant is all we get. His fights with the Caped Crusader are brutal and well depicted. The guys who follow him are a disappointment. They are a never ending horde of nearly identical dudes who look like 80s punk-rockers and speak a rather corny sounding slang/broken English. They also don't have much heart. This army of knife wielding "slicer dicers," as they like to call themselves are more of and annoyance than a menace.

Villain-wise, we also get Harvey Dent (Williams) in a truncated story line. At first gance, it seems extraneous. Digging a bit deeper, and maybe forcing it just a bit, it becomes a representation of Batman's past and a reflection of what his own mental anguish is doing to him. Another blast from our hero's past is the Joker (Emerson). However, this is merely to set up Part 2 of our tale.

Overall, Part 1 works very well. The story is fascinating and since we know this is a two-part deal, we can excuse the lack of resolution in some areas. the main drawback is that it covers a healthy chunk of the ground covered in The Dark Knight Rises. The set up is essentially the same. Batman has been away from crime-fighting long enough to fade into myth, yet he's still wanted by police. Plus, a new threat draws him out of retirement. Some of the beats that follow are the same, including how his relationship with Alfred (Jackson) changes. It gives the movie a more derivative feel than it probably wants. The irony here is that the original comic book this movie is based on, penned by the legendary Frank Miller, came out in 1986 and served as inspiration for Christopher Nolan's trilogy ending film. The problem is there are far more people who have seen The Dark Knight Rises than have read Miller's work. Still, this movie holds our interest as it does enough things that are different. Chief among them is Batman's quick acceptance of a young girl who dresses up like Robin (Winter). Again, Part 1 also benefits from the promise of a Part 2. Rather than being a movie with a satisfying conclusion, it gives us something to look forward to.

MY SCORE: 8/10​

 

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Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2
<b>Directed by Jay Oliva.</b>
<i>2012. Rated PG-13, 76 minutes.
Cast:
Peter Weller
Michael Emerson
ArielWinter
David Selby
Mark Valley
Carlos Alazraqui
Paget Brewster
Maria Canals-Barrera
Grey DeLisle
Michael Jackson
Tress MacNeille
Jim Meskimen
Conan O'Brien
Rob Paulsen
Andrea Romano
Tara Strong</i>​

At the end of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1, we got the kind of tease that makes most Batman fans giddy. We found out the Joker (Emerson) was getting into the fray. The re-emergence of Batman (Weller) has inspired the Clown Prince of Crime to come out of the catatonic state he's been in for years. His first order of business is getting out of the looney bin. He manages this by convincing his doctor to arrange an appearance on a local talk show. Yup. Not surprisingly, this doesn't work out woo well for the people of Gotham. Our hero knew that would be the case, but can't quite get there to stop it. He has to deal with an army of Gotham's finest. With Gordon officially retired, Commissioner Yindel (Canals-Barrera), the city's new top cop has made it a priority to put Batman behind bars. Okay then, game on.

So far, it sounds like it's setting up another classic clash of the titans, right? It does. Eventually. this then leads to a showdown with none other than Superman (Valley). This is also epic. Unfortunately, there is just way too much other stuff going on. Worse, much of this other stuff is of too broad a scope and/or poorly executed. For starters, Batman is now a master of Mission: Impossible style disguise. I was cool with this until he miraculously hooks one up in seconds. Next, there was the Bruno, a topless female who looks like Ivan Drago from Rocky IV, just with boobs. To preserve that PG-13 rating, her nipples are covered with swastikas. The scope comes into play as we start getting into a nuclear strike by Russia against the U.S. It's brought up then dropped as if it's resolved when it's not. It is just an overblown plot device to get Superman in the condition we need him. By the way, it's a world in which Supes works directly for the President of the United States. Youngsters who watch likely won't realize that this president is very obviously Ronald Reagan. Why? I understand this is an adaptation of Frank Miller's work from 1986 when Reagan was actually president, but an update would've been okay. By the way, the drawing of Superman as Clark Kent is just plain funny to me. The first time we see him he looks like he's posing for the cover of a romance novel.

So far, it sounds like I hate this movie, but that's not actually the case. In fact, when the movie focuses on the Joker and the subsequent battle with Superman, it's phenomenal. The Joker is as brutal as he's ever been, piling up an impressive body count. Everything surrounding him plays out in graphic fashion. It's often cringe worthy, but in a good way. Of course, the big question is does he finally win? Does he accomplish the one thing he's been after the most for all these years? There is certainly a case to be made that he does. The Superman stuff provides a similar dilemma. Both guys can feel like they won. I won't divulge why they're fighting, but the depiction of it is amazing.

Part 1 is a consistently solid effort. Part 2 over-reaches its boundaries on a number of occasions, giving it an uneven feel. In other words, it's spectacular in some spots, and pretty bad in others. There is loads of action which will keep some viewers excited, particularly because it is pretty visceral stuff. Lots of gore and unrestrained mayhem abound. It has led lots of viewers to gush over how great it is. I'm not quite on that bandwagon because even on this front, there are some letdowns. On a few occasions, police officers and bad guys alike are within five feet of the Caped Crusader spraying shots from automatic weapons. It is more than obvious our hero should be riddled with bullets. I know, I know. It's a Batman cartoon. Some impossible things are to be expected. This just gets to be a bit much. Again, I understand wanting to be faithful to the highly regarded source material. However, just because something is highly regarded doesn’t mean it’s perfect. This certainly is not. Like I said, it’s great in some spots, and nearly incoherent in others. When working with a mess, I think it’s okay to tidy it up a bit.

MY SCORE: 6.5/10​

 

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Fruitvale Station
<b>Directed by Ryan Coogler.</b>
<i>2013. Rated R, 85 minutes.
Cast:
Michael B. Jordan
Melonie Diaz
OctaviaSpencer
Ahna O'Reilly
Kevin Durand
Ariana Neal
Chad Michael Murray</i>​

During the first few hours of New Years' Day, 2009, 22 year old Oscar Grant (Jordan) was shot and killed by a police officer in the middle of a crowded train station. Of course, people captured the incident on their cell phones. Don't worry, I'm not spoiling anything. This is where the movie starts and it is based on a true story. From that opening, we then recount Oscar's final day. We find out quickly that he lives with his girlfriend Sophina (Diaz) and their daughter Tatianna (Neal). Things aren't going according to plan. He tries to rectify the situation while not letting his family or anyone else know the struggles he's going through. This is in addition to the rough stretch of water he and Sophina are currently sailing together because of his infidelity. Walking a mile in Oscar's shoes ensues.

As portrayed by Jordan, Oscar is a guy that immediately pulls you in. The draw is that he feels like a flesh and blood human being, not a movie character. He's generally a nice guy who has made some bad mistakes. We see him efforting to change his ways and his luck. This is no easy task. Doing things the way he's done them before will provide at least a temporary refuge from some of his troubles. The key word is temporary. Besides, he can no longer stand the effects of his choices on those he loves. Given that last bit of info, it's no surprise he's a doting father, as well. Like many of us dads, his little girl has him wrapped around her finger and there is no place he'd rather be than with her. He has fun with her every chance he gets. On top of all this, it's his own mother's birthday (Spencer) and he wants to make it a special day for her, too.

Just those things we see on the surface make Oscar a remarkably well-rounded character. What viewers may not realize is how brilliant it is to make him such. Let's go back to the beginning, or actually, to the end. This is a movie about a young black man killed by a white cop. In many films, whether based on fact or fiction, similarly doomed protagonists are given halos and wings as they walk the Earth. Their shortcomings are generally side effects of their greatness. Oscar is no hero. He is just dude trying to support his family. This endears him to us. He's been in jail and is comtemplating whether or not he should continue to sell weed. We don't necessarily like these things, but given what else we know of him, he's hardly some super-evil boogeyman drug dealer who would make us quiver in his presence. Just as important is the fact that all of his issues are his own. Neither he nor the movie tries to lay blame for his problems any further than his own feet. This is important to ensure that we are squarely in his corner. He is a man standing at the crossroads trying to decide on a path. We're entirely willing to stare at the options with him.

Something else that has us in Oscar's corner are the people in his life. Despite whatever he's put them through, it's obvious they love him. They want desperately for him to do well. More than that, they enjoy his company. They like having him around. To the movie's credit, these other people are also well represented. As Sophina, Melonie Diaz gives a completely natural performance. When she shifts gears in how she addresses Oscar, we understand. It feels like a conversation we may have had with our upset significant other. She raises her voice in anger, changes her tone in confusion, and brings it down a few octaves to show concern. Her facial expressions all work, too. On the other hand, the looks she gives Oscar have nothing on the contortions Octavia Spencer does with her face as Oscar's mom. Every one of them conveys much more than the words she speaks. As good as she was in her Academy Award winning performance from The Help, it was a role that lapsed into caricature. There are no such issues, here. For my money, this is her better work.

The most unfortunate aspect of Fruitvale Station, aside from Oscar's death, is that it tackles a still relevant topic. At the very least, what happens to Oscar is an abuse of power and a gross over-reaction to a situation that could have been handled a lot better. At worse, and certainly not out of the question it's an outright act of racism. Even if the officer who pulled the trigger would not normally be considered a racist in his day-to-day dealings with people of color, what he does is quite possibly a reaction to fear stirred by the cumulative effect of a few centuries' worth of stereotypes rushing to mind in the heat of the moment. If he is a racist, well, that doesn't need any of my dime-store analysis. For that officer, there are no right answers. The other cops present may not find much good in their own actions, either. Instead of diffusing it, they exacerbated the situation, creating an unmanageable frenzy. Something bad was bound to happen.

MY SCORE: 10/10​

 

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The Great Gatsby
<b>Directed by Baz Luhrmann.</b>
<i>2013. Rated PG-13, 142 minutes.
Cast:
Leonardo DiCaprio
Tobey Maguire
CareyMulligan
Joel Edgerton
Isla Fisher
Elizabeth Debicki
Jason Clarke
Amitabh Bachchan
Jack Thompson
Adelaide Clemens</i>​

In 1922, Nick Carraway (Maguire) is one of the young, ambitious types who have flooded Wall Street looking for a big score. He's just moved into a small house on a rather exclusive island just outside New York City called West Egg. All of his neighbors are filthy rich and live in towering mansions. These are mostly people who've recently become wealthy. His next door neighbor, the mysterious Gatsby (DiCaprio) is one such fellow. Right across the bay is East Egg, a community made up of people from old money. There lives his cousin Daisy (Mulligan), who is married to the snobbish Tom Buchanan (Edgerton). Nick becoming tangled up in all of these people's affairs and their wild partying lifestyles ensues. In case you skipped high school, this is based on the famous novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Speaking of high school, that is where I first and last read the book and saw the original movie, starring Robert Redford in the titular role. Since that was at least umnumdiddily years ago, I have no recollection of the details. For all intents and purposes, I came into this blind. I'm okay with that. It makes it easier to judge the film on its own merits rather than how faithful it is to a classic piece of literature. So to all of you slamming it for not being as good as the book, I'm sorry. I just don't have that perspective. I am not saying that I just love this movie. Far from it. I am saying that my reasoning for what I view as pros and cons have nothing to do with the novel.

To start on the plus side, what can't be denied is that this is a remarkable looking film. The sets and the props all scream "roaring twenties." From the upscale mansions that reach toward the heavens to the grimy communities where the rich go to do their dirt, it all looks perfect. Add in the cars, costumes, color pallettes, and the grand time everyone seems to be having nearly at all times, and The Great Gatsby continuously dazzles the eyes. It's a vibrant world filled with people without a care in it. Their extravagant lives jump off the screen.

That extravagance is at the heart of the movie's slyly self-mocking sense of humor. It's not a comedy, but the people on the screen, especially Gatsby himself, have an understanding that they are ridiculously out of touch with the real world. They know that it's all "too much," yet they can't help but revel in the excess. They've cocooned themselves in bling and are quite giddy about their accomplishment.

Our wealthy fools are all played marvelously. Leonardo DiCaprio superbly shows us a man completely in tune with building his empire, however that may be, and presenting himself as a dashing figure. On the other hand, he tends to flap about like a fish on a boat when dealing with matters of the heart. His eventual rival, Tom Buchanan, is played nicely by Joel Edgerton as a relentless brute. He brandishes his life of privilege like a weapon and isn't afraid to use it. Carey Mulligan is wonderful as a woman torn, not in an emotional sense, but an ethical one. She has one treasure trove and is offered another. Her dilemma is deciding if she owes it to the man who gave her the first, to keep it. Finally, there's Maguire as Nick. He makes a nice mediator. More importantly, he's the closest thing to "one of us" we have in this world. As such, he maintains a somewhat incredulous disposition about everything.

Eventually, we have to get to the downside. Here we are. to start with something simple, let's talk music. In case you've forgotten, the movie is set in the early 1920s. That alone is more than reason enough for us not to be hearing Jay-Z every five minutes. To be honest, I've been a fan of Jigga for a very long time. I'm talking since well before most of you had ever heard of him. I'm talking since back when he cared more about his lyrics than trying to fit them to a radio-friendly beat. Right now, I can recite "Can't Knock the Hustle" totally from memory without pauses or mistakes, and without the song playing to guide me. I like a number of the tracks used here. Many of them are retro-fitted for a vaguely 20s feel. They just don't fit, no matter how they're altered. Having early twentieth century party goers kick their heels up to "Crazy in Love" is just silly, to me. It stinks on of a filmmaker over-reaching in an attempt to appeal to young audiences. For a movie that went through painstaking efforts to look authentic, this is a hard to forgive misstep in the opposite direction. Admittedly, if it makes your toes tap you might be willing to look past it. I couldn't.

The music is really just a symptom of a bigger problem. The whole thing feels empty and pointless. If not completely empty, then definitely shallow. I'm sure there is some grand interpretation of the American Dream and our remorseless capitalism to be culled from the fates of all involved. Those of you who have written papers on the novel, feel free to clue me in. Cinematically, it doesn't translate. On the screen, it comes off as a couple of flashy rich guys we don't particularly like in a pissing contest to see who gets to spoil the already spoiled princess. One is a heartless philanderer. The other is purposely a home-wrecker. Both men are exceedingly arrogant and self-centered. The question we wind up asking ourselves is do we really care which asshole gets the girl?

MY SCORE: 5/10​

 

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Kick-Ass 2
<b>Directed by Jeff Wadlow.</b>
<i>2013. Rated R, 103 minutes.
Cast:
Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Chloe Grace Moretz
Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Morris Chestnut
John Leguizamo
Jim Carrey
Donald Faison
Lindy Booth
Olga Kurkulina
Augustus Prew
Clark Duke</i>​

After his exploits in the first movie, David Lizewski (Taylor-Johnson) is no longer fighting crime as his alter-ego Kick-Ass. These days, he's just trying to lead a normal life. Meanwhile, Mindy Macready (Moretz), or Hit Girl, is vigorously training for her return to action. Finding normal life a bore, David relents and starts working out with Hit Girl and the two decide to form a team. She's got issues of her own, though. Emotionally, she is torn between honoring her father's dying wish for her to continue his life's work as a superhero and her guardian, Det. Marcus Williams' warnings about the inappropriateness, illegality, and pure danger of that lifestyle. She opts out of the crime-fighting business. Still, David is in luck. Through some rigorous internet searching he hooks up with a group of superheroes calling themselves Justice Forever, headed by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Carrey). Of course, things aren't all hunky-dory. The main issue is that Chris D'Amico (Mintz-Plasse), aka Red Mist from the first movie is really pissed about how things turned out in that initial flick. With lots of money at his disposal, he recreates himself as a super-villain and starts putting together his own team for the sole purpose of killing Kick-Ass.

Hit Girl's personal conflict takes up as much of the spotlight as Kick-Ass, if not more. It's just as well since Chloe Grace Moretz is clearly a better actor than Aaron Taylor-Johnson. In an ultra-violent superhero flick built upon trying to apply comic sensibilities to our world, she brings real depth and weight to her character. It's a character given more room to breath as she isn't boxed into reacting to Nicolas Cage this time around. To really sell it, though, she has to convincingly handle the physical aspects of her role. She does so very well. I'd argue hers is the most physically demanding role in the movie and she pulls it off without a hitch.

Christopher Mintz-Plasse is another highlight as our bad guy. Understandably, some viewers may be annoyed by him, but I think that's what the movie is going for. He's a class A Jerk, a privileged brat, remorselessly evil, and at least a little racist. The gallery of criminals he hires is a fun collection of baddies he identifies by stereotyping their ethnicity. The most prominent of these people is Mother Russia (Kurkulina). In my review of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 I noted there is a character who looks like Drago from Rocky IV with boobs. Mother Russia is the live action embodiment of that. Combine this with her flat out ruthlessness and she might be the scariest woman you've ever seen.

Like it's predecessor, Kick-Ass 2 is a sharp spoof of superhero culture, both on the page and the screen. Lots of the dialogue is simplistic, slogan filled, and declaritive. It sounds like it, but it is not lazy writing. In fact, I'd say it's the exact opposite because it's going out of its way to sound that way. It's the way comic book characters often speak. Going back to our bad guy, he does this and laces every tirade with profanity. That demonstrates how much of a spoiled brat he is and that he's part of a reality closer to our own than The Avengers. As far as his use of stereotypes, it is jab at the way non-Anglo characters have been portrayed since the inception of comic books. Look back at the history of non-traditional (read: not white) characters in not just comics, but pop culture at large, and you'll see lots of stereotyping. John Leguizamo, as Chris' driver/helper/friend calls him on it. To this he responds with a line calling them archetypes which perfectly echoes the excuses used for how these people are portrayed.

Alongside broader topics such as those, KA2 narrows its focus a bit and targets the superhero team. The Watchmen seems to be the biggest target. This is ironic because that movie, and the graphic novel it's based on, essentially tries to do the same thing as KA2, bring superheroes nearer to our reality. The Watchmen just goes about the task in a somberly and as an intense examination of this world. KA2 flips things around to focus more on the superhero world and does it in a comedic manner.

I know. I know. I've seen the scores on rottentomatoes.com and metacritic.com. The people who get paid to have an opinion on this sort of thing hate this movie. Many of my fellow hobbyists who just blog about movies are in agreement with the pros. I just can't follow the flock on this one. Is it as good as the original? No. Personally, I'm on record grading it as a classic so there is almost no way this could reach that lofty status. However, I still find it to be highly entertaining and way smarter than it has been given credit for being. Like Nicolas Cage in the first movie, Chloe Grace Moretz hits it out of the park with what is already a massively underappreciated performance, in my book. And yes, I would welcome a Kick-Ass 3, even if you wouldn't.

MY SCORE: 7.5/10​

 

[dell71]

Jobs
<b>Directed by Joshua Michael Stern.</b>
<i>2013. Rated PG-13, 122 minutes.
Cast:
Ashton Kutcher
Dermot Mulroney
Josh Gad
Matthew Modine
Lukas Haas
Ron Eldard
J.K. Simmons
James Woods
Lesley Ann Warren
John Getz</i>​

It's fairly well known that way back in the 1970s, Steve Jobs (Kutcher) and a few of his buddies started Apple Computers in his parents' garage. They basically invented the home computer and became filthy rich. He was ousted in the mid 80s as the projects he was working on kept burning through money. Years later, he's brought back when the company is on the verge of going under. He then conquers all of Earth beginning with the introduction of the iPod in 2001 and rules until his death in 2011. This movie starts during Jobs' college years. Well, he is on campus and sits in on some classes, but it's never clear if he's actually an enrolled student. This is a couple years before starting the company. We wrap things up as he is brought back to rescue the floundering in Apple in the mid 90s.

The easiest thing to do is start with the elephant in the room, lead actor Ashton Kutcher. Plenty of people, myself included, rolled their eyes when it was announced he would play the iconic Jobs. After all, it can be argued that his best "work" was either on ABC's That 70's Show, MTV's Punk'd, or whatever he did to get Demi Moore to marry him. His movies range from "don't ever show me that again" up to a solid "meh." His performances in those movies are on the same scale. But hey, he's famous and bears a decent resemblance to our subject once you slap a beard on him, so here we are. The truth of the matter is that he's not that bad. He might actually be the best part of this film. He's never been an actor of any credible depth. Fortunately for him, but unfortunately for the rest of the movie, none is actually required. He is only asked to come off as mean, self-centered, and vindictive. Mission accomplished.

The relative shallowness of the iPod/Pad/Phone man is the movie's biggest detriment. At every stop along the way, he simply shouts down anyone who disagrees with him and either bullies them into doing things his way or sends them packing regardless of how integral they were to his success. Judging from this picture, Steve Jobs never actually made a friend. He just had people around who could realize his visions and treated them like interchangeable parts. Even when co-founder Steve Wozniak aka Woz (Gad) calls him on his boorish behavior, there isn't really an attempt at rectifying it. The scene is emotional in the moment because of who is saying it to him. However, that all dissipates rapidly because we see it has no real effect on him other than trying a slightly diplomatic approach to saving his own ass. This renders Jobs not a film about the man, but about giving life to his reputation around the office.

That Steve spends so much time in the office makes the omission, or more accurately the butchering of, his personal life a glaring error. Anything that happens outside of Apple just builds our hatred of him. Early on, he beds a co-ed then hops out of bed while telling her he's got to get back to his girlfriend. While Jobs is working at Atari Woz, who doesn't even work for the company, practically does an entire project for him, saving Steve's job (see that?) in the process. For said project, Steve is paid a $5,000 bonus. He tells Woz he only got $700 and gives him $350. Later, when the aforementioned girlfriend informs him she's pregnant, he just more or less says "Ain't mine," and tells her to kick rocks. We see him then refuse to see his daughter even though she sends cute little letters begging to be allowed to come visit him. We also see him arguing with his lawyer in an effort to find any way possible for him not to pay child support. The movie has a chance to make him look like a hero, here. I mean, the whole time we're thinking their tearful reunion scene with him accepting the full responsibility of fatherhood has gotta be coming, right? Wrong. Maybe it happens off screen. All we get is a shot of the girl lying on his couch like ten years after the lawyer scene. That's not to mention that he's suddenly married with another child by then. How any of this came to be is a complete mystery unless you're well-versed in the life and times of Steve Jobs. I am not. Admittedly, a trip to his Wikipedia page might clear some things up, but I shouldn't need to do that. Oh, and just in case you need more proof he was a dick, he ends the film by exacting some petty revenge.

What all of this adds up to is us being more apt to laugh at our hero when things don't go his way rather than showing even the least bit of sympathy. To us, he's just a bad person getting his comeuppance. The overwhelming feeling I got watching Jobs was the same one I got when I first hard they were making the movie. It's too soon. The whole thing feels rushed and half-baked. We're given a caricature of the man instead of a portrait. It's a shame because he's one of the most influential people of his generation, if not the entire twentieth century, and the still young twenty-first century, as well. It doesn't have to be a glowing fluff piece that bestows sainthood on the man, but he deserves more than a one-note portrayal of a rampaging monster who happens to have great ideas. We need the perspective of time. The people who know the stories that can round him out as a character need that perspective, too. In the interim, we were given "How an Asshole Made a Whole Lot of Money."

MY SCORE: 4/10​

 

[dell71]

The Other Dream Team
<b>Directed by Marius Markevicius.</b>
<i>2012. Not Rated, 89 minutes.
Cast:
Arvydas Sabonis
Sarunas Marciulionis
Rimas Kurtinaitis
Jonas Valanciunas
Bill Walton
Chris Mullin
Jim Lampley
Dan Majerle
David Stern
Zydrunas Ilgauskas</i>​

At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, basketball was dominated by the U.S. Men's Team. Collectively known as the Dream Team, they were led by such household names as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird. In addition to that trio was a roster full of players headed for the Hall of Fame. What I didn't realize at the time, and I'm not sure how many people did, was that there was another team that much more literally represented the hopes and dreams of their country. That team was from Lithuania. It was a nation that had just wiggled free from beneath the thumb of the Soviet Union. Their independence was so new that just four years earlier, at the prior Olympics, all of the country's athletes played for the Russians. This is the story of how the country gained its freedom and the role basketball played.

Our tale is told through the eyes of the gentlemen who were the stars of both Lithuania's team in '92 and the Soviet team in '88. Two of them, Arvydas Sabonis and Sarunas Marciulionis would go on to play in the NBA, themselves. The others would have lengthy pro careers playing internationally. All of them still make their living within the sport in some capacity. Along with some other talking heads, they relay stories of what it was like living under Soviet rule. They speak of harsh and oppressive conditions. We hear of many Lithuanians being exiled to Siberia, a lot of whom never made it home. Through it all, they found joy in the sport they love. However, even that was tainted by being forced to play for another country.

As rough as it sounds, it's not depressing stuff. Our heroes are able to find humor in their despair. There is much laughter as they recount their trips to America while playing for the Soviets. They tell us how they managed to sneak out of their rooms at night despite being forbidden and closely watched by the Russians. We hear them marvel at the sheer availability of everything and the measures they took to smuggle home such illicit goods as blue jeans and walkmans. For you young'uns, the walkman was the iPod of the 80s. Go ahead, google it and have a laugh.

Things turn serious again when our attention is turned to the country's last days as a Russian annex. They speak of yearning to send a team of their very own to the upcoming Olympics once they were free. However, it was a bankrupt nation. We see the players, Marciulionis in particular since he was already in the NBA by that time, making huge efforts to make this happen. Eventually, we learn how rock legends The Grateful Dead took up their cause. It's all a heartwarming and uplifting documentary. You know what I'm saying: underdogs making good, triumph of the human spirit, and all that cheesiness. Thankfully, it's cheese that works and has plenty of basketball footage mixed in.

MY SCORE: 8/10​

 

[dell71]

Despicable Me 2
<b>Directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud.</b>
<i>2013. Rated PG, 98 minutes.
Cast:
Steve Carell
Kristen Wiig
Benjamin Bratt
Miranda Cosgrove
Russell Brand
Ken Jeong
Steve Coogan
Elsie Fisher
Dana Gaier</i>​

Our lovable bad guy Gru (Carell) has gone straight. With the help of Dr. Nefario (Brand) and the Minions, he's now a jam manufacturer. Of course, he's also a doting father to the three girls he adopted in the first movie. Soon, Lucy (Wiig) from the Anti-Villain League comes calling. They want his help catching the latest super-villain on the loose. Whoever it is has a serum that turns any living creature into an uncontrollable raging beastly version of themselves. At first, Gru turns them down. However, business isn't going so well and Dr. Nefario quits due to sheer boredom. Gru takes the job.

With Gru's relationship with the girls now firmly established, he spends more time on regular daddy stuff. This includes trying to ward off any boys that dare come near. That means a good chunk of his focus is on oldest daughter Margo (Cosgrove) and the boy she makes googly eyes with. Watching our hero try to get between them and/or keep them from anywhere near each other is where most of Gru's humor comes from. Most of the movie's heavy lifting in the comedy department comes from the Minions. They disappear for stretches at a time, but when they return they give us a few giggles and move along.

Overall, the movie is pretty typical stuff. It's not as fresh, therefore, not as endearing as its predecessor. This is much more of a sitcom plot mixed with a film about a bumbling spy (Gru). There are a number of potential villains on the loose. Most were a little off-putting, at least for me. They tend to be molded from the same stereotypes skewered by Kick-Ass 2, which I watched very recently. This detracted a bit from the fun. The kids watching may not notice this. Still, it's a bit troubling. It doesn't help that these are all one note characters, not as well-rounded as similar ones in Turbo. All that said, it's still a decent watch, particularly funny when the Minions let loose.

MY SCORE: 6/10​

 

[dell71]

Drinking Buddies
<b>Directed by Joe Swanberg.</b>
<i>2013. Rated R, 90 minutes.
Cast:
Olivia Wilde
Jake Johnson
Anna Kendrick
Ron Livingston
Jason Sudeikis
Ti West</i>​

Kate (Wilde) and Luke (Johnson) work at the local brewery. After a long, but usually fun day at work, they tend to head down to the nearest bar with a number of their other co-workers and drink lots of their own product. It is painfully obvious the two have a thing for each other. The issue here is two-fold: 1) Each is involved in a serious relationship with someone else, and 2) Neither of them will own up to how they feel about the other. Instead, they flirt endlessly. They do it that way people do when they have a really strong connection. Of course, they think it is mere friendship. So Kate thinks it's no big deal to invite Luke and his girlfriend Jill (Kendrick) up to her boyfriend Chris' (Livingston) beach house for the weekend. They accept. Life rolls on from there.

When I say 'life rolls on,' that's probably the best compliment I can give this movie. It's a true slice-of-life flick in every sense of the term. There really is no plot. Everything about our leads are just the facts of who they are, not set ups for some grand character arc. Finally, Drinking Buddies doesn't end so much as it just stops. When it does, I wouldn't blame anyone who throws their arms up and says "WTF!" when the final credits roll. I suspect that's what's behind the disparity between how critics view this movie and how normal folks see it. Critics have praised it while audiences are rather lukewarm toward it. The things it doesn't have are the things we've been trained to expect from our films. Without those things we're left with a feeling of uncertainty about what we just watched. A movie lacking a definitive beginning, middle, and end might not immediately make sense to us.

Enjoying DB requires a willingness to take it on its own terms and, perhaps, actually thinking about it afterwards. That's because we may have to sort some things out. It does what I often knock other movies for not doing. It shows, not tells. Counter intuitive to that sentiment, this movie is much more noun than verb. It is something that is, not something that does. We're used to our visual media "doing" for us. It sticks around until the bad guy is caught and the hero gets the girl. Little to no effort is required of us. Therefore, most of us don't have the energy for a movie with a figurative test at the end. I like this movie. That's not to say I'm smarter than people who don't. I'm just more willing to put in the work necessary to appreciate it.

I feel like I've rambled quite a bit without saying much about the actual film. There really are reasons to enjoy it as it goes along. Right away, it positions itself as a dramedy. It makes us laugh, but that's not necessarily it's aim. It's more about exploring the relationship between Kate and Luke. Whatever drama or humor that comes out of this is organic to the human experience, not gags or overly contrived melodrama. To their credit, our stars are an immense help in this area. Both Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson deliver completely natural performances. Wilde is particularly good. Her best acting is done by her eyes during pauses in dialogue. When she speaks, she feels like a woman we might know. The same is true for Johnson. Well, he sounds like a man we might know, not a woman. You understand. Through the two of them, we sense these are people who are aware of their feelings, but struggling mightily not to act upon them. Immediately, we start wondering "will they," or "won't they." This uncertainty drives the movie. Our curiosity happily rides along on this train. I like where it drops us off. I'm not sure you will.

MY SCORE: 7.5/10​

 

[dell71]

The Purge
<b>Directed by James DeMonaco.</b>
<i>2013. Rated R, 85 minutes.
Cast:
Ethan Hawke
Lena Headey
Rhys Wakefield
Adelaide Kane
Max Burkholder
Edwin Hodge
Tony Oller
Arija Bareikis
Dana Bunch
Chris Mulkey
Tisha French</i>​

James Sandin (Hawke) and his family are getting ready to completely lock down their home as they do every year during the annual Purge. The Purge is the one night of the year where everything is legal. Whatever crime you want to commit, up to and including murder, is fair game. The idea behind it is that being allowed to do what you want for this night will purge the evil from our systems. It seems to have been effective. Excluding Purge Night, crime and unemployment are almost non-existent and the economy is in phenomenal shape. The Sandins don't participate, though. They barricade themselves in their home using the same expensive security system that James has made a very nice living selling.

Of course, if the Sandins just shut their doors to the world raging outside and the night passed without a hitch, we wouldn't have a movie. Still, Mary (Headey) stands by with passive look on her face while her husband brings the barricades down. Their daughter Zoey (Kane) stomps off to her room because that's what teenage girls do. Meanwhile, their son Charlie (Burkholder), equipped with some techno gadgetry of his own and a bleeding heart, pays close attention to the security cameras. When Zoey gets back to her room she finds her boyfriend there. Yup, dad doesn't like him. He snuck in before the lock down, or never left, since he was there earlier in the day. Minor detail. Point is he is not supposed to be there. However, that's a small issue compared with what Charlie does. While watching those cameras he notices a random black man staggering and screaming for help in the middle of the street. Why yes, he opens up the house and lets the guy in. Obviously, this man being a stranger in the Sandins home on the most dangerous night possible is a problem, but there is even bigger trouble following him. A group of well-to-do white twenty-somethings were trying to purge by killing our random black man when he got away. Having figured out that he's hiding in the Sandin house, they go knocking on the once again barricaded door. Their demand? Send him out so that we may finish killing him or we will find a way in and kill all of you! The problem? It's a pretty big house and the Sandins can't find the guy.

The Purge is a highly political movie masked as a home invasion thriller. It's pretty clear, to me at least, which characters represent Republicans and which are Democrats. The actions taken by them, particularly the ones seeming to be Republicans, are exaggerated versions of what their present ideologies imply. After all, we're told several times the Purge has become an annual massacre of the homeless, the poor, and anyone else the haves deem to be an unproductive member of society. This amplifies the importance of the homeless guy being black. With both of those things perceived to be working against him, he seems a prime candidate to be purged. If you happen to be a conservative don't take offense. I'm just noting how those views sound to people who don't share them.

Like most movies that position themselves as social allegories, The Purge not only tries to give us its point of view, but to provoke questions as well. One of the questions that immediately springs to mind is could an annual purge work? No matter which side of the political ledger you fall, I think you'd agree the correct answer is 'not a chance in hell.' It might be tantalizing to think that it could. Your initial feeling may be 'if we just had that one night to get all the anger and hatred out of our system we would be happy and content, or at least able to restrain ourselves for a year.' However, if you've ever met a human being you quickly realize this is some cockamamie bullshit. Still, it makes for an interesting film premise. Just don't take it literally.

Speaking of the film, let's actually get back go it. Sorry for my rambling. Then again, that rambling is a symptom of the problem with the movie. The thoughts and conversations stemming from its ideas are better than our experience watching it, by a longshot. I don't think it's a bad movie, just an okay one. Ethan Hawke does a very nice job as our dad-turned-action-hero, desperately trying to protect his family. Our first group of bad guys are a purposely faceless and freakish bunch. The second group of baddies aren't quite faceless. For one, they don't wear masks. Unfortunately, their part of the story is telegraphed way too early. The tension created by this whole situation is not as unbearable as it should be, either. Finally, by the end, it just becomes too blatant in its message and reveals itself to be too small for its premise. Watching this family defend themselves is nice and all, but a film more worthy of its ideas might have been made by broadening its scope beyond the walls of our wealthy hosts.

MY SCORE: 6/10​

 

[wingsfan77]

I REALLY enjoyed Drinking Buddies, mainly because I have a man crush on Jake Johnson haha. I loved the ending, my girlfriend not so much.

 

[dell71]

Louder Than a Bomb
Directed by Greg Jacobs and Jon Siskel.
2010. Not Rated, 99 minutes.
Cast:
Kevin Coval
Adam Gottlieb
Nate Marshall
Nova Venerable
Lamar Jorden
James Sloan
Charles Smith
Jesus Lark
She'Kira McKnight
Elizabeth Graf​

"Louder Than a Bomb," which takes place in Chicago, is the nation's largest high school poetry slam. For the uninitiated, poetry slams are spoken word poetry competitions. Poets are scored on a scale of one to ten on each poem they perform. Here, we focus on students from four of the nearly fifty competing schools in 2008. Most prominently featured are the kids from Steinmetz Academic Academy. They won the previous year despite it being their first year competing. We spend lots of time with Mr. Sloan, one of their coaches, as well as with students Lamar Jorden, Jesus Lark, She'Kira McKnight, and Charles "Big C" Smith. We get a little time with some others on the team, too. These are the kids that go against the grain. Judging books by their covers, you'd be hard pressed to peg these as poetry buffs. They're the most "urban" group, to use a code word. Yet, these are the defending champs. They are also struggling to get it together for this year's slam.

For the other three schools, our focus is limited to one student each. Adam Gottlieb attends Northside College Prep. He's the kid who loves everyone and everyone loves him. He is the ultimate diplomat, giving shout outs to his competition in his own poetry. Nova Venerable goes to Oak Park and resides at the opposite end of the spectrum. I don't mean that people don't like her. That's not the case. I mean that she's tougher to get close to with her guarded personality that stems from her hard childhood. She writes more as a cathartic exercise and with an underlying anger. She might be in the competition, but she's really purging her soul. Nate Marshall is the happy medium between Adam and Nova. He goes to Whitney Young Magnet School and is known as "the grandfather" of their poetry program. He loves teaching others and has fun with his art. However, he does carry with him the memories of growing up in a rough environment.

With the Steinmetz kids, we go through the trials and tribulations of a team trying to prepare without always having everyone on the same page. Their ups and downs make for an intriguing roller coaster ride. With the others, we delve into their backgrounds, getting to know them more intimately. Adam and his family makes us laugh. Nova's might make us cry. True to form, Nate's does a bit of both. The movie works itself into a fun carousel that stops rotating come competition time. That doesn't mean the ride is over at that point. Directors Greg Jacobs and Jon Siskel do a wonderful job playing up the natural tension of the competition without it feeling forced. By the way, movie buffs will find this interesting. Jon Siskel is the nephew of none other than the late and now legendary movie critic Gene Siskel.

As for the poetry itself, it's a solid mix of funny, personal, and socially relevant pieces. Like lots of spoken word, the majority of what we hear relies heavily on rhythm, rhyme, and passionate delivery. We get that in spades and enjoy listening to it. For me, there are three pieces that stand head and shoulders above the rest. There is the crowd-pleasing ensemble poem "Counting Graves" from Steinmetz. It's a superior piece of performance art, timely and powerful. The other two are both by Nova. Her first, "Apartment on Austin," details her relationship with an often drunk and needy father. The other, "Cody," is named after her younger brother who has special needs. Both are exceptionally well written poems with strength completely independent of the theatrics of her recitations, which there really are none. They just punch you right in the chest and rip your heart out through the hole.

You may or may not be into poetry like I am. Still, the human stories on display reach out and grab the viewer. We become invested in their fates and root for the tens to go up after they've read. We're disappointed when they don't. However, we learn that what the slam organizers repeat numerous times is true. The point is not the points, the point is the poetry.

MY SCORE: 9/10​

 

[dell71]

The Internship
Directed by Shawn Levy.
2013. Rated PG-13, 119 minutes.
Cast:
Vince Vaughn
Owen Wilson
Rose Byrne
Aasif Mandvi
Max Minghella
Josh Brener
Dylan O'Brien
Tiya Sircar
Tobit Raphael
Jessica Szohr
Rob Riggle​

Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson are luxury watch salesmen that work as a team, because salesmen aren't a bunch of heartless cutthroats. It's okay for me to say that, I was in sales for five years. While I'm at it, let's address me going with the actors' real names instead of their characters' monikers. It's something I almost never do. However, let's keep it real. This is the same Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson we always get. 'Nuff said on that front. Turns out, the company they peddle time pieces for has abruptly shut down. A few nights later, Vaughn is job surfing online when he decides to google "google." Bada-boom, bada-bing, he and Wilson are now part of a highly competitive internship program on the campus of the search engine giant. The winning team of interns will earn full-time gigs. Of course, our heroes have no tech experience at all. Wilson doesn't seem able to turn on a computer. Vaughn can surf the web, but is pretty computer illiterate, himself. Of course, they wind up on a team of misfits. A really long commercial ensues.

If you've seen the trailer for The Internship then you know I'm not kidding about this being a commercial. Hell, the trailer is essentially a commercial for the commercial. So how do they flesh things out? We start with a live-action version of Monsters University. No, I'm serious. Same basic plot, same stock characters. Swap out John Goodman and Billy Crystal for Vaughn and Wilson, respectively. Add a few cuss words, a love interest for Wilson, a scene in a strip club, slap the Google logo all over everything, have everyone speak of the company with great reverence, and voila!

You just want to know if it's funny, right? In spots. Vaughn does his usual fast-talker schtick while Wilson does his normal routine. If you find either or both of these guys funny then you'll find things to make you laugh, potentially lots of things. It helps if you're in their general age group. Lots of the jokes center on the generation gap between them and their fellow interns. When the team is given a task, our heroes start trying to talk their way through it, regardless of whether that's a useful thing to do, and make lots of reference to 80s pop culture. One reference, far older than any of those is one I found most interesting. At one point, Wilson breaks into a paraphrased and truncated rendition of the legendary Langston Hughes poem "A Dream Deferred." The kids don't get this or most references and go about actually trying to solve the problem. Rinse. Repeat. The flip side of this is that neither Vaughn or Wilson has any clue about computers nor current pop culture. Sort of. For instance, a big gag involves the guys being sent on a wild good chase to find Professor Charles Xavier. I get that they didn't immediately recognize the name as being leader of the X-Men. I even get that the joke can go on for a moment while they catch up. However, this isn't something you have to be young and hip to know. Even if we ignore the fact that X-Men was one of the country's most popular comic books right when these guys were right in the target audience for such things, and had a Saturday morning cartoon, we still know something impossible to overlook. They have been making X-Men movies for more than a decade and unless I'm mistaken, all of them have taken in hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. These movies have also shown up all over TV numerous times. Finally, our "old" guys know something far younger in terms of being a pop culture phenomenon, The Hunger Games. To be fair, as full of holes as the logic for this scene is, it is one of their funnier bits.

The rest of the cast is filled out with characters we've all seen before in a number of movies. Remember how much I said this resembles Monsters University? Yeah, same characters here, pretty much. We have the cocky and arrogant bully as our bad guy in the competition. We also have the unforgiving authority figure presiding over the whole thing. Just about everyone else is one form of geek or another. Therefore, the story feels like a by-the-numbers job that fails to add its own twist to the proceedings. It just tries to float by on the charm of the two lead characters. They do an amiable job, but can't really make it anything special. It is occasionally funny, breezes by without causing us to think, and just isn't anywhere near as good as Monsters University at doing essentially the same thing.

MY SCORE: 5/10​

 

[dell71]

Gravity
Directed by Alfonso Cuaron.
2013. Rated PG-13, 91 minutes.
Cast:
Sandra Bullock
George Clooney
Ed Harris
Phaldut Sharma
Amy Warren​

In space, no one can hear you scream. Oh wait, that's another movie. Regardless, it's true. Ryan Stone (Bullock) finds this out the hard way. She and Matt Kowalski (Clooney) are among the crew on a Space Shuttle mission to perform some routine maintenance on the Hubble Telescope. It's her first time in the great beyond so she's not feeling particularly well while floating alongside the machine she is working on. Other than that, things are going according to plan until our good friends, the Russians, intervene. Sort of. They actually just shoot down one of their own satellites which is no longer functioning. The problem is that the debris is sent hurtling through space, directly at the two most photogenic astronauts of all time. Oh, and their co-workers. Crash, crash, boom, boom, and Stone is separated from the rest of the crew, uncontrollably spinning into the blackness. Kowalski soon recovers her. Even if you haven't seen the movie, you've seen the trailer, or watched the Oscars, or one of the entertainment news shows, or just heard someone bumping their gums about it, so you can guess what happens next. Stone gets separated again and spends the rest of the movie trying to rectify her situation.

Early on, we hear a few different voices communicating with the astronauts, and see Clooney scooting around on his motorized chair. However, it really is a one woman show. It's a spectacular one, at that. Sandra Bullock turns in what I think is easily her best performance. Her Oscar-winning turn in The Blindside is great, if a bit over the top. I've liked her in a number of other movies and been indifferent to her in a bunch more. Here, she's captivating in a way not many movie performers have ever been, completely alone for long stretches of film. Tom Hanks' work in Cast Away immediately leaps to mind. For most of that movie his only companion is Wilson, a soccer ball on which he drew a face. Here, Clooney's smiling mug gives Bullock slightly more companionship. The rest of the way is all her. Even more impressively, she's not even acting in an organic setting most of the time. She's often in model space vessels and an anti-gravity environment. Mostly, she is suspended on a wire against a green screen. The only people around her are the crew, all off-camera, so she has no one to play off. If you don't think that's tough to do, I've got an exercise for you. Try standing up in a public place and acting out a personally and visibly emotional scene all by yourself for a full minute without breaking character or acknowledging anyone who is around. Don't forget you have to be totally convincing. Go 'head, I'll wait. No? Okay, let's move on.

We have to get back to that green screen I mentioned. You've probably seen one and know how it functions, but just in case not, it's just that - a green screen on which the techno wizards will later add visual effects. The magicians that worked on Gravity were rewarded with Oscar gold in just about every technical category there is, and deservedly so. It truly is a special fx marvel. From the smallest details to the eye-popping action sequences, the fx do their job. They work in service of the telling of a great story without becoming story. There is never a moment we don't believe our heroine is floating helplessly in space. This is a huge part of the movie's creation of tension. That tension drives the film. Even before we get to all the angst filled stuff, the visuals work magic on us. In the earlier, more serene moments, we're allowed to gaze upon Stone's infinite workplace. The views are as spectacular as we imagine. Rarely has a setting been more well established.

Like I said, though, the job of all those fx is to help tell a story. Making sure that what dazzles the eye does the same to the mind is director Alfonso Cuaron. Given the massive amounts of technology on display this may sound odd, but he really does take a minimalist approach. Sure, the entire set was constructed on a PC, but that's merely a fact of where our tale takes place. Aside from this, the camera is trained on Bullock and her exploits nearly for the entirety of the runtime. There are only a few exceptions made for Clooney, mostly right at the beginning. Most similarly themed movies would have tacked on another twenty-plus minutes by cutting away often to people working feverishly to save the protagonist. That doesn't happen here and the movie is better for it. It's tight and concise, keeping the viewer on the edge of his/her seat without ever letting us off the hook. There is nothing to focus on besides this woman and her plight. Directing that singular person may have been as difficult as the portrayal of said person by Bullock. Here's another exercise to demonstrate my point. Try having a willing person act out a scenario in a room all alone with you. Have them follow your directions but not actually interact with you. Instead, they must react to things that aren't actually there, and make sure they're looking directly at wherever it is decided these things will be located and/or coming from. Bottom line is Gravity is a masterful job done by Cuaron worthy of his Best Director win at the Oscars. It's even more worthy of our massive exhalation when the closing credits roll.

MY SCORE: 9/10​

 

[dell71]

This is not a review, just me rambling about...

Movies I Grew Up With

Purple Rain​

I had heard of Prince as early as 1979. I was only eight years old. My mother bought a lot of records back then. One of them was Prince's self-titled second album. I don't remember her playing it much except for the opening track, "I Wanna Be Your Lover." It's a song I still love. In '81, I really liked his hit "Controversy." Since much of his material was on the racy side, that was about all I heard of the album of the same name until I got older and bought it for myself. Like much of the world, I really began to get much more acquainted with this musical genius in late '82, through '83 thanks to his two massive hits "1999" and "Little Red Corvette." Even at twelve years old, I had pretty good grasp on what the former was about. I had no clue on the latter, but damn if it didn't sound good. With these songs, and the help of Vanity 6 and The Time, two acts he practically birthed and nursed, he began to take over the world. Then the big news broke. Prince was going to be starring in a movie. Needless to say, I had to be there when it opened. The only question was how.

Actually, the how was simply a matter of convincing Mom to take us. It opened in July of '84 and we were there opening weekend because I was fairly decent at persistently begging. There is one odd thing about this part of the story, though. By this time, Mom decided she wasn't much of a Prince fan. This little fact is the source of a constant rift in our relationship. Okay, I'm just kidding. There is no rift, but definitely a difference of opinion. Anyhoo, she made the blasphemous decision to not see Purple Rain. She took all of us, her, myself, and my three siblings, to one of what was then a new-fangled thing - the gigantic multiplex. Purple Rain was playing in one of the theaters. Back then, at this theater, you didn't just buy a ticket at one centralized booth and walk in. They actually had a huge interior lobby with a separate ticket booth set up for every movie showing in the theater - all 14 of them. The line for PR took up most of the lobby. She stood with me and the brother nearest me in age until we got to the front, paid for two tickets for us and then went and saw something else. To this day, I have no idea what she saw. For reference though, Ghostbusters, Gremlins, The Karate Kid, Revenge of the Nerds, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom were all still playing on the big screen at the time. No matter, I was walking into the Prince movie. I was happy.

The theater was so packed, my brother and I wound up sitting practically on top of the screen. I remember watching much of the movie either with my head cocked to the side or with my head leaned back so far my nose was practically vertical trying to take in the whole screen. That said, what I saw blew my mind. And by the end, I almost shed a tear. Almost.

The quick story synopsis goes as such: a semi-autobiographical movie about Prince. Need more? Okay. Prince actually plays The Kid, the lead everything of The Revolution. They headline at the nightclub First Avenue, but seem to be waning in popularity. Another group that performs there, The Time (yes, the same group as in real life), led by Morris Day (playing himself, sort of), wants the top spot and begins a campaign to get The Kid out. The two rivals are also smitten with Appollonia (also sort of playing herself), the new girl in town who wants to be a star, giving us a love triangle. Honestly, by the time I left the theater that evening I was in love with her, too. Finally, The Kid also has some serious problems at home as his father is abusive toward his mother.

It is a very well done rock-n-roll movie that is lots of fun. Prince dominates on stage. His performance of "Darling Nikki" is one of the meanest moments in movie musical history. Off the stage, he's actually not a bad actor. And he rides a cool motorcycle. It helps that he is basically playing himself, but plenty of people have played themselves poorly. Appollonia is not very good, but she is gorgeous. That definitely earned her a pass from me when I was one of those piles of hormones known as a thirteen year old. Hell, the fact she had a couple of topless scenes and another where she performed on stage in some trashy lingerie elevated her to a goddess in my eyes. Still, the true star of the show is Morris Day closely followed by Jerome Benton. Day is the de facto villain, but with Benton forms a terrific comic duo. I still consistently laugh at their exchanges, many of which can only be described as Abbot and Costello like routines. If you've seen this movie, you'll likely remember their "password" scene. Better yet, even their on-stage antics are funny...and funky.

The movie went on become a huge success. It opened #1 at the box office the last week of July, 1984 and stayed in the top 4 every week through September. It was top 10 every week until mid October. For the entire year, it was the 11th highest grossing movie grossing a cool $68 million domestically back when buying tickets didn't require a loan and a co-signer (or about $156 million today). Besides all this stuff about the story, the actors and whatever other movie stuff you want to talk about, the soundtrack is one of the greatest albums of all time. Period. The two combined helped Prince complete his quest for world domination. Everything that year was Prince. I very shortly had a copy of the album...yes, the actual vinyl record...and I can't tell you how fast I had every word of every song committed to memory. I bought any magazine I came across that had him on the cover, including several that devoted entire issues to him. Oddly, I didn't have a poster of him. My walls were reserved for the multitude of women lucky enough to be named Jet Beauty of the Week.

Over the years, I've returned to the movie often. I'm pretty sure I've seen it more than twenty times. However, I hadn't watched it in a couple years until just recently. Again, it was one of my children who was the catalyst for my re-introduction to a movie. Unlike other such occasions, I watched it alone. I'm not quite ready for my girls to see this movie in its full glory. They've seen parts of it on commercial TV airings, but not the actual R-rated version. I'm pretty 'lax in what I let them watch but I'm a bit more strict than my own mother was with me. At 16, my son pretty much has the keys to the movie car. One day, I heard him singing, badly, "When Doves Cry." I didn't think anything of it, figuring he probably heard it on one of the oldies' radio stations I sometime play when we're all in the car together. The next day he was singing "I Would Die 4 U" and The Time's "Jungle Love." Even though I already knew the answer, I still asked if he had watched "Purple Rain." He got a pretty sizable grin and responded that he had. Several times. Glad he liked it. Later that night, I popped it in the DVD player and traveled back to the year in which we were all trying to figure out what George Orwell had right and what he had wrong. Even Prince opened the show on a philosophical and reflective note...

Dearly Beloved,
We r gathered here 2day 2 get through this thing called life.
Electric word life,
It means '4ever' and that's a mighty long time
But I'm here 2 tell u there's something else
The afterworld
A world of never ending happiness
Where u can always see the sun
Day or night...​

Preach brother, preach.

 

[Maynard]

i cant tell you how many times i saw that movie at the theaters. Prince was like the anti michael jackson in the 80ies. people would make fun of me in school because i had prince drawings on one side of my folders and motley crue on the other. Purple Rain is still one of my favorite albums and movies of all time. Morris Day and Jerome were fantastic, plus i love jungle love and the bird.

 

[dell71]

i cant tell you how many times i saw that movie at the theaters. Prince was like the anti michael jackson in the 80ies. people would make fun of me in school because i had prince drawings on one side of my folders and motley crue on the other. Purple Rain is still one of my favorite albums and movies of all time. Morris Day and Jerome were fantastic, plus i love jungle love and the bird.

Morris and Jerome rule! Funny, you mention Prince & Motley Crue. Prince has been a gateway artist for me. He fuses lots of musical genres together, including metal. So enjoying his music helped me appreciate Motley Crue, GnR, Metallica, etc. And yeah, Purple Rain is still one of my favorite albums of all time. Just had to mention that again.