25 Films #5

#101: Noah (2014)  *Must-See (13)

Darren Aranofsky's Biblical Epic plays more like a grand fantasy film than it does a staunch, heavy-handed Bible movie. His actors are all cast well, especially Emma Watson, who steals nearly every scene, and his script (co-written by Ari Handel) is suspenseful and exciting. This is a solid big-budget film by a solid indie director.

#102: The Grand Budapest Hotel  *Must-See (7)

#103: Iron Man 3 (2013) - B. *Rewatch

Despite the mistreatment of the Mandarin, the annoying kid, and too much Happy Hogan, this is a really fun film. It definitely has the most thrilling Marvel Studios third act action scene outside of "The Avengers". Robert Downey Jr. also seems to have reached his peak of playing Tony Stark, because he never feels out of place or off beat.

#104: Thor: The Dark World (2013) *Rewatch

#105 & 106: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) *Must-See (2)

#107: Draft Day

#108: The Last Days On Mars (2013)

A by-the-numbers sci-fi horror film that follows in the foot steps of films like "Alien" and "Event Horizon". Director Ruairi Robinson even copies shots from these films. It has a reasonably short running time that keeps it from becoming aimless, but the thrills and scares are never present.

Grade: C

#109: Hide Your Smiling Faces (2013)

There are times when Daniel Patrick Carbone's film feels a bit like a Terrence Malick piece, and other times when it feels unlike anything else. The result is a haunting depiction of two brothers, from a small rural town, who are forced to deal with the death of a friend. 

Grade: B-

#110: G.B.F. (2013)

I would like to commend this film on creating a gay character that wasn't a complete stereotype, and having a pretty decent premise. I would not like to commend on not only stealing so much from every other high school movie, and copping to it more than once in the dialogue. It becomes a mixed bag of good and bad ideas, and they rotate from one second to the next. A few decent performances, and couple of belly laughs make it passable. Barely.

Grade: C 

#111: The Unknown Known (2013)

This portrait of former Secretary of State, Donald Rumsfeld, is deeply engrossing, and somewhat disturbing. It was hard to not be taken by Errol Morris' use of footage, and slightly manipulative editing, to tell the story of a man who constantly finds himself next to the highest seat of power in the US. Rumsfeld is cool and collected, and calculates every answer with a sly grin, and a hearty chuckle. Even if you don't agree with him in the end, you at least come away with a modicum of respect for him. 

Grade: A

#112: Alan Partridge (2013)

Steve Coogan is perhaps one of the funniest people making movies today, and he somehow is not a household name in America. While the premise of this film takes a lot from the mid-nineties comedy "Airheads", it still manages to feel original and amusing. 

Grade: B+

#113: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)  *Rewatch

#114: Brick Mansions (2014)

Put an eye patch on Paul Walker's character, and, suddenly, you have "Escape From Detroit". Camille Delamarre's remake of "District 13" is pure escapist fun, which makes no apologies for the lack of plot and character development. The acting is stale, the story is silly, but the action is thrilling, and there is plenty of it. Luc Besson's social commentary isn't too far off either. 

Grade: C+

#115: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

#116: Dom Hemingway (2013)

#117: The Clone Wars (2008)

Grade: C-

#118: Rock and Roll High School (1979)  *Rewatch

There are few films in this world that walk the line between absurd humor and flat-out insanity the way Alan Arkush's 1979 cult classic does.

Grade: A

#119: Star Wars (1977)  *Rewatch

Though it has its kinks, this is the beginning of the greatest film franchise in the world. I know that sounds a little biased (because it super is!), but George Lucas created lightning in a bottle when he started this trilogy, and captured the imagination of every young 

Grade: A+

#120: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1977)   *Rewatch

Grade: A+

#121: Godzilla (2014)  *Must-See (5)

Grade: B+

#122: Jedi Junkies (2010)

Grade: B

#123: The Pervert's Guide to Ideology (2012)

Grade: A

#124: Milius (2013)

Grade: A

#125: Men at Lunch (2012)

Grade: B

25 Films #4

#76: About Last Night (2014) 

This was a really funny update of David Mamet's sex comedy, "Sexual Perversity in Chicago". It also made me realize why I didn't enjoy Kevin Hart in "Ride Along". He was put on a PG-13 leash, and was in every scene of the movie. In this he is as wild as his stand-up, and only in roughly half of the movie. The script has some pacing issues, and some B-stories are a little rough. This is a very worthy film.

Grade: B

#77: Winter's Tale (2014)

Akiva Goldsman, the guy who wrote "Batman & Robin", wrote and directed what I can only call the corniest film of the year. The goofy, muddled mythology in this movie make most of the story hard to digest. Not to mention, there are two sections of the film, past and present, and the character development in both are so rushed, and so forced, that by the time you get to the "emotional" ending, you can't understand why you should care. Some good performances though.

Grade: D

#78: Only Lovers Left Alive (2014)

#79: Camp Takota (2014)

A shaky first act, and a predictable third, bookend what is a charming second act with a lot of good laughs. Chris and Nick Riedell give this movie plenty of heart and a fun cast. All in all this a well meaning film that gets lost in trying to create enough drama to make it more interesting than it already is. And it is already plenty interesting.

Grade: B-

#80: The Lego Movie (2014)

While this won't break my record for the most times I have seen one movie in theatres ("The Dark Knight" stands at 7), I may have a problem.

Grade: A

#81: Knights of Badassdom (2013) 

There are moments in this comedy-fantasy that show how great it truly could have been. It is a lot of fun, and it never stops being at least interesting, but it never hits that next level. Peter Dinklage manages to keep it from floundering by having so much fun as his LARP obsessed character, that his joy is contagious.

Grade: B-

#82: 3 Days to Kill (2014)

If left in the hands of a more competent director, this could have been a really special film. The plot was intriguing, the script was amusing from time to time, and Hailee Steinfeld was very entertaining. Kevin Costner's character never really found his groove, fluttering back and forth from stoic badass to goofy badass at the drop of a hat. The action pieces weren't very well done either.

Grade: C+

#83: Pompeii (2014)

#84: Adult World (2013)

If you want a mild dramedy that sets some of its action in a mom and pop porn shop to make itself seem edgy, then you have found your movie. Emma Roberts plays a young, uptight poet who is having trouble getting published, and is cut off by her parents, forced to get a job at said porn shop, and begins tutelage under a burn out played by John Cusack. Despite some good performances, this film's script is a little cloying, and most of the story is forced so it can seem edgy (a thought that bears repeating).

Grade: C

#85: Brightest Star (2013)

Maggie Kiley has made such an emotionless, and awkward romantic dramedy, with "Brightest Star". Her script (co-written with Matthew Mullen) is poor, and filled with unlikable characters, including the film's lead, named "The Boy", played by Chris Lowell. The acting is all forgettable, and so just about everything else. Meh.

Grade: D

#86: McCanick (2013) 

I liked this movie. Don't ask me why, but I did. Josh C. Waller's direction more than made up for some of Daniel Noah's scripting issues, like the awkward twist that didn't feel quite earned. David Morse plays an aging detective trying to track down a collar who was just released from prison after 7 years. Morse has always put in great performances, but he out does himself Eugene McCanick, with all of his grit and tenacity. Cory Monteith, in his final role, shows so much promise in this film. The kind of promise that I have seen from him, and wish I could see again. 

Grade: B

#87: Someone Marry Barry (2014)

Sometimes a writer can focus so hard on making a character so annoying, that shoot too far past it, and drag the entire film down. In Rob Pearlstein's feature debut, he manages to do this with two characters. Barry places all of its comedic eggs in one basket, Tyler Labine playing an overtly annoying friend who ruins the lives of everyone around him, and it does not pay off. By the time we meet his soul mate (Lucy Punch), we have a hard time believing that anybody would still be friends with him, and that they care enough to try to get him married off. 

#88: Stitch (2014)

With a bigger budget, a better cast, and a few script punch-ups, this could have been a really good film. As it stands, Ajai's feature debut is bold, and could have used have a lot of work, but it suffers from its singular vision. Ajai explores some interesting concepts that don't really manifest until later in the movie, but are lost in the film's poor execution. 

Grade: D+

#89: Jamsey Boy (2014) 

A little melodramatic, and a really sentimental look at real life criminal, James Burns. The script is weak, the acting is ok, and Ving Rhames is certainly not in it enough. When the credits started rolling, I almost completely forgot everything that happened in it. And Spencer Lefranco, the kid playing James, looked a little too much like Macklemore. I couldn't pay attention to much else.

Grade: C-

#90: The Bag Man (2014)

David Grovic's directorial debut is not a complete disaster, but it is wildly flawed. The dialogue is clunky, the story is a little dumb, and the acting is definitely far from top notch. This doesn't completely distract from the fact that is fun (at times), and John Cusack does seem to be enjoying himself (at times). All in all, it could have been much worse.

Grade: C

#91: One Chance (2013)

I am a real sucker for sappy biopics about losers who make something of their longshot status. It also helps when the lead is as lovable as James Corden. His adorable face, and believably innocent disposition, make his performance as real-life Paul Potts (winner of the first Britain's Got Talent) a complete joy to watch. The writing is a bit cliche, and becomes a little too sappy at times, but it is a great story, so you forgive most of its short-comings.

Grade: B

#92: Non-Stop (2014)

This is exactly the film I thought it was going to be. I don't know what else to say about it. The acting was passable, the script was interesting enough, and Jaume Collet-Serra's directing tried a little too hard in moments. It is a mild film with a moral that gets lost in the action. It is easy to enjoy, if you just let it be enjoyable.

Grade: C+

#94: Veronica Mars (2014)

#95: Holy Ghost People (2014)

Bad acting, silly dialogue, and a plot that falls apart within minutes of the film kicking off, make this film simply unbearable to watch. It tries so hard to be a scathing look at religious cults, but quickly dissolves into a bland, eventless thriller. The saddest part is that it took four people to write a film this bad. This should have saved for a bad movie night...

Grade: D-

#96: Sightseers (2012)

After falling in love with "A Field in England", I decided I need to watch more Ben Wheatley, and I happened upon this unrecognized gem. He focuses on a couple going through the British countryside in a camper, murdering people for petty annoyances, and it is disturbing, and darkly hysterical. I mostly love everything about it. 

Grade: A

#97: Date and Switch (2014)

I believe every teen sex comedy that has been released since 1999 has been a sad attempt to recreate the magic that was "American Pie". This was one of the most unfortunate attempts I have seen to date. Same sex pact, but after it is made, one of the friends comes out of the closet. The awkward result is not funny, and at times, it is even offensive in the ways it was not trying to be offensive. 

#98: Better Living Through Chemistry (2014)

Not even the great Sam Rockwell could save this movie from being a whiny mid-life crisis flick with nothing to offer. 

#99: Tiny Furniture (2010)

#100: The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914)

Imaginative, fun, and thoroughly entertaining. The first film from L. Frank Baum's Oz Film Manufacturing Company is heavy on amusing slapstick comedy and marvelous special effects (by 1914 standards), which makes it a serious joy to watch. This version I found was missing many frames, but it was still a lot of fun if you enjoy silent films.

Grade: B

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

I want to thank Karen Gillan for existing.

So, last month Michael Bay gave us the fourth, and worst, installment of the "Transformers" series. It was nice to see the worst that Science-Fiction/Action-Adventure had to offer, because I'm pretty sure, James Gunn has made the very best of the (sub)genre. He has absolutely made the best film of the summer. Gunn, who both directed and co-wrote "Guardians" (with Nicole Perlman), seems to get the Marvel formula perfectly, and runs with it in bold and unexpected ways. This movie is funny and exciting in equal measures, and contains the most complex characters of the current Marvel Cinematic Universe. It also manages to use the flurry of special effects to great advantage; creating a spectacular new side to the string of Marvel films that have been released so far.

Chris Pratt has found his star-making role in Peter Quill (A.K.A. Starlord), an intergalactic thief who was taken from Earth as young boy, and raised among the stars. His fluid performance is consistently charming, and at times very moving. Dave Bautista is excellent as the literal-minded Drax the Destroyer, and Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel lend their voices to Rocket Raccoon and Groot with great emotion and much humor. You would also be surprised at how much inflection Diesel can put into just a single reading of the line, "I am Groot." Zoe Saldana rounds out the title characters with the fiercest performance of her career (which is saying something). She is an ultimate badass as Gamora, one of Thanos' assassin daughters, and if she wasn't already the go to lethal female in Hollywood, she would be after this. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the excellence of Lee Pace and Karen Gillan as the film's villains. I need to stop now, because this short review keeps getting longer. This is honestly everything that film making should be: Fun, exuberant, escapist, and heartfelt. This may be the perfect movie.

Grade: A
3D: It was ok.
Easter Egg: Yes! The best since Shawarma.

Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan
Director: James Gunn
Writer(s): James Gunn and Nicole Perlman - Comic: Dan Abnett and Andy Landing
RT: 121min
Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and for some language

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

When "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was released, it quickly became one of my favorites of the franchise. It was a brilliant reboot of one of my all-time favorite franchises (as I have pointed out here, here, and here, among other places), and deserved to go down in the pantheon of incredible film making. Now, it's sequel has been given to us, and it is equally as beautiful, climactic, and breath-taking. There are scenes in this movie that moved me to auditory responses that I don't get to make during many films.

Andy Serkis should seriously be given some kind of technical Oscar for being a better mo-cap actor than most actors are without it (because they have some crap rules about giving it to actors who don't appear on-screen). Honestly, I can't think of any performances that were sub-par in this flick, some characters could have flushed out a little better, but just none stand out the way Serkis did. Except, perhaps, Toby Kebbell as Caesar's second in command, Koba. That ape was just plain frightening. Despite a couple of lags in the story early on, it is a well written sci-fi movie, with plenty of heart and brain to spare. "Dawn" simply hurdles toward a third act that is thrilling in every way, and captures the spirit of the original series with an ending filled with doom and gloom.

Grade: A-

3D: Doesn't hurt, doesn't help

Easter Egg: Not really. Only some sounds. 

Starring: Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman
Director: Matt Reeves
Writer(s): Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver
RT: 130min
Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and brief strong language

Lucy (2014)

Place Beatles Reference Here

There a few things that writer/director Luc Besson did right with "Lucy". He cast Scarlett Johansson, who is just utterly incredible in this role. Watching her become godlike in this film is an absolute treat. He and cinematographer Thierry Arbogast create a visually captivating film that manages to keep the eye completely full. There is always something worth looking at in this film. He gave the first twenty minutes some weight and intrigue (complete with some cuts of cheetahs hunting antelope). Despite the concept starting out strong, Besson devolves into a world of mismanaged action sequences, silly pseudo-science, and gaping plot holes. Nothing makes much sense, and its self-aggrandizing gets old rather fast. I honestly can't defend anything that happens in this movie after the inciting incident; therefore, I would not be able to defend suggesting this movie to anybody.

Grade: D
3D: N/A
Easter Egg: None

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Feeman, Min-Sik Choi
Director: Luc Besson
Writer(s): Luc Besson
RT: 90min
Rating: Rated R for strong violence, disturbing images, and sexuality

A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)

A funny thing happened while I was watching this movie. And then a couple more funny things happened. There may be more funny things that happened in this film, than in "Ted" and all three cartoon sitcoms MacFarlane has on Fox combined. This isn't to say that the movie is really good, it just happens to be an improvement. Out of its 116 minute run-time, there is about 30 minutes worth of quality material. However, solid performances, and some expert cinematography are present in this film, and they were damn hard to ignore. MacFarlane even packs this movie full of some seriously funny cameos that make some of the lulls easier to take. I was 100% shocked at much I actually enjoyed the best parts of this movie.

Grade: C-
3D: N/A
Easter Egg: No

Starring: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson
Director: Seth MacFarlane
Writer(s): Seth MacFarlane & Alec Sulkin & Wellesley Wild
RT: 116 min
Rating: Rated R for strong crude and sexual content, language throughout, some violence and drug material

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

Marc Webb's newest entry into the "Spider-Man" franchise suffers from the same thing that Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 3" suffered from: trying to do too much too fast, and sacrificing story elements in the process. No moment with emotional weight in this film is earned, because everything is so rushed in order to service three storylines that included two new villains. Neither of which are very interesting, or feel above two children throwing massive fits. Electro is completely static (shut up, I liked that pun), and Harry Osborn gets an undeserved emotional arc in which he is Peter's best friend, without so much of a mention in the first film.

On the plus side, Andrew Garfield remains a great Peter Parker, and a perfect goofball Spider-Man. Put him in the first two Raimi movies, and you have the perfect super hero flicks (especially the second one, which was damn near perfection). Emma Stone is mostly excellent as Gwen Stacy, even if the script doesn't give her much to do until the final fight. She does often feel bored with her tedious storyline, and its conclusion is telegraphed in pretty much every conversation she has with Peter. It was hard to not be pleased by the technical elements. They are so pleasing, that when I walked out of the film, I thought I enjoyed it more than I did. The more thought that went into it, however, the more I seemed to dislike it.

Grade: C
3D: Don't bother
Easter Egg: A scene from the new "X-Men", which was awful.

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx
Director: Marc Webb
Writer(s): Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci & Jeff Pinker
RT: 142 min
Rating: PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action/violence