Rio 2

Fans of the original Rio may be disappointed in Director Carlos Saldanha’s rather pedestrian and formulaic sequel Rio 2.

When explorers Linda (Leslie Mann) and Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) find other Blue birds in the Amazon, Blu (Jesse Eisenberg), Jewel (Anne Hathaway) and the kids travel there and find Jewel’s family.  

Of course, Blu is not accepted because of his affinity for humans, but manages to prove himself when big business attempts to bulldoze the pristine valley.

 

Rio 2 is not up to Mr. Peabody & Sherman or Muppets Most Wanted, but I’ll still give it a 3 out of 5 for its message.

Draft Day

You don’t have to be an American football aficionado to enjoy Director Ivan Reitman’s Draft Day.  It’s a story of negotiation and, if you’ve ever bought a house, car or any tag sale item, you’ll quickly pick up on what’s going on.  However, if you are a fan of the game, you’ll enjoy it even more, as evidenced by the moans and cheers of viewers commenting on the rightness or wrongness of some of the on-screen tactics.

Kevin Costner is excellent as Sonny Weaver, the General Manager of the Cleveland Browns, trying to build the team previously managed by his recently deceased father. He’s backed up by Jennifer Garner as his lover and assistant.  There are also a number of real-life draft participants, playing themselves.

Thanks to Writers Scott Rothman and Rajiv Joseph, we’re never lost in the machinations of the gamesmanship and are led on an exciting exercise of one-upsmanship.

I give Draft Day a 4 out of 5.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Directors Anthony Russo, Joe Russo and Josh Whedon have teamed up to present an excellent theatrical experience in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Ed Brubaker’s plot as developed by Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, concerning the ease by which an over-dependence on security leads to totalitarianism, puts the action into today’s headlines and takes the film beyond the standard action genre.

Captain America (Chris Evans) is the perfect hero to root out the fascist enemies hidden within the Nation’s leaders and bring them to justice.  But, this time, the stakes are even bigger as he must fight The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), who turns out to be someone dear to him.

With Scarlett Johansson as The Black Widow, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Anthony Mackie as Falcon and Robert Redford as Senator Pierce to back Evans, the fun is fast and furious.

Even those, who are not normally action fans should find this film a pleasure.

I give Captain America: The Winter Soldier a 4+ out of 5.

Under The Skin

Director Jonathan Glazer’s Under The Skin is a pointless and nonsensical waste of time.

 The story, if you can call it that, concerns an alien (or is it perhaps several aliens?), who comes to Scotland’s Glasgow region, takes over a young woman’s body (Scarlett Johansson) and drives around in a van, picking up men, who she seduces and interns them in some under-earth gelatinous realm, supposedly to use their bodies for other aliens.  Or, maybe not.  But, who cares?

There are men following her, but we never know if they are minions, cohorts, handlers or an alien police team after her.  But, who cares?

A would-be rapist accosts her in the woods and, when he discovers the body is not real, burns her.  The end.  I guess Glazer is delivering some kind of message that rapists will save us.

Cinematographer Daniel Landin gives the viewer occasion haunting and even beautiful images, but why Ms. Johansson picked this piece of tripe to bare all remains a mystery.

I give Under The Skin a 1+ out of 5.

Noah

Writer/Director Darren Aronofsky’s Noah is an equal opportunity movie.  There is an equal opportunity for the same person to both really love parts of it and really hate parts of it.

We are, initially, treated to rock creatures that look like they’ve stepped out of the original Flash Gordon serial as if it were directed by Ed Wood.  Is this the sci-fi version of the biblical story?

No, these are fallen angels, cursed to help humankind, albeit the paternalistic “mankind” is used throughout.  But, perhaps, that is appropriate here as mankind has to be ended for screwing up and, indeed, the only male characters worth saving are Methuselah (Anthony Hopkins) and Noah’s son Shem (Douglas Booth).

It’s really Noah’s wife Naameh (Jennifer Connelly), Shem’s wife Ila (Emily Watson) and Ham’s (Logan Lerman) should-have-been wife Na’el (Madison Davenport), who are the true heroines and make the film’s wished-for nobility emerge. 

Noah (Russell Crowe) starts out heroically, but then goes psycho, wanting to kill his family.  Those long voyages will do that to you, I guess.

If I sound glib, it’s because, much of the time, this film does not seem to take itself seriously.

What I did like was the ark, designed by Mark Friedberg, the cinematography of the great Matthew Libatique and Aronofsky’s and Co-Writer Ari Handel’s ideas as to how Noah might have gotten the wood to build the ark, how the animals, birds, etc. were maintained over the 150 days of rain and 40 days of waiting before they left the ark and why they would have been under siege once others discovered what they were building.

For the effort alone, I give Noah a 3+ out of 5, but Connelly and Watson both deserve a 4+ out of 5.

Muppets Most Wanted

Muppets Most Wanted, directed by James Bobin, is the surprise hit of the year, so far.  And, given what is reported as its reasonable budget of $50 million, it could very well become the most profitable movie of, perhaps, the entire year.  Why?  Because it is absolutely brilliant!

The script by Bobin and Nicolas Stoller is hilarious and the songs composed by Christophe Beck are wonderfully charming and funny, as well.

And, you don’t have to a Muppets fan to enjoy this fabulous film.  For years, I, myself, haven’t seen anything Muppet other than a few brief appearances by Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy on some variety shows.  (Whatever happened to The Cookie Monster and wasn’t there a Grouch?)  

No matter.  The enormous coterie of current Muppet characters is conned by their new manager Dominic Badguy…”It’s pronounced Bugeye. I’m French”…(Ricky Gervais) into performing their show in various European cities so he and Kermit-lookalike, the notorious Constantine, can rob various museums.  Why? In order to find the implements that will allow the duo to rob the Crown Jewels of England. 

Meanwhile, the real Kermit has been imprisoned in the Russian Gulag from which Constantine escaped and has become subject to the ruthless, yet incredibly funny, Nadya (Tina Fey).

You don’t need to know anymore other than that it doesn’t matter if you’re young or old…as long as you’re a breathing human being, you’ll have a wonderfully entertaining time seeing this film.

I give Muppets Most Wanted a well-earned 5 out of 5.  Treat yourself to a good time and go.