Horrible Bosses

At first glance this looks like a very impressive cast, it makes one ponder how they could get so many talented people in one place. Then I actually started to think about it, how they got so many big names to the table. Then that led me to wonder if any of these actors are actually big names anymore. Sure, you recognize everyone on the poster but what have they been doing? Then it came to me, nothing, they either haven't done anything of note for the past 5 years or they are up and coming actors who have yet to really do anything great on the big screen. All these actors have the potential to be great and it appears all they need is one great project to get them there. This is probably not that movie, but that talent still shines.

The movie revolves around three friends who have grown up together and each gone into a different field, and a different lifestyle. The movie opens on Jason Bateman who starred in "Arrested Development" until FOX gave it the ax in 2006 for being too funny a sitcom. His dry wit plays well here against his two co-stars go for a goofier approach. Both Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day are currently known more for their TV work but their talent is hard to deny which is why they have been getting more work, especially Sudeikis. The two worked well off each other in this movie which is not surprising as the two previously worked on Going the Distance together and always shared screen time. So once Sudeikis and Day were done riffing off each other Bateman would usually chime in with a one liner to cap the scene and they would move on. This formula was fairly effective as all three men know what they are doing and how to make their scenes funny.

Their opposition is three actors who are no stranger to the lead performance, but instead take a backseat to the funnymen. Kevin Spacey gets most of the screen time in a role he is very familiar with. He plays a psychotic boss who refuses to acknowledge the hard work his underling is performing for him. Colin Farrel and Jennifer Aniston play the supervisors of Sudeikis and Day respectively and go against type to do so. Jen faced a lot of criticism for none of her recent work being any, what’s the word, good. Typically cast as the good girl, she goes against the grain by spending the whole day hitting on her dental assistant. That's where the writers hope to get most of her laughs; by putting this typical good girl in some really raunchy situations and hope that it makes you scratch your head and wonder if she really just said that. I'm not sure what is most ridiculous about her character, that someone would have a problem with a babe like Aniston hitting on them, or that she would be singling out a guy like Charlie Day. A good lookin guy no doubt but Jen shows off her body in this one, and she has it all going for her and would clearly not be as hard pressed for sex as her character may believe she is. Colin Farrell rounds out the bunch, and while he did amazing work with In Bruges in 2008 has not had a box office hit in some time. He went against his norm by rocking a potbelly and a bald cap which really allows him to step out and be a huge douche. Both Aniston and Farrell make appearances in the beginning and are great in doing so but then go for a third of the film without another sighting. While Spacey is good and it is a pleasure to see him take his dickhead approach to another degree it would have been nice to see the other two antagonists a few more times.

So if the stars all do well then what is the problem with the movie? The writing is fine, granted the characters have no depth to them but the movie is only 100 minutes so it is tough to fit in a lot of complexion into an ensemble piece. There are a bunch of solid one liners and funny scenes in the movie which is what the writers are supposed to do. The director has a little problem of when to move on with a joke or when to stay on one a little longer, but he has been doing a lot of television lately and the pacing there is different. It’s nothing that bad, really just a knit pick as the typical TV director does a fine job of getting out of the way and letting his talent and creative team do their jobs.

There is nothing really wrong with this film, there is also just nothing great about it either. The stars are great when they are riffing on each other, the writing is solid, but there is just no laugh out loud moments in the movie. Rather it is full of small chuckles where one can note to themselves, 'hey that was funny,' but then they will most likely just move on and wait for the next movie this cast finds themselves in. C

Dark of the Moon

I don't believe Michael Bay has ever met a special effect he didn't like or an object he didn't want to blow up. For those fans of Michael Bay you are gonna get more of the same, maybe even a little darker than his attempts before. For those of you who are fans of non-stop action and that is all you need from a movie than by all means stop reading here and enjoy the film. I am not a Michael Bay fan and maybe that bias gets in the way, but good lord was this a dumb movie.

The film opens up with the audience discovering that the reason we went to the moon was to find Cybertronian technology before those damn Sputniks. With the back story out of the way we find ourselves cut back to present day with an up-skirt shot of Rosie Huntington-White. She represents the new beau in the movie since Megan Fox was replaced, and I can only imagine Rosie was cast due to her extensive acting past. Well she just so happens to be pretty easy on the eyes as well and Bay makes sure you get plenty of gratuitous shots of her throughout the movie.

After she finishes climbing the stairs in just a button down shirt we see that our hero Sam Witwicky is in a difficult situation again and despite saving the world twice still cannot find a job. Somehow despite having incredibly hot women at his feet and a talking car at his fingers he always opens the movie like a whiney little bitch, and this time he may be at his whiniest. Not only does Shia Lebeouf return as our leading man, but he is also accompanied by annoying miniature sidekicks again. This time they are not the semi-racist mini coopers from the second one, but rather they are even tinier, mostly pocket sized. While frustrating that Bay still felt he needed to include campy sidekicks in this movie, at least this time they aren’t as annoying.

Not all the actors in the movie are completely atrocious. In fact there are a lot of big names in bit parts that seem to be in on the joke and are completely okay with hamming it up and being a little extra ridiculous. John Turturro, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Ken Jeong, and a personal favorite Alan Tudyk all have some great moments in the movie and help bring some intended laughs to the screen.

There are plenty of laughable moments in the movie, mostly due to the writing of Ehren Kruger and the one liners delivered by the cast. Throughout the movie there were many cringe worthy moments that had many people laughing at what was transpiring on the screen. It was as if Kruger’ had just watched an action movie marathon and tried to hit as many cliché action movie lines as possible. Noticeable guffaws also came when, for no particular reason, Bay chose to just have his leading lady standing still, hair blowing in the wind while explosions are set in the background. You could almost see the smile I assume was on his face as he was shooting this scene.

If the writing wasn’t bad enough for you than maybe the music will be. Anytime they want to try and push the emotion to a new level they try and insert some emo-soft-rock. It is the same type of music you heard in the last movie, but it is still just as annoying if not just as cheesy as before.

Not only does he love his music selection but as mentioned before Michael Bay loves his special effects. If one is really cool, but there is a chance you may miss it, don’t worry. Chances are he’ll slow down the action so you can take in everything and be mesmerized by the things his CGI team can do. Most of the effects in the movie are pretty cool, the battles are great and somehow he is able to make these robots in disguise seems real. The moments that check you back into the theater and make you realize you are watching something on a screen are his attempts to use the 3D technology. Reportedly Bay originally has hesitant about using the technology as he believed it to just be a gimmick, that’s right even Michael Bay believes that 3D technology is cheesy. But when the studio said they were going to use it no matter what at least he attempted to control the situation. The scenes in question occur whenever Shia gets thrown towards the audience, and it seems to happen fairly often, the trade off of using the 3D image is usually a less clear image which is an immediate reality check. Hopefully one day they will stop with it entirely, until then though we are stuck with higher ticket prices for a less polished product.

These battle sequences take up a predominant portion of the movie. If you thought it took a long time to destroy Egypt, just imagine how long it would take to destroy a major U.S. city. I wish I had brought in my timer to let you know just how long the final battle takes place, but even Spielberg capped ‘Saving Private Ryan’ at 30 minutes for the opening battle, this finale runs much longer. I hope you don’t have anywhere to go, because to tell his story this movie runs at an impressive 2 hours and 37 minutes.

I rag on Bay a lot in this movie blaming him for a lot of his choices, and while all the criticism, positive or negative, deserves to be tossed his way because he is the director, I don’t hate him. His brand of film making is just not for me, I prefer things like story and writing and character development. While he prefers making the exact type of movie he wants to. And no matter what I or any other critic say chances are you are going to see this movie. Truth be told I’m just jealous of him, and all of the people out there that can sit back and really enjoy this movie, I am just not one of them. F

Bad Teacher

Growing up I don't know if I ever had a teacher who didn't care one bit. All of my teachers, at the very least, could put on a show so I was none the wiser. It was tough to tell what to expect from the movie, most of the trailers just featured the same one liners that weren't all that funny to begin with. The premise was good and had the potential to be hilarious if it was written from the perspective of a disgruntled teacher, it wasn't. While expectations were low the movie still had all the possibility in the world to offend but never quite gets to that point.

Cameron Diaz plays Elizabeth Halsey, a teacher that we all wished we had while we were going to school, a hottie who likes to show movies all day. She is just trying to get by until she can find a sugar daddy that can make all her dream purchases come true. Elizabeth loses out on plan A, and figures as she is getting older the best way to snag herself a man and compete with all the younger trim out there is with bigger breasts. All of a sudden a new substitute teacher, who comes from old money, rolls into the school and it seems her problems are solved. Now all she has to do is fend off a perky teacher from across the hall and a gym teacher who has the hots for her.

All the actors do a fine job in the movie, but that is probably them at their best, doing a fine job. All the actors seem to play a caricature, but none of them really go for it. We know that Justin Timberlake can be hilarious as seen on SNL, but can probably only go as far as the script takes him, I'm not sure if he knows how to take it to the next level yet. And Diaz gives it her all, but the problem is once again the writing. It is unclear if they wanted her to be as devious, as say a “Bad Santa,” or become the likable lead. They get close to both but excel in neither. In an unrelated note, I wonder what it was like for Diaz to have her character pursue a real life ex.

The better performances come from Jason Segal as Russell Gettis the gym teacher and Lucy Punch as Amy Squirrel the goody-goody teacher from across the hall. They do well playing the opposite ends of the spectrum to Diaz's character. Segal has done great as a completely likable guy and while his character is not perfect, he seems like the only one in the movie who is relatable. Meanwhile Lucy Punch seems to be the nicest character of the bunch which means in a movie called "Bad Teacher" she will be the chief antagonist. As she allows her character to get tipped over the edge she becomes far more interesting to watch than any of the names above the title. Punch goes for it all and it results in some of the funnier moments in the movie. Had all the characters had the same reign as she did, which on paper was probably written the same as the others, this movie could have been much better.

The two latter characters written about are the saving graces of the movie, and probably how they should have written the other two lead characters. This movie advertises itself as a black comedy and while it does have a couple funny moments to it, there is nothing really worth raving about. It is a perfect movie to go see and then no longer have the burden of remembering anything about it. D

Super 8

It won't be for everyone, it won't be for those looking for sci-fi action flick. It is a fair expectation from the few details we gathered from the trailer. In that regard it has every opportunity to let you down, but if you are looking for strong story telling with a loving nod to film makers delivered in the hands of children than you are in for a treat. It has been a while since a movie has come out without any marks of irony, sarcasm, and pop culture references leaving only a well done story about a simpler time, a simpler time of monster attacks.

If you are ever going to steal/pay homage to anyone's film career, you might as well get their blessing before you do so. That may have been what J.J. Abrams was doing when getting Steven Spielberg on as a producer. Perhaps the logic was Spielberg has dabbled with movies concerning aliens and children before so he may offer some sound insight. The truth is they had known each other for some time and both had been looking to do something semi-autobiographical about growing up and playing with Super-8 films. It shows on the screen, while J.J. may be in the directing chair you see a lot of Spielberg influence on the screen from the soft music, to the ambivalent close minded single parents, to the use of a crane to tilt up on a close-up of our hero's face. Spielberg's influence is all over this film, and that is not necessarily a bad thing.

The story is a convergence of two ideas that balanced each other out as neither was enough to fill out a movie. The original idea was one about kids growing up in the seventies and making movies, but the problem was they didn't believe the audience would care. With both having a clear interest in science fiction they then started brain storming about aliens, Area 51, train crashes, and getting it all caught on film. Suddenly they had two films rolled into one with both ideas being in their wheel house.

This movie has caught a lot of flak for never really explaining what it was about, and while the previous post doesn't ruin anything for you, it does give you a better idea of what you are dealing with than any of the trailers have. While neither director wanted to give away too much of the film the lack of details may be working against them as no one knows what to expect. Last time J.J. employed this technique was during 'Cloverfield' and while it did well in the box office it left many audience members with a bad taste in their mouth, probably from the motion sickness. So audiences may not be jumping at the chance to see this new science fiction collaboration.

Really the monster functions as a plot device to get to the real heart of the story. The best parts of the film center on the kids making their movie. The kids are all interesting characters and the interactions between them seem genuine. They play off each other well and it comes off very naturally. Plus Joel Courtney is a dead ringer for a young Henry Thomas, if the connections to ‘E.T.’ weren't clear enough already. Watching the filming process go was a treat. While everyone else in the town is wondering about the strange going ons, the kids are left to finish their project while analyzing the information they have gathered about the crash. I would be hard pressed to believe that any movie lover or movie buff didn't enjoy this movie for this part alone. I'm sure most, if not every film lover out there, played behind a camera before so they can appreciate the young cast doing all they can to create an interesting story. It was these small moments of pure joy that won me over.

The movie lives and dies by the child actors in the movie, and normally I hate kids in films as mostly I just find them to be annoying, but these kids did great. The only name of these rugrats that you may recognize is Elle Fanning, younger sister of Dakota, playing the cute girl from across the tracks. The other youngsters were all grabbed from obscurity, but are all perfectly cast into this endearing group.

The effects in the movie are great and all there for reasons even if they may run a little long, seriously how long can a train crash for. Also useful are all of Spielberg's trademark moves of camera angles and music. If you are going to mimic a style why not borrow the style of one of the greatest directors of all time. The soft music helps to enhance every emotion while each angle seems to reflect whether we are dealing with our kids or our troubling monster and the moment that surrounds them.

The opening hour of the movie was so enthralling I felt myself going through a full gamut of emotions. Reflecting back on the movie I find myself still smiling as the overbearing director/sidekick goes over film making 101 with his make-up artist/our protagonist and then watching as J.J. follows his own rules to a T, it would be rather embarrassing if he didn't. These emotions carried through as the second half of the story focused on our monster which wasn't as compelling. But the care and love of the story shows through the screen and makes it worth going beyond the shroud of mystery to see this movie. B+

X-Men: First Class

Before becoming enemies Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr were allies and good friends. That is till they realized that their views on human-mutant relations were so inherently different that they could no longer work together. You don't need to be a fanboy to know this. Anyone who has seen the previous movies know just by watching, which any decent screenwriter will tell you is the objective, show don’t tell. However the producers decided this was neither clear enough nor a completely profitable explanation. So they have given us the back story to all of the questions no one ever asked. And you still think that the World War Three was avoided through diplomacy during a very tense thirteen days. Pssh.

Matthew Vaughn takes the helm on this version of X-men. Bryan Singer returns to help with the story and while he was offered the directing chair had to turn it down due to other commitments (Jack the Giant Killer). It would have been nice to see what he could do with the story. The first two movies helped propel superheros from men in tights to stories that could crossover into mass appeal. Expectations were high for Vaughn who did good work with ‘Kick Ass’ if you’re into watching a 12-year-old swear like a sailor and get the shit kicked out of her, and who isn’t. With all of these elements and a high rating on rotten tomatoes it seemed the series was making a return to what we loved. What we got instead was a movie that seemed over run with characters, nostalgia, and alienated minority metaphors.

The movie opens with both men as children feeling isolated, not knowing there are more out there just like them. That changes very quickly as Vaughn likes working with as many characters as he can, that way if he feels that the action is moving too slowly he can just switch over to another story. Besides Mystique, who is overshadowed by her leading men, most of the other recruits are one note characters that you could probably understand as soon as you hear their mutant name. Meanwhile Kevin Bacon takes on the role of super villain Sebastian Shaw trying to rid the world of the dominant species and make room for the next evolution of mankind. He takes up most of the screen time for the opposition force, well besides January Jones playing the role of Emma Frost, her casting in Mad Man as the empty porcelain doll housewife Betty Draper is now completely clear. I would have liked to see more of, or at the very least one line of dialogue, from Bacon’s henchmen Azazel and Riptide as they have some bad ass scenes. There are so many characters that come in and out of the movie that it is hard to keep track of who and where they are, and even tougher to feel any level of connection as a member of the audience.

The movie isn't all bad; in fact there are moments that are downright enjoyable. A big part of that are James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender performances. When they are allowed a little wiggle room to riff off each other it seems like there is great potential for the movie. Even in some of the goofier scenes, they make it work. I mean they can't work miracles, forcing McAvoy to put his fingers to his head to show that he is using his telekinetic powers still looks silly and something Patrick Stewart didn't have to put up with. The scenes of them together debating competing philosophies were wonderful, but even when the scene or music, which was so often too cheesy for its own good, called for something ridiculous the two men still had enough charm for the scene to not seem out of place.

The most frustrating part of the movie was trying to follow all of the rules that prequels feel the need to follow: trying to explain everything. When the movie was allowed to just be, and tell its story it was much more enjoyable then when the writers needed to show why Beast was blue. But at the same time, I'm sure there were plenty of fan boys mad that we didn't see Magneto and Charles build Cerebro themselves. So that is a tough line to walk, and it seems the producers were looking to appeal to fans of the X-men more than a wider audience so questions needed answers. I suppose this desire for more original story really goes back to the last paragraph and my enjoyment of seeing these two actors together. I would have loved to see the movie deal more with these two competing philosophies than the creation of the X-men, but I didn't write the script so I'll have to take what I can get.

Don't mistake all the criticism to think that I didn't enjoy the movie; it was fun and a good popcorn flick. Maybe I just had this movie on a pedestal from all the high expectations I had going in. There wasn't too much to laugh about in the previous ones, which I enjoyed in the originals, or at least the laughs that were to be had all fit the characters who were delivering them. There are a couple very funny scenes, including a great cameo and a well placed F-bomb but 'First class' gets a little too campy to be taken seriously. C-

Kung Fu Panda 2

Po returns to battle evil with his improved kung-fu skills and this time he will be rocking out in another dimension of awesomeness. Dreamworks, never one to let a franchise die until the last drop of profit and respect is drained out of the series, plans to make this a six-part series. While an action movie can usually extend itself as long as it has a credible threat from a powerful villain, one can't help but think how many times you could hear Jack Black as a panda. Well on the plus side, two is not that number because it is still fun to hear his voice behind this butt-kicking bear.

Po returns with the aid of the furious five as Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Viper (Lucy Liu), Mantis (Seth Rogan), and Crane (David Cross) are set to do battle with a peacock. One may ask how a peacock can be considered a credible threat; the answer is easy: give him the mind and voice of Gary Oldman. And with the development of fire power he plans to put an end to kung-fu and conquer all of China. Now that is one evil peacock.

At times the story seems over run with characters and there is just not enough screen time for all of them. The Furious Five seem to have been combined into one character with Jolie doing most of the talking for the group. If Jackie Chan says more than three lines of dialogue I would be surprised. While we may not hear from many of the characters from the original, the new characters leave their mark, namely the aforementioned peacock and Michelle Yeoh as The Soothsayer.

Also infectious is Jack Black who seems to be the perfect fit as the hero. Po still seems to be an awe of his skill and action. His character can't seem to believe that he is living out the fantasies he once acted out with action figures in his bedroom. His character doesn't seem to be allowed to riff anymore but maybe that is because the original writing team decided to deal with his parental issues so he has a lot more on his panda shoulders.

Po's quest to find his birth parents and who he really is allows the movie to mature a little bit and distance itself from the goofiness of the last movie. For those of you bringing the children along, the memory flashbacks can be a lot to take in and may even spark some questions from the youngsters. Not that this should be a deterrent, and not that we see anyone actually get hurt but it should be noted they do let loose on this part of the story and allow it to become a little dark, and for the really little ones these scenes can be intense. Rest assured everything works out because this is still a kid’s movie and lest we forget they are trying to make another four of these movies.

Besides realizing the need for a good plot to go with their talking animals, Dreamworks is one of the few studios that really know how to properly take advantage of 3-D. They were able to do it in 'How to Train Your Dragon' and do a good job with it again. There are some classic moves of things flying out at the audience, but it also enhances the Chinese landscape. The most effective use of the technique is the end credits and the flashbacks, the artists do a great job enhancing these scenes. The soundtrack also does a wonderful job to enhance the tension and inner peace our protagonist finds in the film. While I was watching I couldn't help but be impressed and then I found out that Hans Zimmer did the score and suddenly it all made sense, the man knows what he is doing.

'Kung Fu Panda' does a fine job entertaining the audience with a new story from a loveable character. It is easy to revert to the last movie and take all the points that were successful from the original and apply it to the new movie (read: Hangover 2), but the second Panda movie decides to branch out and try something new and I think it works. The fireworks fly in this movie and it is always a treat to find a movie that both children and parents can enjoy. B

The Hangover Part II: How does this keep happening?

They keep asking this question throughout the first half of the movie, and I found myself asking the same thing through the second half. In 2009 Todd Phillips had the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all time, so asked himself why change a winning formula, and for those looking for more of the same, the answer is he didn't.

What was great about the first one was that, you had no idea what was coming. Each moment they tried to up the ante. Phillips had a hand in writing this one and I'm not sure what he did, but it looks like he took the last script and copied over all the big points and put them in the exact same spot. I'd be interested to see what would happen if you screened the two movies together side by side, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the same jokes hit at the exact same time.

But for what it's worth, this time it's not Doug that is getting married it’s Stu, played again by Ed Helms. The bride to be is not Heather Grahmn's character but rather a very nice Taiwanese girl named Lauren, played by Jamie Chung. And as a favor she asks Stu to bring along her brother Teddy, who plays the role of Doug by getting lost in the city. Phillips may think that by moving the location to a foreign city that this is enough to increase the danger, but really all it does is force them to ask for directions a lot.

Bradley Cooper is back as the leader of the wolf pack, while Zach Galifianakis is back as the stay at home son. All three men do a fine job reprising their roles; Galifianakis is a little more on the annoying side this time around, but the other two male leads play opposite him so graciously that it still works. Ken Jeong is around a little more this time as the effeminate gangster and it is a welcome addition to mix things up a little bit, he adds to the chemistry of the crew and takes some of the jokes that would be delivered by Galifianakis which is a welcomed new delivery.

With Mr. Chow now part of the crew Paul Giamatti is playing the role of the gangster they need to help. And that isn't the only substitution they have, Stu still has his song, but this time he is rockin out on the acoustic guitar. Playing the role of the tiger/baby is a chain-smoking drug dealing capuchin monkey. This year Stu's missing tooth was played by Mike Tyson's tattoo which I'm sure most of you saw in the trailers. They still go to a strip club where Stu falls in love with one of the dancers, which while repetitive leads to one of the funnier moments in the movie.

But really who am I to judge just this past weekend I woke up in my clothes wondering how the night finished off only to find out that my buddy almost got raped, my other friend fooled around with some girl on the floor, I hit on a bridesmaids relentlessly while enraging her big black boyfriend, broke a door at a hotel, and then as retribution most of my crew including myself got punched in the crotch Johnny Cage style. So I could probably ask myself the same question, how does this stuff keep happening, and then I remember, it's because I am looking for a good time. The movie is ridiculous and repetitive, but if you know what you are getting into before you walk in, it can be a good time and really funny. C+