Despicable Me 2

Life has been going well for Gru, his three adopted daughters are crazy about him and things are all hunky-dory. However there was a recent robbery of a PX-47 (a chemical that causes a monstrous transformation of whatever is injected with it) test facility in the arctic by an unknown villain. The AVL (Anti-Villain League) will do anything to stop them, even if it means collaborating with a retired Villain. Re-enter Gru, with a mission to find remnants of the chemical and stop the evil mastermind behind it.

Despicable Me 2 isn't as top notch as one would hope. Maybe I have been spoiled by Disney and Pixar's always solid films, or perhaps Despicable Me 2 just isn't as poignant as other children's movies. Yes the minions are a riot and the littlest girl Agnes makes your heart melt but the story never really draws you in. I enjoyed my viewing of it but only because the little yellow guys tickled my funny bone. If you're heading out to the theater next week Despicable Me 2 would be a safe pick.

In Theaters Wednesday July 3rd

The Bling Ring

The Bling Ring follows the true events of a group of teens in the Beverly Hills area who went on a rampage of burglaries of A-list celebrity homes. Marc (Israel Broussard) has just moved to a new "drop-out" high school and almost instantly he is alienated by students as he enters the school. His day doesn't seem to get much better until he meets a well dressed, overconfident Rebecca who, for whatever reason, feels like making a new friend and invites him out with her friend Chloe (Claire Julien). Simultaneously Nicki (Emma Watson) and Sam (Taissa Farmiga) awake in their Beverly Hills home and start their day. Both groups quickly intertwine as they meet at a local night club where we are finally introduced to their shared life ambition of living the celebrity life. Then rather suddenly Rebecca has this urge to break in to Paris Hilton's house while she is away in Las Vegas throwing a party. From there the narrative spirals into scenes of burglary after burglary and a slow build of suspense. The under arching theme of a deep affinity for the celebrity life style isn't as cleverly veiled as I would like and I think that comes from the inexperienced actors which is often a problem in Independent films. Emma Watson's performance would have been fantastic if it were not for her trouble with an American accent.

I was entertained by the film, there were some humorous scenes and Nicki's mother Laurie (Leslie Mann) portrays a laughable new-age home school teacher bent on spreading the word of "The Secret." But despite these brief comedic moments, the film seems to lack impact. The sudden spark of thievery seems to come out of no where, which is a thematic problem due to the fact that it is the sole focus of the film. The friendship between Marc and Rebecca flourishes inhumanly fast, making their connection not believable. Had their been a few more scenes of relationship development this problem could have been easily solved, however it appears that surveillance footage was mistakenly deemed far more important than character development. By the time the credits rolled I left feeling a little unsatisfied, but the social commentary was a breath of fresh air.

My viewing adventures through the American Film Institutes top 100 motion pictures

1. Citizen Kane - 10/10
2. The Godfather - 10/10
3. Casablanca - 9/10
4. Raging Bull - 8/10
5. Singin' In The Rain - 10/10
6. Gone With The Wind - 9/10
7. Lawrence Of Arabia - 8/10
8. Schindler's List - 10/10
9. Vertigo - 10/10
10. The Wizard Of Oz - 9/10
11. City Lights - 8/10
12. The Searchers - 8/10
13. Star Wars - 10/10
14. Psycho - 9/10
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey - 10/10
16. Sunset Blvd. - 10/10
17. The Graduate - 10/10
18. The General - 10/10
19. On The Waterfront - 9/10
20. It's A Wonderful Life - 10/10
21. Chinatown - 9/10
22. Some Like It Hot - 10/10
23. The Grapes Of Wrath - 8/10
24. E.T. - 8/10 
25. To Kill A Mockingbird - 8/10
26. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington - 7/10
27. High Noon - 6/10
28. All About Eve - 7/10
29. Double Indemnity - 9/10
30. Apocalypse Now - 10/10
31. The Maltese Falcon - 8/10
32. The Godfather Part II - 8/10
33. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest - 8/10
34. Snow White And The Seven Dwarves - 10/10
35. Annie Hall - 7/10
36. The Bridge On The River Kwai - 8/10
37. The Best Years Of Our Lives - 8/10
38. The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre - 9/10
39. Dr. Strangelove - 10/10
40. The Sound Of Music - 9/10
41. King Kong (1933)- 10/10
42. Bonnie And Clyde - 9/10
43. Midnight Cowboy- 9/10
44. The Philadelphia Story - 9/10
45. Shane- 5/10
46. It Happened One Night - 8/10
47. A Streetcar Named Desire - 10/10
48. Rear Window - 10/10
49. Intolerance- 7/10
50. The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring - 8/10
51. West Side Story - 7/10
52. Taxi Driver - 10/10
53. The Deer Hunter - 8/10
54. M*A*S*H - 8/10
55. North By Northwest - 10/10
56. Jaws - 9/10
57. Rocky - 10/10
58. The Gold Rush - 10/10
59. Nashville - 8/10
60. Duck Soup - 6/10
61. Sullivan's Travels - 7/10
62. American Graffiti - 9/10
63. Cabaret - 8/10
64. Network - 10/10
65. The African Queen - 9/10
66. Raiders Of The Lost Ark - 10/10
67. Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf - 10/10
68. Unforgiven - 10/10
69. Tootsie - 10/10
70. A Clockwork Orange - 8/10
71. Saving Private Ryan - 9/10
72. The Shawshank Redemption - 9/10
73. Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid - 10/10
74. The Silence Of The Lambs - 8/10
75. In The Heat Of The Night - 10/10
76. Forrest Gump - 8/10
77.  All The President's Men - 7/10
78. Modern Times - 8/10
79. The Wild Bunch - 9/10
80. The Apartment - 10/10
81. Spartacus - 8/10
82. Sunrise - 10/10
83. Titanic - 7/10
84. Easy Rider - 9/10
85. A Night At The Opera - 5/10
86. Platoon - 8/10
87. 12 Angry Men - 8/10
88. Bringing Up Baby - 6/10
89. The Sixth Sense - 6/10
90. Swing Time - 7/10
91. Sophie's Choice - 5/10
92. Goodfellas - 7/10
93. The French Connection - 10/10
94. Pulp Fiction - 10/10
95. The Last Picture Show - 8/10
96. Do The Right Thing - 5/10
97. Blade Runner - 10/10
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy - 6/10
99. Toy Story - 10/10
100. Ben-Hur - 6/10

Man Of Steel

Yet another Superhero flick smashed into theaters last week and to no surprise at all Superman gets his second reboot in seven years. Director Zack Snyder (300), using the same gritty style that made the Dark Knight trilogy so great, gives us our third (don't forget about The Green Lantern) DC hero in what appears to be the upstart of a future Justice League movie, take that Marvel!

The story of this Man Of Steel begins with the actual birth of Superman and sets the foundation of Krypton's demise and Clark Kent's arrival to Smallville, Kansas. Through this prologue we are introduced to Kent's father Jor-El (Russel Crowe) and the villainous General Zod (Michael Shannon) both of whom help shape the hero we all know and... love? as well as vividly show the destruction of his home planet. Throughout the film we see Clark drifting from job to job as he works to hide his powers from the world as well as flashbacks to his coming-of-age with his father (Kevin Costner) and mother (Diane Lane). Eventually the love interest Lois Lane (Amy Adams) finds her way to the screen as she is researching a news story about an anomaly found in the arctic. After some life saving and some conversations filled with sexual tension, General Zod arrives at Earth looking to repopulate the planet with Kryptonians through the apocalypse of man kind. Who will stop him?? It's a mystery...

All in all the film was rather dull, the special effects were nothing special and the story itself is one we have all heard. Michael Shannon was a very good casting choice as his talents are so underrated, I expect big things from him in the future the other actors however were a bit too corny, if they are looking to give Superman a new image they need to cut his phony integrity and give him an edge. One new theme used in the film is the ploy of making Superman a Christ-like hero, which is all well and good but what audiences today seem to be drawn to is a character with more of a moral conflict and the all powerful do-gooder isn't someone that we can connect with and doesn't allow for a plot that puts you on the edge of your seat.

I give Man of Steel a 4 out of 10. Superman is one of the oldest superheros and should be put in the hall of fame for children of the future to marvel at (pun intended of course).

Epic

Epic is the newest animated fantasy movie from Blue Sky Studios (Ice Age, Rio) and really the only film aimed for children in theaters. Directed by Chris Wedge (Ice Age, Robots) and with a cast full of big names, this film may sound like an enjoyable one, but unfortunately does not live up to the hype.

The life of Mary Kathryn (Amanda Seyfried) has been tough, her Mother had recently passed away and she had to move back in with her eccentric Father Dr. Bomba (Jason Sudeikis) who is obsessed with the idea of little people living in the surrounding forest. It is in fact this obsession that caused MK’s mother to leave her father and bring MK to the City. But here is the kicker… THERE ARE LITTLE PEOPLE THAT LIVE IN THE FOREST! They live in a medieval society where the good guys, the Leafmen, keep the forest beautiful by fighting off the Boggans and their evil leader Mandrake (Christoph Waltz) who rot away everything they touch. The Queen of the forest, Tara (Beyonce Knowles), heads out to a field of leaf pods to choose her heir, but when she arrives she, along with the Leader of the Leafmen, Ronin (Colin Farrell), are ambushed by a giant army of Boggans and the whole forest goes into disarray as the leaf pod is stolen and the Queen is killed. At the moment of Tara’s death our main character MK stumbles upon the queen’s last moments in life and is transformed into a smaller person just like the Leafmen. It is up to MK, Ronin, a young soldier named Nod (Josh Hutcherson) and a the comical Snail and Slug Mub (Aziz Ansari) and Grub (Chris O’Dowd) to obtain the leaf pod and restore the forest to its former glory.

For children, this film is great, it’s appropriately action packed and the clean comedy will make you smile every once in a while. The casting choices were a bit odd and even though Beyonce, Steven Tyler, and Pitbull are talented people, they should stick to music. The animation is nothing special, it doesn't push the boundaries of this art form, but is not poor quality. The real problem lies within the story itself. At the beginning of the film the death of MK’s mother had recently passed away, a taxing emotional toll on a 17 year old girl, however this only seems to affect MK for the first 3 minutes of the film, it’s not very important to the story but it is important for the characterization. It is as if the film has only one main focus and that the possible sub-plots are irrelevant which could be due to the 102 minute running time.

All in all the film has the makings of an interesting story in a clever fantasy world, but doesn't reach its full potential. For children this would be a great movie to see, but for those of us over 10 this may be one movie to skip. 4/10

What the Academy got wrong

If I had my say this is how the Oscars would have gone down.

1. We'll start with Best Animated Film. If it were up to me Tim Burton's Frankenweenie would have one best animated feature. 

This movie was so good! It was a heartwarming little tale about a boys deep connection with his dog, who doesn't love that!? What's most appealing about this movie is it's many references to some of the greatest and oldest horror films of all time. Frankenweenie is also a stop motion film which is always so interesting and truly a work of art. I loved Brave, but Frankenweenie was better.

2. Best Supporting Actor: Robert De Niro. Silver Linings Playbook was my favorite movie to come out this year and the main reason why? The actors, there wasn't a single performance in the movie that didn't wow me and obviously I'm not the only one to think this because Jacki Weaver, Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, and Jennifer Lawrence all received nominations. De Niro plays Bradley Coopers obsessive compulsive father, who lost his job and has taken up betting on various sports games. De Niro gave me both laughs and tears and definitely deserved an Oscar last night

3. Best Supporting Actress: Helen Hunt from the sessions. She was marvelous, and surprisingly attractive for a 50 year old... Her character was the sex therapist for a man who lives in an iron lung, and without spoiling this great and underrated film I will just say that she was far better than Anne Hathaway who was only in Les Mis for about 45 minutes, and that everyone should go see The Sessions.

4. Going off of #3 I will say that John Hawkes deserved a nomination for best actor. I agree with the Academy on Daniel Day Lewis but Hawkes' performance was nothing short of enchanting, he was hilarious while accurately portraying a man struggling with polio. If Tom Hanks can win an Academy Award for Forrest Gump then John Hawkes could at least receive a nomination.

For the most part I thought that the Academy did a pretty good job, I would have liked to see The Hobbit walk away with something and the fact that the majority of the Academy panel is older white males is very unfair for a beautiful movie like Beasts of the Southern Wild, which came away with no awards. 

And I know I said that Silver Linings Playbook was my favorite film of the year but there are flaws that I can see and accept just because I love it so much. Argo is a fantastic movie and was an obvious choice for best picture. 

Thanks for reading, stay cold.

Argo

Argo is probably the single greatest film to come out this year. With an incredible script, and strong performances all across the board this movie is clearly an Oscar contender. The story follows Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck), a CIA agent specializing in the extraction of hostages, as he conjures and executes a plan to remove hidden embassy employees from revolting Tehran, Iran. Mendez's plan: to disguise these wanted Americans as a Canadian film crew scouting locations to film their newest sci-fi movie, and fly them out right under the rebels noses. This movie is a wild and stressful ride that will make your heart pound and keep you on the edge of your seat until the credits roll.

I saw this twice. In theaters. If that isn't enough to get you to see this movie then perhaps Alan Arkin and John Goodman will, they both are up to par and really make this film enjoyable. Most thrillers clip along at incredible speeds and if it wasn't for Arkin and Goodman lightly pumping the breaks with a little joke here and there, this movie wouldn't be half as good as it is now.

I give Argo a 10 out of 10, if you don't like it you can "Argo fuck yourself."

P.S. Tate Donovan, the hostage who's cover story is the director, is the voice of Hercules in the Disney movie.

Django Unchained

Quentin Tarantino has done it again. Django Unchained has quickly become one of the most popular films gracing the silver screens, and for good reason. Django is the story of a freed slave teaming up with Bounty Hunter King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) to take down a trio of brothers. After some gory gun fights and monologues we find out that Django is married and has been searching for his wife for years which is where the meat and potatoes of the plot arrive. In order for Django to be reunited with his beloved wife they must seek out Calvin Candie (Leo DiCaprio) and his infamous Candie Land (hahaha)....

This film is ruthlessly wonderful. The acting in this film is even better than Basterds!! Christoph Waltz gives us another Academy Award worthy performance (he also won the Golden Globe for best supporting actor in a dramatic film just the other day) as the bounty hunter King Schultz, and Leonardo DiCaprio (also nominated for a Golden Globe in the same category as Waltz) gave the best performance of his career. Jamie Foxx is, however, a little lackluster, he's good, and he suits the part but doesn't really compare to his supporting actors. Now all the characters will, at some point, make you laugh, but none will make your side split more than Samuel L. Jackson.

The plot does seem to draw a lot from other spaghetti western films as well as blaxploitation... But so are most of Tarantino's films... It is also fairly controversial, one thing I did pick up on was the, possibly unintended, display of the weak and submissive slave. We see only one slave rising above the metaphorical and literal chains to stick it to the oppressive slave owners of the south. But that's stretching it, it really shows more of how backwards and racist the south can be. I have no problem with the screenplay however the infatuation Tarantino has with using the N-word gets to be a little to much. So much so that I have to comment on it.

The overall cinematography of this film is classic Tarantino, nothing too tricky and just enough to accentuate the real beauty of this film and that is its characters. It's a little gory, but if you are a fan of his work it'll come off as comical rather than gross.

This film is great, it's edgy and will probably piss off a bunch of people (Spike Lee was quoted saying he is boycotting this film) I give it a 9.8 out of 10. Everything about this movie was great, except for Jamie Foxx who just didn't seem to impress me enough. The film is still in theaters so I strongly urge you to find time and see it once, or twice, or three times...

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

This is extremely late but it's still in theaters so.... go see it or somethin'...

To start off I loved this movie, the action, the characters, the additions to the story, and most importantly the cinematography were all fantastic. I did however have a few problems with some of the fighting sequences. To me they all seemed a little too goofy, fans of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy know that the fight scenes all throughout those films were nothing short of stunning. But in The Unexpected Journey we get a little too much comedy, maybe it's because everyone is too short.

The dwarves are all lovable, however not entirely developed. Only some of them have lines and Thorin is the only one with a back story. But remember we do still have 2 more films to come. Thorin Oakenshield has to be my favorite, with an incredible back story and a perfect performance from Richard Armitage. Bilbo Baggins, played by Martin Freeman, is the most masterly portrayed character in the entire film, Freeman delivers an astonishing and very entertaining performance and of course Ian McKellan returns again as Gandalf and naturally is incredible....

But enough about the characters!!

There were a lot of disgruntled fans when news came out that The Hobbit would be filmed in a higher definition (it made it look like a soap opera). But during my viewing I really didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, except for some CGI on Gandalf's face to make him look younger. The wide landscape shots were still as beautiful as the LOTR Trilogy and the set design was basically orgasmic.

The plot was fantastic, I was never bored with any scene, even during my second viewing. The additions to the original story were actually very clever and were obviously done to connect this new Hobbit Trilogy to the Lord of the Rings (I won't mention them in case you haven't seen it).

All in all I give this movie a 9.2 out of 10. The only reason I didn't give this a 10 is because of it's goofiness within more dramatic parts. Yes, The Hobbit is extremely lighthearted but it still balances it's emotional tone whereas this film does not.