Movie Review: The Rover

David Michod (Animal Kingdom) paints a bleak and desolate future in this new Australian road movie, The Rover.


The film opens in Australia "10 years after the collapse".  That is the only thing we're given in the set-up to the world of the movie.  There are hints throughout that it is some sort of economic collapse that has left Australia in kind of a shambles.  The plot then kind of takes a back seat, as the film focuses more on character.  The first scene introduces Eric (inexplicably named in the credits when he pretty much goes out of his way to remain nameless throughout the movie), played by Guy Pearce (Memento).  He looks like a man who has seen too much after this "collapse" and has lost everything, including any sort of hope, and become a bit of a drifter, oblivious to everything.  Sitting on a bar stool he is even oblivious to the car wrecking down the road right outside the window.  Three criminals are in a hurry to escape after whatever it is they did (I'm not sure it was made clear, but they were in a hurry).  They get their car stuck and steal Eric's car.  This finally catches Eric's attention and he runs out and gets their car unstuck to go after them.  In trying to figure out where they went, he runs into Rey (Robert Pattinson, Cosmopolis) who is the brother of one of the criminals played by Scoot McNairy (Monsters).  He was left for dead on the side of the road by the others.  From there the film follows Eric using Rey to track down the others to get his car back.  And you learn, never steal a car from Guy Pearce.


The real driving force of this road movie (pardon the pun), is the acting of the two leads.  It is much more about character than plot.  Guy Pearce does an excellent job of doing most of the heavy lifting here.  He is a man of few words, but that is good.  His actions speak loud enough.  In this desolate landscape that has been built, he's not afraid to outright kill to get that car back.  However, I felt that this was a result of the change in the world around him.  It was easy to get away with anything, including murder.  The country is in shambles and there is very little in way of police or military force that care.  Underneath it though, he seems like a man who doesn't want to do any of this.  He just wants to be left alone in peace.  This comes through in one of the final scenes when he gets this look of defeat on his face like he doesn't know what the point of any of it is anymore.  You really want to know the entire time what could possibly be in this car that would make him do all this.  It's either going to work for you, or simply not.  It ultimately isn't even about this at all, but more about his character's journey and development.  In this sense, it worked for me.


In a surprising turn of events, I set my prejudice for the Twilight movies aside and came to realize that Robert Pattinson actually has some acting chops.  He's the injured brother who was left behind.  His brother and him are from America and have a southern accent.  It doesn't seem like he is supposed to be full on mentally handicapped, but he is a bit dim-witted.  He seems a little slow, and has this little nervous tick.  He's a character that seems torn throughout loyalty-wise.  He wants to believe there is a reason that his brother didn't come back for him, but Guy Pearce takes advantage of his slowness to slowly convince him that his brother is simply a bad man that left him to die.  He gradually turns from reluctant helper at gunpoint to a willing helper by the end.  He's more just scared than anything else and I think Pattinson does an excellent job with all of these conflicting emotions.


Another major character in the film was Australia itself.  The cinematography is great in this film.  It's got a real dusty, dirty, beat down look to it.  The buildings are all run down.  The people all hide behind closed doors and all have guns to protect their stuff.  It seems like all things are a rare commodity in this almost non-economy.  The score of the film is also just as jarring as the landscape and some of the outbursts of intense gun violence in the film.


One problem I had with the film was the pacing.  Michod took a real minimalist approach to this film, and that included the slow, deliberate pacing.  I understand and appreciate this approach, but it simply didn't work for me.  Sometimes the film would just slow down too much and I'd start to get a little bored.


This film is definitely not for everyone.  The plot is minimalist and there are some scenes of pretty intense shootings.  The slow pacing is what ultimately brings it down a notch or two for me.  However, the film is very well shot and nice to look at and the two lead performances are great.  With the things it had going for it, I really wanted to like it more than I actually did.  I would still recommend it if you are getting burnt out on the summer Hollywood blockbusters and want a change of pace though.


Rating: ******---- (6 out of 10)


Memorable Quote:
Rey: Should I shoot him again, just to make sure?

A Week (or 2) of Entertainment - Issue 13

Took a week off again.  It was Father's Day.  That's an excuse, right?  As of this past Wednesday, I've been a father for 5 years now, and it's been fantastic.  I took both my girls to see The Lego Movie.  Definitely a movie you should check out, whether you have kids or not.  Now, on with the show.


RIP Casey Kasem - Father's Day wasn't all fun and games for the entertainment world.  We sadly lost another favorite.  Casey Kasem was a disc jockey and actor/voice actor and more.  A whole generation will remember him as the voice of Shaggy in the old Scooby Doo cartoons.  Even more so, he will be remembered as the host of the American Top 40 for many years.  I remember growing up listening to him countdown the current top 40, playing long distance requests, and giving shout-outs to a few different stations each week who aired his program across the country.  We'll all miss him (and if you've listened to the crap on radio lately, you'll miss the good music we use to have in the Top 40). Luckily, in my area, I can still pick up repeats of his shows in syndication from the 70's and 80's on weekend mornings.  We'll never forget you or your voice Mr. Kasem.


75 Years of the Bat - To celebrate 75 years of Batman, Warner Brothers has tour dedicated to the character in California.  For $54 they will take you to different locations from the films and then to the WB studio museum, which has dedicated the whole first floor to Batman.  They will have props, replicas, vehicles, and costumes from many of the different movies throughout the years.  I now wish I lived in California, because that sounds amazing.


Meanwhile, back at DC headquarters... - The list of DC's planned films has been leaked lately.  This seems to be still rumor stages, but it's still worth noting.  Shazam, Sandman, Justice League, Wonder Woman, Flash/Green Lantern all in 2016/17, followed by Man of Steel 2 in 2018.  If they follow through on this, they will all of a sudden be pumping out more films a year than Marvel.  While I'm excited for this (I grew up reading more DC than Marvel), I'm still a little worried too.  I'd love to finally see some of these characters up on the big screen, but I'd like to see them take their time to put out a good product.  The official announcement is meant to happen at ComicCon this summer.  We'll see then.  I think one of the big things to note is that they seem to have altogether dropped the entire façade of Batman v Superman being a Man of Steel sequel with the mention of Man of Steel 2.


Irony House - Looking for a home in Long Island?  Well, for a mere $12.5M you can own the home used in the Tom Hanks classic Money Pit.  The irony is that only the outside was used for shots in the movie, with interior shots being done on sets.  And yet, the current owners claim that the actual interior of the house was falling apart when they bought it.  Now they have cleaned it up and put this ginormous mansion on the market.  Who want's to buy me a house?


Until next time......I'd like to make a long distance dedication.


Weekend top 10 at the box office:
1 - Think Like a Man Too (new release) $30M
2 - 22 Jump Street $29M
3 - How to Train Your Dragon 2 $25.3M
4 - Jersey Boys (new release) $13.5M
5 - Maleficent $13M
6 - Edge of Tomorrow $10.3M
7 - The Fault in our Stars $8.6M
8 - X-Men: Days of Future Past $6.2M
9 - Chef $1.8M
10 - Godzilla $1.8M

Movie Review: 22 Jump Street

Well, Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The Lego Movie) have another hit on there hands, as far as I'm concerned.  In the year of surprisingly good sequels (Winter Soldier, The Raid 2, X-Men: DOFP), we can now add a great comedy sequel.


Schmidt (Jonah Hill, Accepted) and Jenko (Channing Tatum, Haywire) are back.  After their "successful" operation that they ran from 21 Jump Street, they are given another go.  This time they are given a bigger budget and a bigger base of operations across the street at 22 Jump Street.  Looking too old to go undercover as high school students again (because they weren't in the first film?), they are assigned a case to track down a new drug supplier posed as college students.  Hilarity ensues.


This movie made me laugh, a lot.  Success!  I think a lot of things went in to making that happen.  Start with Lord and Miller.  They did not have any writing credit on the Jump Street movies, like they did on Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and The Lego Movie.  Their presence was still felt, however.  They direct a movie with a rapid fire approach.  The jokes just keep coming one after another.  They don't wait for the laugh.  You either laugh at a joke, or wait a very short time for the next one to hit you.  Fortunately they had good writers to make this work as well.  Lord and Miller have a knack for doing meta jokes better than people who are making straight parody movies in this business as well.  There is a whole dialog near the beginning of the movie about how bad sequels are, and why, that could have been a complete mis-fire in the wrong hands.  Many would take jokes like this and just cram them in.  They cleverly weave these things into the story, to make the whole thing make sense, and they don't give you the nudge-nudge, wink-wink pause to see if you got the joke.  Again, they keep it flowing and move on to the next thing.  The biggest parody this film makes is that it is a complete (b)romantic comedy under the guise of being a buddy cop sequel comedy.


The other big thing this movie has going for it is the cast.  Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum surprised the hell out of me in 21 Jump Street.  They have had some successes in my opinion, but I wouldn't say I'm a huge fan of either one.  Together, however, they have amazing chemistry.  You can definitely tell that their friendship only grew after doing that first movie, because they work even better together in this one.  They have that flow of two people that genuinely like hanging out and goofing around with each other.  They don't seem to take themselves too seriously, which works to the film's benefit.  The only thing that may not have worked as well for me were some of the Jonah Hill scenes where he didn't have Tatum to play off of.  There was also a great supporting cast surrounding them.  Ice Cube (Three Kings) returns as the angry captain.  He even gets a bigger presence than the first film, which turns out to be a good thing.  New additions to this film include a few new college students.  There is a pair of twins played by the Lucas Brothers who come in for some amazingly timed jinx jokes.  The best newcomer may be Jillian Bell (Bridesmaids) playing a college student that just continuously points out how old the two leads are with great straight-faced dead-pan timing.


There is not much else to say.  This movie was just the perfect mix of writing, directing, and acting.  The result of which was a fun time at the movies.  It's a movie that will be funny at any viewing, but I felt was enhanced with a crowd.  For every joke that didn't work, there were 2 or 3 that did.  The year is only half over, but I think it will be hard for this comedy to be topped.


Rating: *********- (9 out of 10)


Memorable Quote:
Jenko: Something cool!

Movie Review: Edge of Tomorrow



Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) comes into the summer with a great little film that's a win/win for everybody.  If you're a Tom Cruise fan, you get to see another good performance in a fun summer blockbuster.  If you can't stand Tom Cruise, you get to see him die over and over again.


Tom Cruise (Jack Reacher) stars as Major William Cage, who is a spokesperson in the military for the United Defense Forces (UDF).  This group was formed because of years of fighting alien beings called mimics.  It has gotten bad and Cage is dropped in the front lines of an assault even though he has never seen a day of combat in his life.  He is killed fairly quickly, and this is when the time loop begins.  Each time he dies he is sent back to the day before the assault.  He eventually runs into Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt, The Adjustment Bureau), who at one point also had this ability to "reset".  She tells him to find her the next time he wakes up.  He dies over and over while slowly getting trained by Rita, and they have to find a way to use this time loop to their advantage to defeat the mimics.


I went into this film expecting another mindless, fun summer sci-fi flick starring Tom Cruise.  I got way more than that.  This movie has everything.  Sci-fi, comedy, romance, drama, action, exoskeletons, aliens, Tom Cruise, and a kick-ass Emily Blunt.  Yes, I said comedy.  This was the last thing I expected, but when they had to kill Cruises character so many times, it could have gotten boring. Instead, they injected it with a little bit of humor.  Some of them even made me chuckle out loud momentarily.  It's more than just the kills, too.  A lot of the dialog was very witty.


That's not to say it's an all out laugh fest.  The end of the movie gives way to a little more intensity.  The action is all well done throughout the movie.  What caught me even more than that though was the story.  The writers could have taken the easy way out and just not explained the time loop and just had you accept it.  Instead what they give you is a well thought out storyline and explanation.  It was smartly addressed and they never veered from or broke the rules of their own mythology.  It doesn't make sense in the real world, but within the context of the movie it never loses you or makes you question any of it.


The performances in this film are great.  Brendan Gleeson (The Guard) plays the stubborn General Brigham, who is responsible for sending Cage into battle.  And Bill Paxton turns in a good performance as the tough guy Master Sargeant of the squad Cage is assigned to, who then becomes a bit befuddled when Cage starts resetting and coming back magically anticipating everything he's going to say.  The two leads of course drive this movie, and they drive it well.  Tom Cruise has the demands of action star of course.  However he also has to pull off some funny dialog and also show growing emotions for Blunt's character.  I thought he pulled off quite the performance, balancing all three of these things seamlessly without making the movie seem all over the place.  Emily Blunt pulls in a great tough girl performance.  She is no damsel in distress, actually quite the opposite.  She is the one who trains Cruise to be a better soldier throughout the movie.  The two of them have great chemistry on screen together.


The pacing of the film is also something that must be discussed.  Being a Groundhog Day type movie, where there are many, many deaths, pacing could be hard to pull off.  There has to be several montages so the film doesn't drag out to 12 hours.  The writers and director really knew when to go into montage mode and when to slow it down and show more of an individual day.  It was done well enough so you could get an idea of just how long he had been doing days over again without them spelling it out for you.  This of course was also contributed to by the dialog and acting.


Don't let the previews fool you into thinking this is just another generic sci-fi movie.  If you're looking for a fun time at the movies, but not necessarily a turn off your brain kind of movie, then this is for you.  The pieces were put together well enough to turn what could have been another generic summer blockbuster into a witty, fun, joyride of a movie.


Rating: ********-- (8 out of 10)


Memorable Quote:
Cage: The only thing I can feel are my lips.

A Week of Entertainment - Issue 12

Another busy summer weekend delaying me a day.  Gotta love the current weather (here in Iowa at least).  I've been spending my days outside with my girls, but that doesn't mean Hollywood isn't still active.  On with the news.


Is there a Doctor in the house? - Doctor Strange got a brief shout out in the recent Captain America film.  And now it seems he may get his own film.  Scott Derrickson looks to be attached to this movie.  I don't believe it is official yet, but there must be something to this rumor.  Derrickson himself not so subtly hinted on his twitter account that this will be his next project.  I'm okay with this choice personally.  I'm a fan of his last film, Sinister, and his upcoming Deliver Us From Evil looks like it will be just as dark and creepy.  Choosing Derrickson, they definitely seem to be going with a darker undertone in this film, and that could really work for a character like Strange.


Cartoons are for kids - Who needs 'em, right?  That's apparently what Disney is thinking.  Currently in theaters they have Maleficent, which is a live action twist on the Sleeping Beauty story.  Now they have plans to make straight up live adaptations of some of their other beloved animated films.  Cinderella and The Jungle Book are on the slate with the most recent announcement being that of a Beauty and the Beast adaptation.  I guess I can't say this is surprising, or even new.  We have seen this before.  You all remember Glenn Close in 101 Dalmatians back in '96 right?  I'm sure I'll check some of these out, but you know we'll all be forgetting about them a couple years down the road and going back to showing our kids the 2D animated classics.


If there's something strange in your theater - There have been rumors about a Ghostbusters 3 milling about for years now.  That's all well and good, but this year is the 30th anniversary of the original.  They are putting their focus on that right now, and rightly so.  To commemorate, there will special blu-ray releases of both Ghostbusters I & II.  More importantly however, the first film will be re-released back into theaters over Labor Day weekend.  Who needs Ghostbusters 3, when you can get the original real deal back up on the glorious big screen.


Pay for your own death - Have you ever wanted to be killed by a real professional?  Well, who's better at killing off people (fictional anyway?) than George R.R. Martin.  He makes Whedon and Kirkman look like rank amateurs.  And now he wants to kill off one of you.  If you donate to the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary you will be given prizes varying depending on the amount.  If you happen to have 20,000 pounds lying about that you would like to donate, then Martin will give your name to a small character in one of his next Song of Ice and Fire novels and kill you off, like he does.  Who doesn't want that claim to fame?  Now go out and save a wolf!


Until next time.....if someone asks if you're a god, you say yes!


Weekend top 10 at the box office:
1 - The Fault in our Stars (new release) $48M
2 - Maleficent $34.3M
3 - Edge of Tomorrow (new release) $28.8M
4 - X-Men: Days of Future Past $15.2M
5 - A Million Ways to Die in the West $7.3M
6 - Godzilla $6.1M
7 - Neighbors $5.3M
8 - Blended $4.1M
9 - Chef $2.6M
10 - Million Dollar Arm $2M

A Week (or 2) of Entertainment - Issue 11

Well, last weekend was Memorial Day weekend, so I took the week off from writing this column.  I hope everyone had as pleasant a weekend as I did.  I will mention the stories from this past week and the week before still.  That being said, I may shorten my take on them since some will be quite old-hat by now.  Have a great week!


RIP Gordon Willis - Gordon Willis passed away at 82.  He was the cinematographer for one of the greatest trilogies out there.  The Godfather Trilogy.  With this, and many other great movies, his work will not soon be forgotton.


RIP Ann Davis - Just today the Brady Bunch's maid, Alice, passed away at 88.  Many generations grew up with Alice and the Bradys.  She even managed a cameo in the 1995 Brady Bunch Movie.


What's in a title? -  Apparently everything.  The Man of Steel follow-up has now gotten an official title of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.  They managed to get the story down to a two part title.  First part of the movie will be Batman dukin' it out with Superman cause he finds him to be a threat.  Second half will be them coming to the conclusion that they are on the same side and find others to form the Justice League.  I am still totally on the fence about this new title.  I like it alright, but with the v instead of vs, and the word Justice, it makes it sound like this is going to be a courtroom drama.


Be in a movie! - Have you ever wanted a walk-on role in a Star Wars movie?  Who says no to that?  Well, here's your chance!  J.J. Abrams is auctioning off a chance to win a walk on role in episode VII.  For every $10 you donate to UNICEF's Innovation Labs you get one entry into the drawing.  There are also cool gifts and prizes you get at each donation level.  If you want to donate to a good cause, here's your chance at a win/win situation.


From Monsters to Aliens - Speaking of Star Wars, Gareth Edwards has been announced as the director for one of the as yet unspecified Star Wars spin-off movies.  Godzilla was not a perfect movie by any means, but I enjoyed it.  And between that and Monsters, I would like to keep an eye on this director.  Like they say, it can't be as bad as the prequels, right?


Shrinking Interest - Ant-Man, which was to be part of phase 3 of the Marvel movies has lost it's director.  After a bout of creative differences, Edgar Wright dropped out of the production.  This is one movie I've been really looking forward to since they announced him as the director.  I'm sure Marvel will step up and find the right director to replace him, but until then I'm a little saddened by this news.


Butterfly in the Sky - On a final note, here's a story that brings back a little faith in humanity.  LeVar Burton wants to bring Reading Rainbow back on the air.  He also wants to bring the Reading Rainbow program to poor schools for free.  That alone is good news to hear.  As much as I love movies and television, I am also just as in love with books.  I also have two young daughters and love to hear celebrities bring their voice to the encouragement of better education for our youth.  What makes this story even better is that Burton started a kickstarter campaign trying to raise a million dollars by July (a little over a month), and met his goal in less than 24 hours.


Until next time......Take a look.  It's in a book.


Weekend to 10 at the box office:
1 - Maleficent (new release) $70M
2 - X-Men: Days of Future Past $32.6M
3 - A Million Ways to Die in the West (new release) $17.1M
4 - Godzilla $12.2M
5 - Blended $8.4M
6 - Neighbors $7.7M
7 - The Amazing Spider-Man 2 $3.8M
8 - Million Dollar Arm $3.7M
9 - Chef $2M
10 - The Other Woman $1.4M

Movie Review: X-Men: Days of Future Past

Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects) directed the first two X-Men films back in the early 2000's.  Then he handed over the reigns for the next few.  Well, now he's back for the latest installment, and I think he's brought us the best of the bunch.

In the not-too-distant future, the world is not a safe place for mutants.  One Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage, The Game of Thornes) has created giant mutant killing robots called Sentinels.  They adapt to anything the mutants can throw at them, so the mutants are getting wiped out.  It's so bad that it has brought Professor X (Patrick Stewart, X-Men) and Magneto (Ian McKellan, X-Men) back together again to fight side by side.  They've come to find that Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page, X-Men: The Last Stand) has the ability to send people's minds back in time to a younger version of themselves.  In doing so, they can then alter history.  This brings them to the plan of sending someone way back to 1973 to stop the initial start-up of the Sentinal program.  The only person they believe can withstand going back that far is Wolverine (Hugh Jackman, X-Men).  They send him back and he must bring together a young Professor X (James McAvoy, X-Men: First Class) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender, X-Men: First Class) to fight a common cause.

So, you've got six movies already in this X-Men universe and the continuity is all over the place.  What do you do?  You bring in time travel, of course.  That fixes everything, right?  I was a little worried going in, but it ended up being a pretty fun ride none-the-less.  It doesn't answer every question, and it even raised a couple more, but it did keep the time travel plot from getting to convoluted.  Actually, I thought this movie was pretty contained, and that was refreshing.  It didn't try to bring in a million new mutants like some of the other films.  And they didn't try to jam in backstories for the ones that were brought in.  It showed their powers and their purpose, and you just went with it.  The story itself stayed pretty simple, future selves try to survive, past selves try to stop Trask.  The pacing of the film was pretty good too.  The only problem it may have had was that it was a little too long.  It lagged a little in the middle act, but once you get over that little hump it picks up again through to the end of the film.

The acting is what you expect if you've seen any of the previous films.  I think everyone has gotten pretty comfortable in their roles.  The only problem I may have is actually Jennifer Lawrence of all people.  I think she's a very good actress and love several of her movies, but she just doesn't work for me as the young Mystique.  I just can't accept her as the stone-cold heartless killer that is Mystique.  The newbies to the group held their own with the veterans as well, though.  The stand out would have to be Quicksilver (Evan Peters, Kick-Ass).  Aaron Taylor-Johnson (who co-starred with Peters in Kick-Ass, another superhero movie) needs to bring his A game when playing Quicksilver in the next Avengers movie.  Ironically, Quicksilver was one of the highlights of the film while also being one of it's downfalls.  It irritated me a little that he was mainly brought in as a convenient plot device.  They could have utilized him a lot more.  Here's to hoping that the next film brings him back.

The action, I feel, is some of the best we've seen in the franchise.  One of the newcomers is a mutant named Blink (Bingbing Fan, Iron Man 3).  Her powers make for some interesting battles visually in the future camp.  Also, I have to bring up Quicksilver again.  There is one really well done scene showing him using his super-speed to stop a fight.  That scene alone almost made it worth the price of admission.

This was over-all a very welcome movie to the franchise.  If you can put the unfixable continuity problems of the previous films aside, this movie works very well, even with the time travel.  Minor lag in the middle and not enough Quicksilver were the most of it's problems.  This was a very good summer blockbuster movie.

Rating: ********-- (8 out of 10)

Memorable Quote:

Logan: In the future, you and I will be good friends.  You just don't know it yet.