1) R.I.P.D.
It stands for Rest In Peace Department, do you get it? We gave it a weirdly positive review with much hand wringing on the subject of the summer blockbuster, but with tacit acceptance of the mainstream critical disregard that the film received. A rare misstep by Jeff Bridges and a standard misstep by Ryan Reynolds, the film is about two cops from different time periods who join forces to fight dead criminals on Earth, via avatars. Jeff Bridges plays Roy Pulsipher, a US marshall from the 1800s, who initially bristles against Ryan Reynolds’ Nick Walker, Boston police detective, but they make peace as the films carries on its boring way.
The standout thing about this one, as you’d expect, was Jeff Bridges’ performance. It seems like the man is unable to turn in anything less than quite good. I mean, just look at him in that picture above. He looks awesome. Sort of calling back to his role in the fantastic True Grit, he has the ultimate antihero look nailed – and he has such a cult following of dedicated fans that you’d think his name alone would sell a film. Can you think of a single bad movie that Jeff Bridges has ever been in? Have you ever heard anyone say “You know what? I just don’t like Jeff Bridges.” The man is movie Teflon, nothing bad sticks to him.
So, how could the film fail? Let’s blame Ryan Reynolds and be done with it. Against a budget of $130 million, R.I.P.D. took $78 million at the box office. Not good for a film starring two marquee names, but definitely not as bad as some of the other films that released in 2013.