The Reel World

“It’s not the end of the world.”

I still remember the night I walked out of the screening of the Roland Emmerich version of Godzilla.  I can’t remember a time I had ever been so angry at a film.  It was a film that was an insult to the monster that I had held in such high regard right alongside King Kong.  Sure I had seen the trailers, but when I saw that first reveal of their “Godzilla” I cringed; I hated it.  Had the film been called anything else perhaps my loathing towards it would have been different, but it was a film that was foolish enough to hold the name of Godzilla.  Now it’s been over 15 years and Hollywood is taking another stab at presenting us with an Americanized version of Godzilla.  And this time they nailed it.

Baseball is huge, and Bollywood is huge, so imagine if you put them together. In many ways, Million Dollar Arm is about Indian culture and what a separate world it is from ours. The film starts out in Los Angeles where J.B. Bernstein (Jon Hamm from Mad Men) is a sports agent who has broken off from a big agency to start his own firm. His partner, Aash (Aasif Mandvi of The Daily Show), is very nervous about where their next client is coming from since they lost a big one right at the start of the film. Bernstein, thinking on his feet, decides to pursue an untapped market for baseball and the big-money stars who are big league pitchers. He sees India as completely virgin territory for baseball. But the problem is there are no baseball players in India. Aash gives him the idea by talking about cricket on cable.

Clearly, cricket and baseball are totally different, but Bernstein is desperate. He pitches his idea to a big-shot money man. The money man, Chang (Tzi Ma), listens and agrees with big conditions. They are basically impossible conditions, but again, Bernstein is desperate. Bernstein had a great life once, and he still has the big expensive house and the Jaguar, but his time to make this big gamble work is running out. A nurse (Lake Bell) rents his guesthouse. She's a sweet person, but Bernstein usually has a different model girlfriend on a regular basis. Her washing machine is broken just as he is walking out the door to head halfway around the world. He gives her keys to the house and tells her to just use the machine and be careful.

Walking out of Neighbors one thought struck me, and I haven’t been able to shake it since seeing the film.  I’m getting old.  It’s the revelation we all deal with at some point or another, and it seemed to be the overall theme of Neighbors.  Since Judd Apatow came along I think he has firmly created a new sub-genre the coming of middle-age film.  Seth Rogan seems to be the poster child of this new genre, and with his characters he is somewhat the ambassador of all man-children out there. 

Mac (Seth Rogan) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) Radner are new parents who have just moved into a new home together.  It’s the start of their grown-up lives, though of course it isn’t as easy as they had hoped.  The days of going out to all night raves are over, as is their “spontaneous” sex life.  But what makes it work is their desire to at least be good parents and maintain a healthy relationship with one another.  Their quiet, boring life takes a sharp turn after the arrival of their new neighbors, a fraternity set on becoming the ultimate party and going down in frat-house lore.

“War leaves a mark.”

Even the people who manage to escape war with all their limbs intact feel its impact for the rest of their lives. Of course, it’s much trickier to spot the emotional and psychological wounds veterans like Eric Lomax carry with them. The Railway Man is based on Lomax’s harrowing World War II experiences and the day of reckoning, decades later, with one of his tormentors. In turning Lomax’s real-life story into a dramatic movie, the film doesn’t so much ask if revenge is good for the soul; it argues that it might be necessary.

"There are dark days ahead."

When Marc Webb took over the reigns of Spider-Man over at Sony, I had very mixed feelings. I was a pretty big fan of the comic as a kid, and the Raimi films were a pretty exciting time for me. OK, maybe not the third one. Webb came along and he put a fresh spin on the web-spinner by returning much of the story to its roots. I liked his first film, although it hasn't aged as well for me as the Raimi films did. But you can't get much better than Spider-Man, and I watched with diminishing anticipation as word leaked out bit by bit what Webb and Sony had in store for Peter Parker beyond The Amazing Spider-Man.

They don't make good romantic comedies anymore. The Other Woman is not a romantic comedy. It is a comedy...about three women having a romance with the same man. But the three women find out about each other and bond together in a “Sismance”. That's not a word, and it doesn't sound as good as bromance, but there you have it. Part of the problem is they don't make enough movies just for women, and that's what this is. It's a charming trifle along the lines of The First Wife's Club. There is always a creepy guy at the center, so creepy guys beware. It's a revenge comedy part of the time.

Cameron Diaz (Carly Whitten) is a high-powered lawyer who thinks she's found good boyfriend material in Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Mark King). He's a rich business developer who blows off a date because he's juggling too many women. Diaz's father, played by Don Johnson, suggests she fix King's pipes herself in Connecticut (since that was the boyfriend's excuse). Diaz finds Leslie Mann (Kate King) as the unsuspecting wife. Diaz didn't know and isn't happy, but she's over it. Leslie is not over it. She freaks out when she finds out her husband is cheating on her. She is floundering and out of control. Leslie doesn't know what to do. Then Cameron and Leslie find out there is mistress number three, Kate Upton (Amber).

Being the last film completed by Paul Walker before his passing, fans are getting the chance to see their star up on the big screen before he takes his final bow in Fast & Furious 7. The only Paul Walker film that managed to get me excited was Running Scared. It was dark and gritty, and I feel director Wayne Kramer pulled a great performance out of Walker. Looking to Brick Mansions, a remake of the parkour French hit District B-13, it seemed like Walker could possibly have another teeth-cutting performance. But that’s not the case.

The Brick Mansions is an area of Detroit that was given its name after a spike in crime. It was decided this rundown area of Detroit should be walled in, keeping its violent criminals and drug dealers in and its law-abiding citizens out. Even in the land of the lawless there has to be a leader, and within the Brick Mansions that leader is Tremaine (RZA). He's the perfect leader within these walls since he’s a drug dealer who has convinced himself he’s both a businessman and a leader.

I have to be honest. Director Richard Shepard probably lost me in the first 10 seconds of Dom Hemingway. I can't help believing that my opinion was shaded a bit as I watched Jude Law as the titular character rambling some nonsensical dialog while having himself "taken care of" by a fellow inmate in prison. It's an image that lives with you long after the scene is done. Surprisingly, I did start to settle in for what looked like a more promising ride than I had first believed. And for about 40 minutes it actually became an almost good film.

Dom Hemingway (Law) is a safecracker who has been in prison for 12 years. He was a loyal crook who didn't roll over on anyone else. Now that he's out, he expects to be rewarded for his loyalty. He also hopes to make it up to his now-adult daughter Evelyn (Clarke). It doesn't look like that's going to be easy. In fact, none of it is going to be easy. Getting new work is hard, because safes have gone electronic since he's been away, and an audition where he bests his privates against a job is handled with absurd cleverness that only backfires.

There is nothing wrong with your movie screen. Jonathan Glazer controls all that you see and hear. That tiny speck of light you see is just the beginning. The beginning of an experience you will not soon forget. The light appears distant...cold... foreboding. It's coming closer to us, or we are coming closer to it. The distant star grows while you are assaulted with some of the most bizarre sounds you have ever heard. It's somewhat uncomfortable. You squirm in your seat. The light grows; its alien forms finally settles into an unexpected familiar form. Still, it's all rather unsettling. Jonathan Glazer controls more than all you see and hear. For the next two hours he controls your sanity... your very humanity.

Your introduction to Under The Skin explains little. There are some general ideas you'll begin to assemble. You'll figure out rather quickly that Scarlett Johansson is an alien. The characters you'll encounter have no names. Many of them will not speak. After the first sensory experience the film fools you into believing you're back on solid ground. Scarlett Johansson drives about the streets of Scotland talking to strange men. She asks directions and inquires about any family or friends they might have. It doesn't take us long to understand that she's hunting, attempting to separate a single prey from the pack. Before she snares her first victim, we know exactly what she's doing, even if we never understand completely why.

Let me say something about myself. I have a saying. Atheists are stupid and agnostics are smart. The reason agnostics are smart is because they know they don't know. Faith is belief. The problem is that this is a cynical age. There are so many people who are atheists because they can cite facts about the universe and science. I always think it's absurd to hear an atheist talk, because they are so insulting to anyone who doesn't agree with them. So am I an agnostic? I would say I am not. I have faith, but I will say that it is not an easy or blind faith. I have examined all areas of the unknown which includes a wide variety of religions and various scientific investigations. My problem with atheists is that human knowledge is limited. It has grown tremendously, especially in the last century, but the more we learn, the more we open new unexamined areas of knowledge. I'm going to have to come back to that.

Heaven Is for Real is a sincere and enjoyable film of faith. It's about a family of four who live in a beautiful Nebraska farmland countryside. Todd (Greg Kinnear) and Sonja (Kelly Reilly) Burpo have two lovely young children. They live in a place that seems like heaven. Todd works as a pastor for the local church, a repair man, a volunteer fireman and whatever else he has to do to make ends meet. He is not making ends meet. His four-year-old son gets a ruptured appendix which has complications in emergency surgery. Everyone thinks Colton (Conor Corum) will die, and when the boy finally pulls through, everyone is overjoyed. Colton's life goes back to normal except for some things he starts remembering. He remembers seeing Jesus on a horse, angels, and a sister he never knew he had.