End of Watch

Plot: Brian (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Mike (Michael Pena) are two LA cops who become friends as they patrol South LA. They talk in the patrol car about themselves and their families. Gang member and drug dealer encounters lead to the final action with a drug cartel. Brian is taking a film class and has set up cameras -- so there is grainy video from odd angles of everything they do.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Vivid characters, snappy dialog, and suspenseful police action make End of Watch top Hollywood entertainment.  Actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena are up to the challenge in both the talking and in the action scenes. They have realistic emotions, as the switch from the serious, to the the comic and sometimes the sleazy. There are a several well-done action scenes, but what distinguishes End of Watch is the rest.

The script is a big star. Gyllenhaal and Pena spend screen time talking in the car about themselves, but at the same time, they are building toward a climatic event with its personal sacrifice and life altering consequences. 

I also liked the villains -- especially cartel thugs Wicked (Diamonique) and Demon (Richard Cabral.) 

The foreshadowing is fun as Ayer leaves subtle clues about where the film is going.

It has two or three excellent songs coupled with a few beautifully photographed images of LA at night. The artistic photography contrasts with the home video feel of the action scenes. Despite the home video premise, the shakiness was not distracting. 

Cast: Jake GyllenHaal, Michael Pena

Written and directed by: David Ayer

Rating: 4.0 stars:  Best movie of 2012 so far.

 

More: I liked the fight scene as shown by the camera on Pena's shirt. 

.

.

ParaNorman 3D

Plot: Norman can talk to dead people. In his New England town, there is a long dead witch who cursed the town years ago. Norman needs to talk to her, so she will call off a zombie plague.

Norman can't quite manage that so the zombies show up to harass him, his sister, his friend Neil, Neil's brother, and a bully from school. 

Soon the people of the town are out to lynch the zombies, and Norman has to puzzle out the answer before its too late.  [imdb link]    [photos]

Review: ParaNorman is a light-weight kid's horror movie that is not really scary, not really funny, and that has limited depth of characters. It has some sitcom humor and a bit of interesting satire. The monsters are more ugly than scary. I got tired of looking at their unlikely unpleasantness. 

The story is resolved with a fairly obvious role-reversal. The 3D make the visuals a little crisper, but there is not much interesting to see.  No spectacle to see and limited imagination aside from the scenes of the sky. 

Overall, ParaNorman lacks anything of value. It was over-rated by the critics who give dynamite ratings to any kid's movie that isn't complete drival. 

I wish I'd seen something else. 

Directed by: Chris Butler, Sam Fell; written by Chris Butler. 

Rating: 1.5 stars

More: Writer-director Chris Butler worked on the 2-star Coraline and the 2-star Corpse Bride - both stop-action animation like this one. 

Even more: Speaking of Corpse Bride, the best thing about that movie is the dancing skeletons, and the Corpse Bride song. (This version has the dancing skeletons, but the music is not as good.)  ParaNorman could have used dancing skeletons. Probably could have used the Flying Elvises too. 

Celeste and Jesse Forever

Boring poster, right?  

Plot: Celeste (Rashida Jones) and Jesse (Adam Samberg) live in LA have been married for six years, but they just got separated. They obviously still love each other, and want to get back together, but they insist they want to be just-friends. As time passes, they start dating other people, which brings their relationship into focus. imdb link]    [photos]

Review: This is "light drama" -- not a "romantic comedy." Specifically, it a "relationship-oriented drama" -- a "chic-flic," but I liked it, so I'm calling it a "relationship-oriented drama!"  Even though it has Andy Samberg, it is not ha ha funny.

Celeste and Jesse Forever is really all about Celeste, how she lives through her divorce, and learns about herself. Samberg's Jesse is a well-acted supporting character, and Samberg underacts.

Happily, writer/producer and star Rashida Jones is up to the role, and she is likable and sympathetic. There is a little sit-com humor, but mainly it is Celeste getting over her perfectionism, and becoming a better adjusted adult.

I enjoyed this film. It is not superlative because only Rashida gives a knock-out performance. It is a good co-star short of being a top movie of the year. I liked it because it gives a window into what it is like to be someone else. 

The end -- ahh the end. I liked the end. Not everyone will.

Cast: Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg

Directed by: Lee Toland Kreiger;

Written by: Rashida Jones

Rating: 3.0 stars, I am tempted to give higher. This makes it comparable to Woody Allen's To Rome with Love, and not as good as my 2011 favorite Young Adult -- also a "relationship-oriented drama."

  +

More: Rashida Jones is the daughter of music producer Quincy Jones and Mod Squad actress Peggy Lipton.

.

Premium Rush

Plot: NYC bike messenger Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is delivering a valuable envelope across town, but an out-of-luck gambler (Michael Shannon) tries to intercept him, and soon the police are chasing him too. His girlfriend Vanessa (Dania Ramiez) and steroid-loaded friend (Wole' Parks) pump bikes across town in crazy traffic to save the day.  [imdb link]    [photos]

Review: This is a fast moving summer movie that makes for knuckle-whitening grips on the theater seats as the riders careen through Manhatten risking limbs and livelihoods. The  plot is simple, but it sets up the action, and motivates the bike chase scenes. 

I liked most of the cast especially the likable Jamie Chung, who played the Chinese woman who started the whole chain of events. I did not like the gambler, Michael Shannon, who did not seem panicked or nervous enough.  The cast, like NYC, has every different ethic group.

The photography was gripping, and the music was dynamic and fast-paced. 

Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dania Ramirez, Wole' Parks, Jamie Chung, Michael Shannon

Written and directed by: David Koepp

Rating:  2.5 stars:

More: I know that real bike messengers don't take risks like this, but I still think biking in traffic is too dangerous. 

..

More: There is one out-take during the credits, so don't leave too quick. It showed an incident where Gordon-Levitt got 31 stitches. Besides, the old Who songs sound good on the big theater speakers. 

2011's Top Movies

2012 is winding down, and I need to archive my list of 2011 movies here for all time. Or at least until Google is just bright spot in the night time.

2011 Top Movies

• 4.0 The Descendants
• 4.0 Young Adult
• 4.0 Moneyball
• 3.5+ My Week With Marilyn
• 3.5 Super 8
• 3.5 Exceptionally Loud and Incredibly Close
• 3.5 Bridesmaids
• 3.5 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2
• 3.5 Hugo
• 3.0+ Hanna
• 3.0 Limitless
• 3.0 The Help
• 3.0 The Adjustment Bureau

The Campaign

Plot: Long time Congressman Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) is challenged by naive newcomer Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis,) backed by two rich guys (John Lithgow, Dan Aykroyd.) The campaign is filled with the worst dirty tricks and misleading commercials. [imdb link]    [photos]

Review: The Campaign viscously pokes fun at politicians and politics with a mix of sitcom humor, political satire, and silliness. A few scenes are very funny including one were I laugh so hard my eyes were watering.

The weakness is that the candidates do things to set up the next sitcom joke, especially Cam (Ferrell.) Cam is another version of the Anchorman character Ron Burgundy. He is too oblivious to his surroundings, and lacks even a second of self-awareness. Marty (Galifianakis) has more idiosyncrasies early, and the joke is that he is changed so immediately by his campaign handler. In truth, the fast moving jokes don't have time for characters. This movie is short, and its characters could not support a more elaborate plot.

There is some intelligent content here about using the media to manipulate voters, about the effect of money in politics, and about corruption in local politics. I suspect political education was timed to influence the election, but then election movies come every four years -- don't they?

Cast: Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Sudeikis

Directed by: Jay Roach

Rating: 2.5 stars: because it was so funny

 

More: I loved the baby joke. It is worth seeing just for that.

Even more: The rich brothers that finance Marty's campaign are the Motch brothers. These are based on the real life Koch brothers, and they don't like it. 

Total Recall

Plot: Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) is a factory worker, who wants a better life, but has nightmares of fighting a revolution against the government. In this Blade Runner-like world, memory manipulation is commonplace, and Quaid pays to have exciting memories inserted into his head like a cheap vacation. Seemingly the treatment goes wrong, and suddenly Quaid is thrust into the middle of a revolution against the government, and his wife Lori (Kate Beckinsale) is a government minder and super-spy that wants to kill him. Quaid kills dozens and escapes, and meets resistance fighter Melina (Jessica Biel.) He tries to figure out what is real and what is not, then the movie thunders to its action movie climatic conclusion. 

[imdb link]    [photos]

Review: This is a successful summer movie -- lots of action, just a little thoughtful reflection on "What is real?" and a little romance. 

Best parts: I liked the funky city-scapes. I loved the beat-up streets, the texture of the buildings, the signs, the big jaws that hold the train, and all the crowds. I liked the Quaid/Lori fight scenes even if it seems like Lori can never die, and is two places at once. Action movie villains are supposed to be tougher than real life. I liked Jessica Biel, who was tough and likable. I liked how everyone knows more about Quaid than he does. I liked Lori's last gasp attack on Quaid: really surprising.  I liked Bryan Cranston's portrayal of the British Chancellor; especially how he digs in and fights like a super-villian.

Superimposed on the Phillip K Dick story there is another story about the revolution, and it includes an elevator that goes from Britain to Australia through the center of the earth.  It is dumb to criticize Sci-Fi for being impossible, this is more like a fantasy premise. There are also white-plastic garbed storm troopers just like Star Wars.  

Worst parts:  The politics around "The United Federation of Britain" and the "Colony". The half hearted attempt to question whether the whole movie was a dream or real. This was a big theme in the 1990 movie, but it isn't  in the book. It didn't work too well in 2012 version.  At the end the movie speeds along -- action heavy and light on plot. It is cool to see an army of storm troopers like Star Wars, but it is distracting. 

Quaid is fighting a war where he does not know what side he is on because of his memory implants on top of memory implants. Writer Wimmer wants us to question whether we should be killing people if our minds can be changed so easily.

Major Spoiler: I read the original Phillip K. Dick short story this afternoon, and most of the plot of this version is not in the story. The original has the memory implant, Quaid being a revolutionary with a repressed memory, and his wife being a government minder. 

Cast: Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston

Directed by: Len Wiseman

Rating: 2.5+ stars: nearly three

More: Somewhere in America,  some one is planning to have  an extra boob sewn on.

.