My 2011 favs so far

Here we are more than half way through the year so I'm going to take a look back at some of my favorite movies so far.

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Duncan Jones' follow up to his 2009 hit Moon is just as enthralling and every bit as exciting. D. Jones knows how to tell a story and he tells it very well in this sci-fi thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal, who gives an outstanding performance in a cast of talented actors.



Insidious

Without a doubt one of my favorite movies this year and probably of all time. Director James Wan (Saw) knows how to set a mood and with the help of a well balanced screenplay from Leigh Whannell, Insidious is the scariest, smartest horror film since the original Scream.

Hanna

I hold a special place in my heart for whacky, arthouse films and since April Hanna has joined that place along side one of my 2010 favorites, Black Swan. Period piece fanatic Joe Wright directs this wonderfully bizzare thriller about a super soldier who happens to be 16-year-old girl. Pitch-perfect casting is the key to success for this modern work of filmmaking art.

Horrible Bosses

Following the premise of everybody's favorite Danny DeVito-Alfred Hitchcock movie, three men decide to try and boost the moral at the workplace by offing each other's bosses. The result? A comedy that rivals that of the 'Hangover' sequel's comic. Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudeikis work well off each other and with the star-studded supporting cast to bring out the laughs.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II

There have been a lot of 'Harry Potter' films but there is just something... magical about this last enstallment. It could be the fact that it's the last one and we will all miss them, or it could be the Oscar-worthy performances, the smooth storytelling from Director David Yates, the breathtaking visual effects, including some first rate 3D usage, or some combination of these things.

Review: Cowboys & Aliens

For any hardcore sci-fi nerd, cowboys and aliens sounds like a match made in heaven and it may even be while in the form of a graphic novel. As a feature-length film? Not so much.

For the first twenty minutes Cowboys & Aliens is promising. Daniel Craig wakes up in the middle of a desert and doesn't remember a thing, with only a small picture and a shiny new wristband as clues to what happened.

Intriguing, yes?

Anyway, it isn't long before our oblivious hero wanders into a small town where he discovers he may or may not be wanted.

Do I still have your attention?

Well from there it plays out just like any self-respecting Western would: The new stranger in town kicks up some dirt, so to speak, and when push comes to shove, he knows how to kick ass. Sure, he can't even remember his own name but he can take out small armies of ruthless cowboys.

By the title you know it's only a matter of time until we see those lights on the horizon and once we do, it's just down hill from there...

Alien spacecrafts start bombing the small town and snatching up residents. However Daniel Craig shows those alien punks why you don't mess with even nineteenth century America when he shoots down one of the crafts (after which the entire seige on the town suddenly stops because those aliens flew all that way just to get scared).

Apparently the alien escapes the craft without anybody seeing because the next thing you know, it's already inside a building, mauling some poor man to death! The next day Craig and the rest of the survivors are tracking the alien down by his footprints (that's right, they can fly thousands of lightyears with limitless technology but they can't cover up their footprints).

Now I am not going to go through the entire movie with you, but it is full of obvious plot holes and weak explanations. Now I would be fine with no story and just seeing cowboys and aliens do battle, but since these filmmakers attempted a story, I cannot let it go.

Why are the aliens invading Earth? Oh, our resources? Thanks, Olivia Wilde! Too bad she doesn't really explain that either and I just pulled that together from little bits and pieces of her "big reveal". And What the f@&* is up with the gold?

Even the design of the aliens lacks any real originality. In fact, I could sware that these aliens come from the same planet as the one from Super 8 and at least the same sector as the one from Cloverfield.

I like Jon Favreau and I think he is an undeniably talented filmmaker and storyteller; however, not even he seems to make much sense of what's going on as the talented cast wanders from setpiece to setpiece, seemingly waiting for the "Ah ha!" moment where everything comes together... And waiting... And waiting...

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. II

It's been a decade since since unknown child actor Daniel Radcliffe made his debut as Harry Potter in 'Sorcerer's Stone'. Here we are now in 2011 and Harry is all grown up and ready to take on the evils of the world... In a literal sense.

Hogwarts is under attack by Death Eaters and their leader, Lord Voldemort, looks to finish what he started so many years ago by ending the life of Harry Potter and assuming power over the known world. Unfortunately for you-know-who Harry and company are hunting down and destroying horcruxes. You know, those things that contain bits and pieces of Voldemort's soul?

As you may or may not recall, I actually did not care for 'Part 1'. I thought there was too much focus on setting everything up that it didn't work as a stand-alone film and ended up just being a lot of running around on beautiful set pieces with little to no explanation. I am glad to report that 'Part 2' is a masterful upgrade that surpasses all others in the franchise and even most films this year.

We have all grown up with Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson and seen them grow into talented, young actors. As a general statement: everybody gives great performances here, but a few noteables consist of Ralph Fiennes as the terrifying, and sometimes darkly funny, Lord Voldemort and Alan Rickman as the ever-complicated Severus Snape.

With these last four installments, Director David Yates has shown us that he is capable of some truly emotionally enriching feats, including 'Deathly Hallows 2'. The story is told through some brilliant cinematography combined with astonishing visual effects, some effective 3D, drawing acting, and a quality script that keeps you emotionally and intellectually engaged like few movies this year have.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II is a masterful work of art and a beautiful finale to the most successful franchise in history.

Greatest American Heroes

In honor of our great nation's birthday, I wanted to bring to your attention and celebrate a select group of heroes who make it possible for us to live the free lives we lead here in America.

Duke Nukem

Babes, explosions, and untamed narcissism. Sounds like something straight out of a Michael Bay movie I know, but Duke represents America's testosterone drive as well as its ignorance towards the changing world. Admittedly, "Ignorance" is America in one word, correct?

Captain America

How can your name be Captain America and you don't make the list of top greatest American heroes? Once a scrawny hopeful, now an American icon. From Hitler to Osama, this captain isn't afraid to take the fight to the baddies in order to insure our freedoms. 

John McClane

Just an ordinary cop put through extraordinary circumstances; not once, not twice, not even thrice, but FOUR times he's protected our freedom from terrorists, and counting. A fitting spot for a Fourth of July countdown. Watch any 'Die Hard' movie and you'll see what I'm talking about. Yippee-ki-yay!

Review: Bad Teacher

It's been eight years since the release of Bad Santa and now Cameron Diaz picks up Billy Bob Thorton's role for Bad Teacher.   

Diaz has shown us that she has a sense of humor before, like in comedic gems such as There's Something About Mary. Now this movie isn't exactly a "comedic gem", but there are enough laughs to make Bad Teacher a good comedy.

Diaz plays Elizabeth Halsey, a rude, self-centered, foul-mouthed junior high school teacher who took the job after being dumped by her sugar daddy and now finds herself in need of a serious boob job in order to woo a fellow teacher for his money.

Diaz's real-life ex, Justin Timberlake, just happens to be that fellow teacher. Mr. Scott Delacorte is a shallow loser who unintentionally (or intentionally) ends up in the middle of a feud between Diaz's Halsey and Lucy Punch's Amy Squirrel. Loser aside, Timberlake feels a little self-aware of his goofiness but still puts on a good performance.

The chemistry between Diaz and the hilarious supporting cast, made up of funny people like John Michael Higgins; The Office's Phyllis Smith; and Thomas Lennon, is undeniable and even adds a level of charm come the third act. Perhaps the best part about Bad Teacher is Jason Segel's performance as a gym teacher who actually enjoys life.

I have to admit that at times I found it difficult to root for a character who is so self-centered and even after the cliche third act "change of heart", I still didn't buy into the ending. However, I cannot deny how much I laughed at this movie and how much I like enjoyed the supporting cast.

There really isn't more than meets the eye

Michael Bay hasn't worked on other projects lately because he's been so hard at work putting out the (hopefully) last installment of his 'Transformers' trilogy. I think it's time to move on.

As a huge fan of the Transformers, it pains me to see what Michael Bay has done to the franchise. Transformers could work as a high octane action-packed sci-fi thriller, but Bay's feeble attempt to make the trilogy about something more than just robots fighting sucks all the energy (and fun) out of it. I mean after all, that's really all Transformers has been- giant robots fighting. 

As we've learned from past experience, Michael Bay doesn't DO story. This is very evident in 'Dark of the Moon' when characters go missing for no reason at all for forty minutes at a time, only to reappear, out of all the chaos, at the precise moment to save somebody's life. There is so much going on here that even Bay has a hard time keeping track of what's going on and who's where and as a result, even major plot points are never explained.

Shia LaBeouf became a big name in Hollywood after Bay's first installment playing Sam Witwicky, the unlikely teenage hero who happened across a gorgeous Camero and from there found himself caught in the middle of a war waged between two robot-like factions from another planet. Now he's back to save Earth from the Decepticons a third time and yes, he is just as annoying as ever. By now Sam is supposed to be all grown up, living on his own with a brand new girlfriend, yet he pouts and whines like a little kid because he can't find a job. During the second film all he wanted to do was get away from the Transformers now he is crying because he can't be with them; just one of many writing inconsistencies throughout.

Speaking of writing, the script is horrible! Most of what everybody says in this movie makes no sense. I caught myself asking "Did he/she really just say that?" many times during this movie and the lines that you can tell are supposed to be funny aren't. To make things worse, "Dark of the Moon" is full of cheesy one-liners that totally miss their mark. In one scene in particular, Iron Hide tears a Decepticon apart and finishes him with, "Class dismissed". There was never a reference to any class being in session.

As I mentioned earlier, I am a fan of Transformers: the cartoons, the action figures, even the first movie; so I always get a kick out of Optimus Prime tearing through other robots like they're nothing. Too bad it only happens for a total of about ten minutes out of the two-and-a-half hour run-time.

I think Mr. Witwicky sums it up the best when he says "... a bad sci-fi movie". 

Super 8 is "Good"

"What?!" "Is he crazy!?" "How could he possibly think that?!" Were those a few of your thoughts as your read my title? Apparently I am the only person I know who doesn't think that J.Jaybrams' new film is amazing.

I do not want to spoil anything for anybody but by this point I am sure that most of you have heard about what Super 8 is all about. A group of hopeful 12-year-old filmmakers set out to make the prize-winning film for an international film festival when a train crash starts a string of mysterious events around town: dogs go missing, car engines disappear over night, people vanish left and right, the airforce even comes to town, and nobody can seem to piece together exactly what's going on.

The premise alone is reason to see this film an it does keep you guessing throughout. Sadly, absolutely nothing is revealed until the last act. Why is that not a good thing? Because as I sat in my chair and we passed the one hour mark, I hoped and prayed that the answer wouldn't be as obvious as it actually comes out to be. The last twenty minutes or so of this film is a let down and even feels a bit lazy. 

As for the group of hopeful 12-year-old filmmakers, they are what make this movie. Riley Griffiths is constantly funny as the wannabe director obssessing over his film. Elle Fanning is superb as Alice and Joel Courtney does a nice job holding it all together as the story's centerfold. These kids feel genuine in their roles and are likeable as the glue that ties everything together. We also get a handful of side characters, some who add the the emotional depth of the story and others who just make us laugh.

I, however, am not going to ignore the obvious plothole in this film. WHY ISN'T THE GUY DEAD? That's all I am going to ask.

When talking about this movie, you might hear the word "mint" thrown round a lot. Abrams' new sci-fi flick is good summer entertainment, and may even bring back memories of the good, ole days, but "mint" isn't the right word.