The Interview

Okay, here's a question for you. A movie -- a comedy at that -- is in the works that focuses on the assassination of a controversial world leader. There's plenty of talent involved, but it's a movie that focuses on the assassination of a controversial leader. Oh, and did I mention it's a comedy? What could possibly go wrong? Nothing if you ask me. It took me a bit, but I caught up with 2014's The Interview.

As far as celebrity journalism goes, there's no one in the business better than Dave Skylark (James Franco), host of the incredibly popular Skylark Tonight. It's so popular in fact that Dave and his friend and producer, Aaron Rappaport (Seth Rogen), and the TV crew have just celebrated the show's 1,000th episode. Still, Aaron can't shake the thought that what they're doing has little to no journalistic integrity. It's only then that the duo finds out that Kim Jong-un (Randall Park), president/dictator/leader of North Korea, is a huge fan of the show. Somehow, some way, Aaron manages to arrange an interview, albeit one in North Korea at un's palace. There's a catch though. Before Dave and Aaron head to North Korea, they're approached by the CIA with a slight favor. The Central Intelligence Agency has developed a plan to kill Kim Jong-un, and they need Dave and Aaron to pull the job off. Simple, right?

Rogen and friend and frequent collaborator Evan Goldberg wrote this movie in the late 2000's and updated it when Kim Jong-il died in 2011. From there...well stuff happened. There's a ton of drama that happened getting this movie made to the point it was never released in theaters because of hackers and all sorts of international intrigue. I'm not gonna waste my breath and explore that so read about it HERE if you're interested.

The end result? What's the final verdict? It's a mess of a movie, mostly entertaining but I feel like there's a better movie somewhere in the ingredients. I debated even reviewing it because I'm still wrapping my head around exactly what I just watched. Rogen and Goldberg co-wrote and co-directed this horrifically dark, downright stupid at times comedy, and it's got a lot of their familiar touches, most of them pretty good. The weirdest part is that they took this potentially brilliant idea of dark comedy -- killing a world leader -- and dumb it down with lots of bathroom humor (A LOT of it) and generally stupid laughs. What I'm still debating is this...is it a truly brilliant movie? It's so freaking bizarre basically from the get-go that I can't really decide. It's a mess, but it is a beautiful mess. I can say that comfortably.

What I do know is this; even when the laughs are so stupidly dumb you have to shake your head, Seth Rogen and James Franco commit and go for those laughs. They're perfect together, a result of a longtime friendship that's seen the duo work together in more than a handful of movies. Some scenes you just get the sense they're improvising the entire thing, just two buddies screwing around seeing who can come up with the better line. Franco's Dave is so incredibly dumb and naive at times that he's a demented charmer. Rogen's Aaron is the straight man, but he gets more than his fair share of laughs. Even when the material resorts too much toward the bathroom variety, I couldn't help but laugh at times because these two goofballs just go for it and swing for the fences in terms of laughs.

The real scene-stealer though is Randall Park as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. How do you play one of the most controversial world leaders currently living in power? Like THIS. Oh, my goodness, this part is hysterical. Sure, he's evil but that doesn't mean you can't have fun with it, right? Park's Randall struggles with confidence issues, is like a fangirl around Dave, struggles to embrace his love of margaritas and Katy Perry (he questions if he's gay), and generally is just trying to find himself in this crazy, mixed-up world. If Park just played Jong-un as a lunatic, dark and maniacal, it would not have worked this well. He steals every scene he's in. Also look for Lizzy Caplan as Agent Lacey, the CIA point agent working with Dave and Aaron, and Diana Bang as Sook, Jong-un's minister of propaganda who will preside over the interview that will air live on TV around the world.

I thought the movie was at its strongest in the first hour. It's a good mix of smart and dumb, treading that fine line. Things fall apart some in the second half as our boys have to improvise in their assassination attempt. Here comes the bathroom humor (quite literally) and some surprisingly graphic violence and some of it all mixed together for good measure. The finale does have some surprises up its sleeve, but it almost lost me getting there.

So yeah, I'm not sure. Maybe a second viewing sometime down the line will help me cement my feelings about the movie more. For now, there were parts I loved and parts I hated. Taking it all in, there's just enough to give a decent recommendation. Just be forewarned. This movie is something else. That's the best I've got. It's truly something else.

The Interview (2014): ** 1/2 /****

The Night Before

I'm a Christmas junkie. I love the music, the decorations, the gifts, the parties, the family and friends, and of course...the CHRISTMAS MOVIES. Everyone has their favorites, mine being It's A Wonderful Life and White Christmas, but let's be honest, even the lousy ones still have some holiday charm. So when new entries to the Christmas genre come along, I jump to and get in line. So goes 2015's The Night Before.

All in their early 30's, Ethan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Isaac (Seth Rogen) and Chris (Anthony Mackie) have been best friends since they met early in high school. It's been 15 years since Chris' parents were killed in a car accident, both Isaac and Chris stepping in. Some 15 years ago, they went out and partied on the day after, Christmas Eve, to help distract their friend from his horrific loss. And so a tradition is born! They've been celebrating for years, but things are a'changing. Chris has become a superstar athlete who's instantly recognizable on the street, Isaac is about to become a first-time father, and Ethan....well, Ethan is struggling along, searching for some sort of happiness. The trio of friends has agreed it's time to put their Christmas Eve-partying tradition to rest with one last blowout. Ethan has obliged, getting his hands on tickets to the ever-elusive greatest Christmas party in New York City, the mysterious Nutcracker Ball. Just the drinking, debauchery and drugs begin!

So yeah, I love Christmas movies. Throw in a fun mix with the cast, some general holiday craziness and a not overdone story with a message, it's a really good flick. It's not tearing up the box office over recent weeks, but I definitely recommend it. Ho-ho-ho! Merry Christmas!

I watched this R-rated comedy from director Jonathan Levine and liked it a lot. It was only on the ride home that I began to put the pieces together. What rang a bell? This movie is Superbad plus 10-years or so!!! An overnight story, friends with their own goals for the night, and a message about how growing up is difficult concerning your longtime friends. It's freaking Superbad! None of this is a deal-breaker of course, just an observation. The overnight odyssey is a good story-telling technique, the entire story taking place over 18 hours or so, and with NYC on Christmas Eve as the backdrop, you can't really complain too much. Throw in a fun soundtrack with countless nods and references to other like-minded movies -- especially Home Alone -- and you've got a winner.

Heading into a movie like this, the one thing that may determine your enjoyment is how much you like the cast. I'm a big fan of all three stars, Gordon-Levitt, Rogen and Mackie, so I was hooked pretty quick. Gordon-Levitt's Ethan is struggling along, looking for what he wants in life, Rogen's Isaac is ready for a drug-fueled (wife-sanctioned) night out as his wife's pregnancy fast approaches, and Mackie's Chris is getting used to his new found fame. I liked all three characters, their chemistry coming across as perfectly believable in the quieter moments. The flashback to their first Christmas Eve tradition is surprisingly moving considering the low-brow humor that permeates the rest of the story. Their history is revealed in snippets and tidbits here and there, providing some of the movie's funniest moments.

I'll say I'm surprised the hate Seth Rogen gets. I like him a lot as an actor and as a comic actor. Here as father-to-be Isaac, he's decked out in his Hanukkah sweater and outfitted with a small gift box of drugs, including weed, mushrooms and cocaine among other specialties. Years removed from a regular use, he FREAKS out as the drugs combine in his system. I was dying as the mushrooms counteract with the cocaine, sending Isaac on quite a trip. A lot of great laughs from Mr. Rogen!

We need some more zaniness though around our Three Amigos, don't we?!? Also look for Jillian Bell as Isaac's very pregnant wife, Lizzy Caplan as Isaac's ex (it didn't end well), Ilana Glazer as a real-life Christmas grinch, uncredited Mindy Kaling as Lizzy's friend/drinking buddy, and Tracy Morgan as our narrator. James Franco is a scene-stealer in a one-scene cameo as himself (along with some uncomfortable texts) with Miley Cyrus and former NBA star Baron Davis also appearing briefly as themselves. By far though, the best supporting part goes to the always intense, always creepy Michael Shannon as Mr. Green, the boys' drug dealer...who's still a drug dealer 15 years later. His scenes are pitch-perfect, the wise supplier of weed who's able to cut right to the core of things and really got to what's bothering his customers. Hilarious part as Shannon plays it straight in each of his scenes.

Like the trailers that bombard us now, I don't want to give away too many good laughs so there's nothing fresh when you actually see the movie. So as usual, I'll leave you with this thought. 'Night' brings the laughs with a very funny cast and some surprisingly effective emotional moments. Highly recommended, a worthy addition to the Christmas movie canon.

The Night Before (2015): ***/****

Homefront

I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again. Jason Statham is one of the best action stars around, but I can't help but think that he was born about 15, maybe 20 years too late. This is a guy meant for the 1980s and all its action excesses. He's one of the few legit action stars working today which can be a good and bad thing, depending on the movie. Typecast in a fair share of his movies, Statham gets a change of pace -- while still kicking some ass -- in this new release, 2013's Homefront.

A D.E.A. agent with a huge bust under his belt, Phil Broker (Statham) has retired of sorts, moving to a small town in Louisiana with his daughter, Maddy (Izabela Vidovic). His wife died in the past year, father and daughter trying to move on and handle the death together, supporting each other as much as they can. Their quiet, country/small town life is a refreshing change of pace for both, but Broker's past is going to come back to haunt him. A low-level meth dealer, Gator (James Franco), discovers Broker's true identity and background, realizing he stands to better himself in a big way if he can turn the DEA agent over to some willing enemies. Trying to adjust in the small, country town, Broker senses things going the wrong way, knowing his life, and more importantly, his daughter's life, is at risk. Can he get out in front of the new threat before it claims him?

You know what? Screw it. I'll say it. I liked this one. I liked it a lot. This Statham-fueled action story from director Gary Fleder was a lot of fun if not a particularly taxing or original flick. Above all else though, it was a lot of fun. 'Homefront' reminded me a lot of some pretty good 1970s crime thrillers meet kinda low-brow action flicks. I mean that in the nicest sense, I love those type of straightforward, entertaining B-movies. Statham is very good in the lead role, but you could easily see Charles Bronson, Burt Reynolds or Clint Eastwood playing the part. It's got touches of Southern Comfort, Deliverance, White Lightning, even some Smokey and the Bandit, and it's the better for it. Composer Mark Isham's score is solid too, a nice blend of some familiar action with a mood-setting, here comes trouble Cajun-themed softer portions. It won't rewrite the genre, and no doubt it's gonna take some hits from the critics, but I enjoyed it.

Watching this flick at an advanced screening with a pretty full house last week, there was an audible groan when the credits rolled by and it said 'Screenplay by Sylvester Stallone.' (based off a novel by author Chuck Logan). Was it a surprised 'Oh, I didn't know Stallone wrote this...." or was it 'Oh, Stallone wrote it....' sentiment? I think a little of both, but I like Stallone as a writer. It's nothing award-winning, but the man writes a good script from Rocky and its sequels to the more action-oriented Rambo and Expendables series. If it is written in broad strokes, so be it. Good guys = perfect good guys. Bad guys = stereotypically over the top, truly evil bad guys. Good is good and the bad are real bad. Basically, don't mess with a former D.E.A. agent's daughter or his daughter's cute cat. You...Will....Pay. Yes, the story depended a little too much on coincidence for my liking, a couple things happening because the story needs it to, not because those things actually make sense.

Blah blah blah at this point, I haven't talked yet about Jason Statham punching, kicking and generally beating the crap out of people. That's never really in question, even his bad movies entertaining to a point because Statham is just legit a really good action star. He more than handles his own here, dispatching nameless, brooding thugs as needed. For the most part, his Broker is trying to go straight, start a new life with his daughter in an isolated country town in backwoods Louisiana. Naturally because the movie has to have something going on, that new life ain't so smooth. The always capable Statham ends up fighting local thugs, Franco's Gator, and eventually, a drug-dealing, badass biker gang. The finale has Broker defending his house -- in the dead of night of course -- as the biker gang, headed by the always reliably creepy Frank Grillo (playing a biker hitman) tries to take him out before he can cause anymore trouble. Hand-to-hand, gunfights, improvised weaponry, it features a little bit of all of the above.

Beyond the typical shoot 'em up, punch 'em up, Stallone's script gives some familiar if pretty decent character development, Idovic doing a fine job as Broker's 10-year old daughter, Maddy. Their scenes together are pretty good, a single father and his daughter both coping with the recent death of his wife and her mother. Franco looks to be enjoying himself as the villainous Gator (no explanation provided), but thankfully doesn't ham it up too much -- cough Spring Breakers cough -- as the poop hits the fan. Winona Ryder grunges it up as a former biker groupie working with Gator, Kate Bosworth plays Gator's drug-addicted, trouble-seeking sister, and Rachelle Lefevre plays one of the teachers at Maddy's school who may/may not like Phil (SPOILERS ALERT she totally does). Also look for Clancy Brown as a possibly corrupt town mayor, Omar Benson Miller as Tito, Broker's construction friend in town, and Marcus Hester as Bosworth's much-abused husband.

No point in analyzing this one too much. At 100 minutes long, it isn't around long enough to overstay its welcome. Statham is as reliable as ever, Franco plays against type as an out-and-out villain, the supporting ast is good, and there's never too long in between some action, whether it be hand to hand or gunfights. Solid, entertaining flick.

Homefront (2013): ***/****

This Is the End

Apocalypse movies have been all the rage for a couple years now. Natural calamities, zombies, vampires, any and all. What else can movies throw at an audience? Well, there's 2013's This Is the End. It certainly goes down a fresh route, having celebrities star as themselves in an end of the world story. It could be self-indulgent, it could be really dumb, but it isn't. It's one of the funniest movies I've seen in years. Oh, and it is dumb.

Having not seen his friend in over a year, Jay Baruchel flies to Los Angeles to visit Seth Rogen, looking forward to catch up and just hang out. They do just that at first, hanging out, getting high and playing video games, but eventually they end up at James Franco's housewarming party that's packed to the gills with other celebrities. Jay is less than psyched, not liking most of Seth's other friends, but that's the least of his problems. An earthquake rips apart Los Angeles, a sinkhole tearing apart the Earth in front of Franco's house, more than a few of the celebrities falling to their deaths. Jay, Seth and James are among the few survivors, forting up in Franco's house until help comes in one form or another. What's going on outside? The L.A. hills are covered in fire, and there seems to be no other survivors. Is it the Rapture? The end of the world? A zombie apocalypse? Can the group survive, maybe just avoid killing each other?

I had two trains of thought when I read about this movie in pre-production. It was going to go one of two ways. One, a self-indulgent, really stupid comedy that would be almost painful to watch. Two, a self-indulgent, really stupid comedy that would be amazing to watch. Yeah, thankfully, it ends up being the second. Of course it's self indulgent. It's a bunch of celebrities playing themselves during the apocalypse for goodness sake! It isn't smarmy or condescending in its humor. The goal from directors/writers Rogen and Evan Goldberg (worked previously together on Superbad, The Green Hornet, Pineapple Express) is to have fun and produce a lot of laughs. Judge it, criticize it for any number of reasons, but 'End' is truly entertaining and genuinely hilarious, one laugh on top of another in a 106-minute movie.

Okay, so it's celebrities playing versions of themselves if not spot-on portrayals (I'm assuming). Rogen and Goldberg's script sees all the possibilities and potential and goes to town. Joining Baruchel, Rogen and Franco as the initial survivors are Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson and Danny McBride.They all play up those notions we think we know as an audience. Rogen is the stoner slacker, Baruchel the quirky nerd, Franco a still in the closet gay guy, Hill the angelic do-gooder, Robinson the smooth, cool black guy, and McBride as....well, McBride, the asshole friend we all have and tolerate. Rogen, Franco, Robinson and McBride all worked together in Pineapple Express, and in one way or another (film and/or TV), they've all worked with each other. Friends on-screen or off, this is what comedic chemistry should be. It's effortless, six guys just shooting and spitballing and see what sticks. They make it look easy.

Yes, there's plenty of jokes about sex, bodily function in a movie where the tone is not surprisingly pretty goofy to dumb. But mixed in with all those jokes are some moments of brilliance, genuinely smart scenes that had tears rolling down my face. Of the filthier variety is a scene between Franco and McBride that has the duo (drifting apart as friends) screaming back and forth at each other about masturbation. A scene with Harry Potter's Emma Watson is sublime, the six screwballs discussing an issue they have while she can hear just feet away, the payoff an excellent capper with Watson wielding an axe at them. The group also decides to film a homemade sequel to Pineapple Express, much of the cast already there. It's ultra-low budget charm is evident. As well, Franco's penchant for keeping movie props pays off nicely, including his camcorder from 127 Hours and a revolver from Flyboys. That's just some of the more memorable moments from the episodic apocalypse story.

While this group of six dominates screentime, there's a ridiculous amount of other actors/actresses/comedians making appearances as themselves. Michael Cera gets the filthiest part, playing on his clean-cut image and turning himself into a coke-fiend looking to get some action. Also joining him is Superbad co-star Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin) a funny scene with the duo and Hill too. Also look for Mindy Kaling, Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Kevin Hart, Martin Starr, David Krumholtz, singer Rihanna and Aziz Ansari. Oh, because that wasn't enough, Channing Tatum also makes a blink and you'll miss it appearance as himself. Like the rest of the movie, it's bizarre and comes out of left field, but like so much else, it just works. 

Here's where we sit with another comedy. I could list all the really funny scenes that cracked me up, but then you wouldn't have to see it yourself. I don't want to do that. It's a perfectly funny and smart movie with a ridiculous cast that's having a lot of fun doing what they're doing. It's on display from beginning to end, one of the best, most original comedies to hit theaters in years.

This Is the End (2013): ****/****

Oz the Great and Powrful

A classic novel from author L. Frank Baum that was turned into a classic 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz is about as iconic as any film out there. No matter the age, it seems everyone's seen it at some point, and for a reason. It is iconic, classic, influential and most of all entertaining. Watching the story, it leaves a lot of ground for background information, how things came to be the way they are.....and you know what that means!!! Prequel!!! Away we go down the Yellow Brick Road with 2013's Oz the Great and Powerful.

It's 1905 Kansas and magician, con man and all around ladies man Oscar 'Oz' Diggs (James Franco) is working with a traveling carnival, typically staying one step ahead of his past troubles. His troubles have caught up to him this time, and he's forced to escape by the only means in front of him; a hot air balloon. Oz escapes, but he's swept up into a tornado and finds himself in a world unlike anything he's ever seen. Full of color, flowers and trees and creatures that just shouldn't be, Oz also meets Theodora (Mila Kunis), who reveals she's a witch along with her sister, Evanora (Rachel Weisz). He's informed that he's the answer to a longtime prophecy, the man who will save the Emerald City.....if he can kill Glinda (Michelle Williams), an evil witch. Seeing the treasure that awaits if he can do it, Oz agrees, setting off to kill the evil witch, but everything isn't quite as it seems in the wonderful land of Oz.

The little touches here linking the 2013 film to the classic 1939 film are evident. The appeal is obvious, and judging by the box office of almost $500 million worldwide, audiences ate up that appeal. Director Sam Raimi does a fine job bringing to life an incredibly stylish world, full of adventure and fantasy. The movie begins in black and white, the frame small and focused. When Oz arrives in this new world, the frame expands to widescreen, colors literally bursting off the screen. It's a nice nod to the 1939 classic without being too obvious about it. Beyond that, it's cool to see the flying monkeys, the Emerald City, the poppy fields, the Oh-We-Oh palace guards, the munchkins, they Yellow Brick Road and so much more. On top of that, we see how Oz becomes the Wizard, how the Wicked Witch of the West becomes the Wicked Witch. Just a lot of little things and forebearers that any fan of the 1939 film should appreciate.

Now I write this next criticism admitting I didn't see 'Oz' in 3-D, IMAX, or 3-D IMAX, just a regular old flat-screen at home. The visuals are insanely good-looking here....but it went a long way for me. At a certain point, it became overkill. We see Oz exploring this world full of flowers, plants, trees, beautiful hills and mountains, caves and forests. Eventually, it felt like the story gets left by the wayside to focus far more on the stylish aspects of the movie. So as good as the visuals are, they come at the expense of the story, and it's the rare occasion that is a positive for me. As Oz assembles a motley crew of helpers and assistants, the story lags while the focus remains on the background visuals. It's pretty flawless, Franco, Kunis and Co. blending seamlessly into the computer-generated images. I just wish there could have been more of a balance between the two, a happy middle ground.

Where I can't really find a weakness is in the casting. Fresh off a really odd Franco flick -- Spring Breakers -- comes this far better part, far more suited to his strengths. His Oz is a smooth-talker, a pretty decent magician, and generally a troublemaker who always manages to get out of said trouble. Franco gives him the right dosage of roguish charm mixed with a guy who wants to do the right thing. As for the witches, these are three very talented actresses working together (and they're easy on the eyes so that doesn't hurt). Williams does a fine job as the calm, almost angelic Glinda, Weisz similarly very good as the manipulative Evanora, and Kunis gets the biggest transformation from lovelorn Theodora to lovestruck and angry Wicked Witch. My only real complaint is that when Kunis transforms her voice talents remind me far too much of her voice work as Meg Griffin on Family Guy. Regardless, it's a very solid quartet working together.

The rest of the cast includes Zach Braff providing his voice talents as Finley, a small flying monkey (a good one, not a bad one) dressed like a doorman who pledges a life debt to Oz for saving him from certain death at the hands of a lion. He also plays Frank, Oz's loyal assistant in Kansas. Bill Cobbs plays the Master Tinker, a handyman of sorts who helps Oz to victory while Tony Cox is Knuck, the herald of the Emerald City, always ready to sound off a welcoming hurrah. Also solid is Joey King as China Doll, a broken doll Oz fixes who tags along on the adventures. Even look for Bruce Campbell as an Emerald City guard.

While I didn't love 'Oz,' I did like it a lot. The positives mostly outweigh the negatives in a movie that's a tad long at 130 minutes. My favorite moments were the funny ones -- surprisingly funny -- as Oz, Finley and China Doll navigate the twists and turns of the Yellow Brick Road. It's a visual treat with solid characters, surprising action and some good laughs. Not a bad combination at all.

Oz the Great and Powerful (2013): ***/****

In the Valley of Elah

Maybe 15 or 20 years down the road, there will be a wave of movies in theaters about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, much the way movies about WWII and even Korea and Vietnam were released. I doubt it, but who knows. For now, the wounds may be too fresh so we get movies kinda about the war, related but not directly about the fighting, like 2007's In the Valley of Elah.

A former army veteran and military policeman, Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones) lives in Tennessee with his wife, Joan (Susan Sarandon). He is more than surprised one day to get a call that his son, Mike, recently back from a tour in Iraq, has gone missing and is days away from being reported as going AWOL. Curious what's going on and sensing something suspicious, Hank drives to the army base in New Mexico to look into it himself, investigating what's happened to his son, if anything. He gets various responses, some more helpful than others. Hank is stonewalled by some, greeted by others, and gets some less than willing help from a local detective, Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron), who joins him in the investigation. It doesn't take long before clues mount up, but it might all be for naught. Mike's body has been found, dismembered and burned. What was Hank's son into?

Over the last ten-plus years, there hasn't been too many things more divisive than the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some support it wholeheartedly, others question why American forces are there at all. This film from director Paul Haggis goes down a different part -- mostly -- by having the fighting serve as a jumping off point for a police procedural. What happened in Iraq affects the police investigation. We follow Hank and Emily as they investigate Mike's disappearance, eventual murder and what led to it. The movie is at its strongest in those moments, a low-key but tense mystery that keeps us guessing. Hank, Emily, local police and army investigators all search and pursue each and every clue, anything that might lead to answers. Most lead to nothing, just dead ends, but all it takes is one clue to bring it all together.

What the movie is more focused on -- via the investigation -- is how the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan has impacted the lives of the soldiers involved. A nasty little sub-genre of war movies dating back to The Best Years of Our Lives through Born on the Fourth of July and many more all deal with Post-traumatic stress disorder following their deployments. Through some videos and photos recovered from Mike's phone, Hank sees what his son and his fellow soldiers went through on a daily basis. Much like Vietnam was a new war, the Iraq war was unlike other conflicts. It becomes almost impossible to identify who your enemy is. Anyone and everyone could be trying to kill you. Thankfully the script and story from Haggis and Mark Boal doesn't hit us over the head with its message (for the most part). What the soldiers see, do and experience affects them in horrendous ways, ways that they can't just shake off because they're not overseas anymore.

Taking two familiar-ish characters and making them more than a cliched, cardboard cutout are Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron. Who better to play a world-weary, semi-retired MP and army vet than TLJ? He's quiet and understated, knowing the answers he's looking for will almost certainly bring nothing positive. Just the same, he goes about his investigation so he knows what really happened to his son, and maybe more importantly, what drove him down that path. Theron's part is more familiar, a female detective who gets no respect from her colleagues, also a single mother with a son at home. She takes on this case for a couple reasons, to show she can, a little out of spite, and sometimes even against her better judgement. It's two really good performances, both with chances to show off dramatically, but neither actor overdoes it. Like their characters, they just go about their business.

Supporting Jones and Theron is an equally impressive supporting cast. Sarandon nails a smallish part as Jones' wife, waiting at home for a phone call she doesn't want to hear. Jason Patric is a scene-stealer as Sgt. Kirklander, an officer with Army intelligence trying to do his job as best he can while also seemingly trying to cover the Army's butt just in case. James Franco plays an Army officer who meets Hank early on while Josh Brolin plays the Chief of police, two small parts that didn't seem to justify the star power associated with them. Cool to see, just odd. Barry Corbin and Frances Fisher have quick appearances as people Hank meets/contacts during his questioning. Playing some of Mike's buddies from his squad are Wes Chatham, Jake McLaughlin, Mehcad Brooks and Roman Arabia with Jonathan Tucker playing Mike via flashback. 

It's funny how one scene can change your feelings about a movie, and how quickly it can happen. Obviously, this is an anti-war movie, but I thought for the most part, Haggis did a good job getting his message across without screaming "THIS WAR IS BAD!" at us as viewers. Then there's the final shot of the movie which came across as heavy-handed and awkward. It's too bad because the build-up got that message across. The war is bad, and the effect it is having on our soldiers is horrific. I thought he got that message across building up to the finale. Too bad because the final reveal about Mike is a whopper, shocking and uncomfortable to hear. Still a really good film, but the ending left me with a sour taste because of one single shot. Go figure.

In the Valley of Elah (2007): ***/****

Spring Breakers

There are movies so bad that it is hard to describe. Released in 2012, Spring Breakers is at the top of that list. What's the appeal? Even the premise that four attractive young actresses would prance around in bikinis for 90 minutes didn't seem enough. But watching with a friend -- thank you Redbox credit! -- I gave it a shot. It's beyond a guilty pleasure, it's just an awful movie. And away we go!

A freshman in college, Faith (Selena Gomez) is struggling to find herself, going back and forth between the life she thinks she should lead and then more embracing the crazy college life with friends from grammar school, Candy (Vanessa Hudgens) and Brit (Ashley Benson). Faith has agreed to go along with her friends, including a fourth girl, Cotty (Rachel Korine), to spring break somewhere in Florida. Candy, Brit and Cotty get the money they need by some interesting means and head out with Faith, embracing the partying, drinking and drugs associated with all that is spring break. The quartet enjoys spring break a little too much though, getting arrested at a party riddled with cocaine. Wasting away in a holding cell, they're released, an underground rapper and self-proclaimed hustler named Alien (James Franco) paying their bail. How crazy was their trip before? It's about to get a whole lot weirder.

Words don't describe the badness on display here. From director/writer Harmony Korine, 'Breakers' is bizarre in nature. Is it supposed to be some sort of dream-like nightmare, a spring break vacation on steroids? Is it supposed to be a spoof, an intended guilty pleasure that embraces how awful it is? Or, maybe worst of all, is it supposed to have some sort of messed-up message, an arthouse film trying to be profound and unique? The sad thing is, it doesn't achieve any or all of those objectives. It's trying to be profound on so many levels and fails on every single one. Story, acting, cinematography, editing, soundtrack, they're all duds to the point it actually becomes painful to watch.

Let's start with the visuals. 'Breakers' appears to have been filmed in a colorful, filtered fog. The colors are oddly appealing, the colors of the girls' bikinis coming to life and standing out from the rest. Each scene is full of color -- pink, teal, orange, yellow -- that eventually overcomes the story, making things look like a comic book. More than that, a 93-minute movie is shot like one extended music video. A non-linear story is fine, but 'Breakers' plays like one long montage with pretentious voice-overs laid in over the visual. We see the quartet ride scooters about 183 times, we see them drinking and doing drugs, we see them partying, all on one slow-motion loop. I lost count of how many montages we see -- in more slow-motion of course -- of random partygoers on beaches and sleazy motels drinking, drugging, doing beer bongs, grinding on each other, making out. It's tedious by the fourth time (that's an estimate) we see it, and things never recover.

Now for the acting. Where to begin? Where to start? We've got four teeny bopper-esque actresses in Gomez, Hudgens, Benson and Korine, all of them shaking off their pristine, cooky cutter reputations (especially Gomez and Hudgens, trying for years courtesy of some "leaked" nude pictures). Gomez comes out relatively unscathed, Korine gets to slut it up as the sluttiest of the four, and then there's Hudgens and Benson. Those two are on a whole other level. Bored to tears with their college lives -- poor babies -- they decide to embrace everything they want via spring break. How do they pay for the trip? They rob a restaurant, later showing Gomez's Faith how they did so. They swear up a storm, posture like they're gangsters from South Central, and basically act through some of the most cringe-inducing scenes I've ever seen.

Then there's Franco as hustler, drug dealer, rapper and all-around criminal, Alien. Wearing dreadlocks, gold grillz/teeth, sporting patchy facial hair and looking like a two-bit gangster, Franco is unreal, hamming it up in ways I never though possible. He dances, he mugs, he speaks in an undecipherable "accent" that I struggle to actually describe it without sounding like an idiot. My favorite though is his scene where he recites all his possessions, "I've got shorts....in every color! I've got Calvin Klein Escape and Be...because I like to smell good! I've got dark tanning oil so I can tan with my dark tanning oil!" It goes on like that for far too long. Alien introduces the girls to the world they want -- or in some cases, thought they wanted -- of guns, violence, strip clubs, drugs and three-ways in pools. How can you lose?

Okay, moving on, lots to do (criticize) and so little time. How about the script? Was there one? In scenes where the characters aren't having sex, drinking, or brandishing heavy-duty guns, voice-overs pepper the 93-minute running time. It's like American Beauty meets The Thin Red Line but.....really not good. Gomez's Faith says countless times "People are so amazing. We have so many new friends. People are so nice." in her inane, painful monologues. Wow, that's profound! It doesn't get any better. It's one awkwardly delivered voice-over after another, all played with one obnoxious techno/dance song or psychedelic 1980s trance music ripped out of Risky Business. The script descends into some sort of drug-infused madness that gets worse and worse. Eventually, it has Alien and his Angels doing battle with a rival gangster, Big Archie (rapper Gucci Mane), an ending that defies logic and reality like everything else, but amplified.

This is a movie that derails quickly and never rights itself. I hated the characters, wanting them to meet some sort of horrific end, but even the ending is beyond idiotic. I can't even remotely recommend this one. As my friend said, "Maybe we should have done acid before we started." Would it have made it better, even slightly more tolerable? That's debatable. At one point, Alien actually serenades the girls (wearing pink stocking caps, black sweatpants and brandishing automatic rifles/pistols) with a Britney Spears song that he sings while playing piano on his ocean-front home. Awful, just awful. Give it a ridiculously wide berth.

Spring Breakers (2012): */****

The Green Hornet (2011)

A serial radio star to a TV series to comic book hero to feature film vigilante, the character of the Green Hornet has certainly made the rounds since his introduction back in the 1930s. For the most part though, he's always been a serious vigilante, an anti-hero not to be trifled with. So what about 2011's The Green Hornet? It's not a bad film by any means, but it ain't that good either. Moral of the story; a comedic story about a masked vigilante might not have been the best choice.

When his father, a well-respected newspaper publisher, dies, 20-something Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) is left to take stock of what he should do with his life. He's left in charge of the newspaper, but he has no idea where to even start. Britt meets Kato (Jay Chou), his dead father's mechanic and designated coffee maker (surprisingly funny background there), and finds a kindred spirit of sorts. Intelligent and talented, Kato is similarly drifting along and similarly didn't like Britt's father. One night vandalizing a statue of Britt's dad, the duo beats up a bunch of thugs robbing a young couple and an idea is born. Teaming up, could they be a crime-fighting duo that cleans up Los Angeles' mean streets? Enter the Green Hornet and his masked sidekick, Kato.

This is a difficult movie to review for a couple reasons. While I'm not a diehard Green Hornet fan, I do consider myself a fan. The reviews were decidedly negative for this 2011 venture, and the box office (about $98 million) was less than impressive. It's difficult though because somewhere in this mess of a movie is a good movie. Somewhere. I'm not sure where. The parts that work are very funny, and the instances where it's a little (not a lot) spoofy are very entertaining. The parts that don't work? Well, they really don't work, grating on all that positive karma built up. In the end, it's a mixed bag. I'll slightly recommend it -- with some measured things to remember -- but know going in that this is far from a great or even very good movie.

What does work? That's tricky because Rogen playing the Green Hornet is both good and bad. He wrote the script with longtime friend Evan Goldberg and like their previous positive ventures -- Pineapple Express, Superbad -- there is an easy-going comfort level. The best thing going for 'Hornet' is the hero-sidekick-partner relationship between Britt and Kato, but only at its best in the quiet moments. When they discover they both hated Britt's father, when they develop the secret but ultra-cool persona of the Green Hornet, when they become friends, that is when the movie is clicking on all cylinders. Like Michael Cera and Jonah Hill in Superbad, Rogen and James Franco in Pineapple Express, Rogen and Goldberg know how to write scenes of dialogue between two guys and make it seem natural. It's just too bad there couldn't have been more of that here in 'Hornet.' The cool factor with the pimped-out Black Beauty, their ridiculous but stylish "disguises," all those little things had potential.

Instead, we get lots of overly goofy, even downright dumb spoof-like scenes mixed in with an abundance of overdone, exaggerated action scenes. Rogen is guilty here of resorting to annoying Rogen. He's a legitimately good comedic actor when he underplays his scenes. That's not the case here. He's yelling and screaming and waving his arms, hamming it up like his life depended on it. Thankfully, Chou at his side as Kato is an underplayed gem, the best part in the movie. As for the action, director Michel Gondry puts the gas pedal to the floor. Big, slo-mo explosions, lots of excessive, quick-cut hand-to-hand combat, and a surprisingly brutal streak when it comes to on-screen violence. 'Hornet' isn't guilty of a spoof. It's too dark at times for that. In terms of humor and pushing the limits, it goes far beyond spoof into some sort of odd purgatory beyond. What is it exactly? Hell if I know.

In some odd, what the hell is she doing here casting, Cameron Diaz plays Lenore Chase, Britt's babely, eye-candy secretary, an aspiring investigative reporter. I question what drew Diaz to the part because she's a better actress than this part requires. Similarly in an odd part, Tom Wilkinson seems to have been blackmailed into taking this small part as Britt's bastard of a father, but he's gone by the 10-minute mark or so. Looking like he's genuinely having some fun, Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) plays Chudnofsky, the king of L.A. crime always trying to figure out how to be more intimidating, more scary to his victims/clients. David Harbour is the possibly shady district attorney, James Edward Olmos looks bored as a veteran journalist, and Edward Furlong (he's alive!!!) makes a stretch of an appearance as a meth dealer. Franco too delivers an uncredited funny cameo as Danny Crystal Cleer, a club owner who incurs Chudnofsky's wrath.

I don't know. I went in with measured -- even lowish -- expectations, and I came away disappointed because at times I really liked this movie. The pacing at 119 minutes becomes an issue, and the lack of focus doesn't help too. Spoof superhero movie? Kind of. Hardcore drama? A little. Funny? You bet when the comedy is done right. A mixed bag in the end. Still, you do get to hear the Green Hornet theme -- listen HERE -- and that's never a bad thing.

The Green Hornet <---trailer (2011): ** 1/2 /****

Your Highness

Stepping into the comedy spotlight over the last four or five years, Danny McBride has slowly built up a name for himself. He's had smaller parts in The Heartbreak Kid, Up in the Air, and Hot Rod while his bigger supporting roles in Tropic Thunder and Pineapple Express were an indication of bigger and better things for this very funny actor.  As well, his show Eastbound and Down has already gained a cult following.  His style and humor are apparently very dividing among fans -- which I was surprised to read up about. Either you love him or you hate him. Me? I think he's hilarious.

In his first real starring role, McBride wrote and starred in this year's Your Highness, a fantasy Dark Ages comedy that struggled -- okay, it bombed epically -- in theaters, barely making $20 million. The movie is truly a mess, full of juvenile humor revolving around sex and violence mixed in with elements of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and any number of other fantasy and adventure-based movies. It's far from McBride's fault. Check that. It's not McBride's fault as an actor at least. This script is all over the place, but it does provide enough laughs through all the mess to recommend a little bit, but that's all.  Just a little.

The younger son of King Tallious, Prince Thadeous (McBride) can't seem to do anything right, although to be fair he really isn't interested in doing anything not related to sex or drugs. On the other hand, his older brother and future king Fabious (James Franco) can do no wrong, going on countless heroic and dangerous quests. Fabious intends to marry Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel), but on their wedding day she is abducted by the evil wizard, Leezar (Justin Theroux), who intends to fulfill a centuries old prophecy and sire a dragon son. With his team of heroic knights, Fabious prepares to embark on yet another quest, this time to save his beloved. Thadeous more than unwillingly goes along, getting a little more interested in the proceedings when they meet Isabel (Natalie Portman), a beautiful young woman similarly on a dangerous quest. But can Thadeous do anything right, anything at all?

That story/plot description is needlessly wordy so I apologize for that. Basically 'Lazy prince joins heroic brother in quest to save fiance' would have sufficed, but that's a little short on the details, don't you think?  The movie does have its moments, and it has potential in a lot of different ways, but on the whole everything never clicks into place. The fantastical Dark Ages setting with warlocks, witches, spells, mythological beasts is certainly an interesting setting for a spoof-like comedy, but 'Highness' gets bogged down in all those elements. Where the violence and action in Pineapple Express was over the top and still worked, it just doesn't here. Long stretches go by without a laugh in sight, making it hard to remember the lines and gags that were good.

Now all of the juvenile humor isn't bad. A lot of it is surprisingly funny. Here's a good test of whether you'll like this movie. Many of the laughs come from McBride, Franco and Co. speaking in these ridiculous English accents and then cursing, dropping f-bombs and 'sh*t' left and right. Because it sounds so out of place, and the deliveries are so perfect, you can't help but laugh. McBride's Thadeous gets most of the great one-liners (read IMDB's Memorable Quotes HERE), his off-the-cuff vulgarity selling the lines. McBride commits to the ridiculousness of the whole thing, embracing the stupidity and the badness, especially in scenes with his squire sidekick, Courtney (Rasmus Hardiker), who he enjoys all sorts of misadventures with, usually sacrificing Courtney's well-being for his own. If you're going to see this movie, I recommend it almost entirely for McBride's very funny performance as ever-idiotic Thadeous.

The other names definitely caught me off guard when I first saw the trailer for this. Unfortunately, the bigger names don't look too comfortable here. Poor James Franco, typically one of my favorite actors working in movies today. He looks lost, not quite sure what to make of the movie or his character.  As for Natalie Portman, my first thought was that she had been blackmailed into doing this movie. Her Isabel is basically eye candy, something for Thadeous to stare at, and Portman doesn't disappoint. She looks beautiful, even if her acting talent is wasted. Both Franco and Portman are better actors than this. That statement could go for much of the cast. Along with Theroux as the evil wizard Leezar and Deschanel as the virginal Belladonna, there's Damian Lewis as Boremont, a treacherous knight, and Toby Jones as Julie, Fabious' mischievous squire and assistant.

Mostly because of the talent involved and the unique setting, I really wanted to like this movie. It has its moments for sure, and when it is funny, it is very funny. Those moments are few and far between though, the acting talent going to waste. The movie ends on a possible jumping off point for a sequel, but that's not going to happen, not after how mightily this first movie struggled in theaters. It probably doesn't deserve the hate it has received, but I can see why some viewers didn't like it. Smart or even mildly intelligent humor, this is not. Worth renting, but be very aware of what you're getting into.

Your Highness <---trailer (2011): ** 1/2 /****

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

One of the great science fiction movies of all time, 1968's Planet of the Apes is a classic in every sense of the word. It hasn't aged gracefully in all regards, but it is still a great movie. It spawned four sequels, none of them even somewhat close to matching the original, although I do think the first sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes is underrated. It's a great little franchise, one that was revisited by Tim Burton in 2001, an effort that tanked epically at theaters and among critics. As a huge fan of the Ape movies, I was curious when I heard another re-boot was hitting theaters.

If you're going to try and re-energize a franchise though, this summer's surprise hit, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, is a cookie cutter example of how to pull it off successfully. For fans of the original movies, this newest venture is a mix between Escape, Conquest and Battle with some tweaks here and there to keep us interested. Thankfully director Rupert Wyatt doesn't go for the status quo. It is new. It is interesting from the get-go, and he makes a wise choice. Midway through the movie, the attention is turned from the man and chimp relationship to almost exclusively a story that focuses on the apes.  What was surprising is how well the technique works in a movie that genuinely caught me off guard in terms of quality and entertainment value.

Working for a pharmaceutical company in San Francisco, doctor Will Rodman (James Franco) has worked for years on a cure for alzheimer's disease through case studies on chimps. Over five years he has little luck until he starts to work with Caesar, the orphaned infant baby of the one chimp who showed signs of progress. Will is amazed at what he sees over the coming months and years, Caesar growing physically obviously but also taking leaps and bounds forward in terms of intelligence, comprehension and understanding. No matter what happens though or how much he grows and learns though, Caesar is still a monkey and no one quite knows what to do with him. One day, the ever-intelligent chimp defends Will's father (John Lithgow) from a berating neighbor, sending both him and Will down a path where nothing good can come from it.

I watched the movie, and a lot of things rolled around in my head. First, I came away very impressed. It is an impressive, well-told story in terms of scale, but there is a genuine emotion in the proceedings, Will and Caesar and their father/son or brotherly relationship developing. That's probably the best place to start, British actor Andy Serkis who stands in via computer-generated images as Caesar, bringing this highly intelligent chimpanzee to life, making him a full-fledged, red-blooded, 3-D character that you end up rooting for. The serum he takes boosts him to almost a man-like state. Serkis has done work like this before, like Peter Jackson's King Kong and Gollum in Lord of the Rings, but this movie sinks or swims on his performance. All the chimps, apes, and gorillas we meet are CGI so either you buy it or you don't.

The original Apes movies had a certain cheese-ball charm because it was humans dressed as apes.  Not the case here.  Credit to Serkis and all the techs and engineers for making us believe in and root for these mistreated animals pushed far beyond any normal limits. The Caesar character -- and his relationship with Franco's Will -- is the heart of the movie, especially as we see the chimp develop, taking a power position among the other imprisoned apes at a "sanctuary" run by Brian Cox and Tom Felton. There's the potential for this to go badly and to go badly quickly, but Serkis and Co. commit to the material. I believed what I was watching and was rooting for them. The Caesar character is a perfect lead, better than I could have ever hoped.

That is important when you consider most of the human roles go one of two ways. There are the good humans -- Franco, girlfriend and veterinarian in a pointless role Freida Pinto, scene-stealing Lithgow, monkey handler Tyler Labine -- and the epically bad, like Cox, Felton (Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter movies), David Oyelowo's evil pharmaceutical CEO interested in the $, and berating neighbor David Hewlett. Franco is good in a thankless role that has him overshadowed by his CGI-monkey counterpart, and it's always good to see John Lithgow, even in a supporting role.  The bad guys? Well, they're the type of bad guys you just know are going to die horrifically basically from the minute they're introduced. The parts for the human roles are necessary but not essential to the story. They're there to help move things along, and that's all. Don't be bad is all the script requires of them.

So this is Rise of the Planet of the Apes, right? At some point the apes have to take over, right? You won't be disappointed. Caesar develops in front of our eyes from a intelligent, thoughtful young chimp into an ultra-intelligent, clear-thinking grown chimp able to plan and think ahead. Beaten and abused at the sanctuary, he leads an escape as a small herd (right word? Eh, beyond the point) of monkeys, also given the serum that makes them smarter. They go on a rampage through San Francisco, trying to get across the Golden Gate Bridge to the Redwood Forest outside the city. The escape and rampage sequence is like a release for the audience. For one, it's an adrenaline-pumping action scene, highly intelligent apes on the attack, especially the showdown at the Golden Gate. This all sounds ridiculous as I re-read this, but somehow and some way it works. It just does in a way I never thought it would.

Who thought that would happen? I really liked this movie. Did my skepticism and lowered expectations have something to do with it? I honestly don't think so. The story is engaging, the characters -- especially Caesar -- are very interesting, and it's even cool to see the interactions among the chimps, apes and gorillas as they organize. San Francisco is an ideal setting, and composer Patrick Doyle has a score that is solid without being overpowering, working with what's happening on the screen as opposed to against it. There was the potential with a movie about smart apes for an over the top, cartoonish story that could have been truly awful, just a bad movie. 'Rise' avoids all those pitfalls. I hopefully look forward to any sequels coming down the road in the future because this was a great reboot of a franchise.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes <---trailer (2011): *** 1/2 /****

127 Hours

It was the type of story you just couldn't believe the first time you heard it.  Too gruesome, too brutal, too far-fetched, but it happened.  In 2003, adventurer/climber/guide Aron Ralston went canyoneering in Utah who was forced to amputate his own arm when he fell in a canyon and had his right hand pinned by a large boulder. With no food and no water after several days of being trapped, Ralston actually amputated his own right arm below the elbow and survived. I was curious when I heard the story was being made into a feature-length movie, but I came away very impressed with 2010's 127 Hours.

Throw everything else away here; acting, story, direction, soundtrack, camerawork.  This is a movie about one of the most basic elements of living...surviving.  I guarantee when people read this story back in 2003 a majority wondered what they would have done in that situation?  Would you have had the will to live so much that you would cut off your own arm with a dull pocket knife to survive?  How far would you go to keep on living?  I think that's maybe the biggest appeal of this movie. It's a person to person thing, and no one really knows how they would respond in such a hellish situation.

Leaving in the dead of night one April 2003 weekend, canyoneer Aron Ralston (James Franco) has several days of biking, hiking and exploring ahead of him.  He leaves with a backpack full of supplies and drives out into Canyonlands National Park, a beautiful but basically desolate and vacant part of the American west.  Aron loves everything about it, the beauty, the history, the solitude. That's what he quickly realizes. In all the vast stretches of land, Aron is very alone. Descending into a canyon, he trips and falls down to the bottom, a large boulder pinning his right arm to the canyon wall.  He has a little water, a little food, and the supplies and equipment he was carrying. The hours turn into days though, and Aron begins to realize he will have to make a drastic choice if he hopes to live.

Director Danny Boyle has a personal style to his movies, and usually that's a good thing. This is a true story though that I never thought called for too much in the way of stylization.  The story of Aron's struggles to survive stands on its own, and that's basically my only complaint with the movie.  Split screens, ironic soundtrack choices, ultra-fast montages, none of them were needed.  None of these issues overpower the movie or detract from it in a major way, but like anything, it is the little details that bug you.  His eye behind the camera (with 2 cinematographers) is never in question.  Filming in Utah, the movie is stunning in its portrayals of the American west. Even when the story is tied to Aron's struggle in the canyon, there is an eerie beauty to his surroundings, both the land and rock formations to go with the nature that surrounds him.

It speaks to the strength of this year's Oscar nominees for Best Actor that James Franco didn't win (I'm gonna get around to The King's Speech one of these days) his first Academy Award.  This is that type of performance that actors must dream about. The camera's focus is on him and him alone, and Franco makes the most of it.  The emotion, the physicality, the mental strain, he brings them all to life. There's that momentary panic followed by the realization of the predicament he's in. Trying to maintain some sense of reality, Aron talks into his digital camera, telling the people he's left behind what's happened and the thoughts racing through his head. It is a sink or swim performance because if you don't believe in Franco or like the actual performance, you're going to dislike this movie.  I loved it, and hopefully it's another sign of a long, successful career to come.

What worked so well (and kind of negated the overly stylized moments) is the reflection Aron does on his life, some through just thinking, some through hallucinations and dreams.  One of my first thoughts when I heard about this movie was how would a director make it an even somewhat interesting feature film?  It's a guy trapped under a rock.  My concern or worries were unfounded. Some of the movie's most powerful moments come from those reflections. Aron's messages to his family taped on his digital camera are heartbreaking. He thinks he's going to die, and believes this will be his final hours of life. A darkly comic scene has Aron posing as a talk shot guest, talking about his faults and the stupidity of his self-confidence that he told no one where he was going and therefore no one knows where to look for him. The best though for me was one late dream/hallucination of Aron's as he draws closer to giving up. In front of him sitting on a couch and standing around it are all his friends and family. They say nothing, just sitting there, almost willing him to do what he has to do.  That of course leads to....

Yeah, the cutting of his own arm is an incredibly uncomfortable sequence to watch. It's not gratuitous, but it is graphic (how could it not be I guess). Actually thinking about what he's doing is the most amazing thing of the story right up there with the will to live and the limits we'll go to in hopes of continuing to live.  Some of the mystery is taken away because we know what Aron will do, and that he will ultimately survive. In no way though does that take away the power and the beauty of the aftermath. With Sigur Ros' Festival playing, the rescue is one of the most beautiful, moving scenes I've ever watched. The ending is beyond moving. You feel like you've been through Aron's trials with him, and seeing him rescued is a release.  The epilogue is eloquent in its simplicity, the title cards popping up telling us what became of Aron.  It's a great, simple, beyond beautiful ending.

Franco is the unquestioned star here of course, but the hallucinations/flashbacks allow for some interesting casting. Treat Williams plays his father, a key scene early explaining Aron's love of nature as father and son watch the sunrise over the desert horizon. That is a scene straight out of poetry, pure Americana there.  Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn play Kristi and Megan, two hikers Aron meets on the trail before his accident. Lizzy Caplan makes a quick appearance as Aron's sister, providing motivation for Aron because he wants to be at her wedding. Clemence Poesy plays Rana, a past girlfriend he regrets the way their relationship ended.

As I write this review, I find myself liking the movie more than I did while watching it. I enjoyed watching it, don't let me confuse you.  But thinking of the moments that work so well, I loved parts of the movie. It is a story of survival, of one individual absolutely wanting and needing to keep on living. Power of the human spirit, a will to live, call it what you want. The story is great, Franco's performance amazing, and overall one of those truly inspiring stories you come across.

127 Hours <---trailer (2010): ****/****

The Great Raid

If there was anything that could make war more terrifying, more horrific, it would have to come from the closing days in that war.  The victorious armies march forward to victory while the losing side does whatever they can to slow down that march.  Often enough, the losing armies have nothing to lose and begin to commit atrocities against prisoners of war and civilian populations, or in some cases, trying to cover up those atrocities and war crimes.  Based on a true story, 2005's The Great Raid explores this concept of a war long since lost but both sides must fight on.

Released in late summer 2005 with absolutely no fanfare or advertising, this WWII story not surprisingly bombed in theaters, making barely $10 million dollars.  The movie had already sat on a shelf for over a year because the studio had no idea what to do with it in terms of marketing and ads.  I was one of the few lucky ones to see it in theaters, and with all the crap and below average movies in theaters, it was good to see a well-made, exciting movie that felt like a throwback to war movies of the 1940s and 1950s.  No huge stars, no groundbreaking story, just an enjoyable finished product that is well worth catching up with.

In January 1945, Allied forces led by Douglas MacArthur have landed in the Philippines and are advancing quickly.  Reports start to filter in that several Japanese P.O.W. camps still remain with Allied prisoners, many of them survivors of the Bataan death march.  With concerns the Japanese captors will execute the prisoners (including highest ranking officer Joseph Fiennes), a rescue effort is mounted. A Ranger company of 120 men commanded by Lt. Colonel Henry Mucci (Benjamin Bratt) and Capt. Robert Prince (James Franco) will march 30 miles through Japanese territory and rescue 500 prisoners at Cabanatuan prison before they can be executed. Meanwhile in Manila, an American nurse (Connie Nielsen) does her best working with the underground to supply the POWs with medical and food supplies.

After reviewing a couple of Errol Flynn WWII movies the last few days, you'd think I'd be up for a change in watching some movies.  But even though 'Raid' was released some 60-plus years later, the tone is not that much different.  Director John Dahl made an unapologetically patriotic story about the heroism of American Rangers, American POWs, and the resistance effort during WWII in the Philippines.  None of this is a bad thing in the least because it is still realistic without being sappy, exciting without any pandering, and in the end, just a good movie.  It is the type of story that sounds perfectly written for a movie, only then you find out it is based on a true story, and to his credit Dahl keeps most of the facts straight.

My one complaint is that there's too much going on with the three different storylines, all of them interweaving at different points.  The problem is that all three plot lines could easily have been their own movie.  Instead, we get a 132-minute movie with all three working together.  Because everything moves along so much, the pacing is never slow and is always on the move, but at times I wished it would slow down.  Not surprisingly, I got the most enjoyment out of the Ranger patrol portions of the story, followed by the predicament of the American prisoners of war and then Nielsen's Margaret Utinsky character. That's not to say I disliked any of the segments, I just liked some more than others.

Not having a cast full of huge stars might have been the wisest choice here.  Instead of seeing the big name stars, it feels like the actors involved are actually playing their characters instead of thinking 'Hey, look, George Clooney in a war movie."  Bratt and Franco are paired nicely as the two Ranger officers leading this dangerous mission, Franco especially standing out as the tactically minded Capt. Prince.  None of the soldiers especially stand out, but Filipino actor Cesar Montano is a scene-stealer as Capt. Pajota, a leader of Filipino guerrilla fighters. Fiennes and Nielsen have a fabricated love sub-plot (Fiennes's character is fictional) and make the most of underwritten parts.  Marton Csokas and Logan Marshall-Green represent themselves well as two POWs.

The high point of 'Raid' is the actual assault on the Cabanatuan prison camp in the movie's finale, an almost 35 minutes long segment.  The Rangers must crawl across an open field where they could be easily detected to even be in range of the camp, and then have to ambush the Japanese guards and rescue the prisoners.  In a beautifully shot night scene, the raid is chaotic and loud but never confusing.  Just minutes before, Franco's Captain Prince has laid out exactly how the attack is going to go.  When the attack comes, it goes down exactly as we've been told.  It's an excellent end to a story about courage, heroism and bravery for a mission that served no real strategic purpose, but it was for a lot more.

The Great Raid <---trailer (2005): ***/****

Pineapple Express

Last week, I wrote about the buddy cop movie, and I'm treading on familiar ground here with another buddy movie, albeit of a different variety; the stoner buddy movie with 2008's Pineapple Express.  Think of this movie as a newer Cheech and Chong movie with a lot more action and gunplay.  But the biggest thing about the flick is that it's surprisingly sweet in developing the all-important buddy relationship.

Stars Seth Rogen and James Franco first worked together in producer Judd Apatow's Freaks and Geeks, one of the great under-appreciated shows ever.  Teaming them together is a decision that helps this movie rise above any number of stupid stoner action comedies.  For the most part, the cast just clicks and works well together.  By the end though, it just goes too far with an action-packed finale.  I realize the story isn't supposed to be believable, but it just gets crazier and crazier as the situation gets worse and worse.  Enough of that for now, here's the story summary.

Dale Denton (Rogen) is a process server dating a high school senior, Angie (Amber Heard), without much in the way of a care or worry in his day-to-day life.  One day after visiting his pot dealer, Saul (Franco), Dale goes to serve Ted Jones (Gary Cole), who Saul has revealed is his dealer's supplier.  Dale thinks nothing of it -- cool coincidence -- and heads off to serve him.  Sitting outside Jones' house to make sure he's there, Dale sees a cop (Rosie Perez) head in, and together the two shoot a man point-blank several times in the head.  Dale freaks out, flicking a roach out the window, but Ted and the cop find the roach and know its a brand he has sold to only one dealer.  Dale quickly figures this out and heads to warn Saul, and together they head out on the run.  Jones put two of his men on it, Budlofsky (Kevin Corrigan) and Matheson (Craig Robinson), to take them out, but that's just the start as Dale and Saul become unknowing and unwilling participants in an epic drug war.

The only thing I didn't enjoy with the movie was that last part, the epic drug war.  Cole's Ted Jones is trying to push his Asian rivals out the door -- hence the opening murder -- and starts to think that Dale and Saul are working for the Asians.  The last 30 minutes is an orgy of over-the-top slow motion violence that drags on for far too long.  If it wasn't such a long sequence, it could have worked, but it just keeps going and going.  There are some funny lines and one great entrance, but these moments are lost in a sea of action, shooting, and blood squibs.  The finale makes up for this -- watch it HERE -- as three key characters discuss how ludicrous what just happened actually was.  The scene was improvised, and it's one of the great moments to come out of this movie.

Adding to the great chemistry between Rogen and Franco is Danny McBride as Red, Saul's supplier.  A master of improv, McBride is hysterical in every scene he's in, including my favorite line...watch it HERE.  This trio has an odd dynamic together that just works, plain and simple.  Dale at first doesn't want to get too close to Saul, but they end up becoming fast friends as they run for their lives.  Then throw in Red, the seemingly indestructible third member of the group, and you've got a winner.  The action scenes with these three are inspired because they're not action stars, like this fight in Red' apartment.  The ending leaves a door open for a sequel, and I'm for it.  You don't even need a script, just these three improving for two hours.

In his other movies, I've never been a huge fan of Rogen, and I can't figure out why.  His laugh bugs me, but there's something else.  As Dale though, I really like him and his character.  Seeing this unlikeliest of action heroes provide some of the funniest moments, especially this car chase.  His partner in crime, Franco, has been doing almost exclusively dramatic roles since Freaks and Geeks, but as Saul he shows he has quite a knack for comedy, and I hope he sticks with it.  Saul is an inspired character and with McBride's Red makes the most even better than it should be.

There are some issues with the rest of the cast, especially Cole who is underused as a villain and Perez seems an odd choice to be the badass cop.  Corrigan and Robinson have some great moments as an odd pairing of a hit team, but they get lost in the shuffle.  That's the big flaw in the movie as a whole, there's too much going on in terms of characters, story, and ridiculous action.  The movie is at its best when dealing with Dale and Saul's unlikely friendship, and whenever Danny McBride comes onscreen.  See the movie for them and skip the action-packed finale.

Pineapple Express <----trailer (2008): ***/****

Flyboys

Before the United States officially declared war and entered WWI, many U.S. citizens joined the war effort, fighting for countries already fully involved in the war like Canada, Great Britain, and France. It's one of those lesser known stories that can get lost in the shuffle of the huge scale of the war. One group of Americans took part in the early days of aviation warfare, making up a volunteer squadron of pilots for the French, the Lafayette Escadrille. Their story was even turned into a movie, 2006's Flyboys, that is based on the facts of what actually happened.

What a surprise, but a historical epic about WWI struggled mightily at the box office, barely bringing in $13 million in theaters. I was lucky enough to catch it at a second-run theater, but it's been released on DVD in a high-quality packaging so if you missed it you have a chance to catch up. Directed by actor Tony Bill, Flyboys has an old-fashioned feel, like a war movie audiences would have seen in the 1940s as WWII raged on in Europe and the Pacific. WWI was that bridge in warfare between the Civil War and WWII as technology and strategy played a vital hand in how war was waged. Case in point; the airplane.

It's 1914 and a group of American pilots travel to France to join up with the Lafayette Escadrille, a squadron from the French Air Force (who knew?), in an effort to help throw back the German forces. It's only 10 years removed from the Wright Brothers first flight at Kitty Hawk so aerial combat is a new feature in war. Can these new pilots learn how to fly and fight before their German counterparts shoot them out of the sky, including ruthless the German ace known only as the Black Falcon (a variation of the Red Baron maybe)? With help from squadron commander Thenault (Jean Reno) and his aide Girout (Augustin Legrand) and quadruple ace Reed Cassidy (Martin Henderson), the new arrivals get to training.

Leading the pilots-to-be is Blaine Rawlings (James Franco), a young Texas rancher running away from an arrest warrant back home. Rawlings is cocky and confident, but he also becomes a reliable pilot while falling for a French girl, Lucienne (Jennifer Decker), living near the Escadrille's base as she cares for her brothers and sisters. The other pilots include Jensen (Philip Winchester), the all-American boy leaving his fiance behind so he can become a war hero, Skinner (Abdul Salis), a black boxer living in France hoping to defend the country that gave him a new life, Lowry (Tyler Labine), the Easterner with a silver spoon trying to live up to his father's name/expectations, Beagle (David Ellison), the pilot who can't seem to hit anything, and Porter (Michael Jibson), the religious pilot who goes into battle singing.

Franco leads the deep ensemble cast full of actors you might not recognize from other roles but not necessarily know their names. Rawlings' love story with Decker's Lucienne is surprisingly sweet with the French girl unable to speak English and the American pilot unable to speak French. Franco isn't a huge star, but with roles like this and in The Great Raid, I hope he sticks with some more historical movies. Other bright spots include Henderson as the requisite squadron badass. His character is based on real-life pilot, Raoul Lufbery. Reno is good in a thankless role as the squadron commander with Salis and Winchester representing themselves well.

What's so unique about a story like this is the difference almost 100 years makes in aviation. Commuter flights all over the world are second nature to us now, but in the 1910s it was an innovation, something still to be mastered and harnessed including the use of planes in war. The highlight of the movie then is of course, the aerial dogfights as the Escadrille tangles with rival German squadrons. In a time when CGI is overused much too often, Flyboys blends the computer images with actual flying sequences seamlessly. It never looks fake and because the fights look so real, they're that much more exciting and enjoyable. Here's the Escadrille's first dogfight for an idea of what's going on. Of the five or so extended battle sequences, the best by far is the attack on a German zeppelin approaching Paris, catch part of it here.

With a movie that runs well over 2 hours at 140 minutes, director Bill lets his story develop and allowing us to get to know the characters and sometimes all the difficult decisions they'll be forced to make. Aerial enthusiasts complain that the movie is not historically accurate -- I wouldn't know, I'm no expert on WWI era planes -- but that seems beyond the point. It's a well-made, exciting old-fashioned story about a little known piece of American history.

Flyboys <---trailer (2006): ***/****