Red Dawn

A few years ago I heard about someone wanting to remake Red Dawn. I was unsure how this was going to go because Russia is not really our biggest threat these days. Okay not really, I was pretty much excited. Who would not want to watch another movie where a rag-tag group of teenagers essentially stop the world from fully going into WWIII? I mean seriously, who would not want to watch that movie? In the 80s it was a brilliantly cheesy concept and in 2012, it is still a brilliantly cheesy concept. You take a group of known young actors, mix with a couple of up and coming young actors, put in some ridiculous action sequences, shake well and serve with a side of AWESOME and enjoy the feast. It should be the perfect empty calorie meal.

Jed Eckert (Chris Hemsworth in full action stud mode) is home from the Marine Corp, for reasons unknown. Is he just on leave? Did something happen? These are pesky questions not answered. His younger brother, Matt (Josh Peck) is a punk high school kid who does not understand teamwork. A football game happens, awkward family exchanges happen and then 5 minutes later, BAM!!! North Korea invades their hometown and we are off to the race. Jed, Matt and a group of teenagers escape the attack and head for the Eckert family cabin. This scrappy group of young people decide, with Jed as their leader, that they need to fight back. They cannot defeat them head on, but with sneak attacks and trickery they can put a dent into the terrorists. Go 'MERICA! But, they are just teenagers, how can they possible understand how to attack trained terrorists? Silly movie goer, there is a serious montage of Jed teaching everyone how to shoot, fight, listen for footsteps and how to dress wounds. Matt, though becomes an issue because he wants to sacrifice the team to save his gorgeous girlfriend, Erica (Isabel Lucas) and he is still angry at Jed for running to the military after their mom died many years ago. Do not concern yourself with how she died, it is not important, because...EXPLOSIONS!!!

If it seems like I did not enjoy Red Dawn, please know that I loved it. It sacrifices character, story, exposition, in favor of an awesome car chase, great explosions and a doozy of a climatic action set piece. I was not expecting a life changing event with this movie, I just wanted a good time and I was treated to just that. Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck and Josh Hutcherson are all likely going to have great movie careers. Hemsworth is this decade's best pure young action stud. He is likable, but distant. He is charming, but cold and he is believable as a man who can out-action everyone else. Peck is a bit whiny in this, but the character is at fault for that. He proves he work as part of an ensemble, but also shows he can probably hold a big movie on his own. Hutcherson already has big budget cred with The Hunger Games, but I really thought he was under the radar in this movie. I was hoping he would have more to do, but when he does get a chance, he shines and he gets the best moment in the movie, if you have an affinity for the original. Connor Cruise (Yes, Tom's son) is solid without too much to do and Lucas is stunning, but she is not much of an actress. Adrianne Palecki is the true female star of this one. I have loved her since Friday Night Lights and keep hoping she will find the right vehicle to break out. This is probably not it, but she plays a tough, yet vulnerable girl very well. You believe she will get down in an action scene, but also that she is break down and cry if needed.

Red Dawn moves quickly, which is probably its best asset. It gets going in the first five minutes and does not really spend much time away from keeping the action moving. There are a lot of speeches, but they are almost all voice overs as the Wolverines are setting up a sneak attack, or setting bombs up to explode. The actions scenes are shot a bit too frenetically for some, I imagine, especially anytime they are running in the woods. The opening car chase is especially frenetic. It might be too much for some people, but I actually loved it. It really helped sell me on the kind of improvisation of the group of teenagers. By filming so haphazardly, I got the sense that the danger was real. Even Jed, who is pretty calm throughout, loses his crap during the initial invasion. The shot of the Korean's parachuting into this town was also pretty outstanding. It was almost a first person account, as if to say, what would happen if we looked up and saw a bunch of Koreans dropping from the sky like rain? The key sequence though, is that climatic action set piece. Set inside a fortified jailhouse, guns blaze, gas bombs explode and there is also some awesome hand to hand combat. It has a little bit of everything you want in an action scene. I loved how it was staged. The levels of the building are perfectly utilized and the writers does a great job of spreading out the cast, so the action can constantly move from one person to the next. The director does a good job of keeping the action from getting too messy as well. We never lose sight of who is who and what the motivations for each characters are. it is very well done.

There is not a lot of explaining why all of this is going on. The opening credits gives us exposition as to why North Korea is our biggest threat and during some of the scenes, we can hear speeches from the Korean's to the American prisoners about how America needs someone new to lead it because we have gotten too much freedom. It looks as if some sort of brainwashing might be going on, or an attempt of it. The Wolverines offer all of the people hope. They become a symbol of a nation refusing to give up. Yes, the movie is very pro-military. It is very conservative thinking in that way, but honestly, it is a dumb action movie about a group of teenagers who destroy a terrorist plot to take over the USA, so please do not take it seriously. No, Red Dawn is not a great movie. Anyone who says so is probably an idiot, but it is a fun action movie and I think it does exactly what it set out to achieve. I had a great time for 110 minutes and there are times when that is all I want.

Final Grade: B-

Life of Pi

Life of Pi is the kind of movie that almost dares you to love it or hate based on the ending. When it is over, you are left wondering if a great, powerful movie can be entirely altered by the final 15 minutes. It makes you question what is important in a film: is it the journey or the destination? I do not have answers for you, or for myself, but I can say this, Life of Pi is exactly the type of film that makes me happy because I know, deep down, I will think about it for quite some time. In the 5 days since I have seen it, it still lingers over me, it still haunts parts of my brain, pulling at me to think about it, analyze it. It has a reverence to it, which is fitting because it is a spiritual adventure. It does not require a belief in a Deity, but the movie exists in a spiritual realm. I am new to the material, having never read the book. I know much about the long arduous process of turning it into a movie though. Once thought to be an unfilmable novel, 4 different directors and 3 different leading men were attached at various times. Well, I can only say they appeared to have got the right people for the job.

Pi(Suraj Sharma) is a young man full of life and spirit until his dad rips the innocence from him. His father, a man of science and logic, did not like that his son was a believer in multiple faiths. Pi had a great capacity for the beauty in the world. He believed in Judaism, Christianity, and is a follower of Islam. He just believed that God existed and found lessons everywhere. He believed everything had a purpose and all creatures had a soul and his father crushed that when the family got a tiger for their zoo. The tiger, Richard Parker, would soon be a bigger part of Pi's life than he could have ever imagined. When the family is forced to move, they get on a ship and in the midst of a giant storm, Pi is lost at sea with only Richard Parker as a companion.

Life of Pi is a survival story. It is Castaway with a tiger instead of a volleyball. Pi is stranded on a boat with this giant tiger, and the film takes place almost entirely on the water in that lifeboat. It is not a movie about plot, but about character, faith, and survival. The structure of events is not the point, the destination is not necessarily the point. His survival might not even be the point since we know at the very start that he survives the ordeal. He is telling the story to a story writer. Life of Pi tells the story of a remarkable young man who tell a remarkable story. And it is a remarkable story, and it is remarkably told.

Ang Lee, director of such films as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain, does amazing things with this film. I audibly gasped at the beauty of the film at least 5 times. There are gorgeous shots, amazing landscapes, the storm is mind boggingly phenomenal. Lee's steady confidence allows for all of this to happen. He trusts the beauty around him. There is a scene where the ocean is lit up by jellyfish and we see this gorgeous whale and it looks like a screensaver, it is that stunning. The reverence Pi has for God and beauty is felt throughout this entire film. Lee understands this is Pi's story and shoots it as Pi would see it. He sees the beauty, and the frailty, and the Godfulness in everything. This is not just the God we think about as being a old guy with a beard in Heaven, no this is the God who is all around in nature. The God who could allow devastation to happen, but also surround this young man with the beauty of the world. Maybe that does not make sense, hell, I am not sure it makes sense to me as I write it, but while watching the film, it made complete sense.

Ultimately though, I was left with this ending. This ending that threatened to completely erase the first 110 minutes of the movie. I will not spoil it here, but something happens that completely turns the movie around. I get the point. I understand what the story is trying to get at with the ending. I am not immune to this idea of God in our lives. Or more precisely, this idea of survival by believing in God. I was behind it and it makes a gorgeous story. It has a power behind it. I also get why there is this ending. I am just not sure how I feel about it. It forces you to question the motives of the author. However, I think what it mostly does is it makes you question you. It makes you question humanity and what we are really about. If you think I am being hyperbolic, well, I do not think I am. Life of Pi has grand ambitions. It operates from a place of "Why are we here" and when a movie sets that lofty type of journey, I do not think it is a stretch that is asking us about our own humanity. I am glad I took the journey, for I am left with these questions and when a movie leave me with questions about humanity, I think it is a good thing.

Final Grade: B+

Skyfall

I have always had a sort of "ehhh" reaction to James Bond. I enjoy the movies for what they are, but to be completely honest, every Bond movie looks like the last Bond movie. I am not a Bond fanatic. I will never argue who the best Bond is, and when Bond is a category on Jeopardy, I never do well. They all run together and they leave no real impression on me. Also, I think I am different from most people who are Bond fans because I prefer this new more intense Bond. When Pierce Brosnon drove an invisible car as Bond, I thought it was time to put the character to bed, and they did, sort of. Bond got reimagined, taken back to the beginning with Daniel Craig as a more serious, more weathered looking Bond. That caught my attention. Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace were more Jason Bourne than James Bond and I preferred that. However, I cannot recall a single thing in Quantum of Solace in this moment. Skyfall has pedigree though. Sam Mendes in the director's chair is always going to grab my attention. Reviews called it the best Bond. Others said it married the ridiculous of early Bond with the grittiness of recent Bond. My best friend, who is not easy to please in action movies, raved. I was pumped.

Bond, James Bond (Craig) is in the middle of a case when the film opens. This case eventually takes him on a rooftop chase, but not on foot, no on motorcycles! The chase eventually ends up on a train and after some seriously intense fighting and great editing, Bond is shot and presumed dead. However, Bond is never dead. Enjoying vacation by banging a super hot chick and engaging in a drinking game involving a scorpion, it looks like Bond has found peace. However, like the Godfather, he keeps getting pulled back in! When he realizes someone may be targeting his boss, M (Dame Judi Dench), Bond goes back to work. After passing a series of tests, Bond is deemed ready to go back to work and he is quickly on the trail of Silva(Javier Bardem) who has a personal vendetta against M. Silva was once an agent of MI6, like Bond, but after a case went awry, he became vengeful. Silva does not believe in weapons though, he believes in technology. He can clear an island using just a computer. He can hack anything at any time. He is always one step ahead, as villains often are. In order for Bond to get the upper hand he has to face his personal demons and face who he really is.

Skyfall has everything you want a Bond film to have. Hot girls, awkward sex scenes, great fight scenes and a sexy car. it goes over the top, but is also gritty and reality based. Craig makes the perfect Bond. I know that is a controversial opinion, but his stoicism makes Bond fallible. He actually looks like he is in trouble when things looks bad. He does not take things in stride and know he is going to win like every other Bond. Craig's Bond is human. He suffers real pain, both physical and emotional. His Bond is quick witted and great with ladies, but he also wears his damage in his eyes and I think that is key for me with a character in so much danger. I want to see the stakes in his face. I want it to register that death is possible. Bond is human, and normally he is treated as a super hero. I think that is why I respond so well to the new Bond movies, it makes Bond relatable. Craig wears the suit very well, he is believable as a womanizer, and he is belivable as a kick ass spy, but his face is tired. He wears the weariness of a spy so incredibly well.

Javier Bardem is no slouch in the villain department. Our introduction to him is the stuff of legendary villains. He is theatrical, menacing, slimy and unbelievably damaged. The crackling homoerotic nature of Bond and Silva's first meeting is jarring in any setting but in a testosterone fest like Bond it is shockingly disconcerting. Bardem and Craig play that first scene like a gay chess match, neither character budging an inch, wondering who will flinch first. It really is the scene that sticks with you when the movie is over, in my opinion. Bond is so full of manly driven desires, to see Bardem flamboyantly unbutton Bond's shirt and make homoerotic quips while Bond deadpans "who says this is my first time?" is unsettliingly comical. Bardem has made a menacing villain before and won an Oscar for it, but here he is going to over the top and he succeeds at every turn. He never loses the comic touch you always want a Bond villain to have, but like Craig's Bond, he grounds his emotions in reality. His vengeance, while not noble, is almost understandable. He is not out for world domination. He just wants payback. Who cannot relate to payback, even if his is on a grand scale?

Skyfall includes some great action set pieces as well. The roof top motorcycle chase ( it is like the screenwriter watched Bourne and thought, this is cool, but motorcycles would make it awesome) sets the stage, and leads to a great top of train fist fight, but we also get an incredibly intense gun fight in a public place that looks as at home in a heist film like Heat as it does in a Bond film. It is very in your face. My only problem with the movie is in the climax. It is a great action set piece, set in a gorgeous castle with explosions, bullets, a car being demolished and a helicopter crash, but it plays a lot like Home Alone. Without very many weapons, Bond, M and another guy set traps, create weapons from household materials and rig doors, Ala Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. Once the climax gets going, I was able to push that aside and just enjoy it, but as the set up was going on, I was giggling a little bit in thinking of Bond and Kevin McCallister teaming up.

With Mendes' steady confident hand, Roger Deakins' always solid cinematography (especially in the final 35 minutes), Thomas Newman's gorgeous score and solid performances, Skyfall is definitely the best Bond movie I have ever seen. It is memorable, action packed, has personal stakes, and finally puts Bond in a context I can grasp. Often times we see movies that fill in back story for characters we do not want (Darth Vader, Michael Myers for example), but giving Bond just a bit of back story helps raise the stakes of the film and make it all the better. It sets up the story of the Bond we have known for decades, while giving us a sliver of the humanity found deep inside.

Final Grade: A-

Oh, Adele's title song is gorgeous.

Wreck-it Ralph

Toy story worked because it played off an idea most kids have at one time: what if my toys were real? Wreck-it Ralph asks the question what if video game characters were real? It is the exact same premise as Toy Story, but instead of Pixar's usually flawless story telling, Wreck-It Ralph is coming from Disney who has been incredibly hit-or-miss lately, emphasis on miss. The trailers were cute. They played on my generation's 8-bit nostalgia. It gave us some of the characters we grew up with and promised video game jokes of all kinds. The animation looked good, the voice work looked good, but the movie was not selling a story. It was selling nostalgia. The problem with nostalgia is it has a short shelf life. A 90 minute that is nothing but "remember this character..." would be an awful movie experience. Toy Story worked because nostalgia was merely a hook for a brilliant story told incredibly effectively. Wreck-it Ralph was high on my to-see list, but I was concerned about how effective it would be.

Wreck-it Ralph (John C. Reilly) is the villain in a Donkey Kong style arcade game called Fix-it Felix. Somehow the game has remained popular enough to last in one arcade for decades, seeing flash in the pan games come and go. The problem is, Ralph is not actually a bad guy. When the game turns off for the night and the characters go back to their own world, all Ralph wants is to be liked. he wants to have friends and prove he belongs next to Felix(Jack McBrayer) as a hero. In the game, when the hero wins he gets a medal. This gives Ralph the idea that he should go into another game to get a medal. The next morning he game jumps and ends up in Hero's Duty, a first person shooter that looks like a video game version of Spaceship Troopers. Breaking all of the rules of a first person shooter, Ralph gets his medal, but things go awry and instead of being back in his own game, he ends up in Sugar Rush, a race car game. The rest of the movie takes place in Sugar Rush, a lushly colored video game littered with candy. Imagine CandyLand as a video game. Ralph meets a precocious young girl, Vaneloppe(Sarah Silverman) and they become friends. Vaneloppe is a glitch, and in her game if she is allowed to race, odds are the kids playing will complain and the game will be unplugged and the characters will end up bums in the Grand Central Station of video games. However, all she wants to do is race. This is the key story, there are a few side plots involving a bug jumping from Hero's Duty to Sugar Rush and threatening to consume the game and destroying all games.

Wreck-It Ralph succeeds on every level without question. The animation is top notch. The movie pops off the screen (in 2D) with vivacious life and fluid motions. Sugar Rush could have been too cutesy, too, well...sugary, but it works. I was worried when I heard the majority of the game was going to take place in this Sugar Rush world, but it works. It lends itself to great gags, great visuals and awesome racing. However, it really is the story that gets you. Much like Toy Story, the nostalgia is cute. It really gets you into the world, but once you are in the world, you become attached to Ralph. Ralph is like the big dope who is well intentioned but cannot help but screw everything up because of his size. John C. Reilly could not be more perfect in the role. He has a gentle sweetness to his voice, but also an over-arching melancholy that permeates his entire being. Sarah Silverman tones down her annoying to give a very warm, feisty and fun voice performance to a character that could have easily derailed the entire movie. These two have a gentle and warm chemistry and watching the friendship between the two characters is what gives this movie its beating heart.

There are great video game jokes for people who love video games, and there are great jokes and slapstick for kids and there is a sophistication for the parents of all generations. I have a hard time believing people out there not enjoying this movie. It is a good time for everyone, but it is also heartfelt and has great underlying themes. It tells us not to let other people define who we are. Ralph has a job, and it takes him being away from that job to make others appreciate who he is and what he does. He looks like the villain and is programmed to be the villain, but he has a giant heart. On the other end, Vaneloppe is told by her entire game that she is a mistake, but she knows in her heart who she is and when all of the truth comes out, it is a very touching thing to see. She uses her "glitch" to her advantage. It teaches kids, and all of us, that maybe we are who we are meant to be. We are not mistakes and maybe our "flaws" help make us the beautiful people we are supposed to be. Am I reaching? I do not think so. I think every good movie aimed at kids has a great message under it and Wreck-it Ralph has plenty. However, more than anything else, it is a great heart warming movie that had me falling in love with my youth all over again.

Final Grade: A-

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The history of film is littered with authors who try to adapt their own novels and fail. Generally speaking, authors should not direct movies based on their own stories. For years I heard rumors of a Perks of being a Wallflower adaptation and for years they were just that, rumors. However, once casting got underway the adaptation appeared inevitable. Author Stephen Chbosky had written the screenplay and was going to be directing his own adaptation and he was going to take R-Rated material and turn it into Pg-13 material. I truly believe adaptations have to be judged separately from the source material, but the PG-13 knowledge scared me. Plus, the book means so much to so many people at a very specific time in their lives, I was not sure how it would translate to film. The very epistolary nature of the novel did not seem like it could translate very well. Well, The Perks of being a Wallflower bucks all of those trends because it is fantastic.

Charlie( Logan Lerman) is a total loner entering high school. He eats lunch by himself and is as depressed as a teenager could possibly be. His favorite aunt died in a car crash, his best/only friend killed himself and Charlie himself had an unknown episode prior to the events of the film. His brother was a big time football star, his girlfriend is popular, but has a jerk for a boyfriend and Charlie's dad is not terribly understanding to his situation. he keeps to himself and spends most of his day wishing himself gone. That changes when he meets a pair of step-siblings: Patrick (Ezra Miller and Sam (Emma Watson). Patrick is a brash flamboyant class clown and Sam is a gorgeous, but damaged girl who immediately catches the eye of Charlie. Patrick and Sam help Charlie to come out of his shell. They give him friends, a purpose and help him laugh and be happy. The story unfolds as we get a, intimate look into the lives of misfit teenagers trying to find their place in the world, and the story is being told to a "friend" in a series of letters from Charlie. Charlie is trying to figure out why he is so sad. Why he has these flashes of memories and why he does, at times, nearly black out with rage or sadness.

The Perks of being of Wallflower left me a blubbering mess. For days I thought about how perfectly crafted it was, how wonderful the acting was and how easily Chbosky managed to adapt his story, but mostly I thought about all of the emotions I felt watching it. Patrick and Sam appear to have everything together, but their lives are just as messy and sad as Charlie's and the performances from Miller and Watson are simply stunning. Watson is a revelation in a stripped down very vulnerable performance of a character that could easily move into the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. Lerman's Charlie, though, is the reason this movie works so well. he makes Charlie a character we are endlessly rooting for. He is sweet, likable, wounded, funny, heart breaking and most of all, honest. This movie only works if the honesty of the characters shine through and it is a credit to Chbosky that he pulled amazingly honest performances from his trio of leads.

Charting one full school year, the film shows up every possible up and down you could imagine. We have love, heart break, holidays, warmth, distance, deep sadness, acceptance and mostly friendship. yes, this is a story about one young man realizing why he is damaged, realizing that the entirety of his memory betrayed him and that the reality of his life is so dark and sad that he has to black out just to forget it, but deep down it is about this great friendship. Patrick and Sam rely on each other, but they come to rely on Charlie as well. They love Charlie and Charlie loves them. What gets them through all of it is the friendship they share.

This film does not rely on you having read the source material. It may cause you to devour the source material afterwards, because it is an easy read, much like this is easy viewing. Chbosky does not have many directorial tricks up his sleeve. He allows the words, the characters and the emotions to speak for themselves. He had a great editor who could cut the flashback sequences in the perfect place, but he does not need any camera tricks because this is an intimate look at a slice of teenage life. He gives us tight shots and lets the actors do the rest. We laugh with them, we cry with them and we hope they find whatever they are looking for. We desire to feel infinite the way they do in those perfect moments. It is all made possible because of the stunning trio of performances. Miller is a star in the making. Watson shows she is definitely worthy of having an outstanding post Harry Potter movie career and Lerman really gives us a Charlie that we can all relate to no matter what our personal high school experience. I will be surprised if this film is not in my top 10 at the end of the year.

Flight

It is kind of amazing how often trailers can be misleading. The trailers set out to make Flight look like a pretty intense thriller about a plane crash and the hero of the crash. I read reviews playing up the intense and brutal nature of the crash and I was prepared to watch an intense legal (ish) thriller featuring Denzel as a wounded hero. What you actually get with Flight is a full on character drama. The plane crash almost becomes nothing more than a plot point used to jump start the real film. This is not a complaint, or an endorsement, just letting you know that if you go see Flight expecting a thriller or a big effects driven plane crash, you are going into the wrong movie.

Captain Whip Whitaker(Denzel Washington) wakes up to his phone ringing. At first everything is just slightly out of focus. As things come into focus, what appears is a hotel room full of empty alcohol bottles, a super sexy naked woman(Nadine Velazquez) and clothes strewn everywhere. Whitaker is loudly and crassly arguing with what appears to be his ex wife over money for his son. To calm himself he takes a swig of beer, presumably luke warm beer from a half finished can. After he hangs up the phone, he snorts a line of cocaine and he and the sexy flight attendant go on their way. Hungover and high on cocaine, Whitaker proceeds to get behind the wheel of a commercial airplane and fly through rough turbulence. Once they get to clear skies, Whitaker sneaks 3 mini bottle of vodka into some Orange juice, and drinks some more. Without warning the plane starts to go down. In a freefall nose dive, Whitaker finds a way to miraculously land the plane with only 6 passengers dead. Whitaker himself suffers pretty minor injuries for a crash like that. Because people demand answers from plane crashes, we get a story of one man's severe alcoholism, with the plane crash serving as our out entrance into this man's life. If Whitaker could just manage to stay sober he can probably stay out of jail and retain his pilot's licence.

Flight asks some very tough questions. Whitaker is a hero. he saved nearly 100 lives and very early on we know that his drinking/drug using had nothing to do with the plane crashing. He is a true hero, but is he? His ex-wife hates him, his teenage son hates him. He pushes away his only friend (Bruce Greenwood) and eventually he pushes away his love interest (played tenderly, but toughly by Kelly Reilly). Do we root for this man to get away completely free? Do we want this hero to go to jail for flying under the influence and breaking his ethics code and the law even though he saved the lives of 100 people? There are no easy answers and Flight is not interested in easy answers. Flight is simply presenting its audience with this series of questions. Whitaker is a man on the brink of losing everything in his life and all he has to do to make it out is not drink. It was that simple. Stay sober and keep your life. Alcohol has a strangle hold on him though. Flight quickly turns into the story of addiction and how it does not care if you are a good person, a bad person, or anything in between. it simply just latches onto someone and hangs on for as long as it can.

Denzel is simply amazing as Whitaker. He is arrogant and damaged. He is both hero and villain, at the same time. he takes Whitaker to very dark places, getting rid of vanity, hope, and charm. he lives inside this alcoholic to the point where I completely lost Denzel. Playing drunk on screen is not easy. People ham it up all of the time, but Denzel plays drunk with more conviction, more sadness and more embarrassment than I can remember seeing from anyone. As the movie goes on we start to see ourselves conflicted with Whitaker because we do not understand his addiction. We see a man who saved lives fall further and further away and be replaced by a man who passes out on the floor next to his television because he cannot get himself up from his drunken stupor.

Robert Zemeckis, the director of this film is also in top form. After years of only directing motion capture movies, Zemeckis' return to live action is triumphant. Many directors would have gone for the big money shot of the plane landing. Not Zemeckis. We only see the plane crash after the fact on a handheld camera phone. It was in that moment that I knew I was in for a treat. Zemeckis has made us so far removed from the plane landing that it allows the movie to move focus on Whitaker's addiction. His pacing is excellent and the way he lingers the camera just long enough on a bottle of alcohol is stirring in the right moments. When you add John Goodman's brilliant three scenes, Don Cheadle's always solid acting work and some of the best music picked for a movie, you are in for a treat.

Flight is gripping, but not in the way I expected. It is not a traditional character study, but it is not a plot driven movie either. It falls somewhere between those two things. It asks us where we are morally, instead of telling us where we are morally. It features one of Denzel's best performances and one of Denzel's best moments in a movie. His final courtroom scene is breathtaking. Every thing he says and does not say means something. Every pause for water is wrenching. He is on the edge of a cliff and we spend 2 hours wondering if he will jump and when the times to find out what he is going to do, oh man he knocks it out of the park. If there are 5 performances better than that this year, then this might be the best year for male performances ever. That is how good he is.

Argo

It is not stretching to say that Ben Affleck has really found where he belongs and that place is in the director's chair. If you have not seen Gone Baby Gone or The Town, do yourself a favor and seek them out. Both are tight, well written, well crafted thrillers. Affleck showed a knack for capturing the blue collar world of the Boston area in both films, which should not come as a surprise since he grew up in that area. After years of being a Hollywood joke, Affleck has really transformed himself into an A List director. Argo does not seem like a logical next step for him, and that is why I was so stoked for it. Expanding his scope could give Affleck a real chance to shine even brighter.

Argo opens with one of the more intense opening scenes you are going to find. Set in the late 1970's and early 1980's, Argo gets off to a stellar start. After a quick comic book style exposition sequence catching us up, we open on the American embassy in Iran being overrun by the angry Iranian people. 6 members of the embassy escape, and the rest are taken hostage. They will remain hostages until the United States returns the exiled former leader of Iran who has gained asylum in America, since America put him in power in the first place. cut to 69 days later and in comes Tony Mendez(Affleck). Mendez is the C.I.A's best man at getting people out of sticky situations and it is time to get those 6 people who escaped and having been hiding at the Canadian embassador's house in Iran. If they are found, they will surely be killed. The State department wants to send in some bikes and have the 6 people bike to the border where they will be picked up. Mendez comes up with the crazy idea of having them pose as a film crew scouting locations. Mendez heads to Hollywood and with the help of a make up wizard (John Goodman) and a veteran producer (Alan Arkin)sets up a fake production company, finds a script for a Science Fiction fantasy film called Argo, and then Mendez has to head to Iran to get the people out. If they are unsuccessful, death is a forgone conclusion.

The last time my heart pounded more during a movie, it was The Hurt Locker. The climatic sequence, spanning roughly 25 minutes was some of the most intense I can recall. The pacing is exquisite all the way through, but towards the end, the pacing was so perfect, I was exhausted when the final credits rolled. Affleck just knocked it out of the park with this film. The performances are great, the script is excellent, but it is everything else that is just perfect. First of all, the look of the film is brilliant, grainy yet focused. The set dresser deserves all of the awards. Everything you see on the desks, the walls and in the houses is perfectly placed and looks perfectly 1980's. The costumes, facial hair, and sets are perfectly out of that decade. The attention to detail is phenomenal. It really enhances the experience. You are immediately placed exactly where you need to be to understand the world of the film.

However, great set dressing and costumes do not make a movie. They enhance it, but in order to really have an affecting movie, you need characters, motives and an emotional pulse. This movie has all of those in spades. Mendez is the only character we spend an extended amount of time with, but the actors playing the 6 escapees all do great work giving us individual characters with desires and hopes. It raises the stakes that it is a real story, and I had no idea the outcome, so that helped the suspense as well. Goodman and Arkin give the film a comic jolt to balance the intensity of the Iranian moments. Goodman has really found his groove over the years in these bombastic supporting roles where he just waltzes through a few scenes and gives them life. I am excited for Flight this weekend.

Affleck infuses Argo with a keen eye for camera shots. He loves to give us tight closed shots of people and objects. We rarely get pulled back from the action. He wants to put us in the action. The camera hovers, but never overtly shakes. It is just enough to make us a part of what is going on. He and his editor do a great job of splicing shots together. We get these intense images of the rough Iranian hostage situation, that leave a remarkable impression without seeming too much. His camera never lingers longer than it needs to. He has become a total pro.

The life and death stakes make the climax one for the ages. Every look is important, any wrong move could mean the firing squad or a public hanging. Affleck captures every single moment flawlessly. I was literally on the edge of my seat for the final 25 minutes. My heart was racing and I was pleading with the characters to keep their cool and trust in Mendez to do his thing. You will be hard pressed to find a more realistically intense climax in cinema this year or in many previous years. By setting his scope higher and pushing himself, Affleck has assured himself a spot as a top director in Hollywood. Honestly, if he is not nominated for best director this year, I will be shocked. This movie is completely his. It is a directorial wonder.

The Great review reboot!

If you are reading this, and you used to read this when I was posting frequently, you may notice things have changed. I am going to make a diligent effort to revive this blog. I miss being critical of popular culture. I miss putting my thoughts about movies somewhere for people to read and then engage with me either here or over on Facebook. I am going to attempt 2 or 3 posts a week. I am going to update this thing 5 or 6 days a week like I once did. I am going to review films and books for sure. I may occasionally review an entire season of a television, or do a list or some other things. Also, at the end of this year, I will review my top 10 like I used to do. I hope there are still people interested in this. If not, well, I have it for myself.

The Avengers

I am not going to spend too much time giving my own personal back story on the level of excitement for this movie. I am exactly the target audience for The Avengers. I was worried it would be a muddled mess, but Joss Whedon being on board really calmed me down. He has a history of creating stories that involve a big ensemble, but giving everyone a chance to shine. That was going to be key for me. I loved Ironman and Captain America. I really enjoyed Thor, Ironman 2 and Incredible HULK. I love the characters, I love the comic books, and I love the animated Avengers comics. Marvel was doing a big risky thing here and Avengers was meant to be the pay off, but was it?

LOKI(Tom Hiddelston)the viallain from THOR, is back, with a vengeance. After appearing at the secret lair of SHIELD, getting it destroyed and high jacking Clint Barton (Hawkeye, Jeremy Renner) and Prof. Selvig, LOKI puts them all to work to get the Tesseract up and working so he can create a portal that cannot be closed and then big nasty alien monsters can come through and destroy Earth. LOKI believe believes humans do not like the freedom they have and should be ruled by him. Agent Nick Fury (Sam Jackson) is not cool with this, so he attempts to round up a group of remarkable people, beginning with Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). After dispensing of some Russian thugs, Widow heads off to find "The Big Guy." Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) has been trying to stay off the radar helping those in need and trying to keep "the other guy" in check. He resists, but eventually he gets on board after he is told they just need his help locating the tesseract, and not to turn in HULK and fight things.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is busy creating cleaner, more efficient energy sources, but after a surprise drop in from series favorite Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg), Stark is on board. Captain America (Chris Evans) is the first to meet up with LOKI, and with help from Stark, they capture him. The capture is short lived at first because THOR(Chris Hemsworth) grabs LOKI and takes off. This leads us to our first super awesome. THOR and IRONMAN fight it out, with CAPTAIN getting in on the action. Eventually they settle in and LOKI is transferred to the aerial base and stuff goes crazy from there.

If that appears a bit confusing, it is not, it is just tough to write out. If you know the characters the film is incredibly easy to follow. Whedon has written and directed a breezy, perfectly paced summer extravagnaza. It is a summer movie version of a big theme park. If you think fo that as a critique, it is not. I mean it in the very best way possible. However, unlike many theme parks, AVENGERS is totally worth the money. Downey Jr. swoops in with his snarky perfection and creates this perfect chemistry with every single member of the team, Evans remains the calm, quiet confident CAPTAIN AMERICA. Hemsworth delivers the second funniest line in the movie, proving he is not just all biceps, but I want to talk about Ruffalo for a little bit. I have always found Ruffalo to be an actor in search of a great defining role. He is very talented, but it never quite clicked. That is no longer the case. Ruffalo nails Banner's duality even though he only bodies half of the character. He is never quite sure of what he can do and he emotionally drives this movie, I think. He also gets to deliver the best line of the movie, a line so perfect, it completely changed my view on who Banner was. I cannot wait to go watch the movie again with this new Banner lens.

All of this is well and good, but if the action did not deliver, what would be the point? LOKI's entrance is totally bad ass, his fight with Captain and IRONMAN, while short is very cool. I loved the fight between THOR and IRONMAN. The aerial base attack was breathtaking and manages to give us all of our heroes doing something. How kick ass is black widow? But also, how kick ass Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders)? But they are all just teases for the humdinger of a climatic battle.

For roughly 35 minutes, New York feels the wrath of an alien monster race reigning down and wrecking shop. Havoc is their game and they are excellent. However, a newly focused AVENGERS are on the case. Shot with dazzling clarity, insane swiftness and never without losing the Whedon trademark humor, this action sequence is about as perfect as they come. The stakes are perfectly raised, each hero gets to do what he/she does best and the audience never gets to catch its breath, but it is never overwhelmed. CAPTAIN and Black Widow do insane hand to hand combat, HAWKEYE's bow and arrow tricks are awesome, THOR goes toe to toe with LOKI and takes on quite a few aliens. IRONMAN never stops his one-liners as he flies through New York dodging buildings and weaving through the skyscrapers and it is wonderful. However, it is all topped by HULK. For two films I have been waiting for someone to do HULK the way HULK is meant to be used. Finally, I get my pay off. WOW!!! Watching HULK smash everything, was beyond epic for me and for everyone else in the theater. The Motion Capture is gorgeous, as you can see Ruffalo in there, and the way he moves and emotes, makes him my favorite Motion Capture character after Gollum and Ceasar.

For 150 minutes I was in nerd heaven, yes. I am perfectly okay with that. The relationships built in this movie are going to carry this Marvel thing for years and years and I hope they can keep coming back and doing the AVENGERS thing. If the movies come out like this, I will never tire of them. Summer movies in their purest form are supposed to be just like this. It was thrilling, genuinely hilarious, and for a brief moment, it even choked me up. I have a feeling this movie is going to require a few viewings just to hear everything I missed over the sound of my own laughter.

P.S. STAY ALL THE WAY UNTIL THE END!! SO many people left after the first credit sequence scene, but there is a second one and it is perfection.

The Hunger Games

Not that I really have the time to completely bring back this review blog in the way it once was, but I miss writing movie reviews and what better way to jump back in than with the movie biggest opening non-sequel ever. Granted, inflated ticket sales help, but hey, at least this thing was not in 3D, right? I was first turned on to The Hunger Games when Borders was going out of business and I was able to pick up the first book for $4.00. I had heard much about how great the first book was, but my hesitation stemmed from hearing about how unimpressive the final book was. Who wants to invest in a trilogy when it appears a foregone conclusion that the ending was going to suck. I picked up the first book was hooked pretty instantly. However, that does not always translate into a good movie. Before I go on, those of you who have read this blog over the years and anyone who converses with me on a regular basis knows this, but for any newcomers, I will not spend this review comparing the book to the movie. It is a feeble and pointless act and I have no time for it. They are completely different animals that do different things to my imagination and enjoyment.

In a future North America where everything is controlled by The Capital, a competition exists. This competition exists as a reminder to the 12 districts of what happened 74 years ago when the districts tried to revolt against the leadership. The games are called The Hunger Games. 1 boy and 1 girl between the ages of 12-18 are "reaped" from a lottery to represent the district in a fight to the death game for the enjoyment of the national audience. These games are carefully crafted by the Capital so that they get the best show possible. Katniss Everdeen(Jennifer Lawrence) of District 12 volunteers herself to be in the games after her 12 year old sister is "reaped." District 12 is the outermost district, therefore the most poor and unhealthy. Katniss, though, is incredibly skilled with a bow and arrow and survives on her hunting skills. The male from District 12, Peeta(Josh Hutcherson), does not look like he presents much of a threat, but he is strong and as the competitors prepare for the games, Peeta turns out to be incredibly charming and intelligent. On the other hand, Katniss is a fiesty, seemingly unlikable girl, but that all changes once Cinna(Lenny Kravitz) gets his hands on her and styles her to look like the knockout she does not believe she is.

The show is where The Hunger Games really starts to gain traction. The film wastes no time introducing us to the world of Panem and taking Katniss and Peeta swiftly from the bleak greys of District 12 to the eye popping colors and gorgeously futuristic capital. The colors and designs of the set pop off the screen and the faceless crowds in bright pink wigs, luxurious clothes and ridiculous make up provide a wonderfully biting satire on current American life. Katniss has to learn to play a part, the way the best reality television stars of our time have learned to play a part. The only difference is, Katniss has to try not be killed by the other 22, or 23, contestants. The training before the games does not offer much in the way of developing the other characters, but it gives us 2 good villains, 1 small girl to care about and allows us to see Katniss practice her skills.

This first half of the movie may seem like mere filler for those desiring bloodlust, but I found it to be completely fascinating. Lawrence's Katniss is a strong female role model and Lawrence really owns this picture. The scene where volunteers as tribute had me choking up. It is a stripped down and honest performance, which is even more of a feat when everything about the character is done up. She never loses this laser focus on who Katniss is and what she wants. She is a superstar on the verge of shooting into the stratosphere, but she never shows it. She remains completely within the world of The Hunger Games. It is a true testament of her talent. There was never a moment where I wandered from her story. For his contribution, Hutcherson turns Peeta into a more rounded character than I would have imagined from him. The hair is ridiculous, but his Peeta is thoughtful, soulful and just the right amount of charming without seeming too fake. Their chemistry is not as bristling with sexual sparks as I would have liked, but they clearly work well together.

The supporting cast just adds extra fun to the film. Stanley Tucci is pitch perfect as Ceasar the talk show host. If he seems superficial, look deeper. Tucci really flushes him out in just his reactions to everything going on. I cannot wait to see what Kravitz does with Cinna in the later movies because here he was exactly what I hoped he would be. I was hoping Anthony Mackie would be Cinna, but Kravitz did a great job. Wes Bentley, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks (stealing every scene) and Woody Harrelson all did great work without too much screen time. T his is truly a case of me not being able to wait and see what these actors do with the progression of these characters.

One cannot review The Hunger Games without talking about the game itself. From the grueling (how great that they counted down from 45 and not just 10) countdown, to that brief quiet moment before the frenzied insanity, Director Gary Ross knew exactly how to let tension build. Then when the clock hit 0 and the tributes started their quest, wow, what insanity. This is a PG-13 movies, but it was not without brutality. Blood splattered, helpless teenagers fell and the body count rose with such furious tenacity that people in the audience were definitely flinching and trying hard not to look straight on. The pacing in the jungle was exquisite. I had a fear that everything in the jungle would be too quickly paced, but Ross was not afraid to let the action breathe. Our point of view remained Katniss, and Lawrence's ability to portray a girl who is lost, but confident, bruised but determined really shined through in the final hour.

I have 1 issue with the movie and that is the very end, but that is because I was expecting the book ending. It changed a bit here and it is difficult for me to remark on it before I see where the series goes from here. Therefore, I do not feel right making a big deal out it. Our expectations are not the fault of a film. If this was a totally original screenplay, I probably would have been completely satisfied with the ending of the film. I am ready for the next installment already. I hope the studio does the right thing and lets Gary Ross direct each installment because he has really taken great care in this world. The camera work was top notch, especially in the frenzied jungle. The film was not afraid to get gritty. In fact, it was often gritty. The Hunger Games is a top notch cinematic adventure with rich themes, a star making performance, and great attention to detail. It is devastating blockbuster entertainment in the middle of March. It has explosions, sci-fi technology, sexy people, and a big blood pumping heart right in the center. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Final Grade: A

The Green Lantern

I was always more of a Marvel guy than a D.C guy. Superman is too perfect and Batman has always been better on screen than on the page for me. However, I always kind of dug the Green lantern. It is a totally goofy Sci-Fi adventure, with green lanterns of power, an entire galaxy of creatures who protect galaxies from things like mass energies of fear. The Green Lantern Corp comes with its own oath and everything! It was always entertaining to me as a kid because it combined those goofy B-movie type sci-fi campiness with the superhero stuff. Green Lantern was about the Corp, but also about the flawed human being who wore the ring, especially when Hal Jordan was the Lantern. However, it seemed like an awful idea for a movie. Would the general public be able to get behind the goofiness? After spending nearly 300 million dollars (reportedly) to get the CGI looking good, Warner Brothers was hoping the public would. However, the movie kind of sputtered out of the gate. Banking on Ryan Reynolds' star power might have backfired.

Hal Jordan(Reynolds) is a pilot with a death wish. He is a rebel in the air and is constantly defying orders and doing whatever he thinks is possible to be the best. This reckless attitude along with his natural instinct to run away when things get serious makes him the least likely person to receive an intergalactic ring to make him a protector of our galaxy, yet the ring chooses him. The Green Lantern ring does not make mistakes and when one of the Corp members is dying, the ring finds Jordan. At first, Jordan is elated. The ring projects anything he can dream up and makes it a reality. Plus, he can fly without a jet. However, it is a huge responsibility and he is not sure he can handle it. A Green Lantern Corp member has to be fearless, and has to clear his mind in order to be successful and Jordan is not that guy. However, as the giant evil cloud of fear gets closer to taking out Earth, Jordan must find it within himself to man up and take a stand for all of human kind. There is also a love story with Carol Ferris(Blake Lively) and a human villain, Hector Hammond(Peter Sarsgaard) who has the Green Lantern powers, but he uses fear as his motivator and eventual downfall.

The Green Lantern is not nearly as bad as it is being made out to be. I know that is not exactly a ringing endorsement, but that is how I feel. It is a good movie, with decent action and some good laughs and a few nice thrills, but it never quite kicks it into high gear. Reynolds is clearly a movie star capable of carrying a movie franchise, but I think he was let down by the rest of the creative team here. The script has far too much expository dialogue and not enough of anything else. The action sequences are clever and well done, but there are not enough of them and the climatic action sequence is over far too quickly. For a movie that runs a little over 2hrs, I would have expected much more action.

Reynolds and Lively make an extremely sexy couple and they have a really great chemistry, especially during the slower more tender scenes, but even they never get a chance to really light a fire under those scenes. There is too much time spent getting the lighter to ignite and not enough time watching the wick burn or explode. I think there is a very good movie to be found in the Green Lantern world now, which I did not think going in, but this is not it. A lot of time was spent on the CGI aspect and in all honesty, I think it looks pretty great. I have heard complaints about it, but I really enjoyed them. I think part of the reason why is that they look kind of goofy and Sci-Fi like and that is how they should look. I thought all of the things Jordan imagines through the ring that come true, looked great, even if the hue of green looks a little silly as the color of a Gatling gun and other various weapons. Again, The Green Lantern has always been a big goofy.

The Green Lantern comic has had various incarnations and Hal Jordan is the most famous and recognizable of this group, so it makes sense to tell this story. It also has a nice theme about fear and how to overcome it. Jordan changed the entire thought process of The Green Lantern Corp and the movie does a good job of showing that difference. I am always down for a theme and superhero comics have often been about themes of belonging and find one's place and this is no different. There is nothing really wrong with The Green Lantern, but there is nothing terribly right with it either. it just kind of exists. If you stay after the movie and about half way through the credits, you will be rewarded with a nice moment that sets up a sequel, which Warner Brothers is writing, but I would be surprised if it ever actually gets made.

Final Grade: C

Super 8

J.J Abrams gets me. He gets what I like and what I want to see. He also gets how to keep a movie mysterious and has the absolute best trailers for his movies. I truly believe Abrams is the future Spielberg, once he better figures out how to connect humanity to his epic stories. Star Trek was certainly on the path to that and it looked like Super 8 was going to make giant leaps forward in that category. It does not hurt that Spielberg was a major producer on the film and clearly his presence was felt in terms of story. I was crazy excited about this from day one. The moment i heard Abrams and Spielberg were teaming up, I was sold. My favorite director and one of my favorite up and comers together? Yes, please! There was nothing that I saw from the trailers or the reviews that made me think this movie would be less than totally awesome, which is always dangerous, as I have mentioned many times in this blog. But, I believed Abrams would not let me down! Would he?

In a sleepy Ohio town, a factory accident has left Joe Lamb(Joel Courtney) motherless. His father, Jackson(Kyle Chandler) is a well meaning man, but he is not equipped to raise a young boy on his own. Joe and his group of friends spend their days making movies and at the moment, they are making a zombie film with Charles(Riley Griffiths) as the writer and director. Joe is a master with make up, Cary does explosions, and Martin and Preston fill out the cast and crew. Charles, thinking the story is not emotional enough, decides to add a wife to the main character, Alice(Elle Fanning) is asked to be the wife. On a late night shoot near a train station, the group of kids witness an insane train derailment and total explosion. They talk to an ominous black man who warns them to keep quiet. This Ohio town is quickly overrun with military personal and Jackson, as the deputy, is soon in charge as the sheriff goes missing. It is not long after the train wreck that things start to go weird. First, all of the dogs in town leave, then electronics all over the town are either stolen or damaged, there are rolling black outs and of course, people are going missing. The young kids try hard not to talk about it and all they really want is to finish their film, but soon as the military evacuates the town, the boys set off to find answers and they find something in their footage.

Super 8 is the best movie of this year so far. It has heart, thrills, genuine laughs, and a great sense of nostalgia. It reminded me so much of all of the movies that made me a movie lover in the first place. It remembers a time when kids wanted nothing more than to be outside being creative. It has elements of Stand By Me, The Goonies, Jurassic Park, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. It also has young kids filming a zombie movie, so you have those references as well. it is a wonderful blend of low budget humanity and big budget blockbuster. It is the kind of movie I know I will watch and love many times because of the feeling it gives me. Yes, there are issues and it is not a perfect movie, but when a movie makes you feel this wonderful sense of joy, how can you really start nitpicking at it?

let us begin with the wonderful cast. The young actors in this film are just outstanding. The moments between the kids feels incredibly organic and the dialogue between them is often times hilarious and peppered with really honest lines and emotions. Elle Fanning is a star in the making for sure and she has great chemistry with Courtney and it lies at the heart of the story. Joel Courtney, in his first movie ever, is exactly what the movie needs and he really makes you believe everything he is feeling. If you have not seen Kyle Chandler in Friday Night Lights on television, you are really missing out. Very few actors can say more with a shift of weight, or with eye movement than he can. He says more with actually talking less than most actors and he brings that to the role of a father doing his best to figure out life.

Abrams knows how to direct action, there is no denying that. The train crash is about the best crash of that level I have seen. It is littered with thrills, explosions and death defying moments with the kids. He also does a great job of concealing the creature until he absolutely needs to show it to us. The final action sequence that interlocks the human side and the blockbuster side is quite a wonderful spectacle, but I felt like it never lost the human core. In fact, it kept it so intact, one of the people I saw it with thought it bordered on cheesy, but to that I say, the movie is about a father and son trying to come to terms with the death of a loved one, it had better be a little bit cheesy! I will never tire of watching people dodge tanks, bullets and exploding houses and Abrams shoots this finale in a nice blend of long and tight shots. He shoots overhead when we need to see the scope of what is going on, but he knows exactly when to pull it in and give us something intimate.

I am very much aware that there are some flaws. yes, it is a little convenient as certain points for the boys to stumble upon exactly what they are looking for, but if that is what you are focusing on, then the movie is clearly not for you, because the movie did not grab you and fill you the way it did me. I will not listen to anyone complaining about Lens Flares because it is a J.J Abrams movie and you knew what you were getting into. It is like going to a Michael Bay and complaining about sweeping slow motion shots, it is part of who Abrams is as a film maker. I am not sure Super 8 will stay my favorite movie of the year, but I am pretty sure it will end up in my top 5 and it will be a movie I love for years to come. Any movie that can combine the adventure of The Goonies and the thrills of Jurassic park is always going to be watchable in my book. Super 8 is the kind of movie that makes me glad I can just get lost in a movie.

Final Grade: A+

X-Men: The FIrst Class

The filmmakers here had an impossible task; they had to reboot a franchise nearing death, without restarting the franchise, which means they could not use the characters the general public knows and loves. X3 was a disaster and Wolverine was such an all over the place mess that I wondered why this movie was even being made. They went about it the right way, at least. Bryan Singer was back in the X-Men world, but only as a producer, story doctor and consultant. He brought in Matthew Vaughn, a wonderful and varied director, to helm the project and as the cast filled out, it looked promising. Yet, I was not sold. The original marketing was not good and while the trailer looked pretty solid, I was worried that it would be difficult to connect to these mutants that were not household names. So, with these lowered expectations, I made my way into the theater.

Erik Lehnsherr(Michael Fassbender) and Charles Xavier(James MacAvoy) could not be more different in terms of how to use or access their mutant powers. After being in a Concentration Camp and watching his mother get shot in front of his eyes, Lehnsherr uses anger and believes mutants should rule the Earth. Xavier wants to help humans and believes that humans are good. Yet, somehow a friendship forms. As part of a secret C.I.A team, Lehnsherr and Xavier find other mutants and begin a training facility in hopes of getting these young mutants strong enough to fight back against Sebastian Shaw(Kevin Bacon), Emma Frost(January Jones) and two other evil mutants. Against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis, that was actually a plot by Shaw to gain infinite power, this is an origin story, or more like origin stories. The first class of X-Men includes Havoc(Lucas Till), Beast(Nicholas Hoult), Banshee(Caleb Landry Jones) and of course, Mystique(Jennifer Lawrence).

X-Men: First Class is the best X-Men we have. It is funny, has killer action, makes perfect use of the mutant powers and tells a wonderful story with great writing and wonderful acting. Matthew Vaughn is, by my calculations, 4 for 4 in terms of the movies he has directed. He knows how to pace this movie without letting it derail because it is, after all, a summer blockbuster. However, he lets the story hit all of the beats it need to. We get angsty mutant moments and we get the parallels between the civil rights act, or more to the point, the Nazi/Jewish parallels in the story as well. I loved how well Vaughn told this story because with so many mutants, and with a story moving in essentially three different directions, things could have gotten muddled. Direction 1 in the overall arc of Shaw as the villain, but the two other moving parts are Erik's revenge and of course, Xavier's desire to save Erik. With all of this going on, it could have easily crumbled, but Vaughn keeps it moving by effortlessly switching from kick ass action scene to quiet contemplation about the meaning of being a mutant.

This is of course helped by the wonderful acting, especially from MacAvoy, Bacon and most importantly, Fassbender. MacAvoy and Fassbender had the unenviable tasks of playing young versions of beloved characters that are played by amazing actors when the characters are older. MacAvoy is right at home playing Xavier like a playboy. it was fun to see Charles Xavier as a young, intelligent flirt who is not afraid of a lot of alcohol. So, the real task was Fassbender and what a star making performance. He is funny, angry, sincere, scary and very cool. Fassbender does what Hayden Christianson could not do: he took an iconic villain and made him human without losing the edge that lets us see that he is still going to become Magneto. He switches from accent to accent effortlessly and plays every moment in such an honest way that it makes everyone else look good as well.

Of course, this is an X-Men movie and so the action has to be crisp and it is. I loved the epic climatic battle, with all of the different characters spread out this awesome ocean landscape, but this movie is more than just the climax. And the action scenes are not always just straight up battles. There is a training montage that also provides some great action, and the scene where the young mutants reveal their abilities is very well done. The action does not overwhelm the story, but moves it forward. Azazel (think Nightcrawler, but looking like Satan) gets a lot of great action stuff to do and I loved the effect of Banshee flying and using his power. It is easy to make Havoc look cool with his red energy being flung, and when Beast gets in his full beast Mode, it is easy to make him look good as well, but to have a kind of wimpy looking kid, whose power is to high pitched frequencies, look as cool as Banshee does, you know the movie has it working.

If there is a weak spot, it is January Jones as Emma Frost. Frost should be more of a bad ass, but Jones is so weak next to the incredibly charismatic Bacon. She looks totally hot, but not entirely comfortable with her hotness, so it is kind of a bummer. I loved her silvery look and actually all of the effects were top notch, so if my only complaint is that the hot actress was not very convincing, I think that can be forgiven. X-Men: First class is a top notch entry into the Superhero genre and I hope people can look beyond the fact that there is no Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Cyclops or Jean Grey and just enjoy the ride because it is definitely worth the trip!

The Hangover 2

The Hangover took the world by storm. It starred 3 not-that-famous guys, it rehashed Dude. Where's my car's plot and went on to become the highest grossing R Rated comedy of all time and I believe the third or fourth top grossing R Rated movie of all time. It was hilarious, but not super raunchy, so it had that mass appeal. Something about the chemistry of those three, mixed with a baby, a tiger, Mike Tyson and some serious memory loss resonated with the public. I loved it, as well. It has physical comedy, ridiculous situations, really funny lines and a genuinely interesting story. The Hangover could have been recut as a mystery film very easily. There was no way a sequel was not going to happen. Hollywood knows how to cash in on money making properties better than anything. The teaser trailer hinted at nothing but a very dirty Bangkok. The trailer looked like a complete retread of The Hangover and that actually suited me perfectly. With INSANE box office numbers in the opening weekend, it is clear The Hangover 2 will lead to a Hangover 3, but is it funny?

Opening with another messed up phone call about how they lost someone, Phil(Bradley Cooper), Stu(Ed Helms) and Alan(Zack Galifinakis) are at it again. There is a wedding, this time Stu is getting married to a ridiculously hot Asian girl(Jaime Chung) and as Stu has not forgotten what happened the last time this crew threw a bachelor party, he refuses to have one. Instead, Stu, Phil, Alan, Doug(Justin Bartha) and Stu's soon to be brother-in-law, Teddy(Mason Lee) grab one beer and have some marshmallows. Next thing they know, the Wolfpack is in a dingy motel room with Chow, a finger without a body and no memory. Thus repeats the pattern. The guys empty their pockets, go to a strip club, a tattoo parlor, a monk monastery, hook up with a chain smoking, drug dealing monkey. They get mixed up in the Russian mob, an Armenian arms dealer and Paul Giamatti. Oh, the person they lost is Teddy.

If you are looking for variety, go somewhere else. The Hangover 2 follows the comic, mystery and ridiculous beats from The Hangover exactly. In fact, the movie plays more like a remake than a sequel, but that is just fine with me. This is a ride I am willing to take as often as they offer it. It is just a flat out funny time. Cooper, Helms and Galifinakis make such a great comic team and they are all very much game for whatever director Todd Phillips throws at them and it makes for such an awesome adventure. I love the reactions from the characters as shit just gets crazier and crazier. yes, it is absolute stupid that this nonsense keeps happening to these same three guys, but that is a big part of what makes the second film work. These guys cannot believe this shit is happening either.

Helms is, of course, on the receiving end of most of the wildest stuff. I almost wish the face tattoo had not been revealed in the trailer, because it would be such a great reveal, but that pales in comparison for the raunchiest, funniest, nastiest thing that happens in this movie. That is what The Hangover 2 has going for it. It's raunch is actually hilarious, unlike Bridesmaids. Cooper still plays Phil as the ultimate Go-With-the-Flow attitude that helped bring levity to The Hangover and Helms is even better this time around as Stu. He is so perfectly over the top in how much he cannot believe what has happened to him. In fact, the movie goes to a petty dark place momentarily with Stu and in the third one, I hope they come back to it. Galifinakis makes Alan the right mixture of asshole and helpless child which is becoming his specialty.

I loved the flashback with the guys as kids doing the debauchery. It was a nice touch and the photos at the end are even more insane than the last time and I really liked that Doug was still around. This movie seemed less focused on the mystery and more on the insanity of what these guys do when they get black out nuts and that was fine because the kid playing Teddy did not matter much to me. I got the point of him, but I think the stakes did not matter as much to me this time. The cameo at the end is great, even though I totally should have seen it coming and really, the only negative thing I can say about this movie was that I did not come out of it with as many quotable lines. It is probably not going to be as memorable as the Hangover.

Final Grade: A-

P.S. This movie makes me want to avoid Bangkok at all costs, whereas The Hangover made me want to fly to Vegas as soon as the movie was over.

Bridesmaids

I was never totally sold on this movie by the trailers. I thought they all sort of missed the mark. However, I think Kristin Wiig is a brilliant comic actress and Maya Rudolph and Melissa McCarthy are both great character actresses in search of a breakout. The reviews were pouring out adoration for the movie and producer and director team of Judd Apatow and Paul Feig was infinitely intriguing to me. I figured the trailers just had to be a very tame version of this R-Rated comedy. It was being mentioned as a female Hangover, of a female version of a Judd Apatow movie and who would not want to see that movie? I was excited at the prospect of all of these women coming together and creating something hilarious. After missing it opening weekend, I heard even more raves from co-workers and the general public coming out of the movie wiping away tears from laughing so hard.

Annie's(Wiig) life is not going exactly how she pictured. She is having sex with a guy who can barely stand her (he does not appear to be very good at sex either), her baking business went under and she is paying bills by selling jewelry. She has awful roommates and her only other living option is to live with her mother who goes to AA even though she has never had a drink. To top it off, her best childhood friend, Lillian(Rudolph) just got engaged and asked her to be the maid of honor. While Annie is excited for Lillian it only magnifies how off track her life is. It does not help that Lillian's life is easy street and Lillian has a friend, Helen (Rose Byrne) who has a ridiculous amount of money, is gorgeous and undermines all of Annie's ideas for the wedding party. The rest of the Bridesmaids also have their own ideas of what the bachelorette party and wedding shower should look like, and it is up to Annie to try and juggle it all.

Bridesmaids was so unbelievably disappointing. I laughed a lot in the first 25 or 30 minutes and then had a few sporadic laughs after that, but I found that most of the movie missed the mark. People around me seemed to be having a good time, but I was fidgety, bored and ready for the whole thing to be over long before its bloated 2hr run time was over. Wiig is a wonderful comic actress and she even handled the dramatic moments very well, but I am not sure this movie is worthy of her talents, or maybe I think she is meant to be a character comic actress, not a leading woman. All of the other actresses were fine too. Byrne did not drag the picture down even though she has nowhere near the comic background many of these women have and Melissa McCarthy was probably the only one who managed to be funny throughout, even though I did not get most of what everyone else was laughing at.

Also, Bridesmaids is more than a little bit depressing. I get that desperation and awkwardness make for humor all of the time, but this was just tough to watch at times. There is a scene where Annie and Helen go back and forth trying to outdo each other with speeches about Lillian and many people were laughing, but I was just left cringing because it reeked of depression from Annie. She knows her life sucks and that she may be losing her best friend and it was difficult to laugh at the pain. I like my raunchy comedies to get serious and not be afraid of emotion, but the general tone of this movie was to laugh at this woman's life spin so far out of control she has to move in with her mother. Of course, the character of Annie is not inherently likable either. There is this great cop character, Officer Rhodes(Chris O'Dowd) and Annie does everything she can to sabotage the possibility at happiness. It gets old pretty fast.

I have received the remark that I did not enjoy this movie because I have something against women who act the way we expect men to act in movies. This is false. Fart, poop and vomit jokes are not funny to me no matter who is farting, vomiting or pooping. The big gross out scene in this movie may make a lot of people laugh, but I was just left sitting there. I wanted so very much to be left with tears of laughter. I wanted my gut to hurt from laughing and instead I was just left wondering how much longer I had to sit and wait for the inevitable conclusion. I did laugh at the sex jokes. I actually appreciated jokes with women talking about sex, but not in that Sex and the City way. I really did want to love Bridesmaids, but it just did not go that way for me. I wish I could say there is a good movie somewhere in this mess, but I just do not think there is.

Something Borrowed

If you know me, one of my general movie going habits is to avoid Kate Hudson movies at all costs. She is grating, unfunny and not particularly attractive, in my opinion. However, when you put her in a movie with the adorable Ginnifer Goodwin and hilarious John Krasinski, I cannot be so harsh on my habit. I still probably would not have seen it if I had to pay for movies and did not have a girlfriend who wanted to see it. There is just something so annoying about everything Kate Hudson says and does. So, it is with my Anti Kate Hudson glasses on that I went into this movie.

Rachel(Goodwin) and Darcy(Hudson)are best friends and have been since childhood. Darcy is loud, flirtacioud and fashionable and Rachel is bookish, awkward and a pushover. Darcy is engaged to Dex(Colin Egglesfield), who was Rachel's good friend and crush from law school. The night of Rachel's 30th birthday, she and Dex have sex and after she admits she always had a crush on him. Dex becomes quickly confused as to what he wants. He thinks he loves Darcy, but he always wanted Rachel, so for a while he gets them both. he and Rachel start secretly dating, and Darcy remains oblivious. Rachel's other best friend Ethan(Krasinski) becomes her sounding board and he sometimes has to tell her what she does not want to hear.

It has been roughly a week since I watched Something Borrowed and I am still undecided what exactly I feel about it. The movie is undoubtedly funny. John Krasinski is just hilarious in every scene that features him and the script has some genuinely funny moments and situations. Goodwin and Hudson have pretty good chemistry and there is a wonderful moment involving them and a Salt N Pepa song that might be the highlight of the movie. Goodwin is her usual adorably self conscious self on screen and she really sells the drama of the story, especially in the big confession at the end. She is sexy in a subtle way and even though Hollywood keeps trying to sell her as more on the frumpy side, the girl is gorgeous.

However, there is something deeper going on in this movie that keeps me from really liking it. The premise of the movie is essentially a girl has sex with her best friend's fiance. Rachel's selfishness is constantly rewarded, Dex is an indecisive asshole and Darcy is an obnoxious brat who has nothing nice to say to anyone throughout the entire movie. These are the three people we are supposed to care about enough to watch them for nearly 2hrs, but I honestly did not like any of them. Hudson's Darcy is the kind of movie character that should have no friends and only in film does this kind of personality come across as charming to a group of people. Krasinski's character is the only one who can seem to call Darcy on her shit and he is the only one really worth caring about.

I do not need likable characters in my movies, but in what is supposed to be a kind of breezy ROMCOM, I should. I should care if the characters are happy and I honestly did not. In fact, I think the movie takes the easy way out in the climax. These characters do not deserve the Hollywood ending and in giving it to them, the movie cheats life. Granted, there are consequences and the consequences are long lasting, but in the end, we get the ending we all knew we were going to get at the end of the movie. The writer got lazy which is too bad because there are at least 3 inspired scenes where the writing really helped sell these characters. The scene involving the Salt N Pepa song has a really great feel to it and almost endears the Kate Hudson character to me. Then Ethan's confession is honest, sad and beautiful and of course, the big major confession from Goodwin is wonderful, but it is all spoiled by false moment after false moment.

When the lights came up, I felt incredibly mixed emotions for the film. I was super annoyed by the ending and by the actions or lack of actions by the characters, but I also laughed a lot during the movie, especially at two side plots involving Ethan's one night stand and this super douchey guy Darcy tries to set up Rachel with. So what I have decided is that I loved everything about the movie that was not directly related to the main story. I love Goodwin, but as likable as she is, her character is too much of a pushover and by the time she grows a backbone, it is too late, I was over it. Hudson actually looked hot a few times in this movie, which is a rare thing for me to say, but she did not help make Darcy any more likable. I would have rather seen a movie built around the supporting characters!

Final Grade: C+

THOR

Hopefully I remember how it is I do this review thing. THOR seemed like an odd choice for a stand alone character movie in the Marvel and Avengers universe. Not to say that any of these marvel movies are based in a sense of reality, but would audiences be willing to go to another world for this Superhero stuff? They cast basically a no name and hired Kenneth Branagh to direct and I just did not think it was going to work. Would it be too silly to have a dude with a spinning hammer as the hero? I was curious about it and found myself way more excited than I would have thought at the end of Ironman 2 when they showed Thor's hammer. Clearly they had me hooked! The trailers were good, but not great, but I had read some good things about the 20 minutes shown at ShoWest. Plus, there is this whole big plan with Marvel and this entire world being connected meant it would be wise to watch it. Oh who am I kidding, it is a Superhero movie, of course I was going to see it!

Thor(Chris Helmsworth) is a powerful but arrogant warrior in a realm of Gods where magic and science are one in the same. His father (Anthony Hopkins) is a powerful king and is all set to pass the kingdom to Thor, but Thor's childish arrogance starts a war and he is banished to Earth where he meets up with a trio of American Scientists. Thor's power has been taken from him and he believes if he can get his hammer back, he can get his power back. With the help of the trio (Natalie Portman, Stellen Skarsgard and Kat Dennings) Thor tries to fight through the secret government agency known as SHIELD, but as he reaches his hammer, he cannot pull it out of the ground. Back in his home world, Thor's brother, Loki(Tom Hiddleston), sets off a chain reaction to kill their father, take over their world and maybe, just maybe destroy everything.

Thor is an origin story, but not in the same way as most Superhero origin stories. Thor has always been a bit of different kind of comic. It is a very straight forward story and is told in a very straight forward way, to the point where it almost feels like a series of short films tied into one film. This is not a bad thing as I found Thor to be quite an excellent movie. My biggest fear was that they would take the material far too seriously, but the first 15 minutes of Thor on Earth are very funny and set a good tone for a summer movie. The action is a little too frenzied at the beginning, but as the movie settles in the action gets a lot easier to follow. Branagh has too many tight shots of the action, which he did not need because all of the effects looks great. I wanted him to pull the camera back and let us get a more broad scope of what was going on in the action sequences, but he does give us plenty of action. The pacing is excellent and while there is a serious amount of exposition, the story does not get bogged down in it, mostly because Portman and Helmsworth are so great together.

Chris Helmsworth is going to make hundreds of girls and gay guys drool throughout the movie, but beyond being chiseled like a statue, he makes a very great Thor. he has the right mix of arrogance, playfulness and strength to pull of a pretty oddball character. He handles the action flawlessly and there is never a time when I questioned whether he could do all of these insane action stunts. He also handles the Earth stuff very well. His chemistry with Portman was a pleasant surprise for me. Portman is her usual solid self. She clearly was having a great time with all of this big summer blockbuster stuff and it helped bring a sense of levity to the movie. Skarsgard is great as well. I expected it to be a throw away role, but the way he played it made the character incredibly important. Hiddleston, as Loki, was another pleasant surprise. It is good he was so great because we have not seen the last Loki in the Marvel universe of movies. Hopkins was the only disappointing aspect in the movie to me. He was clearly just phoning this in and I know he had issues with Branagh, so that may have had something to do with it.

Superhero movies are becoming almost overdone and people wondered if maybe Thor was signalling the end of the genre, but Thor is a breath of fresh air. With flying spinning hammers punching through crazy Ice Monsters(best action sequence in my opinion), a great cameo from another Avenger, great comedy and a solid cast, Thor borders on being truly epic. The world created is gorgeous and some of the shots of Thor's home world are stunning. I feel like Branagh and company did a very good job of making Thor workable to the general public. It is easy to have audiences embrace Spiderman, or Robert Downey Jr as Ironman and it will probably be easy to ask audience to cheer for Captain America, but it was tougher to make Thor accessible and this movie more than accomplishes that. This movie makes me hope Thor has a major part of The Avengers. It also makes me hope Portman will have at least a cameo in The Avengers.

Pre Summer movie bash!!

I know I do not really write in this thing anymore, so it would not surprise me if no one came back to read it, but I am hoping to, at the very least, write reviews during the summer months. The summer movie season is always fun for me and with school being on hiatus,I am confident I will have the time to dedicate to writing reviews. So without further ado, here is my annual pre summer movie bash!

My 10 most anticipated movies of the summer.

10. Green Lantern: I am not sold on this movie because the trailers have not wowed me. The 7 minute sizzle reel was nice, but I am still missing something.

9. Friends with Benefits: So far, it is the funniest trailer of the summer and I love the cast. yes, we have seen a version of this movie already this year, but this looks flat out hilarious

8. X-Men: First Class: X3 was bad, Wolverine was bad, so why do I even care? Well, it looks really damn good. The cast is strong, I like the director and the footage so far intrigues me.

7. Thor: Curiosity is what makes this so high on the list. How are they going to do this movie. It is not the easiest character to translate to the mainstream and casting a virtual unknown as Thor is not the Marvel way, but I am curious enough.

6. Transformers 3:The Dark of the Moon: The fact that this is outside of my top 5 goes to show how bad part 2 was. Everyone involved swears they have fixed it and I love the teaser trailer!! I will miss sexy Megan Fox, but excited for more Robots beating the crap out of each other.

5. The Hangover 2: I do not care if the trailer looks like a rehash of the first movie, there is something about it that makes me giggle every time. I love these guys and want to see more crazy adventures.

4. Cowboys and Aliens: Until a week ago, this movie would have been probably down at number 7 or 8, but the new full length trailer came out and it totally rocks! I am still unsure of the full tone of the movie, but I am super amped.

3. Captain America: I love the idea of a Captain America movie. He is not my favorite in the Marvel universe, but the idea of a Captain America movie just feels right. The trailer is solid and Evans looks great, which was a big hurdle in my opinion. It has a great classic cinema look, with killer action and I think the suit looks excellent. Also, Tommy Lee Jones is a total bonus.

2. Harry Potter 7 part 2: The saga finally comes to an end. An entire generation of people were raised on this group of characters and here we are at the end. The first half was moody, creepy and totally awesome, so I can only imagine how totally epic part two will be.

1. Super 8: I am not sure I have ever felt like a director/producer team mattered as much as Abrams and Spielberg. J.J Abrams is the man in my book. I love everything of his I have seen. His mind works in a way that makes him the perfect geek director. I cannot wait to see how this one plays out. It looks like a total throw back movie and everything being written about it is positive and I just NEED this movie now!!

My guesses for the worst 5 movies of summer:

5. Cars 2: This is the first time in quite a few years that I was not excited about a pixar movie. It actually makes me sad to say it, but this looks absolutely awful

4. Kung fu Panda 2: The first movie was pleasant enough, but the action was cool and the comedy sucked. The trailers really push the comedy, so bleh!

3. The Smurfs: I will see it because NPH is in it, but there is no reason for this movie to even exist. No reason at all. The trailer looks awful and honestly, why??

2. Zookeeper: If you take Paul Blart and smash him into Dr. Doolittle, you have this movie. Kevin James is likable enough, but honestly, this is nonsense. I am typically against talking animals in live action movies anyway.

1. Pirates 4: If you know me, you know i am not shy about my hatred for Pirates 2 and 3. Getting rid of Orlando and Keira and adding Cruz does nothing to excite me. Johnny Depp has been playing nothing but Jack Sparrow for almost a decade now it seems and I am over it. I am hoping to avoid this movie, but since I see movies for free, I will probably see it.

Random Thoughts:

There is no Adam Sandler movie this summer. It weirds me out.

Priest looks sufficiently bad ass

I feel like this year is going to determine what happens with 3D. Many big movies being released in 3D this summer and winter. I hope 3D dies.

The Beaver could be Lars and the Real Girl level brilliant, or it could be a total suckfest. I do not think there is a middle ground.

Bridesmaids just missed my top 10, but will it be the female Hangover? Will Kristin Wiig be the breakout star SNL is breeding her to be?

A few interesting looking movies being released in limited release this summer: Everything Must Go, Hesher, Tree of Life
I feel like Bad Teacher would have been a good movie for Cameron Diaz a few years ago, but now it just comes off as desperate.

Until I see a trailer for Horrible Bosses I cannot in good faith be excited, but the team involved make me anxious for a trailer.

Winnie the Pooh is coming back to theaters and it is in traditional looking animation. This is the most exciting animated movie this summer, in my opinion.

CrazyStupidLove intrigues me based on the cast and the trailer is promising, but can Ryan Gosling keep up with such comic actors as Steve Carrell and Emma Stone?

There is a serious over loading of comic book movies this summer and next summer looks to be more of the same. Will people stop coming to see them?