The Reel World

What a difference a year makes. It was just last summer that The Purge came out of nowhere to become an unexpected smash. The film piqued my interest with a killer marketing campaign that smartly sold its outrageous concept: for one night out of the year, any and all crime is legal in the U.S. Unfortunately, the filmmakers squandered that novel idea by making the most cliched, claustrophobic thriller imaginable. A little more than a year later, this follow-up arrives under considerably different circumstances. Instead of canny summer counter-programming, The Purge: Anarchy is the latest sequel in a summer that seems particularly heavy on franchise films.

“What about you? What were you doing outside?”

"Apes together strong!"

When French author Pierre Boulle first wrote his novel Monkey Planet, I'm sure he never imagined a film like Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes. While I was enjoying the five films that made up the original franchise run, I couldn't have imagined a movie like Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes. When Tim Burton made his pitiful attempt to revive the franchise, it was downright impossible. In fact, the franchise appeared dead and gone by the time that film ran its destructive course. When I first heard of plans to resurrect the franchise with Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, I was quite skeptical and prepared to see my love of those first films once again exploited and tainted. But in 2011, we were all in for a rather pleasant surprise. The film proved to be a hit, and with good reason. It was a wonderful film that paid proper homage to the source material, all the while telling it's own unique tale, using cutting-edge technology in computer-generated images. The star turned out to be Andy Serkis, whom we never actually saw on the screen. Instead the pioneer in motion-capture performance captivated us by bringing real emotion and nuanced performance to what was essentially just a series of 1's and 0's. It was remarkable. It couldn't have gotten better.

"Missed it by that much." Never before was that Don Adams/Maxwell Smart catchphrase more appropriate to a movie. Sometimes there is a very thin line between instant classic and near miss. Earth To Echo is the best example in decades of a film that could have, should have, would have been so much more if not for just one bad decision. The film has all of those coming-of-age moments that exist in those 1980's classics like Goonies, Explorers and, of course, ET. The film sports a wonderful cast with plenty of nuance in characters. There's a cute alien and that mission that binds friends’ lives together forever even if they never see each other again. It's a story of catching a magical moment in the waning moments of childhood. And it would have worked, if only director Dave Green hadn't tried to hedge his bet just a little over the line, reverting to the "found-footage" style of filmmaking. It's one of those choices that allowed Green to snatch defeat from the hands of victory.

The story is near perfect. A group of friends have been neighbors all of their lives. But a highway is going through their block, and they all have to move now. It's the very last night they will spend together when something strange happens. Cell phones and other electronic screens begin to "barf" up an odd kind of static. One of the boys discovers that it's a map of the surrounding desert, and the friends decide that they will use this final night to follow the map and have one last adventure together.

In a summer that has been taken over by giant lizards and robots, it is a little odd to find a little sweet film like Begin Again playing on the screen and competing with the heavy hitters of summer. From the writer/director of indie smash Once we get a film that isn’t just about musicians trying to make their big break, but instead it’s about the heart and pain that goes into the creation we later hear and become fans of.  When we first meet Greta (Keira Knightly) she is nursing some heartbreak in a bar, and her friend drags her up on stage to perform her new song.  It just so happens that at that moment, struggling music executive Dan (Mark Ruffalo) is in the audience, and he believes that she could be the next big star.  The film backpedals from this moment and then proceeds to show us just how Dan and Greta managed to come together at this bar on this particular night.

Dan has recently been removed from his own record company and doesn’t have a penny to his name, but despite it all, Dan rolls with the punches with the nursing aid of a stiff drink.  Greta, on the other hand, was the girlfriend and partner to Dave (Adam Levine), a rising star on the music scene who believes he has fallen in love with another woman.  The scene where Greta discovers that there is another woman is a moment that starts innocently enough and then proceeds to just be a heartbreaking moment.  As breakups go on film, this is just one of those scenes where as a viewer you just instantly empathize with Greta and can’t help but see Dave for the scumbag he is.

“You sell 100 million records, and see how you handle it.”

If you’ve ever seen an episode of Behind the Music — or followed popular culture at all in the previous century — then you probably know artists tend to not handle that level of success very well. However, the rise and (inevitable) fall of the original Four Seasons lineup is unique for a number reasons. Unfortunately, very few of those reasons are captured in Jersey Boys, Clint Eastwood’s oddly lifeless, workmanlike adaptation of the joyous, wildly-popular Broadway musical.

"You should never stop thinking about a life you’ve taken.  That’s the price you pay for taking it."

In 2010 David Michod directed his first full-length feature Animal Kingdom. It was a critical success, and he went on to pick up a Best Director award with the Australian Directors’ Guild.  Now Michod has completed his sophomore effort, The Rover, which does explore some familiar ground with criminal families, but the film takes a more introspective approach to life and what matters most in the world when you believe you have nothing left to lose.

When I see films I don't like, I tend to dismiss them. I have seen many, many movies over the years, and I have seen many, many terrible movies. In the last few years, there have been an increasing number of post-modern, self-referential meta-movies full of smarmy irony. So many of these films have been made that it seems that I don't see simple un-ironic movies that are just plain funny anymore. It is actually a great skill to create something really funny. 22 Jump Street is supposed to be a stupid comedy that one can enjoy without thinking. First of all, I sat through the whole movie and didn't laugh once. That doesn't mean that most people won't laugh at this movie. But I'm angry. After I saw the movie I saw that lots of critics gave it favorable ratings. I'm angry because the standards of critical thinking are collapsing. I think it's hard for many to appreciate real humor, but I can guarantee there is no real humor in 22 Jump Street.

There are so many things I didn't like about this movie, so let me start with some of the things I did like. There was a female roommate who had a biting, sarcastic tongue and caustic manner. That was about it.

"What I am about to tell you sounds crazy. But you have to listen to me. Your very lives depend on it. You see, this isn't the first time."

No, this isn't the first time. Tom Cruise seems to be making a habit of these science fiction action movies of late. There was Oblivion and War Of The Worlds, and quite frankly Edge Of Tomorrow looked to be pretty much more of the same. But there's a huge difference between this film and the previous two. Edge Of Tomorrow is actually good. What looks on the surface to be just Groundhog Day with futuristic toys turns out to be a redemption story that I actually never saw coming.

“I believe we have a choice in this world about how to tell sad stories. On the one hand, you can sugarcoat it. Nothing is too messed up that can't be fixed with a Peter Gabriel song. I like that version as much as the next girl does. It's just not the truth.”

With its beautiful leads and an impossibly romantic European interlude, I wouldn't exactly say The Fault in Our Stars gets at the truth either. But the film has enough authentic touches — and, more importantly, treats its characters with enough unvarnished affection — to make it one of the most effective tearjerkers in recent years.