The Reel World

“There’s no such thing as a sure thing.”

That’s the mantra used by the people tasked with evaluating “can’t-miss” college prospects each year. But there’s no surer thing in sports right now than this: if the NFL puts something on TV, people are going to watch it. Regular season games on Thursday night? Sign us up! College prospects running and jumping? Tune in to the NFL Scouting Combine! Even the friggin’ Pro Bowl gets massive ratings, which proves the product doesn’t necessarily have to be worth watching to draw eyeballs. And that brings us to Draft Day.

“Who cares about a bunch of birds?”

Well, judging by the fact that the original Rio grossed $484 million worldwide, it seems more than a few people are invested. The avian adventure from Blue Sky Studios may not have soared as high as Disney/Pixar or DreamWorks Animation’s best efforts — or even Blue Sky’s own Ice Age juggernaut — but it proved to be a dazzling, lucrative diversion in the spring of 2011. This charming sequel, which arrives almost three years to the day later, retains the disposable, toe-tapping charm of its predecessor.

"It's called compartmentalization. No one spills the secrets because no one knows them all."

I was lucky enough to grow up during Marvel's wonderful rebirth of the 1960's and 1970's. Of all of the comics they produced during that time, I was always least impressed with Captain America. I don't think I ever read an issue of any of his mags with the notable exception of The Avengers. So how can it be possible that after dozens of Marvel films, and I'm including the Fox and other-studio-produced stuff, that Captain America: The Winter Soldier can end up being my favorite? Could it be that I've warmed up to the Cap under the compelling performances of Chris Evans. Nah! Could it be I've grown and matured a lot since I was a teenager? Anyone who knows me is certain that can't be the answer. Could it be that maybe, just maybe, this just happens to be their best film yet. No maybe’s or could be's about it. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is even better than The Avengers. It's too early to tell if it'll be my favorite tent pole film of the summer, but it's starting in the pole position, to be sure.

Wes Anderson is not quite a real person. He is more of a concept. He is more of a myth or an approximation of reality, much like Citizen Kane was an approximation of the infamous newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. Anderson is real, but has built up a kind of fantasy world around himself. It is full of precisely detailed artifice. His films all have the meticulous perfection of an alternate reality. If the average uninitiated person were exposed to all of Anderson's films, they wouldn't quite know what to make of it. Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Life Aquatic, The Royal Tannenbaums, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Darjeeling Limited and Moonrise Kingdom all exist somewhere other than the real in some degree. It is a close approximation of reality, but it seems far more precious and rare. They are all fables of a sort. The early films like Bottle Rocket and Rushmore seem a little more normal, but more and more it becomes clear that Wes Anderson is creating a world of his own. This makes him special.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is probably the most grandiose, complex, involved, convoluted, yet simply enjoyable and lighthearted of all his films. One sure sign of the labor of love a Wes Anderson film becomes is to see how many great names that take small but integral parts of the story, and they include Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Jude Law, Tom Wilkinson, Harvey Keitel, Jeff Goldblum, F. Murray Abraham, Willem Dafoe, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Lea Seydoux, Mathieu Amalric, Bob Balaban and Jason Schwartzman, to name a few. The cast is led ably, one could say brilliantly, by Ralph Fiennes as M.Gustave, the concierge of the Grand Budapest Hotel. The story is intricate with many layers that are unfolded and uncovered as the mystery is unfurled. It is far too elaborate to relay in a simple review. In fact, each and every shot is full of enough information to fill a whole movie on its own. I will try to cover some of the basics.

Jason Bateman was born in 1969. He was working as an actor in 1982 on Little House on the Prairie. Then he went on to Silver Spoons and The Hogan Family (also known as Valerie). His sister, Justine, was doing well on Family Ties. Jason went on to become an adult. He grew up and became well liked on Arrested Development. That is always the hard part in the career of a child actor; making the transition to becoming a successful adult actor. He has been careful with his career, taking good supporting roles in films rather than stupid and unconvincing starring roles. Some of the roles he has done recently include Horrible Bosses (and Horrible Bosses 2), Juno, The Switch, The Kingdom, The Break-up, Hancock, Couples Retreat, Extract, The Change-Up, Paul and Identity Thief. It's a good run which has led up to what he really wants to do: direct.

Bad Words is the first film Jason Bateman has directed. He also stars, but he did that because that's how he gets the movie made. It is, actually, one of his best performances. He had a good director.

In the wake of the Hunger Games and Twilight studios have been snatching up the rights to young adult fiction and gearing up for franchises all in the name of capturing the hearts and wallets of the legions of fans of these book series.  Though there have been a few hits, the failures have been plentiful i.e.: City of Bones, The Host, and The Vampire Academy.  As a guy approaching his mid-thirties, it’s safe to say I’m nowhere near being the target audience for this film, but call me crazy, I actually dug it.

Where the Hunger Games has its heroine Katniss, Divergent has us following Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley) along for her journey of not just self-discovery but finding where she truly belongs.  In this new world, Chicago, a city in ruins and surrounded by an epic wall to keep any possible dangers out.  But it is within these walls where are story unfolds, the city is divided into five factions, each based on the people’s moral aptitude.  Each year a day is set aside where all those that have turned 16 must decide what faction they want to join, which means they may have to leave their families never to see them again.  But to help these young adults with making their decision they are each given an aptitude test that tells them where they “should” go, but in the end the choice is up to them.

The Muppets debuted in 1955, and the late great Jim Henson’s creations have been delighting audiences (and fellow entertainers) of all ages ever since. They’ve made their mark on the small screen — most notably with The Muppet Show (1976-81) — and at the movies, starring in eight feature films across four different decades. However, 2011’s The Muppets was their first big-screen outing in a dozen years, and the movie spent most of its time wondering if the Muppets’ old-fashioned, irreverent charm still had a place in a more jaded pop culture landscape. The answer was a warm, if not quite resounding, yes. With that out of the way, Muppets Most Wanted is a return to the sort of zany showbiz farce that made them movie stars.

“Doggone it…it looks like they’ve ordered a sequel!”

A concussion is a brain injury that causes trauma, confusion, loss of concentration, and impairment of judgment balance and coordination. The new film Concussion starts with a woman getting hit in the head with baseball thrown by her stepson. Abby (Robin Weigert) is married to divorce lawyer Kate (Julie Fain Lawrence). They seem happy but bored in their relationship. Kate obviously probably was in a relationship with a man before but gave up on it. The two kids seem distant and grouchy toward Abby. Both seem to be well off and have their own money. Abby has been taking a break from renovating apartments, but she decides to go back to it. She spends lots of time with other women over 40. They all seem vaguely dissatisfied, but Abby seems even more edgy than that. Her partner, Justin (Jonathan Tchaikovsky), is used to her bossiness and she decides to confide in him. Abby is bridling at how boring her relationship has become. She decides to go to a hooker. She does it again. Each encounter is different with varying degrees of unsatisfying and satisfying. The implication is that the concussion has shaken her brain up and changed the way she thinks. She learns that Justin is dating “the girl” who sets things up. Justin lets her know that she might be able to play the other side of the fence. Get $800 instead of paying $800. There are young women with lots of daddy's cash who are looking for someone more mature. Justin says, “What's the difference?” So Abby starts seeing young women, under very controlling and particular situations. She gets to meet “the girl”, who is a rather neurotic and pretty college law student. Abby asks to see all kinds of women, not just young ones. “The girl” thinks that is fine, and it would be nice if she would work more than one day a week.

The clients are all different. At one point Justin says number five wants to see her again. Abby says no. Then we see why. Number five likes to choke her and hurt her. One of the clients who turns up happens to be an acquaintance of hers who is married to a Goldman Sachs stockbroker. It was assumed she was happily married, and she is, but she's excited by a lesbian fling. Sam (Maggie Siff) becomes a regular client. Abby enjoys feeling desirable. Most 42-year-old women would probably like the idea of lots of sex with different people, but clearly Abby's life has been thrown out of its safe trajectory. It is obvious that something has to give. It is not likely she can remain a housewife and a hooker forever.

Need for Speed is based on a video game. It caters to people who love the experience of speed. There is a huge audience for this sort of thing. To their credit, the writer and director makes every effort to create an actual story and real characters in this presentation. It is easy to compare it to Fast and Furious, but why bother. That gives these sorts of films too much credit. Fast and Furious and Need for Speed are designed to give people a thrill. If anything Need for Speed takes things more seriously than the Fast and Furious series. It also focuses more on beautiful and very expensive cars. Some of the cars featured include Koenigseggs, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Porsches, McLarens, and Jaguars, but Ford Mustangs and Torinos get some of the most lavish praise. It could be a commercial for these cars. In fact, the film could be a commercial for the video game and the car culture, in general. One of the plot points is that the millions of invested in these cars is motivation to overlook past hostilities. The other reason for making this film is to give a star vehicle to Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad).

Tobey Mitchell (Aaron Paul) has a high-performance car shop in Mount Kisco. There are some fun street racing scenes right at the start. It should be stated that, at every point in this film, there is zero concern for the safety of innocent bystanders. The driving is always reckless and insane. He connects with his old girlfriend Anita (Dakota Johnson) who was stolen away by an old friend. That ex-friend Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper) is now a big shot in the racing world. Tobey is behind on the mortgage on the shop. Dino offers him $500,000 to fix up a $3,000,000 car. Tobey has no choice but to set their differences aside. All his coworkers and best buddies are totally against it including Anita's brother Pete (Harrison Gilbertson). Pete is also a bit of a psychic and seer, predicting that Tobey will win a great race that ends at a lighthouse.  I'm not going to go on about the plot too much, because it's predictable and done just to make sure no one just thinks it's a cheap video game ripoff. Aaron Paul does give full commitment to his role and is actually very good. I don't think he's leading man material, but he is able to convey all levels of intensity. This movie would be better off with a Steve McQueen type, but those are nearly non-existent (although I think Tom Hardy has potential, but he's not in this movie).

“I know it may seem scary, but flying really is quite fun.”

I respectfully disagree. Air travel is terrible. The seats are too small, the air is stale, there’s hardly any leg room, and the food stinks. (Assuming you even get food.) And I haven’t gotten to the part where you’re hurtling through the sky at hundreds of miles per hour at more than 30,000 feet. Ok, so maybe I enjoy air travel a lot little less than some of you out there, but I think we can all agree airliners provide an inherently tense setting for a variety of stories. We’re talking everything from Air Force One to Snakes on a Plane. So while flying may be awful in real life, it’s a reliably thrilling time at the movies.