Shop Talk
By BOP Staff
July 17, 2014
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Edwin Davies: I watched 22 Jump Street and my face actually hurt from laughing so much. I'm a huge Lord and Miller fan, but I always thought the 21 Jump Street didn't go far enough with its attempts to satirize reboots of TV franchise; it started as one, then became more or less a straightforward (but very funny) buddy cop comedy. 22 Jump Street, by comparison, is one of the most self-reflexive mainstream films since Scream; it's relentless in its satire of lazy sequels, yet it tweaks its own formula enough to avoid becoming one itself. It also does that thing that Lord and Miller's work is so good at which is being both ironic and earnest at the same time. It can be this elaborate commentary on the nature of sequels while also treating the central relationship with a modicum of sincerity, without sacrificing laughs or heart. I thought it was kind of amazing, really.
I also rented David Wain's They Came Together, which attempts many of the same things that 22 Jump Street does but for romantic comedies instead of action movies. It's pretty sharp and incisive in pointing out the cliches of the genre, then pushing them to absurd lengths, but it almost feels like it's too restrained most of the time. The biggest laughs come when the film does stuff that is completely crazy, such as having an otherwise lighthearted scene take a dark turn when one character falls through a window, but most of the time it holds back. It's also completely lacking in sincerity, but then again it's a lot more vicious than Jump Street so it's allowed to be more detached.
Felix Quinonez: Amazing Spider Man 2 - I still loved the performances of the leads, but even though I REALLY wanted to love the movie, even I can't deny that it was a bit of a mess. A lot of times it really felt like they had no idea what they were doing. I still enjoyed it but it was very disjointed and felt more like a commercial for future installments than an actual movie.
X-Men:Days of Future Past - I can't exaggerate how much I loved this movie. It didn't even feel like a comic book movie but a comic book on screen. (It makes sense to me.) It wasn't perfect but it came pretty damn close. I've seen it twice and I want to see it at least a couple of times more. It had action, humor, emotion, and the performances were great. AND THAT QUICKSILVER SCENE...WHOA. Just writing about it makes me want to skip work tomorrow and watch it all day. Right now I'm more excited for X-Men:Apocalypse than Avengers:Age of Ultron. And that is saying a lot. I really hope Bryan Singer comes back to the director's chair.
Maleficent - The movie certainly was nice to look at and Angelina Jolie gave a great performance. I'd definitely say she elevated what is otherwise a very forgettable movie into something that is quite enjoyable. But the movie was kind of odd. I was especially perplexed by its pacing. It felt like they spent a lot of time on something that should have been a quick montage or a couple of scenes and then they rushed stuff that they should have spent a lot of time on.
Jay Barney: I have not been to the movies as much as I would like this summer. Had the chance to go and see X-Men:Days of Future Past and it was excellent. I was amazed they were able to get so many of the actors who made appearances in the franchise to come together like that. It was very satisfying, and I think we have to evaluate the discussion we had last year about how the franchise was in decline. Last year everyone was saying there was a bit of franchise fatigue with The Wolverine, and I remember some people knocking X-Men First Class, flippantly asking why they placed the story in the 1960s. X:Men Days of Future Past answers all of those questions and stifled any doubts. This was a great movie.
Max Braden: Since the "summer" started, I've only seen a handful of the majors: I was looking forward to seeing Godzilla based on the cinematography shown in the trailers. There were some nifty visual moments in the trailer, but I was hugely let down by the movie. In fact, I'd say I can't think of any monster or catastrophe movie I disliked more than Godzilla; including the Matthew Broderick version, including The Day After Tomorrow, and including the Transformers movies. The first half of the movie, dealing with the characters, is terribly boring. And then, when the action gets started in the second half...it's again terribly boring. Godzilla is treated like an afterthought, with the action set behind buildings and mostly out of sight, and the music doesn't help the action at all. Add to that the idiocy of Elizabeth Olsen's character wanting to stay in the killzone to wait for her husband, and I was annoyed to the point of never wanting to see this movie again.
I was also looking forward to Maleficent and fortunately it lived up to expectations. Angelina Jolie is currently my favorite performer of the year so far based on this movie. Casting her, and the twist on the character of Maleficent, was excellent. She's intimidating and seductive at the same time (though I wasn't a fan of the leather pants at the end). Elle Fanning was lovely, but I wasn't impressed with Sharlto Copley.
I didn't think Edge of Tomorrow looked very good from the trailers - you really couldn't tell what was going on except for a lot of chaotic action. I was shocked how much I liked it. Cruise, playing a mostly helpless character instead of his normal hero, manages to be funny (though still weirdly Cruise in that way that you see him acting and never quite genuine). I don't think I was really a fan of Emily Blunt before, since she has her own severe and unapproachable aura, but I'm a big fan of her now. I think I'm in the minority in that I liked Oblivion, and I still think I liked that movie more than this one, but Edge of Tomorrow is a fun time-travel movie. I like these as a double header of Tom Cruise sci-fi.
On DVD:
The Starving Games: As you would expect, this is a spoof of The Hunger Games. And as you would expect, it's terrible.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: I thought this was at least a little more lively than the first Hobbit, but they just don't compare to the Lord of the Rings movies. I just can't take Richard Armitage as Thorin; he looks like Will Forte playing trying to be super serious in a comedy skit. I do like Ken Stott as Balin, though.
The Art of the Steal: Nice to see Kurt Russell being Kurt Russell again in this caper. It's fun and worth a look if you like heist movies.
Better Living Through Chemistry: I normally like Olivia Wilde, and initially didn't like her character at the beginning of the movie, but warmed up to her well midway through. Sam Rockwell continues to be a greatly unappreciated actor.
I, Frankenstein: I did briefly like the introduction of the gargoyle pair, but this ranks at the bottom of the barrel in the genre along with Van Helsing and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. I respectfully request that the dialogue "This ends tonight!" be banned from use in movies forevermore.
Ride Along: I generally like Kevin Hart because his enthusiasm is infectious, but he's really just playing a Martin Lawrence stand-in here and Ice Cube can't be bothered to do much other than scowl. A really generic buddy cop movie.
That Awkward Moment: Another movie I had very low expectations for, but it turns out this may be my favorite movie of the year so far. That's largely due to the dialogue, especially between the buddy characters, because it's just hit after hit of funny. The romance is a bit predictable and senselessly cowardly of Zac Efron's character, but Imogen Poots sure is adorable. Miles Teller is even better than he was in The Spectacular Now.
The Nut Job: Predictable. Nice animation, but unexciting.
About Last Night: I really liked Michael Ealy in last season's TV show Almost Human, but this movie could have done without him and Joy Bryant.
McCanick: I watched this for David Morse, but the plot is so muddled with flashbacks that I couldn't figure out which was past and which was present and why it mattered.
Pompeii: I love history and would have liked a decent treatment of this moment in time, but I guess when you're talking about a natural catastrophe the history is an afterthought. This comes across as a cheap version of Gladiator. At least it's better than The Legend of Hercules (currently the worst movie I've seen this year).
The Monuments Men: A cheap knockoff of Saving Private Ryan, and it just falls completely flat. There's no emotional connection to any of the characters. There's no sense of urgency to the mission. And some pieces of fantastic art are arbitrarily chosen as McGuffins. It's like a sad after-school project.