St. Vincent

So I saw St. Vincent, and here's the thing: I know when I'm being manipulated, OK? This is a pretty basic movie, Bill Murray is an old curmudgeon and Jaeden Lieberher is a precocious kid and the two of them learn from each other and all that. The kid gets a little tougher, the curmudgeon gets a little softer. In the end we learn a lesson about judging books by their covers and so on. It culminates in a big presentation the kid gives that shows us all the wonderful things the curmudgeon is hiding behind is tough exterior, and then the theater releases a crap load of dust into the air and you have to rub your eyes and stuff...don't look at me, it's dusty! Like I said, it's manipulative and the beats are pretty clear, and it's up to the talent to raise things to the next level.

I think Bill Murray does a great job at this. To me his character Vincent seems like a classic smart-ass Bill Murray character (like from Stripes or Meatballs) who as grown old to the point that being a smart-ass is not longer cute or charming, but just kind of makes you a jerk. It makes Vincent likable but prickly, and ultimately makes his redemption at the hands of the kid Oliver believable.

Jaeden Lieberher is pretty good as the kid, Oliver. He delivers his lines well and manages to be wise-beyond-his-years without being grating. There's a thin line kids in movies have to walk to avoid being annoying or painful to watch, and he does a decent job, especially when he's acting as the straight man for both Murray and Melissa McCarthy.

While it's basically just a comedy, the level of the cast, its time of release, and some high-quality stroke acting makes me wonder if this movie is actually some sort of stealth Oscar bait, we'll see I guess. If you're looking for a fun movie with some decent warm fuzzies at the end, this could be right up your alley. Worth a shot.

The Book of Life

So I saw The Book of Life and it was OK I guess. Your basic kid's movie with lessons about finding your own destiny and the importance of family.

I really liked the art style of the movie, both in the slightly more realistic town of San Angel and especially in the Land of the Remembered, where everything is a spectacular Day of the Dead float. I also appreciated the art style of the movie, and it's slightly different focus. When a museum tour guide introduces the story she says it takes place in the "center of the universe: Mexico" which made me raise an eyebrow. Still, it's a interesting change from kid's movies that take place in generic parts of the United States and Olde Timey Europe.

I didn't find a lot to be really bad about the movie, but there were some parts that were kind of off. For example while Channing Tatum seems to be really having fun as the swashbuckling Joaquin, he stands out in a movie where almost everyone else speaks with an accent, and it stands out. I also thought the song selections were kind of odd. The Book of Life isn't quite a musical, but there are musical interludes, and they're generally of older pop songs done fairly straight. I mean, I imagine it would be weird if they dude a super Mariachi version of Radiohead's Creep, but just having the main character play an acoustic version of it is out of place also. It seems to me that if you're going to make a movie about Mexican culture and folklore, why not go the whole hog? Anyhow, it's a fine kids movie, but there probably isn't enough here for grownups, so take that into advisement as well.

Fury

So I saw Fury, and man for a bunch of stone-cold killers, these dudes sure do cry a lot! Seriously though I enjoyed a lot of this movie. The battle scenes are really spectacular, with bodies and tracer bullets flying everywhere. The final battle, where the tank is damaged and the crew fights off a Nazi company in increasingly desperate terms was thrilling, especially as it becomes clear that not everyone is going to make it out.

I enjoyed the acting as well. The writer/director David Ayer is really good at telling stories featuring guys you normally wouldn't like much but are extremely charismatic (as exemplified in both End of Watch and Training Day, the two big movies he's known for). Brad Pitt's character in this movie is not a good guy, he bullies both his tank crew and the civilians in a town they liberate, but you can also see why his men follow him, in an excellent kind of balancing act. Shia LaBeouf was really good in this movie as well, which isn't something I expect to say ordinarily (BURN).

What keeps this movie from being great is a long section in the middle, where instead of fighting or tank driving the movie turns into an unexpected passive-aggressive dinner party. Like when a couple is about to break up and they're sitting at the table with everyone else and they just start suddenly making random comments designed to hurt the other person and they get angrier and angrier and everyone else gets increasingly uncomfortable. It's a very weird turn that doesn't seem to accomplish much in the overall movie. Besides that though, generally this movie has good action, good acting, and at one point the main gun of a Sherman tank hits a Nazi trench and a dude is blasted like 30 feet in the air and it's pretty sweet. Worth a look, go to the bathroom when Gordo and Coon-ass show up at the apartment.

Kill the Messenger

So I saw Kill the Messenger, and it was all right.  It's a movie about Gary Webb, a reporter for the San Jose Mercury News played by Jeremy Renner. Back in the mid-90s Webb wrote a series of articles about the CIA overseeing the importation so cocaine into the U.S. to fund the Contras in Nicaragua. The movie follows Webb through learning about and researching the story, followed by his fall and eventual disgrace at the hands of the media and government (Sorry, I usually don't do a ton of synopses in these reviews but I wasn't that familiar with the movie or the story it's about when I went to see it so I thought I'd share).

The movie plays out along the usual "fall from grace" story line. In the first half of the movie we see what a dogged and determined reporter Webb is as he hunts down leads and writes the story. Once the story is published and to universal acclaim it's basically a countdown until the other shoe drops and everything goes bad.

I was a little surprised by the lack real action in this movie. While there are often parts where Webb is threatened or things are implied by members of the government, For the most part it seems content to just let Webb get really paranoid and rely on the fact that whenever someone starts saying things about the CIA being out to get them they sound extremely crazy.  In the end the key to this movie is Jeremy Renner's performance, because there isn't a ton going on beyond how he reacts to any given situation. While I think he did a good job of conveying the emotional journey his character goes through, there isn't enough going on besides that. An interesting little movie that might be worth your time if you're interested in the subject matter, but not much else.

The Judge

So I saw The Judge and it was OK I guess. To me it seemed like the movie wasn't quite sure what it wanted to be, or at least it was trying to be a lot of different things at once. There are tropes and story lines from at least three different kinds of movies in here and none of them really reach their full potential for me.

The main one you see in the commercials for the movie is the big city lawyer comes to the small town and tries a court case, like My Cousin Vinny. But with so much of the movie focused on other stuff we don't really see a ton of court action. We get one scene from jury selection and and maybe one cross examination before the big dramatic courtroom scene with Roberts Duvall and Downey Jr. and then the case is largely over.

Its also another of these "tragedy brings estranged family members back together" movies like Skeleton Twins or This Is Where I Leave You. I think this part of the movie is probably the strongest, mostly because of the excellent cast. Robert Downey Jr. does his usual Ton Stark thing while Robert Duvall is a cranky curmudgeon. I think this is probably the strongest part of the movie, though as stated before I am a sucker for family stuff in movies, and I feel like some of the story lines presented are pretty underdeveloped, especially Vincent D'Onfrio and Jeremy Strong as the other brothers in the family. There are the starts of stories here but they don't seem super developed.

The third movie is a fish out of water learns to love the small town story like Doc Hollywood. For me this is the weakest plot line just because of the way the movie is shot. All the scenes in Indiana are beautifully lit and shot, the small town where most of the action takes place is bright, sunny, and full of smiling people who seem pretty care-free and everyone's business is thriving. It makes Robert Downey Jr. just seem like he's being an over-dramatic when he's annoyed to be coming back home, instead of empathizing with him.

I wish I liked this movie more, because I am a fan of the actors here, but in the end there wasn't enough of any one thing to really lift this movie to the next level.

Dracula Untold

So I saw Dracula Untold, and it was pretty meh. I'm always willing to watch a movie based on an old-school movie monster-I'm one of the only people to have seen I, Frankenstein earlier this year for instance-and from the trailer I was pretty excited for a big special effects movie with giant bat fists and so on. So it's kind of a disappointment when all the big effects are the ones that are in trailer, and the "untold" story of Dracula is your run-of-the-mill superhero origin story.

It's disappointing because there's some promise at the start of the movie. There's some Game of Thrones elements dealing with internal politics of the Ottoman Empire and a whole cast of Prince Vlad's advisers and lieutenants, but it's all quickly over once he gains his vampire powers. Then it's the standard "learning to use your powers" and "hiding your powers from others" montages. After that every other character sort of fades to the background as we focus on the inevitable showdown with the big bad guy.

I love superhero movies, but at this point in history the origin story is the weakest superhero story you can tell.  This is the monster movie version of The Legend of Hercules, and that is a sad thing indeed.

Left Behind

So I saw Left Behind and boy howdy, it is not a fine movie. I've read at least on review that describes it as a drinking game, and I thought I'd try my hand at making one:

Drink When:

• The movie's sound track is either wildly inappropriate (like upbeat elevator music over the opening credits) or ridiculously dated (like smooth jazz saxophone when the sultry temptress appears)
• You notice that Chad Michael Murray's beard is weirdly trimmed and you can't look away from the weird notch in his chin
• When the only purpose Chad Michael Murray serves in a scene is to hit redial on his cell phone
• People refer to religious people (especially Lea Thompson) as crazy
• When characters say that those "crazy" religious people were RIGHT!
• You see a pile of empty clothes after the Rapture strikes
• Someone in first class says something and everyone in first class starts standing up and having a big discussion like they're doing a one act play or something.
• The little person first class passenger is incredibly angry for no reason.
• Over the top examples of societal breakdowns post-Rapture, including scooter-based purse snatching duos
• When despite this craze societal breakdown, when it's needed an undamaged, still running motorcycle is readily available just lying on the street
• Glass is broken (drink twice when the bible is used to break glass!)
• Something happens that is really really dumb

You might want to watch this movie to make fun of it, but that is the only reason to do so. For the love of God (before he raptures everyone I guess) avoid this!

Gone Girl

So I saw Gone Girl and it was fantastic! I'm a huge fan of movies about conspiracies and con artists, where everything is part of a larger scheme and nothing is as it seems, and that is what this movie is all about.

I honestly don't want to say to much because so much of what made this movie good were all the little twists and turns that turn the course of the movie on a dime. I will say that while Ben Affleck gets top billing the real star of this movie is Rosamund Pike, who does a fantastic job both as her character and who her character pretends to be.

An amazing thriller that will keep you guessing, and surprisingly funny. You should definitely go see it!

The Skeleton Twins

So I saw The Skeleton Twins and I thought it was pretty good. If might be because I just watched it recently but it really seemed cut from the same cloth as This Is Where I Leave You. Both movies feature estranged adult siblings reuniting in the wake of a tragedy, though Skeleton Twins is more of a sad movie with funny parts, instead of Leave You which was a comedy with some sad parts.

For me the best parts of the movie were the non-dramatic scenes where Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig just riffed and made each other laugh with little jokes. Their interactions are full of both biting sarcasm and genuine emotion that I really enjoyed. These happy moments made the inevitable falling outs and arguments all the more dramatic, because you could tell that the characters cared for each other but each had their own issues which got in the way.

This is a melancholy movie about life and growing up, and not quite the "you can't go home again" type comedy that it's advertised as. I suppose any movie with multiple suicide attempts can only be so funny (except for Groundhog Day, but that's a special case.) I found this movie to be very engrossing and very real, it's worth a look.

Men, Women & Children

So I saw Men, Women & Children (and a movie by that name!) and I think I'm still sort of processing it. So far I've had three different thoughts about it, so I'll just review it through here:

First: It's one of those ensemble teen movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High or American Pie, but updated for modern times with smartphones and so on. Oh and also with a bit more focus on the parents of the kids as well.

Second: It's a remake of all those classic scare movies like Reefer Madness or Perversion for Profit, but improbably about the internet. The internet allows married couples to cheat, makes a teenage girl anorexic AND pregnant, and (most shocking of all) makes a star running back quit the high school football team!

Third: It's actually kind of a mix of the two, because the problems in this movie are the problems that teens and parents always have in these movies. Parents are cheating on each other, A kid gets disillusioned with high school football. A young woman as sex with a young man who turns out to be a huge douche. A girl and boy fall in love despite the girl's mother being really controlling and intrusive. These are pretty universal themes in these kinds of movies, and I can't quite tell if the point of the movie is that the internet makes these problems different, or if it's the same stuff in a different way.

Generally though, I liked:
-Emma Thompson as a snarky omniscient narrator,
-The relationship between Ansel Elgort and Kaitlyn Dever which was sweet in the "let's be sad loners together" way
-Adam Sandler giving one of those great quiet and subdued performances he does once every five years or so

This is an OK movie, but if you're interested you might want to wait until it comes to video or something.

P.S. As a fan of the show Alias back in the day I'm increasingly bummed out that all the roles I see Jennifer Garner in these days is as the Mom. But that's a personal agenda, never mind!

P.P.S. There's a key plot point that is completely nonsensical about how a certain video game works in this movie. As a video gamer this offends me greatly (not actually).

This Is Where I Leave You

So I saw This Is Where I Leave You and I enjoyed it, but I probably can't be trusted. I have a soft spot for movies about family bonding and stuff, so I have trouble being fully objective. Still, I shall endeavor to give a reasonable assessment with what I liked, what I didn't, and what I'm undecided on.

What I liked: I really enjoyed how all the characters interacted with each other. They had a kind of easy familiarity that seemed pretty realistic, especially Jason Bateman and Tina Fey. There were some parts that had me laughing in spite of myself, especially a running gag where everyone keeps calling a rabbi by his childhood nickname, much to his chagrin (his nickname is "Boner," it's pretty funny).

What I didn't like: It's probably just the presence of Jason Bateman here, but I kept thinking that maybe they should have just gotten the rest of the cast of Arrested Development to handle many of these roles. Especially Jane Fonda, who seems like she's doing a version of Jessica Walter's boozy over-sharing shtick.

I'm undecided on this feeling of back story that the movie had. If I found out that This Is Where I Leave you was a sequel or cast reunion to some other movie or TV show that was popular 10 years ago I wouldn't be surprised. There are so many things here that are mentioned and undeveloped or just glossed over. Like how apparently at one point the mother of the family wrote a famous Ordinary People type book about her kids going through adolescence which was really weird and embarrassing for them, but after that's mentioned it's just kind of dropped. In the end a lot of things are really resolved and things still seem up in the air. If you wanted to be charitable you might think that this is intentional, because after all in real life we rarely have smooth beginnings or endings, but a more realistic view may be that the script is a bit under cooked, and could have been tightened up a bit more. Either way, I found this movie to be fun and enjoyable, and if you like movies about family stuff, it can be worth your time.