The Way Way Back

If you’re tired of bang-bang and juvenile humor, you should enjoy the respite provided by Co-Writers/Co-Directors Nat Faxon’s and Jim Rash’s delightful The Way Way Back.  (Note: They even act, brilliantly in small roles.)

It’s a coming-of-age story about a 12-year-old boy named Duncan (Liam James) whose mother Pam (Toni Collette) forces him to endure a summer vacation with her schmuck of a boyfriend Trent (Steve Carell) and his aloof daughter Steph (Zoe Levin) at a beach community.

According to Trent, Duncan starts the summer as a 3 out of 10.  Actually, I’d give him a 1.  But, thanks to interaction with Owen, the manager of a water park, played fabulously by Sam Rockwell and Susanna (Anna Sophia Robb) the daughter of Trent’s alcoholic neighbor Betty, also fabulously played by Allison Janney, Duncan starts to find his inner core.

 

I mention all these actors, as well as Maya Rudolf as Owen’s potential girlfriend Caitlin, Rob Corddry and Amanda Peet as Trent’s friends and River Alexander as Betty’s son Peter because this is one of the best ensembles you’ll find this year.  That’s thanks to Casting Director Alison Jones.  I often wonder why there is no Academy Award for Casting.  If there were, Ms. Jones would surely be a contender.

The Way Way Back is a lot of fun.  The only thing to fault it for would be the rather unfortunate title.  I give it a 4+ out of 5.

 

Despicable Me2

Co-Directors  Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud have translated Co-Writers Ken Dario’s and Cinco Paul’s Despicable Me2 into a thoroughly enjoyable film for both children and adults, although I felt some of the best parts were even more appealing to adults. Think Soupy Sales and you’ll know what I mean.

                  Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) is recruited by The Anti-Villain League through the efforts of Lucy (voiced by Kristen Wiig) to help thwart a new master criminal.

This is  a job he is reluctant to take on because it takes away from his time with his lovely adopted daughters Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher).

 

The plot is secondary, however, to the antics of adorable Minion characters (voiced by the Directors), who create multitudinous belly laughs.  The hilarious final scene, alone, is worth the price of admission.  Don’t miss it.

And, the extra cost for seeing it in 3D is worth it, especially for the end credits.

I give Despicable Me2 a 4+ out of 5.

The Lone Ranger

Director Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger, more aptly titled The Lame Ranger, is 149 minutes in length, which makes it 148 minutes too long.
 

In politics, “It’s the economy, stupid.”  In film, “It’s the script, stupid.”  That’s the overall problem here.  Writers Justin Haythe, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio have created the worst piece of tripe imaginable.  It’s not only bad, it’s insulting to the iconic legend they’ve massacred. 

 

Of course the casting of wannabe actor Armie Hammer in the title role only adds to the travesty.  When William Fichtner as Butch Cavendish draws down on him, members of the audience yelled, “Shoot him!”  They could stand neither the poor portrayal nor the simpering character to which their hero had been reduced.

Rarely does a film sink to the depths of “crimes against humanity,” but this is The Lone Ranger’s only claim to dubious fame.

Not too far into the ordeal, I was thinking, “This film is only half as good as it should be.  At best it should get a 2+. “  But, then, it continued to get worse.

 

Near the end, an audience member kept pacing back and forth at the front of the theater.  Was he contemplating suicide?  Was he in a stupor?  Whatever.  No one objected because it was more interesting than anything on the screen.

 

And who did Disney have to pay off to get a PG rating?  The gratuitous violence that made one of the characters on screen vomit does not make this a suitable film for children.  Nor adults.

 There are too many good films out now to waste your money on this turd.

 

I give The Lone Ranger a 1 only for the effort Johnny Depp and Ruth Wilson gave to rise above this garbage.

 

 

 

White House Down

In White House Down, Director Roland Emmerich provides the same energy and excitement he gave us in Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow.

For those who think this might be a copy of Antoine Fuqua’s Olympus Has Fallen that came out at the beginning of spring, I would say that would be like thinking, if you’ve seen one Western, you’ve seen them all.  White House trashing has become a genre like heist films, buddy films or romantic comedies and I’m sure we’ll continue to be seeing many more of the years.

 

Here, the bad guys, extremely well played by Jason Clarke and his team, are domestic terrorists and there is an agenda far worse than that of the foreign terrorists in Olympus Has Fallen. With Jamie Foxx as the President, the situation seems closer to today’s reality.

Channing Tatum as John Cale is not as tough as Gerard Butler in Fuqua’s film, but tough enough to come through in a clutch.

What really sets White House Down apart from Olympus is Joey King, who plays Cale’s 11 year-old daughter and is visiting the White House with her father, when the invasion occurs.  She becomes the real hero of the film and a true role model for tweeners.

 James Vanderbilt’s script provides for non-stop action, Production Designer Kirk M. Petruccelli puts the action in fabulous sets and Cinematographer Anna Foerster captures it all, beautifully. 

For summertime action, I give White House Down a 4 out of 5. 

The Heat

The Heat, directed by Paul Feig (The Bridesmaids) and written by Katie Dippold, is a hilarious female buddy movie, starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy.
 

Bullock plays an FBI special agent, who is a 10 at her detecting ability, but a zero at interpersonal skills.  McCarthy plays a Boston detective, who is off the charts for psychotic rage, but a zero at couth.  The two are forced to work together to unmask a Bean Town drug king.

 

It is a tribute to Bullock’s talent that she plays the straight man to McCarthy’s comic character and, in the process, enhances her own comic ability.  McCarthy shows her chops by being able to move from comic psychotic rage to genuine sweetness within the blink of an eye.

 

 

Most comedies are successful if they can deliver 3 to 6 good belly laughs.  The Heat delivers upwards of a dozen.

The film is not for children under 13, but anyone else, who wants to sit back and have a good time, should enjoy this film.

I give The Heat a 4+ out of 5. 

 

 

World War Z

Director Marc Forster’s World War Z is a nail-biting thriller from beginning to end. 

 

The well-written screenplay by the writing team of Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goddard, Damon Lindelof and J. Michael Straczynski moves smoothly through the harrowing events befalling humankind as an unknown virus turns people into zombies within seconds and the attempt by the film's hero Gerry Lane, played brilliantly by Brad Pitt, to determine its origin and an antidote or cure.

Mireille Enos and Daniella Kertesz backup Pitt with strong performances as his wife and aide, respectively.

 

Forster is superb at balancing action with thoughtful and moving scenes of realistic emotion, the latter highlighted by the scene where Lane tests his theory of what may thwart the zombies.  The movie is worth seeing for this alone.

I must warn you, however, that this film is not for the faint-hearted.  But, World War Z well deserves a 5 out of 5.

 

Much Ado About Nothing

 

 

Writer/Director Joss Wheedon has also taken on the role of Composer and Editor in bringing a modern-day version of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing to the screen.  And, he’s done a hell of a good job.

 

Amy Acker as the acid Beatrice, Nathan Fillion as the dolt Dogberry, Jillian Morgese as the sweet Hero and Tom Lenk as the idiotic Verges are the standouts in a cast that is top-notch all the way around.

 

Jay Hunter’s beautiful black & white cinematography helps to put the iambic pentameter dialogue into a proper setting for the audience’s suspension of disbelief.   

The only issue I have is that, with the talk of war and mention of places like Messina, there might have been a better locale chosen for the action.  But to harp on that would really be much ado about nothing.

 

With Before Midnight and Much Ado About Nothing, adult audiences now have great reasons to be going to the movies.

 

 

I give Much Ado About Nothing a 4 out of 5.