Getaway

Cast of Characters:
Brent Magna - Ethan Hawke
The Kid - Selena Gomez
The Voice - Jon Voight
Leanna Magna - Rebecca Budig
Distinguished Man - Bruce Payne

Director - Courtney Solomon
Screenplay - Gregg Maxwell Parker & Sean Finegan
Rated PG-13 for intense action, violence and mayhem throughout, some rude gestures and language

      Academy Award nominee Ethan Hawke, Selena Gomez and Academy Award winner Jon Voight star in the finale to the summer blockbuster season, Getaway.

      Brent Magna (Ethan Hawke) is a burned out former race car driver who has been put into a do-or-die mission behind the wheel of a Shelby Mustang Super Snake. The mastermind behind the plan is simply known as The Voice (Jon Voight). He has kidnapped Brent's wife Leanne (Rebecca Budig) and as long as Brent does what The Voice instructs, his wife will be okay. The Voice has wired the car with a number of cameras and is watching every move Brent makes, so any refusal or attempt to get help will result in Leanna getting shot.

      Enter The Kid (Selena Gomez). The Kid is a computer hacker that turns out to be the owner of the car Brent has been forced behind the wheel of. Through her, Brent finds an ally that he sees as his only hope in saving his wife's life.

      So let me spare you the small talk. I hated this movie... Oh, you were probably looking for something a bit more substantial, weren't you? Well, where to begin? How 'bout five minutes into the film, where by then I was already tired of the piss-poor editing job and chaotic camera work. This film was like witnessing what goes inside the mind of an eight year old boy after he got into the canister of sugar in the cupboard and sucked it down dry... and then washed that down with a twelve pack of Red Bull. There's absolutely no thought, no effort, no creativity whatsoever put into any of the action sequences, which basically revolve around a lot of quick cuts bound to make your head spin and how completely inept the Bulgaria police seem to be. I was able run better routes as a six year old slinging Micro Machines into the wall than these morons. Then you have the script which opens with The Voice telling Brent Magna to do a number of idiotic moves that seem to have no rhyme or reason whatsoever other than easily shattering the Guiness World Record for most traffic violations and vehicular manslaughter attempts done within an hour... and for God's sakes on Christmas too... Christmas! What better way to end up on the Naughty List than by completely trashing the Sofia, Bulgaria festivities? By the end of the film, we're only left with one lingering question. What was the fucking point? There's no motive ever explained as to why The Voice is specifically using Brent Magna other than to "smash into as many things as you can". If he was smart he would've picked the Hulk instead. Gets the job done a lot quicker and won't give you any shit back. The more the film tries to "explain" more nonsensical plot through The Kid, concerning how her dad is a rich CEO for an investment bank, the more... well, I just stopped giving a shit. Yeah, I gave away a few spoilers. So sue me. I also saved you 5-10 bucks. Once the end credits started to roll, I just sat there. Waiting. Waiting for something else to come up, something or someone to explain it all. Nope, no explanation. It just ends with no consequence. Voight's villain just walks off like, "Well, that was fun... so, yeah, see yah!" So what if Brent's wife is saved at the end? The characters are so flat and one dimensional I didn't give a shit about their situation to begin with and the more the movie trudged on, the less I cared. In fact, she was probably begging to be shot, 'cause I'm pretty sure they were forcing her to watch this movie. The only thing I wound up caring about the most, or I should say at all, was the car, which really gets battered to shit. Finally, what the hell are Ethan Hawke, Selena Gomez, and Jon Voight doing here? Well, besides just phoning it in and proving they have no chemistry together. Earlier this year, Hawke starred in another, slightly better, stinker The Purge, but then was able to rebound massively in Beyond Midnight, one of the best films of the year. Did he think Beyond Midnight was good enough for critical praise, so fuck it for the remainder of the year? The same can be said for Gomez. In Spring Breakers, she was wonderful as the sympathetic character of the bunch, opposite Vanessa Hudgens (who gave another strong performance in The Frozen Ground earlier this week). It's no wonder why Jon Voight hardly appears in this film other than his voiceover through the phone and the occasional extreme close-up on his eyes or mouth. He probably took one look at this script and thought, "Hmm... Well, I'm getting paid a shit ton of money, so I'll do it anyway, but I wanna be barely seen in this piece of shit." Then again, he did do Superbabies: Baby Genuises 2... and The Karate Dog.

      Getaway marks the end of the summer blockbuster season, and what a shitty way to bow out. To be fair, a cinematic crap-fest is expected but I wasn't expecting it to be this bad. What this should've been called was One Actor, a Former Disney Tween Queen and an Oscar Winner Laugh Their Way to the Bank. Horribly choppy and fast paced editing, juvenile writing that a brain-dead monkey could out-write, and flat performances based on one dimensional characters: that's what this film amounts to. What keeps this film from getting an F? Well, it was so close, but there was one minute - one minute out of the entire 90 minute run time that I felt they finally got the car chase filmed right in such a way didn't resemble a headache inducing mess... One minute... Then again, fuck it. I give Getaway an F (0 stars).

REVIEWS COMING LATER NEXT WEEK...

What the Hell Were They Thinking?!

Benjamin's Stash: Video Pick of the Week

Adore

Hell Baby

Riddick

The Frozen Ground

Cast of Characters:

Sgt. Jack Halcombe - Nicolas Cage

Robert Hansen - John Cusack

Cindy Paulson - Vanessa Hudgens

Sgt. Lyle Haugsven - Dean Norris

Jodi Brandon - Olga Valentina

Vice Det. John Gentile - Michael McGrady

Carl Galenski - Brad William Henke

Fran Hansen - Katherine LaNasa

Allie Halcombe - Radha Mitchell

Pimp Clate Johnson - Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson

Director - Scott Walker

Screenplay - Scott Walker

Rated R for violent content, sexuality/nudity, language and drug use

      Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and Vanessa Hudgens star in writer/director Scott Walker's The Frozen Ground, based on the real life Alaskan serial killer Robert Hansen.

      Following the rescue of Cindy Paulson (Vanessa Hudgens), Sgt. Jack Halcombe (Nicolas Cage) begins a manhunt for Robert Hansen (John Cusack) -  a community involved, family man who has silently stalked the city of Anchorage as a serial killer for the past thirteen years. The Anchorage Police Department as well as the District Attorney aren't all that keen on Halcombe running this case considering he's having to reopen a number of cases that have already been closed as well as dealing with evidence that's nothing more than circumstantial.

      Despite it seeming that everyone's against him, Halcombe, with help from colleague Sgt. Lyle Haugsven (Dean Norris), must convince Cindy to help them in any way she can. She's the only concrete evidence they have against the killer and it is up to her to help end his murderous rampage.

      Nicolas Cage's acting career has been up and down like a roller coaster. First he was known for his rom-coms, then he had his Oscar winning role in the terrific Leaving Las Vegas, then he had his dopey action film phase, then got back into better films such as Adaptation and Matchstick Men, then he figured movies like Ghost Rider and Season of the Witch were endeavors worth taking. Aside from his supporting role in Kick-Ass, he has been stuck in that "I need a paycheck!" mode for years now. This film's far from perfect. It's pretty much a connect the dots, by the books serial killer thriller that we've seen a thousand times before. It's obviously been done better, but I've seen far worse. That said, sometimes a mediocre film can be elevated a bit by the performances and such is the case here. It has been years since Cage has given a performance that reminded just how great of an actor he is, and here he was finally able to do so once again in a role that's a lot more subtle than we're use to seeing from him. John Cusack plays against type as the despicable Robert Hansen, who hides his inner evil within the smiling, respected family man he masquerades as, and Vanessa Hudgens gives another strong performance this year that shows she has the potential to have a solid film career. While the three leads are strong and there's also a nice supporting turn from Dean Norris (best known as DEA Agent Hank Schrader on TV's Breaking Bad), Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and Radha Mitchell come off as flat in two throwaway roles as Hudgens's pimp and Cage's cliche long-suffering wife respectively. Midway through the film, writer/director Scott Walker runs into some pacing issues, but there are moments that show promise for him as a filmmaker in his feature-length film debut. We also get some strong cinematography from Patrick Murguia that captures the mood of this story rather well.

      It's not a great film, but I'm still giving this a mild recommendation on account of the three strong lead performances from Cage, Cusack and Hudgens. We've certainly seen this type of film before and before this year ends we'll see another one like it, but this is a solid step back in the right direction for Nicolas Cage. It was good seeing him show again that in the right role he can in fact deliver a strong performance. I give The Frozen Ground a B (★★★).

Drinking Buddies

Cast of Characters:
Kate - Olivia Wilde
Luke - Jake Johnson
Jill - Anna Kendrick
Chris - Ron Livingston

Director - Joe Swanberg
Screenplay - Joe Swanberg
Rated R for language throughout


      Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Ron Livingston and Academy Award nominee Anna Kendrick star in writer/director Joe Swanberg's Drinking Buddies.

      Kate (Olivia Wilde) and Luke (Jake Johnson) are coworkers at a Chicago craft brewery. They share laughs together, constantly flirt with one another on the job, and love getting drinks at the bar together after work. They're basically perfect for each other. 

    Well, it's too bad they're both seeing other people. Kate is in a relationship with music producer Chris (Ron Livingston). Meanwhile, Luke has been dealing with ongoing "convos" about marriage with his long-term girlfriend Jill (Anna Kendrick). It only takes a couple of beers though to blur the line that distinguishes "friends" from "more than friends".

      Writer/director Joe Swanberg (who appeared onscreen in last week's surprise hit You're Next) has made a career in film specializing in "mumblecore". If you're not familiar with mumblecore, it's the type of low budget indie film that revolves around natural settings and scenarios and mostly improvised dialogue. While filmmakers such as the Duplass brothers have excelled at making mumblecore films, Swanberg hasn't been quite as successful. Here, with Drinking Buddies, Swanberg seems to be heading in the right direction. That's solely due to two strong performances from Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson. Unfortunately, outside of Wilde and Johnson there's not much else going on. With any great story, conflict is key. I can certainly appreciate, even love, a movie that wants to avoid the cliche Hollywood scenarios we typically see in film. Yes, by all means, give me that. I want to see that. You still gotta have a conflict, and here there is none. If there is any, it's very little and not enough. You can have the natural settings and plot and still bring about a conflict that doesn't feel contrived. Real life is filled with it. We experience it daily. What made Before Midnight, earlier this year, so excellent was that it was genuine and natural and the characters and dialogue felt real. Sure, it was mostly dialogue - like what we have here - but you still had a conflict though that kept the story moving. With Drinking Buddies, aside from a few funny moments that are clearly unscripted, the film drags on slowly, and it's only when Wilde and Johnson are onscreen together that the movie feels like it has any life. It's a pity that Anna Kendrick, who was great in films such as Up in the Air (for which she received her Oscar nomination), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and 50/50 is given very little, if any, to work with here. Granted, the film's focus is more on the characters of Kate and Luke, but for God's sakes, she's a talented actress. Give her something too.

      In spite of the weak script, or at times I should say the lack thereof, Wilde and Johnson do have a great chemistry together and it's those two that really keep this film from falling completely apart. It's not a bad film by any stretch, and as far as Swanberg (who has a brief, but funny cameo here) is concerned, this is a slight improvement over his past films. I still can't quite recommend this beyond a possible rental though. Make it a movie night and throw in Up in the Air (one of the best films of 2009 starring Kendrick) and (or) Safety Not Guaranteed (which features Johnson). I give Drinking Buddies a C (★★½).

The Iceman

Cast of Characters:

Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski - Michael Shannon

Deborah Kuklinski - Winona Ryder

Roy DeMeo - Ray Liotta

Robert "Mr. Freezy" Pronge - Chris Evans

Josh Rosenthal - David Schwimmer

Leonard Marks - Robert Davi

Dino Lapron - Danny A. Abeckaser

Director - Ariel Vromen

Screenplay - Ariel Vromen & Morgan Land

Based on the biography The Iceman: The True Story of a Cold-Blooded Killer by Anthony Bruno

Rated R for strong violence, pervasive language and some sexual content

      Academy Award nominees Michael Shannon and Winona Ryder as well as Ray Liotta and Chris Evans star in the true story account of contract killer Richard Kuklinski in Ariel Vromen's The Iceman. Wait... This isn't about George Gervin?

      Based on a true story, The Iceman begins in the 60's with Richard Kuklinski (Michael Shannon) working as porn film lab tech. Things change when mob boss Roy DeMeo (Ray Liotta) closes down the lab, but offers Richard a job as his contract killer. For years afterward, Richard handles his job well with cold-blooded professionalism. It's not until mob politics forces him out that Richard winds up working independently with Robert "Mr. Freezy" Pronge (Chris Evans).

      Meanwhile, when he's not killing and collecting debts, Richard lives at home with his wife Deborah (Winona Ryder) and their two daughters. Deborah thinks all the money he makes comes from his supposed career in currency exchange as Richard does his best to separate his personal life from his work life. That proves to be easier said than done at times.

      Upon hearing about this film, I was really looking forward to seeing this, but was never given a chance to view it when it was first released. I'm a big Michael Shannon fan, and find him to be one of the most gifted and underrated actors of today. Whether it's playing Kathy Bates's troubled son in Revolutionary Road, Take Shelter, Mud or playing the diabolical General Zod earlier this year in Man of Steel, Shannon always gives 110% no matter how big or small the role. Add on to the fact that I grew up with parents that lived for Court TV and the Crime and Investigation network, so a film with Michael Shannon playing a contract killer known for committing 100 murders is all the more intriguing. Here, Shannon is dead-on as Kuklinski. It's not a flashy performance, save a couple of moments, but like the man he's portraying it's a quietly menacing one that's "cold as ice". Along with Shannon, there are also strong supporting performances from Winona Ryder, Chris Evans and Ray Liotta, who's no stranger to this type of film. Here's the problem. The movie as a whole seems thinly written and doesn't add up to much. Spanning over twenty years, co-writer/director Ariel Vromen jumps through the story's timeline rather loosely and at times it seems he doesn't know how to connect one era to the next. The script (co-written by Morgan Land) also doesn't feel fully realized and ultimately misses out on an opportunity to give us an in-depth look at one of the nation's most notorious contract killers. It's quite a letdown 'cause the talented cast that is present onscreen really do what they can with the material they're given. Sure, we get the two different realities Kuklinski lives in that offer a stark contrast between work and home life. That's always a story element guaranteed to keep my eyes glued to the screen if done right. TV's Breaking Bad has handled it perfectly. However, here, it only skims the surface and doesn't go much deeper than that. What we're left with is a story that slowly plods through its 105 minute run time. Something tells me that with Michael Shannon out of the equation, this film wouldn't be getting the praise it has been getting.

      Michael Shannon and the rest of the cast are all wonderful here, but the direction and the script fall flat. I can justify chalking this up to a rental. The performances certainly merit it, and despite my criticism of the direction and script, there are moments that do grab your attention, particularly when either Ray Liotta and an unrecognizable Chris Evans share the screen with Shannon. That said, there are not enough moments like those, and although I was really looking forward to this, I ended up feeling underwhelmed and ultimately disappointed. I give The Iceman a C+ (★★½).    

Benjamin's Stash: Video Pick of the Week

      Getaway opens this Friday in theaters, so this week's pick will be devoted to an Ethan Hawke film from my collection. I was gonna go with Training Day, but that would've been too easy. I decided to go with one that went under the radar and most of you probably haven't seen.

      Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is about two brothers, Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Hank (Ethan Hawke) Hanson. Andy is an overextended broker in desperate need of some cash and Hank isn't much better off either, so when Andy hatches a plan to rob their parent's modest jewelry store, it seems like a foolproof way to make a quick buck. Well, at first it does. When the robbery proves to be a complete disaster, it isn't long before loyalties start to shift. On top of that, Andy and Hank's father, Charles (Albert Finney), is determined to make the unidentified robbers pay for their crime. 

      The film's title comes from the Irish toast, "May you be in Heaven half an hour before the Devil knows you're dead." Filmed in a non-linear format that shows us repeat scenes from a different perspective each time, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead isn't on the level of a "Quick Buck plan gone wrong" masterpiece like Fargo or other non-linear format films such as Reservoir Dogs or Memento. That said, this is still a very engaging thriller and one that marked a strong return for the great director Sidney Lumet. I love a good "plan gone wrong" story told from multiple perspectives, and the way the film transitions from Andy to the same scene again, this time from Hank's viewpoint, adds some additional suspense. It gets messy at times, but that's the point. We're witnessing two characters who think they have it in the bag, and that they'll be in and out with the heist, but then find themselves in over their heads once the shit hits the fan. There are certainly a few scenes I would've have trimmed up just a bit, but Hoffman and Hawke deliver two strong lead performances and there's some fine supporting work from Marisa Tomei, Albert Finney and Michael Shannon who I actually forgot was in this film. If there's two things Lumet knows well, it's story and character, and here is no exception.

What the Hell Were They Thinking?!

      Hello, readers, happy Monday to you all. It's that time again for my weekly tribute to films that make you question whether there's any hope left for humanity. This week's a good one.

      ... Okay... Mega Piranha is about genetically modified (What a refreshing surprise!) Piranhas from the Orinoco River in Venezuela. Through human interference, the Piranhas manage to escape and set course for Florida. Gradually, the fish keep getting bigger and bigger by some sort of means that the screenwriters - God bless 'em - try to pass off as scientific fact. Either way, a lot of people are gonna get their asses handed to them by these aquatic creatures and it'll be up to former pop singer Tiffany and Greg Brady to save the day... Wait - what?! Well, I guess that means we're all royally fucked.

      This film sets the standard for all shitty films to follow. The acting's bad. No, I'm going with atrocious. Nah, actually I'm going with a bad on par with watching that video from The Ring. After watching Mega Piranha, you could very well die in seven days. Is it 'cause that creepy girl Samara Morgan's coming for you? No, but it could be that you throw yourself from a skyscraper by the end of the week to rid yourself of the images this movie throws at you. You'll at least die laughing 'cause I really can't emphasize how bad the acting is. It's literally watching the cast hesitate to say their lines while they wait for their cues. Then again, you expect this when the film's big "get" is Barry Williams aka Greg Brady. Then there's the editing and, holy shit, who was in charge of that? Did they stick an eight year old boy with ADHD in the editing room and say, "Make it happen... Oh, and we hid your Ritalin, so good luck!" The clip you saw up above, that was not cut or edited in any way to make it look like that. What you see is what you get from this movie. Plus, the ending just shows up abruptly. Something tells me the filmmakers just said, "Fuck it. That's good enough." I for one, will not tolerate such shoddy filmmaking, so I drummed up proper ending to this horrible script. Cue the intro!

Mike Brady: "Greg, could you come here. We need to have a talk, son."

Greg Brady: "Oh, jeepers, dad, what is it?"

Mike Brady: "Your mother tells me you did a film solely for the money. She says it was pretty bad too. Maybe even dog shit... Is that true, Greg?"

Greg Brady: "Well, dad... yeah, it is. You're not mad, are you?"

(Audience awws)

Mike Brady: "No, son, I'm not. I'm just disappointed."

Greg Brady: "I just wanted to be popular, dad. All the cool kids at school said this movie would be neato. What's wrong with wanting to be liked?"

Mike Brady: "Heck, Greg, nothing's wrong with that, but you said the same thing when you took that cameo role in Dick Roberts: Former Child Star, which who are we kidding, was the only high point you had in the past twenty years."

Alice: "Ho ho, that's a pretty low high if you ask me, Mr. Brady, he he!"

(Audience laughs)

Mike Brady: "Hey, Alice, could you check on dinner... and could you also maybe perhaps shut your fucking piehole?"

Greg Brady: "Well, my classmates are all just a bunch of nincompoops! It's just not fair. Marcia's able to get anyone to like her with her pretty face and smoking hot bod."

Mike Brady: "Now, now, Greg, that's your sis..."

Greg Brady: "Only by law... and I swear I walked in on her getting dressed on accident!"

Mike Brady: "Look, son. It's understandable that some like Tiffany are so desperate for relevancy again, they're doling out BJs and Handys to the entire film crew... but you're a Brady, and you're better than that. See, a real friend likes you for who you are, not what pile of shit film you're in. If you judge your friends for passing judgment on you, you're not only judging yourself you're judging your friends for judging you. And that would be using bad judgment... Understand, Greg?"

Greg Brady: "Yeah, I guess so."

(Audience awws as Mike and Greg hug)

Greg Brady: "Hey, dad?"

Mike Brady: "Yes, Greg?"

Greg Brady: "How come you and mom never hug or kiss?"

Mike Brady: "Well - uh - well - whoo... You see..."

Cindy Brady: "Gee whithz, dad. Have you theen my hamthter Thnowflake? I think I lotht him."

(Audience applauds as Mike looks at the camera and shrugs his shoulders)

     

You're Next

Cast of Characters:

Erin - Sharni Vinson

Felix Davison - Nicholas Tucci

Zee - Wendy Glenn

Crispian Davison - A. J. Bowen

Drake Davison - Joe Swanberg

Aubrey Davison - Barbara Crampton

Paul Davison - Rob Moran

Director - Adam Wingard

Screenplay - Simon Barrett

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexuality/nudity

      After two long years, the much awaited slasher film You're Next is finally here. Wait a minute. No black guy, no brainless bimbo and no douche-bag jock? Who's dying first then?

      You're Next takes place at the Davison home. Celebrating their 35th anniversary, Paul (Rob Moran) and Aubrey Davison (Barbara Crampton) invite their four children, along with their significant others, over for a family dinner to celebrate the occasion. It's a been a while since they've all been together under the same roof and that clearly shows. It seem like only seconds after "amen" for the food has been uttered that one of the sons is getting under the skin of another.

      Well, what's the best way to end an argument? That I can't say, but a good way to at least interrupt one is to launch a crossbow arrow through one of the guest's foreheads. That definitely does the trick and will most certainly send this family from shouting down each other's throats to embracing each other tightly while the theme song to Family Ties croons in the background.  Now under a home invasion by some masked intruders, the Davison family must fend for their lives... Cue the suspenseful synthesizer music... Or they... will... die!

      When I first read about this film, it was getting quite a bit of positive buzz. Then I saw the trailer for it a few months back and wondered how the hell could just another The Strangers or The Purge gain any positive buzz? I mean, I was honestly getting ready to "D-" the hell out of this film. For starters, some of the performances - while not horrible - weren't really much to be desired of. Most of the performers are relatively unknown, with the exception of Rob Moran who you've probably seen in quite a few Farrelly brothers films. The twists are somewhat predictable as well... but I've said it before and I'll say it again. Never judge a film by its trailer and this sucker punched me in the face by how entertaining of a flick it was. Look no further than director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett for the reason why. Over the past 10-15 years, we've been bombarded with a number of slasher films (a lot of them shitty remakes) that take themselves so seriously, and most of the time they're all about how much they can amp it up in terms of blood and gore. Yes, I may be 28, but I'm still gonna bark out loud like an old man, "They don't make 'em like they use to!" Wingard and Barrett know the material they are working with and have great fun with it, even slightly poking fun at a few cliches we've commonly seen in slasher films. That's what makes this such an effective little film. Whether it's the family debating on who should run out to the car to get help (They point out Drake can't do it 'cause he has an arrow stabbed in his back, and the daughter of the clan starts crying that her family doesn't have enough faith in her to pull it off) or one of the killers repeatedly stabbing a victim with one tool and then another and another after each previous one seems to not do the trick ("Why won't you die already?!"), You're Next never takes itself too seriously without going entirely overboard into camp territory, and although it doesn't scream originality, the way the plot unfolds still keeps you engaged. With some rather nifty camera work at times, some pretty funny kill moments and a foot tapping score that screams vintage John Carpenter while setting just the right tone the film needs, Wingard and Barrett prove themselves to be competent filmmakers within this genre. Finally, I have to mention Sharni Vinson. Even though I did say the acting wasn't up to par at times, Vinson still was quite the badass here, and out of all the performances she was easily the best. This was the first time I've seen her in anything, and this may very well be a breakout role for her.

     Is it perfect? No. Is it scary? Not really, but is it entertaining? You're damn right it is. It doesn't break any new ground by any means, but considering that it's been forever and a day... and yeah, another day after that since I've seen a slasher film that didn't make me wanna gouge me eyes out, you could still say this is a refreshing breath of fresh air for the genre. Despite the drunk asshole college kid sitting in front of me that almost made me kick-start You're Next 2 into instant production, I had a fun time. I give You're Next a B+ (★★★½).

REVIEWS COMING LATER NEXT WEEK...

What the Hell Were They Thinking?!

Benjamin's Stash: Video Pick of the Week

The Iceman

Drinking Buddies

The Frozen Ground

Getaway

The World's End

Cast of Characters:

Gary King - Simon Pegg

Andy Knightley - Nick Frost

Steven Prince - Paddy Considine

Oliver Chamberlain - Martin Freeman

Peter Page - Eddie Marsan

Sam Chamberlain - Rosamund Pike

Director - Edgar Wright

Screenplay - Simon Pegg & Edgar Wright

Rated R for pervasive language including sexual references

      Co-writer/star Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and co-writer/director Edgar Wright partner up once again and go bottoms up in the much anticipated third installment of the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, The World's End. As Gary King would say, "Let's do this!!"

      Gary King (Simon Pegg) is a hedonistic alcoholic who dreams of completing the Golden Mile, an infamous pub crawl that winds through twelve pubs in their hometown of Newton Haven, with his lifelong friends. Years before, they attempted the crawl, but ultimately failed to reach the final pub, the World's End. Now all grown up, Gary tries to get his four friends - Andy Knightley (Nick Frost), Steven Prince (Paddy Considine), Oliver Chamberlain (Martin Freeman) and Peter Page (Eddie Marsan) - to brave through the crawl once more. Having grown older with steady careers and families, the four have moved on from that point in their lives, and see Gary as just trying to live in the past with no intention of amounting to anything else. Reluctantly, though, they all give in and join Gary on the legendary pub crawl.

      While journeying through the crawl, Gary winds up in a bathroom fight with a local teenager who turns out to be inhumanly strong and agile. Gary accidentally beheads him and, to his surprise, finds out that this boy appears to be some sort of robot. When his friends find out what is going on, they don't know what to make of it, and certainly don't know how many more there are. Unsure of who else may be a robot in disguise, the five agree to continue on with the rest of the crawl in order to not draw any attention. Will they be successful though?

       Since Shaun of the Dead, Pegg, Frost and Wright together have been a comic force to be reckoned with. When it comes to the Brits, America just can't beat them in terms of witty humor in comedy. Knowing how great Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz were, The World's End has a lot to live up to. I'm happy to say it doesn't disappoint. Like it's predecessors, the plot is fairly straightforward and simple, which is to the film's benefit. Even when the robots' intentions are revealed, it never really gets bogged down in the details. The strength in this film ultimately lies in the characters and that trademark witty dialogue by Pegg and Wright. This isn't quite about a robot invasion much like Shaun of the Dead wasn't quite about a zombie apocalypse. This is about five guys stumbling their way through twelve pints of alcohol on a rather arduous pub crawl when they happen to wind up in the midst of an invasion. The invasion never takes center stage. The five guys do, and that's where the humor lies. It's in Gary still trying to chug his pint down while sucker punching robots in the face. It's in Gary warning Sam (who thinks he's just trying to get into her pants once again) about the robots, but first stopping himself to find out if she still wants to have sex, and it's in Gary, Andy, Steven and Peter desperately proving to each other they're still real and not robots in hilarious fashion. That scene in particular was, in a way, a slight nod to the great blood test scene from John Carpenter's The Thing. On top of that, the character "switch" between Pegg and Frost, where before it was Pegg playing the straitlaced one and Frost playing the goofball slacker was a good move, in my opinion. Given the type of film this is, Wright's directing style fits right at home here, and he manages to string together quite a few cleverly choreographed fight sequences (although the Shaun of the Dead zombie fight choreographed to Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" still remains my favorite), where each of the six key characters get their own moment to shine (particularly Frost). Overall, as we've seen in the first two films, there is a layer of heart at the center of the movie as we see the strained friendship between Gary and Andy develop. Gary seems like he just wants to have fun, but as the movie progresses you begin to see that it may just be to cover up his inner sadness as he sees that his friends have moved on with fulfilling lives and he's still stuck in his aimless life going nowhere. Andy may himself seem always annoyed by Gary's antics, but it's never out of hate, but more out of one just wanting something better for his friend.

      Although the final scenes seem to be a little bit more conventional than what we've seen from these three before, this is still one hell of a laugh riot, and may be Simon Pegg's best performance out of the trilogy. The dialogue is sharp and witty. The main performers really click together, and there are also two terrific cameos from Pierce Brosnan and Bill Nighy in a hysterical voice-over role (which leads to a funny conclusion from him I did not expect to hear). If you haven't seen the first two films, don't worry. While I highly recommend you do anyway, this film stands alone as its own film, so the material won't go over your head or leave you feeling left out. It may not be their best effort, but if Paul proved anything it's that Edgar Wright couldn't have been more missed. Seeing these three back together was time well worth spent. I give The World's End an A- (★★★½).

Jobs

Cast of Characters:

Steve Jobs - Ashton Kutcher

Mike Markkula - Dermot Mulroney

Steve Wozniak - Josh Gad

Daniel Kottke - Lukas Haas

Arthur Rock - J. K. Simmons

Clara Jobs - Lesley Ann Warren

Rod Holt - Ron Eldard

Chris-Ann Brennan - Ahna O'Reilly

Paul Jobs - John Getz

Jack Dudman - James Woods

John Sculley - Matthew Modine

Director - Joshua Michael Stern

Screenplay - Matt Whiteley

Rated PG-13 for some drug content and brief strong language

      Ashton Kutcher dons the glasses as he takes on the influential figure that is Steve Jobs in Jobs. Before reading this you will all have to click through fifty online Apple agreements and will be subsequently tracked. Have fun.

      Jobs opens in 2001 with Steve Jobs (Ashton Kutcher) introducing the iPod at an Apple Town Hall meeting. Following that scene, the flashbacks all the way to 1974 where a young Jobs is dropping out of college due to the high expense of tuition. Two years later, Jobs has moved back in with his adoptive parents Paul (John Getz) and Clara (Lesley Ann Warren). While working for Atari, he forms a partnership with his childhood friend Steve Wozniak (Josh God) after he sees the personal computer Wozniak has built, which would later be named the Apple I. Together, with a few other acquaintances of Jobs, they form the company Apple Computer right inside the Jobs family garage. After many failed attempts to gain venture capital, they strike success through Mike Markkula (Dermot Mulroney), who's willing to invest in their company. From there they go forward.

      Following the invention of the Apple II, the Apple Company achieves immediate success. The success soon goes to Jobs's head as he begins to distance himself from the very friends that helped catapult him to success. Not only that, but when his girlfriend Chris-Ann Brennan (Ahna O'Reilly) tell him she's pregnant with their child, he continually denies that the baby is his, even after his daughter is born (to be fair, he does later on reconcile with her). In 1984, Jobs and Co. develop the Macintosh and although the device is met with much enthusiasm, Jobs is eventually forced out of the company by new CEO John Sculley (Matthew Modine) in 1985.

      Full disclosure - I hate Apple products (I am typing each letter with immense joy on my PC and thank God about 75% of the readers here use Windows, so the backlash will be minimal), and I didn't like Steve Jobs either. The man was a great businessman and a brilliant marketer. There's absolutely no doubt about that. He'd have to be in order to get people to line up in droves to buy the next bull shit iPhone. However, he was no Thomas Edison like I've heard him be compared to before. Wozniak was the real genius behind Apple Computer. Jobs just packaged it and sold it well. That being said, just 'cause I don't like the main character doesn't mean it'll effect my view of the movie. I don't think much at all of Mark Zuckerberg (although it's ironic that when I done with this, I'm gonna immediately post a link to here on my Facebook page), but I absolutely loved The Social Network. Rant aside now, I'm reviewing a movie, so before I walked into the screening room I threw my "Fuck you, Apple!" mentality outside the door. While the film has its share of inspired moments, I couldn't help but feel underwhelmed by the movie as a whole. The film rightfully doesn't portray Jobs as some sorta Christ-like figure, but I also think they do a disservice to the story by sometimes going out of the way to really demonize him. It's no breaking news to those that knew about Jobs that he was short-tempered, mistreated his employees, and for the longest time refused to acknowledge his daughter Lisa. However, we only go skin deep into his character and some of his personal issues (such as with his daughter) are just lightly touched on. We do get plenty of moments showcasing Jobs's aggressive behavior but we don't get into the why he was that way, his motivations for it, or what exactly it was that made him tick. What made The Social Network so wonderful was that director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin really dug deep down into the character that is Mark Zuckerberg. I didn't like Zuckerberg, but by the end of the film I not only didn't hate him, I actually sorta felt sympathy for him. Here we don't quite reach as much depth as we need to see into the heart and soul of a man that was driven to succeed at all costs. Like Lovelace earlier last week, this too borders on that made for TV feel. The greatest sin though is reducing the great Apple vs. Microsoft feud to one short phone call scene. You could glean an entire film out of just that, and to keep it to just that moment in the film was a mistake on writer Matt Whiteley's part. As for the performances, I do give Kutcher his props. From a macro point of view, in terms of greatest performances of all time, or even just great performances this year, it doesn't crack the list. That being said, Kutcher does nail the look and mannerisms of Jobs down pat (aside from the unnecessary 2001 scene with him under old age makeup that doesn't work), and from a micro point of view, in terms of what Kutcher's body of work has given us, this is a solid effort from him and by far and away one of his better performances. It's very thin competition though. We don't get much from the supporting cast. It's a shame that veteran acting talents such as James Woods, Dermot Mulroney, J. K. Simmons and Matthew Modine are given very little to do. One exception though is Josh Gad. This is my first time seeing him onscreen and boy, does he hit out of the park as Wozniak. It's a terrific performance from him.

      While it is an ambitious looking film, overall it winds up falling short of what it wants to be. It's not a bad film, but this is more a straightforward, by the books biopic that doesn't go much in depth inside a man that, whether you loved him or hated him, was still one of the most influential men of the past thirty years. It's definitely worth a rental, but when stacked up to other biopic films, it's mostly disappointing. I give Jobs a C+ (★★½).

Lee Daniels' The Butler

Cast of Characters:

Cecil Gaines - Forest Whitaker

Gloria Gaines - Oprah Winfrey

Hattie Pearl - Mariah Carey

Vice President/President Richard Nixon - John Cusack

First Lady Nancy Reagan - Jane Fonda

Carter Wilson - Cuba Gooding, Jr.

Howard - Terrence Howard

James Holloway - Lenny Kravitz

President John F. Kennedy - James Marsden

Louis Gaines - David Oyelowo

Annabeth Westfall - Vanessa Redgrave

President Ronald Reagan - Alan Rickman

President Lyndon B. Johnson - Liev Schreiber

President Dwight D. Eisenhower - Robin Williams

Maynard - Clarence Williams III

Director - Lee Daniels

Screenplay - Danny Strong

Based on The Washington Post article "A Butler Well Served by This Election" by Wil Haygood

Rated PG-13 for some violence and disturbing images, language, sexual material, thematic elements and smoking

      Academy Award winners Forest Whitaker, Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding, Jr. Vanessa Redgrave and Robin Williams star alongside John Cusack, Lenny Kravitz, James Marsden, Alan Rickman, Liev Schreiber and Academy Award nominees Oprah Winfrey and Terrence Howard in Academy Award nominee Lee Daniels' film Lee Daniels' The Butler. Step aside White House Down. You're not the only film with a stacked cast now.

      Looks like he won't be getting a free car. Lee Daniels' The Butler is inspired by the real-life account of Eugene Allen, who worked at the White House for 34 years before retiring in 1986 as the head butler. Here, Allen is portrayed as Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker), who as a child was raised on a cotton farm in Georgia. After his mother is pulled away to be raped, his father, trying to retaliate, is shot dead in front of him. Cecil is taken in by caretaker Annabeth Westfall (Vanessa Redgrave), who trains him to be a house slave.

      Now grown up, Cecil has been recommended for a job at the White House during the Eisenhower administration. Cecil, already not much of a political man himself, is told by the head of the butler staff that there is a zero tolerance policy on politics. When he is present in the office serving the president, he is to hear nothing and see nothing. Meanwhile, although he enjoys his job, his home life is rather different. His wife Gloria (Oprah Winfrey), even though she loves him, resents the fact that he works long hours and is hardly at home for her while she smokes and drinks throughout the day. His son Louis (David Oyelowo), fighting for change to the point of radical means, joins the Black Panther Party and denounces his father as just another "Uncle Tom" working in a subservient role. How dare he talk smack about Mister Tibbs too. He deserved every bit of that bitch slap he got from his mother.

      First off, before you think Lee Daniels is just another self-promoting whore, the reason his name comes before the title was because of a so called copyright dispute between The Weinstein Company and Warner Bros., which released a 1916 silent short film with the same name. Oh, yeah. People will definitely confuse the two if nothing's done. Anyway, Lee Daniels' The Butler features one of the most impressive casts in recent years and an Oscar worthy performance from Whitaker. It seems that for a while now, Whitaker has been stuck in "Straight to DVD" hell. That said, this is one of his best performances ever and there could be an argument to be made that it's just as good as his Oscar winning performance in The Last King of Scotland. Along with Whitaker, there are some impressive supporting turns from Robin Williams, James Marsden, Liev Schreiber, John Cusack and Alan Rickman as Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford respectively. With playing any president there's always the chance you end up stumbling into caricature territory, but these five managed to pull off some genuine, albeit short, performances. Cuba Gooding, Jr. provides some comic relief in a role that reminded me when he's not starring in crap like Boat Trip and Daddy Day Camp he can actually act, and Oprah Winfrey takes time away from the usual "look at me" grandstanding she typically does to give a performance that I believe will earn her a much deserved Best Supporting Actress nomination. The story of how Gaines was, at times, like a fly on the wall observing each president handle a defining moment of their term is thoroughly fascinating. It's remarkable to think that perhaps a simple answer, while serving tea, in response to a question from one of the presidents could have swayed a decision of theirs. However, no story arc here is as powerful as the one we see in the strained relationship between Cecil and his oldest son Louis, both of whom feel the other is just getting in the way of their own respective plans.

      While the symbolism sometimes can get pretty obvious and the issues of each time period more or less get painted in broad strokes, it still doesn't take away the fact that this is a deeply moving and intriguing story about an ordinary man who was put into an extraordinary position. Plus, you can't blame the filmmakers too much. It's rather difficult to pull off a decades spanning story as perfectly as Forrest Gump did. The performances are exceptional and despite the heavy-handed story elements, director Daniels and writer Danny Strong throw in some much need comic relief (as mentioned with Cuba Gooding, Jr. above) to provide the viewer with some breathing room in between the more emotional moments. I give Lee Daniels' The Butler an A- (★★★½).

Kick-Ass 2

Cast of Characters:

David Lizewski/Kick-Ass - Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Chris D'Amico/The Mother Fucker - Christopher Mintz-Plasse

Mindy Macready/Hit-Girl - Chloe Grace Moretz

Sal Bertolinni/Colonel Stars and Stripes - Jim Carrey

Director - Jeff Wadlow

Screenplay - Jeff Wadlow

Based on the comics Kick-Ass 2 and Hit-Girl by Mark Millar & John Romita, Jr.

Rated R for strong violence, pervasive language, crude and sexual content and brief nudity

      Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Chloe Grace Moretz return, now with Jim Carrey, in the sequel to the controversial yet surprise hit Kick-Ass, Kick-Ass 2.

      Following the events of the first film, both David Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Mindy Macready (Chloe Grace Moretz) have retired from crime fighting. Seeing that he has inspired others to become masked vigilantes, Lizewski becomes inspired himself to get back into crime fighting. Having been caught crime fighting by her legal guardian, Mindy decides to not join Lizewski, but instead attempts to live a normal high school girl's life. Lizewski dons the Kick-Ass mask once again and manages to find a team of crime fighters known as Justice Forever, which is led by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey), a former mobster turned born again Christian.

      Meanwhile, Chris D'Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is busy plotting his revenge against Kick-Ass for killing his dad. Formerly Red Mist, D'Amico uses his inheritance to become a new super villain - The Mother Fucker. While Justice Forever is fighting crime throughout the city, The Mother Fucker is putting together his own team of super villains to fight back.

      I never got a chance to Kick-Ass 'til after it came out on DVD, and I was totally surprised by how much I really enjoyed it. As much as Jim Carrey would hate hearing me say this while he hypocritically cashes in his paycheck from the film (Google Jim Carrey Kick-Ass 2 to see what I mean if you don't know already), Carrey's Colonel Stars and Stripes is clearly the most interesting character out of the bunch and the best thing about this movie. The problem is he's not in the film that much. In fact, it seemed like he was in the film just only a tad bit more than what we saw of him in the trailer. You have a character that goes from being a mobster to a crime fighting, born again Christian. That is a story arc I would've loved to have seen more of, and although we get little mentioned tidbits here and there of his past, they're more like teases than anything else. It's a shame since what we're left with other than Carrey is a disappointing and predictable mess with too many side characters with very little development thrown into the mix. What made the first film so good was co-writer/director Matthew Vaughn's ability to blend the bloody violence with dark, twisted humor and it never took itself too seriously. Given the material, how exactly could you? With Kick-Ass 2, we have a new director, Jeff Wadlow. While I have no problem in swapping directors for sequels, I do have a problem with Wadlow's tonal inconsistencies and the film's inability to decide whether it should be funny or the opposite. Here, almost all the humor is sapped away and when it tries to be funny it falls flat at times. The middle act provides us with a Mean Girls ripoff where you can see how it'll turn out from a mile away. Even though he was funny in the first film, Christopher Mintz-Plasse just isn't convincing in any way as the primary villain, and by the final act I started wondering if I'd enjoy just a straight up origin story of Colonel Stars and Stripes instead. The answer is yes, by the way.

      While the film certainly has a few inspired moments, it's not enough for me to recommend it. I don't fault the film's use of all the bloody violence like a lot of critics with sticks up their asses seem to object to (even though I've seen far, far worse). I do fault this film though for not bringing any of the humor from the first one along for the sequel. I give Kick-Ass 2 a C- (★★).

Benjamin's Stash: Video Pick of the Week

      Hello, readers. The World's End opens this week. Since it reunites co-writer/director Edgar Wright with comic duo Nick Frost and co-writer Simon Pegg, it is only fitting that this week's recommended viewing pick be devoted to the film that brought the three front and center to us.

      In Shaun of the Dead, Shaun (Simon Pegg) lives a directionless life, working a dead end job as a salesman for an appliance company. His younger colleagues, as Rodney Dangerfield would say, give him no respect. His girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) is unhappy with their relationship. He has a uneasy relationship with his stepfather Philip (Bill Nighy) - it's not his father, by the way - and his housemate Pete is at his breaking point with him due to Shaun's crude slacker friend Ed (Nick Frost) living with them. Following a heavy night of drinking, both Shaun and Nick slowly, and I do mean slowly, begin to realize that an uprising of zombies have taken over the town. While at first they plan to rescue Shaun's mother, Liz and then just "Wait for all this to blow over.", that proves to be easier said than done for them.

      I actually debated between whether I should pick this film or the unofficial "sequel" Hot Fuzz (the second film of the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy). Both were fantastic films and it's really hard to decide which of the two I love more. When in doubt, just go with the first. At the time of its release, the zombie genre was running out of steam. Earlier in the year, you had the lackluster remake of Dawn of the Dead, and just a week or two before it you had the second Resident Evil crap fest of film. You'd think it'd be the worse time ever to release just another zombie picture. Then again, when you're aiming for satire, it ends up actually being the best time release a film like this. What makes this film so much fun is that while this is technically a zombie film it's really about the characters and their reactions to it more. We're spared the usual origin story of how it was the environment or the government or inbreeding or whatever the hell it normally is. This is about Shaun, Ed and Liz and much of the humor revolves around the fact that in spite of the zombie invasion taking place around them, they still somehow manage to squabble and argue over the little things that complicate their daily lives. Both Pegg and Frost couldn't be any more electric together and the dynamic they create is amazing. Credit should also be given to Edgar Wright for helping bring it out of them. He's further proof that like De Niro/DiCaprio to Scorsese, Samuel L. Jackson to Tarantino and more recently Sharlto Copley to Neill Blomkamp, never ever underestimate how important the relationship between director and  performer really is. Take Wright out of the equation and you get Paul which while okay was really disappointing. If dry British humor with a number of zombie master George A. Romero references is your thing, this is a must see for you. The writing is sharp, witty and clever. The cast is uniformly hilarious and Wright's directing style fits this film perfectly. Make it a movie night and throw in Hot Fuzz which satirizes the buddy cop genre.

What the Hell Were They Thinking?!

      Hello, readers. It's time for Monday's weekly tribute to crap. This film will probably have some wondering why it's making this segment just now and not weeks before. Also, considering I'll have my review of Lee Daniels' The Butler starring Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker up Wednesday, it's fitting this movie also stars Whitaker.

     

      Battlefield Earth aka Scientology: The Movie stars - wow... this movie is dog shit. Okay, so the year is 3000 and Earth has been ruled by Psychlos, a giant humanoid race of alien beings. The humans are either enslaved by the Cyclones - I mean Psychlos - or surviving in primitive tribes. Terl (John Travolta), the head security chief of whatever the fuck they're called, has been condemned to remain on Earth indefinitely for an unclear incident involving the the Senator's daughter. Who's the Senator? I don't really give a shit. With the help of his deputy Ker (Forest Whitaker), Terl cooks up a plan to buy his way off the planet making some big bucks using the slaves to mine gold for him. Meanwhile, a tribal uprising is brewing against the Psychlos. 

      Some are, understandably, wondering why this film's making this segment just now. Unless your name is John Travolta, most everyone - eh - no, I'm going with pretty much everyone else thinks this movie is akin to the massive deuce I dropped at work earlier today... except my deuce smelled way better. I remember the first time I watched this film. It was years ago, and I remember crying as I was witnessing the death - well, the second death of Travolta's career. When I recently watched it again for this post, the thought of Quentin Tarantino throwing a brick through the screen screaming, "I resurrect your fucking career and this is how you thank me?!" kept running through my mind. This film is bad, and it's so bad it actually circles around "so awesome it's orgasmic" and back to bad sixteen times before crashing and burning back on bad. It's so - I mean, Ed Wood wouldn't even be able to comprehend what the hell is going on here and he's the king of shitty films. The acting is so bad it has to be seen. Combine the performances with the bizarre makeup art consisting of bloated foreheads, lots and lots and lots of hair, and those stupid nose plugs and you get... well, I can't really describe it, but it's sorta similar to witnessing a school bus full of small children get set on fire. Yeah, it's a bit on that level of bad. You almost start to drum up conspiracy theories such as, "Wow, Forest Whitaker was so incredibly bad here, as great as he was in The Last King of Scotland, I'm beginning to think they gave him the Best Actor Oscar out of sympathy." I mean, you tend to expect John Travolta to do this. His acting career is in a way kinda like a raging alcoholic trying to put down the bottle. Yeah, he'll clean his act up and give you a Pulp Fiction or a Get Shorty, but then he's off the wagon once again with three Look Who's Talking movies. Then we have the story and I really don't know what to say. It's not shock. I literally don't know what to make of this bull shit, convoluted story. You could take Bob Dylan, stick him inside a wind tunnel while he reads Finnegan's Wake, with Tom Petty reciting "Bohemian Rhapsody" to his left and Craig Mack belting out R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" to his right and that would somehow come out more coherent than the jumbled up pile of words collected together to form what could very well be something that may or may not have been mistaken for a rational script. I can't even praise something like the cinematography. Normally, a film can be really bad... I mean, really bad, but I can at least say, "The makeup was first rate." or, "Well, in spite of the bad film it does have some terrific cinematography." Nope, not here. Even the camera work, in all its "Why the hell are all these scenes angled?!" glory can't sway me away - even in the slightest - from thinking that I'm gonna have to watch Staying Alive now to erase L. Ron Hubbard's acid trip from my memory.

Prince Avalanche

Cast of Characters:

Alvin - Paul Rudd

Lance - Emile Hirsch

Director - David Gordon Green

Screenplay - David Gordon Green

Based on the film Either Way by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson

Rated R for some sexual content

      Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch star together in David Gordon Green's Prince Avalanche, the American remake of the 2011 Icelandic film Either Way.

      Following a forest fire that desolated an isolated, small Texas town, highway road worker Alvin (Paul Rudd) and his girlfriend's brother Lance (Emile Hirsch) are hired to repair the area's land and roads. They paint yellow lanes on the roads and mulch gardens devastated by the fire. This goes on for days and nights.

      Due to their polar opposite personalities, we expect a conflict to eventually arise. Alvin loves the outdoors and loves his alone time away from the girlfriend ("I reap the rewards of solitude", he says). Lance couldn't be any more different. He's basically your everyday hit up the town, grab whatever babe you can find and then nail her like there's no tomorrow type of loner. He may even be "learning disabled" as Alvin writes to his girlfriend. He appears to have no interest in the great outdoors, but it seems to make him horny anyway.

      There was a time when David Gordon Green was a unique and gifted filmmaker.  Then he decided to venture into goofball stoner comedy territory by filming Pineapple Express, Your Highness, and The Sitter. Pineapple Express was just okay. I hated Your Highness, and The Sitter was somewhere in between. There's certainly nothing wrong with a goofball stoner comedy if done right (This Is the End), it's just not the right fit for Green. Scorsese's one of my favorite directors ever, but I'd never wanna see his take on Dumb and Dumber. All that considered, Prince Avalanche marks a return to form for Green, and in a way he's able to combine both his beautiful artistic side with a bit of the goofiness he tried to go for in his past three films. While there are certainly some beautifully shot images and some sharp and funny dialogue (there's a great little argument between Rudd and Hirsch about their so called "Equal Time Boombox Agreement"), this film is mostly driven by two outstanding performances from Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch. Paul Rudd has been able to pay his bills comfortably from starring in the usual Apatow comedies we've seen over the past ten years. Here, though, he tones it down with a restrained performance that plays off Hirsch's dopey, sex crazed Lance perfectly. As for Hirsch, I've been a fan of his work before, but really only for his dramatic work (I didn't like The Girl Next Door, the closest thing to a comedy I've seen him in). To see him pull off such a quirky character as effectively as he does here was a joy to watch. The most intriguing aspect about both characters, though, was that as different as they were in personality, in a way they were similar in how sad and lonely they seemed to be deep down. Two scenes in particular really point that out. One features Lance going on about his weekend with all the highs and lows that came with it. It's a funny scene at times, but also sad when you realize Lance really has nothing else going on for him other than the hopes of "Getting some puss." The second scene features Rudd following a terrific cameo appearance by Joyce Payne (a real life survivor of the fire). He stands all alone in the midst of a house, completely destroyed by the fire, and pretends to come home to a functioning house with a family. Both scenes are really the strongest in the film and are beautiful, funny and sad all at once.

      It's not Green's best work, but it's certainly nice to see him get back to his roots with a small film such as this. Rudd and Hirsch are superb together and despite the occasional goofiness, Green has put together a beautiful film with some much needed heart and human emotion that I haven't seen in a film of his since Snow Angels. I give Prince Avalanche an A- (★★★½).

REVIEWS COMING LATER NEXT WEEK...

What the Hell Were They Thinking?!
Benjamin's Stash: Video Pick of the Week
Kick-Ass 2
Lee Daniels'  The Butler
Jobs
The World's End
You're Next 

Lovelace

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Fruitvale Station

Cast of Characters:

Oscar Grant III - Michael B. Jordan

Sophina - Melonie Diaz

Officer Caruso - Kevin Durand

Officer Ingram - Chad Michael Murray

Katie - Ahna O'Reilly

Wanda Grant - Octavia Spencer

Director - Ryan Coogler

Screenplay - Ryan Coogler

Rated R for some violence, language throughout and some drug use

      Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz and Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer star in Ryan Coogler's film debut, Fruitvale Station, based on the true story of Oscar Grant III.

      The film opens with cell phone camera footage of 22 year old Oscar Grant III (Michael B. Jordan) being beaten by Bay Area Rapid Transit cops on a subway platform. Eventually a gunshot is heard.

      Prior to this event taking place, we see Oscar going about his day which will ultimately lead to his death. A year before he was serving time for drug related charges. Now he's trying to move on and better his life with his girlfriend Sophina (Melonie Diaz). He's a man worrying about paying rent and making sure he raises his daughter Tatiana the right way. He plans a birthday party for his mother Wanda (Octavia Spencer). He tries to get his job back. Having once sold dope to get by, finding out his position has been filled almost pushes him back to that point. All these events take place during one day which leads to Grant's unfortunate death on a subway platform during a New Year's Eve party with his girlfriend.

      The death of Oscar Grant III shook the Bay Area and the state of California back in 2009. Movies like this that take place not too long after the actual event happened always have to walk a fine line in terms of tastefulness. In the wrong hands we could've gotten a beat you over the head political speech or a sappy Lifetime network melodrama. Writer/director Ryan Coogler, in his film debut, strikes just the right notes here. What we get isn't quite black and white per se. This is a human story, and not just a flawed human story, but one where the main character realizes he's flawed. Oscar's not a saint, and it's not just 'cause of his past. At times he's quick to anger and wears his emotions on his sleeve. There are also moments where he's not quite truthful to his girlfriend. He realizes he's better than that though, so as flawed as he admittedly is, we care about what may or may not happen to him by the time we reach the film's climax. All of this is perfectly captured in a heartfelt and powerful performance from Michael B. Jordan. Some may remember him from TV's Friday Night Lights. He's probably best remembered as Steve Montgomery in the surprise hit Chronicle. Here he gives an Oscar worthy performance that could result in his name being mentioned in the Best Actor category once the nominations are given. It's not a flashy performance by any means, nor should it be. It's a genuine performance meant to show the final hours of Grant's everyday, normal life. There's one scene in particular between Oscar and Tatiana right before he's about to head out for the night with his girlfriend that displays Jordan's performance at its best. It turns out to be the last moment between a father and daughter. The viewer knows what's to come. The father and daughter don't.

      Could we have gotten a bit more story out of the two cops responsible for his death other than the final ten minutes? Sure. Maybe they were having a shitty day? Maybe they have control issues that result in them being complete dickheads? Who knows? We don't know much about their motivations, but this isn't their story, it's Oscar's. Some may find this hard to watch, which is understandable. It's not an easy film to watch, especially knowing what's to come for Oscar, but Coogler handles the emotional story perfectly and the performances by Jordan, Diaz and Spencer are award level. Like Michael B. Jordan, Coogler also has a career filled with potential that I look forward to seeing more of. I give Fruitvale Station an A (★★★★).   

Byzantium

Cast of Characters:

Clara Webb - Gemma Arterton

Eleanor Webb - Saoirse Ronan

Darvell - Sam Riley

Captain Ruthven - Johnny Lee Miller

Noel - Daniel Mays

Frank - Caleb Landry Jones

Director - Neil Jordan

Screenplay - Moira Buffini

Based on the play A Vampire Story by Moira Buffini

Rated R for bloody violence, sexual content and language

      Gemma Arterton and Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan star together in Academy Award winner Neil Jordan's return to the vampire tale, Byzantium. Smart money is on this still being a better love story than Twilight.

      Byzantium weaves in and out of the present day lives and flashbacks of mother and daughter vampires, Clara (Gemma Arterton) and Eleanor Webb (Saoirse Ronan). Their story together dates back 200 years ago during the Napoleonic Wars, when young Eleanor was abandoned by her mother Clara, who has been forced into prostitution by Captain Ruthven (Johnny Lee Miller). When a chance to achieve immortality presented itself to her, Clara obviously jumped at it. Unfortunately for her, the vampire brotherhood is strictly an elite men's club. Despite those within the brotherhood, such as Darvell (Sam Riley), sparing her life, they still exclude both her and her daughter and shun them as outcasts.

      Two centuries later, Clara and Eleanor are on the run. Eleanor tends to the elderly, using her "gift" as a way to provide them peace from their discomfort. Clara manages to make ends meet for them by stripping and hooking.  While seeking refuge in a rundown coastal resort, Clara sets her sights on the lonely Noel (Daniel Mays), who has just inherited the Byzantium Hotel, a once-thriving inn that has fallen into a sad state of disrepair. Clara turns the Byzantium into a brothel where she and her daughter can quench their thirst for human blood while maintaining a low-profile. Meanwhile, Eleanor falls for Frank (Caleb Landry Jones), a hapless yet likeable young waiter who unwittingly draws out the natural storyteller in her. Amidst a string of mysterious disappearances in the town, Frank begins to realize that Eleanor's tales are much more than dark fantasy.

      Let's see. In the past five years we've had anything to do with vampires shoved down our throats - Twilight (all five films), The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, Let the Right One In, Let Me In (The American remake), Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, Daybreakers, and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. With a few exceptions (Daybreakers and the excellent Let the Right One In), most have been garbage. Byzantium is from Neil Jordan though, and if that name seems unfamiliar to you, he directed Interview With the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, one of the best vampire films of the past twenty years. Jordan, whether it's a vampire film or not, always brings a tone and mood that fits perfectly within the film, and here is no exception. Whether it's Sean Bobbitt's gorgeous cinematography, Consolata Boyle's costume design or the art direction provided by Bill Crutcher and Martin Goulding, this film keeps a hold of our attention from beginning to end. Unlike other vampire stories we've seen before, this film is more in the vein of Let the Right One In, a film that focuses on characters who just happen to be vampires rather than the vampire myth itself. At the heart of the story, we have Clara and Eleanor - both different in personality and ideology - and their troubled relationship as mother and daughter that has gone on for centuries. Writer Moira Buffini, for the most part, strips away most of the folklore elements associated with vampires. There are no wooden stakes, crucifixes, garlic, sleeping in coffins, they can walk in daylight, and they don't turn others into vampires (they're transformed through an island tomb), and although elements such as the power to lure others, only entering by way of an invite and of course feasting on human blood to survive are used, that's what I enjoyed about the film. There's a realism captured within it where most of the characters find it hard to believe that Clara and Eleanor could be vampires (there's a brilliant scene concerning this involving Eleanor and a teacher that's both chilling and humorous). Like I said, this isn't about any vampire myth. This is about characters who happen to be vampires. Like any Neil Jordan film, he manages to bring out the best in his cast. To be honest, as great as Tom Cruise is as an actor, the thought of him playing a vampire doesn't even sound appealing on paper (a casting decision that novelist Anne Rice was dead set against at first). Your mind changes once you actually have seen Interview With the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles and you most certainly have to credit director Jordan for that. Here we're treated to two terrific performances from Arterton and Ronan. Ronan gives possibly one of her best performances to date as the quiet and at times sad Eleanor, and Arterton comes alive with just the right amount of cruelty, sexiness and wicked attitude for her character. Caleb Landry Jones (probably most recognizable now as Banshee in X-Men: First Class) is also great as the shy boy who Eleanor gradually warms up to. It's a beautifully awkward relationship somewhat similar to the relationship seen between Oskar and Eli in Let the Right One In.

      If there was any gripe I had about the film, it's that the ending could've been better. It's not bad, and it certainly doesn't derail the film, but a touch up on the climax wouldn't have hurt. That being said, Arterton and Ronan are perfect together, the supporting cast behind them is equally strong, Buffini's script weaves in and out from the present to flashbacks at just the right moments without throwing the viewer off, and Neil Jordan's signature visual style injects a hauntingly beautiful feel that we don't quite see anymore in this familiar story topic. As far as the vampire tale's concerned, Hollywood certainly has been beating a dead horse and milking the cow 'til there's nothing's left. It's always great though when a little film like this comes along and breathes some originality back into the genre. I give Byzantium an A- (★★★½).