21 Jump Street

My View: 21 Jump Street (2012) In this comedy, based on the 80’s TV show of the same name, Jonah Hill plays a high school nerd, and Channing Tatum plays the big man on campus who gets all the girls with his looks and attitude. Seven years later, the two decide to help each other graduate from the Police Academy. After graduation, they join the 21 Jump Street program and go undercover in high school to stop a drug gang. This is Jonah Hill’s film (he co-wrote the story), and his type of humor is very evident throughout. There is good chemistry between Tatum and Hill, and both do a good job of playing off of each other. There are some very funny bits, like an extended chase sequence with a running gag that has a hilarious payoff.  Sometimes, though, the film goes just a little too far or goes for the easy joke. My Rating: Bargain Matinee    21 Jump Street Website

Indiefest (A Look at a Small, Indie or Foreign Film):  Friends with Kids (2012) Writer/Director Jennifer Westfeldt (Kissing Jessica Stein) is back with a look at a couple (Westfeldt and Adam Scott) who examine their unhappy married friends and decide they can raise a kid in a better environment by just staying friends and not complicating things with love/marriage. This is a highly entertaining film with a marvelous cast, including Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Chris O’Dowd all who play the two married couples.  Megan Fox and Edward Burns play the love interests of Scott and Westfeldt, but it’s Westfeldt who makes you love this film. She is perfect in the role of the insecure woman who wants a kid but also wants the dream man. As with Kissing Jessica Stein, Westfeldt brings a film to life that is an entirely new look at the romantic comedy. My Rating: Full Price   Friends with Kids Website

My View: Seeking Justice (2012) Continuing in the vein of crappy movies he has been making lately, Nicolas Cage plays the husband whose wife (January Jones) is brutally raped. In the hospital, Cage's character is approached by a man who says he knows who the rapist is and, if Cage gives the word, the rapist will be killed.  The only catch is that someday Cage will have to do a “favor” for the secret organization the man works for.  Cage agrees, the rapist is killed, and Cage must start doing what the secret organization wants him to do. This is a film that has the words “straight to video” plastered all over it, with bad writing (at times the plot becomes laughable), bad acting (January Jones is so robotic that I wonder if she is a Stepford wife) and a plot so transparent, the audience figures out things ten minutes before the characters on the screen do. My Rating: You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again   Seeking Justice Info

The 50 (A Movie From My Best/Worst Film of All Time)

24th Best Film:

Notorious (1946) Alfred Hitchcock directs this tale of intrigue, set in post World War II Brazil, full of spies, Nazis and love. A woman (Ingrid Bergman), whose father was convicted of helping the German government during the war, is approached by a US spy (Cary Grant) to help infiltrate a group of men who are members of the Nazi government in hiding. Using the connections of her father, the woman starts dating one of the leaders of the Nazi party while she is falling in love with the U.S. spy. This film has amazing suspense, and Bergman and Grant heat up the screen with their fiery romance. This classic film has one of the greatest camera moves in the history of cinema with a shot that starts high above a party scene and slowly lowers to a close-up of the hands of Bergman as she clutches a key behind her back.  It's a remarkable shot that makes this one of the best of Hitchcock’s films.   Notorious Info

Forgotten Film: The Hot Rock (1972) Robert Redford plays Dortmunder, a convicted thief who, upon his release from prison, is convinced by his brother-in-law (George Segal) to go on one last big score and steal a precious diamond from a museum. They hire a crew to do the job and plan an elaborate scheme to make the diamond heist. But, things don’t go as planned and get very complicated very fast. This is a very funny film with lots of twists and turns that have hilarious results, and Redford is perfect as the thief who, as things get more complicated, masterminds a break into not one, but two prisons.  My Rating: Full Price   The Hot Rock Info

In Case You Missed it (A Film Just Released on DVD): The Descendants (2011) A film that I considered one of the best of 2011 and certainly deserving of its Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. George Clooney is excellent as a father who tries to keep his family together after his wife is in an accident.  It's Shailene Woodley, though, as Clooney’s rebellious daughter, who makes this film work so well. My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again   The Descendants Website

In Memory of Ed Wood (A Movie I’ve Only Seen in Trailers but Looks Like a Bad Idea): American Reunion (2012) Do we need another sequel to the American Pie franchise? Someone please make it stop!   American Reunion Website

Weird Credits: From the credits of Seeking Justice: Special Thanks to Frye Boots

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You: The Cabin in the Woods (2012) This horror film comes from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer team of Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard and was a big hit just recently at SXSW. The film will be the closing night film of the Atlanta Film Festival at the end of this month.   The Cabin in the Woods Website

Until Next Time!

The Muppets

Family Fare:  The Muppets  (2011)  In this new Muppets film, Gary (played by Jason Segel), has a brother named Walter (voiced by Peter Linz).  Walter is a little different because he looks like a Muppet; but that is good because his favorite TV show is, The Muppets.   Segel, his girlfriend (played by the cute Amy Adams) and Walter go to California to visit the Muppet studio, a lifelong dream of Walters. They find out that not only is the studio abandoned, the Muppets have disbanded and that an evil oil baron (played by Chris Cooper) wants the land where the studio is and will do almost anything to get it.  Walter finds Kermit and persuades him to get the old Muppet gang back together to save the studio.  This is an absolute joy of a film to watch, and I was smiling throughout.  Unlike Happy Feet Two, this film has several memorable song and dance numbers, and Segel (who also co-wrote the script) has a ball performing with Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and the rest of the gang.  This is by far the best of the Muppet films and is one not to be missed.  My Rating:  I Would Pay to See it Again   The Muppets Website

My View:  Hugo  (2011)  Martin Scorsese directs this 3-D film about a young orphan (Asa Butterfield) who lives in a train station in Paris in the 1930s. His father left him a mysterious, metal man, an  automaton, a prop used by magicians at the turn of the century.   The boy is convinced that if he can get the automaton working, it will give him a message from his late father, so he sets out to repair it.  A girl (played by Chole Moretz), whose godfather (played by Ben Kingsley) owns a small toy shop in the train station, decides to help him.  The godfather, though, is hiding secrets - secrets that might help the boy solve the riddle of the automaton, and there is an evil Station Inspector (played by Sacha Baron Cohen) who is dead-set on catching the boy and sending him off to an orphanage.  This is a beautiful film and the best use of 3-D since Avatar, but the film is way too long (127 minutes), takes forever to set up any of the story-lines and is just not very interesting.  This is one  of those films that you want to love but just don't really even like.   My Rating:  Bargain Matinee   Hugo Website

Indyfest (A Look at a Small, Indie or Foreign Film):  The Descendants  (2011)  George Clooney stars in this film about a father whose life is shattering around him.  His oldest daughter  (played by Shailene Woodley) is in a boarding school and is flunking out.  His youngest daughter is not getting along with fellow students and says things without thinking.  His wife has had a boating accident and is in a coma.  And, to add to the pressure, he is the main trustee of a large parcel of pristine real estate on one of the Islands of Hawaii, and he has to decide who to sell the land to, land that has been in his family for 150 years.  Clooney is amazing in this role, low key and restrained, and this role is sure to get him an Oscar nomination.  But it's Shailene Woodley (Secret Life of the American Teenager) who really shines in this film.  She does an incredible job as a teenager dealing with her mother's coma while trying to re-forge a relationship with her father.  This film is warm and rich and is surprisingly funny, as director Alexander Payne (Sideways, Election) gets multi-layered performances out of the whole cast.  My Rating:  I Would Pay to See it Again   The Descendants Website

The 50 (A Movie From My Best/Worst Films of All Time):

#30 Best Film  

The Deer Hunter  (1978)  This five time Academy Award winning film (including Best Picture and Best Director) is a film about how the Vietnam War affected the lives of a small, factory town in Pennsylvania.  Three men, Michael (played by Robert De Niro), Steven (played by John Savage) and Nick (played by Christopher Walken) have enlisted in the Army to fight in Vietnam.  Before they depart, Steve marries his childhood sweetheart (played by Rutanya Alda) and Michael, Nick and their friend, Stan (played by John Cazale), go on one last hunting trip.   Little do the three men know that the next time they will meet will be in a Vietcong prison.  This is a complex film that tracks the three men through their tour in Vietnam and the after-effects of war when the three men return to civilian life.  Director Michael Cimino boldly directs this film, using great sweeping shots, and gets every ounce out of an incredible cast that also includes a very young Meryl Streep.  This is a marvelous film and one that shows how a war can affect not only the men/women who fight, but their loved ones, as well.   The Deer Hunter Info

Forgotten Film:  Marty  (1955)  Ernest Borgnine, in an Academy Award winning role, plays Marty, a 34 year old butcher, who has just about given up finding someone to love.  He still lives with his mother, hangs out with his buddies at the local bar and has to be dragged by his friends to a dance.  At that dance, he meets a plain-looking woman (Betsy Blair) and discovers that maybe, just maybe, he can find love.   Borgnine is absolutely perfect in the role, and Paddy Chayefsky (Network) wrote a script that gives him the part of a lifetime.  My Rating:  Full Price   Marty Info

In Case You Missed It (A Film Just Released on DVD):  Super 8 (2011)   I liked this film from producer Steven Spielberg and director J.J.  Abrams as I felt it was part E.T., part Close Encounters and part Alien with a whole lot of The Goonies thrown in.  It has an impressive young cast that does a terrific job of taking you on a thrilling adventure.  My Rating:  Full Price   Super 8 Website

In Memory of Ed Wood (A Movie I've Seen Only in Trailers but Just  Looks Like a Bad Idea): Mirror Mirror   Fairy tales have been all the  rage in Hollywood these days, and this one is the story of Snow White (played by Lily Collins - the daughter of musician, Phil Collins) and the evil queen (played by...wait for it...Julia Roberts) who sets out to destroy the sweet and innocent Snow White.  It's really hard to tell if this film is a comedy (Nathan Lane is the evil queen's servant) or a drama.  I have a feeling I won't really care.   Mirror Mirror Info

Weird Credits:  From the credits of Hugo:  Personal designer for Sir Ben Kingsley

Flictionary (A Definition of a Film Term):  Tracking Shot  This a shot where the camera follows a parallel path of the object on the screen.  Normally done with a camera mounted on a dolly, it can also be done with a crane or a hand held camera.

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You:  The Iron Lady   A film about the life of British Prime Minster, Margaret Thatcher. I only need to say three words: "Starring Meryl Streep."   The Iron Lady Website

Until Next Time!