Why So Blu?

Formulaic Family Hijinks Found In ‘This Is Where I Leave You’ (Movie Review)

This is Where I Leave You is the kind of film that walks the line between being aware it is not treading new ground, but still wants to make you happy, based on all the talented actors involved, and treating its subject matter in a more serious manner.  It is a film featuring characters that are mostly not all that inherently interesting, but because they are played by people like Jason Bateman and Tina Fey, the film at least has some reliable performances to stand behind them.  It is nothing new to have a small period of time serve as a way of course correction for the lives of a family in a film, but while this film is fairly enjoyable, it lacks much of anything to really make it stand out.  It is a film that does just enough, but sits a couple spots away from being essential viewing.

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Wiig And Hader Make For A Wonderful Set Of ‘Skeleton Twins’ (Movie Review)

The Skeleton Twins is the kind of film that features a few actors giving the kind of performances that make it look easy.  Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig are best known for their work on Saturday Night Live, but clearly have aspirations to delve into more dramatic work, better showing off their range as performers.  It is one thing to find the humor in certain scenes, but it is another to make that humor play in scenes that come in between some heavy dramatic material.  This is a film that features some really dark material, but is able to develop a story that can follow a fairly formulaic level of plotting and still succeed, based on the confidence of the actors involved and the filmmakers working behind the scenes.  As a result, The Skeleton Twins works as a sad comedy for the art house crowd and manages to rise above the easy complaints about these sort of family-focused stories.

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‘The Drop’ AKA About A Dog (Movie Review)

The Drop is a strange sort of film, as it is ostensibly a crime drama rooted in its characters, but not quite focused enough to claim to be about one thing in particular.  Sure, Tom Hardy is the lead in this film and we are basically following his mysterious character, who seems like a simple enough guy that could blow at any minute; but the film, while fairly straightforward, puts a number of things in front of its characters in a way that makes it hard to describe simply.  As it stands, The Drop is a well-acted feature about criminals, gangsters, abuse, sorted pasts, moving on in one’s life, just trying to get by, and a cute little dog.

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‘The Congress’ Features The Wright Ambition (Movie Review)

I saw writer/director’s Ari Folman’s 2008 film Waltz with Bashir and was very intrigued by where he would go next.  That film revolved around a character searching for his lost memories as an Israeli soldier and was made using unique animation techniques.  Folman’s new film, The Congress, is similarly about finding one’s self in a sense, but it comes at this topic from a different angle.  Based on a science fiction novel by Stanislaw Lem, The Congress follows a character through an allegorical world that depicts the extreme merging of the entertainment industry and technology in ways so complex that people literally become animated characters.  This is a film that has too many ideas to fully make work, but thanks to a strong lead performance by Robin Wright, let alone the nature of the film, there is a lot to appreciate or dissect about what is seen in The Congress; aspects that I am still thinking about.

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A ‘Life Of Crime’ Should Be Better (Movie Review)

Sometimes I find myself asking, “Why wasn’t this better?”  Life of Crime has everything going for it.  The film is a prequel of sorts to Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, as both films feature three key characters.  More specifically, crime novelist Elmore Leonard wrote both Rum Punch and The Switch, the novels both films are based on.  Regardless, the film has interesting source material and circumstances going for it, as well as a great cast, most of Leonard’s dialogue still intact, and a nice period-film aesthetic to top it all off.  Still, Life of Crime never manages to be anything more than average.  It is unfortunate, but I have some thoughts as to why this may have been the case.

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‘As Above, So Below’ Is Actually Pretty “Descent” (Movie Review)

There’s a funny story about this movie review.  Should I tell it to you?  I wrestle back and forth of whether I should or shouldn’t because it has nothing to do with the film itself, but oh what the hell.  I’m all for entertainment and having a good time.  Many months ago my Irish dancing friend, Gregg Senko, was sending me the same text over and over all day long in like fifteen minute intervals or something close to that.  It was real annoying because I was trying to focus at work.  The text simply read “As Above, So Below.”  Having never seen the trailer for this film I had no idea what he was talking about.  It was going on about six o’clock or so when we had just sat down for dinner and upon the arrival of yet another text I finally couldn’t take it anymore and I texted back as politely as possible something to the effect that I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.   He texted back and said it was a new movie.  That was it! Continue reading ‘‘As Above, So Below’ Is Actually Pretty “Descent” (Movie Review)’

Welcome Back To The Cartoonishly Grim World Of ‘Sin City’ (Movie Review)

In 2005 I fell in love with Sin City.  While the worst thing that film may have given since us was the directional ambitions of the graphic novel’s creator Frank Miller (see don’t see: The Spirit), it had plenty else to offer.  Director Robert Rodriguez delivered an ambitious and visually stunning adaptation of a few books from the acclaimed graphic novel series, leaving audiences clamoring for more.  It unfortunately took nine years to finally see more from this world, which finds audiences already satisfied with similarly visually striking films since and more or less content with having the one Sin City film behind them.  But now we have a sequel and while there are some issues with the results, for the most part, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is a fun ride back through the mean streets of this stylishly gritty town.

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‘Love Is Strange’ And Kind Of Wonderful (Movie Review)

I tend to enjoy seeing process be put on display in film.  A lot of times that applies to crime dramas or heist films, where you see the way things play out in a wordless manner, involving a lot of the inner workings of certain activities.  Love Is Strange, a film that is not remotely close to being a crime drama, puts process on display early on, as our two lead characters awaken and get ready for their wedding.  We watch them go through morning routines, leading up to their attempts to hail a cab. It does enough establish a sense of place, but more importantly, it allows us to watch two actors who seem incredibly comfortable in their roles.  That is how this film plays out for the most part, as we watch actors work very well together in a fairly low-key comedy/drama, and enjoy being in their company.

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The Trip To Italy And The Laughs That Come With It (Movie Review)

A long time ago Bing Crosby and Bob Hope had a successful series of comedy films, such as Road to Morroco, where they would travel somewhere and basically have fun with each other in various locals.  After finding a lot to enjoy in The Trip and now having seen The Trip to Italy, if Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon want to continue making films where they play exaggerated versions of themselves, while traveling to different countries to eat amazing looking dishes, humorously argue with each other, and do hilarious impressions, then I would be all for it.  The Trip to Italy not only continues to give these two the opportunity to have a lot of fun together, it also plays even better than the first entry, with plenty of laughs to be had during this European vacation.

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There’s An Offbeat Comedy In The Head Of ‘Frank’ (Movie Review)

A film like Frank is not for everyone, but who cares?  I had a lot of fun with this offbeat comedy that keeps the head of its main character inside a large papier-mâché head.  The film is a comedy, a road movie of sorts, and a look at experimental/indie music culture.  It is also very funny, well-acted, and a little bittersweet, given what we learn of Frank, the man behind the head.  Given that Michael Fassbender can work for me in just about anything, I was not surprised to be so taken by this film, but it is still one I want to see be given a chance, because having a little (or a lot) of weird can be a very good thing.

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The Expendables 3: Rocky Balboa vs. Sgt. Martin Riggs (Movie Review)

This is the one movie I promised myself I would have nothing to do with after I learned about the abysmal PG-13 rating the filmmakers trimmed it down to be to comply with requirements of the much feared MPAA in order to get it out to a wider audience (more about that later).  If it had not been for a trip up to Cleveland, OH to visit all my family and friends I can pretty much guarantee that I would have never partaken in a screening of The Expendables 3 as to my knowledge it wasn’t being screened down in Austin, TX at all.  Odd, huh?  Not really.  From my experience that usually means the studio, like myself going into this one, didn’t have much confidence in it and wanted to get as much first weekend foot traffic in as possible to avoid the negative reviews they must’ve known would come with the early screenings.  I’m just subjecting myself to the below experience to kill two birds with one stone, visit my most favorite Cleveland marketing team leader (she knows who she is) and also my favorite theater, that of Cinemark Valley View.  I have so many memories there and obviously now The Expendables 3 is one of them.  So let’s dispense with all the filter and formalities I’m employing here and talk about Barney (Stallone) and his old and new gang. Continue reading ‘The Expendables 3: Rocky Balboa vs. Sgt. Martin Riggs (Movie Review)’

‘The Expendables 3’: Cheap, Chopped, And Cheesy (Movie Review)

At this point in the Expendables franchise, it seems apparent that there is little understanding as to how to really deliver on what could make these films true action delights.  The story means little to me in these films, the presence of all the big name action heroes is more important than their acting, but somehow these films have yet to deliver well-directed action.  There are moments that payoff, but these films still have not found a way to be consistently entertaining due to the very thing that should be most important – solid action.  It may be hard to capture the sort of magic that one enjoys from the various decades of action movies, starring these heroes that have been repeatedly watched by many, but at least being able to show the action clearly would be nice.  As it stands, while the effort is there and the comradery is apparent, I can still only depend on The Expendables to be mediocre.

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Received Lightweight Entertainment From ‘The Giver’ (Movie Review)

The Giver is the story of a young hero living in a futuristic society where a governing system has seemingly made everything perfect and free of chaos, with ruminating thoughts on possible corruption lurking just beneath the surface.  This seems like an interesting idea, were one not to realize how often it seems to come about.  These past few years have already given us films like Divergent and The Hunger Games, and while The Giver is also a popular book now adapted into a feature film, it seems to have come at a time where we did not really need it.  It is not because the book did not deserve the film treatment, but more due to how relatively slight it feels by comparison.  Like it or not, a film like The Hunger Games succeeds for numerous reasons, such as its scope, the actors involved, and cultural relevance at the time.  While The Giver has aspects that keep it from being a poor film, it unfortunately feels like it missed its opportunity to be a bigger deal.

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Let’s Be Cops, A Comedy, And An Action Movie (Movie Review)

I see a lot of movies and I enjoy rewatching a lot of movies.  One would think that I would rewatch movies that I especially like, but that is not necessarily true.  The example that applies here is a film called Blue Steak.  This was a forgettable Martin Lawrence comedy from 1999, where Lawrence starred as a jewel thief posing as a police officer.  It is not especially clever, but I find it entertaining and seem to watch it, for some amount of time, whenever it appears on TV.  Let’s Be Cops is similar in both being about some guys posing as police officers and that it is not especially clever either.  The film is not even as good as Blue Streak, but hey, I would maybe stop to check in on Let’s Be Cops, were I to find it on TV years from now.

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‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Now With Less Ooze (Movie Review)

When I think back to joys of my childhood some of my earliest thoughts of happiness revolve around family and sports, but quite honestly movies and comics.  Yep!  As a child, I had one wild imagination growing up and with no nearby childhood friends to play with I had to find ways to occupy my time and keep myself busy.  I swear I rehearsed that lightsaber duel as Luke Skywalker against Darth Vader in the Empire Strikes Back almost daily.  However, I digress because we are not here to talk Star Wars, but that of Ninja Turtles.  So remember, just five sentences ago I mentioned the word comics?  Yes!  Besides Groo, I can still remember those rated-R, crisp, black and white pages of those early Mirage Studios issues of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  That was 1984!  A lot has happened in the world of the four turtles since then, but possibly none more revolutionary than the casting of Megan Fox as April O’Neil in this newest onscreen reboot by Michael Bay’s production company, Platinum Dunes. Continue reading ‘‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Now With Less Ooze (Movie Review)’

T-U-R-T-L-E Average (Movie Review)

There is a scene where Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) seemed to reveal its true colors.  It features William Fichtner’s villainous character dressed in all black, sporting an Under Armour top, and looking about as close as he can to producer Michael Bay, while explaining his nefarious plot that felt like a metaphor for blockbuster superhero movies.  While standing in a very glossy and elaborately designed set, in the midst of fantastical CG creations, we hear about a dreaded disease that will be spread, only to have the same villains release a cure and make billions as a result.  Having just been treated to Guardians of the Galaxy a week prior, TMNT feels like another emotionless superhero film produced by Hollywood, while a potentially huge money makers seek to reassure some faith in these studio blockbusters.  That in mind, it is not that TMNT is all that bad, it just feels like a generic film rolling off an assembly line.

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Get On Up Is Out Of Sight (Movie Review)

There is a level of familiarity to musician biopics at this point that tends to keep me from becoming too excited about the prospect of a new one.  With varying degrees of separation, they mostly tend to follow a formula, much like any film that hits similar beats as its predecessors within the same sub-genres (just look at the Guardians of the Galaxy, which opens on the same day, as it is supremely entertaining, but still following a proven formula).  Keeping that in mind, I am also a big fan of James Brown and was happy to go in to this film pretty open-minded (as I generally do).  If there is one way to express how much I ended up enjoying Get On Up, it would have to be by stating that no musician biopic has ever made me want to dance as much as Get On Up did.  While the film only occasionally falls into some familiar trappings, Chadwick Boseman’s lead performance is terrific in a film that tries to be fair to its main subject, and add plenty of soul to the genre.

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Star-Lord Shoots First in the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ (Movie Review)

When you’re talking the Marvel Cinematic Universe I’m in the mood for something different, what about you?  Going into the press screening of Guardians of the Galaxy this past Tuesday evening “different” is what I was hoping for.  I wasn’t expecting anything spectacular other than just simply wanting to have a good time.  The past few Marvel flicks, although rather enjoyable, have been kind of heavy and serious in tone (while keeping the Marvel humor of course).  So to have something brand spanking new and capable of shaking up the Marvel universe just a tad would be very much welcomed in my world.  After the piece of cr@p Transformers: Age of Extinction and the disappointment of Lucy last week in the “fun” category, I really went into this craving and hoping for the best.  I wanted to be dazzled and most of all…entertained!  Is that too much to ask for from a popcorn, summer blockbuster? Continue reading ‘Star-Lord Shoots First in the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ (Movie Review)’