The Reel World

It’s hard to believe it was way back in 2004 when Shaun of the Dead first splashed across the screen.  The film introduced those of us in the US to Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and since then their impact on geek pop culture is well beyond a simple cultish trend.  Shaun of the Dead would be the first film in what the trio would call “The Cornetto Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy”, Hot Fuzz would be the second title, and The World’s End would be the closing chapter.  Upon first glance the films have little to do with each other with the exception of the key actors in all three films, but I feel with a closer look what the three films all have in common is simply the bond of friendship.  Where SOTD would be lifelong friends sticking together, and Hot Fuzz would delve into the start of a new friendship, The World’s End tackles the hardship of being friends and overcoming the hurt friends can inflict upon us.  So for those of you expecting to simply just get a standard alien invasion flick, what we get instead is so much more and is certainly Wright’s most mature work to date.

Things kick off as Gary (Pegg) recounts the epic pub crawl he and four of his closest friends attempted.  The crawl is epic and dubbed The Golden Mile, 12 pubs in one night.  The narration helps introduce us to his former mates and all the near disasters they encountered that night.  Gary seems to be trapped in the events of this night; he wholeheartedly believes that life couldn’t get any better than that night.  We soon discover this was no simple narration but Gary retelling the events at a support group meeting.  It’s 20 years later and the only thing that seems to have changed about Gary is his hairline.  The only regret Gary seems to have about that night is that he and his friends never completed the mile, and now he is suddenly overcome with the urge to complete this wrong from his past.

Meeting your significant other’s family for the first time can be a terrifying experience. Then again, being introduced to your son/daughter/brother/sister’s new boyfriend or girlfriend can be equally dicey for the family, since we’re talking about a total stranger being thrown into the mix. The best thing about You’re Next is how it takes this sort of recognizable family drama and gleefully twists it into a brutally violent — and brutally funny — horror film.

The unfortunate family at the center of this genre mash-up is the Davisons, who have convened for the first time in a long time to celebrate Aubrey (Barbara Crampton) and Paul’s (Rob Moran) 35-year anniversary. Their four grown children — Crispian (AJ Bowen), Drake (Joe Swanberg), Aimee (Amy Seimetz) and Felix (Nicholas Tucci) — along with their respective significant others — Erin (Sharni Vinson), Kelly (Margaret Laney), Tariq (Ti West) and Zee (Wendy Glenn) — all gather at the family’s remote, picturesque home in the middle of the woods.

It's nice to see two Spielberg veterans in the same movie. It's been a long time since American Graffiti when Harrison Ford and Richard Dreyfuss last appeared together. It's been a long time since Hooper in Jaws and Roy Neary in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but Dreyfuss and Ford don't appear together in this movie either. It's like they are in two different movies. Paranoia is a corporate espionage thriller with two CEO's played by Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman, who have strong ties and stronger hates. There is lots to like about the movie, but many, many missed opportunities too.

The story is fairly tangled and revolves around a young genius (Liam Hemsworth, the brother of Chris who plays Thor in some other movies) who suffers from immaturity and bad judgment. Richard Dreyfuss is his lovable loser of a father who needs his medical insurance. But he loses his medical insurance because he's not important enough to his big boss Oldman, who fires him. It turns out that was a bit of a ruse. It's actually much more convoluted and confusing than that, but that's the essence of it. Oldman's rivalry with his former mentor and now fierce competitor played by Ford is all-consuming, so much logic is lost in his zeal. Oldman uses threat of death and promises of riches to entice Hemsworth to infiltrate Ford's inner circle.

"There's no room for punks in suits. Just real heroes who can really kick ass."

You've heard me say many times in these pages that expectations kill. It's a rule I've found to be pretty solid when it comes to sequels. Like all good rules, there are exceptions. When it comes to Kick-Ass 2 it's the lack of expectations that will kill your enjoyment of the film. If you don't understand going in what to expect, you will more than likely hate this movie. If you already have a good idea what is going on here, be prepared to have a rip-roarin' time of your life.

“We don’t stop innovating.”

In Jobs, the iconic entrepreneur/inventor says these words during one of his many — and I mean MANY — inspirational speeches. It’s meant to be a “capture the imagination” moment for both his assembled techie troops and for those of us in the audience. Unfortunately, these sorts of platitudes come early and way too often in this biopic. More importantly, the film never really bothers to back them up.

Walking out of District 9 I knew I had just watched something special; it was more than a simple sci-fi film, it was a technical achievement that would make writer/director Neill Blomkamp a guy to look out for.  It’s been four years since District 9’s release and Blomkamp steps up to the plate with an even more ambitious project with Elysium.  For those who have seen the trailers, I’m sure like myself you were chomping at the bit as the visuals gave us hope for a film that would not only equal what District 9 did but surpass it in quality and scope.

In the late 21^st century the world becomes overrun with sickness.  The world’s wealthiest and influential come together to create a safe haven from disease.  Elysium is the end result.  A place nestled in space where everything is near perfect, a society without sickness and where citizens can simply lie in a machine and be healed by it no matter how serious the injury or sickness.  It’s these very machines that those back on Earth will do whatever it takes and risk (near) certain death to place their loved ones inside to be healed.

For adults with kids, there is a great need for animated films to make the family happy. For movie studios, there is a great need for films that the entire family can go to that are not slapped with an R-rating which cuts down on profits. Two recent films recently made films about races, Planes and Turbo, showed a need for speed. More and more, the glut of these movies shows the need for greed. Greed is what makes studios only think about making money and not good movies.  I actually did like both Planes and Turbo, which is strange because I absolutely hated Cars 2, which was also a race movie.

Planes is a sequel to Cars, which is odd since it wasn't produced by Pixar but Disneytoons which normally produce a heavy slate of straight-to-video fare. Early reception generated plan to make two more Planes films. Planes takes the world wide race that was tried in Cars 2 and makes it more visually entertaining. One of the most interesting things when watching one of these movies is figuring out the vocal talent. Here the names are not A-list stars, but they serve well. They are Dane Cook, Stacy Keach, Cedric the Entertainer, John Cleese, Teri Hatcher, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Brad Garrett and Carlos Alazraqui. I know. I've never heard of Alazraqui either, but he does a dead-on imitation of Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots. The visuals are the key here. The swooping vistas of flight are always exhilarating. It is still put in the framework of an overly familiar story of a downtrodden underdog.

The line between hilarious raunchy comedy and over-the-top raunchy comedy is very fine, and We’re the Millers tends to dance on both sides of it. In time such action will be revealed to be both a blessing and a curse, I suspect. With the young crowd, I believe the film will fall right into place with such movies as Horrible Bosses (a comedy which coincidently starred Aniston and Sudeikis) and to be more recent, This is the End. With more mature audiences, the raunchiness may prove to be slightly more than they were expecting to see. With me, I find myself on the side of the young.

David (Jason Sudeikis) is a small town pot dealer in Denver, an occupation he has held since college without moving forward or backward. Hesitant to admit it, he has grown stagnant with the life he’s leading and wants more out of life. Those desires are put on hold after he is robbed, with both his stash and all of his cash including the money intended for his supplier Brad (Ed Helms, The Hangover). Deep in debt with no prospect of paying it back, Brad offers David one opportunity to erase his debt: smuggle a smidge and a half (inside joke, have to see the movie to understand) of marijuana from Mexico across the border back to Denver.

Where do I begin? The first Harry Potter movie and the first Percy Jackson movie were both directed by Chris Columbus, but he moved on in both cases. The other similarities are substantial, and the studio producing the new Percy Jackson movie certainly hopes it can produce a similar success that Harry Potter did for its studio. There are a whole lot of books that are part of an ongoing story. In fact, there is a new series that moves on from Greek gods to Egyptians. That's right, Greek gods, but not like in Clash of the Titans which takes place so many years ago in olden days. Percy Jackson is right up to the present, and Percy Jackson is a half- blood prince, son of Poseidon. The first movie, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, brought us into the crazy world of satyrs and cyclops and other creatures not entirely human.

Before I finish with Percy, I should discuss Young Adult books. There are more and more, and they are all trying to cash in on Harry Potter mania, and they are all probably going to be made into movies. The Hunger Games is another YA series that has developed a strong audience filling the gap left by Twilight. Divergent is coming, as is The Mortal Instruments. The problem is that if I tried to list all the YA projects likely to head to a theater near you it would be mind-numbing. In other words, Sea of Monsters better hit big, because the competition is heavy. Some popular series only got one shot like the recent Beautiful Creatures and The Golden Compass and A Series of Unfortunate Events. The first Percy Jackson box office results were only OK, but it has been given another chance.

Who said inter-agency cooperation wasn’t possible? Well, maybe cooperation is a bit of stretch for the relationship between Washington and Wahlberg in 2 Guns, the Rated R comedy from director Baltasar Kormakur (Contraband). A buddy-cop film by definition, but a refreshing one that is sure to be a welcomed addition to the subcategory right alongside Lethal Weapon, Bad Boys, and Rush Hour.

Partners in crime Bobby Trench (Denzel Washington) and Marcus Stigman (Mark Wahlberg) have worked together for the last year despite being polar opposites; Bobby is smooth and the consummate professional while Stig (as he likes to be called) is flippant and a bit unhinged. Regardless, the two work well together, the problem is neither is who they pretend to be. They’re both undercover agents; Bobby for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA.) and Stig for Naval Intelligence, and here’s the kicker, neither knows about the other’s true identity.