Back in 2008, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist offered young love, angst and a nice New York tourism plug for the Gossip Girl crowd that is now a template for the youth of the generation, while somehow making older folks pine for John Hughes all the more. Following in similar footsteps, The Art of Getting By is a nice, albeit formulaic addition to the genre where concept and characters are just enough to overlook the lack of much else.
In a summer dominated by sequels, capes, lanterns and upcoming shields, it should come as a shock that one of the best movies of the year has the word "super" in it but not a single person can fly, well not on their own. J.J Abrams goes back to the past, but not totally retro in the long awaited Super 8.
Like a parent who takes the gift-giving in Christmas very seriously, writer-director J.J. Abrams is the master of hiding things, particularly in boxes. However, it's hard to argue with the wait when the payoff comes comes with such a big bow.
It seems like only yesterday that we were first blessed with the butt kicking Panda named Po. It's been a long three years and although the awesomeness takes a while to reveal itself, Kung Fu Panda 2 fights its most difficult villain: the temptation to be like the original.
Po (Jack Black), the cuddly Kung Fu master is back with the his idols the Furious Five (don't ask why they're not the Furious Six). This time they have to battle a threat that not only threatens the existence of Kung Fu, but also the fate of China. Many miles away, Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), an exiled peacock from a royal family, returns to his kingdom to reclaim his place on the throne by any means necessary. Along with his evil animal minions is a weapon of mass destruction that spits fire which threatens the balance of power in the land ruled by Kung Fu.
Will Ferrell puts the funny on the shelf and gets all dramatic in the low budget Everything Must Go. The former scotch loving anchorman shows the dark side of alcoholism as he loses what's important and decides to sell the rest. Nick Halsey (Will Ferrell) is a middle aged salesman whose glory days as a salesman are behind him, but still manages to be above average at what he does. He's let go after 16 years after one sales trip bender too many. His reward is not a car or even a gold watch. No, it's an engraved pocket knife on a key ring.
Like a jury in a high profile case, audiences are supposed to lean on the concept of suspended disbelief just long enough to separate the artist from whatever his latest transgressions may have been caught on camera phone...or answering machine. While many Gibson supporters attribute some of his actions to a momentary loss of sanity, The Beaver tackles one man's battle with depression and his unique form of self medication. The Beaver doesn't so much offer a cure for mental illness as much as question the strength of a family dealing with it.
This Friday, North American audiences will finally be treated to what a good deal of the world has already seen: Marvel's big screen adaptation of Thor. With multiple directors and stars attached to the project since the 1990's, the project has been the epitome of "long awaited", taking a back seat to other superheroes from Spider-Man to Blade.
A strange thing happened on the way to the long awaited 2012 The Avengers movie, Marvel managed to stumble upon the genre's first superhero epic. While Thor isn't perfect, it's certain to leave Midgard audiences anxious for more.
Despite being arguably the most powerful hero in the Marvel Universe, Thor has been relegated to being a bit player or ensemble piece when away from his comic book home. This all changes with this big screen, big budget and big hammered debut. With a tease set up in Iron Man 2, Thor sets out to spin a yarn of celestial proportions and pulls it off for the most part.
Many reviewers will contend that the summer movie season kicks off in a week with the debut of Paramount's big budget Thor. There will be enough capes, shields and glowing rings to boost the sales of Happy Meals worldwide; however, one brave filmmaker may contest that claim. Japan's Takeshi Miike debuts 13 Assassins, a samurai war movie where 13 brave warriors set out to prevent war.
Warriors out to prevent war? If there's a clear definition of good versus evil, then you know this is a period piece. The year is 1844 and peace has invaded feudal Japan. Once proud samurai struggle to adapt to a world more about commerce than swords. Lord Naritsugu (played by rocker Goro Inagaki) is the brother of the Shogun and wants to return Japan back to it's warlike days and sets out on a one man crusade to bring chaos back to order. Naritsugu doles out cruelty as if it were pez. When an opposing nobleman commits hara-kiri to protest Naritsugu's crimes, he decides to send a message by filling up the nobleman's wife and children full of arrows.
You never want to rejoice in someone else's misery, which is why I insisted that we stop partying after the 84th bottle of champagne celebrating the recent firing of Movieline's former top film critic, Elvis Mitchell. Not only did I feel bad for bringing 8 layer dip, chainsaw jugglers and a couple conjoined strippers to the party, but I always feel weird kicking a guy named Elvis.
So, whats the next stop for a guy who lied about seeing a movie and sort of disgraced his profession. How about the UK, where they're proud to lie about movies?
Hollywood has always had a strange relationship with history. Borrowing bits and pieces of truth and filling in the rest of the story like a bad contractor has never been above tinsletown's best. Even Aaron Sorkin is known to have said that he wouldn't "let truth get in the way of our story," when referring to the Oscar nominated The Social Network. Leave it to the King of Sundance to make history a priority in his latest film while perhaps proving Sorkin right in the process.
