Category Archives: Movie Review

Movie Review: Elysium

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Futuristic sci-fi films wouldn’t be much fun if they imagined the best possible scenario for the future. “Elysium” might be one of the bleakest versions of Earth’s future shown on screen.

It’s approaching the end of the 21st century, and Earth has become extremely overpopulated. Mankind is plagued by disease and pollution. Los Angeles, where the film is primarily set, looks like a third world country. The sleek, electronic buildings that lit up futuristic Los Angeles of “Blade Runner” are nowhere to be found. The tallest buildings we see are nothing but carved out skyscrapers now filled with shantytown homes.


Not everyone is doomed, though. A select few get to go live in Elysium, which is a utopian space station suspended above Earth that looks like a giant recreation of Beverly Hills. Everyone on Earth watches Elysium in wonder while nobody in Elysium can bother to ever look down at the place they once called home.

Max (Matt Damon), who for some reason is the protagonist, dreamed about going up to Elysium ever since he was a little boy. Now, he’s a grown up and he’s still stuck on Earth. He’s one of the lucky few to have a job, which he trudges to everyday while getting pick pocketed by a swarm of people speaking assorted languages (mainly Spanish).

“Elysium” is no easy place to get to. The hardline Secretary of Defense (Jodie Foster) won’t let any illegal civilian step aboard the space station. She is so insistent on this that in a particularly disturbing scene, she releases a series of bombs on a group of ships filled with innocent people.

The space station is almost too good to be true. Not only does it look like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, but it even has machines that can heal anything from broken bones to cancer. Max gets lucky and ends up in the middle of a freak nuclear accident that gives him only a few days to live, unless he goes to Elysium. Now, he has a real excuse to get up there.

“Elysium” is the second film from South African director Neil Blomkamp. Blomkamp wowed me in 2009 with his debut feature “District 9.” “Elysium” is not perfect, but it’s not fair to call it a sophomore slump. It is filled with great ideas that unfortunately aren’t fully elaborated on. The most disappointing part is to see this nearly fully realized world go to waste. The film is called “Elysium” and Max spends so much time wanting to get there, yet so little is seen of it. Also, the idea of a Los Angeles that looks more like Mumbai is fascinating to me and I would have loved more of it, or even a more expanded view of what the rest of the world looked like at that time. A futurist should be as particular about details as a historian is.

Perhaps some of the universe building troubles stem from the story. “Elysium” is bogged down by a heist plot that boils down to computer hacking on about the same level of silliness as “Independence Day.”* What made a dystopia film like “Children of Men” so great is that exploration of the world was part of the story. “Elysium” limits itself to cold, gray corridors and the insides of rocket ships.** Not to mention that for an action film, “Elysium” has very little action.

Everyone involved in “Elysium” is doing the best they can, especially the actors, who deal with some weak material. Max feels like a generic action hero when Damon is capable of so much more. Not to mention, his love of Frey (Alice Braga), which should be the heart of the film, ends up being quite hollow. Yet, Jodie Foster manages to do a lot with a little and ejects her villain with icy apathy towards the struggles of others by using so few words. The real show stealing performance though comes from Sharlto Copley as the wild card Kruger. This is a complete turnaround from his aloof hero in “District 9.” He crafts a villain who is sometimes funny but can also be frightening just by the way he looks at you. If anyone from this proved to be leading man material, its Copley.

Looking back, “Elysium” at least gives you enough to paint a decent idea of what humanity is like at the time. You just have to look very closely at the small snippets. The best example comes after Max is arrested by two robot cops and then goes to police headquarters, only to go and talk to a voice box. This felt farcical yet totally plausible. “Elysium” shows a future where people are fractured because of lack of communication, whether that’s because technology has replaced most jobs or rich white people have decided to create their own planet. Had “Elysium” explored this more it would have transcended originality and been flat out revelatory. Instead, like many other blockbusters that try really hard to be important, “Elysium” just ends up with a jumbled message.

*I call it silly just because “Independence Day” came out at a very different time for computer technology. Let me just clarify how much I love “Independence Day.”
**No offense to rocket ships.

Movie Review: Fruitvale Station

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“Fruitvale Station” is based on a true story. I didn’t know that before I saw it, given that I am an idiot who sometimes forgets to read the news. It’s not necessary to know the story before you see it, but some knowledge would definitely help. In short, “Fruitvale Station” is about a standoff between some Bay Area cops and a few young black men at a train station in Oakland that ended in a tragic death.

That is just a short answer to what “Fruitvale Station” is about, and an answer that does not really give it justice. It’s about the last day in the life of Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan), which also happened to be on the last day of 2008. It is also about humanizing the dead and finding empathy by creating context. Oscar’s final day is filled with little moments that normally wouldn’t mean much in terms of one’s entire life. However, they mean the world in someone’s final hours.


Oscar had been in and out of jail many times. He is constantly marred by financial woes and an inability to stay out of trouble. Despite his criminal nature, Oscar can best be described as a family man. He loves his girlfriend Sophina (Melonie Diaz), even if he drives her crazy. He’ll pay for his mother’s (Octavia Spencer) birthday dinner even when he’s broke. Most importantly, he makes sure to send his young daughter Tatiana (Ariana Neal) to private school.

“Fruitvale Station” moves slowly, but it is full of those small, important defining actions. A scene where he personally helps a customer on his off day at his supermarket job may seem like a detour, but it shows his surprising amount of caring, even for strangers. It is all subtle buildup (saying it is manipulation wouldn’t be fair) for what’s to come.

This is a film that definitely creeps up on you and makes you put your defense down because it is a surprisingly warm film throughout. It celebrates culture and family. First time writer and director Ryan Coogler nails everything from the dialect to the food in such a detailed way that you would have sworn that he had lived in the Grant household and followed Oscar around the streets of Oakland for most of his short life. As Oscar, Michael B. Jordan gives life and love to Coogler’s script. Even when he’s doing something nasty, there is always a compassion in Jordan’s demeanor that makes it so easy to instantly forgive Oscar. No matter where the film took me, I never wanted to turn against him.

Unfortunately, “Fruitvale Station” is painfully short. I say painfully because I know that there was so much more story that could have been filled in before, in between, and after. While the film is just meant as an encapsulation of one day in Oscar Grant’s life, it felt like there was a lot more going on below the surface that it neglected to bring up. Perhaps Coogler felt that bringing too much up would hurt the film, which is meant to simply glance at all of the events as is. Yet, “Fruitvale Station” doesn’t feel completely objective.

There are certain points in the film where it feels like the fly leaves the wall to start picketing. Now, there’s nothing wrong with a film having a strong social message. However, debates that deeply explore the merits of both sides tend to be much more interesting and thought provoking. A scripted film should never be a PSA. Even if you agree with the point a film is making, it is hard to enjoy when it feels like you’re being preached to.

If you want to see a film that expounds these ideas even further, watch “American History X” instead. “Fruitvale Station” would be a little more like a modern “Do the Right Thing” if it asked the right questions. “Fruitvale Station” looks at race relations and misunderstanding during a time when everyone has a cell phone that can record everything and then be sent everywhere. What “Fruitvale Station” neglects to explore is how easy it is to misinterpret something when watching it on such a tiny screen.

“Fruitvale Station” definitely does justice to Oscar Grant. Bringing a tragedy such as this one to light is one of the most important functions that any film can offer. Yet, when a film only asks one-sided questions, it falls into the trap of reenactment.

Movie Review: Blue Jasmine

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“Blue Jasmine” begins as Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) lays out the entire exposition of her life. It’s a little odd because she’s not talking to anyone. She’s not even talking to the camera. She’s just talking to herself, in hopes that some random passerby will accidentally be dragged into her delusional vanity.

Woody Allen has a drawer filled with hundreds of ideas in his room. I wouldn’t be surprised if he just handpicked one at random every year. However, this seemed like a nearly perfect time to release “Blue Jasmine.” It’s context is the Financial Crisis. It came out far enough away to not seem like a cheap, timely story but close enough to it where it is still relevant.


Despite this, “Blue Jasmine” is about people, not politics. After the imprisonment of her investment banker husband Hal (Alec Baldwin), a swindler akin to Bernie Madoff, Jasmine is thrown into the real world for the very first time. She trades a ritzy Manhattan apartment for a significantly smaller one in San Francisco with her sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins). And for the first time in her life, she finds herself looking for a job. While doing this, her anxieties and neuroses slowly begin to take hold of her.

As Jasmine, Cate Blanchett gives a wunderkind performance. It’s the kind of acting that breaks a lot of hearts and wins a lot of awards. Watching her here is like watching an emotionally unstable child: you never know when she’s going to snap. It is this part of her performance that ends up being so heartbreaking, because nobody knows less about what is going to happen to Jasmine than Jasmine herself. At a few points, she even partakes in the Kubrick Stare.

Blanchett is joined by an ensemble as good as any seen in a Woody Allen movie. As usual, Baldwin can be a menacing figure even when he’s being nice. As Ginger’s ex-husband Augie, Andrew Dice Clay provides some of the film’s most surprising moments of comic relief. No surprise, Louis C.K. is a standout here. Surprisingly, it’s for a much more serious role. As Ginger’s romantic fling, C.K. is sweet and vulnerable, displaying a very different persona than the one he presents to the world onstage.

 “Blue Jasmine” is one of the darkest films Woody Allen has ever made, and he’s made ones where people are murdered right in front of our faces. In “Blue Jasmine,” some of the most horrifying things are simply implied. “Blue Jasmine” reminded me of a similarly titled film, “Blue Velvet,” which pulled back the curtains on suburbia and exposed the darkness beneath. Similarly, “Blue Jasmine” pulls back the overly expensive curtains on the upper class and exposes the pain, shallowness, and phoniness. According to “Blue Jasmine,” materialism can actually drive a person insane.

Woody Allen has been well known throughout his career for writing excellent female characters. I believe it is partly because he seems to know women so well. But also, he puts little pieces of himself into all of his characters. Jasmine’s fears might just be a more elevated version of anything Alvy Singer was thinking about in “Annie Hall.”

There is an inherent sadness to many of the female characters in “Blue Jasmine.” While they are strong characters, they are also victims of circumstance and deceitful men. It’s as if they are in a sleepwalking mode of helplessness. And once both Jasmine and Ginger awaken for the first time, they both get sucked back in. Dependence is a deadly trap but for them, dependence equals comfort without question.

Woody Allen likes to make films that tell two stories at once that both reflect on one another. Whether it is “Crimes and Misdemeanors ” which tells two separate stories, one as a comedy and one as a drama, or “Blue Jasmine,” which reflects on two different characters similar mistakes in the past and present. Sometimes, it is hard to tell which story is which, because they blend so well together.

Through this film, Allen beautifully expresses the struggle of comfort versus happiness, and whether or not they can go hand-in-hand, or if they are mortal enemies. As the film moves along, Jasmine’s mental illness overtakes her. But the crazier she becomes, the more she seems to be able to see the truth. It’s like in “Silver Linings Playbook,” that those who best understand the world are those who are maybe a little bit crazy. At one point in the film, Jasmine says she got her name from the eponymous flower, which only comes to life in darkness. Woody Allen would probably make fun of me and call me a “pseudo-intellectual” for looking to far into that statement, but Jasmine definitely becomes enlightened as her life spirals further out of control.

Movie Review: The Way Way Back

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Every time I catch myself wishing that I could spend a whole summer at a beach house, I realize I might have to deal with a lot of annoying summer vacation movie cliches. That’s what “The Way Way Back” feels like: a first draft of a decent summer coming of age comedy. This might be acceptable on some occasions, except that this comes from Jim Rash and Nat Faxon, who just won their deserved first Oscars for “The Descendants.”

“The Way Way Back” opens with a promising moment of fine character establishment. Duncan (Liam James) sits slumped in the back seat as his mom’s boyfriend Trent (Steve Carell) asks him to rank himself from 1 to 10. Duncan says he’d be a 6 but Trent calls him a 3. It’s an uncomfortable moment in a film that’s filled with awkwardness. The moment works especially well because Carell, who plays against type, truly sells it by acting like he truly believes he’s helping Duncan out. He’s just one of the many oblivious parents that populate the film.


Along with Trent, Duncan is accompanied by his mother (Toni Collette) and his step sister, who’s essentially a teenage bully. Surprisingly, it is not the family, but their neighbors that make up the most entertaining part of the movie. Both Allison Janney, as walking TMI Betty, and her young son Peter (River Alexander), an overconfident goofball, steal every scene they’re in. Betty’s daughter Susanna (Anna Sophia Robb) is the girl next door to the lonely Duncan. For someone who is supposed to be a love interest, she sure is dull. It’s often hard to tell who’s side she’s on as she weirdly switches between happiness and sulkiness at a moment’s notice.

Duncan doesn’t have any friends. None of the adults can figure out why, even though it seems pretty obviously to have something to do with the absence of his father. Duncan mainly wanders aimlessly and one day decides to get a job at a water park. It never really makes sense as to why Duncan gets the job, but it’s most likely because he meets Owen (Sam Rockwell), who is the coolest person imaginable. He’s like a surrogate older brother and father to Duncan at the same time.

The workplace scenes are the best the film has to offer. Maybe I’m biased, because they reminded me of my days spent lifeguarding in high school. Some of the characters at the waterpark remind me of people I know and worked with. Yet, some of them remain nothing more than caricatures. There’s nothing wrong with goofy characters, but they can never leap off the screen unless they have clearer motives and seem like real people. So for now, Jim Rash is nothing but the lonely old employee and Maya Rudolph is nothing but the boss with a stick up her butt. Even Owen, who is a standout thanks to Rockwell’s performance, seems like a shell of a human, because his man child nature is barely glossed over.

It is also problematic that Liam James can’t make our lead character likable or even relatable. It’s not a problem that Duncan is awkward. The real problem is that it takes so long for him to open up that the moments of silence were just making me cringe. While silence can sometimes be more powerful than words, too much of it can lead to a lot more to be desired. Also, James never fully gets us on Duncan’s side. Duncan’s eventual outburst feels misplaced, as if they were scrambling for a proper moment in the film for it.

This is all a shame, given that “The Way Way Back” is written and directed by the excellent duo of Jim Rash and Nat Faxon. Both of them managed to bring the characters of “The Descendants” to life with such love and detail that they transcended all Hawaiian stereotypes. It is surprising that they couldn’t do the same with all the Cape Cod vacationers.

“The Way Way Back” certainly has its moments. I usually like movies which put great detail into the little things. However, there just isn’t enough to equal a complete whole. Good movies like that will let all the little details come together to complete the picture. “The Way Way Back” focuses too much on moments, and not enough on coherence.

Movie Review: Pacific Rim

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A movie is not just what it’s about, but how it’s about. “Pacific Rim” isn’t good because it’s about monsters fighting robots, it’s good because of the way it shows monsters fighting robots. Yes, robots fight monsters. Yes, cities are destroyed. Yes, you may jump for joy.

“Pacific Rim,” is the latest feature from genre mastermind Guillermo del Toro, who made The Pale Man of “Pan’s Labyrinth  the subject of everyone’s nightmares. It is the equivalent of a young boy playing with his action figures: it is filled with awe-inspiring imagination, but its story is just a little bit on the faulty side.

In terms of action movies, “Pacific Rim” is more “Aliens” than “Alien”: it’s about spectacle, not subtlety. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as this is the essence of every most major summer blockbusters since the 1980s. “Pacific Rim” has no limits, and its scope is often stunning. Del Toro clearly cares so much about perfecting this world and then tearing it to pieces.


“Pacific Rim” made me realize something very important that pertains to the modern film industry: just because something is new, it doesn’t mean its original. “Pacific Rim” is not a sequel, remake, or adaptation of any kind. It comes straight from Del Toro’s mind. Yet, what makes this story different than “Independence Day”? Is it the fact that the aliens come from down below instead of from up above? The only thing missing from the opening as Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) crouches over the body of his dead brother (Diego Klattenhoff) is a high pitched “NOOOOO!!!” Despite this, human truly rises to the occasion. He has what it takes to become a blockbuster star.

“Pacific Rim” doesn’t have a bad story. The problem with it is that it goes in so many different directions and never settles in one place. The film opens with a montage that is interesting but maybe a little too short. Monsters called Kaiju (literally the Japanese word for “monster”) have escaped through a portal in the Pacific Ocean and are destroying every major city they can find. So, you can guarantee that the Golden Gate Bridge will go down in the first five minutes.

Yet, “Pacific Rim” is not only about the destruction, but the resistance. In order to fight back, humans build robots called Jaegers (Japanese for “fighter”). The Jaegers are controlled by two pilots who operate it through their minds, in what looks like a much cooler version of a virtual reality game. The mind control and mind-linking stuff can be a little confusing sometimes, but Del Toro and co-writer Travis Beacham constantly invent new rules to prevent them from following into plot holes. Also, there’s always a bunch of guys yelling things at computer screens. So there’s that.

“Pacific Rim” can be labeled as a neurological blockbuster, with every character always trying to link mind and metal. This is by far the most intriguing part about “Pacific Rim.” In one scene, Raleigh finds himself inside a memory of his partner Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi). In this memory, she is a child who hides from a Kaiju that destroys her city. The scene is illuminated by terror and dust that falls like snow. It is beautiful and graceful and mesmerizing. It is staged in a way that every action movie and thriller should be staged from now on. Unfortunately, it is the only scene of this kind in the entire film.    

The complexity is dropped pretty early on. Because of this, the story never becomes convoluted  However, the story instead relies on a lot of simplistic action tropes. This hurts some of the characters, who are actually stronger than the average blockbuster stick figure. Yet, Idris Elba’s Pentecost is stuck in “angry lieutenant” mode, serving to tell his subordinates that they’re off the job every time they don’t play by the rules. The only one who never slips into cliche is Kikuchi as Mori, who’s given the most interesting and disturbing backstory. I must give a big round of applause to Charlie Day, who provides comic relief as mad scientist type Dr. Newton Geiszler (it’ll take you a bit of time for you to get over that isn’t the same Charlie from “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”), as well as Ron Perlman, who basically steals the show as Hannibal Chau, who’s profession is just as strange as his name.

As many others have said, Del Toro is basically a big kid. His excitement for the kaiju genre is tangible and completely sincere. Del Toro is also a master storyteller, so maybe I am being a bit harsh on him. However, that is only because I know he is capable of much better. Ambition is a much needed thing for the movie industry, but it shouldn’t substitute brains.

All in all, “Pacific Rim” may be the most watchable blockbuster of this season. Nobody can doubt the aesthetic, especially the score, which is an instant classic. I feel better about the film overall when I think about it for what it was, as opposed to what it could have been. After all, wishful thinking can only get you so far, especially when there’s giant robots and monsters fighting right in front of your eyes.

Movie Review: Frances Ha

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At a very brief glance, “Frances Ha” is nothing more than a walking indie film trope. “Frances Ha” has everything that indie filmmakers love: ukeleles, Paris, children of divorce.”

I’m one to talk, as I consume movies like this a little too much. However, what seperates “Frances Ha” from the rest is its ambition and, despite its aimless characters, it actually has a good amount to say. Unfortunately, a lot of those things are left unsaid.

Dramedy is not the right word for “Frances Ha.” Tragicomedy would be a better way to put it, despite the fact that not many big, tragic events occur during its short running time. “Frances Ha” is filled with a lot of sad characters who are stuck in ruts. Yet, Noah Baumbach manages to find little bits of humor in all of the depression that always work so well. He is not just showing how these people live, but also prodding at them a little bit.


Director Noah Baumbach has clearly found his muse in Greta Gerwig, who co-wrote the film with Baumbach and stars as Frances. The two first collaborated on “Greenberg,” but “Frances Ha” works a little better. Baumbach is better at portraying ennui in his hometown of New York than in Los Angeles.

Unlike Greenberg and many other of Baumbach’s characters, Frances is not a complete loner. Her friendship with Sophie (Mickey Sumner) can best be described as co-dependent. Or in their own words, they’re like “a lesbian couple that doesn’t have sex anymore.” Their career goals couldn’t be more different: Frances wants to be a dancer and model, and Sophie hopes to one day run the publishing industry. These are the kind of goals the people in their 20s that live in Brooklyn have.

“Frances Ha” is mainly about how the friendship between Frances and Sophie deteriorates as Sophie moves on but Frances doesn’t. Frances becomes a drifter, going from apartment to apartment and couch to couch. Most notably, she stays with Lev (Adam Driver) and Benji (Michael Zegen), two aspiring artists who are kept afloat because of their rich parents.

“Frances Ha” explores an idea also explored in the very similar “Girls” that the spoiled seem to be the only ones who have the time to pursue artistic dreams. Frances is the rare poor artist. Yet, nobody seems to appreciate their opportunities when they come about. Benji gets a chance to send in a skit to “Saturday Night Live,” yet he doesn’t even seem to care if he gets it because he thinks the show isn’t as good as it used to be. Shockingly, this is something that people actually say.

As Sophie, relative newcomer Sumner makes a big impression. She can portray straight-laced heartbreak even when she seems absolutely calm. Meanwhile, Gerwig once again proves herself to be one of the most underrated actresses working today. One of my biggest problems with the film was that it’s opinion on Frances wasn’t always very clear. Gerwig knows when to make her likable and hatable. Sometimes, she can do both at the exact same time.

Unlike Baumbach’s past works, “Frances Ha” actually comes with a sense of relative closure. I have always had mixed feelings about Baumbach’s work, yet I always find myself excited about whatever new film he has planned. Ever since I saw “The Graduate,” I’ve been attracted to characters who don’t know what they want to do with their life. It’s the opposite of the uber-confidence that is usually considered to be the norm. It’s always refreshing to see someone admit that they have no idea what they’re doing. Deep down, we all feel the exact same way.

Movies with aimless characters only work if they have a point. “Frances Ha” works because it has a point. However, I still don’t quite know how Baumbach and Gerwig actually feel about Frances. There is no one there to really call her out ever. There is no Greek Chorus to tell the audience how to feel, which is good in one way, but bad in other ways. The film cycles through a lot of different characters in its short yet ambitious running time, but it often doesn’t take a second to let us know who they are and what their stance is. Frances spends a long time back home in Sacramento, but never once do they seem worried that their 27-year-old daughter is basically broke.

Yet, the flaws of the film still don’t hold it back too far. This is the first time Baumbach has shed more hope than cynicism into one of his films. Not to mention, it has the best soundtrack of any film so far this year and some really whip smart dialogue. At one point, Frances mentions that Walden Pond, where Henry David Thoreau lived and wrote in seclusion, was actually only five minutes away from his mother’s house. “Frances Ha” wants to be the voice of all twenty-somethings who aren’t nearly as independent as they think they are. You’ll probably connect to it, as long as you’ve ever lived in the vicinity of Brooklyn.

Movie Review: The Heat

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Most buddy cop comedies are about to mismatched cops who can’t follow the rules. But what if the movie itself, can’t even follow the rules? “The Heat” proves that the results are dangerously and potentially hilarious.
While “The Heat” is a buddy cop comedy, I’d say it’s more like “Superbad” than “21 Jump Street.” However, the buddy aspect is more important than the procedural part. Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) and Mullins (Melissa McCarthy) only follow the buddy cop formula slightly. Sure, the movie teams up a brash cop with an uptight one, yet neither of them really play by the rules. Ashburn is something of a detective prodigy, but she’s maligned by most of the people she works with. You know someone is lonely when they have to steal their neighbor’s cat for company. 
Mullins, meanwhile, is equally good at sniffing out criminals, she’s just a little worse at keeping them from escaping. She may be is insanely over-the-top, but this is a role that McCarthy was meant to play. She gives it just the right amount of heart and never seems irritating.

Bullock and McCarthy have a dynamic, almost natural chemistry together that I certainly did not expect. If the two of them didn’t work well together, the script would have felt flat. It is clear that the two of them are not just partners, but growing friends.
Let’s back up for a moment. This is a comedy first and foremost. And on that, it delivers in every way possible. A large part of comedy is about debasement, and both lead actresses of “The Heat” are more than willing to get down and dirty for laughs. The bad thing about most action comedies is that they often put all of the jokes in the first half and then get weighed down by serious plot in the second half. “The Heat” never loses its comedy momentum, and it brilliantly adds comedy to some of its most tense scenes. I challenge everyone to make a stabbing scene as funny as one that happens in “The Heat.”
“The Heat” is an example of perfect harmony between the three parts of the Holy Trinity of any movie: Director, Writer, and Actors. The writer lays out the blue print, the director brings the blue print to life as he or she sees it, and the actors bring meaning and humor to the words. With “The Heat,” TV writer Katie Dippold (“Parks and Rec”) makes a seamless transition to the big screen. After this movie, she will be one of Hollywood’s most sought after screenwriters. She brings over her expertise from TV by bringing life to an entire ensemble, as opposed to just two characters. 

Her style works perfectly with director Paul Feig’s. Feig always enjoys letting the camera run so he can capture an honest moment. While many scenes go well beyond their natural breaking point, they rarely feel unnecessarily long. The more a scene builds, the more we learn about the characters. Dippold’s strong ear for dialogue perfectly aligns with Feig’s ability to capture “real” moments. I hope to see more movies from this creative team in the very near future.
Just like any good script, “The Heat” is all about the buildup and the payoffs. Mullins never curses throughout the movie, only saying “what the F” whenever she can. So you can guarantee that when she finally does drop a real f-bomb, it’s going to be worth the wait. Even with all the humor (a lot of it deriving from improper use of knives), “The Heat” leads to a surprisingly moving conclusion. 
“The Heat” amounts to a whole lot of riffing. However, what keeps it from being nothing more than a two hour gag reel is that it is stringed together by a pretty decent plot. While I didn’t care that much about who had the drugs and whatever, every character is well developed enough that the stakes do matter. 
As the years go by, Paul Feig gets better and better as a director. Like his contemporary Judd Apatow, he is striving to create a comedy family. A large part of “The Heat” is about Mullins’ big, loud Boston family and family values overall. Like any good family, “The Heat” is warm and inviting even in the midst of its insanity. This is a great comedy because it is dark, but never quite filled with contempt.

Movie Review: The Kings of Summer

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Stay out of my territory.
In the opening of “The Kings of Summer,” Joe (Nick Robinson) stand in the shower with a hairdo reminiscent of Ferris Bueller. Yet, while he is at a similar age, Joe is nothing like Bueller, he can’t fit in with anybody.

“The Kings of Summer” is a lovable film that some annoying critic will probably call “The king of summer movies!” it’s a childhood fantasy rooted in reality. It’s like “Moonrise Kingdom” except here you don’t have to pay as much attention to what color clothing everyone is wearing.


“The Kings of Summer” takes place in a small Ohio town that’s a little too picturesque to be a small Ohio town. Most high school movies take place over the course of one day, usually on either the very first or the very last day of school. “The Kings of Summer” instead takes place during the entire summer between freshman and sophomore year. Here, the humiliation of high school you try to forget about lasts more than one day. And there’s no getting out of it anytime soon.

Joe can’t take it anymore, and he is especially affected by his sad, lonely father Frank (Nick Offerman, who brings three dimensional misery to the role), He takes his best friend Patrick (Gabriel Basso) and mysterious weirdo Biaggio (Moises Arias) to build a house and start a new life in the middle of the woods. Their new isolated home could best be described as an Island of Misfit Toys. All three kids deserve much praise. Robinson carries the entire movie. But the biggest standout is Arias, who I believe will become a big star after this. As the characters preconceived notions about Biaggio start to dissipate, so do the audience’s. Perhaps part of what is cool about Biaggio is how little is explained about him. For example, he is shown speaking Spanish to his father, who speaks back to him in English. That could mean any number of things.

For a film with such a small budget, “The Kings of Summer” sure does make good use of it. It portrays the forest with the kind of pristine beauty you’d usually only find from Terrence Malick. Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts is as obsessed with the forest as he is with telling this story the whole way through. The small character-driven moments are of equal importance. Perhaps one of the most important moments in the film is when Frank argues with a Chinese food delivery man about the size of the Wontons that he’s given him. It takes a lot to say so much about a person by what they think about a bowl of soup. Not to mention when he finally eats that giant wonton, the sadness and desperation just creepily make it seem like the infamous octopus scene from “Oldboy.”

“The Kings of Summer” is certainly one of the most consistently surprising films I have seen in theaters in a long time. For instance, there’s a predator in the woods that’s hinted at throughout, but it doesn’t end up doing what you thought it would do.

Besides “Ferris Bueller,” “The Kings of Summer” had me thinking of another great coming-of-age film from the 80s: “Stand By Me,” in that there is so much one can learn about themselves when separated from the rest of civilization. “The Kings of Summer” is a fairly real look at the teenage years of one’s life. It doesn’t rap everything up in a pretty bow. In the end, everyone seems happy, but not everyone gets what they want.

Movie Review: This is the End

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Movies can teach us a lot about ourselves. For example, “This is the End” taught me that I will actually enjoy the site of Michael Cera being impaled. As long as it is preceded by him slapping Rihanna’s ass and trying to give drugs to McLovin. Maybe what I’m trying to say here is that I am a terrible person. Or maybe it is that celebrity is whatever you make of it. I don’t know, I’m not a celebrity.

Much has been said in the press about “This is the End,” but nothing could prepare for this one shocking twist: the star of the movie is actually Jay Baruchel. While his leading role in “Undeclared” might not have helped, perhaps this will finally give him the recognition he deserves as an actor. 

“This is the End” is a Hollywood satire where all of the actors play themselves. That would seem incredibly self-congratulatory, if it wasn’t for the fact that the actors don’t try and make themselves look like saints. The film begins as Seth Rogen walks through an airport to meet his best friend Jay Baruchel. Seth is accosted by a man with a camera (who I assume is from TMZ). The man asks Seth why he plays himself in every movie he’s in. Rogen co-wrote the film, and is clearly aware of what people think of him, as does everyone else involved.
In the film, Seth and Jay’s relationship is based off of them drifting apart. Seth has new friends now, and Jay wonders whether or not he is still in the picture. This is the same separation anxiety that made up “Superbad,” another film that was co-written by Rogen and his best friend Evan Goldberg. Every film they write together also serves to show how their friendship grows and changes. In a film that contains a lot of false perceptions, the truest part of it is this friendship.

Seth and Jay’s first stop is James Franco’s house. Here, Franco is as weird and artsy as everyone thinks he is. However, he’s more obsessed with Seth Rogen than he is with himself. It’s equal parts creepy and hilarious. Franco is both earnest and funny all while being a huge dicknose. Who knew someone could show such range while playing themselves?

While Rogen and Goldberg are pro writers, “This is the End” is their first stab at directing. The two blend together as directors as well as they do as writers, which is why it always seems like a singular vision. The two of them strongly embrace buildup. The apocalypse doesn’t happen for a little while, which provides plenty of time to understand Jay and Seth’s friendship as well as both of their relationships to everyone else around them. It is in this time period where the film truly gets its heart. Action films, comedies, and well, most films in general could learn a lot Rogen and Goldberg: it’s good to know the characters before you let the bodies hit the floor.

“This is the End” is a great Inside Hollywood comedy because it never goes meta. It’s less about the wink and more about the inviting nod. For every joke about “Flyboys,” there is also an extended riff about Danny McBride’s use of James Franco’s bathtub. In fact, by making a bunch of celebrities face the apocalypse, the film shows that they aren’t that special after all. What also keeps “This is the End” from becoming too much of an in-joke is how carefully crafted all of these fictitious personas are. Clearly Michael Cera doesn’t treat Rihanna like that. I’ll have to get back to you on James Franco’s weird taste in art.

At a time when Hollywood is creepily obsessed with the end of the world (see: “Oblivion,” “After Earth”*), it is refreshing to see a film that doesn’t take ridiculous apocalyptic scenarios so seriously. Yet, Rogen and Goldberg still manage to lay out all of the rules of this new world with so much detail. And the vision is so inspired. Just take the demons: they look exactly like the beasts from “Ghostbusters,” but with one major exception (you’ll understand when you see it).

“This is the End” clocks in at just under two hours and the length feels neither too long nor too short. In terms of its characters, it gets nearly as much done in that running time as any season of any TV show. Plain and simple: this is high concept comedy at its absolute best.

*Actually, don’t see “Oblivion” or “After Earth”

Movie Review: Star Trek Into Darkness

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With all of the angry insistance of “you HAVE to see this!” that goes around in popular culture nowadays, it is always nice to see something that is more inviting than exclusive. So far, J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” has been great for old fans* while it also creates new ones.

Laying out the entire plot of “Star Trek Into Darkness” here would be of no use, as there are too many details that I am afraid I will give away. The opening scenes involve a chase by some indigenous people through a colorful forest that leads into the center of an active volcano. Now, movies don’t tend to kill of their main characters before the opening credits, especially if that character is Spock (Zachary Quinto), but I was surprised to find out that that was not a simulation as I thought it would be.


Something that worked for me about “Into Darkness” is that it doesn’t get bogged down in cinematic tropes. While there are love interests here, there is no real central love story. The lack of romance allows the film to focus on the most important element in all of “Star Trek”: the strange friendship between Spock and Kirk (Chris Pine).

However, this story is of course not without external conflict. In “Into Darkness,” the Enterprise battles against the genetically superior Khan, who is played by brilliant casting choice Benedict Cumberbatch.** Cumberbatch plays Khan with a level of terrifying restraint. Cumberbatch embraces the idea that the best villains don’t speak much because when they actually do, everyone listens. However, a little more screen time for him wouldn’t have hurt anyone.

While I do not know much about the original Khan, I can say that this Khan is a somewhat complex villain. At least that’s what would happen if you were a genetic creation by man and never really governed by much free will. Khan isn’t quite Kirk’s doppelganger, but both of them do have a crew to watch over, and only one of them really considers that crew a “family.” Surprisingly, it’s not who you think it is.

“Into Darkness” does a much better job expanding the friendly rivalry between Kirk and Spock. “Into Darkness” is a very deep look at the constant yin and yang that forms between emotion and logic. Boiled down, this is what “Star Trek” is all about, and “Into Darkness” very wisely made it a focal point.

Overall, it is hard to find a lot to say about “Into Darkness.” It was a pretty great way to kick off blockbuster season. However, I don’t have any strong opinions about it. “Into Darkness” held my attention for two hours and I followed it on every twist and turn it took. But I guess the best way to end this review is by praising the director himself. “Star Trek Into Darkness” is a blend of many broad sci-fi ideas from space travel to the idea of restoring life to something that is dead. “Into Darkness” tackles all of them with a wonder and excitement. It is never scared of breaking, dare I say it Mr. Spock, logic.***

*NOTE: I have never watched the old “Star Trek” and therefore cannot be held accountable for knowing any major changes made in the films.

**I somehow spelled that right the first time.

***Thank you! Thank you, good night!