The Wrath of the Titans

The sequel to the 2010 version of Clash of the Titans is coming out this weekend. Many of you may be wondering, wait didn't that movie suck? Why are they making a sequel? The answer being that while domestically the movie made a little bit more than the budget of the film, around the world the movie made bank. What are you going to do people in Eurasia love action movies. So studio heads fixed all the problems of the first one such as not originally filming it in 3-D, not nearly enough fight scenes, and any semblance of story or accurate portrayal of Greek mythology. What Wrath of the Titans lacks in story it makes up for in visual entertainment and that just may be enough to keep people entertained.

Some of the key actors returned to the movie, notably Sam Worthington as the always straining Perseus, and Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes as the divine ZZ top brothers. Many of the roles changed to fit the movies needs, from Andromeda to the director. Andromeda has changed from a lady in waiting to a warrior queen, so it appears they changed the actress to fit the new character and Rosamund Pike does a fine job in the role. Without question though the biggest change is in director as Jonathan Liebesman takes over the helm. With movies like Battle Los Angeles to his credit it is clear the studio knew the direction they wanted the project to take. And with a stable of new writers the team gave the studio what they wanted.

What they wanted was better visual effects and that is what they got. Filmed in 3-D, the visuals are much improved over the 2010 version which converted the movie into 3-D after it was already finished. Everything pops on the screen which is good because the script sizzles out almost immediately. Any semblance of story that is created is used merely to explain how to get to the next fight scene. And even then not all the fights are fully explained, such as a fight with a minotaur who shows up out of nowhere, and leaves before anyone else sees what happened. No doubt the writers chose to use a game of connect-the-dots to storyboard their movie, and with such little space on their single sheet of paper there was even less room for dialogue. The movie's dialogue can be summarized into three lines: "You betrayed me," "The Gods are losing their power," and, oh I don't know a lot of screaming maybe. With all that time saved from by not talking I'm sure the computer animators were able to create an extra monster for Perseus to face.

Lacking in the movie is comic relief, and any attempt by the actors to be funny is quickly stymied. Toby Kebbell is introduced as the initial comic relief but once he enters his first battle he quickly gets captured and after that is only there to fight. Then after the next series of battles our heroes meet Bill Nighy, who is always good for laugh or two. Indeed he does inject the movie with some much needed laughs, but I think once they realize what is going on they quickly dispatch of the character. Good catch boys, that was a close one.

With so little story to tell, and much of the screen time going to fight scenes, the movie doesn't make it past 100 minutes. Which may explain why despite the stories told of how difficult the labyrinth to Tartarus is to navigate, they maybe spend 10 minutes in the maze before they reach their destination. All the action moves quickly, and with no doubt by design. Before you realize what you saw the movie is over and at the very least you can walk out saying well it was better than the first one.

Wrath of the Titans can at the very least say that it was better than the first one. The crew knew what their audience wanted and refused to be bogged down by things like story and dialogue. There is plenty of action to enjoy and to its credit the movie looks good. Just try to ignore what all your other senses are trying to tell you and take it all in. D+

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games is the first of three books written by Suzanne Collins, the other two being Catching Fire and Mockingjay. With a huge opening weekend predicted there is little doubt that the studios will green light the other two movies to have them made as soon as possible. For those who have not read the book I suggest you do as not only is it a quick read but frankly this movie is made more for fans of the book than it is for someone going in knowing nothing about the series. In fact I went to see the movie with someone who had not read the books (along with two huge fans of the series) and while he loved the film there were some details that were lost on him such as what are sponsors, or why Gale had his name in the drawing so much, or for that matter why Gale was such an important character to the story. Fans of The Hunger Games will no doubt love the movie as it is a very well done and entertaining, but having just finished the book a couple months ago I found myself comparing the source material to the movie throughout the story.

With a need to satisfy fans of the series there is a lot that needs to be put into the movie, but by putting so much in the filmmakers often short change the detail. From the grandiose Capitol to the chariot rides you lose much of the detail the author puts in. This is compounded by the fact that so many of the bigger scenes were created using CGI and looks far too animated from the scenes shot on location. While the detail may have not been in the picture, the main bullet points were all hit, and maybe to a debilitating degree. While the movie wraps up after 142 minutes with many in the audience wanting more there were scenes bogged down especially before we get inside the arena. The pacing was inconsistent throughout the movie. In the beginning there was not enough development involved with major information being lost in the beginning left for the audience to infer or for readers to already know. An early example being the lack of time dedicated to showing Katniss Everdeen as a strong hunter which is what makes her such a strong favorite in the arena. From there we get to the Capitol, it just seems to take too long to get inside the arena. Once inside the arena the movie pace quickens again, but lost is the struggle to survive. I don't know how I could have done it better as it is not all that visually interesting to show dehydration but it just felt like director Gary Ross kept accelerating and then slamming on the brakes throughout the story and any driver can tell you just how frustrating that is to follow.

The most frustrating thing not shown in the movie is the brutal murder of children. Who didn’t want to see kids killing each other, in fact it is what I was looking forward to most. There is no getting around the themes of this first book, it is a post apocalyptic America having their children forced to fight each other to the death, this is dark subject matter and I wanted to see it. Now because this is a young adults book there are many kids out there who are going to want to see this movie, so maybe you don't want your nine-year old to see a child slit another child's throat. And while I knew it wasn’t going to be as gritty as I wanted it to be with a PG-13 rating I still had a small bit of hope to see the massive amounts of violence the book promised me. Instead what we see is a lot of close ups, quick cuts, shaky camera work. This usually helps to show a non violent form of death and chaos but using all three techniques became distracting and really took you out of the action. Most noticeably once they enter the arena and during the climax. With all that said the story from the novel is so strong, fast paced, and filled with so many great characters that it seems impossible for this movie to fail.

Jennifer Lawrence is absolutely perfect as Katniss Everdeen, with just enough charm to still be likable to the audience and with the perfect amount of fuck off written on her face. She can capture an audience by simply doing what she is asked to do. She is such a natural actress that it becomes easy to see her as the strong female lead that the role demands. She does not need to carry this film alone as she is accompanied by a star studded cast. Stanley Tucci plays Caesar Flickerman, the charismatic host of the event; he is more engaging and charming than most hosts currently on reality television right now. Woody Harrelson plays most people's favorite character, Haymitch. A perfectly cast drunk and can mix in the sincere when need be. The only thing lacking is his relationship with Katniss, but that seemed more like a conscious choice by the writers to leave out than anything Harrelson did. Then there is Lenny Kravitz as Cinna who proved to be a fantastic casting choice and took his role and played it with the perfect combination of sympathy and seriousness in order to pull off charming. This is all without mentioning solid performances by Elizabeth Banks, Donald Sutherland, and Wes Bentley who did much more with Seneca Crane then was originally intended but it was great to see inside the production of it all and what those on the outside thought about the tributes.

With all this terrific acting the only two people who didn't benefit from this amazing casting were the two male leads, who looked awful in comparison. Josh Hutchinson is wholly unremarkable and unmemorable as Peeta. He delivers his lines either so matter of factually or so overdone many people in the audience actually laughed at scenes I know should have been taken much more seriously. Then there was Liam Hemsworth who is often cut away to during the action to remind us he is there and we should care about him, but visually there is no reason to care unless you want to see a brooding teenager. While one of the great discussions from the book came from all the "romance," neither male lead is strong or compelling enough to maintain an interest in. And without an outright declaration of what Katniss is thinking a lot of the “romance” is left by the wayside.

While it seems like I bitched a lot about what The Hunger Games were missing, it was when it seemed like they were doing nothing at all that they got everything right. Most of my frustration, as any reader will tell you, is the inability to separate what the movie lacked. The book itself reads like a film and it is easy to visualize how the scenes should play out. So rather than sit back and enjoy this terrific story, which it really was, I got bogged down in the minutia. Lesson from it all, stop reading and assume the Hollywood is so far gone out of ideas that the adaptations from popular novels will come out within a couple of years. B

21 Jump Street

For all my readers who are unsure of where this movie came from you may not be able to appreciate Nice Offerman's role. As the police captain for rookie cops Schmidt and Jenko, played by Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum respectively, he tells them the department is reviving a program they used back in the eighties. This is just one of the many nods to both the industry and the source material. It was also one of the many laugh out loud moments of this movie. It is easy to be suspect of a movie from an old TV show; I mean we were all there for Miami Vice. But get past whatever prejudices you may have because the movie version of 21 Jump Street may be the funniest movie to come out this year.

The original 21 Jump Street featuring Johnny Depp, who has a fantastic cameo and looks very handsome in this picture, had a lot of teachable moment, dealing with issues from AIDS to child abuse. That shit has gone out the window and the whole tone has got a lot raunchier. But the laughs aren't just a bunch of fart jokes, there are plenty of smart jokes, quick pop culture references, and well played bits sprinkled throughout the movie. And for what is essentially a buddy cop movie it bridges the gap perfectly between slapstick and action genre.

Directing tandem Phil Lord and Chris Miller who previously worked on Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs make the move into live action seem effortless when previous projects like John Carter prove that is not the case. Clearly having watched an episode or two of the series before they are able to incorporate some of the old show into the movie. But if you are looking for a faithful adaptation than you are going to be disappointed. The duo are quick to change the tone and inject the project with plenty of laughs. And they have an outstanding cast to deliver the jokes.

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum jump into their comfort zone as the nerd and the hunk respectively in the beginning of the movie, and while this tandem may seem an unlikely duo they play against each other pitch perfectly. Jonah Hill puts plenty of his perfect placed comedy into the movie. In fact as an executive producer and writer for the movie, he added quite a bit of the raunchy levity that he is known for. But what may be underappreciated from this Oscar nominated actor is that he can also bring a lot of heart to the movie. But the X-factor may be Channing Tatum. The tough cop in this genre usually plays the movie pretty straight and usually is much more of a reactionary. Tatum is actually pretty funny in this movie, has a lot of solid lines, he is great with his character in the role reversal, and (while surprising to no one) has a FANTASTIC dumb face. Also I'm sure the women will enjoy his abs.

All the actors are fantastic in the movie; Ellie Kepler, Chris Parnell, and Jake Johnson all have bit parts as teachers at the school but each have great laughs. But possibly the best smaller role is Ice Cube as the chief of the department. In the series the chief was obviously a hard ass, as the chief is supposed to be in this genre but he kicks it up a level with some well timed lines, vulgar language, and smart observations.

I can't think of a movie that has so many laughs coming at you so quickly since Bridesmaids. The ratio actually is reminiscent of The Naked Gun series, the only difference is the tone changes in the beginning of the third act while they try and raise the stakes. While The Naked Gun movies knew how to stay goofy the entire time, Jump Street tries to become more compelling, but by the climax of the movie they are back into the laughs ending the movie on a high note.

This may be the surprise of the season, and I'm sorry if I ruined it for you but I feel like there are many of you that will still not believe me. This is an unlikely pairing of lead actors, from a relatively unknown directing duo who are reviving an old 80's project. The cards are stacked against it for sure and many of you may refuse to see it for all the reasons listed above. But let me tell you this is a great movie and I encourage you to go out and see 34 Jump Street, no wait, that doesn't sound right. A-

John Carter

Without the Jeddack’s would there be a Jedi, what would Charlton Heston have worn when crashing on The Planet of the Apes, would Kirk have gotten so much inter-galctic tail if it hadn’t been for this hero created 100 years ago. John Carter is thought to be the inspiration for that and so much more in the science fiction world, so it is understood that fans of the genre have been crying out for the movie to be made. And with the technology to create other worlds, nothing is holding the studios back from making this movie. The execution and hype surrounding Disney’s blockbuster John Carter may be too over powering to create a movie living up the expectation.

Disney gave every advantage it could to the movie, a huge budget a talented cast and a proven director but none of it seemed together as there was a lot of fizzle to the movie, but very little pop. Andrew Stanton made his live action debut, but he has already had so much success having previously worked for Pixar and directing Finding Nemo and Wall-E. He has proven that he knows how to create a compelling story and with so much CGI necessary with a movie like this you would figure he would be right at home with this project. He seems too bogged down in making sure everything fits that he pays less attention to making the characters compelling, so whether John Carter succeeds or not becomes inconsequential.

I wanted to like Taylor Kitsch, I really did. I loved him in "Friday Night Lights", so much like I was rooting for the Panther’s success I was rooting for him to do well in this lead role that could make or break the young star’s film career. He just doesn’t bring anything to the table. Come to think of it none of the live action actors stood out Dominic West from "The Wire" was plenty bland. Mark Strong as the shape shifting puppeteer on Mars and go to villain was only noteworthy when he wasn’t Mark Strong. The only actor who could keep my attention was Lynn Collins as the princess of Mars, but it wasn’t for any of her acting skill.

The most interesting characters were the Tharks and with a 250 million dollar budget and a mostly CGI created movie at least they have that going for them. William Defoe was the stand out character and leader of the alien species which made the movie watchable. They were the only characters which seemed to understand how the movie was supposed to turn out. While every other character played their role stiffly a combination of voice animation and computer generation helped at least one species play into the goofy tone that everyone should have been aiming for.

That should have been the tone to the movie, with production being done by Disney you would think they would be trying to appeal to a younger audience looking for a hero. But with a PG-13 rating I don’t know how many young kids will be able to see this movie. It seemed more important to those behind the camera to pay respect to the source material which inspired so many in the science fiction world from Star Wars to Indiana Jones to Avatar. So instead of getting either by trying to create this balance they get neither.

Maybe the problem is just how brilliant the source material is. Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote this story 100 years ago, and right before he wrote arguably his most notable success Tarzan. This story though may have been the more important as it led to countless warriors chasing after princesses, fights in galaxies far away, and outlaw heroes fighting to save the world. But having seen these elements before they hardly feel as innovative as once before.

Perhaps the biggest problem to the story though is the pacing. The movie moves at a snail’s pace, and with so many different elements thrown into the mix there is a lot that needs to be wrapped up before we get to the climax of the film. The story continues to build upon itself with various villains and conflicts all needing resolved. It seems endless and draining and not all that entertaining.

I’m sure Disney would love to make this movie into a franchise. It seems like there is very little else to tell in the story and I don’t know how many out there would be crawling back for more. Fanboys who have been crying out for this movie to be made for eons may be better off watching the movies that were inspired by John Carter instead. D+

My Top Movies of 2011

I am a man of the people, and when the people make a request I listen and often ignore it and then just go about my day. But if it is a good request then I take it a little more seriously. A suggestion like what did you think were the best movies of the year. That is a hell of a question and actually took some time to think about. While the top movies are easy to pick deciding what to leave off and what to leave on got infuriating so I thought I would make a go of it. Since the Academy gave us nine nominations here are my Top Nine Movies of 2011

9) The Ides of March
Damn what an incredible cast. If it seems like this movie just snuck on you'd be mistaken. This was going to make the list no matter what I just needed to think where to place it. All the acting is incredible and Ryan Gosling is so clearly The Guy right now, and all he had to do was look across the room to find out what it’s like to be The Man and boom there's Clooney. The movie goes at an incredible pace and while it is a short movie it moves even faster. There were so many moving parts, and Clooney as the writer and director puts it all in there efficiently and has you gripped to the edge of your seat all with tons of nods to campaigns of the past.

8) Midnight in Paris
A lot of people had this a lot higher on their list, and to be named one of the best movies of the year by anyone is an accomplishment. This is on everyone's list. And it is Woody being Woody; you have to like his work to really like this one. And I actually really liked the casting of Owen Wilson as a gentile younger Woody. Some of the characters were great like Hemingway and Dali, but this was one of the few times I got annoyed with Marion Cotillard, she really took me out of the film which is odd being that she was one of the few French actresses in the movie. I don't know, it was great and I liked it but it didn't keep me hooked which is why it is lower on the list.

7) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II
Say what you will about the book or all the annoying people who read the book, or even worse the people who dress up for the movie. This was a good movie and deserved far more adulation than it got. It is clear J.K Rowling does not know how to write, but man she created a fantastic story with wonderful characters. And in the hands of David Yates who filmed the movie as darkly as the tone demanded the project played perfectly where so many others failed before him. And who would have guessed that Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson would grow into such fine actors, even if he was half in the bag during most of the shooting. These two young actors were able to stand out when there were people like Ralph Fiennes and Alan Rickman on set, that is impressive.

6) Bridesmaids
Maybe you saw it after everyone was telling you how funny it was and left this movie unimpressed by all the hype. You know how it got all that hype? By being fuckin hysterical. Kristin Wiig wrote a seriously funny movie and then gave all the best lines to someone else. Not that she wasn't brilliant in the lead role, but Melissa McCarthy stole this movie right out from under her. The story is sweet and doesn't dumb down the entire gender which so many movies in Hollywood do by assuming all they need in life is a good man. Plus poop jokes.

5) The Artist
This is just a feel good movie. Yes it is just a giant hand job to all that Hollywood is and all that it was, but whatever I'm down with it. And I personally love watching the rise of one lead to the fall of another. And while the love story doesn't stick with me so much I do remember falling in hook, line, and sinker when I was originally watching the movie. Plus the music is fantastic and I love the difference in acting styles from when they are on the screen to when they are out on the streets. Plus that dog, god I love simple pandering that a cute animal will bring to a movie

4) 50/50
How was this movie not nominated for anything at all?!?!?!? Seriously the screenplay is brilliant and heart wrenching without being too depressing. The characters are all amazing, but a special shout out to Bryce Dallas Howard for rocking the bitch character, oh and I loved the overbearing mother, oh and the music. God so much of this movie was so good I really need to watch it again. And that is all before mentioning just how great Joseph-Gordon Levitt has become as an actor. Or how fantastic Seth Rogan's character was and how well he portrayed him even though it’s not so much acting as it remembering as this ACTUALLY ALL HAPPENED. Will Reiser who wrote the script was diagnosed with cancer and Rogan convinced him to write a screenplay about it. He was going to make it a lot darker; luckily he didn't as the movie was super enjoyable, well as enjoyable as it can be with the subject being someone dying of cancer.

3) Warrior
I wanted to put this movie higher on the list but I just couldn't do it because the movie was so telegraphed but I don't care. This movie still sticks with me and it came out in frickin September, sometimes the lines and music will just pop in my head and I love to leave them there. That is the sign of a great movie, a movie that sticks with you. Nick Nolte is fantastic as the alcoholic father; a role I assume is easy for him to play. Gavin O'Connor who directed the movie also directed Miracle which has the same feel good-id-ness about it. Oh and Tom Hardy is bad-ass. I cannot wait for the new Batman movie

2) Moneyball
Maybe it is because I'm a sports fan that two of the top three movies are sports movies, or maybe it is because both movies are fantastic, probably the latter. Aaron Sorkin takes what is essentially an unfilmable book about sports statistics and makes it compelling to any viewer even if you are not into baseball. I originally thought only sports fans would enjoy this movie but after speaking with a lot of people I found it transcended sports and I love that. Brad Pitt is pitch perfect as Billy Beane and Jonah Hill is fantastic as his counterpart and has some of the best scenes in the movie. The movie moves fast and the dialogue is even quicker, without question Aaron Sorkin is one of the most talented men in Hollywood.

1) Drive
"You tell me where we start, where we're going, where we're going afterwards. I give you five minutes when we get there. Anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours. No matter what. Anything a minute on either side of that and you're on your own. I don't sit in while you're running it down. I don't carry a gun. I drive." Ryan Gosling on the top and bottom of this list, obviously. He was so bad ass in this movie. He was perfect and I loved all the brilliant parts to this movie, from the retro fitting text to the nameless characters to Albert Brooks eating Chinese in an Italian restaurant. I loved it all, but here is the thing, I didn't love it at first. It took me a while, after seeing the movie I didn't really know what I just saw but then I thought about it and kept thinking about it and just how brilliant this movie was. Just ask The Artist, you don't need dialogue to make a character interesting and that is exactly what they do with the driver. And once the movie passes the half way point and the tone changes the movie becomes all the better. This is a movie that could be examined and picked apart by experts and they still may miss bits of brilliance from the movie. This is a movie that will be remembered years to come.

So that was my top 9 movies of the year. What did you think? What were your favorites? Let me know. And here is to 2012 being top notch for movies to look forward to this year. Enjoy it, I know I will.

The Lorax

So once again the movie studios have gone to Dr Suess,
This time it’s the Lorax the movie producers have let loose

The Lorax is done by the same people who made Despicable Me
Sure it’s well done, but impossible not to compare to Wall-E

The latter a much better telling of environmental conservatism
The movie is still good re-telling worth all this rhyming romanticism

Our hero is a little orange thing that speaks for the trees
Today it’s impossible not to call him a tree huggin hippie

Danny Devito voices the Lorax as he was the obvious choice
But don’t worry he’s not Frank Reynolds, Devito gives him his own distinct voice

Ed Helms plays the greedy Once-ler stealing all the Truffula Trees,
The directors show him as young man, growing into his greedy personality

But how would you know they needed to give the story a face lift
So they brought in young actors namely Zac Efron and Taylor Swift

They are two younger kids trapped in a different frame story
They needed to pad the film to make it about an hour forty

The new story features a plastic world without any trees
Rob Riggle as the villain and to breath clean air he charges a fee

I guess the execs were worried there just wasn’t enough excitement in the original motion pic
So they added car chases and dance numbers to appeal to a younger demographic

But it’s the original story that has all the movies heart
And who knows maybe you’ll walk away wanting to do your part

There are some people, who hate the Lorax like the anchors on Fox,
They cry indoctrination, it’s just Hollywood on a soapbox

If there’s a problem with the film its all the cross promotion they air
But the problem is much better shared by one Mr. Stephen T. Colbert

The Colbert Report
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Overall I liked it; I felt like a kid and left the theater with a smile
It’s better than other movies done earlier this year by at least a mile B-