Archive for August, 2009
RICHLIER WIRE - 8/28/09
From the pages of Electric City and Diamond City, two of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s premier arts and entertainment publications, comes Richlier founder Jeff Boam’s weekly column:
Previews (Opening this Weekend):
Final Destination: Death Trip
Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten
For those readers whose lives are mundane enough to keep track of such things, this is the 4th movie in the critically panned but commercially adored Final Destination series. Now that the series is back in the hands of Final Destination 2 helmer David R. Ellis (Cellular, Snakes on a Plane), the thrills - and producers are promising that this chapter will be the goriest yet - will come at filmgoers in high definition 3-D. In this three-dimensional R-rated gross-out (also available in 2-D), a group of friends (Campo, VanSanten, et al) survive a horrific ordeal only to get killed off one-by-one in increasingly gruesome ways. The Plus: The series. These movies have always turned a healthy profit. The last go-round, Final Destination 3, earned over $54 million at the U.S. box office…with a cast of unknowns to boot. The Minus: The odds. HD 3-D technology is a large selling point with this particular movie and many theaters nationwide have appropriated the equipment with which to exhibit this gimmick…but these select locations charge a higher fee and schedule fewer screenings to accommodate such technology. Pitted against Halloween II (same rating, same genre, bigger draw), Death Trip may find its grosses dispersing across the 8th dimension.
Halloween II
Tyler Mane, Malcolm McDowell
Though 2007’s Halloween was a re-imagining of John Carpenter’s 1978 modern slasher classic, the new Halloween II is not a remake of the original’s 1981 sequel, which was in turn followed by Season of the Witch, The Return of Michael Myers, The Revenge of Michael Myers, The Curse of Michael Myers, H2O: 20 Years Later, and Resurrection. No, THIS sequel stems directly from the mind of writer/director/musician Rob Zombie and focuses on the traumatized mind of Michael Myers’s sister Laurie. In this R-rated sequel, Michael Myers’ murderous rampage continues…with his sister (Danielle Harris) seemingly dead in his sights. The Plus: The material. With the release of Halloween in 2007, Zombie broke Labor Day Weekend records at the box office. The Minus: The competition. Beyond these new releases (both R rated horror flicks), the Multiplex is already chocked full of PG-13-rated blockbusters to contend with (G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra, District 9, Inglourious Basterds).
Taking Woodstock
Demetri Martin, Imelda Staunton
Being Ang Lee must be a heavy gig. The director behind the ultra serious The Ice Storm, Brokeback Mountain, and Chinese language Lust, Caution has lightened up in the past (his breakthrough films Eat Drink Man Woman and Sense and Sensibility were dramas, albeit less serious), but even his one comic book movie was a somewhat heavy affair (2003’s The Hulk). This may explain Lee’s decision to base his next film on Elliot Tiber’s often humorous memoir, Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life. In this R-rated fact-based account, a young man (Martin) inadvertently sets in motion the generation-defining summer of ’69 concert when he tries to revitalize his parent’s Catskills motel. The Plus: The players. Lee wowed Oscar with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. With his latest, he has stacked the deck with Martin (TV’s The Daily Show), Staunton (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), Emile Hirsch (Milk), Liev Schreiber (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Eugene Levy (Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen), and Paul Dano (There Will be Blood). The Minus: The timing. It is not quite award time yet and the blockbuster season is pretty much over. Unless you happen to be named Tarantino (as in the director of last week’s number one film, Inglourious Basterds), late August is somewhat of a dead zone for indies.
Reviews (Now in Theaters):
Inglourious Basterds
Brad Pitt, Eli Roth
With such a gloriously misspelled title, filmgoers should march into the theater fully expecting an off-kilter war film—especially when it comes from the auteur behind a heist caper where no one sees the robbery (Reservoir Dogs), a two-part chop-socky love letter (Kill Bill, Vol.1 and 2), and a white man’s blaxploitation flick (Jackie Brown). Aside from a decade-bending soundtrack and a commencement channeling an alternate reality, however, this bloody damn good war flick truly measures up to some of filmdom’s greatest WWII pictures in terms of action and chatter (The Dirty Dozen, Saving Private Ryan). Granted, your reviewer is an unabashed fan of writer/director/raconteur Quentin Tarantino, but this never stopped him from taking the piss out of his Grindhouse thriller Death Proof’s theatrical release (“ultimately terrorizes filmgoers by talking them to death”).
In this R-rated film, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Pitt) leads an unscrupulous team of Jewish-American Nazi hunters (Roth, B.J. Novack) into German-occupied France.
Just as he evidenced in 12 Monkeys, Fight Club, and Snatch, Brad Pitt is more at home playing quirky main characters as opposed to handsome leading men. His hillbilly lieutenant is among the best examples of this yet. Christoph Waltz’s portrayal of an unscrupulously brutal and opportunistic Nazi, however, will court Oscar come February—as will the film itself now that the Best Picture category has been extended to 10 selections. Tarantino’s audacious ending will surely cause some head scratching among audiences, but the suspenseful shots (especially the Paris-set movie premiere) and intelligent dialogue (especially the tavern-set face-off) is gloriously keen cinema.
Down-to-the-Wire: Basterdly good.
(500) Days of Summer
Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Decisions, decisions, decisions. As a filmmaker, your reviewer not only takes in new releases for his potential audience’s edification and delight—he also considers the choices that his fellow artists have made. Shot composition, editing, taking ballsy chances. Occasionally, a film rolls around that hits all of the right notes with this persnickety critic. The bittersweet and sweetly bitter (500) Days of Summer proves to be one of them, a flick putting a boy-meets-girl story out there with non-linear turns of the pages of both love and unlove. It damn well works…but only because the director understands the material and had the moxie to try some intelligent and refreshing approaches in the face of how crappily unreal most relationship movies tend to be (He’s Just Not That into You, The Ugly Truth).
In this PG-13-rated romantic comedy, a no-holds-bar year and a half love affair between a young couple (Deschanel, Gordon-Levitt) is uniquely dissected for viewers. 500 days – from meeting at work until the film’s ending – play out-of-sequence.
The ‘square’ comparison in Pulp Fiction, the animated fish in The Life Aquatic, the breadth of Amelie..,these were brave and mostly unproven chances taken by their respective director. Marc Webb deserves ample credit for delivering a barbed-wire Valentine romance rife with moments so eerily real that viewers may need therapy to progress beyond the popcorn level. It helps that the cast is stocked with such ably game players as Deschanel and Gordon-Levitt—two crazy kids so legitimately smitten with each other on film that it may make filmgoers retch with emotion.
Down-to-the-Wire: Summer of L-O-V-E.
District 9
Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope
In this R-rated sci-fi tale, problems arise when alien refugees in South Africa are forcibly moved to another encampment by a hapless bureaucrat (Copley). Following in the footsteps of movies that have made both creature features and in-the-moment thrillers seem starkly real (*Rec, Cloverfield), District 9 initially comes across as more of the same…but District’s story is so much more intelligent and its thrills compelling. If District 9 seems plausible, most of the credit goes to writer/director Neill Blomkamp’s politically charged South Africa-set script. But much of the movie’s success is also due to the movie playing out like a faux documentary. When it goes from doc-like to simply a hand-held doc-feel early on, however, it loses some of its edge.
Down-to-the-Wire: Beam it up.
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum
In this PG-13-rated cheese platter, an elite covert military organization (Quaid, Tatum, Marlon Wayans) travels the world to battle a mysterious terrorist operation called Cobra (Sienna Miller, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Christopher Eccleston). Well, what do filmgoers expect from a $170 million movie based on a 3 and a half inch-tall tall action figure? There is no denying G.I. Joe’s entertainment factor. Thankfully for the kid in all of us, the story smacks of make believe, the cast chews the scenery, IQs drop, and all involved are somehow baited into an obligatory sequel. Somewhere along the way, however, the adult reality sets in that G.I. Joe - with its overblown terrorist ass-kicking in Paris and randy soldiers - has become the punchline to the joke that Team America: World Police set up.
Down-to-the-Wire: More zero than hero.
The Hangover
Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms
In this R-rated comedy, four friends (Cooper, Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha) head to Las Vegas for a raucous bachelor party only to wake up the next morning with a baby, a tiger, and Mike Tyson in their hotel room…but no groom. Chock full of brilliantly played bits, laugh-riot The Hangover hammers home the point that it takes a good degree of intelligence to make (and enjoy) a great low comedy. The set-up is simple, but what results is classic ‘boys will be boys’ monkey business. The movie begins to feel long as it winds into the home stretch, but viewers will be too busy mopping up the embarrassing damp spot where they wet themselves laughing to take proper notice.
Down-to-the-Wire: Hang 10.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Daniel Radcliffe, Ralph Fiennes
In PG-rated Half-Blood Prince, another year at the Horwarts wizard school convenes under the looming threat of Lord Voldemort’s (Fiennes) return. The worst that can be said of the latest go-round is that this more character-driven chapter lacks the action punch of previous installments…but that, of course, is strictly due to another plaudit: the series’ loyalty to J.K. Rowlings’s novels. Continuing helming duties from Order of the Phoenix, director David Yates has bathed the movie not so much in darkness, but colorlessness. To offset the dark cinematography, however, this chapter imbues the ebb and flow of the narrative with some truly colorful moments (moments largely missing in Phoenix). Humor abounds in this touching flick and the love lives of the principle characters cushion the ending’s crushing blow.
Down-to-the-Wire: Princely fun.
Julie & Julia
Meryl Streep, Amy Adams
In this PG-13-rated comedy famed chef Julia Child (Streep) and a young blogger (Adams) who embarks on a culinary quest to cook all 524 recipes from Childs’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year. In a summer where killer robots from outer space and live action action figures have failed miserably to entertain the Bejesus out of your chauvinistic reviewer, leave it to this chick flick to pick up the slack. Meryl Streep nails the specific eccentricities of Julia Child with such precision that her turn does not come off as imitation—just uncannily spot-on. The other star performance comes courtesy of writer/director Nora Ephron for pulling these dueling storylines together in such an entertaining– though not always seamless or breezy - fashion.
Down-to-the-Wire: Bon appetit.
The Time Traveler’s Wife
Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams
In this PG-13-rated romantic-drama, a couple (Bana, McAdams) grapples with a genetic anomaly that causes him to skip back and forth through time. This pretty and sometimes movie is interesting, but mostly in the way that it makes you want to Quantum Leap back and slip between two book covers. Bana and McAdams have a definite chemistry. Also, director Robert Schwentke makes some slick choices that make for one fine-looking flick. The movie, however, is too H’Wood to be anything other than pre-packaged smarm. Audrey Neffenegger’s novel posits Chrono-Displacement as the B.S. that makes the man slip within his own lifetime. As creative as this device is in print, the saccharine adaptation barely touches upon the fascinating layers beneath, giving way to auto-piloted fluff.
Down-to-the-Wire: Time out.
6 commentsRICHLIER WIRE - 8/14/09
From the pages of Electric City and Diamond City, two of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s premier arts and entertainment publications, comes Richlier founder Jeff Boam’s weekly column:
Previews (Opening this Weekend):
Bandslam
Vanessa Hudgens, Alyson Michalka
Now that Disney has designs on featuring a new generation of talent in their highly successful High School Musical series (the 4th installment, High School Musical: East Meets West, is scheduled to debut on the Disney Channel in 2010), the filmic future of its now-graduated original stars is anyone’s guess. For her first solo effort, Vanessa Hudgens is sticking to familiar ground with the musical-drama Bandslam. Joining her are Alyson Michalka of pop duo Aly and AJ and Friends alum Lisa Kudrow. In this PG-rated movie, Hudgens becomes part of a group of high school misfits (Michalka, Gaelan Connell) who begin a fledgling rock band to compete in the ultimate battle of the bands. The Plus: The material. When High School Musical 3: Senior Year hit theaters last October, the movie racked up over $90 million in the U.S. alone and grabbed the distinction for having the highest grossing opening weekend ever for a musical. Also, its soundtrack did not just go platinum in the States—it went platinum around the world. The Minus: The unknown. This movie is no High School Musical…or even a Disney property for that matter.
District 9
Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope
Following the commencement of the blockbusting and Oscar-winning The Lord of the Rings trilogy and a hit remake of King Kong, director Peter Jackson pretty much got first crack at H’Wood’s hottest properties before committing to produce The Hobbit. His decision? Direct an adaptation of Alice Sebold’s New York Times bestseller The Lovely Bones, co-direct a partially animated Tintin trilogy with Steven Spielberg, and produce this documentary-style thriller for director Neill Blomkamp. From Jackson comes this R-rated cerebral sci-fi tale about alien refugees in South Africa who hold the key to a mysterious, powerful secret. The Plus: The players. Jackson originally hired Blomkamp to direct a big screen version of the hit video game Halo (no small feat given the reported budget was fast reaching the $200 million mark). When Halo fell through, however, Jackson saw potential in Blomkamp’s impressive short film District 9 going feature length. A successful Internet viral campaign will certainly help reel in key demographics. The Minus: The competition. The box office is already crowded with proven earners (G.I. Joe, Harry Potter) and approaching the end of the summer to boot, so the prospects of an R-rated (which will exclude the teen set) thinly veiled take on Apartheid (which makes it more than your average popcorn blockbuster) are anyone’s guess.
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard
Jeremy Piven, Ving Rhames
From producers and funnyordie.com founders Will Ferrell (actor, Blades of Glory; Semi Pro) and Adam McCay (director, Anchorman; Step Brothers) comes this raunchy comedy starring Jeremy Piven, the Emmy-winning star of HBO’s Entourage. In this R-rated comedy, a hard-living salesman (Piven) and his ragtag crew (Rhames, et al) are hired to save an ailing car dealership. The Plus: The players. Not only are Ferrell, McCay, and Piven involved—this movie also stars a roster of comedy stars including David Koechner (Get Smart), Tony Hale (TV’s Arrested Development), Ed Helms (The Hangover), James Brolin (Last Chance Harvey), and Alan Thicke (TV’s Growing Pains). The Minus: The competition. This lil’ comedy is opening in limited release through Paramount Vantage (Paramount’s independent house), which means that it is really a contender against the blockbusters already playing on over 2,000 screens.
Ponyo
Voices of Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon
From Hayao Miyazaki, the landmark Japanese animator of Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl’s Moving Castle comes this G-rated fantasy. In the animated Ponyo, a 5 year-old boy (voice of Noah Cyrus) befriends a princess goldfish (Blanchett) who longs to be human. Ths Plus: The players. Miyazak is a legend, yes, but he has the help of an American counterpart, Pixar head John Lasseter (director, Toy Story; Cars), to direct American talent including Blanchett, Damon, Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, and Betty White. The Minus: The odds. The producers aren’t expecting Pixar-sized numbers, but this lil’ fish will easily get eaten up in the already crowded big pond at the summer box office.
The Time Traveler’s Wife
Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams
Aussie Eric Bana might have begun his career as a stand-up comedian in his native Melbourne, but his breakthrough performance was far from a laughing matter. In the hard-hitting crime-drama Chopper, he expanded his CV considerably (and attracted the attention of director Ridley Scott, who cast him in the gritty war drama Black Hawk Down). Though other serious roles would follow (including wannabe swords-and-sandals epic Troy and Steven Spielberg’s controversial Munich), Bana truly made a name himself for better (Star Trek) and worse (The Hulk) in two popcorn franchises. His latest is based on Audrey Niffenegger’s 2003 best-selling tear-jerker. In this PG-13-rated romantic-drama, a couple (Bana, McAdams) grapples with a genetic anomaly that causes him to skip back and forth through time. The Plus: The players. Bana has box office appeal, but McAdams brings her own clout to the space-time continuum (The Notebook, Wedding Crashers, the upcoming Sherlock Holmes). Also, the award-winning source material by Neffenegger has – as of 2009 – sold over 2.5 million copies in the U.S. and U.K. The Minus: The odds. The blockbuster summer season is grinding to a halt and the award-baiting fall season has not officially kicked off yet…does this anomaly really fit into the August release schedule?
Reviews (Now in Theaters):
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum
Q: What do expect from a $170 million movie based on a 3 and a half inch-tall tall action figure? A: This. 20 years ago, your reviewer would have crapped kittens over the prospects of his favorite childhood toy – Hasbro’s ‘Real American Hero’ – warring it up on the big screen complete with the equivalent of swivel-arm battle grip. Thankfully for the kid in all of us, this is exactly what filmgoers get: The story smacks of make believe, the budget bloats, IQs drop, and all involved are somehow baited into an obligatory sequel. Somewhere along the way, however, the adult reality sets in that G.I. Joe - with its overblown terrorist ass-kicking and randy warriors - has become the punchline to the joke that Team America: World Police set up.
In this PG-13-rated cheese platter, an elite covert military organization (Quaid, Tatum, Marlon Wayans) travels the world to battle a mysterious terrorist operation called Cobra (Sienna Miller, Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and their nefarious arms dealer (Christopher Eccleston).
There is no denying G.I. Joe’s entertainment factor. The dizzying heights of its cheesiness, however, simply astound. The heroes wear suits that virtually make them Rock-‘Em Sock-‘Em Robots, the villains sneer with the mustache-twirling bravado of Snidley Whiplash, and everybody is somehow related in the backstory. As Paris gets waylaid during a heavy artillery showdown between Real American (albeit diverse) Heroes and terrorists, John Q. Filmgoer cannot help but to be reminded of Team America’s horny soldier puppets decimating The City of Light while singing the ironically titled “America, F-ck Yeah!”
Down-to-the-Wire: More zero than hero.
Julie & Julia
Meryl Streep, Amy Adams
In a summer where killer robots from outer space and live action action figures have failed miserably to entertain the Bejesus out of your chauvinistic reviewer, leave it to this chick flick to pick up the slack. This very true declaration serves to compound the fact that ace storytelling and pitch perfect casting will win out over crap-tastic popcorn every time. This is not to say that the well-woven feel-good Julie & Julia does not have its problems—just that your reviewer enjoyed himself more at the cinema than he had in months.
In this PG-13-rated comedy, Streep and Adams star in parallel true stories of famed chef Julia Child and a young woman who embarks on a culinary quest to cook all 524 recipes from Childs’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year.
There seems to be a redundancy in heaping ample acclaim on Meryl Streep’s performance …but damn, that woman could play Abraham Lincoln and filmgoers would be held in the palms of her very talented hands. She nails the specific eccentricities of Julia Child with such precision that her turn does not come off as imitation—just uncannily spot-on. Without question, Amy Adams and Stanley Tucci give fine portrayals, but the other star performance comes courtesy of writer/director Nora Ephron for pulling these dueling storylines together in such a breezy – though not always perfectly seamless - fashion. The length and pacing will stretch the audience’s patience a slight bit, but all is forgiven with a winning close.
Down-to-the-Wire: Bon appetit.
Funny People
Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen
In this R-rated bittersweet comedy, a legendary comedian (Sandler) begins rethinking his life after a brush with death. While watching this at-times brilliant comedy, there are moments when your 30-something reviewer was gripped with the awesome realization that THIS is what it must have been like to have seen classic comedies like Duck Soup, Dr. Strangelove…, or Annie Hall right as they were unfurling on the cinema screen in their original release. As the looooong 3rd act pushes it well past the two-hour mark, however, all of the well-plodded groundwork crumbles beneath the unnecessarily epic weight. Here, writer/director Judd Apatow indulges an otherwise winning character study with a Quixotic journey ridiculously full of padding. Sandler, however, winningly fulfils the amazing Pagliacci promise of the brilliantly conceived main character.
Down-to-the-Wire: Long on time, not on laughs.
G-Force
Voices of, Penelope Cruz
In this energetic PG-rated family film (also available in 3-D), an elite team of highly trained guinea pigs (Cage, Cruz, et al) becomes mankind’s last hope against a fiendish plot to take over the world. Granted, it is not nearly as smart as the talking animal movies that Pixar has put out (Finding Nemo, Ratatouille) or have nearly the zing of the talking animal movies that DreamWorks has put out (Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda), but the partially animated G-Force amazingly ‘toons in a fun-tastic romp. It helps that this harmless hairball of hyperactivity comes in under 90 minutes. The roles are hardly enhanced by the name talent, but who really cares if Nicolas Cage’s beach house was included in the price of your ticket?
Down-to-the-Wire: G-darn fun.
The Hangover
Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms
In this R-rated comedy, four friends (Cooper, Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha) head to Las Vegas for a raucous bachelor party only to wake up the next morning with a baby, a tiger, and Mike Tyson in their hotel room…but no groom. Chock full of brilliantly played bits, laugh-riot The Hangover hammers home the point that it takes a good degree of intelligence to make (and enjoy) a great low comedy. The set-up is simple, but what results is classic ‘boys will be boys’ monkey business. The movie begins to feel long as it winds into the home stretch, but viewers will be too busy mopping up the embarrassing damp spot where they wet themselves laughing to take proper notice.
Down-to-theWire: Hang 10.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Daniel Radcliffe, Ralph Fiennes
In PG-rated Half-Blood Prince, another year at the Horwarts wizard school convenes under the looming threat of Lord Voldemort’s (Fiennes) return. The worst that can be said of the latest go-round is that this more character-driven chapter lacks the action punch of previous installments…but that, of course, is strictly due to another plaudit: the series’ loyalty to J.K. Rowlings’s novels. Continuing helming duties from Order of the Phoenix, director David Yates has bathed the movie not so much in darkness, but colorlessness. To offset the dark cinematography, however, this chapter imbues the ebb and flow of the narrative with some truly colorful moments (moments largely missing in Phoenix). Humor abounds in this touching flick and the love lives of the principle characters cushion the ending’s crushing blow.
Down-to-the-Wire: Princely fun.
The Hurt Locker
Ralph Fiennes, Anthony Mackie
In this R-rated war drama, the members of an elite Army squad (Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Jeremy Renner, Guy Pearce) battle Iraqi insurgents and each other while disarming roadside bombs in Baghdad. Director Kathyrn Bigleow has locked down her masterstroke. ‘White knuckle intensity’ does not begin to define this year’s finest and most harrowing drama thus far. Were it not for its 2004 Iraq War setting and sobering ending, one might mistakenly call this an action film. Actor’s actors Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pearce make brief appearances, but but bomb disarmer Renner’s risk-addicted cocksuredness gives the film its most telling and damning lesson in acting—especially in the film’s final moments. When the all-too-true reality of this soldier’s fate hits screens, his gripping performance truly puts the hurt on filmgoers’ sympathies.
Down-to-the-Wire: So great it hurts.
The Ugly Truth
Katherine Heigl, Gerald Butler
In this R-rated supposed rom-com, a raunchy TV host (Butler) and his straight-laced producer (Heigl) team up to help her get a date. For a comedy about an envelope-pushing raunchy Howard Stern-esque talk-show host, it is amazing how safely Ugly Truth plays it. In an age when shocking laugh-riots are cleaning up, the humor in this watered-down rom-com actually manages to be as shaky as a $10 whore. Worse, the non-existent chemistry between the leads is nothing short of sexless. This formulaic fluff is so by-the-book that even the characters in a supermarket checkout Harlequin romance novel would fall asleep while trying to watch it. There are a few winning bits, but the rest is as ugly as a Fat Camp formal.
Down-to-the-Wire: Truthfully…it’s ugly.
2 commentsRICHLIER WIRE - 8/6/09
From the pages of Electric City and Diamond City, two of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s premier arts and entertainment publications, comes Richlier founder Jeff Boam’s weekly column:
Previews (Opening this Weekend):
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum
When Paramount first launched footage of G.I. Joe in a Super Bowl spot earlier this year, 30-something guys finally got a glimpse into what the big screen adventures of their childhood ‘Real American Heroes’ would look like. Following in the mega-successful footsteps of Transformers, The Rise of Cobra is based on the popular line of Hasbro action figures that first launched in 1964, but were re-envisioned during the ‘80s with a cartoon and comic book to provide a backstory. In this PG-13-rated adventure, an elite covert military organization (Quaid, Tatum, Marlon Wayans) travels from the Egyptian deserts to deep below the polar ice caps while battling a mysterious terrorist operation called Cobra (Sienna Miller, Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and a nefarious arms dealer (Christopher Eccleston). The Plus: The material. If G.I. Joe is given the same time and attention as Transformers (and the budget for ‘Real American Heroes’ is reportedly in excess of that of the first ‘Robots in Disguise’ movie), the sky is the limit so far as franchise potential. Director Stephen Sommers has already had great success with big-budgeted actioners (The Mummy, The Mummy Returns). The Minus: The unknown. This film, unlike Transformers, does have Steven Spielberg on board as executive producer. It is also bowing near the end of the summer after a slew of other profitable blockbusters have already taken a huge bite out of the box office.
Julie & Julia
Meryl Streep, Amy Adams
Nora Ephron has certainly gained notoriety as an acclaimed director (Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail). It was for her talents as a screenwriter, however (Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally…), that she first came to the attention of H’Wood. For her latest writing/directing effort, Ephron has adapted material from the books My Life in France by Julia Childs and Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. In this PG-13-rated comedy, Streep and Adams star in parallel true stories of famed chef Julia Child and a young woman who embarks on a culinary quest to cook all 524 recipes from Childs’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year. The Plus: The players. Streep’s career is certainly cooking. Not only has she won two Oscars (Best Supporting, Kramer Vs. Kramer; Best Actress, Sophie’s Choice)—Streep has also had a particularly lucrative run commercially (The Devil Wears Prada, Mamma Mia!) and critically (Doubt) as of late. Also, Adams is no slouch in this kitchen either (Enchanted, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Museum). The Minus: The competition. G.I.Joe is the blockbuster to beat—no question. Last weekend, the pole position opening of Funny People proved underwhelming because it was the lowest grossing number one film yet this summer. Even for a film targeted at a specific demographic like Julie & Julia, this could spell trouble. Perhaps, Joan Q. Filmgoer has already closed up her sandbox and gone home for the summer.
A Perfect Getaway
Steve Zahn, Milla Jovovich
Though director David Twohy is best known for the sci-fi twofer Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick starring Vin Diesel, he – like Ephron - also caught H’Wood’s attention penning a diverse CV full of both hits (The Fugitive, G.I. Jane) and disses (Waterworld, Terminal Velocity). Given some recent flotsam and jetsam, he just might be following up A Perfect Getaway with a third installment to the Riddick series. In his latest, an R-rated thriller, a young couple (Zahn, Jovovich) runs into trouble when a backpacking trip through remote Hawaii groups them with two other couples (Timothy Olyphant, Marley Shelton, et al)—one of which may be a deranged twosome wanted for murder. The Plus: The genre. Last summer, filmgoers treated The Strangers to some scarily good grosses at the box office. The Minus: The odds. These same filmgoers virtually ignored The Happening.
(500) Days of Summer
Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Leave it to actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt to compete with himself. In its second week of wide release, his indie romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer is going up against the big-budget actioner G.I. Joe, in which Gordon-Levitt plays the villainous Cobra Commander. Still, this is not a bad line-up for an actor who got his start on the TV sitcom Third Rock from the Sun. In this PG-13-rated romantic comedy, a no-holds-bar year and a half love affair between a young couple (Deschanel, Gordon-Levitt) is uniquely dissected for viewers. The Plus: The pedigree. This rom-rom has already topped a lot of critics’ lists so far as summer favorites go. The Minus: The competition. For an independent film like this, it is not so much the blockbusters but the other well-reviewed indies quietly hitting theaters (The Hurt Locker, The Collector) that compete for the same audience.
Reviews (Now in Theaters):
Funny People
Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen
There are moments when, while watching the at-times brilliant comedy Funny People, your thirty-something reviewer was gripped with the awesome realization that THIS is what it must have been like to have seen classic comedies like Duck Soup, Dr. Strangelove…, or Annie Hall right as they were unfurling on the cinema screen in their original release—indicative of that exact period in history and spot on hilarious. As the movie clicks well past the two-hour mark, however (and it is a rare comedy that can even push two hours), all of the well-plodded groundwork crumbles beneath the unnecessarily epic weight. The looooong third act actually ruins what was shaping up to be this particular auteur’s masterwork! Thanks to some truly funny people though (ensemble and cameos), even the end result is not a total bust.
In this R-rated bittersweet comedy, a legendary comedian (Sandler) begins rethinking his life after a brush with death. When he realizes that all he has by his side is a paid assistant (Rogen), the comedian sets out to win back the now-married love of his life (Leslie Mann).
Writer/director Judd Apatow has run into similar criticism before. Your reviewer’s one true beef with the otherwise phenomenally funny 40-Year-Old-Virgin and Knocked Up was their extravagant running times. With those particular movies, however, length did not kill the comedy. Here, Apatow indulges an otherwise winning character study with a Quixotic journey ridiculously full of padding. Just as with the under-appreciated Punch-Drunk Love, however, Sandler fulfils the amazing Pagliacci promise of Apatow’s brilliantly conceived character.
Down-to-the-Wire: Long on time, not on laughs.
The Hurt Locker
Ralph Fiennes, Anthony Mackie
‘White knuckle intensity’ does not begin to define this year’s finest and most harrowing drama thus far. Rather, the ferociously explosive The Hurt Locker comes at you like a white knuckle sandwich, cold-cocking viewers with a corker of an opener and then never letting up. Even when there’s downtime between characters, filmgoers are kept poised well beyond the edge of their seat with an emotional back-and-forth. The film might pull a balancing act comprised of both social commentary and character study, but the trappings are all-in can’t-take-your-eyes-off-of-it captivating. Were it not for its 2004 Iraq War setting and sobering ending, one might accidentally call this an action film. Action simply proves to be the by-product of this timely and tragic tale, expertly told and acted with a gritty realism.
In the R-rated war drama The Hurt Locker, the members of an elite Army squad (Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Jeremy Renner, Guy Pearce) battle Iraqi insurgents and each other while disarming roadside bombs in Baghdad.
Director Kathyrn Bigleow has locked down her masterstroke. Bona fide movie stars Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pearce make brief appearances, but the true star wattage is provided by Brian Geraghty, Anthony Mackie, and, especially, Jeremy Renner. Ironically, Fiennes and Pearce have gained reputations as actor’s actors, but bomb disarmer Renner’s risk-addicted cocksuredness gives the film’s most telling and damning lesson in acting—especially in the film’s final moments. When the all-too-true reality of this soldier’s fate hits screens, his gripping performance truly puts the hurt on filmgoers’ sympathies.
Down-to-the-Wire: So great it hurts.
Bruno
Sacha Baron Cohen, Gustaf Hammarsten
In Cohen’s latest round of R-rated shock theater, he again terrorizes an unsuspecting public—this time as a flamboyant Austrian fashion expert looking for fame in America. Replacing homophobia for racism as the target of this comedy’s vitriolic focus, Bruno sticks so close to Borat’s formula that it occasionally feels a tad redundant. It also ratchets up the confrontation and controversy factors in a game of one-upmanship with the other ‘B’—to middling effect. The movie does capture some of Borat’s lightening in its bottle, but it also again baits discussion as to whether filmgoers are laughing with or at the issues before them. Some laughs rock the house (a TV focus group watching Bruno’s dancing penis) while others rot (the Austria-based opener is a slow starter).
Down-the-Wire: Always in fashion, never full laughs.
G-Force
Voices of, Penelope Cruz
In this energetic PG-rated family film (also available in 3-D), an elite team of highly trained guinea pigs (Cage, Cruz, et al) becomes mankind’s last hope against a fiendish plot to take over the world. Granted, it is not nearly as smart as the talking animal movies that Pixar has put out (Finding Nemo, Ratatouille) or have nearly the zing of the talking animal movies that DreamWorks has put out (Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda), but the partially animated G-Force amazingly ‘toons in a fun-tastic romp. It helps that this harmless hairball of hyperactivity comes in under 90 minutes. The roles are hardly enhanced by the name talent, but who really cares if Nicolas Cage’s beach house was included in the price of your ticket?
Down-to-the-Wire: G-darn fun.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Daniel Radcliffe, Ralph Fiennes
In PG-rated Half-Blood Prince, another year at the Horwarts wizard school convenes under the looming threat of Lord Voldemort’s (Fiennes) return. The worst that can be said of the latest go-round is that this more character-driven chapter lacks the action punch of previous installments…but that, of course, is strictly due to another plaudit: the series’ loyalty to J.K. Rowlings’s novels. Continuing helming duties from Order of the Phoenix, director David Yates has bathed the movie not so much in darkness, but colorlessness. To offset the dark cinematography, however, this chapter imbues the ebb and flow of the narrative with some truly colorful moments (moments largely missing in Phoenix). Humor abounds in this touching flick and the love lives of the principle characters cushion the ending’s crushing blow.
Down-to-the-Wire: Princely fun.
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Voices of Ray Romano, Queen Latifah
In this PG-rated kid-flick (also screening in 3-D), Manny (Romano), Diego (Denis Leary), and a pregnant Ellie (Latifah) face off with their Jurassic neighbors. Before this, your reviewer had never feasted on the frostbitten flurry that is Ice Age. He has, however, seen enough wisecracking animal cartoons to choke a mastodon…but some trump cards have evidently allowed this franchise to survive past episode one—namely, the clever pre-historic spin and pitch-perfect celebrity pipes that go beyond simple stunt casting (John Leguizamo remains a hilarious standout). Using these aces to pound home the importance of friendship ad nauseam, however, is more cloying than clever. The film is moderately entertaining and funny, yes, but this series is showing the obvious signs of glacial divide.
Down-to-the-Wire: Cracked Ice.
I Love You, Beth Cooper
Hayden Panettiere, Paul Rust
In this PG-13-rated teen comedy with a fresh hook, a high school valedictorian (Rust) declares his secret love for a cheerleader (Panettiere) during his graduation speech, kicking off a wild night. It is a last-night-of-school comedy in the classic sense, but much of the humor really hits homeroom. Oh, there are pratfalls, stock characters, and hookups galore, but there are also revelations and a laudable degree of unpredictability kicked off by the valedictorian’s brutally honest and confessional address to his classmates. Every filmgoer has seen this story before, but usually as an R-rated sex romp rife with dick and fart jokes. Beth Cooper lacks the witty bite of, say, Mean Girls, but viewers cannot help but like – not love - its simple John Hughes-esque appeal,
Down-to-the-Wire: Grade ‘B’ entertainment.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox
In this overly long, surprisingly offensive, and ultimately irrelevant PG-13-rated sequel, LaBeouf and Fox re-team with friendly Autobots for a battle against a gi-normous Decepticon called The Fallen. Somehow, some way, this film about robots from outer space kicking the ever-living crap out of each other manages to be utterly boring. There are some fetching sequences (one involving a stunning femme-bot played by Isabel Lucas) but – for every winner – there are countless cutting room floor contenders. Worse, effects wizards worked overtime to bring audiences a cavalcade of robots that convincingly transform from ordinary vehicles into Rock-‘Em-Sock-‘Em warriors…and then rush through the shots so that said wizardry gets lost like a machine fart in the wind.
Down-to-the-Wire: More than meets the ire.
The Ugly Truth
Katherine Heigl, Gerald Butler
In this R-rated supposed rom-com, a raunchy TV host (Butler) and his straight-laced producer (Heigl) team up to help her get a date. For a comedy about an envelope-pushing raunchy Howard Stern-esque talk-show host, it is amazing how safely Ugly Truth plays it. In an age when shocking laugh-riots are cleaning up, the humor in this watered-down rom-com actually manages to be as shaky as a $10 whore. Worse, the non-existent chemistry between the leads is nothing short of sexless. This formulaic fluff is so by-the-book that even the characters in a supermarket checkout Harlequin romance novel would fall asleep while trying to watch it. There are a few winning bits, but the rest is as ugly as a Fat Camp formal.
Down-to-the-Wire: Truthfully…it’s ugly.