Closed Circuit

Closed Circuit, the latest film by director John Crowley was a wonderful film. It was a well written, well directed, and well acted political thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. It gave you the sense that no one was safe and the second you stepped outside your door, eyes were upon you. Big brother was definitely watching and because of that, I give Closed Circuit three buckets of Killer Korn.











I had no idea how good this movie was going to be. Truth be told, I'm not the biggest Eric Bana fan. Mainly because he reminds me of Clive Owen which basically means he acts the same in every movie, no matter what the role or character calls for. Eric is not that bad but there are times when he's close. This time around Eric plays Martin Rose, a defense attorney. he is representing the supposed mastermind behind a terrorist bombing in London. He get's handed the case after attending the funeral of the original defense attorney who committed "suicide".

The public advocate for the terrorist is the determined Claudia Simmons-Howe, played by the lovely Rebecca Hall. The chemistry Eric and Rebecca have feels genuine which is all you can hope for as a director I would imagine. The Borough Street bombing killed 121 people and the people want someone to pay so the pressure is on. The only problem though is the more the defense team dug into the truth, the more things didn't make sense, the more that happened the more questions they asked. Asking questions can apparently get you killed in London. Julia Stiles who is int this movie for all of five minutes worth of screen time plays NY Times England correspondent reporter Joanna Reece. While her part was small, it was very integral.

Closed Circuit looked good, and by good I meant the over cast clouds made the perfect backdrop against the glass, steel, and modern look of the film. Cinematographer Adriano Goldman does an impressive job with capturing both the old and the modern sides of London. The score by Joby Talbot is moody, dark, and tense which makes it perfect for this film. I recommend Closed Circuit because it's a smart movie while being entertaining. Since there aren't very many of those around these days you should see it while you can, and I'll see you at the theater.

The Grandmaster

The Grandmaster, the latest film by Kar Wai Wong is amazing to watch. Visually and cinematically this film is a sight to behold, it's the story that drags this move down. Not so far that it makes the film a bad film, but if The Grandmaster had a better story, this movie could have truly been amazing. Because this film is hampered by a convoluted storyline that makes little sense, I give The Grandmaster two buckets of Killer Korn.











The Grandmaster is supposed to introduce to the world the man that initially trained Bruce Lee (and the kid they found to pose as Bruce at the end truly reminds you of Bruce, well it reminds ME of him anyway). His name is Ip Man, who is played by Tony Leung and he is chosen from amongst other masters to represent southern China kung fu against the north. That right there would have been a great starting point to build off of, instead we get side tracked by Japan's invasion of China and the inner family turmoil of another grandmaster from the north.

The fighting sequences, the lighting, the slow motion shots were all incredible. I loved watching this movie. I did NOT love trying to figure out what the hell was going on however. I enjoyed the discussions of fighting styles and the discussions of discipline. The fighting in the best brothel in town was different, but I went with it. It was when Ip Man and his family lost everything once Japan invaded China was when the story fell apart.

Cinematographer Phillippe Le Sourd did a fantastic job in capturing amazing images and framing this film. The score by Nathaniel Mechaly and Shigeru Umebayashi is sitrring. The music fits perfectly with the images, and there's even some Ennio Morricone music. They incorporated his piece Deborah's Theme from the film Once Upon A Time in America which was a nice touch. If you are a kung fu fan like myself you will not be disappointed with the fighting. However, if you have any desire to see Ip Man personally putting Bruce Lee through the paces, skip this film because that doesn't exist here. I recommend The Grandmaster if you love movies and especially kung fu movies and I'll see you at the theater.

You're Next

You're Next, the woefully stupid and highly unimaginative "horror" film from (and I use this term loosely) director Adam Wingard is a complete waste of time. This movie is full of every single horror movie moment that's been done to DEATH, and done better by the way, that this movie is a complete and utter failure. Because of that, You're Next get's nada, zippo, zilch in terms of any Killer Korn. Not even a damn kernel.











I got suckered into seeing this movie because the advertising and marketing kept using one word over and over again, original. That word in conjunction with horror films isn't a word often used so I became curious. That was a mistake and a half. This so called horror movie is your basic girlfriend of supposed good guy meets supposed good guys wealthy parents and their other children on the weekend of their wedding anniversary. They meet in a house that is so remote and out of the way, out in the middle of nowhere that by the time the bodies are found it could be months later.

During dinner the bad guys strike in such stupid ways that I actually laughed. This crap was written by writer (and I use that term loosely as well) Simon Barret, and what is supposed to be a horror movie is nothing more than a lame home invasion involving patricide. The home invaders in interesting animal masks didn't count on the girlfriend of the supposed good guy being just as much a killer as they are. Erin, played by Sharni Vinson grew up in the Outback on a survival colony where dear old dad taught her how to hunt and kill and she uses those skills here to pretty much kill everyone involved in the attack, including the boyfriend.

If home invasion movies are your thing and you want to be frightened, check out The Strangers instead of this garbage. Now if you've seen this movie before I could get the review up then let me apologize. I am so sorry you wasted your time and money on this lame ass film and if I could, if there was a way I would definitely refund your money. Yes, THAT'S how bad this movie is, and believe me the next time a horror movie marketing campaign uses the word "original", I'm running in the other direction. See you at the theater!

Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, the latest film from director Harald Zwart was a jumbled mess of a movie. I don't know if the book read this badly, but the film was almost incomprehensible. This movie was all over the place as well as possessing HUGE plot holes. Because of that I'm giving Mortal Instruments: City of Bones a bucket of Killer Korn.












You know what I hate, as a movie lover and New Yorker? I hate it when a film is shot in Canada and then passed off like it's New York. Don't shoot a movie in a different country and try to pass it off as someplace in America, especially my city. That would be akin to me shooting a movie in Central Park and trying to pass it off as the French countryside. Especially don't shoot the subway system of another country and claim it's New York's. The subway system here is in a league of it's own, with it's own truly identifying characteristics. Now someone who sees this film in say Topeka, Kansas won't know the difference, and I get that, it's still a bad move. I also get that I am not the demographic for this movie as the heroine is a young white girl who figures out she has powers she never knew she possessed before. There really is NO diversity in this film to speak of and everyone of color is a demon. What does THAT tell you? The cliches and stereotypes abundant to the point that it makes it hard to take this flick seriously.

There really is no point in dragging this review out, or pointing out the cast members and the roles they played. If you read the book authored by Cassandra Clare, and you are a fan of said book, then see the movie. You will probably be able to figure out with ease what the hell is going on and the huge plot holes may not be so huge. If you haven't read the book then by all means skip this movie. I highly doubt you will enjoy it even after you get some sort of grasp as to what is going on. The one thing I will give Mortal Instruments: City of Bones is the score by Atli Orvarsson. It's absolutely lovely and moving, the rest of this film is so utterly forgettable that it's almost laughable. Skip it and I'll see you at the theater!

Jobs

Jobs, the latest film from director Joshua Michael Stern was I'm sure, meant to be an insightful behind the curtain look at the wizard that was Steve Jobs. White it was a marvel to look at considering much of the story takes place in the 70's and 80's, and getting the clothes and computers couldn't have been easy, the only thing this movie revealed was just how big of a dick Steve Jobs was. I don't know if that was the intent going in, but coming out, that was the final product so I'm going to give Jobs two buckets of Killer Korn.

If you love and adore Ashton Kutcher, and if you can stare at his face all day, well more like two hours and eight minutes, then you will absolutely love Jobs. Why is that? Simple, Ashton is in almost every last frame of this film. Yes, I know he's playing the man the film is named after but this almost seemed like a vanity project. There was little to nothing on those men that helped him initially build Apple Computers while in his parents garage. Without those men, there would have been no Apple and there would have been no Steve Jobs. This movie though makes it seem like he did everything all on his own damn near. This movie is woefully inconsistent in that regard. While Steve did bring the company he founded back from the brink of shutting down, I found myself wanting to know more about the team that helped him. That was rarely shown and those men saved his ass on more than one occasion from what I know.

You get a taste of how big a dick Steve is in this movie when working for Atari he's given an assignment to fox a troublesome game, if he can do it he'll get five thousand dollars. He can't so he calls his friend Steve Wozniak, played wonderfully by Josh Gad who saves the day. Does Jobs split the five thousand down the middle, of course not. He instead gives the man who actually fixed the game just seven hundred dollars. If you ever thought Steve Jobs was a saint, who could do no wrong, who was a man that deserved to be on a pedestal, this movie will destroy those notions quickly. Steve turned on his friends, his workers, and even turned his back on his own daughter. Ashton does his best to embody Steve by mimicking his wonky walk, wearing his facial hair like him, and rocking those horrible Birkenstock's, but all I kept seeing was Ashton playing Steve Jobs. 

I'm not an Apple guy, there, I said it. I'm not part of the cult and I can't see me ever seeking membership. I do though remember reading about Steve and his fight against Bill Gates and Apple Computers as well and admiring the man. I admired his fight and determination to recapture what was his as well as fending off the vultures like Gates who sought to ride piggy back on his platforms. I would have liked to have seen more of that, instead we get a moment where Ashton is screaming into the phone at Bill threatening to destroy him. I was hoping for that moment where Steve is talking to his company and Bill appears on the screen behind him as the two men announce a truce and a partnership, that moment was iconic in my opinion, but it wasn't here. That may be because Jobs is the first professional writing assignment by Matt Whiteley so there were going to be a few things missed. What was a blatant miss though was the opening and closing of the movie. 

The movie starts off with Steve introducing the first ipod to his company. He explains how it's "a thousand songs in your pocket" and you can hear the audible gasps from the assembled crowd. Then the movie flashes back to him in college, a drop out that stays on campus (which I don't get but whatever), and taking assorted classes. The problem with the beginning and the end is that they never meet. Why start with him introducing the ipod at the beginning and never go back to that moment and complete that loop? With unprecedented assistance and access from Apple, a good portion of this movie was shot on their campus in Cupertino, California so it's very pretty to look at and a pretty easy job for cinematographer Russell Carpenter though I can't help but wonder how this movie could have looked at the Apple Design team had shot it. The score by John Debney is over the top at times with its heroic themes for a dick of a man, other times it's charming and fits perfectly with what's on the screen.

For the Apple diehards and fanatics out there, this movie is especially for you. For everyone else who's a "PC" but curious about the man responsible for you ipad, ipod, or iphone I suggest you skip this movie. Unless you like movies and stories about men who are nothing but giant dicks. I'll see you at the theater.   

Kick Ass 2

Kick Ass 2, the latest film from director Jeff Wadlow is not a bad movie. It's not necessarily a good one either. Kick Ass 2 is what it is and what it is is mindless entertainment. There is nothing epic about this movie, no true statements being made (unless you're in high school), and the original in my opinion is a far superior movie. That being said, I give Kick Ass 2 a bucket and a half of Killer Korn.











Jeff Wadlow is no Matthew Vaughn, I just want to get that out right up front. Matthew Vaughn was the director of the original Kick Ass, and while there were moments where that movie was over the top, there was a deep serious humanity to that film. Disgraced cop seeking revenge on the man that ruined his life, hitting the streets with his young daughter and robbing those they killed. Yeah, in Kick Ass Big Daddy and Hit Girl KILLED dealers and stole their cash in order to fund their little operation against Mark Strong's Frank D'Amico. Kick Ass was gritty, never taking itself too seriously, and it was incredibly violent. Kick Ass 2, the follow up by Jeff Wadlow is non stop over the top camp. There are moments of seriousness, but for the most part, it's just ridiculous.

Turn off that part of your brain that demands shit make sense, that common sense area, and this movie will STILL have you saying WTF? This time around Dave Lizewski/Kick Ass, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson is looking to team up with the high school skipping Mindy Macready/Hit Girl character played by Chloe Grace Moretz. She's still training like the devil, all to keep a promise to her now deceased Big Daddy. So Mindy and Dave cut school and sneak off to train and there she shoots Dave, kicks his ass on a regular, and sends him out into the streets looking for trouble dressed as a pimp. Morris Chestnut has taken over the role of Detective Marcus Williams from actor Omari Hardwick, and at the end of Kick Ass, he becomes the legal guardian of Mindy. Now the end of Kick Ass would have led you to believe that Marcus would have taken on the Big Daddy persona, and that would have been a cool story to tell but Jeff Wadlow went in a different direction.

Jeff instead introduces us to other crime fighting people. In much the same way Batman inspires copycats in The Dark Knight, Kick Ass has inspired other would be crime fighters, and a few of them have formed the group Justice Forever, and some even have facebook pages. Led by the maniacal Colonel Stars and Stripes, played by Jim Carrey, Justice Forever takes to the streets looking to right the wrongs and bring justice to those who deserve it. On the other side of that coin, Chris D'Amico, played hilariously by Christopher Mintz-Plasse becomes The Motherfucker after his mother threw away his Red Mist costume, and he creates a gang of super villains. Well not really super, except Mother Russia, played somewhat frighteningly by Olga Kurkulina, who has the ability to rip car doors off police cars and break necks with her thighs. Marcus however wants Mindy to embrace her high school experience and to quit being Hit Girl once and for all. Mindy has a "Carrie", popular girls vs. high school outcast moment and then realizes her destiny is to be Hit Girl, but not before causing projectile vomiting and ridiculous diarrhea in the school cafeteria.

Where Matthew's fight sequences were smooth, choreographed and filmed almost like a dance, Jeff's were...just not that. Jerky hand held cameras that tried to get you in the middle of the action were a big fail. Not to mention this movie looked like it was filmed to be on TV, not a movie screen. Cinematographer Tim Maurice-Jones got some great aerial shots of NYC, but the lighting was horrible and everything looked like a set. The music was a collection of pop songs that were akin to nails on a chalkboard combined with an inspired score by Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson. If they eliminated the wretched pop songs, the movie may have been slightly better. If you choose to skip Kick Ass 2, I can't blame you. If you're looking for mindless fun then check it out. If you're looking for a good movie then watch the original and leave Kick Ass 2 alone.
I'll see you at the theater.

Lee Daniel's The Butler

Lee Daniels' The Butler, the latest film by Lee Daniels is a good film. It's a quality film with great performances, it just failed to connect with me. I thought it was long in the tooth at times, and I thought it failed to really show me the man who Cecil Gaines truly was. I walked out of that film feeling somewhat incomplete and because of that, I give Lee Daniels' The Butler two and a half buckets of Killer Korn.











This is the first Lee Daniels film I have seen, and that's due to me wanting to see no parts of Precious and having no desire to watch Nicole Kidman pee on someone in Paperboy. I was assured by the media and Hollywood that he was a competent director, after all Mo'Nique won the Oscar for her performance in that movie. That means he must have done something right, right? Well I don';t know about that, and him being a good director may be true, but he's weak as far as being a good storyteller goes in my book. His version of The Butler (there was another movie entitled The Butler which was released back in 1916, the studio holding the rights to that film, Warner Bros. fought to keep Lee Daniels film from being called The Butler. Hence his name being put in front), is a stretch across time. The movie starts in 1926 and ends when President Obama wins back in 2008. Between those two years, this movie tells the tale of Cecil Gaines, played by Forest Whitaker who gives an excellent performance. It's just too bad he was saddled with uninspired direction and a crappy screenplay.

I state Lee Daniels direction was uninspired for a few reasons. If you're going to make a movie about a butler in the White House, make it about the man, NOT the job. Yeah, yeah I know the job is impressive and all that, getting to work in the White House is nothing to sneeze at, but everyone is aware of what a butlers job is. I could care less about him polishing the silver or gold flatware, I want to know about the man, and I feel this movie did very little in introducing me to the man Cecil Gaines is. There's nothing regarding how he met his wife Gloria Gaines, the movie jump cuts to an already established family. You get told how they met but that's it. This was the prime chance to show the dichotomy in the man at home, with his family and the man at work and Lee Daniels dropped the ball.

Cecil's mother Hattie Pearl, played by Mariah Carey is constantly raped and eventually goes crazy, or so the audience is led to believe, by the plantation owner Thomas Westfall, played by Alex Pettyfer. Cecil's dad Earl, played by one time rapper turned actor David Banner gets murdered for standing up this one time for his wife and Alex's mother Annabeth Westfall, played by Vanessa Redgrave decides to make Cecil a house n****r since his parents are no longer any good. This where he's taught the very valuable lessons on how to serve properly. Cecil eventually runs away, heads north, finds a wife, has two sons, and is working at a hotel as a butler. The relationship between Cecil and his oldest son, Louis played by David Oyelowo, is far more nuanced than the relationship he has with his youngest son Charlie Gaines, played by Elijah Kelley, and to say that there was any relationship at all between father and sons is a stretch. The extent of their relationship is seen in the trailer, there isn't much beyond that.

I don't know if this project was just far too ambitious for Lee Daniels skill set but this movie left me wanting. Not wanting more, but wanting less. This movie in my opinion lacked any real focus, it was all over the place and the only real significant historical Black figure that was not mentioned, or the movement he was involved with was Malcolm X. I thought it was a stretch to have a White House butlers son sitting in the hotel room with Dr. King, I also thought it was unnecessary to follow the exploits of the oldest son while ignoring the youngest son. Especially when the youngest sons story was more tragic, more gripping, and more real. Based on the life of Eugene Allen, the actual man who Forest Whitaker is supposed to be embodying, most of what's on the screen is made up. Eugene Allen only had one son and his wife, Helene Allen supposedly rarely drank. Yet this movie felt it needed to add more to the story, as if being a Black butler in the White House during the time when Civil Rights were being fought for in this country wasn't a gripping enough on it's own.

I hope this movie does well, I truly do, and I am happy I saw it but don't be surprised if you walk out feeling a little hollow. This movie may leave you a little hungry, for less. See you at the theater.

Elysium

Elysium, the newest film from director Neil Blomkamp is an absolutely amazing film. It has all the elements that make a movie great. Great story, great acting, great story, and competent directing (did I mention a great story). Neil Blomkamp, with this movie will ascend to heights I'm sure he's only dreamed about. In my humble movie going opinion, Elysium is, right now one of the best movies of the year. For that, it get's the first ever five buckets of Killer Korn.











This makes two, two times Neil Blomkamp has blown my mind. The first time he did it was with the amazing and compelling District 9. When that movie was done, I practically floated out of the theater. I thought that movie then, in the summer of 2009, was the best film of that year. It was great story telling and it had a gritty realism that most science fiction movies just don't possess. The story was profoundly original and sadly common all at the same time, much like Elysium. Even though I loved that movie, I wasn't a fan of Blomkamp's yet. I've been blown away by directors before, only to have their follow up film suck, so I was cautious here. I was wondering what Blomkamp's next film was going to be, would it be the follow up to District 9, say District 10 which was hinted to at the end of D9, or would it be something different. It was indeed something different, and it was spectacular.

Elysium stars Matt Damon as Max, a one time thief who is just trying to get by. He's no longer stealing cars, he's instead working on an assembly line helping to construct the automated police of the day. The movie gives you great back story on Max and his relationship in a orphanage with Frey, played by Alice Braga. Max has never forgotten her, and when a little dust up occurs with the automated police force, Max is forced to go to the over crowded hospital. There, his nurse is Frey and Max can't believe his luck. He hounds her for a date and she eventually relents. When they were younger, Max told her he would get them both to Elysium, the orbiting habitat for the wealthy and their families which is overseen by Delacourt, played ruthlessly by Jodie Foster. She will do whatever it takes to make sure things on Elysium stay just the way they are. If that means killing people, then so be it. Max however, is determined to keep his promise.

Max has an accident at work and has days to live. He knows if he can get to Elysium, and get on one of the med pods that he can be cured. He sees his old employer Spider, played by Wagner Moura and Spider proposes one last job and then he'll get Max a ride to the station. The job is an information hijacking which goes horribly wrong thanks to the vicious Kruger, played by the talented Sharlto Copley. Kruger is an agent of Delacourt and she needs the information Max and his boys are trying to hijack. That is just he beginning of this joy ride, Blomkamp puts his foot down on the gas when all parties eventually get to Elysium, and he never thinks about hitting the brakes.

The look of Elysium feels like a cross between Tron: Legacy and District 9. On earth, where the poor and the destitute live, it's a harsh reality full of shanty towns, favelas, and dust. Up on Elysium everything is shiny, new, and  a wonder to behold. Everyone on earth wants to be a citizen of Elysium since earth has become an overpopulated, over polluted, toxic dump. Written by the director, Neil clearly shows the delineating line between the haves and the have nots, and the desperation of the populous to just get a taste of what the wealthy minority are enjoying. Cinematographer Trent Opaloch, who shot District 9 does a magnificent job of capturing everything from the flight of the ships to the hand to hand fighting, though it would have been nicer if those moments were filmed with hand held cameras. It got hard to make out what was going on at times. Scored brilliantly by first time film composer Ryan Amon, the music is at times both epic and at other times very poignant. Sometimes it's both of those together which gives Elysium the perfect accent to what's on the screen. I highly recommend Elysium, especially if you want to see one of the best films of the Summer, and I'll see you at the theater.  

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is the latest film from director Thor Freudenthal and it's...a bad film. It's tired, predictable, and corny. Where the first Percy Jackson film had charm, this movie is completely devoid of it. It makes you wonder if anyone at the studio even read the script, or if they even have one at the start of shooting. This movie could have been so much more and it fell completely flat and because of that I give Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters a half a bucket of Killer Korn.










Let me just state, for the record that I did not go see Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief in the theaters. Nooooo, I instead caught that on cable and I came to the realization that it really wasn't half bad, if they took out the flying sneaker routine towards the end it would have been decent, but I digress. In that film you were given a story to sink your teeth into. In that movie Percy was a half god half human demigod with mommy AND daddy issues. He was accused of a crime he did not commit and had to clear his name, all the while finding out who he really was and knowing there was a place for him somewhere in the universe. That movie dealt with sacrifice and painful loss, acknowledgment, respect, and friendship. THIS Percy Jackson movie, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters was completely devoid of all of that. The first Percy was directed by Christopher Columbus and written by Craig Titley, adapted from the book written by Rick Riordan. This Percy movie was directed by Thor and written by Marc Guggenheim, and while this was also adapted from the book written by Rick Riordan (there are five Percy Jackson books in total), this time around they missed something.

Percy Jackson is played by the affable Logan Lerman who reprises his role, he is again joined by Brandon T. Jackson who plays Grover, and Alexandra Daddario who plays Annabeth. Grover is a satyr, half man, half goat and Annabeth, also a demigod is the half daughter of Athena, the goddess of wisdom (along with a few other things). These three live in a small community in the woods with other kids like them, the only difference is Percy is the only offspring of one of the three gods that slew Kronos. Like Harry Potter, Percy is pretty famous for just being Percy. This time around there are a few demigod kids that want to bring the evil Kronos back to life so he can destroy Olympus and the world. In order for them to do that, Luke played by Jake Abel who is also reprising his role, the leader of this misguided band needs the golden fleece. The fleece can resurrect practically anything. Percy and his crew also need the fleece to repair a poisoned tree. Seriously!

The fight is to keep the fleece out of the hands of Luke and to bring it back to the community to repair the tree that protects the community from those that seek to do Percy and his mythical kind harm. The potential was there for a charming movie, but I think the studio and the director decided that this film didn't need charm, that what it needed was cyclops and 3D. I chose to see this movie in 2D  so all I got were cyclops. One of the one eyed beasties happens to be Percy's half brother and another offspring of Poseidon, Tyson who is played by Douglas Smith. I'm sure the 3D was spectacular, but since i hate putting glasses on over my glasses, and since I hate paying that extra money for the same movie I can see for less money, I opted for the 2D.

There will be a third movie (five books, remember?), hopefully the next one(s) won't go light on the charm, the humor, or the danger. In Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters you never get the sense that Percy and his crew are ever in any real peril, or that they won't succeed. It comes across as almost a forgone conclusion that they will be victorious and save that day, which lends little thrill to the overall watching of the movie. Hopefully the next book in the series, Percy Jackson: The Titans Curse is handled more skillfully than this one. I'm not saying Thor isn't a talented director but his last two feature length movies were Hotel For Dogs and Diary of a Wimpy Kid so this task may have been a little out of his element. The score by rarely used Andrew Lockington was somewhat enjoyable, but not by much. At times it worked, but mostly it did nothing for the film, which I think is the films fault, not Andrews. I'd skip Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters and see something else because this movie isn't worth just one of your golden drachmas. Google that if need be and I'll see you at the theater!

2 Guns

2 Guns, the latest film by director Baltasar Kormakur is one hell of a pleasant surprise. It's witty, nicely paced, and surprisingly well acted. My thoughts going in were that I was probably going to really hate this movie. Since my thoughts on the way out were nothing similar to the ones I had on the way in, I give 2 Guns two and a half buckets of Killer Korn, which is astonishing, really!












I hate Mark Wahlberg, there, I said it. I mean, I don't hate him personally, I don't know him like that. What I hate is his acting abilities of which he has none. If acting were akin to driving school, he would never get his license. I'm also no fan of Baltasar Kormakur's directing, yep, I said that too. Baltasar's last American film was the very forgettable Contraband which starred, ironically enough Mr. No License Having Mark Wahlberg. I felt Mark and Baltasar stole money from me when I walked out of that film when it was over, and I vowed there was no way those two talent-less miscreants were getting another dime out of me. What I found interesting was the fact that these two guys lured Denzel Washington to be in this movie. Make no mistake, Denzel was not the reason I saw this film either. I'm no real big fan of Mr. Washington either. He's the same guy in everyone of his films. Remember that guy he played in Safe House, the one with the really cool movie name of Tobin Frost? Same guy here, I swear on my popcorn.

The reason I saw 2 Guns was because a friend suggested it, they said it was really funny. Now I do not equate Denzel and Mark with funny so I found that odd. I had some time on my hands so I bit the bullet and went to check Guns out and wouldn't you know it, my friend was right. 2 Guns isn't really funny as much as it is humorous. It's chock full of witty and snappy dialogue between Denzel's character Bobby Trench and Mark's Michael Stigman. The two play off each other like brothers, Denzel being the older annoyed brother who's tasked with letting his little brother tag along with him. Their relationshop doesn't seem forced or contrived and while there is no showing how these two men teamed up, they choose to rob a specific bank in order to capture Edward James Olmos' character drug cartel leader Papi Greco. Papi cut the head off of a guy that both Bobby and Stig liked and they wanted to steal his money to flush him out. They planned on making off with three million dollars, instead they stole forty three million, and then things got really interesting after that.

Bill Paxton plays it up as Earl, the ruthless CIA agent looking for the money, Paula Patton, in her second film with Denzel, Deja Vu was their first, plays DEA Agent Deb, and James Marsden plays Naval Intelligence officer Quince. All of these characters play against one another as they scheme, backstab, and double cross each other in the last act of the film. During the first act you have Bobby and Stig going at each other with some nicely, humorous, and well paced rat-a-tat-tat dialogue. There's some impressive shooting of chicken heads, interesting conversations about not having "people", and all this includes an interesting array of hats. The screenplay, a first by Blake Masters, he's usually a teleplay writer kept reminding me of someone else's writing. The dialogue and interplay of words between the characters was just so familiar that even though I sort of knew what was coming dialogue wise, I still smiled. Then I realized who the dialogue reminded me off, there was an Elmore Leonard feel to it, but it reminded me of mine. Much of this movie sounds like something I would have written dialogue wise.

At the end of 2 Guns comes the cliched big showdown between Papi Greco's cartel, Naval Intelligence, the DEA, and the CIA with Bobby and Stig caught right in the middle of it. Predictable and done a million times over, you forgive Baltasar though because the movie leading up to the showdown is quality. With a funky score by the versatile Clinton Shorter that was reminiscent of early David Holmes (back when he was good), the music is the perfect fit. It's gritty, hard, and melodic all at the same time. The look of the film provided by cinematographer Oliver Wood hearkens back to those old Sam Peckinpah gangster westerns. There's a slight washed out look to the film which made perfect sense given the films supposed locations of the south west. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by this film and wouldn't be surprised if there was a sequel in the works, but for the record, I'm still not a fan of Mark Wahlberg or of  Baltasar Kormakur, but they get a pass...for now. Check out 2 Guns and I'll see you at the theater.

The Spectacular Now

The Spectacular Now, the latest movie from director James Ponsoldt is the most unsuspecting movie I have come across in a long time. It's a heart wrenching story of a young high school senior coming to grips with pending adulthood and a missing father figure. He does this by being the life of the party, and drinking to drown his pain. I was under a completely different impression about this movie from the trailer, The Spectacular Now is a far deeper and more profound film than I thought it was going to be, because of that I give it three buckets of Killer Korn.








I'm all about directors when it comes to movies, much the same way I am all about producers when it comes to music. A talented director can take a crappy script and spin it into gold, and a bad director can take a really great script and turn it into garbage. I didn't know which James Ponsoldt was because I had never seen one of his films. The Spectacular Now is just his third feature length film so I really had nothing to go on, nothing but the trailer. The trailer had me convinced that this movie was cut from the same charming cloth as was the Cameron Crowe classic Say Anything starring a very young John Cusack. Both main characters are high school seniors with really no direction or plan for the future. The only difference between the movies I felt was where Lloyd Dobler was the quiet, somewhat reserved man child trying to find a way to spend more time with Diane Court, Miles Teller's Sutter Keely is the complete opposite.

Sutter Keely appears to be a fearless, devil may care, life of the party kind of guy. He has a little job in a local haberdashery, he has a car, and he had a cool girlfriend. His girlfriend Cassidy, played by Brie Larson felt that she wasn't going to live up to her potential with Sutter in her life, so she went for the upgrade. Sutter is doing his best to pretend that the break-up isn't really bothering him and decides to get wasted. The next morning he's found on a strangers front lawn by Aimee, played by Shailene Woodley. Aimee knows all about Sutter, he's her Diane Court, he's the cool kid who's one of the most popular in school. Aimee meanwhile is Sutter's Lloyd Dobler, a shy misfit but incredibly charming and ridiculously cute. They develop a bond due to Aimee tutoring Sutter in geometry and the two eventually fall for each other.

Sutter has a bad relationship with his mother Sara, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh and an indifferent one with his sister Holly, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Sutter is looking for a father figure, even going as far to ask his boss to adopt him since he believes his mother kicked his father Tommy, played by Kyle Chandler out of the house for some reason. Sara won't give Sutter any contact information that would allow him to see his dad, but his sister does. That's when the movie takes on a deeper and more profound tone. It's when you think Sutter may finally wake up and get his act together. Not only does he not, but the movie takes an ever darker more tragic turn.

The Spectacular Now morphs into a Good Will Hunting type of feel towards the end, which if at any time you can emulate Good Will Hunting I say do it. The endings are eerily similar in that regard so if you recall Hunting's end then you have a pretty good idea where this movie will take you. Cinematographer Jess Hall captures this gut punch of a film brilliantly at times, and at others not so much. There are a few moments of confusion but overall it was a job well done. The score by Rob Simonsen however is absolutely perfect. It's easy and sparse, and it hits all the right tones of light and dark. Usually in movies like these, you have the urge to want to grab the kid and smack some sense into him, not here. Sutter is the kind of kid you want to hug and let him know that it will be okay, and the most you can hope for is that he'll believe you. See The Spectacular Now and I'll see you in the theater.