47 Ronin

47 Ronin depicts the fictional account of the group of 47 samurai in 18th Century Japan avenging their master's death, and stopping Lord Kira (Tadanobu Asano) from taking control of their region. Oishi (Hiroyuki Sanada) leads the Ronin after being banished from their land. A mixed race outcast, Kai (Keanu Reeves), joins them in an attempt to gain their respect.

Due to a studio decision to reshoot a lot of the film, it's been heavily criticized. And the way it's being marketed is killing it at the box office. But I'm here to set the record straight. It hasn't completely earned the 12% on rotten tomatoes. Because even with its unfocused plot and a Japanese cast speaking English, its action sequences can be exciting. It does, however, take too long to get off the ground. 

Walking out of the theater, my friends and I agreed that it was paced very well, the time goes by pretty fast. However, after the first 20 minutes, it is slow, boring, and unimportant. Everyone yawned at least once in the theater. At the halfway point, it begins to pick up again, but you don't really care anymore because there was a 40 minute period that lost your interest completely. 

Oishi was originally supposed to be the main focus of the film. And I think Kai could have been a big part of it too, had the film been an hour longer and written better. Reeves was supposed to have a minor role, but is now splitting the protagonist in two with Asano. Reeves gives such a wooden performance, combined with his appearance, you could compare to Liam Neeson's Qui-Gon Jinn. The rest of the cast did what they could, but it may have just been better letting the Japanese speak their own language, forcing the audience to read subtitles.

Mizuki (Rinko Kikuchi), a witch that serves Lord Kira had a lot of screen time with no real development. A short (anti-)climactic battle with Reeves felt tension-less. She was wrapped in generated images the entire time. Her scenes with Mika (Kou Shibasaki) seemed more sensual than threatening.

Mika and Kai have this forbidden relationship. While Kikuchi is probably the best actress in this, the love story between her character and Reeves' can't be given any craps. Why not? Because you really just forget about it. The film is split into two plot lines, Kai's and Oishi's, each having their own story arcs. The love story, being part of Kai's, has such little attention the over-dramatic ending leaves the audience indifferent towards the two of them.

Outsiders, or people of a different race, were not allowed in feudal Japan. However, because Kai is mixed race (I would assume the other half is white), he is ostracized as a demon. You even see the people he came from at some point in this movie. The feudal Japanese people labeled white people as demons. The more you think about the things depicted, the more ridiculous everything seems.

The film doesn't just have a subtle discrimination toward Caucasians, but it feels generally offensive of Japanese culture in general. It wasn't mocking it (intentionally). But it used plenty of ideas from the culture that forced the audience to laugh when it wasn't intended. It also claims the Ronin were on a journey that would defeat most men, but it was more like "Let's get swords!" and then "Let's kill them!" The simplicity of the poorly re-written plot is astounding.

There is an extensive use of CGI that just explains why this movie went so far over budget besides reshoots. There were so many occurrences that took me out of the movie that made me think "That is completely unnecessary." The film is mostly shown in 3D, but I saw it in 2D, because no one wants to pay for it unless it's critically acclaimed necessary (i.e. Gravity). Because a good third of the movie is so boring, you may need the 3D just to keep your attention.

To clear something up, the marketing for this movie has a poster dedicated to this one character that has roughly 10 seconds of screentime. No joke. This guy has one line. He doesn't even have a name, he's credited as Savage (Rick Genest). This must have been the highest paid one line from an unknown actor in history. 

I will say that it has some impressive action sequences, though cut short. The ending feels predictable, but it actually is fairly original. Because when it gets to the point where you're thinking "I know what's going to happen" it twists into something completely different. It is still less satisfying than what you expected of it.

Overall, you may not remember this movie two days after you watch it. I'm already starting to fade. Dialogue is an issue with practically the entire cast. Visual effects are dazzling, but quickly grow tiresome. A split plot may as well split scores in half. This movie would be bearable had a third of it been more memorable, but with all of its problems, you will probably leave disappointed in 47 Ronin.

Rating: C-

The Wolf of Wall Street

Martin Scorsese brings us his latest epic crime film, The Wolf of Wall Street. Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) slowly builds his fortune through a series of less than legal practices as a stockbroker. After his original firm goes belly up working legally, Belfort teams up with Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill) to start living the high life by screwing over hundreds of working class people, and he soon finds himself under investigation by FBI Agent Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler).

To get a point across quickly, DiCaprio should get an Oscar for this. End of story. Hill should be nominated. Scorsese will be nominated, could win. So now that the Oscar talk is out of the way, let's get started.

This movie has easily the best written dialogue in any film this year. DiCaprio's monologues are all bullshit, but they're inspiring at the same time. Belfort feels like a man in control of his own destiny. He feels like a representation of the American dream if that dream were to fuck bitches, get money, and do enough drugs to sedate New York for a month. He's a man that makes you feel like anything is possible as long as you have money. And for the most part, he's right.

Matthew McConaughey is in this movie for about 10 minutes. He gives one lengthy monologue, but everyone is so invested. He'll have you beating your chest and humming in that rhythm as you walk out of the theater. Jonah Hill is clearly at his best, comically and dramatically. You can tell he's still getting used to dramatic roles, but this was about 95% comedy for his character.

Like in most of Scorsese's films, everything comes together and is wrapped up nicely. The narrating lead character goes through changes and eventually deals with them. Belfort is a criminal that you can sympathize with. He may be victimizing less fortunate people, but he also helps people to whom he is the closest. He has troubles at home with his wife (Margot Robbie), and he has the worst drug problem depicted since Scarface, while there are better examples this one comes to mind.

If I had to describe this movie in terms of other movies, I would put it this way. It has the structure of Goodfellas, the quotability of Pulp Fiction, the setting of Wall Street, and the drug depiction of Scarface (maybe worse). I had a smile on my face for the first two hours of the movie.

It slows down in the last hour or so, because Belfort has built his empire, and he now has to sustain it. It doesn't get boring or tedious to watch, but it's significantly different from the first two thirds of the film. For some of my reviews, I take notes on what I like, dislike etc. But this film was gripping my attention so tightly for its entirety, that I couldn't bother to look down.

Many things are over-the-top and just louder about this movie. The trailer captures it fairly well. It's like The Great Gatsby except it probably deserves an NC-17 rating. Between the drugs, the language, and the amount of softcore porn, this film barely squeaked by the MPAA and it will make many couples uncomfortable. When you see DiCaprio blowing cocaine into the asshole of a prostitute, you know you're getting into something you weren't expecting.

Scorsese has mastered pacing long movies over the course of his career. This is a three hour movie that feels like two or two-and-a-half. He keeps you invested by keeping everything upbeat and fun to watch. Even in the film's darkest moments, you're still enjoying it. Jordan Belfort is the man that men should aspire to be in terms of attitude and ambition. This film will be winning Oscars come February. I suggest you go see it, just don't bring a date. 

Rating: A+

Grudge Match

Henry "Razor" Sharp (Stallone) retired from the boxing right before a tie-breaking fight with Billy "The Kid" McDonnen, who has spent the last thirty years waiting for a chance to redeem himself after a loss to Sharp. Sharp has been living day to day working manual labor in Pittsburgh, while McDonnen opened a restaurant. Both are fairly out of shape, and well, old. Kevin Hart plays basically himself trying to promote the fight.

Sylvester Stallone has built his career based on his character Rocky Balboa. And a high point of DeNiro's still booming career is playing Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull. What could be a better tribute film to the apparently dead genre of boxing films than Grudge Match?

This basically feels like every Rocky movie thrown sloppily together. Every plot of every Rocky film that later turned into a cliché might just be in this movie. The only thing missing was the actual theme song. Stallone and DeNiro both play their parts well respectively. The problem is it's basically a comedy film that has a lot less heart than it's supposed to have. Even worse, it's not that funny.

The jokes have a hard time landing. Alan Arkin plays Lightning, Razor's trainer, and I wish I could say he stole the show like he does in everything, but the film seems really unbalanced in terms of comedic timing. Which is really something when you're talking about Arkin. Kevin Hart on the other hand, just comes off as annoying. Both of them are there for the jokes, but in the showing I was in, the audience laughed at maybe 25% of them.

The film has a gross amount of product placement. It wasn't nearly as bad as Skyfall, Man of Steel, or the should-be-erased-from-history Jack & Jill. But between the number of people with the same phone in a different color that wasn't an iPhone and a giant sign on the ground with the Target symbol (and name brand) on it, it was disturbing.

For the first half of the movie, everyone is so focused on getting people to go to the fight. If you really sat down and thought about it for less than ten seconds you would assume thousands of people would want to see a grudge match like this no matter how old they were. In fact, the chance that one of them dies would fill the venue alone. It even has a cringe-inducing scene of Stallone and DeNiro singing a terrible rendition of the national anthem at a rodeo, though it is more than clearly a cheap green screen.

Joe Bernthal plays B.J. (don't worry, they address it), McDonnen's son, and like the rest of the movie, their story arc is pretty cliché ridden too. Bernthal was a great choice appearance wise, and he is a remarkably good actor. B.J.'s mother (Kim Basinger), Sally Rose (or blonde Adrian, whatever), attempts to reconnect with Razor as B.J. attempts to connect with McDonnen.

B.J. has a son named Trey (Camden Grey) who might just be the funniest part of this movie. He is one of the reasons why this movie has heart. I would not have been as invested had it not been for Grey's performance. As funny as it is to see Arkin making old jokes, it's even funnier seeing a child call DeNiro old. And yes, there is your irresponsible parenting twist cliché that is resolved fairly quickly.

If you've seen Raging Bull and all of the Rocky films, then you could either enjoy it or write it off as a terrible way for DeNiro and Stallone to relive their glory days. Seriously, everything about Razor's story arc just screams Rocky Balboa. The main differences being he's more introverted and poorly makes dog sculptures out of scrap metal. The final fight uses themes from the Rocky films that make it all too familiar.

There were simply too many missed opportunities for some real heartfelt moments. You can tell that they tried in several scenes, but even a great cast can't pull it off with a weak script. There's just too much geriatric humor. You couldn't count how many times the phrase "I'm old" was dropped. On the bright side, it was paced very well, I was never bored thanks to my love for the Rocky films. But it ended very abruptly.

I don't know if I can recommend this. It's not like it's as bad as Rocky V, but it doesn't have the heart of Rocky Balboa. Why am I judging this based on these movies? Because they're the same movies. They try to make you root for both fighters, but DeNiro plays an antagonist, even if you sympathize with him. If you're a fan, I'd suggest you give it a try. While ridden with clichés, it makes a somewhat enjoyable movie for a very narrow audience.

Rating: C-

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is directed by and stars Ben Stiller. Walter Mitty (Stiller) leads a dull life. He doesn't know how to fill out his eharmony profile. He has spent the last 16 years dealing with photographs for LIFE magazine. For the last issue, the executives, led by some dick (Adam Scott), want to use a photo of Sean O' Connell's (Sean Penn) that was not delivered to Mitty's department. He decides to track down the nomadic O'Connell and find the missing photo to begin enjoying his life, stop daydreaming, and impress his office crush (Kristen Wiig).

Anything you liked about the trailers for this movie were mostly in the first 30-40 minutes. Outside of the jokes that everyone has seen, not a lot of them actually land. Most of them just come off as normal conversation. I'd chalk it up to bad comedic timing.

This movie is so predictable, everyone might have thought of the ending 10 minutes in. You're never really sure until it's revealed. The ending of every scene is as predictable as a coin with two heads. 

Mitty has a bad habit of daydreaming or "zoning out". It's interesting the first time (the one from the trailer), but after a while it jiust gets annoying. A couple of them just felt cartoonish and stupid. Kristen Wiig is placed throughout the film in these dreams as a reminder for why he's taking this journey but it feels really forced.

The character of Mitty would be more relatable if instead of zoning out during every confrontation, he either stood up for himself or backed down. Doing one or the other is more interesting than something we immediately know isn't really happening.

Adam Scott has gotten used to playing a complete douchebag on screen outside of Parks & Recreation. He seems comfortable in his role, but everyone outside of Ben Stiller and Sean Penn seem to be half-assing this movie. Patton Oswalt is literally phoning it in as the eharmony IT guy.

Kristen Wiig could be replaced by any other female actress. She isn't useless, but there's nothing unique about this role of Cheryl that puts Wiig above anyone else.

Sean Penn has a small role, but it's very different from what we've seen him in before. He used to being an over-the-top temperamental character. But in here he's calm, philosophical, almost inspiring, but his small amount of screen time isn't enough to turn this movie around.

This movie has been in planning for the better part of 2 decades. It feels like Stiller had this thrown into his lap, and he decided to try and make some kind of breakthrough out of it. While the cinematography is beautiful, it felt like some tourist advertisements for Greenland and Iceland. Its editing feels pretentious. The terrific music and beautiful landscape shots may be cool, but it makes it look like the movie is trying to be inspiring, without pulling it off.

Walter has this sister (Kathryn Hahn) who seems to serve no purpose at all. She doesn't even advance the plot in a way that another character couldn't. She must be there for comic relief, but EVERYONE is there for comic relief, so she just felt completely pointless.

Because of Stiller's comedic roots, the film simply can't be taken seriously as a drama. And since it's written and marketed as a comedy, but pretends to be this coming-of-age epic, the audience will walk out feeling neutral towards the film as a whole. It's perfectly bearable, but the life of Walter Mitty isn't as secret as they'd like us to think.

Rating: C

About Time

Richard Curtis, creator of Love Actually and Notting Hill, brings us this tale of time travel, romance, tragedy, but most importantly, life in About Time. The day after a disappointing New Year's Eve party, Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) is told by his father (Bill Nighy) that the men in their family can travel back in time through their lives. Tim begins to use his new found power strictly in the pursuit of love.

This review is several weeks late, because of its limited release. But I caught it at my local dollar theater just today, and I'm glad I waited. This was easily one of the most underrated, enjoyable films of the year.

Tim meets Mary (Rachel McAdams) at a restaurant, but his path changes when he decides to help his roommate after his play has a disastrous opening night. Tim and Mary meet for the first time multiple times. It's delightfully awkward to watch Tim interact with someone he knows, but he's never met before. The two have incredible chemistry, making their relationship seem so sincere. That and the dialogue is so realistic and comparable to everyday life.

This film has characters that feel refreshing, original even. Tim's little sister "Kit Kat" (Lydia Wilson) is lovably eccentric, and the sadly forgetful Uncle Desmond (Richard Cordery), while not remotely important or original, still brings laughs to the screen. Even Tim's coworker Rory (Joshua McGuire) can be remembered and loved after such a small amount of screen time.

Tom Hollander plays Harry, the playwright roommate of Tim. Everything he does is so over the top and theatrical, but it's perfectly timed comedy wise. His lines are just so specialized, that you could never pull off quoting them in real life.

The film relies heavily on cringe humor. The sustained awkwardness of the conversations are just so real, that the audience is forced to react. Because we've all been there. Tim may be an introverted social outcast, but when he gains the confidence to speak, he really is quite charming.

About Time doesn't just focus on Tim trying to get a girlfriend. It shows the life after he gets the girl. Gleeson and McAdams play the couple that everyone likes. They don't show off their love, and they don't fight all of the time either. They might just be one of the most easily likable couples Hollywood has produced.

Gleeson gives a fantastic breakthrough performance, and I can't wait to see what other work he gets out of this. McAdams plays the average girl so well, I think it would be hard to find a woman who couldn't relate to the character. The two of them form this perfect couple, that you everyone wishes they could become.

Bill Nighy's character surprised me. It's not often in film these days, that you see a father and son have this strong of a relationship without conflict. He comes off as a wonderful father and a loving husband. But it's as if there's nothing wrong with him. He is just so likable, there's no reason you could hate this guy.

Being a time travel movie, About Time is riddled with plot holes that no other movie of its sort can avoid. But it lays its rules out simply. You cannot travel back before your birth (i.e. you can't go back and kill Hitler), and you can't travel forward in time. The butterfly effect still applies, it just never had made that big of a ripple. All Tim has to do is stand in a dark place, clench his fists, and think of the moment he's traveling to. But he can't be in two places at once. So even for a time traveller, there may not be enough time in the world.

The thing about this movie, is that it's advertised as a romance. But it's not just for dates. It's for fathers and sons, newlyweds, our elders, and our young (but not too young). It's about life. I'd like to think this is a movie that everyone needs to see at some point. With spectacular dialogue (maybe some adlibbing), brilliant performances, original characters, and a message that can be applied to everyone, About Time makes you want to live every day as if it were to be your last.

Rating: A

I realize I'm starting off this blog by giving everything a high rating, but December is fantastic time of year for film.

Saving Mr. Banks

Academy Award winning actors Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson come together to tell the story of how Mary Poppins found its way into the hearts of families everywhere in Saving Mr. Banks. Walt Disney (Hanks) has been trying to acquire the rights to make Mary Poppins into a movie from P.L. Travers (Thompson). As they meet to negotiate the details of the film, Disney begins to learn how difficult it will be to make Travers happy. 

Travers is an unhappy person in general. She doesn't understand the pleasantries of social interaction, and she believes children should be taught how awful the world really is before being tossed into it blind. Also, she abhors the idea of Mary Poppins having any animation or musicality to it at all.

The film flashes between 1906 Australia, during Travers' childhood, and the negotiations with Disney. Colin Farrell plays Traver's loving father whose image is slowly tarnished throughout the flashbacks through his alcohol abuse. Farrell gives a heartbreaking performance to say the least. The whole back story behind the idea of Mary Poppins is so interesting, considering how different from the book it turned out to be. Much like the original versions of fairy tales, Disney took something somewhat demented and turned it into something appropriate and lovable for children.

Tom Hanks had sold me as Walt Disney from the beginning. I know Disney was probably not nearly as nice as he was portrayed in the film, but Hanks just sells the warmth and kindness that comes with the character. There's a monologue he gives near the end of the movie that just makes you think "I'm not watching a movie, Walt Disney is telling me a story." I don't know if he'll get a nomination for this, but you can tell he wants one.

Emma Thompson warms hearts in this movie. She can be funny when she's being mean, but she can make you shed tears of joy when she succumbs to the musical temptation. I am not afraid to say that I teared up as they presented Travers with "Let's Go Fly a Kite." It was a beautiful moment to behold.

Travers and Disney clash together so perfectly. Disney is energetic, caring, and prefers to be called Walt. Travers wishes to be called Mrs. Travers, and can be rather stuck-up in relation to most Americans. The story of these two opposites slowly connecting and bonding makes this such a heartwarming film.

Paul Giamatti plays Travers' driver for the duration of her stay in California, and you don't even know his name. He and Thompson had a development similar to Driving Miss Daisy without the racism. That's just how great it felt when the two of them finally connected.

B.J. Novak and Jason Schwartzman are composers of the music for the movie, and they're just entertaining. It's fun to watch Novak get upset and mouth off occasionally, and Schwartzman's piano skills were a great medium for emotion through the characters. Bradley Whitford plays Don DaGradi, co-writer of the Mary Poppins movie, being as friendly and careful as a Disney employee should be.

SPOILERS: The following paragraph may cover some sensitive plot details. Proceed with caution.

The "real" Mary Poppins, which I guess is Traver's aunt, has so little time on the screen, that you don't see her importance in the inspiration for Mary Poppins. All we understand are the appearance and the bags. There are several parts of these flashbacks that we don't completely understand. A suicide attempt and the inspiration for Mary Poppins in particular, however there are so many small things that Travers does in the beginning of the film that are slowly explained, keeping the audience's interest in the story.

SPOILERS END HERE

Saving Mr. Banks is the heartwarming story we never heard about the story that we all loved. It's certainly carried on the actors' shoulders, but this will make you want to watch Mary Poppins the second you walk out of the theater.

Rating: A+

American Hustle

David O. Russell, coming off of his success of The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook, combines the leading casts of his Oscar winning films to create American Hustle. Irving Rosenfield (Christian Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) are con artists and lovers on the side. The two are recruited  to help catch corrupt politicians and mob bosses after getting caught themselves by FBI Agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper).

Everyone in this movie brought their A-game. Christian Bale is unrecognizable, and Amy Adams is mesmerizing. Cooper's character is a tad eccentric, but he nails the performance even better than in Silver Linings Playbook.

Jennifer Lawrence plays Rosalyn Rosenfield, Irving's unpredictable wife. While there is an unusual amount of focus on such a small character, she definitely shows the audience that her Oscar win for Silver Linings was not a fluke. I was a skeptic of her talent until I saw this strong performance.

Jeremy Renner has played characters in the past that were all fairly similar. This one completely throws his formula out the window. He owns the role of Carmine Polito, showing his range as an actor. The former mayor of Camden, New Jersey may have some redemption through this film, not just Renner's performance.

Louis C.K. plays Stoddard Thorsen, DiMaso's superior in the FBI. C.K. doesn't seem to have a large range of acting, but he works well in what he does have. He and Cooper play off each other well, especially with DiMaso's aggressive behavior during most of their scenes. I'm just sorry that we'll never hear the end of the ice fishing story.

The film really immerses the audience in the feel of the late 1970s. The clothes, the hair, the rotary phones, and the way people communicate verbally all project a natural experience of the time period. I'll expect a nomination for Best Costume Design among others. Speaking of which, Christian Bale looked extremely dedicated to the role by gaining weight, and his elaborate hairstyle was exquisite.

The relationships between the characters are so complex, but put together so well on screen. You can understand every character's thought process as he or she makes decisions. Most of them allow emotions to influence their decisions, and you can see what event in the movie triggers these emotional reactions.

Russell wrote this film remarkably well. As complex as the plot becomes, it remains easy enough for the audience to follow it. The best part is, you're never entirely sure if characters are being legitimate, but the plan has to move along no matter what. Whether it's facial expressions on each character as something goes wrong, or simply explaining a plan, the acting, combined with the script, makes a comprehensible and entertaining movie.

Apparently this film is nominated for "Best Comedy" at the Golden Globes. While it has its moments in terms of hilarity, it's much more dramatic and crime centered than it is funny.Though the internet will not find itself in a shortage of funny Jennifer Lawrence GIFs anytime soon.

I have no doubt in my mind David O. Russell will be nominated for Screenwriting and Directing at the Oscars, and that at least 2 of these actors will be nominated for Acting awards. I once described Captain Phillips to be this year's Zero Dark Thirty. Well American Hustle  is this year's Argo, and I think that this has Best Picture potential.

Rating: A+

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Peter Jackson continues in the quest to make as much money as possible off of The Lord of the Rings in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), Gandalf the Gray (Ian McKellan), and Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) all continue their quest to retrieve the Arkenstone from the Lonely Mountain and reclaim Erebor for the dwarves from the dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch).

Now there's plenty to say about this movie. I read the book about five years ago, and I cannot remember any details for the life of me. So I'm judging this based on what little knowledge I have on the source material, and my knowledge of movies in general.

To start off, Smaug is probably one of the best CGI movie villains ever created. Benedict Cumberbatch was a perfect choice to voice the menacing dragon. Smaug is also one of the most realistic looking dragons ever put on to the silver screen. You just know shit is about to go down as thousands of gold coins began sliding down the mountain of treasure inside the Lonely Mountain, and the golden eye of Smaug opens. While he doesn't arrive until maybe the last 30-40 minutes of the movie, he leaves a lasting impression on the audience.

Martin Freeman gives a strong performance as Bilbo. The issue with this being the film doesn't focus on him as much as the first installment did. We begin to see Bilbo sink into the madness that the ring brings him. But at the same time, we see him let go of a lot of his fear, with some motivation from the ring. 

The dwarves as a company were very entertaining in this movie. The river barrel sequence was just so badass. The elves were slaying orcs like it was nobody's business and the dwarves showed excellent teamwork, just making it more amazing. It was scenes like these that make you think anything is possible. They shot it so well, you never thought "that's physically impossible" or "that wouldn't have happened." 

As expected, Peter Jackson implemented some content that was not of the source material, but it still wasn't an issue. If anything, it allows The Hobbit  to connect to The Lord of the Rings in a few new ways. Orlando Bloom reprises his role as Legolas, and it's just so awesome. He doesn't play an enormous role in the plot, but it's just so great to see him killing orcs again. I was never a huge LotR fan, but I always enjoyed Legolas kicking ass. 

Gandalf goes off on his own mini-quest about 30 minutes in, but not to worry, there is still plenty of wizard magic to keep you going until the final installment. Ian McKellan seems to be so used to the role, that no one even questions his acting at this point. Is that even Ian McKellan? Or is Gandalf just some being that appears whenever Peter Jackson is filming a movie?

Luke Evans portrays Bard, the hero of the every-man in the town of Esgaroth. Personally, I thought his character would have a lot less screentime. I was just thinking "Ok, just do this for them, and we can move on to Smaug." But no, he stayed pretty involved for the rest of the film. I know he's involved, but the film could have been significantly shorter if they had just clipped his plotline down.

One of the dwarves, Kili (Aidan Turner), has his own little romance with Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly). Given that neither of these characters have really any development, the romance feels a little forced. It feels unnecessary for most of the movie except for when it's convenient. 

In a way, this second installment of the trilogy feels like The Empire Strikes Back. It is clearly the darkest, as the villain toys with the protagonist, and the cliffhanger just leaves the audience to think about what could happen in the finale. You know that Smaug could just fry Bilbo at anytime, but he waits to intimidate him. In the spider attack scene, you really begin to see Bilbo's skill as a burglar, the entire reason he's there. Much like Luke Skywalker in the swamps of Dagobah, you see Bilbo come into his own in the forests of Mirkwood. 

The film is visually stunning with some of the most impressive CGI to date. The spiders, the orcs, the gold, the dragon, the facelift on Orlando Bloom all look fantastic. Every actor does their job well. Any Tolkien fan will enjoy this as much as the next, while the average moviegoer will see it as an overlong epic. Overall, this was a fantastic addition to a franchise that can't go much further (if any) with a cliffhanger that will both piss an audience off, and get them excited for the final installment.

Rating: A-

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

The legend of Ron Burgundy and the Channel 2 News team continues with this sequel to the 2004 comedy. Only this time, they've gone global.

After nearly a decade of anticipation, Will Ferrell returns as one of his greatest characters to date. This comedy surely does not disappoint. I can honestly say that I have not laughed so hard, so consistently, in a theater in a very long time. This was everything an Anchorman sequel needed to be.

Mack Harken (Harrison Ford) fires Burgundy as he promotes his now wife, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate). After which, he is approached by Garth Holliday (Chris Parnell) AKA the most forgettable catalyst character, to anchor a 24 hour news channel, a brand new concept for the time period. Burgundy assembles his old team in the most hilarious road trip since Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. 

Seriously, there was no shortage of laughs during the assembling of this team. The first 30-45 minutes is just so perfectly written, and all of the actors have impeccable comedic timing. Steve Carrell really overshadows the other news team members (even Ferrell) in every scene he speaks in. It's safe to say, without Brick Tamland, there is no movie. David Koechner's Champ provides a steady stream of laughter during his reintroduction, but quickly fades into the group as a whole. Paul Rudd plays pretty much the same thing he does in every movie, so in other words he says things like a normal person and funny stuff just happens. But Brian Fantana has his moments. Will Ferrell, however, brings his A-game for this. There's something about the Burgundy character that Ferrell just captures so perfectly and easily. 

There was never a joke that didn't land with the audience, but there were a few writing flaws that hold the movie back a tad. There seem to be 2-3 central plot-lines. One being Burgundy's career and his revolutionizing of the news format (which eventually becomes what Jon Stewart calls Bullshit Mountain). Another being his relationship to his wife and child, which really takes a backseat to the craziness of the third act. Burgundy interacting with his 6 year old son as if he is already a grown man is one of the funniest things about this movie. 

Corningstone begins a relationship with Gary (Greg Kinnear) which no one really remembers until it's brought up. The movie does keep you focused on everything that's happening, but Applegate needed a little more screentime early on to keep the audience invested in that, and you think you know what happens with Burgundy's son, but the movie goes to great lengths to surprise you, and damn do they succeed.

There are just a few scenes that are just put in throughout the movie, each are probably under 20 seconds. They do nothing to progress the plot or have any relevance to what you had seen previously or are about to see. But they keep the laughs coming like clockwork. 

The writing slowly gets less funny as the movie goes on, though it still grips your attention. There is about a ten minute sequence (not really a spoiler) where Burgundy goes blind, and he lives in a lighthouse. It is probably the least funny part of the movie, whilst still getting a few chuckles in. The last 10 minutes of the movie feels like the writers ran out of social commentary, and just decided to take everything about the original film and shove it up its own ass... and it works. You will laugh. I guarantee it.

This film has an abundance of 80s jokes, as well as racist, sexual, network news stupidity, and self referential jokes, complete with an unbelievable number of celebrity cameos. You will not sit through this movie with a straight face thanks to fantastic performances by a fantastic cast. Welcome back, Mr. Burgundy, and you stay classy, internet.

Rating: A