Fantastic Four (2015)

Three strikes and you're out. Hang it up, Fox, and give it back to Marvel. You clearly don't know how to make a good Fantastic Four movie. This might be one of the most disappointing superhero films ever. Even with lowered expectations, this reboot of Fantastic Four still managed to come up short. It's so bad that even Stan Lee didn't do a cameo. It makes the first two Fantastic Four films look halfway decent in comparison.

On paper it has a lot going for it. I was optimistic that Chronicle's Josh Trank was directing, but whether his vision was off (I heard he had limited knowledge of the source material) or the studio interfered, it's just so lifeless and dour. I heard they did massive reshoots due to all the backlash (like Dr. Doom being a blogger, not from Latervia, and named Domashev), but even with all the reshoots the tone is all wrong. It's not just the tone, but entire film lacks the color the Fantastic Four should have.

It also had a great cast. Unfortunately, they are all misused. While Miles Teller and Kate Mara are a step up from Ioan Gruffudd and Jessica Alba as Reed and Sue, they have zero chemistry together. They barely flirt and give you nothing to see how they'll eventually be husband and wife. Jamie Bell and Michael B. Jordan, while fine actors, don't compare to the fun that Michael Chiklis and Chris Evans had playing the same roles. There's no sense of family, and none of the bickering you'd expect. Everyone plays their role mopey or detached. Was anyone having fun at all?

We get yet another origin story. I like that it was grounded in science, but two thirds of the film (it's barely 100 minutes) is dedicated to showing the team working on computers, building stuff, and then eventually get their powers as if an afterthought. Oh, and how they handle Sue Storm will drive fans nuts. Once they get their powers, the story immediately jumps ahead a full year. Have they mastered them and are a successful team saving the world at this point? No, the government has stepped in and is training them as weapons, as if that trope hasn't been beaten to death. We only get one scene of them at the end working together. Doom is reintroduced as the bad guy and then resolved in like ten minutes. There's no threat or stakes at all.

Outside of The Thing (his look was probably the lone improvement over the original), the effects weren't all that impressive. The Human Torch looked okay, I suppose, but it's nothing you haven't seen before. Where this movie really failed was the look of Dr. Doom. He looked like a cross of that stupid computer monster in Superman 3 and someone on their way to a rave. It looks homemade, but I've seen better cosplay than this. His powers, origin and motivation are all off.

There's nothing about Fantastic Four that warrants seeing on the big screen. Any film that casts Chet Hanks in a role does not deserve to be seen. It's not a complete disaster, but it's still an overall failure. Save it for rental if you want to punish yourself. I don't actively root for films to bomb, but I really hope people don't go out and see this. Please don't encourage Fox to attempt this again.

1.5 (out of 5) Death Stars

That Awkward Moment (2014)

I don't have a ton to say about That Awkward Moment, so this may be one of the shortest reviews I've ever put out there.

It's not that I found That Awkward Moment particularly awful, but there's no plot, no real setup, and nothing happens.  The catalyst for the current situation is that Mikey (Michael B. Jordan) comes home, finds that his wife has been cheating on him and wants a divorce.  He seeks the solace of his buddies, Jason (Zac Efron) and Daniel (Miles Teller), who are living the single life.  They want to get Mikey back out there, but all vow that none of them will get into a relationship, which is just fine for Jason and Daniel, as neither one of them has any interest in that.  So how long before all of these guys find themselves in complicated relationships?

From that point, That Awkward Moment isn't much more than a mashup of buddy and romantic comedy cliches.  Again, it's not that it's terrible, but there's nothing original about it.  It really drags along as you wait for something, anything, to happen.

When you add that it's not particularly funny, it makes it that much harder to get through.  Even the one part of the film where you can tell they were going for the the big, funny event is all based on a misunderstanding that's taken to a ridiculous extreme.  It's one of the few "awkward moments" in the film.  Another one involving everyone walking into the same bathroom at the same time was so contrived that lost any believability.  What are the odds that three guys happen to walk into the same bathroom at a fancy house party at the same time?  Two of them had only arrived at the party just moments before.  Plus, nobody seemed to be interested in locking the bathroom door.  That will tend to lead to more awkward moments.  You could credit one of the characters for actually pointing the lack of door locking out, but a line of dialog doesn't explain how four different people committed the same behavior within a minute.

Tom Gormican's script, (he also directed), is very underwritten.  It's a shame, as the leads are all fairly charming and have good chemistry together.  I can't really fault any of the actors, as they did the best with the material.  There's just not a lot to their characters to really identify with, and nothing particularly distinctive about any of them.  They can pretty much be broken up into the following:

• Funny guy that nobody takes seriously.  He's the first to get into a serious relationship.
• Guy that's still trying to reconcile his previous relationship.  He can't get involved with anyone else until then.
• Consummate player that's so afraid of commitment, that he doesn't recognize the good thing in front of him.

I'll let you guess who's who. Without even seeing the film, I bet you get them all correct.  Outside of some throwaway line about going to college together, we don't even know anything about how they met, or how long they've known each other.

It's interesting that two of the female characters had a lot more going on than the guys. Ellie (Imogen Poots) is an author that's getting a book published, and Chelsea (Mackenzie Davis) is a musician, but neither of these are explored with any kind of depth.  Chelsea also acts as the guy's perfect wingman, and appears to have been friends with them for a while, but their relationship is never really defined beyond that.  Was she related to one of them?  Was she also someone they knew from college?

That Awkward Moment is a collection of cliches you've seen in other films, lacking any creativity or a needed infusion of humor.  However, its biggest sin is that it's boring.  If you happened to catch it on cable or rented it for a buck, you might not think it was that terrible, but I can't recommend anyone going out to the theater and seeing it.  Don't waste your time and money.

2 (out of 5) Death Stars

Fruitvale Station (2013)

I've been looking forward to watching Fruitvale Station for a while, but was a little more nervous about writing my review.  I wasn't worried about how the material was going to be handled, but more that I tend to avoid politically charged discussions, especially on the internet.  Let me get all my disclaimers out of the way.  I don't want anyone to think that I'm condoning the actions of the BART police, nor that I know anything about Oscar Grant as a person.  The events of that night were a series of unfortunate mistakes that let to the killing of a young man.  It's simply tragic.  I'm sure I'm not the only one that watched those video clips of that night and said, "F-ing cops!", or, "Hey man, just shut up and stay seated.  Stop trying to stand up and argue with them."

For those of you that don't know me personally, you may not be aware that I live and grew up in the East Bay Area.  I've ridden that very same BART train for most of my life.  I passed through the Fruitvale Station more times than I can count.  It's one of the many stops on the way when going out to San Francisco to watch movie screenings or hang out with friends.  I remember all the news reports and clips of the Oscar Grant shooting as it happened, as well as a lot of the aftermath.  I'm not going to get into the trial or anything like that, and try as much as I can to stay away from editorializing too much here.

As far as the film, it was interesting seeing BART and the Bay Area from a perspective that I normally don't see.  I also appreciated the fact that it was actually filmed in the Bay Area, and not some other location and then passed off as from here.  I recognized too many places for them to have faked it.  However, despite living here all my life, I've never had a reason to get off at Fruitvale Station.  I think a lot of people you'll talk to from the Bay Area haven't been there either.  You only get off there if you live there.  It's not a place to hang out or shop.  I actually had this very conversation with someone at a bar the night before seeing the film.

Again, this isn't to let the BART police off the hook in any way, but BART is no picnic sometimes.  I can tell you from my own experience that I've seen fights break out, panhandling, homeless people pissing on trains and in the station.  It's well known that if you plan on drinking and going to San Francisco; or an A's, Warriors, Raiders or Giants game and don't want to drive, then you take BART.  I've been on packed trains full of angry, drunk people.  Sometimes you have try your hardest not to make eye contact with anyone.  I recently witnessed a toothless man shout at people that he was going to kick their asses, and half the train clearing out to avoid any trouble.  This was on a random, Tuesday afternoon.  There's part of me that understands the quick and aggressive reaction from the police on a night like New Year's Eve, when they run the trains later than normal.  New Year's isn't the only time I've seen the BART police react in force to an event night.  Also, note that I have good friends that are cops.  I also have friends that are from that part of the Bay Area.  They are all good people.  Sure, there are some bad eggs out there, but I'm just trying to say that it's not all black and white, and I understand some different perspectives.  So much for me trying to not be political.

Fruitvale Station begins with one of the many cell phone clips of that fateful New Year's Day back in 2009.  If you weren't familiar with the events as the movie began, you know right from the start how it's going to end up.  As a result, there's a cloud of dread that hangs over the story throughout as we follow the last day of Oscar Grant, played in the film by Michael B. Jordan.

One thing that struck me was that the film didn't paint Grant as some kind of saint. You're watching him argue with his girlfriend (Melonie Diaz) about his sleeping around with another woman, and then he hides a bag of pot when his daughter (Ariana Neal) comes to the door.  I don't really care if he was selling pot.  That's not a big deal to me, so I didn't look at this as something that made him a bad person.  Through some flashbacks, we also see that Oscar was a convicted felon that spent time in prison.  Shades of grey.

As we watch the events unfold, we see that it's Oscar's mother's (Octavia Spencer) birthday.  He spends a good portion of his day running errands and communicating with family and friends while planning her birthday dinner, and then what they plan on doing for New Year's Eve.  We also see him struggling with keeping a job and how to best raise his daughter.  The movie does a great job of making Oscar a sympathetic character.  You could argue that it's heavily embellished or attempts to manipulate you in this regard, but I never got the feeling that's what writer/director Ryan Coogler was trying to do.  It's not heavy handed like that, or has a cheesy musical score that forces you to feel a certain way.

I say embellished because Oscar spends a lot of this film by himself, so I can't say how much of this is just guesswork, artistic license or dramatization.  I'd like to know if Ryan Coogler was able to sit down with Oscar's with family and friends to get a little more insight into him.  What you get from the film is that Oscar was a young guy that's made some mistakes, but wants to turn his life around.  Again, even if Oscar had done some bad things in the past, he was still a man that didn't deserve what happened to him.  Plus, the cops couldn't have been aware of his record at the time.  One of the saddest things about Fruitvale Station is that I came away saying, "What if?"  What if the cops had handled that situation better?  Would Oscar have been able to turn his life around?  We'll never know.  How is this going to affect his daughter going forward?  If her family is as loving as what we get from the film, I think she'll turn out just fine.

Even if this wasn't based on a true story, it would be just as tragic and heart wrenching to watch.  I'm willing to admit that I teared up at the end a little.  It's that powerful and emotional.  Octavia Spencer is great and has few moments that are going to pull on the heartstrings a bit, but Michael B. Jordan's performance is truly amazing.  I've been impressed with him for a while, but this is really a breakout role for those unfamiliar with him.  There's no way you can watch Fruitvale Station and not feel something for Oscar Grant because of Jordan's performance.  Despite knowing how this is going to end, I couldn't help hoping it was going to turn out differently somehow.

I'm shocked to see that this is a first time effort from Ryan Coogler.  I'm absolutely blown away at the effort from a 27-year-old.  I'm glad to see that he's also a Bay Area native.  However, I was kind of surprised to a see a film written by a native where he allowed characters to refer to San Francisco as "Frisco".  Unless something has changed recently and I didn't get the memo, it's always been frowned upon to call it "Frisco".  Around here it's The City, SF or even sometimes San Fran.  This is a nitpick as far as the film goes, but I've seen people have angry or violent reactions to the use of the term "Frisco".

I also have to give some credit to Kevin Durand and Chad Michael Murray for playing the BART cops on that night.  Durand, in particular, is an actor I like quite a bit, but they had to have known going in that they are playing two guys that are generally hated.  I felt that was kind of gutsy on their part for taking on the roles, cause you're going to watch Fruitvale Station and think they are dickhead cops.

Powerful, emotional and wonderfully acted, Fruitvale Station puts a human face on a recent tragedy.  It reminds you of how short and tragic life can be.  The film also highlights Michael B. Jordan as a future star and director Ryan Coogler as a filmmaker to keep your eye on.  I would not be surprised to see multiple Oscar nominations for the film, and it's easily one of the year's best.  You need to see this.

5 (out of 5) Death Stars