X-Men: First Class

Okay, I saw the 12:01 showing of this movie and I very rarely see the first showing of any movie because I'm usually under the impression that no movie is worth getting to bed that late for. The Lord of the Rings was one of those movies as was Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Those were just two of the movies I've done that for so you know this movie is in rare air. Now while this movie is entertaining and worth the price of admission, it definitely isn't worth 12:01. Directed by relative newbie Matthew Vaughn, the man behind the lens of Kick Ass and Layer Cake does an admirable job pulling this story together on the screen but there are a few times, okay a LOT of times where this movie loses steam. I can only blame the director for that and it makes me think this movie in the hands of a better more talented director would have been worth getting to bed late for.

X-Men: First Class could have actually been called The Rise of Magneto since the movie pretty much circled around the Cuban missile crisis and Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto's need for revenge over the murder of his mother. He is without a doubt the most fascinating character on the screen from start to finish. Michael Fassbender plays Magneto with a seething anger just below the surface that could erupt at anytime which makes him the anti-hero and we always root for the anti-hero (see Wolverine). Now the man fueling this anger is Sebastian Shaw, the leader of The Hellfire Club played surprisingly well by Kevin Bacon (yes we have a Kevin Bacon sighting and who knew the man could speak German?). While Erik hunts down Sebastian Charles Xavier is doing his own hunting, of young nubile and naive college girls while writing his thesis on the mutant gene. He's sought out by the CIA Agent Moira MacTaggert played by Rose Byrne after she watches a General be manipulated to sign off on the US installing nuclear weapons in Turkey at the hands of Sebastian Shaw.

In dealing with the CIA, Charles meets Hank McCoy/Beast played by Nicholas Hoult who introduces Charles to his creation the mighty Cerebro. Through Cerebro Charles finds a handful of mutant teenagers to build a team that can go up against Sebastian's lethal Emma Frost played by January Jones and the rest of his hardened Hellfire Club. That would have been fine but the problem is the producers choose to have these two groups meet during the Cuban missile crisis and it's during all of that when this movie loses it's momentum. This movie would have been worth the 12:01 viewing time had it just dealt with mutants coming into their own and dealing with the choice of showing themselves to the public at large. Instead you get an altered history lesson and if you plan on seeing Transformers: Dark of the Moon prepare yourself for another one of those altered history lesson.

Don't get me wrong however, X-Men: First Class is a quality movie and far better then that last crappy X-Men: Last Stand movie. There are nice casting surprises that I won't give away here but they will make you laugh and remember the earlier movies. This movie is visually arresting if you pine for 60's fashion and cars. I would imagine a good portion of the budget was blown on skinny slacks, turtle necks, and classic cars. Scored by Henry Jackman who's over time only scored lighthearted films like Monsters Vs. Aliens, Gulliver's Travel, and Winnie the Pooh does a very good job for this being such a heavy handed and dramatic film. His theme for Magneto is not only menacing and dark but addictive and appropriate as well.

Worth seeing? Absolutely (just for Kevin Bacon alone). It just wasn't worth seeing it at 12:01. See you at the theater!

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

This movie brings to mind three very unflattering words for a movie. Actually they are pretty unflattering words no matter what you use them for. They are contrived, uninspired, and boring which is exactly what this movie was. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides lacked in everything that pretty much makes a decent movie BUT it did keep up the traditions of all the other Pirate movies that came before it and, a convoluted plot. Not to mention some pretty horrible acting. This may be the number one movie at the box office right now but it will NOT be for long. I don't see how it could be after what I just saw.

Directed by a man who has had NO experience with this kind of film should have given me pause. Due to the magnificent job Kenneth Branagh did with Thor (plus not having much else to do today) I went in hopeful. Rob Marshall who directed the critically acclaimed Chicago, the controversial Memoirs of a Geisha, and the atrocious Nine that was his last film was responsible for this Pirates installment. So by my count that's two really bad films in a row regardless of how much money it makes. Honestly, if you put Johnny Depp in any film it's bound to be somewhat successful (see Sweeney Todd). This movie lacks what the first Pirates movie possessed in spades and that was charm.

The lack of charm though is shocking when you look at the cast surrounding Depp. The beautiful (and pregnant at the time) Penelope Cruz, the amazing Geoffrey Rush, Ian McShane, and reprising his role as Captain Jack Sparrows father Keith Richards. Now outside of Keith that's an award winning cast who has done amazing work in their day but they slept walked through this project. The phrase "going through the motions" definitely come to mind. Marshall tried to recapture the sword fighting magic of the first film and fell short, woefully so.

The movie opens with some old man pulled out of the ocean by a fishing boat and immediately whisked off to be seen by the King of Spain. Makes sense to you? Me neither. This Spaniard King then sends an armada out to find the fountain of youth and when the Brits here this they send their own man out to find it first. That man is the legendary Captain Barbosa, now in the employ of the Crown. Also on the case is the most feared Pirate (or so you are to believe) on the high seas Captain Blackbeard. Where was he in the last two crappy Pirate offerings is never explained but why quibble with details? So it's a race now to the fountain of youth and let me just say I never new mermaids were such vicious creatures.

The dialogue was contrived and lacking in any real humor. Don't get me wrong, there were funny moments but they were few and far in between. That didn't keep the makers from trying really hard to make you laugh though. As everyone knows however the harder you try to make someone laugh the less funny you are. The one decent thing about this movie was the music. This time around the score was again composed and executed by the award winning Hans Zimmer so the sense of musical continuity is intact. Is that enough to warrant spending the money on a ticket for this film? Hardly! So in my opinion I would wait for the DVD and I'm talking about the bootleg variety. See you at the theater!

Priest

Before I start in on what I think about "Priest" can someone PLEASE write Paul Bettany a comedy or something? Seriously! I'm sure he's happy in his personal life being married to one of the most beautiful women walking but on screen the man it seems isn't allowed to crack even a smile. Not to mention having a thing for playing priests and fallen angels as he does in this hybrid of a movie. I call it a hybrid because it's a combination of so many different genres that it's sometimes hard to keep count and harder still to take this movie seriously at times. I never thought in my wildest dreams that someone would try to mix The Matrix, Mad Max, a spaghetti western, what appears to be Jedi Knights, and a horror story all in the same pot. Paul does his best though to convince you that this is a very serious thing and it should be taken as such.

"Priest" is a movie loosely based on the graphic novels created by Hyung Min-woo about life after the war between vampire and man. For centuries the two species have waged war against each other with the vampires always getting the best of man. That is until the "Church" creates their secret weapon, the priests who are trained in vampire combat They then turn the tide of the conflict and the vampires are rounded up and placed on reservations while man retreats behind walled off mega cities, reservations of their own. The Priests, once the saviours of mankind have been disbanded since the war is over and the church now fears their creation. The Priests are not allowed to speak to each other due to the church's decree and do to so, to go against the church is to go against God.

The movie starts off with a band of Priests led by Paul Bettany, entering the largest hive Mira Soral with orders from the clergy to slay the Queen. Something goes horribly wrong however and the few that survived were lucky to make it out alive. That night haunts Bettany's character and he goes to the automated confessionals to alleviate his mind and his guilt. He then gets word that the woman he once loved and her family were attacked by a vampire hoard out on the plains. Priest (that's Paul's characters name) asks permission to investigate but the church denies his request. Him being the stoic Priest that his, can you guess his next move? That's right reader, he disobeys and fires up the coolest thing in the movie, his Priest sanctioned jet bike.

Along side Bettany in this genre bending film is Karl Urban doing his best Clint Eastwood (it's in his hat), Maggie Q as Priestess (seriously, that's her characters name), Cam Gigandet as Sheriff Hicks, Christopher Plummer as Monsignor Orelas, and Stephen Moyer (yes THAT Stephen Moyer that's in that top rated cable show featuring vampires) as Owen Pace. Directed by Scott Charles Stewart whose last film was "Legion" also starring Paul Bettany as that fallen angel I mentioned earlier, this movie wasn't nearly as stylized as it could have been. The ball was dropped more than a few times on more than a few occasions and to think there may be another one, maybe even two more Priest movies. The score by Christopher Young, the guy who replaced Danny Elfman on Spider Man 3 was decent but nothing to write home about. All in all this was a less than decent film and unless you are a TRUE fan of the graphic novel then I would skip it and if you love the graphic novel then ignore it altogether because it just may piss you off.

See you at the theater.

Thor

Now I have to admit that when I heard this movie was going to be directed by Kenneth Branagh I wasn't all that excited to see it but I'm glad I changed my mind. Going in I always thought there were two kinds of super hero movies, the good kind which encompassed films like Superman and Superman II, the Spider Man movies, the first two X-Men films and certain others. Then there are the bad kind like the Fantastic Four films, The Incredible Hulk films, the last X-Men film, and the rest of the Supermen films after the first two. I wondered where Thor would fall and I can surprisingly say it belongs in the good batch and I'll be damned if it didn't raise the bar.

As stated above Thor is directed by one of the preeminent Shakesperean actors of our day and it was a job well done. Kenneth Branagh lately has been known stateside thanks to the Harry Potter movies where he plays the inept professor Gilderoy Lockhart. He has directed other films but none of them were commercial standouts. There's nothing on his directorial resume that would lead anyone to think that he could pull this movie off but he is a competent director as well as a confident one and he had a pretty good story to work with which always helps. A pretty good cast doesn't hurt either and he definitely had that. Starting with two Oscar award winners in Natalie Portman and Sir Anthony Hopkins the cast also includes the likes of Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgard, Rene Russo, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and the relative newcomer Chris Hemsworth who plays the God of Thunder. You last saw him play George Kirk the doomed father of James T. Kirk in JJ Abrams Star Trek reboot and if you blinked you missed him in A Perfect Getaway as Kale. This is his first starring role and he was great. The story deals with the spoiled and arrogant future King of Asgard who starts a war with the Frost Giants even after his father, King Odin forbade him not to. For this Odin bannishes Thor from Asgard and sends him to languish on Earth.

There's palace intrigue and treachery, sibling rivalry that turns in seething jealousy between Thor and his brother Loki who holds a very interesting secret about his past and where he comes from. Odin knows Thor can and will be a great king but he also knows that Thor has a lot of growing up to do. And while you wonder why Odin would pick Earth of all places to bannish his son to it seems to be the right planet for the job. He falls for Jane Foster played by Natalie Portman and she teaches him that there are some things worth risking your life for. Until he learns that lesson, his mighty hammer remains stuck in the earth like Excalibur. The moment Thor faces down the Destroyer and puts his life on the line does he become worthy of reclaiming his hammer, his power, and his place back in Asgard.

The film is a joy to watch, it's charming and at times completely hilarious. If you ever read any of the comic books you would have to admit that visually and costume wise the movie is stunning. The pages of the comics are wonderfully brought to life so the movie for real Thor fans is very much worth the wait and if Alexandra Byrne isn't at least nominated for her costume designs then something is just wrong in the world. The score is done by Patrick Doyle who over his career has had more misses than hits with his scoring capabilities and this time it's more miss than hit. Thankfully he's scoring a film that doesn't need to be carried by the music so you barely notice the trite heroic themes that well up from time to time. That being said, this movie is definitely worth the price of admission.

See you at the theater.

Limitless

SEE THIS MOVIE! Okay, now that I have that out of my system I feel better. One of the more entertaining films I've seen this year is "Limitless" starring Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, and Robert DeNiro. It's a movie directed with some serious joy. I used the word joy because there seemed to be nothing the director Neil Burger absolutely wouldn't try and when you watch this movie you could almost imagine Neil sitting in the directors chair laughing like a giddy school kid sometimes. Thankfully he and the rest of the cast was blessed with an incredible script. This story is as original as it's not. Confused? Read on and I'll explain.

"Limitless" was adapted for the screen by Leslie Dixon from the novel "The Dark Fields" written by Alan Glynn. The story follows lovable loser Eddie Morra as he stumbles through life and completely not living up to his true potential. Somehow he's acquired himself a book deal and couldn't write anything if his life depended upon it. His girlfriend hands him back her set of keys to his hovel and says goodbye to him and he doesn't blame her. In fact he completely understands why she leaves him. On his way home he bumps into Vernon, his ex-brother in law who hands him a pill that turns his life completely around. Suddenly everything is clear and Eddie goes from some uninspired slacker to maximum overachiever on this wonder drug which in turns him into an addict. In the interim though, there's nothing Eddie can't do.

Eddie gets involved in the world of high finance and aligns himself with DeNiro's character billionaire Carl Van Loon. Eddie realizes that being an author just isn't going to cut it and in two weeks he more than quadruples his money. This gets the notice of the financial world and Carl Van Loon soon comes knocking. He enlists Eddies help in putting together the deal of the century. He also gets himself in deep with some very shady and dangerous people and the screws are tightened from both ends and Eddie has to find his way out. During that time he also finds out that this magical pill has it's drawbacks, some serious drawbacks in fact. Drawbacks that are explained by his ex wife in such stark fashion that you begin to wonder yourself, "would I take the pill now knowing that?". Of course you would and I would too.

Neil Burger has created a visual playground and used New York City to play with. He uses subtle but effective little tricks like when the pill is swallowed and kicks in the movie goes from a dull color palette to a vibrant and sharp one. The cinematography by Jo Willems pedestrian but that's forgiven because you're so wrapped up in the story. The same goes for the score by Paul Leonard-Morgan. It's completely forgettable, a collection of electronic trippy tunes with no real direction or emotional impact on the movie. Thankfully the movie doesn't need any help.

I highly recommend "Limitless" because it has everything you could possibly want in a movie. Drama, comedy, action, and suspense (along with some inventive violence). It's definitely worth the price of admission. See you at the theater.

The Adjustment Bureau

One of the most compelling movies I’ve seen in a long time (since last years Inception) was “The Adjustment Bureau” starring Matt Damon and the vulnerable Emily Blunt. When I saw the trailer I was intrigued but it really sold the movie short and that may have been its undoing. This movie is a thinking person’s movie and the trailer did not give anyone the impression (at least it didn’t give me the impression) that the movie is as deep as it is and trust me, it’s a deep movie. Written and directed by first time director George Nolfi with a story adapted the short story “The Adjustment Team” by the master Phillip K. Dick, “The Adjustment Bureau” deals with the questions of fate and free will and how we on this planet THINK we have free will and how we THINK we are moved by fate. In reality however every step we take and every decision we make is already mapped out for us by someone known as “The Chairman”. That’s usually not subject matter that interests me or excites me but this movie had an excellent story and what was even more impressive was its execution in relaying that story to the screen.

The story follows Damon’s character David Norris as he runs for the senate seat of New York. He’s ahead in the polls but then a picture is run in a daily rag showing Norris in an embarrassing light and he loses the race in fantastic fashion. While in the men’s room crafting his concession speech he meets Blunts character “Elise” who is in the men’s room ducking from security for crashing a wedding. The two hit it off immediately and the chemistry is electric between them and it’s that chemistry that the movie spins off of. Time passes and David and Elise haven’t seen each other in almost over a year, that chance encounter in the men’s room amounted to nothing other than keeping each other on their minds. David has been trailed by an agent of the Bureau, Harry Mitchell played by Anthony Mackie for pretty much all of his life and Harold had an assignment to delay David from catching his morning bus. Harold fails and the wheels of his missed assignment causes huge ripples in their plans because just by chance Elise is on that bus and The Chairman wants them to be kept apart. Apart they can accomplish amazing things in the world, together they go nowhere.

The cast of this movie is impressive on its own. Outside of Damon, Blunt, and Mackie there’s “Mad Men” star John Slattery and an imposing and sometimes creepy Terence Stamp. The list of cameos is far too numerous to mention them all but there Michael Bloomberg (yes that Bloomberg), John Stewart, and James Carville just to name a few. The look of the movie is easy on the eyes and it was shot entirely on location in Manhattan and Brooklyn. There’s nothing like watching a movie and knowing where that spot is or that building is and speaking of buildings if the Met Life building interior was actually used and not some sets built in some sound stage then that is an amazingly beautiful building inside as well as out. Scored by Thomas Newman his music gives this movie more of an edge at times but not enough times. Newman strikes me as an artist that relies on what he knows works instead of stepping out and challenging himself because to me all of his scores sound the same. If you’ve heard “Road to Perdition” and "American Beauty" and "Revolutionary Road" then you’ve heard this score. There are a few standouts like the theme for Elise and when David is told man doesn’t really have free will, just the impression of it but overall to me the score was just average.

Overall though I thoroughly enjoyed “The Adjustment Bureau” and highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it yet. It’s worth the price of admission. See you at the theater.

Battle: LA

It’s been obvious that I haven’t been to the movies lately and most of you know why. A week in the hospital will put a sever crimp in ones social activities but upon my parole from patient prison and nurse hell I was able to drag myself to the theater. I braved these mean city streets (a five minute cab ride from my house to the multiplex down the block) to see “Battle: LA” and I have to admit that it as worth the cab ride. Directed by Jonathan Liebesman (a director whose previous works did NOT impress me) and starring Aaron Eckhart as Sergeant Michael Nance this movie takes you on a ride from one hair raising situation to another once the action starts and it doesn’t take long for that to happen.

Now admittedly I cringe when I see Ne-Yo cast in any movie and because I haven't really been fond of Liebesman's work I was sort of skeptical going in but I was chose to see it because I loved the premise and enjoyed the trailer. Plus I’m actually starting to respect Aaron Ekhart’s acting abilities. Good thing too because he’s in almost every shot of this alien invasion movie (can you say vanity project?). Normally I wouldn’t think Aaron would be the first choice for this kind of role which in fact makes him perfect to carry this movie. He represents the everyday guy, playing a Marine who while in Pakistan got his whole platoon killed and now wants out of the service. Unfortunately the moment his papers are signed those damn aliens show up and throw a wrench in the program.

It starts off pretty much like any other movie where the hero is dealing with a crisis of epic proportions. Nance is a loner now and when doing his morning run on the beach he gets past embarrassingly easy by the younger Marines he knows his “shelf life” as a Marine has pretty much expired. There’s no wife to go home to, no children waiting to see him, all Nance knows is the Corp. and he states that once his papers are signed. Meanwhile you get to meet the new platoon Nance will be a part of later down the line. It’s a cast of character actors, some familiar faces (Ne-Yo for instance), some new and none of them trust Nance since he’s the sole survivor of his time in Pakistan. Leading the platoon this time around is 2nd Lieutenant William Martinez played by Ramon Rodriguez (he was Sam Witwicky's roomate in Transformers 2, remember Kitten Calenders? Yeah, that guy). Fresh out of officers school and itching to lead his men he also knows of Nance’s reputation but he seemingly withholds judgement and Nance seems perfectly fine getting orders from some wet behind the ear officer who’s never seen combat of any kind. This dynamic is an interesting one and the two actors play extremely well off one another. The best part of the cast however happens to be the civilians played by the lovely Bridget Moynahan, the talented Michael Pena and relative newcomer Bryce Cass who plays Pena's son. They give this movie the emotional impact it needs (although there is one corny scene between Nance and Moynahan's character where they do an autopsy and all I could think of was "spare me"). Bryce Cass however impressed me to no end and for a thirteen year old to do that is saying something.

The platoon’s orders are to evacuate some civilians stuck in a police station behind enemy lines and get them back to the deployed operating base or the D.O.B. before the air force bombs the area with everything they have. Now my two biggest issues with this movie are that the aliens are nowhere near as scary and as frightening as you hope them to be. They could have come up with something more nightmare inducing than the bobble heads that land on our shores. My second beef is the camera work. Director of Photography usually works hand in hand with the director so I'm going to place all the blame for the annoying camera work on the director. It was "Saving Private Ryan" but without the skill of Spielberg. At least he knew when enough was enough. Here however the camera is always right there in the middle of the action and the lack of steady cam, herky jerky, quick pan movements would have been a good touch had it not been done for the entire movie. Shot entirely in Louisianna and put together with the help of at least eight digital effects company (at least that's how many I counted when the credits rolled) this movie really was put together well. I just wish the camera work was better.

Now I ripped this man a new one when I reviewed that horrible movie "The Expendables" and commented on his score. This time around Brian Tyler redeems himself. I really enjoyed the music and thought it was the perfect match for this film. It had moments where it sounded like the group "Explosions In The Sky" (thankfully I like their sound) and most other times it showered the images with great heroic themes. It was a job well done.

This movie helped me forget my issues and what I'm currently going through health wise and it really was just what the doctor ordered. I would recommend it if you want a good time at the movies and you need to get away for a bit. See you at the theater!