Spy (2015)

First, there was the solid Bridesmaids in 2011. Then a couple years later The Heat in 2013. Following the every two-year formula, director Paul Feig and star Melissa McCarthy have teamed up again for another winner, hitting theaters this past weekend to very solid reviews and a very solid box office showing. Here's 2015's Spy.

For most of 10 years, Susan Cooper (McCarthy) has been an excellent analyst for the CIA, helping agents with her focus on details and all the little things. For years, she's worked with a suave, smooth and efficient agent, Bradley Fine (Jude Law), and has even developed some unanswered feelings for him. Now though, the CIA is in trouble. The daughter of a crime boss with ties to terrorists, Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne), has come into possession of a small-yield nuclear device and placed it out there for the highest bidder. An additional problem for the CIA? Boyanov knows the identity of all its field agents so anyone who would be sent to track her would be in even more danger. There's only one option, and that would be Susan. With no field experience and working all those years stashed away in a basement starting at a computer screen, Susan is tasked with tracking and identifying Rayna before she can sell the nuclear device. Heading into the real world of espionage with so much on the line, can Susan pull it off?

Give credit where it's due. When Feig and McCarthy team up, they've had nothing but solid results. More impressive than that though is how they do it. Comedies can be pretty run of the mill, a reason I don't always check new comedies out in theaters. This duo and their talented crews and casts look for familiar angles/stories and try to put a fresh, unique spin on those tried and true techniques. Bridesmaids had the girlish rom-com, Heat the buddy cop relationship and here with Spy, a deftly-handled almost-spoof of espionage flicks like the James Bond and Jason Bourne series. They find what makes those angles work and tweak them here and there for something familiar with something that usually catches you by surprise. Of the three, I'd put Spy right behind The Heat, but this new comedy was excellent. Go out and see it. You shan't be disappointed.

Not everybody seems to like her -- blame Identity Thief and Tammy -- but I'm a big Melissa McCarthy fan. I really, really disliked Identity Thief a few years back, but you had to admire her energy. She commits and goes hard for the laughs. So what about when the movie is good and she's on-board with that energy? As an audience, we're in for some fun. Yes, she's funny, but it's because she's able to switch back and forth effortlessly between impeccable line deliveries and perfect physical humor. There aren't a ton of actresses out there right now who are genuinely funny, but McCarthy is at or near the top of that list. Feig's script gives her plenty of chances for laughs, and she doesn't miss too many. Her Susan Cooper is a quiet, polite, detail-oriented systems analyst...until she isn't. Thrust into a hazardous mission after years of being desk-bound, Susan finds a hard edge that she puts to good use to bring things together. An excellent performance from the very funny McCarthy.

The script certainly has its fun with McCarthy's Cooper, sometimes too much. At times, I thought it went too far beating her down, cutting her out at the knees. When it works though, those moments are very funny. Case in point? Susan doesn't get a glamorous cover...far from it. She gets the chance to pose as a cat lady, a middle-aged mom, and all sorts of other embarrassing covers. Through it all, McCarthy goes for it, smoothing over some of the rough spots.

The movie's strongest moments are in its spoof-like qualities. I should say this clearly isn't a spoof of the spy genre. It just knows the genre, plays it seriously while having some serious fun with all the familiar genre touches. The opening credits play like a James Bond credits song, the opening action sequence has been in countless 007 flicks, and you feel like you're actually watching a Bond flick. The laughs though, my goodness, they're G-O-O-D. Jason Statham absolutely steals every scene he's in as Rick Ford, a grizzled CIA agent and a spy who is ALL that is man. He's seen everything and will let you know he's seen and survived everything the world can throw at him. His character consists of countless line deliveries explaining the harrowing experiences he's made it through, one more ridiculous than the other. I had two favorites. One, explaining how one of his arms was ripped off, but the other arm was able to put reattach it. Two, Ford offering to go into the Face/Off machine...as in the one used in the 1997 action movie Face/Off. Priceless stuff.

Some very talented people clearly enjoy working with Feig as a director, especially McCarthy. The cast is so good here, much of it the script but also worth mentioning is that they look to be having a ridiculous amount of fun. Statham is a scream, and Law as his co-worker but still rival agent goes for the more suave James Bond angle. As Statham's Ford explains it, a rivalry of MEN. Byrne hams it up just the right amount as the dastardly evil villain (with a giant hair-do) and has some great scenes with McCarthy as they go toe-to-toe. Along with McCarthy and Statham, my favorite part was Peter Serafinowicz as Aldo, Susan's Italian guide, a ladies man, constantly horny, and rather handsy. Too many good laughs to mention. Also worth mentioning is Miranda Hart as Nancy, Susan's work friend who's similarly bookish, a little mousey and looking for some fun In other supporting parts, look for Allison Janney, Morena Baccarin, Bobby Cannavale, and even 50 Cent making an appearance as himself.

This is a really easy movie to like, even love for some viewers no doubt. There aren't many comedies that are both really smart and really dumb at the same time, but this one qualifies. An extremely talented cast, a good script and unique ideas with people willing to think outside the box a little. Hard to beat that. Definitely go see this one.

Spy (2015): ***/****

The Internship

With their 2005 hit Wedding Crashers, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson made one of the best comedies of the 2000s. They charged the comedic genre with an R-rating vein, made a boatload of money and put its two stars right on the map, making them more than bankable. The weird thing? Both actors have struggled to find the right roles in the years since. The solution? Pair them up again with 2013's The Internship.

Longtime salesmen with the ability to sell just about anything, Billy McMahon (Vaughn) and Nick Campbell (Wilson) have been friends for years going back to high school. With the economy changing though, they find themselves without a job when the company they work for shuts its doors. Scrambling for what to do next, Billy finds a solution, enrolling them in the internship program at Google. What they find at the program is something they're just not used to, waves of 20-somethings who are wrapped up in themselves, technology and their phones. Can they adjust in time? All the interns are assigned to teams, Billy and Nick joining a team led by a fellow outcast, Lyle (Josh Brener), and three other nerd types. Only one team in the whole internship program can win in the end, the team being offered full-time positions with Google. Can the salesmen duo figure out what they're doing in time?

I'm a big fan of 2005's Wedding Crashers. Who isn't really? Communists I say!!! The formula here is simple for director Shawn Levy, reunite Vaughn and Wilson, give them a remotely interesting reason to be back together, and....no, wait. That's it. 'Internship' is an excuse to pair these two pretty funny guys together and let the hijinks begin. It has its fair share of issues, but my biggest complaint was that it plays like a giant advertisement for Google. Oh, look how quirky and cool Google is! It has a nap/rest room! It's got bikes painted with Google's signature colors?!? We hear lots of conversations about Gmail, Google Maps, Google Wallet, Google Plus and on and on. The Google jumping off point is solid/interesting enough (who doesn't use the search engine in one way or another?), but it gets to be too much eventually.

Beyond the original idea of two smooth dudes crashing weddings, the popularity of 'Crashers' came from the perfect pairing of Vaughn and Wilson. Their chemistry was impeccable, perfect, and carried the movie. Does it translate to this PG-13 comedy eight years later? Yeah, most definitely. That kind of chemistry doesn't just go away. Vaughn co-wrote the script with Jared Stern, giving himself and Wilson plenty of chances to riff and improvise and do those crazy rants that work so well. Even when they push it a little too much -- LAUGH!!! THIS IS FUNNY!!! -- their chemistry in all their scenes carries the movie through a sometimes sluggish 119-minute running time. Also look for John Goodman as the duo's longtime boss, Will Ferrell as Nick's brother-in-law and possible boss at a mattress store, and Rob Riggle as a salesman at a retirement home. Both Goodman and Ferrell's parts were uncredited.

That chemistry only goes so far unfortunately. The script wants to say a lot, and in general, the messages are actually pretty spot-on. The differences in generations is obvious, the younger 20-somethings growing up with technology in every single aspect of their lives. The generation before them is aware of the technology but not ingrained with it. With the way the world's heading, it's clearly leaning toward the younger generation. Ha, didn't think you'd get this sort of analysis in a review of The Internship, did you?!? What the script is saying is that the answer is somewhere in the middle; the personal relationships, the talking/conversations of the 40-year olds mixed with the tech-savvy younger kids. Seems fair if you ask me, but getting that message across comes out a little heavy-handed.

How you ask? Billy and Nick have to teach them how to live! I actually like the message that our over-reliance on technology is slowly killing society, but do the 40-somethings have to actually teach us that? In their team, we meet Lyle, nerdy in every way, a Google employee who wants to date his dance teacher (Jessica Szohr, yes, Google has dance teachers), phone-obsessed Stuart (Dylan O'Brien), Neha (Tiya Sircar), wildly experimental but really a virgin, and home-schooled Yo-Yo (Tobit Raphael). There's also Rose Byrne as Wilson's crush (yeah, didn't see that coming) and Google supervisor, Aasif Mandvi as Mr. Chetty, the internship program leader, Graham (Max Minghella), the brutal British intern, and Josh Gad as Headphones, an intern who wants to be left alone....seemingly.

I did like the movie a little more in the second half, the first half dragging. There are just too many instances where the movie is seemingly begging for the audience to laugh. The interview via webcam is painfully forced, a later sports montage at a Quidditch match just as forced, and some of the scenes where Vaughn and Wilson improvise are trying too hard. Disappointing because I liked parts of it, just not enough to fully recommend.

The Internship (2013): **/****

The Place Beyond the Pines

It's been about 24 hours since I saw 2013's The Place Beyond the Pines in theaters, and I'm still processing the film. Reviews were uniformly positive, the trailer instantly hooked me as did the cast, and my first thought was that it resembled an art-house crime drama like a Melville film or a moody 1970s American flick like The Driver. So yeah, I'm still processing it, but in a good way for a change. I liked it a lot, just deciding if maybe I loved it too.

A stunt motorcycle rider at a traveling carnival, Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling) meets Romina (Eva Mendes) as the carnival returns to towns it visited the summer before. She has a shock for him; she had a baby, and it's his, the product of their one night together the year before. Romina has moved on, but Luke wants to help raise his son. He starts work as a mechanic, hoping to provide for his boy, but the money just isn't there. With a co-worker, he starts to rob banks, netting more than enough money to give Romina and his son everything they need. The plan can only work for so long though, and Luke's actions have put him on a path that will have him cross ways with Aaron (Bradley Cooper), a talented if inexperienced cop dealing with his own issues in the department.

I don't usually do this, but here goes. This is a review that's going to be somewhat difficult to write without giving some spoilers away. I won't be giving away any MAJOR SPOILERS -- and there are some surprising twists -- but be forewarned. There are some storytelling twists that I will have to talk about to be even remotely coherent.

Director Derek Cianfrance's follow-up to his uniquely interesting -- some would say odd -- 2010 film Blue Valentine, 'Pines' is a gem of a film. I fell for it the second I watched the trailer. It is an artsy, well-told and unique story that doesn't settle for any semblance of the status quo. The developing story has a lyrical feel to it, based in this world but in an almost ethereal feel to it. Cianfrance filmed on location in Schenectady (where the story takes place), a city in eastern New York that feels removed from the congestion and business of everyday life. It's a town that looks like any number of small towns across the country. Maybe the best thing adding to the mood and tone is the soundtrack from composer Mike Patton. It is a perfect mix of trance, subtle electronica, choirs, and quasi-religious church hymns. The score is perfect, giving it an authentic sense of the ethereal, the other worldly. Give it a listen HERE for the best track. 

Here comes the semi-spoilers so again, be forewarned. At 140 minutes, 'Pines' is broken down into three separate segments. The first has Gosling's Luke trying to provide for his son in desperate fashion, turning to robbing banks. The second has Cooper's Aaron trying to carve a name out for himself as a young police officer dealing with quite a legacy. The third actually fast-forwards 15 years as Luke's son, Jason (Dane DeHaan), meets Aaron's son, A.J. (Emory Cohen), at high school, the two teenagers not knowing that they're somehow connected through their fathers. Each segment is given equal time, about 45 minutes, each given a chance to breathe and develop without feeling forced. Don't be confused. They are connected, one part of the story transitioning seamlessly into the next. It's rare to see a story develop like that, and 'Pines' does it well. It's different from most films which isn't necessarily a good thing, but this one is a huge positive.

The unifying link among the three segments is the relationships between fathers and their sons, a story arc used in everything from Field of Dreams to The Godfather and countless others. Luke sees he's made a mistake and wants to right those mistakes. He's so driven to do that, he turns to crime. Aaron similarly wants to care for his infant son, but he doesn't know if the career he's chosen is actually the right one. Cianfrance's script shows how one decision affects another, one action leads to another. The relationship between a father and son is a simple and complicated relationship at the same time. Without sounding pretentious, the artsy story uses the notion that the universe is connected, people who are supposed to meet will meet. Some paths and individuals are destined to cross no matter what happens.

There isn't a weak performance in the bunch. Semi-channeling his part from the equally impressive Drive, Gosling is a gem. His part as Luke is the perfect doomed, moody anti-hero. We know from when we meet him his path will not be a smooth one. Luke's scenes with his baby boy are perfection, including one silent scene after some startling violence. He continues to impress me as an actor. Arriving about the 45-minute mark, Cooper takes a familiar part -- young cop dealing with corrupt police force -- and makes it his own. He's a hero on the force and struggling to deal with his newfound fame. Relative newcomers DeHaan and Cohen more than handle themselves well in the final act. The high point of the story was Gosling's portion, but I enjoyed it all from beginning to end.

Playing a key supporting part, Mendes too is very solid as Romina, the mother of Luke's child who has moved on, moving in with Kofi (scene-stealing Mahershala Ali). Without being obvious in her part, Mendes does a good job making Romina human without being obnoxious or hamming it up. Ben Mendelsohn is similarly a scene-stealer as Robin, Luke's boss at a fix-it shop who turns him onto bank robbery. Rose Byrne plays Aaron's worrying wife while Harris Yulin plays his famous father. Bruce Greenwood makes an effective, quick appearance as a district attorney while Ray Liotta plays (GASP!) a dirty cop recruiting Aaron. All solid parts supporting the leads.

I'm liking this film more and more as I write the review. The third part drags a little bit, and I would have liked a more definite ending, but it works just the same. Cianfrance's script has everything coming full circle (well, almost), wrapping up everything in a moving, at times heartbreaking finale. The title comes from the Mohawk translation of Schenectady by the way. I loved this movie. It starts with a worthy start, an impressive tracking shot following Luke as he walks through the carnival, and never really lets up. Well worth seeking out, and definitely a change of pace from most movies.

The Place Beyond the Pines (2013): ****/****

28 Weeks Later

Name a sequel that improves or is just plan better than the original. The obvious ones that always come to mind for me are The Empire Strikes Back and The Godfather 2. Yes, both originals are classics in their own right, but the sequels improve on what made their predecessors better. In February I reviewed 2002's 28 Days Later, an entertaining if flawed zombie-like movie. Add another sequel to the list because I enjoyed 2007's 28 Weeks Later a tad bit more.

It has been 28 weeks since the Rage virus hit England, throwing the whole country into chaos as infected humans became rabid killing machines. The virus seems to have died out, and with help from American military and NATO forces, England is being re-inhabited slowly but surely. Among the population is Don (Robert Carlyle) who survived the virus, his two kids, Tammy (Imogen Potts) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton), out of country at the times. But as life starts to get back to normal -- relatively -- the American forces, including scientist/medical officer Scarlet (Rose Byrne), are trying to figure out if the Rage virus is in fact...destroyed. Secrets await just when it seems like all the problems are in the past.

Now that shouldn't come as a surprise, should it? I hope not. A 99-minute movie about a father reuniting with his kids isn't exactly a zombie movie fans dream scenario. Yes, the Rage virus is back....but how this time around? Building off its 2002 predecessor, 'Weeks' is that worthy sequel that takes another step forward instead of standing still. Original director Danny Boyle takes a producer's role, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo taking the director's reins here. While 'Weeks' has its fair share of gore/violence, it isn't just a B-movie schlock fest. It has an art-house feel, a minimalist take on an almost post-apocalyptic world. The score from composer John Murphy is unbelievably appropriate, a moody, electronic sound to it. The look is even better, a washed out world punctuated by vivid blood red shots.

Both 'Days' and 'Weeks' had moments that resonated with me, surprisingly moving and truly creepy scenes that sent shivers up my back. 'Weeks' opens the gate running with one of the all-time great stunners of an opening. It starts when the Rage virus first hit, Don and his wife, Alice (Catherine McCormack), hiding in a countryside cottage with four other survivors, none of them quite sure what's going on to the world. They rescue a hysterical boy screaming to be let in and moments later the cottage is under attack by countless infected victims. One of the few acceptable uses of shaky-cam comes from this scene, a frenetic, chaotic, visceral scene where it's easy to see survival mode kick into high gear. Murphy's theme -- listen HERE -- combined with Carlyle's acting, some incredible camera work including several memorable tracking shots, and a genuine chill factor make this opening 10 minutes one of the best movie intros ever. Watch part of the opener HERE. Spoilers obviously.

The whole movie is full of moments like these, but like 'Days' there are moments in between that drag. Thankfully, there's less of those and from the start, 'Weeks' kept my attention longer and more attentively. Again, it's the set pieces that stand out from the rest. An isolated world unlike we've seen -- an empty, vacant London -- with a small group of survivors desperately trying to make it one more day. Jeremy Renner plays Doyle, a Delta force sniper, and steals the movie with a few key scenes as the virus unleashes itself, a team of snipers given a shocking order to open fire. The finale especially (maybe the last 30 minutes) are exhausting to watch, the Rage virus getting loose and infecting countless victims in the blink of an eye. There's some surprises, some thrills, and a chilling final shot. It leaves the door open for more sequels, and won't be a visual that you'll easily forget.

Like 'Days' (sorry, I'm going to stop doing that eventually), 'Weeks' relies on an ensemble cast full of character actors and possibly future stars to carry the load. The movie is better that way because with big, HUGE names, the movie on a personal level wouldn't be as appealing. Renner is the unquestioned star as sniper Doyle, the charismatic hero who shares some surprisingly funny scenes with Lost alum Harold Perrineau as Flynn, a Delta chopper pilot. Carlyle too is particularly memorable, a father who made a decision that weighs on him each minute of the day. Byrne shows she's another rising star in Hollywood in her part as Scarlet, the conscientious doctor. Also look for the always cool Idris Elba as Stone, an American officer leading the containment effort.

Very much enjoyed this one. Cool cast, cooler premise, some particularly memorable set pieces -- especially that opener -- and I'm looking forward to hopefully another sequel, 28 Months Later, at some point in the future.

28 Weeks Later <---trailer (2007): ***/****

Bridesmaids

For almost 40 years now, Saturday Night Live has consistently produced comedic actors that have gone on to bigger and better things. John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Eddie Murphy, Chris Farley, Will Ferrell and many more. But lost amidst all the funny guy comedians have been the female comedians. They're fewer and far between though, but of the last 10 years or so the female cast members have stepped to the forefront, especially Kristen Wiig who wrote and helped produce 2011's Bridesmaids.

In her mid 30s, Annie (Wiig) has hit a low-point in her life. Her self-started bakery has closed in the recession, she lives with a creepy British brother and sister, her car is a piece of junk, and she hates herself for being a hook-up buddy with Ted (an uncredited Jon Hamm). Her best friend, Lillian (Maya Rudolph), has gotten engaged and asks Annie to be her maid of honor. Annie definitely wants to take the role, honored by the question, but the task and responsibility might be a little too much for her to handle, especially when Helen (Rose Byrne), Lil's new friend, threatens to take over. Hopefully Annie can keep it together until the wedding.

I'm going to get this out of the way early. I liked Bridesmaids, but I didn't love it. I think it was intentionally mis-marketed to look like a girls version of The Hangover, and it really isn't. Part of the humor maybe I missed because I'm a guy (not to sound sexist), but I definitely feel like I missed some of the laughs/situations. As one IMDB reviewer pointed out -- and I tend to agree -- this is a chick flick disguised as a raunchy comedy. It's still good, but not as good as I was hoping. Wiig's script with Annie Mumolo (who makes a funny cameo) is well-written, but the movie isn't quite what it was made out to be. Funny, but not the instant classic it was made out to be.

Working together like the Wolfpack of The Hangover, Wiig, Rudolph and Byrne lead a strong group of female comedians. Dating back to their days on SNL, Wiig and Rudolph have a good chemistry together that doesn't feel like acting, just two legitimate friends doing some lines together. Byrne's Helen is the late-comer to the party, a rich, snobby woman who's the wife of Lill's husband's boss (there's a mouthful for you). The rivalry does produce some solid laughs, one woman trying to out-do the other. The group also includes Rita (Wendi McLendon-Covey), a mother of three who desperately wants to escape her home life, Becca (Ellie Kemper), the newlywed discovering all the "joys" of marriage, and Megan (Melissa McCarthy), Lil's off-the-wall, brutally honest future sister-in-law. Each character is different, adding a dynamic to the group, each given a chance to get their fair share of laughs.

Certain parts of the movie are truly funny, hilarious stuff that had me crying. Okay, one scene, but you get the point. What works, really works. McCarthy as Megan earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, maybe a stretch, but she's the best thing going for this one. She is the rare physical female comedian, not afraid of her weight or size and willing to commit for the laughs. The dress fitting scene post-Brazilian restaurant -- uh-oh, food poisoning! -- is bathroom humor, but it is hysterical in its execution, especially thanks to McCarthy's response. A flight to Vegas for the bachelorette party takes a turn for the worse, Wiig's Annie struggling with the situation and her fear of flying while Megan is sure the passenger (Ben Falcone) is an Air Marshal. These two extended bits rise above the rest, followed closely by Annie's freak-out session at the shower, and bring the most laughs.

It's too bad there couldn't have been more of that humor, the big laughs. Instead this rather long comedy -- at 125 minutes -- decides to go down a not so funny route in the second half. The story goes doom and gloom as Annie starts to pout and freak out about her life situation. And with it, the laughs come to a screeching halt. The story focuses more on her flirting relationship with dream Irish cop, Nate Rhodes (Chris O'Dowd), which feels like any number of romantic comedies you can see elsewhere. Oh no, chick flick alert! It feels like it's been done before, getting away from what made earlier parts of the movie truly funny. Wiig is a very funny and talented actress, but this mid-life crisis the story delves into is disappointing.

Still funny -- sometimes very funny -- but not quite what it was made out to be. And good luck to McCarthy, one of the rising stars in comedy, at the Oscars. I'm sick of hearing about The Help. Bring home a win for Plainfield! The trailer below seems to have a lot of cut scenes too FYI.

Bridesmaids <---trailer (2011): ** 1/2 /****

Sunshine

A bit in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" has a character exposed to the immensity of outer space, our galaxy and much further on.  The kicker is that everyone who sees how big the universe is thus feels as small as an ant and kills themselves.  It's funnier than it sounds, trust me.  But the size of space is hard to comprehend, one of many things that flashed through my head while watching 2007's Sunshine.  A sci-fi story that is a lot more at times -- and a lot less at others -- asks a lot of questions, some harder to answer than others.

The science portion of the science fiction angle has this ability to drive a lot of viewers off as they claim "Oh, that's ridiculous.  That could never happen."  Well thankfully, I've never been a science whiz and when I see something that doesn't quite make sense, it usually drifts over me and is gone as quick as it appeared.  Sunshine has its fair share of those moments, but the build-up and the tension and the character dynamics are so interesting to watch, the science of it all can be superfluous at times.  I was loving this movie, absolutely loving it, for about an hour, and then director Danny Boyle adds a twist so unnecessary and out of place that it almost ruins the whole movie.  Stew on that for a little while.

Some 50 years into the future, the sun is dying much faster than ever predicted, leaving the Earth in a state of winter at all times, the planet basically freezing to death.  Aboard an immense space ship, the Icarus II, eight astronauts navigate from Earth to the Sun carrying a bomb, a massive payload the size of Manhattan Island, that it is believed will create a star within a star by exploding the bomb within the sun.  The voyage is millions of miles away, and the Icarus II has been moving toward its goal for some 16 months.  But as the ship passes Mercury, an odd distress signal is heard, that of Icarus I, the first ship sent to accomplish the mission before mysteriously disappearing.  What happened to the first ship, and could it happen to the second before the mission  is accomplished, dooming Earth to its fate?

A great ensemble fills out Icarus II's crew, starting with Kaneda (Hiroyuki Sanada), the ship's captain, Harvey (Troy Garity), 2nd in command and communications officer, Searle (Cliff Curtis), ship's doctor and psych officer, Capa (Cillian Murphy), the physicist in charge of the bomb, Corazon (Michelle Yeoh), the biologist, Cassie (Rose Byrne), the pilot, Trey (Benedict Wong), the navigator, and Mace (Chris Evans), the no-nonsense engineer. On a journey with no outside world to escape to that will take years, the crew develops tendencies and routines, fighting amongst themselves while balancing out the scale of their mission. The first hour of the movie as we see these characters and get to know them is by far the best part, seeing this dynamic among eight people as they risk their lives to save millions.

Deep space provides all sorts of open doors for a movie to walk into.  It's unexplored, and anything could exist out there.  It takes years to travel the millions of miles between Earth and the Sun so rescue isn't just around the corner.  These astronauts are on their own.  That premise is what drives the story.  The future of the Earth depends on this crew and their ability.  Add in an absolutely beautiful visual movie, a very moving if underused score by John Murphy (listen HERE) and you've got all these great elements to work with. About halfway through, I thought I was watching one of the best sci-fi movies ever, only to have a curveball thrown my way.  It helped following the movie reading scathing posts on the message boards that I wasn't the only one who hated an unnecessary late twist.

SPOILERS for this paragraph SPOILERS  The disappearance and then reappearance of Icarus I is a perfect addition to the story, in theory.  It's like Christmas Eve, you're curious what those presents are, but it's almost more fun not knowing what's inside.  How did the Icarus disappear? Did they kill each other? Did the Sun destroy them? Was it an alien? It's better not knowing here.  It is that sense of mystery of what space could contain.  ANYTHING.  Then in need of repairs, the Icarus II docks with I, and over the last 30-45 minutes we see that it was the deranged captain (Mark Strong) who took out his crew and now plans to take out II, hoping to be the man who last talks to "God," or in reality the sun and all its power. What was one of the best science-fiction movies ever now devolves into a teen slasher film.  Really? That's where you wanted to go with this?  The ending still remains incredibly moving in its execution, but it's almost an afterthought. END OF SPOILERS

There are good twist, great twist, stupid twists and unnecessary ones.  This one was stupid and unnecessary in so many ways. It almost completely ruins what otherwise could have been a classic movie about space, space travel, and all the emotions and feelings that race through the human mind when faced with an impossible, nearly suicidal task.  Almost completely ruins. The first hour and the last five minutes are so good I'm still recommending this one.

Sunshine <----trailer (2007): ***/****

 

Knowing

That question pretty much sums up my feelings on Nicolas Cage in one quick statement. In the late 1990s and into the early part of the next century, Cage made a list of pretty good movies, some guilty pleasures and others genuinely good stories. But then he seemed to hit a road block of sorts since with such classics as The Wicker Man, which I love but can admit is a horrible, god awful movie, Ghost Rider, Bangkok Dangerous, Next, and The Weather Man. To be fair, I haven't seen The National Treasure movies, but they're on my list.

For my latest Nic Cage movie, I rented Knowing which came out in theaters this past March. The reviews were generally positive, especially Roger Ebert's review which slobbered all over the movie, and my sister and her husband (both of whom I typically agree with about most movies) really liked it. So I begin by saying I wanted to like it, I like Cage even with his recent string of bombs, and the story sounded promising, but oh how I hated this movie, especially the last hour.

The commercials and the trailer built this movie up a ton, giving just a hint of what's to come. Any apocalypse story is A-ok by me, I'll give it a shot. MIT astrophysicist Dave Koestler (Cage) is a single father trying to raise his son Caleb (a good part for 11-year old Chandler Canterbury). Caleb's school is opening a 50-year old time capsule with each student getting a drawing from a student in 1959 imagining what the future will look like. Some have spaceships, others robots, but David finds that Caleb's is a list of seemingly unrelated numbers. It's almost by accident that David figures out what the numbers mean.

The sheet predicts all sorts of disasters, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, plane crashes, with a freakish accuracy. It predicts dates, amount of people killed and even the location of the incident. But as David looks over the list, there's a handful of numbers at the end, events that haven't happened yet with astronomical casualties listed with the dates. Is there any way he can stop these events from happening, even when he finds the last number prediction could mean the end of the world?

Where to start, where to start? The first hour is as exciting and tense as a sci-fi/thriller/horror movie should be, and that's from someone who typically avoids any sort of movie that might scare me. The two disasters David figures out, a large jet crashing near a freeway and a horrific subway accident, are prime examples of how CGI can be used to enhance a movie instead of distracting from it. Two great set pieces to get the ball rolling. But then the story takes a nasty turn with its predictions of the end of the world. From here on in I'm giving away major plot points so don't read on if you don't want the rest of the movie blown.

In trying to figure out what the deal is with the numbers, David investigates into the life of the little girl who wrote them down. Unfortunately, she died years ago, but her daughter Diana (Rose Byrne) is still around and is also a single parent, raising her daughter Abby (Lara Robinson), and trying to get past all the things her mother told her as she grew up. All that's fine, their involvement does serve to explain where the numbers came from, but the explanation drove me nuts.

Some of the freakier parts of the movie has these mysterious figures appearing out of nowhere to tell Caleb and Abby things, whispering in their ear. It's from them that Diana's mother got the numbers, predicting all sorts of disasters over the years. So what are they, some sort of mysterious religious cult, fanatics looking to destroy the Earth? Nope, they're some sort of aliens from another galaxy/star system looking to protect Caleb and Abby from destruction. Scaring the bejesus out of kids is usually a good way to get them on your side I've found. So instead of Cage trying to solve the world, we get 30-40 minutes of him looking for his kid as the world goes all to hell. "Awesome."

The problem with all this is that the explanation completely negates the first hour. If these light aliens/spirits/deities just need the two kids, what was the point of predicting all the disasters? Couldn't they just have come along and taken the two kids away? Ah, who knows, I'm getting frustrated just thinking about it again. Needless to say, the ending pissed me off to no end. Not the destruction of the Earth because of a solar flare shot from the Sun, that was pretty cool, but everything leading up to it.

What could have been interesting from the storyline is the idea of fate/destiny vs. free choice. Is everything we do influence where we end up in life, or are we supposed to accomplish something in our life and no matter what we do, that one thing is going to happen? But the movie never explores that option. Is Cage's David supposed to find these numbers so that he can put Caleb on the route to safety, or is it all just a random group of events? Interesting ideas, but that's it, nothing more.

Too bad with this movie because as I wrote before, I wanted to like this movie, and after the first hour I was enjoying it. Even the prediction of the Earth being destroyed made the 2nd hour look interesting, but in the execution the story went all over the place with no set idea of the message it was trying to get across. So instead of a great ending, with a huge downer, we get a happy ending with Caleb and Abby running through some wheat field to a beautiful tree in the middle of the prairie. Could it be heaven? Who knows for sure. All I knew was that I was glad I didn't waste $11 to see this one in theaters. Avoid Knowing like the plague.