"The Way Way Back"

A movie like "The Way, Way Back' is the kind of movie that gets forgotten come awards time, when all the prestigious, "awards-wrapped" releases come pilling up one after the next. It happens every summer. A solidly crafted film with solid performances coming in under the radar. This one stars newcomer Liam James, Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell and Toni Collette. A great cast that has a ball delivering their performances.

Under the direction of Nat Faxon and Jim Rash -They wrote "The Descendants"- Liam James does an excellent job as Duncan, an introverted kid that goes on vacation with his mom (Collette) and her douchebag of a boyfriend Trent (Carell, in an unexpectedly devilish performance). Trent has his friends come over to the vacation home for a 24/7 adult drinking party, that leaves Duncan feeling isolated and wanting to escape. Enter sam Rockwell, as Owen, owner of a local water park who takes Duncan under his wings.

The bond between Owen and Duncan is what drives the film. Owen is a middle aged schlub that doesn't really care much for responsibilities. Yet, there's an enduring likeability to Owen that you cannot deny. Much kudos must be given to Rockwell (watch him in last year's "Seven Psychopaths") who's truly one of the best actors around. His performance is the best in the film and deserves much more recognition than it is getting at the moment. Rockwell might just be the most underrated actor currently working in Hollywood and it is only a matter of time before he gets the recognition he deserves. Carrell, a comic actor that has proven he does possess solid dramatic acting chops, plays the unlikeable douchebag of a boyfriend so well that you wouldn't believe he once was the 40 year old virgin.

A film that is this smartly written and filled with this many great performances deserves an audience. It might not be an artistic achievement or even an awards contender but it is a breath of fresh air and its performances deserve to be talked about. Here is a summer movie without robots, superheroes or magic tricks. Without the usual formula that is contaminating Hollywood movies these days. It deals with real human emotions, real people and never gives us any easy answers. If Faxon and Rash's film is playing in your area, seek it out.

"Before Midnight"

It started with Before Sunrise and then continued with the eloquently beautiful Before Sunset. Richard Linklater's trilogy of romance in european cities has built a solid cult following since its inception in 1995. Here's the deal with the third -and presumably final- chapter of the trilogy; If you haven't seen the first two movies, you might still enjoy this one BUT not as much as if you already know these smart, articulately conversational characters. It all started in Vienna when Celine and Jesse met on a train and fell in love then parted ways. It wasn't until 2004 they met up again for another day but this time, in Paris, they had both matured and were -shall I say- far less annoying than the first time around. Jesse was unhappily married with a kid and Celine struggled to find much in the way of love. That bid well for the film itself -Before Sunset- which was a masterful examination of love, family life and conversation.  That film ended ambiguously with Jesse at Celine's apartment about to miss a flight but laughing it off, making the audience wonder if he actually misses that flight and decided to ditch his wife and hook up for the long term with Celine. Never has an audience wanted an on-screen character to cheat on his wife so bad.

In Before Midnight we get our answer. Jesse stayed. In fact he and Celine ended up making love for days and having 2 beautiful girls in Paris. The film starts off as Jesse accompanies his son at the airport after having both spent a whole summer with Celine and the girls at a fellow author's Greek country house. Jesse is left agonized by the dreaded feeling of his son leaving and not knowing when he'll see him next. He has a fear that his son will not grow up before his very eyes. The film's first conversation has our two protagonists driving with their two children, we are back at the beginning; smart talk about life, love and family. We have a smile on our faces, it's as if nothing has changed and these two lovebirds have a happy marriage going for them. However, hints begin to appear. Feelings of un-satisfaction infuse both these characters. The second big conversation of the film takes place at a dinner table as most of the visitors at the greek country house gather to talk about their own experiences with love, marriage and death. The conversation is effortless. The things we learn endless and the lessons hardening. Love is not an easy thing and the scars it leaves very apparent.

On their way to a romantic night at a hotel room -setup by their friends- Jesse and Celine are talking and walking like we were always used to seeing them in the other movies but this time they have more life experiences and are more familiar with one another. The sparks seems to still be there, their intellects intact yet there's a bitterness to some of their words that ultimately leads to a night of verbal stings. The hotel room fight has been talked about very much by cinematic enthusiasts, many siding with Jesse but others understanding Celine's points and arguments. There really isn't anyone that's wrong or right here. The aggressiveness Celine shows is all the bottled up anger any 21st century female would have in a relationship with children of her own ; taking care of the kids, handling most of the responsibilities and not having time for any self independence, Celine is muddled in the daily grind of motherhood. It's not that she doesn't love Jesse anymore -although she does memorably say it- it's just that Celine didn't envision a life such as this one. She was always a free spirit with her feminine independence firmly intact. Jesse being the male of the relationship ends up handling much less and enjoying life a bit more. Celine is bitter about that and wishes Jesse would help out a little more and be less concerned with his Son that resides in the states.

Celine is indelibly played by Julie Delpy who deserves all the awards attention  that will be coming her way in the months to come and Jesse is superbly played by Ethan Hawke in what is the best role he's ever had. They both wrote the screenplay with director Linkater (School Of Rock, Dazed And Confused, Waking Life) much of it clearly improvised, from the artists' own experiences/points of views and countless storyboards. This brings a real sense of authenticity to the films. Before Midnight is a great movie because it asks questions about love that many Hollywood movies refuse to ask. Is our view of love as a society conflicted, disjointed? Or can we really love someone eternally, in a "forever" sense of the term? How many compromises can we actually make before we end up losing sense of ourselves and our own independence? All this for the sake of love? There is not one answer to any of these questions. Linklater is a curiosity seeker that asks more than he answers and the way Before Midnight ends makes you wonder exactly what might happen next. The ending is frustrating and much less satisfyingly ambiguous than Before Sunset but I'll be damned if he doesn't succeed in trying to explain what long term love is in a 90 minute time frame. If there's a better date movie out there, I haven't seen it. I hope we get to meet Celine and Jesse every 9 years.

Franco et company in "This Is The End"

Comedy is well known for being a really hard medium. Especially in the cinema, where having a laugh or two these days is almost an impossible task. Case in point; The internship - a sad sack excuse of a comedy that reunited Owen Wilson and Vince vaughn to try and recreate the sparks they attained in Wedding Crashers. Those sparks never happen and we are left with an empty comedy looking for oxygen to make it through its running time.

A more successful -albeit minor- film is Paul Feig's The Heat which pits Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock in a buddy cop comedy with the added freshness of the two cops being played by female actresses. It works, for the most part. Feig, who directed the landmark comedy Bridesmaids back in 2011, loves women behaving badly or aka behaving like men. I don't blame him. If this were a typical male comedy I wouldn't have as many nice words for The Heat. It really helps that the film is aided by the always reliably funny McCarthy and Bullock -who's actually quite convincing here- actresses that have a charisma that really drives the film's sad sack screenplay. This isn't high art but The Heat made me chuckle more than a few times and -unlike many summer movies- didn't make me regret spending two hours in the dark.

However,  this summer nothing will beat This Is The End in terms of laughs and ballsy attitude. Fearlessly directed by Seth Rogen and his pal Evan Goldberg, This Is The End mostly takes place at a party in James Franco's posh L.A mansion. The twist is that as Franco's celebrity friends -including a coked out, Rihanna ass-slapping Michael Cera- are partying it up, the apocalypse has arrived and we are left with Franco and company -including Rogen, Jay Baruchel and Danny McBride- trying to find a way to survive in an L.A overrun by egos , stoners and a well endowed biblical demon (Don't ask). It's a satirical end of the world premise that is wholly original and features one surprise after the next. No, seriously. I don't think i saw anything coming. The unpredictability of This Is The End is what makes it so damn good.

These celebrity comedians relentlessly make fun of their celebrity personas and make comedy out of the apocalypse. No small feat there. Rogen and Goldenberg's originality is contagious, they have created an apocalyptic, satiric stoner comedy that doesn't let anyone off the hook. Hollywood is the target and the satiric aspect stings. Rogen and company bite the hand that feeds them. The plot and its twists and turns might be outrageous but they never feel strained or overcooked. Much kudos must be given to a who's who of comedians showing up as themselves and mocking themselves in the most insane ways possible. The film isn't afraid to kill them off either. I look forward to more movies from these guys. This is a stoner comedy reaching the heights of artistic integrity, no small feat. I couldn't have like This Is The End any more than I actually did.

Oscar Watch: Matthew McConaughey in "Mud"

In Jeff Nichols’ “Mud” Matthew McConaughey holds your attention every time he’s on screen. As an island outlaw hiding from the police, McConaughey’s Mud is a mysterious drifter with more than a few secrets to hide. Not fair revealing anything else about the plot but Nichols’ film is a dark coming of age movie seen through the eyes of two 14 year old Arkansas boys. Their fascination for Mud is just as strong as ours and we see the film through the eyes of teenage boys just beginning to learn about life’s harsh truths. Nichols tells the story in a more straightforward fashion than he did in his highly acclaimed 2011 film “Take Shelter”. All the better for it,. The screenplay makes Nichols not need as much stylistic ambition, instead the director opts to just tell the story. Good call. McConaughey, 44, only recently hit his stride as an actor. If you saw him in last year’s triumphant trifecta “Bernie”, “Magic Mike” and “Killer Joe” or 2011′s underseen, underrated “The Lincoln Lawyer” you know exactly how good of an actor he can be. Over the years his pretty boy looks have prevented him from ever being taken seriously as an actor. That’s too bad because here is an actor that is currently at his prime and should be taken very seriously. He plays with the audience’s heads in “Mud” and demands us to pay attention to his every move. It’s a performance that brilliantly captures a man lost in an ocean of thought and not letting anyone into his dark world filled with murderous tendencies and undying love. It’s a great performance that will be remembered come awards time and might only be overshadowed by an upcoming performance of his later on this year in Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf Of Wall Street”.

Frances Ha

In Noah Baumbach's

Frances Ha

Greta Gerwig gives a performance that will not be forgotten any time soon. She's so damn good as Frances, a 27 year old yuppie New York girl still trying to find herself in the big city and refusing to let go of her dream as a professional dancer. This is a far cry from the

Sex And The City

females and more like the ones portrayed in Lena Dunham's brilliant HBO series

Girls

. In fact, comparisons will be made just by the casting of

Girls

regular Adam Driver. It's more than just that. Just like Dunham's show,

Frances Ha

is the about the coming of age of women that have a hard time embarking into adulthood and just like that series' best episodes there is a realism-infused uncomfortableness to Frances' every day situations. Going from apartment to apartment and never really finding her place. At times you just cringe at the situations she puts herself

Baumbach's real life girlfriend is Gerwig. She has become a sort of muse for director as he had previously used her in his previous film 2011's 

Greenberg

. If that film -starring an excellent Ben Stiller- failed to deliver in its study of a middle aged loser going through the motions and an angst driven crisis, this new film by Baumbach succeeds admirably in its titular character's isolation of everyday society. Stiller's Greenberg was cold, detached and ultimately not very likable. Gerwig's Frances is the opposite. No matter how many stupid decisions she does we still root for her to end up okay. The same couldn't be said of Stiller's Greenberg, a mean spirited and not very genuine complainer.

Gerwig -with her long wavy blonde hair and clumsy posture- is spectacular in more ways than one. She brings realness to a character that could have easily delved deep into caricature. It doesn't happen here. Instead Baumbach, in his best film since

The Squid And The Whale

, launches the career of a new star. Gerwig's gestures, movements, facial expressions are spot on and make you fall for Frances - flaws and all. Her life is a confusing mess, while her best friend/roommate finds love and moves out. She is down on cash, single, awkward and in search of herself. She acts younger than her age, takes things one day at a time and doesn't think much about the future. At some point living this way catches up to you. It caught up to me in my life and it caught up to many other late twenty somethings that I knew of. Baumbach's character study doesn't cozy up to any conventions. The director speaks the truth for my generation and creates a sort of wake up call. Shot in beautiful black and white he proves that The

Squid And The Whale

was no fluke. With all that being said

Frances Ha

is the Greta Gerwig show, Oscar pay attention.

World War Z

World War Z comes into theaters with a spew of toxic buzz. Reshoots, rewrites, an overblown 200 million dollar budget and a director that almost singlehandedly ruined the James Bond franchise (Thank GOD for Skyfall and Sam Mendes). Talk about toxic buzz. Well, despite all those negatives the good news is that World War Z is not as bad as we thought it would be. Director Marc Foster, fresh off the heels of his Quantam Of Solace failure, doesn't necessarily triumph in the director's seat but he infuses his zombie film with enough jolts that you leave the theater without a feeling of having just been ripped off (Welcome to Summer 2013). Just take for example the incredible plane scene, I will say no more except that it is truly one of the most jaw dropping things I've seen in quite a while. Gripping is the right word. The same can't be said for many parts of the movie. The PG-13 rating limits Foster into fully going head on with his film. The Walking Dead this ain't. Brad Pitt, also the film's producer, is solid as Gerry Lane a former U.N specialist, now family man, faced with the daunting task to save the world from an impending Zombie apocalypse. The U.N calls him up for help, they want Gerry to find the source of the outbreak and possibly get a cure. Gerry wants none of that but the U.N bribes him with safe shelter for his family, but only if he does the job. Of course, like any hollywood macho man would do, he takes the daunting task.

The film is schizo in its ups and downs. It threatens to go off the rails but only does in spades, especially at its wimpy end. Before that, we get enough jolts to almost justify the film's preposterously high budget. Pitt is an actor you can count on, from 12 Monkeys to Snatch, he can commands the screen like not many other actors can. The mystery behind the virus is what drives the film. How did it start? Gerry gets a tip that Israel is the only country in the world to have sustained the outbreak. Gerry goes there to investigate exactly why, the scenes in Jerusalem are terrifyingly real. Just how safe is the holy city? Pitt finds out the hard way. World War Z gets the job done but it could have been so much more. an R rating would have made it twice as exciting. Just watch Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, a film this one is clearly inspired by, for a way to twist the zombie genre up from its arse. World War Z is a spectacle and aims to be that all the way through its 116 minutes. In hollywood it is no small feat to beat advanced toxic buzz. Titanic, The Bourne Identity, Gangs of New York and Avatar come to mind. World War Z is nowhere near the quality of those films, it lacks an intensity that it only hints at. Nevertheless some of its scenes will stick with you for a good, long while after the lights come up.

Summer rumblings

 

Monsters University (G)

Expect to read disappointed write-ups for "Monsters University" when it comes out this coming Friday, a sequel that didn't need to happen yet still did. Listen, it's not a bad film and definitely has its charms but as of late Pixar has been leaning towards more profitable ventures instead of more adventurous, intelligent fare such as WALL-E and UP. It's not rocket science, just go where the money is. 13 years ago "Monsters inc." grossed more than 250 million at the domestic box office. There's your answer, make a sequel. It's not about the creative process anymore as much as it is a numbers game, business as usual. This sequel is actually a prequel of sorts. A how-did-they-become sort of thing. It again follows Sulley and Mike, except this time they're in scare school. Sulley is better at scaring than Mike and they basically argue and bicker the entire film. Any Pixar die-hard will leave the theater with a feeling of dissatisfaction. The film has its moments such as when the "scare games" happen but it all just feels too facile, too generic for Pixar. I laughed a few times and I did care for these characters, If it was any other animation company I wouldn't be complaining as much and would just give it a solid 3 star rating .. but we deserve to expect so much more from this legendary film company.

The Internship (PG-13)

There aren't many laughs in The Internship, a film that reunites the dynamo duo of the Wedding Crashers. Of course I'm talking about Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. They play two schlubs that don't know what to do with their lives and decide to pursue a career at Google. Of course, before getting that coveted job they need to do well with their internship and win over the big wigs. Easier said than done. Everyone interning is over qualified, our two loveable schlubs are not. You're probably asking how the hell did they get in in the first place? Don't ask. In fact, don't ask about the entire movie. It's a complete disaster. A crushing disappointment. A film that is a 90 minute promoting tool for Google. How can a movie that features two of the funniest guys in Hollywood be so .. unfunny? Don't ask. That's basically what The Internship comes down to. There's a reason why it became a box office bomb in just a few week. Don't ask why.

5 things that suck about Zack Snyder's "Man Of Steel"

As you could tell I didn't like this new version of Superman all that much. There are positives, I can think of Kevin Costner's solid performance as Kal-El's father and Henry Cavill who is in fact quite good in the role as the man of steel. However, here are the reasons why it all went wrong and this Superman movie just sucked.

1) Zack Snyder. Sorry movie geeks, the director of 300 and The Watchmen just hasn't made a good movie so far in his young career. Then why even hire him to take on what is arguably the most popular superhero of all superheroes? I can't understand it. Christopher Nolan was set to direct at one point, so were other big name directors but Snyder got the job and what he does in The Man Of Steel is destructive. In the film's first half you have hope as shades of humanity and feeling show with less action and character development. It is in the film's second half that Snyder piles on the action and destructs one building after another. There is nothing subtle about his direction, Michael Bay could have done the same job. The last hour is like Transformers 4, the movie we never saw.

2) The Screenplay. Written by David Goyer -who was credited with re-building the Batman franchise with the Dark Knight series. The script is a confusing mess. It makes a mockery out of what Superman was all about in the first place and turns the story into a sort of alien invasion picture. Blasphemy. Goyer seemed to think that the story he came up could be followed and actually make sense. Nonsense. He brings a real Dark Knight-esque feel to the film's first half, much credit must be given to Christopher Nolan who produced the whole film, but by the film's second half Goyer has far outreached his ambitions. He goes too far with the film's villain and loses the humanity that made superman such a loveable superhero in the first place.

3) The Villain. As played by the always reliable Michael Shannon, General Zod is a wimpy villain. There is nothing frightening about him. There is nothing that makes you believe that he cannot be beaten by Superman. His intentions are outrageous, his reasoning ludicrous. A far cry from the General Zod we saw in Richard Donner's landmark Superman 2 thirty years ago. Shannon chews the scenery knowing that is the only way to make such a poorly written villain come alive. He fails, just like Snyder and Goyer do. Time to go back on the drawing board for the sequel. Maybe bring Doomsday out or Lex Luther.

4) It's too loud and too hyper. Never have I seen -or actually- heard such an assault on the senses. The movie is quite simply the loudest thing I've ever witnessed in a movie theatre. It does not help that Snyder assaults us not only by the ears but the eyes as well. His non stop cutting of frames goes beyond the limit allowed and he hammers us down by film's end with relentlessly unnecessary action that goes on for way too long. By the time the whole thing came to its conclusion I was glad to get the hell out of the theater.

5) Expectations were too high. And so comes another disappointing Superman movie. One who's trailer promised artful subtleness but instead gave us a superman as directed by Michael Bay. Yikes. We need to be faulted too for this. We all hyped it up and jumped into the hype machine in the first place. Did we not realize that Snyder was just not a suitable director for this? Or did we just want to believe that he had it in him to make something good out of it? I think we were lying to ourselves. Who would have thought that Man Of Steel was going to be worse than Bryan Singer's misbegotten Superman Returns from 7 years ago? I sure didn't. Neither did you probably.

Summer Movie Update; "Now You See Me"

Louis Leterrier's Now You See Me is a film that comes with expectations. First of all its cast -Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Melanie Laurent, Woody Harrelson, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine- is filled with talent. Secondly its concept - a magic troupe robbing a bank without actually being there- has so much potential going for it that its trailer might actually fool you into thinking it could be a good movie. Thirdly, I'm a sucker for movies about magic, just look at my ten best list of 2006, you'll find two of them The Illusionist and The Prestige. Those films knew how to fool their audiences and stayed one step ahead of them the entire way through. Now You See Me commits the biggest sin a movie about magic should avoid at all cost, it ends up never staying one step ahead of its audience. We know what's coming every step of the way. We follow it all the way through waiting for the big HAHA moment which never comes. Much of the blame must lie in Louis Leterrier, a filmmaker who's track record includes The Transporter and -yikes- Clash Of The Titans. He films the movie in typical hollywood fashion; all style no substance. There is no magic in Letterier's film and once the final twist shows up we were never fooled, we in fact just never cared in the first place.

"The Great Gatsby" fails to adapt a great book

Where exactly did Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby" (★★) go wrong? Where to begin? This had all the makings of a great movie with its talented cast -Leo, Carey, Tobey !- and a visionary filmmaker at the helm. Where did it all go wrong? Where to begin? Oscar was supposed to be calling come nomination time but now, based on poor reviews, it will likely fail to get any noms safe for a few costume and design attributes. Well, I'll start off by saying that visually "The Great Gatsby" is a treat, Luhrmann has always had a talent for creating visually arresting images just look at his "Moulin Rouge" for a great example. The problem is that the source material didn't need the visual overkill. The novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald had a delicacy to it that Luhrmann completely forgets. Hell, the failed 1974 adaptation -starring Robert Redford- looks more competent compared to Luhrmann's botched, ambitious film. It's a real shame. Luhrmann takes risks that just don't work. He uses a hip hop inspired soundtrack by Jay Z that feels out of place, he miscasts Carey Mulligan as Gatsby's dream girl Daisy, he -uninspiringly- makes it a 3D film and -most importantly- he loses the heart and soul of Fitzgerald's great American novel.

It isn't easy adapting a literary masterpiece into a feature length film. Brian De Palma's "The Bonfire Of The Vanities" and Jonathan Demme's "Beloved" come to mind. Luhrmann's "Gatsby" belongs in the long list -and I mean long- of botched attempts. It isn't surprising that a great American novel translates terribly into celluloid. Sometimes you just need to leave it alone, sometimes a film just can't capture the raw, emotional power that words can bring. The first half of "Gatsby" works terribly, it presents us to an artificial, overtly glamorized and sentimental world that is far from what Fitzgerald first intended. Of course Luhrmann is trying to put his stamp on the story but some things are best left untouched. The setup is brutal but in the film's second half Luhrmann goes more for emotion, character development and his film starts to loosen up a little and feel more real, more intimate. Too little, too late. I wish I could have seen what Dicaprio's Jay Gatsby saw in Daisy, but I didn't. Carey Mulligan is terribly miscast and looks out of place.

I won't be be going any further into the negatives of literary adaptations, instead I've decided to make a list of the films that actually made good on the promise of their source material. These 10 films proved to be more than just a great book, they became a great movie. Some of these were even better than the book. Yes, it does happen. Albeit, only once in a while. Here are some examples -

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
The Godfather
Apocalypse Now
A Clockwork Orange
The Silence Of the Lambs
The Lord Of The Rings
Schindler's List
No Country For Old Men
The Shawshank Redemption
2001: A Space Odyssey

Sequels crowd the summer multiplexes

Sequels are all the rage in theaters this summer. Yea right, tell me something I don't know. If only these very sequels had the attitude of giving a fuck about quality and perception of character, then maybe we wouldn't be complaining so much about how it's business as usual. A sequel isn't necessarily always a bad thing, check out my list of the 10 greatest sequels below and you will change your mind about it. The problem is that MOST of these follow-up films are just another reason for stars to sign up to low rates screenplay to get a big fat paycheck, case in point; The Hangover Part 3  (★)  . Director Todd Phillips is back and so are his stars -Bradley Cooper,, Zach Galafanakis and Ed Helms. The result is a disaster, a screenplay that is lazy and completely devoid of the humor that made the first film so damn good. Ah yes, the good times. Remember when we discovered the original film in the summer of 2009? It was funny, sexy, original and had a freshness that the other two films sadly lacked. That was then, this is now. In The Hangover Part 3 our cast is threatened by John Goodman's gangster who has a grudge against the gang's buddy/criminal underlord Mr.Chow funnily played by the always reliable Ken Jeong in a portrayal filled with racial stereotypes.

No need for me to go much into detail about the plot but suffice to say this is a movie that goes nowhere. It's dead on arrival and has not much to recommend. Safe for Galafanakis' goofy, deliberately mean spirited Alan and the scene stealing Jeong as Mr. Chow, the rest of the cast looks like they don't even want to be there. Not too long after his Oscar nominated turn in Silver linings Playbook and his role in The Place Beyond The Pines, Cooper crushes all the street cred he might have garnered with those movies and shows us just how low an actor can go for a big fat paycheck - but after all this, what I really learned from The Hangover Part 3 is to never get your hopes up for a film franchise that started off on a high but has sheepishly stooped into a low, all that really matters for big studios is how much money will be made and not how good the story can be.

I'm not done. The sixth -yes sixth- Fast And The Furious movie is out in theaters and I did drag my ass to it because 2011's Fast Five delivered surprising jolts in a rio-infused testosterone blast of a blockbuster. Listen, I'm just like you. I do want to be entertained and escape for 2 hours but I also don't want to be cheapened out by watching a product disguised as a movie. The Fast And The Furious 6 (★★) is not crap but it's not good either. It's just that. A film with no brain and no heart that delivers relentless action without ever thinking about a story. That's what made Fast Five such a half assed guilty treat, there was actually a plot. Here it just feels like an excuse of a plot stuffed with car chases, cheesy one liners and a dead character from the past -Michelle Rodriguez's Ledi- coming back to life! Don't ask, it's just an excuse to have an extra cast member and to bring more ridiculousness to the story. The film isn't boring, it's just there. It moves sporadically but doesn't have the energy to warrant a 2 hour plus running time. In fact, just like any sequel I've seen this past summer, the movie is just there. Yea, I know I'm repeating myself here but I kind of like that description, it explains my feeling towards most sequels. Just being there, on the screen, flat and not all that exciting.

People know how rare it is to have a sequel that is better than the original film, yet they still go out in droves to see these mega-blockbusters. Is it because they are filled with blind hope that it will be better than the original? Here's the thing, a mainstream audience likes comfortability. They are too lazy to discover new and better things and would rather go with familiarity. That's why sequels, remakes, reboots and comic book movies are all the rage these days. They triumph over the artistic process. People depend on a safe, familiar formula to get their entertainment. It's a real shame and long gone is the era of the 70's film where creating a movie from an original idea was all the rage. Now if only sequels could have followed the lead of the ten movies below, these films reinvented themselves the second -or third- time around and were complimented by care in the product. It wasn't just about money with these films, they aimed to outdo the original and make art out of the process.

(1) The Godfather Part 2

(2) The Return Of The King

(3) The Dark Knight
(4) Toy Story 2

(5) Spider Man 2

(6) Before Sunset
(7) Terminator 2
(8) Superman 2
(9) Toy Story 3
(10) The Empire Strikes Back

1998

✭✭✭ 1/2
American History X
Saving Private Ryan
The Truman Show
Happiness
A Simple Plan
Shakespeare In Love
Life Is Beautiful
The Thin Red Line

✭✭✭ 
The Spanish Prisoner
A Civil Action
Buffalo 66
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
The Big Lebowski
Festen
Rushmore
Pleasantville
Enemy Of The State
There's Something About Mary
Out Of Sight
Rounders
He Got Game
The Waterboy
Hard Rain
Bulworth
Rush Hour
The Negotiator
Ronin

✭✭
Half-Baked
The Opposite Of Sex
Dark City
Snake Eyes
Following
Pi
Gods And Monsters
The General
A Bug's Life
Blade
Smoke Signals
Living Out Loud
The Parent Trap
The Wedding Singer
Antz
The Butcher Boy
Love and Death on Long Island
Very Bad Things
Your Friends and Neighbors

✭
Beloved
What Dreams May Come
Blade
Lethal Weapon
U.S Marshalls
The Man In The Iron Mask
Bride Of Chucky

Summer kicks off with "Iron Man 3"

It's kind of a funny thing when you think about Robert Downey Jr's story. The drugs, the sex, the crazy partying, the meltdowns - it all led to an insanely triumphant comeback and him becoming an action star playing Iron Man in 3 highly successful movies. It's not like he wasn't talented in the first place. He's made a career of memorable roles. Check out his fake African-American blackface in Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder or even his underseen role in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. The guy has talent. Taking about Kiss Kiss Bang Bang that film's director, Shane Black, has taken over Jon Favreau's duties as director of the newest Iron Man. If Iron Man 2 was a total and utter disappointment, this newest installment seems a bit more fresh and newly invigorated. Not to say that it hits the peaks of the original 2008 film which was one hell of a movie. That one felt fresh, innovative and just downright satirical about the whole superhero genre. Oh how the times have changed. Downey has sort of become a caricature of himself. He's still entertaining to watch but there isn't much freshness to his persona anymore. It helps that Iron Man 3's screenplay is much better written that the last one, much kudos must be given to Shane Black and Drew Pearce who collaborated on the screenplay.

Listen, with all that being said what I'm trying to imply is that it's going to be damn near impossible to reach the heights of the first Iron Man. As far as I'm concerned this is a franchise that can call it quits after this last film, an idea which will probably not be met very graciously by the studio heads given that the series keeps making the big bucks at the box office. In Iron Man 3 the baddies are played by capably brilliant actors -Ben Kingsley and Guy Pierce- that bring a real nice touch to a film that could have easily steered the wrong way. I'm not going to get into the whole plot which involves terrorism held by deeply rooted grudges against Downey's Tony Stark but there's enough meat here to recommend this popcorn movie. Iron Man 3 is sadly part of a summer movie crowd filled with product placements, action figure toys and a safe PG-13 rating. It isn't my kind of movie, it doesn't provoke and raise genuinely human ideas, but I'll still take it over most of the Hollywood drivel that'll get released between now and August 31st.

It's business as usual. The process of commerce over art is nothing new in Hollywood but taking the time to still tell a genuinely interesting story with character development can still be done in what will be a misbegotten summer movie season. No remakes. No reboots. No sequels. Imagine a Hollywood like that, sounds impossible eh? Just pure cinema. This summer expect commerce over art, it just happens. That's why you have to dig deep and find exceptions in the Hollywood studio system, Neil Blobkamp's Elysium, Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim and -yes even- Zack Snyder's The Man Of Steel look like carefully packaged studio products with lots of care and heart put into them. Everything else will most probably be relegated to the idea of business as usual.

12 Movies to Look forward to in Summer 2013

For most cinephiles that look for substance and signs of life in movies, summer is not the ideal movie season. It is a movie season filled with bombastic, popcorn entertainment aimed at horny, action-loving teenagers -and quite a few adults too. You want proof? Adam Sandler and his gang are back for a second round with "Grown-Ups 2", a sixth "Fast and The Furious" movie is coming out, Hugh Jackman is suiting up again for another "Wolverine" movie, and a third "Hangover" is about to attack your local movie theatre. Sequel upon sequel, remake after remake, That's the summer movie season for you. However, don't be discouraged fellow Awardsdaily readers for I have come here with very good news. There are signs of hope, directors trying to break the mold and movies from the studio system that actually look promising. These movies might just make our trips to the theatre a little bit more interesting. They have something most of the other movies don't have; buzz.

The Man Of Steel (June 14th)
Zack Snyder's track record isn't very good. His films -"The Watchmen" "300"- have done very well at the box office but have failed to ignite critics. I still have hope. Judging by the new 3 minute trailer of his upcoming Superman epic "Man Of Steel, producer Christopher Nolan's style has rubbed off on Snyder. This does not look like the sunny, picturesque Superman we saw in 2006's "Superman Returns". Instead, just like in Nolan's Batman trilogy, we have a flawed hero battling more than just the bad guys. The trailer gives hope that this might just be the darkest Superman movie we've ever encountered. I'm crossing my fingers, even with Snyder at the helm.

Only God Forgives (July 19th)
Director Nicolas Winding Refn is one of the hottest directors around. All thanks to his teaming with Ryan Gosling in 2011's retro-noir Drive. That was a great movie filled with luscious, irresistible style. In "Only God Forgives" Refn teams up again with Gosling in a crime-thriller set in Bangkok. Details are very hush hush about the whole thing but how can anyone resist this one. The trailer and newly unveiled neon bright movie poster makes it seem like this will be right up any "Drive" fan's alley. I cannot wait.

Elysium (August 9th)
Neil Blomkamp made one of the best science fiction movies of recent years with 2009's "District 9". This hotly anticipated sophomore effort, "Elysium", stars Matt Damon and Jodie Foster and just like his previous film it explores political themes such as immigration, health care and class issues. Right on. This is the film that might just make or break Blomkamp as a director and show us if "District 9" wasn't a one off hit. It has the potential to be something spectacular. With this kind of ambition and this kind of cast expect a popcorn movie with brains and an abundance of ideas.

The Great Gatsby (May 10th)
So Baz Luhrmann decided to take one of the great literary works of the last 100 years and turn it over its head by adding his trademark mix of glitz and excess. I'll take that over any sequel or remake coming out this summer. Add a great cast that includes the always remarkable Leonardo Dicaprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire and you have a film that might just be remembered come Oscar time. Will this be the Luhrmann that popped our eyes with colorful visuals in 2001's "Moulin Rouge"? or will it be the director that completely bombed with his failed epic "Australia"? I'm not sure but I'm excited to see what he has in store for us.

Before Midnight (May 24th)
This might be the most anticipated sequel for any true movie fan this summer. And guess what? 95% of the general public have no idea that this is even coming out. Amen to that. Director Richard Linklater is a true American maverick and with this movie trilogy he has explored some of the greatest questions we have had about love and relationships. 2004's "Before Sunset" was a great movie but left us with a few questions unanswered. The filmmaking was incredible and the acting solid. In "Before Midnight" our couple is back but this time they are mired in married life and struggle to find the unity they once had.

Fruitvale (July 26th)
Coming off one of the greater Sundance showings in recent memory, in which it won both the Jury Prize and Audience Award, Ryan Coogler's "Fruitvale" is bound for greatness. Taking place on the last day of 2008, the film expores a day in the life of Oscar, a 22 year old Bay resident who crosses paths with family and friends. An air of doom is the ambience here and director Coogler has gotten tremendous praise for this small indie film. It might just be this year's "Precious" or "Beasts Of
The Southern Wild" and we all know how well those movies turned out when it was nomination time.

The Bling Ring (June 14th)
Director Sofia Coppola has not really had an Oscar contender since 2003 when she made the masterful Bill Murray/Scarlett Johanssen love story "Lost In Translation". "Marie Antoinette" and "Somewhere" both garnered mixed reviews and were quickly forgotten come awards time. Inspired by the true story of a group of celeb obsessed teenagers that would track down celebrity homes and rob them,  Coppola's "The Bling Ring" promises to be a return of sorts to the teen angst of her very impressive 2000 debut "The Virgin Suicides". With a cast of mostly unknowns -safe for the very reliable Emma Watson- Coppola will surely try to garner back the acclaim that she once had as a very promising filmmaker. I still think she is.


Frances Ha (May 17th)

Noah Baumbach has never been big with Oscar but his films are more than just that. "The Squid And The Whale" director is a talent that doesn't play by Hollywood's rules. His latest is called "Frances Ha" and it has garnered plenty of solid buzz at film festivals. I have seen it and it is great. A return to form from a director who's last few efforts lacked a little something something. Going back to New york and shooting in beautiful black and white, Baumbach casts his "Greenberg" star Greta Gerwig as a woman in her late 20's looking for herself post college-life. It's a film that greatly describes the dilemma many young women face once college life is over and responsibility kicks in. 

Monsters University (June 21st)

What would summer be without a new release from our favourite film animation company. Pixar has been in a rut as of late. As much as I liked "Brave"it didn't reach the heights of previous Pixar classics such as "WALL-E", "UP" and "Ratatouille". Their penchant for making sequels as of late is also rubbing off on me the wrong way. A "Finding Nemo" sequel is in the works for next year and their dreaded sequel to "Cars" constituted a new low for the film company. Their latest is a sequel to Monsters Inc, a solid film from 13 years ago that didn't really need the back to school treatment. Nevertheless, I'm hoping this doesn't turn out to be a cash grab like "Cars 2" and turns out to be as witty and smart as the first film. 

Pacific Rim (July 12th)

Here's one that could either suck or kick ass. Since director Guillermo Del Toro is a visual wizard -watch "Pan's Labyrinth", "Hellboy" or "The Devil's Backbone"- I'm betting this one will kick ass. Judging by the trailer the plot is all over the place and involves aliens taking over earth and human-controlled robots trying to destroy them. It's not masterpiece theatre nor is it likely an awards contenders but sometimes all need to check your brain at the door and just enjoy the ride. This might just be the ticket. Movie geeks all around the world will be drooling. 

World War Z (June 21st)
Zombies are all the rage these days. In "World War Z" Brad Pitt teams up with director Marc Foster for an apocalyptic Zombie film that is more "28 Days Later" than "Warm Bodies". It has the ingredients to be one hell of a film and if the trailer is any indication we probably won't have much time to catch our breath in this film. I trust Pitt's film choices -safe for "The Mexican" what was that all about?!- and director Marc Foster has proven himself to be a pretty damn competent mainstream filmmaker -Watch "Monster's Ball".

Star Trek - Into Darkness (May 17th)
Who are we kidding here?! The first Star Trek of this newly rebooted franchise was fresh and fun to watch. It even made a bunch of critics top ten lists. JJ Abrams is back as director of the second film and it looks like we might be in for one hell of a ride. Abrams really seems to be coming in on his own as a filmmaker and the trailer makes it look like he's going to be playing with a lot of different colours and images. Expect lots of surprises for this one.

Holy Moses

Cannes 2013

Another great Cannes lineup is upon us. This year you can count on having some new films by such auteurs as Winding Refn, The Coen Brothers, Polanski, Payne, Soderbergh, Gray and Farhadi. The big Prize is the Palme D'Or and it probably is the most prestigious film festival prize in the world. Below is the competition and after that are recent Palme D'Or winners.

Competition:

• Only God Forgives – Nicolas Winding Refn
• Inside Llewyn Davis – Ethan & Joel Coen
• Borgman – Alex Van Warmerdam
• Venus in Fur – Roman Polanski
• Nebraska – Alexander Payne
• Jeune et jolie – François Ozon
• La grande bellezza (The Great Beauty) – Paolo Sorrentino
• Behind The Candelabra – Steven Soderbergh
• Wara No Tate (Shield of Straw) – Takashi Miike
• La vie d’Adèle – Abdellatif Kechiche
• Soshite Chich Ni Naru (Like Father, Like Son) - Hirokazu Kore-eda
• Tian Zhy Ding – Zhangke Jia
• Grisgris – Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
• The Immigrant – James Gray
• Le Passé – Asghar Farhadi
• Heli – Amat Escalante
• Jimmy P. (Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian) – Arnaud Desplechin
• Michael Kohlhaas – Arnaud des Pallières
• Un Château en Italie – Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi

2012 Amour 
2011 The Tree Of life
2010 Uncle Boonmee
2009 The White Ribbon
2008 The Class
2007 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days 
2006 The Wind That Shakes The Barley
2005 The Child
2004 Fahrenheit 9/11
2003 Elephant
2002 The Pianist
2001 The Son's Room
2000 Dancer In The Dark

Pixar, "Finding Dory" and the end of an era?

Pixar ended up revealing earlier last week that they will be making Finding Dory -a sequel to Finding Nemo- set for release in 2015. Which got me thinking .. did we really need this? I've championed Pixar for as long as I can remember, I mean just look at their track record filled with animated classics -WALL-E, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Finding Nemo, Toy Story 1,2,3 and Up. Lately they've taken a liking to making sequels, sure it worked with the Toy Story franchise but it didn't work with the preposterous followup to Cars and this summer a sequel to the playful Monsters Inc. smells of a money grab and there's been talk of a sequel to The Incredibles.

The followup to Finding Nemo -a Pixar classic- has me filled with doubt about its very existence. I really,  truly believe that it is not a priority for them to make sequel after sequel but to make art instead .. yet Disney is probably pushing them hard to make as much money as possible and the safest way to do that is to make a sequel to an already very popular film.  Pixar is at its best when they create a story from scratch. The creative team behind this company is second to none and has gained a great reputation over the years for their mix of art and commerce. The fact that lately they keep piling up the sequels is bad news for anyone that cherishes and sees their films as works of art. So it is then no surprise that news has come out that Disney has layed off most of its hand drawn animation staff - terrible news that only enhances the fact that Pixar will probably be taking over most of the company's animated releases. Which also means that there will be even more pressure on Pixar to perform at the box office - this will all result in more sequels to come and much less emphasis on the artistic process

Of course I hope I'm wrong. I still look forward to a Pixar release every year and DID enjoy last year's innocent but beautifully made Brave. When Pixar started more than 2 decades ago the sky was the limit for the animation studio, they had free reign to do whatever they wanted, could choose stories that were more adult  that any other animated movie around and could take risks that payed off magnificently. Now, it is turning into business as usual as Pixar will be getting more and more pressure from Disney to perform at the box office, let's see how this one turns out but I'm betting there isn't a happy ending to this story.

Roger Ebert 1943-2013

 

Hearing about Roger Ebert's passing yesterday brought back memories. Some very vivid, others very melancholic. I remembered a time when movie criticism meant something and the notion of Friday coming up meant new reviews by Roger Ebert at the Chicago Sun Times. His passing will be felt. No one wrote like him. No one loved movies as much as he did. No one convinced me more to watch a movie as he did. He was the epitome of what film criticism should be about, coming from the old school and integrating himself with the new school -with his world famous, highly intelligent blog- but never losing touch of himself or his ideals.

He never let the nasty, relentless cancer he was battling for close to 10 years get to him. It took his jaw and it took away his speech, but it never took away his breathless words. Words that seemed to come out so effortlessly and with such rigor and passion that you almost hated him out of jealousy for the way he could make you or any other film writer look, like a second-tier fool. We all knew this day would come and so did he, but we didn't want to think about it, we didn't want to believe in a film world without him. Now it has come and it feels like the end of an era. The end of a time when a review could mean something and could change the way your perceived everything around you.

Roger Ebert IS the last breed of film criticism, in a world now filled with wannabes masqueraded as bloggers and high brow types. He lived a long fruitful life that I'm sure he was quite appreciative of. We all know of his unadorned love for his wife Chaz - their marriage looked to be  the example of what a reationship should be like. We all know of his love for not just the movies, but writing. And boy did he write well, no film critic wrote as well as Roger. His explanations and notions of a movie were beautifully written and every review he wrote had a passion that defied everything you might have thought about a movie. He made you rethink it all and want to watch the movie again. THAT is really what a film critic is supposed to do. I will miss Roger Ebert tremendously and as life goes on I will go back to his reviews and remember a time when film criticism meant something. The balcony has been closed.

"Side Effects"

Steven Soderbergh's filmography reads like a true cinematic almanac of the past 20 years. Landmark stuff such as “Traffic”, “Out Of Sight”, “Sex, Lies And Videotape”, “Ocean's Eleven”, “The Limey” and “Erin Brokovich” have given the enigmatic director a truly unique style. So it is sad to hear him say that his latest film –Side Effects- will be his last one and that he will start focusing more on producing and TV. Well if he’s going out, it’s with a real bang. “Side Effects” might just be the twistiest, most playful film of his career. An homage to Hitchcock of sorts. To reveal the plot would be the same as explaining to a newbie what Hitchcock's Psycho is about, you just don’t say anything. You want to know as little as possible about the film going into it, its guilty pleasures are surprising to say the least.

This is probably the best big studio movie I've seen so far in 2013, which doesn’t say much considering its competition is non-existent. Even though “Side Effects” is easily the best Hollywood has come up with so far this year, don’t sweat into thinking it’ll make it to the big dance at the Kodak theatre come next March. Soderbergh’s film is not about awards, it is instead about cinematic jolts and it’s got plenty of them in its 100 minute running time.

The actors do a great job, starting with Rooney Mara as a depressive-suicidal ad agent who's husband just got out of jail. Mara, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Social Network, is an actress with a very bright future. The roles she picks have serious depth and the directors she chooses to work with are very talented. She is fast becoming one of my favourite actresses around and in this particular film you can feel the anger, passion and angst that consumes her on a daily basis. It's an emotionally charged performance that again impressed me a whole lot. Ditto Jude Law, who's been MIA the last few years -what with that whole babysitter scandal- but he brings here real dark humor to his lead role as a psychiatrist prescribing meds left and right. I almost forgot just how good of an actor he is, if there is anyone in this film that deserves a nomination it’s him.

This is an entertaining time at the movies and the way Soderbergh handles the camera fully justifies some of the absurd directions the screenplay goes to, especially at the film's end (WTF). That very screenplay could have used some more polish to explain a little better some of the more dumbfounding plot holes. Nevertheless, this is just really well done filmmaking from a director that is a master at his craft. Soderbergh has had a great impact on American cinema in the past 25 years, he is one of the few American directors left that I would truly consider as an “auteur”. I hope this this isn’t the last we hear of him.

AN IMAGE - Cannes 66

What a beauty of a poster to kick start what will most likely be another great Cannes Film Festival -the 66th one! Movie buffs will revel in the kiss shared between Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward from 1963's little seen A New Kind Of Love. A beautiful poster that took my breath away the first time I saw it. Director Melvin Shavelson's film might not be a masterpiece but it is remembered for this great kiss between Woodward and Newman. Leave it to the folks over at the Cannes Festival to make art out of advertisement. Now if only I can find a way to get that poster. As for the fest itself, it starts on the 15th of May and ends on the 26th of that month - it was recently announced that Baz Lhurmann's long delayed adaptation of The Great Gatsby will open the fest. The rest of the lineup has not been announced but is eagerly anticipated as it always produces new work from great auteurs.