Noah

My friend Chris from Radiak Gaming joined me in seeing "Noah" and we made this. I promise these will get better.

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Bad Words

In his film directorial debut, Jason Bateman stars in Bad Words. Guy Trilby (Bateman), a 40 year old degenerate, competes in spelling bees (as he never passed the 8th grade) for reasons undisclosed to anyone but himself. He and online reporter Jenny Widgeon (Kathryn Hahn) continue through all levels of spelling bees exploiting the loophole until they arrive at the national spelling bee.

Guy meets a young Indian boy named Chaitanya (Rohan Chand) on the way to the bee. While this is one of the most unlikely friendships you can have, it seriously worked. Andrew Dodge has written fantastic dialogue for someone of Bateman's timing and style, and kept the audience filled with shock laughter. Anyone can write offensive jokes, but it's rare you see a comedy as well timed as this.

Bateman is lovably, hilariously despicable in this film. We understand from the start that he's a complete asshole, but at least he's a funny asshole. It should also be understood that this man is a genius, whether it's a raunchy quip or a malicious prank. He and Chand have a rare chemistry for a pair of such different ages. Hahn, however, I felt never got closer to Bateman over time as we're supposed to see.

The two contestants bond so naturally through the loss of Chai's innocence, and the entire process is so hysterical that the audience is immediately settled in for the ride. Bateman's first lines set the tone for the film, which is emphasized extra by Guy's behavior towards Chai. The film feels so well paced for something under 90 minutes, I can't say it should have been longer or shorter.

The film's moral, if it has one, is left kind of blurry and weak in the eyes of the audience. The ending scenario may be a tad predictable, but it's played out like a spelling bee episode of Arrested Development or Community. While cleverly written, it didn't feel like the proper climax to a black comedy such as this. Also the arc focusing on Guy's motive felt underwhelming in the end, though that was one of the more drawing aspects to me. 

The montages in this film are wonderfully shot with Ken Seng at the head of cinematography. Seng does an excellent job of shooting scenes involving inebriation, and the use of a live broadcast format was played off well in terms of comedy. All of this combined with one of Bateman's best performances makes for a very enjoyable movie.

The problem with black comedies, is that sometimes it forces a conflict within the audience between their empathy for the characters and their nature to laugh. Some scenes were absurdly funny, but were a missed opportunity in terms of increasing the tension between two competitors. Sometimes, it just comes down to the shot they use, and Bateman went for the throat of the comedy gazelle.

Spoilers:

The fact that Chaitanya's father organized the entire friendship in order to force Guy to let Chai win forces a split between the audience. Those who still sympathize with the innocent child and those who want to see Guy exact revenge on his father will butt heads, but that conflict plays well into the climax. But this plot twist made it really hard for me to empathize with the child, as the film's primary focus is Guy. The whole "daddy issues" message feels completely half baked.

Bateman has a strong directorial debut, as he once said he's been acting for the last 20 years in order to start directing. I definitely look forward to his future projects, as he reverse typecasts himself. Bad Words is fairly original as far as spelling bee stories go. It's a whimsical indie film that may be remembered as a classic if Bateman sees more success. I'd recommend it to you as long as you know what you're getting into.

Rating: B+

Divergent

In the future, Chicago will be governed as a society divided by factions based on personality and virtues. Divergent follows Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley), a member of Abnegation (the "selfless" faction), as she attempts to join the Dauntless faction (bravery, security, etc.) and keep hidden the fact that she is divergent (can't really be placed into any of the five factions) from the Erudites (intelligence), specifically Kate Winslet.

I walked into Divergent expecting another teen action romance film trying to replace Harry Potter (which will never happen). I had lower than usual expectations for this film, but it surprised me. I understand why critics haven't been responding well to it, so I'm going to do my best to explain.

I really enjoyed the first hour of this movie. From Beatrice discovering her divergence, through her decisions, and her training in Dauntless, it was cool to see her character change and react to the stressful situations she's put into. It's not often a film does that without glossing over it in a montage. Woodley gives a much stronger performance than I anticipated, but the rest of the cast seems to fall flat thanks to some clunky dialogue and cheesy deliveries.

Dream and hallucination sequences were somewhat cool to watch. They weren't too trippy, and they played a part in the actual story. It's usually very difficult for me to sit through something similar to these mental tests and easy to lose interest, but the film managed to keep me engaged.

During most of the first hour, the film really ignores the overall conflict being divergence. Watching her transition into a Dauntless member was uplifting, but once the film regains focus on its subject matter, it turns right back into what I expected walking into the theater. A boring, predictable mess. As soon as the forced teen romance that you definitely saw coming hits the screen, everything just falls apart.

I may not be familiar with the source material, but it feels like someone was just bored writing the third act and just gave up. I enjoyed the first half of this film for the same reason I enjoyed Ender's Game. Showing a protagonist struggle is good, but watching bad stuff happen to them because their loved ones are selfless or stupid is not. The genocidal story arc was less intense than the training, making for an underwhelming third act.

The supporting cast is weak to say the least, because the studio probably spent their budget on Kate Winslet. After seeing the trailer, I now refer to the actor who played "Four" as "discount James Franco". Kate Winslet plays her part well, but just watching her, I just thought to myself "Anybody can do what she's doing right now." Zoe Kravitz delivered her lines as they were written, poorly, but it didn't take away from the friendship her character had with Woodley's.

Not since Sunshine have I been so disappointed in the second half of a film. It's almost a cruel trick pulled by the studio making us think we didn't have to watch the same basic story again. But no, we got our Phantom Menace ending with our forced Twilight romance in our Hunger Games dystopian society. So I'm going to break the tie. I was ready to give this movie a B+ half way through, and the second half feels like a C. If you're a fan of the books, you're going to see it anyway. If not, just wait for Mockingjay.

Rating: B-

Muppets Most Wanted

Muppets Most Wanted  is the latest installment in the now rebooted Muppets franchise. As someone who never saw a Muppets movie until the 2011 reboot, I'll say that film turned me into a Muppets fan. Most Wanted makes for a nice continuation of their story. The Muppets go on a world tour with Dominic Badguy (Ricky Gervais), who plots a series of burglaries with Constantine, the world's most dangerous frog. Constantine sets Kermit as his replacement in a Siberian prison under the guard of Nadya (Tina Fey).

You may find me comparing it a lot to the previous movie, because it really set the standard for me, but here goes. Most Wanted has a very strong first act. I enjoyed the opening sequence, as it picks up literally right where the last movie left off, and it goes straight into a musical number about sequels.The first 30-40 minutes are filled with fantastic jokes for both kids and parents, but about halfway through the movie, the older audience members might start to get a little bored. The movie plays off its predictable nature and makes it fun for everyone, but it's hard to maintain the steady stream of jokes in the first half hour for the entire 106 minutes.

The Muppets should definitely consider putting more spotlight on some of its smaller characters. Kermit seems to be the primary focus, which makes sense with him being the leader and all. Walter and Fozzie have their moments, and Ms. Piggy is practically a step below Kermit. But there needs to be more involvement, because they just feel like minor characters, when they're supposed to all be equals in the same group. Gonzo's lines mostly consist of suggesting dangerous ideas, and I'm not even sure if most of the others have names.

Ty Burrell and Sam Eagle have a fun relationship to watch as CIA and Interpol agents working together, if only their best jokes weren't shown in the trailer. Nothing entertains American audiences like jokes about Europe, and nothing entertains European audiences like a stereotypical American in Europe in the form of an eagle puppet.

While I did enjoy Ricky Gervais, he just seemed uncomfortable during a lot of this film, but not enough for him to hate making it. Jason Segel and Amy Adams were a big part of what made the last movie great, and I was left with a bit of disappointment when neither made an appearance. Tina Fey, however, almost steals the show. I'm not a huge Fey fan, but her Russian accent was amusing to say the least.

As far as the musical aspect of it goes, I enjoyed the first few songs, and then it seemed like they were just having musical numbers for the sake of having musical numbers. One by Ms. Piggy really forced an appearance by Celine Dion on to the audience. By the end of it, I was a little tired out. Some were there to progress the plot, while others were there to simply extend the runtime.

The prison story arc was just okay. I expected more to happen. Plenty of things I expected to happen do, but what surprised me didn't entertain much. I found myself wanting to just move the plot along on both sides of the story, but the jokes along the way were enough to keep me interested. I find it hilarious that no matter where you get arrested in Europe, you're going to Siberia no matter what. An abundance of celebrity cameos made this part of the story work.

As much as I love ripping on movies for having massive plot holes, I can't do it to a family film like this. Muppets Most Wanted is well aware of its shortcomings, and it succeeds in covering for them with self-referential humor. It's trying to keep its younger audience's attention while still making things fun for the whole family, which is incredibly hard to do in an age where the humor is becoming increasingly crude. I'll say Muppets Most Wanted isn't necessarily as entertaining as its predecessor, but it makes for an enjoyable time.

Rating: B

Need for Speed

When I saw the advertisements for Need for Speed while watching the final episodes of Breaking Bad, I thought "That movie is going to suck so hard, but we're all going to see it, because Aaron Paul is in it." And I should get this out of the way early; he doesn't ever yell his Jesse Pinkman catchphrase, so that's probably the biggest disappointment, because you shouldn't have any other expectations for this movie.

Paul plays Tobey Marshall, a "famous" street racer with a rivalry Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper) and a backstory with him that goes completely unexplained. I could really tell that Paul didn't really care about this role, because he was really just trying not to be Jesse. There's nothing in this terrible script that Paul could have brought to life on screen. He did what he could, though.

If you care about this movie, you probably don't care about the lack of logic or the defying of physics. Between that, the fact that you can guess everything that's going to happen for the entire movie, and the horrible dialogue, that leaves one thing. Awesome cars. Yes, the movie is full of them. They're loud, they're fast, and they make everyone driving them look cooler. And if you didn't understand when 4 holographic mustangs unveil a silver car, it's a 2 hour 13 minute Mustang commercial.

Imogen Poots plays Aaron Paul's cliche love interest. Looking back, I can't think of anything she did to progress the plot by herself other than getting the best driver in the world the world's fastest car. I can't even understand why that happened. But there's no point in questioning this in the same movie where an amateur pilot has access to an Apache helicopter.

Michael Keaton plays some kind of underground racing commentator/organizer who basically reads out the plot to people in the audience who weren't following the movie's poorly written conversations. He doesn't seem to serve any purpose other than to provide exposition and give really bad commentating on the race he organizes. And how has he not been arrested yet? Who cares?

You probably won't remember this movie a few days after you watch it, and you may just sit through it saying "this movie is bullshit", because it is. While I usually appreciate practical effects, nothing else in the movie was intriguing enough to make me appreciate their use. This could be a great film if you're just trying to kill time, or if you're trying to get some substances out of the film, but not if you want to hear Aaron Paul yell "Yeah bitch!"

Rating: D

RoboCop

If there's one thing the internet has turned to hating besides the Star Wars prequels and Twilight, it's remakes. No one wanted RoboCop to be remade as it is considered a classic action sci-fi that wasn't afraid to add some raunchiness. But there is more that meets the eye to this particular remake.

In the original film, Detective Murphy was never allowed any "humanity". The remake has more of a focus on the side of Murphy's family. It's practically a different situation. In this RoboCop world, the ED-209s and other machines have already been distributed to other countries, but are banned in the US. And countries like Iraq are sending out suicide bombers to tell the world how bad it is, only to be covered up with what must be Samuel L. Jackson's parody of Bill O'Reilly.

Acting in this film is pretty much summed up with Gary Oldman as Dr. Dennett Norton and Samuel L. Jackson as the heavily biased Pat Novak. They had solid performances, and the rest of the cast was okay. Nothing to brag about. Joel Kinnaman plays a good RoboCop, not so much Murphy. Abbie Cornish, who plays Murphy's wife Carla, has proven her ability to cry on command, as she does throughout the movie. Michael Keaton always made a great bad guy to me, he and Jay Baruchel make the meeting scenes interesting

The plot is significantly altered from it's original, as it involves the family of Murphy, and it has more substance to it. There's more to it than just revenge. Murphy isn't a mannequin put into a robotic suit, he's a head with organs, and one hand. He's struggling emotionally and physically, and I will say I cared more about this protagonist than the one from the original film. Also, Michael K. Williams plays a charismatic partner while the original Nancy Allen seems less likable.

Even the motives for creating RoboCop are different, besides the common factor of money. The aspect of American politics added in makes it more interesting, and the question of free will is a refreshingly deeper question for the audience.

Action was a bit less impressive than you'd expect. You get to see RoboCop arrest or shoot a lot of people, but it is fairly repetitive in how he does it. Nothing will ever compare to the 1987 RoboCop bold choices in both blood spurts and dark scenarios. As far as PG-13 goes, it's perfectly acceptable, but we all wanted a rated R RoboCop.

Besides the redesigning of the costume, the added plotlines, and some and a disappoint amount of blood, the remake isn't too far off from the original for me to give this a bad rating. Williams and Jackson give some of the best lines, while Kinnaman is stuck with the old catchphrases. It's a well paced, easily followed action film, that will definitely let you kill two hours.

Rating: B-

Non-Stop

In the few years I've reviewed movies, I have never used the term "thrill-ride". But that's exactly what Non-Stop is. Liam Neeson may be a bit too seasoned for an action hero career, but it's almost as if he gets more powerful with every movie he makes. Jaume Collet-Serra directed this thriller after 2011's Unknown (another Liam Neeson thriller).

Bill Marks (Neeson) is a federal air marshal who investigates the passengers of a flight to London as a stranger sends messages to his phone, threatening to kill someone every 20 minutes. On paper, and even in the trailers, this looks and sounds like a ridiculously dumb movie. It's not incredibly ludicrous, but there are moments where you have to suspend your disbelief if you have any. Planning to kill someone on an airplane every 20 minutes can't go without meticulous planning and a few speed bumps. 

There were some things that the film did very well. Cinematography (minus a bit of shaky cam) was excellent, whether it was a blurring effect, or a long take. That and a rather large cast helps emphasize the impossibility of finding someone who's just using a cell phone to text. I can guarantee, you will have no idea who is behind it all throughout the entire movie.

Julianne Moore, who appears to be in everything nowadays, plays Jen Summers, who quickly gains the trust of Marks as he searches for the terrorist. It's no different than anything she usually does. She's likable in that outgoing older woman kind of way. Corey Stoll plays a disgruntled, less than politically correct passenger who becomes more and more frustrated with the lack of information as the flight goes on. Stoll, if you don't know him from House of Cards, gives a strong performance as well as the rest of the cast.

Liam Neeson seemed to half-ass his way through this movie. I don't know if he wants to be put into these roles, or if he keeps taking them because they're being offered. He's making a name for himself as an action hero, so he may as well look like he wants to be there. We don't need another Bruce Willis.

Despite logical fallacies here and there, the film has a gripping, fast-paced story line that is clearly laid out for the audience. There's never a dull moment on a plane to London. If there's one thing in this movie I can't deal with, it's that Marks is an air marshal. Air marshals should not be air marshals if they hate flying.

Character development isn't a strong suit of Collet-Serra, as Neeson's characters in both Non-Stop and Unknown tend to be focused on blatantly throwing a few key details of their lives on screen and hoping the audience cares. I don't really care if he's an alcoholic, I just want to see him catch a bad guy. 

Non-Stop provides the audience with a mystery they can try to solve while enjoying the film itself. It has its action, an easily followed plot, and a few laughs along the way. If you enjoy planes, Liam Neeson, and some creative texting animations, and you're willing to ignore a few preposterous events, then you will enjoy Non-Stop.

Rating: B