Movie Reviews

Sony Pictures Replaces Marketing Chief After Turbulent Summer

by Jonathan Nolan | Oct 1, 2013 | 4 comments

The Mortal Instruments

The Mortal Instruments, Sony Pictures

Sony has shuffled the worldwide Marketing President at Sony Pictures presumably in response to some summer flick disappointments and investor criticism. Marc Weinstock has held the position since 2000 but was taken out of the post this week, though he is expected to remain on at the company. He has now been replaced by Dwight Caines who moves up from digital marketing. Is Sony Pictures getting hot-under-the-collar after the investor spotlight from Daniel Loeb?

Should You See ‘One Direction: This Is Us’?

by Joel Dale | Sep 11, 2013 | 3 comments

After seeing One Direction’s feature film, I felt the need to write to them directly. After the jump is that letter.

Should You See ‘The World’s End’?

by Joel Dale | Sep 6, 2013 | 5 comments

I looked up that The World’s End cost somewhere in the 20-30 million dollar range. If that’s the case, then Edgar Wright should direct all future special effects movies because he gets more bang per buck than movies with six times the budget. I’m sad the American box office for this film is currently underwhelming. More people should buy a ticket. Especially when failed garbage like White House Down managed to pull in much bigger numbers despite being a much bigger flop on a much larger blank check.

Nothing suggestive here.

Nothing suggestive here.

In attempting to describe The World’s End I am faced with the problem of trying to review the film without giving away the best moments. The advertising campaign already says too much and ruins one of the big reveals. It’s much like what happened with the promotions of From Dusk Till Dawn. So I will hold back and obtusely say that if Jack Finney and Ira Levin wrote a comedy together, it would be this.

However, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright wrote the script. Frequent collaborators with past films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, the duo conjure up another wacky comedy that has trouble being defined in any normal terms. Simon Pegg plays Gary King, middle-aged man but former childhood peer leader who’s in drug rehab and desperately wants to relive his youth. He wishes to avenge a failed attempt to complete “The Golden Mile”: a path through his college town, filled with twelve bars that one drinks a pint at each, culminating in the eponymous bar “The World’s End.” Hatching a plan to gather his four other friends from that fateful night of drinking failure, they head back to town to complete what they couldn’t as youngsters. And along the way reacquire a part of what made being young great. Or at least that’s what Gary wants. The rest seem fairly content being adults.

Should You See ‘We’re The Millers’?

by Joel Dale | Aug 24, 2013 | 3 comments

One of the things I noticed about We’re The Millers, as I watched it with my friend Doug, is that he and I often laughed at different parts. Now this probably doesn’t seem like that big of a revelation except for the fact that comedies are usually designed to make people laugh at the same time. We’re The Millers has those moments too, a number of them really. Just a lot of other moments that could be described as “more pleasing than funny depending on who you are.”

Small time drug dealer David is forced by his ruthless boss, Brad Gurdlinger, to put together a fake family in order to smuggle a huge stash of drugs across the Mexican border. You can tell he’s ruthless because he has an aquarium with killer whales eating dolphins. First up is Kenny, his hapless dweeb of a neighbor to play the son. Kenny is in it for the fun because his life has no excitement and his parents have left him. David enlists his neighbor and erotic dancer Rose to play his wife. Jennifer Aniston brings an everywoman, down home, relatable vibe to all of her roles and in We’re The Millers it happens to be an everyday, down home, run of the mill stripper. She’s in it for the money. Social miscreant and probable criminal Casey, is bribed into being the daughter.

Should You See ‘The Way Way Back?’

by Joel Dale | Aug 13, 2013 | 1 comment

The opening moment of The Way Way Back is a make it or break it kind of deal. Steve Carell plays against type as Trent – father, divorcé, and new boyfriend to Toni Collette’s, Pam. She’s also a divorcé and also has a kid, Duncan. Trent is driving both families to his lake house and lays into Duncan (Liam James) telling him that on a scale of 1-10, he’s only a 3. This is one of those moments that is so strange and mean it’s hard to relate to. I’m sure there are fathers and boyfriends who’ve done similar things although I’m glad I’ve never met any. This first five minutes makes it incredibly obvious the film is going to focus on Trent’s abusive relationship to Duncan.

Except it’s a comedy.

A comedy about Duncan’s emotional abuse and his mom’s failed attempts at relationships.

Should You See ‘The Wolverine?’

by Joel Dale | Aug 3, 2013 | 0 comments

I was complaining to my friend GI Joe, that I had not given us enough time to get popcorn before going into the theater when a sense of self-consciousness hit me. Dana White, president of the UFC, and Matt Hughes, former UFC champion and hall of famer, were directly in front of me. I stared at them as we all walked into The Wolverine together. Apparently I share something in common with world famous tough guys. Beyond being tough that is.

Having listened to Joe Rogan, who is the color commentator for UFC fights, attack Kung-Fu and Tai-Kwon-Do as crap for real life fights, I was very curious what an educated fighting professional would think of the latest Wolverine movie, being set in Japan with all its martial arts. Can they take time from their actual world of actually beating people up with actual proven methodology to the world of a perpetually healing animal like human, hanging out with a bunch of kendo experts that probably have no fighting value outside of a movie.

Luckily The Wolverine doesn’t know Dana White is in the audience and keeps itself focused on being an all style points experience. It looks great when CGI is not involved. Director James Mangold and his camera man compose some wonderfully colorful shots. The action is usually fun. But the CGI moments can be distracting. Still, let it not be said though that Hugh Jackman isn’t amazing at playing Wolverine. Cause he is.

I take my roles very seriously.

I take my roles very seriously.

And if you know anything about his five other depictions of this character, then you will not be disappointed in the least. He brings the loner, angry, but sympathetic character to absolute life despite the fact the surroundings may be lack luster. At the top of the movie we find him living the loner life in the woods, communing with bears, until mysterious Yukio (Rila Fukushima) comes calling, complete with butt kicking Japanese sword skills, and a message for The Wolverine to come back to Japan to visit a dying friend he once saved back in WWII.

This dying friend is named Yoshida (Hal Yamanouchi) and he makes an offer to trade Wolverine’s infinite health for Yoshida’s impending death. A tempting possibility that Wolverine gives about 9 seconds of thought before turning down.

Sony Pictures Announces ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and 4’

by Sohrab Osati | Jul 22, 2013 | 2 comments

You know you’re confident about your franchise when you announce not one, but two sequels before the 2nd film is even released. Sony Pictures has announced release dates for The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and 4 which will continue the saga of the rebooted world. Just a little over a year ago (July 3rd, 2012), Sony Pictures released The Amazing Spider-Man which went on to gross $752 million dollars. With a franchise in mind already, Sony would begun production on the The Amazing Spider-Man 2 which is scheduled to hit theaters on May 2, 2014.

The Amazing Spider-Man saga release dates are as follows:

Should You See ‘The Conjuring?’

by Joel Dale | Jul 21, 2013 | 2 comments

If anyone was wondering where I was the past couple weeks, not churning out reviews, I was in Norway and Sweden. Seeing fjords and not movies. So now that I’m back, what better way to celebrate the stunning beauty of these northern nations, the amazing vistas of nature, the crazy viking history, the shifting monarchies, and the forgotten heritage attached to the world than to see James Wan’s film The Conjuring. He made Saw.

But what is life if not a series of different experiences. And I must say The Conjuring is different than other experiences similar in content. Let’s start with this, I didn’t like Saw. I thought it was poorly acted, hammy boredom with a twist I didn’t care for. In the interim Wan has improved. He has made a name of himself with more creepy, relatively inexpensive horror films, none of which I’ve seen. But also a remake of Death Wish called Death Sentence that I found straight forwardly brutal and fascinating. He continues this plain attitude in The Conjuring which is not an amazing film but is unreasonably entertaining nonetheless.

Should You See ‘White House Down?’

by Joel Dale | Jul 2, 2013 | 0 comments

Until last night I had never experienced an audience clapping at the end of a film in derision. Usually we’ll clap for the sheer love of what we saw but with White House Down, they clapped at the audacity of what it takes to make a pile such as this. At present, while I write this review for White House Down, the Tomatometer is at 50%. I feel that is about fifty points too high. I warn you now, this review contains spoilers. Just like the movie contains spoilers. It spoiled my dinner, spoiled my evening, and spoiled my desire to go back to the theater. Wondering, as I left, if director Roland Emmerich’s greatest gift to humankind was the desire to work at a soup kitchen and give back to the world instead of sitting through crap like this. It’s sad considering he managed to woo a long list of top stars.

Should You See ‘World War Z?’

by Joel Dale | Jun 26, 2013 | 1 comment

World War Z does something few movies have ever done for me. It places me next to the protagonist and compels me on the same journey he or she is on. In this case it’s a he. Brad Pitt to be exact, as retired United Nations investigator Gerry Lane. He’s seen some bad stuff and wants no part of more bad stuff because now he has a family. Bad stuff and family do not mix. But Gerry can’t turn his investigator brain off and when the movie opens to him racing his family through an unexpected outbreak of some crazy, super fast zombie disease – he takes a moment watching someone get bit and counts how long before they become a crazy, super fast zombie. I think the count was 12 seconds. And this should give you some idea of how this movie works. It relentlessly pushes the pace at you but not in some clunky, when is this fight scene ever going to end kind of way (See Man of Steel for that). Instead everything from the opening credits drops you right down in the center of the action. There’s no overly long explanation of what’s going on. And that’s the point. You find out what everybody finds out AS they find it out. This is not the film yanking out the rug from underneath you. It just lays out information at the rate any human would find it out whilst being chased by crazy, super fast zombies.

Red Rover send Zombie right over.

Red Rover send Zombie right over.

The closest comparison I can make is to the masterpiece Children of Men. And yes I am using a strong word there. Children of Men is a better movie. I will not say World War Z is a masterpiece but they share something very special. As an audience member you live the pace the movie puts out. Z is a white knuckle thriller with simple, effective, and obvious motivations. When Gerry gets his family onto a military boat, a safe haven from the zombies, he’s compelled to join in the fight for a possible cure. He refuses because he wishes to stay with his family, but an incredibly simple argument is made to convince him. The captain of said safe haven says in essence: “if you’re not going to help us, then we are going to fill your spots with people who will and you shall leave.” I mean wow. No muss. No fuss. It’s not pandering. It’s brutal and smart and totally believable.

Should You See ‘Man of Steel?’

by Joel Dale | Jun 21, 2013 | 8 comments

In the parking lot, walking to my car after having seen Man of Steel, I listened to a guy telling his girlfriend that one of the common complaints of the first Christopher Reeves’ Superman movie is that it’s too slow and it takes 45 minutes before anything happens. Since that 1978 film has a 93% on RottenTomatoes, I’m not sure which group of common people are making this common complaint. But if it is so common, that would go a long way to explaining the pacing of Zach Snyder’s newest reboot.

Snyder is an incredibly capable director who commands power over visuals like no other. When given lower end scripts he still makes something that’s hard to not watch. 300 is like the first truly mainstream gay movie and it looks great. Suckerpunch is kind of a mess and often accused of horrible misogyny, and yet for even those who don’t like it, try taking your eyes away. But for a truly great script, like Watchmen, Snyder is a genius that made one of my favorite films. And so for Man of Steel the question is will it be a great script inspiring genius or meager writing that’s a treat to stare at despite the weak foundation. The result is somewhere in the middle.

Should You See ‘Now You See Me?’

by Joel Dale | Jun 9, 2013 | 6 comments

I’m debating which of two moments in time were my favorite parts of my experience watching Now You See Me. Either it was near the end when the final reveal occurs and a lady in the front left of the theater started laughing uncontrollably and causes the rest of the theater to start laughing with her, or it was in the parking garage, listening to all the cars beeping as people were trying to locate them en masse. Both of these moments were more entertaining than most everything actually in the film.

Here's what movies like this do to my legacy.

Here’s what movies like this do to my legacy.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it’s usually a warning flare for a film to be an ensemble of famous people because it shifts focus from doing what is best for the story to doing what gets the largest audience. And apparently the studio thought that was ok because this cast of famous people phone it in.

A figure, cloaked in secrecy (a.k.a. wearing a hoodie), clandestinely recruits four talented magicians by sticking a tarot card with an address on it somewhere each of them would be surprised to find it. For instance, in the middle of a piranha-infested fish tank. I thought it strange these magicians knew that upon receiving said cards they were to do as they were told. Obviously they knew something I didn’t. Some secret magician’s code or something.

Should You See ‘Fast & Furious 6?’

by Joel Dale | Jun 2, 2013 | 1 comment

Fast & Furious 6 is a movie with Michelle Rodriguez as Letty. At one point, in an earlier film, she dated Vin Diesel, who plays Dominic Toretto, until he stopped dating her because she got killed. But nows she’s not dead, which is good, because he didn’t like how they broke up. Except now she’s a villain, which is bad. But Vin Diesel doesn’t care and gets all stupid around her. Like when he smiles at her and she shoots him. Vin Diesel does a bunch of other ridiculous things, like jump from moving cars to his certain death and explains it by saying “family.” Paul Walker plays Brian O’Conner, who used to be a cop, but that stopped in The Fast and The Furious, back before they dropped the “The” from the title and back before they used an ampersand instead of the word “and” and back before they needed numbers to tell these apart – basically back when The Fast and The Furious was really Point Break. Paul Walker isn’t the best actor, but he did start this off and since he’s not dating Vin Diesel, he doesn’t have to die to break up with him. So instead he gets himself imprisoned to ask a question of a super criminal about Letty not being dead. The super criminal says “she didn’t die.” I hope that answered Paul Walker’s question because that was a lot of trouble to find out the answer. But, you know, “family.”

Should You See ‘The Great Gatsby?’

by Joel Dale | May 24, 2013 | 0 comments

With films like Iron Man 3 and Star Trek: Into Darkness in theaters you might ask yourself how The Great Gatsby fits in. I’m here to tell you that it fits in just fine. With an average shot time of less than five seconds (I know, I counted) Baz Luhrmann’s Gatsby is more kinetic and distractingly edited than any of the action fare it competes with. All Michael Bay has to do when confronted with arguments of his sometimes incomprehensible editing style is point to The Great Gatsby.

Let me state for the record that in equally incomprehensible fashion, I have read the book The Great Gatsby twice and I have seen the Robert Redford version of the film twice, and yet despite my great experience, having actually studied this book in school, I remember nothing except the ending. I guess it didn’t make that much of an impression. But I do remember it having a generally slower pacing and a sense of melancholy. This latest film has none of that. It’s either full blast crazy or full blast sad and angry. Nuance is missed. Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) narrates the experience of his meeting the titular J. Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio). Carraway is not a big city guy and is taken in by the bewildering experience of the temptations in the city, including the various experiences he has when his neighbor Gatsby takes a liking to him. Luhrmann depicts all of this in a wild set of flashy scenes, cutting between one crazy image after another, leaving only enough time per image for them to barely register before being replaced by another crazy image. I feel like Luhrmann’s vision of Gatsby would do damage to a still developing child’s brain and it certainly hurt mine.

Should You See ‘Star Trek: Into Darkness?’

by Joel Dale | May 20, 2013 | 7 comments

Whenever a new Star Trek or Star Wars entry appears on the horizon, the fan boys and girls get into weird vitriolic discussions of which is better. It’s a silly discussion because it’s all about personal preference, but more than that the franchises have different goals. Star Wars is space opera. Broader emotional contexts of good vs. evil, with a better action focus. Star Trek is a more cerebral endeavor. Often denounced for being slower and more talky, but also being willing to delve into complex ideas of humanity and politics more fully. I get it though. It’s natural to defend your favorite, but really they are different entities. It’s just a silly argument to have. So they should all just stop.

In addition, the same director J.J. Abrams, is taking over the Star Wars franchise as well. Which is a good thing, because I am here to tell you that, after what he did with Star Trek: Into Darkness, without question…. Star Trek is better.