The Way, Way Back (2013)

It's no secret that I loved The Descendents, and called it one of my favorites of 2011.  The adapted screenplay from Jim Rash and Nat Faxon won an Oscar, as well as gave us a good laugh at AngiesRightLeg's expense.  I was eagerly looking forward to their next collaboration, as this time they were taking on directing duties, too.  The duo seems to have a knack for sweet stories filled with humor and nice human moments without resorting to too much quirk.  Plus, I love Rash on Community and really liked Faxon on Ben and Kate until Fox shortsightedly cancelled another good show.  You can say I'm a little biased on this one.

Duncan (Liam James) is on the road to summer vacation with his mother and her new boyfriend Trent (Steve Carell).  While Pam (Toni Collette) is asleep in the car, Trent asks Duncan to rate himself on a scale from one to ten.  Duncan reluctantly answers with six.  Trent disagrees and calls him a three.  Trent's kind of a dick, but he has a point.  Duncan is a terminally shy, awkward 14-year-old that really needs to get out there and develop some social skills or any kind of social life.  He's uncomfortable around everyone, especially the cute girl next door Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb).  Trent wants him to get that score up.  His heart is in the right place, but that's not the most constructive way to tell a kid you don't know that well that he needs to get out there.  Also, telling a kid he's socially awkward doesn't help him not be awkward or help him grow socially.  Give him some tools or notes to improve.  It's like saying I know you suck, you need to suck less.  How does that help?  He's a little too hard on the kid overall.  Plus, it's one thing to be hard on your own son, but when you're hard on the son of your girlfriend, I tend to think that's crossing a line.  It's interesting to note that Trent hides this behavior towards Duncan, as well as other things, by doing it when Pam is not around.

Trent has a older daughter (Zoe Levin) that doesn't want to be seen with Duncan either.  Pam and Trent spend a lot of time with the drunk next door neighbor (a fun Allison Janney), as well as a couple of Trent's friends, played by a somewhat muted Rob Corddry and Amanda Peet, who needs to be in more movies.  Betty (Janney) encourages Duncan to hang out with her younger son (River Alexander), but he's a bit of an oddball.

Duncan eventually gets tired of all the drunken, adult shenanigans and starts exploring the town on his own.  While hanging out at a local water park, the park's manager Owen (Sam Rockwell) takes Duncan under his wing and hires him to do odd jobs.  It's never really clear what Owen's role or job is, especially since he seems to answer to Caitlin (Maya Rudolph), who laments her station and that she works harder than just about everyone there.  Anyway, Duncan becomes more and more comfortable around everyone and makes many friends at the water park.  Owen is that mentor, older brother, or even father that Duncan lacks.

The Way, Way Back is yet another coming-of-age story.  Is 2013 the year of coming-of-age films?  I'm happy to say though that his continues the trend of good ones.  When I look back at earlier films like Mud or The Kings of Summer, they all have a distinct tone and style to them, so I've yet to feel like I'm in a cycle of watching the same movie and over and over.

Later in the film when Trent's true colors are on display, Duncan's finally able to stand up for himself and confront him and his mother.  It's that moment in the film where you see that he's becoming a man.  I think one of the reasons why I enjoyed the movie so much is that I saw a lot of myself in Duncan.  I was a goofy looking kid when I was that age.  Braces, bad hair, unsure of myself, and really, really shy.  What I would have killed for an Owen back then.  Liam James plays that socially awkward kid well.  I can forsee a few more roles like this for him in the near future.

Much of the supporting cast isn't in the film as much as I would have liked, but they're not the focus.  I appreciate seeing Steve Carell playing against type again.  I like it when he branches off his typical comedic track.  AnnaSophia Robb has been a favorite young actress of mine since Bridge to Terabithia and she finally seems to be getting larger exposure in recent films.  I still predict big things for her.

Where the film really takes off is when we're at the water park.  There's lots of playful interaction between Sam Rockwell and Maya Rudolph, as well as most of the other employees played by Jim Rash and Nat Faxon.  The relationship that develops between Duncan and Owen is sweet without being cheesy or forced.  When we finally reach the end of the film, you don't want to see these two say their goodbyes, but it's done in a way that's satisfying.

As much as I liked The Way, Way Back I have to wonder if I would have liked it as much if Sam Rockwell hadn't been in it.  Would I have been as invested not knowing he's showing up later?  Sam Rockwell is easily the best thing about the film.  Every scene he's in is great.  He's so good that if another actor had played Owen, I'm not sure that movie would have worked at all.  A water park might not need an anchor, but sometimes a movie needs an anchor like Rockwell.

One thing struck me as odd is that when you see the family driving in an old station wagon, I wasn't quite sure if this was a film set in the past.  This is confused further when it's mentioned that Trent is car salesman and brags that he's fixed the car up as a classic.  I'm pretty sure I saw some of the younger folks using cell phones (but not Duncan), and there's references to iPods.  Then in other scenes, you see people playing Pac-Man and Duncan is familiar with the game to the point where he points out that the game has a pattern.  There's also lots of 80's music.  It really doesn't matter all that much as this is another movie that's timeless.

Much like I said about The Kings of Summer, The Way, Way Back is a film that I didn't want to end.  While it's a simple, coming-of-age story in a year full of them, it still manages to stand apart with its own style and voice.  It's extremely funny, sweet and is worth seeing just for the great performance by Sam Rockwell.  I wouldn't be surprised to see a best supporting nod for Rockwell this year.  I look forward to seeing the film again.  Still playing at select theaters, I highly recommend checking it out soon.

4.5 (out of 5)

The To Do List (2013)

I love a good sex comedy.  I love Aubrey Plaza even more.  The To Do List is a movie I had circled on my calendar for a while now.  "Sigh...", was my reaction after watching it.  Here's why...

After high-school graduation, class valedictorian Brandy Klark (Aubrey Plaza) prepares for college.  Her two best friends take her to a party where she gets drunk and almost has sex with a college guy named Rusty Waters (Scott Porter).  Brandy realizes her lack of sexual experience hurt her chances of closing the deal, so like all super smart, highly organized people she makes of list of sexual things she plans on accomplishing over the summer, with the end goal of losing her virginity to Rusty.

She takes a summer job as a lifeguard at a community pool, where Rusty happens to work, as well a bunch of goofballs like her socially awkward friend Cameron (Johnny Simmons), who's clearly in love with her; Derrick (Donald Glover), and her boss Willy (Bill Hader).  They are all silly and weird.  Like, Willy drinks a lot and can't swim even though he manages a pool.  Hilarious and ironic, right?

The To Do List is set in Boise, Idaho in 1993.  This allows the use of 90's references and music.  Some may appreciate that they don't beat you over the head with the 90's, like how Adam Sandler does with the 80's in many of his films.  Many of the references are subtle, and I wondered why they even bothered setting it in the 90's, and then it dawned on me: NO INTERNET!  It's a lazy way to explain away why someone wouldn't be aware of commonly used sexual terms.  What excuse would an 18-year-old in 2013 have for not knowing what some of them meant, especially if they were genuinely interested in learning?  That's why urban dictionary exists.  They even went as far as to have a lame montage where Brandy actually tries to look up 'the shocker' in a dictionary, ponders that 'teabagging' must be a English thing, or that 'motorboating' should be easy to accomplish as she knows someone with a boat.  I can understand someone being naive, but this is bordering on extreme stupidity.  Plus, a lot of the things mentioned in the film were definitely not part of the vernacular back in 1993.  I graduated high school in 1991, and had frequent access to actual porn, and didn't hear many of these expressions back then.  Trust me, if teabagging was a thing back when I was in high school, it would have been a frequent occurrence at drunk parties or part of jock hazing.  Granted Boise is a little more conservative than the Bay Area, but even if Brandy wasn't aware from her own lack of experience, her sexually active friends (Alia Shawkat and Sarah Steele) should have clued her in at some point.  I also thought it was a little odd that a valedictorian would not be aware of what foreskin is, unless Boise schools don't have sex education.

Part of me had trouble accepting the premise in the first place.  It seems odd to me that anyone would think this a good or safe idea, let alone someone that clearly idolized Hillary Clinton.  I wonder if writer/director Maggie Carey thought she was making an empowering story about a young girl taking charge of her sex life, but a lot of what happens here is actually irresponsible.  For instance, nobody, including her best friends and own mother, tell her it's okay to be a virgin, or that there's nothing wrong with waiting or not rushing into sex if she's not ready.  Her older sister Amber (Rachel Bilson) gives her shit for being a virgin in front of her family.  I would think her parents would be relieved to know this, especially considering her older sister's behavior.  Instead, there are lots of awkward sex conversations between Brandy and her mother (Connie Britton) where Amber asks them to stop talking about it or her father immediately leaves the room due to him not being comfortably.  There's lots of unnatural dialog throughout the film.  There's another weird joke where her mother says to Brandy that if she's going to have sex, then make sure to have lube.  Not protection, or birth control, but the concern is lube.  The lube joke is mentioned more than once.

I think all of this irritated me more by the fact that at the end they force in a message about how for some people sex is a big deal and very emotional, but for others it's more about fun.  If you haven't had it yet, it's a big deal and weights on your mind until you do.  No shit.  So you're really saying that, "sex means different things to different people".  Well, thanks for that brilliant insight.  I guess it's a good thing that this is rated R, so that younger kids won't be exposed to this.

I know sound like an angry, old dude again, but I'm just bummed out at what a mess this is.  Compare this to something like The 40-Year-Old Virgin that handled someone losing their virginity in a much sweeter, and way more hilarious fashion.  Most of the jokes in The To Do List are tired or just don't go anywhere.  Many of the situations feel forced.  For an R-rated, sex comedy I was actually surprised at how it tame it actually was.  I chuckled a handful of times at best.  If this movie came out 10 or 15 years ago, then some of this stuff might have been fresh, but many of the gags here have been done before.  They also make several jokes about how Brandy has small boobs, and do a bit where her top falls off in the pool more than once.  Nearly everyone picks on her about her chest.  Have fun with your body image, ladies.

There's a Caddyshack reference that fell really flat, not just because was gross, but because only Brandy was aware of the fact it was from Caddyshack.  The naive Brandy has seen Caddyshack, but none of her goofy co-workers?  Remember this was set in 1993.  This joke could have worked if the film had been set in the present day, where Caddyshack would be a 30 year old film, and it made sense that younger kids weren't familiar with it.

It's such shame because The To Do List has such a talented comedic cast.  If you had told me that there was a late-Summer, sex comedy coming out with April Ludgate, Agent Coulson, McLovin, Young Neil, one-half of Troy and Abed, Andy Samberg, Maeby Funke, and Stefon from SNL, I would have bet on it being a homerun.  Adam Pally, who's great on Happy Endings, is in maybe two scenes and then gone.  Clark Gregg plays Brandy's dad, and it seems the only reason his character is in the film is to repeat that he's a judge over and over.  There's no payoff to this at all.  Why even mention his profession if there's no relevance to it, or no joke planned?  His character also forgets who Cameron is on multiple occasions despite that he's one of Brandy's oldest friends.  There's another running gag about the girls watching Beaches that I found no humor in, and there didn't seem to be any point to.  Beaches came out in 1988, by the way.

I think the most disappointing thing is that I had really hoped this would be the vehicle to really propel Aubrey Plaza into more lead roles.  I'm a big fan of hers and one of the legions of geeks out there that has a nerd crush on her.  She even stepped out of her comfort zone a bit by not playing Brandy with her usual deadpan demeanor.  I do need to mention that it took me a little out of the film to have a 29-year-old playing a recent high-school graduate, with a 31-year-old playing her slightly older sister that still lives at home.  I actually thought Rachel Bilson was kind of funny though.  I can forgive the age disparity a little bit, as it's always been something movies have done. However, I've praised several recent movies for casting younger actors that actually looked age-appropriate, so this seems like a step backwards in that regard.

I think a lot of what didn't work about the film could have been improved simply by changing the setting to Brandy being a senior in college and away from home.  She's been buried in her school work and doesn't have a lot of friends.  Realizing that her college experience is about to pass her by, she decides she wants to experience a bunch of things, like alcohol and sex, before graduating and getting out into the real world.  Basing this on someone just out of high school was a real mistake.

As much as I was looking forward to The To Do List, it pains me to say that it's a real disappointment and kind of a mess.  It a sex comedy that isn't sexy, creative or push any limits.  It wastes a talented cast with stale, unfunny jokes that go nowhere.  I really can't recommend it to anyone except for die hard fans of Aubrey Plaza.  Even then, it's barely a rental.  Better yet, skip this movie and rent Easy A instead, a much funnier and creative film about a girl dealing with sex in high school.

1.5 (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

Red 2 (2013)

Is this summer of sequels nobody was expecting or asking for?  There was Grown Ups 2 a few week ago and now we have Red 2.  The difference is that I at least enjoyed Red.  I'm struggling trying to remember anything about it though.  I had to look up if Morgan Freeman was in it, and even then I still couldn't remember anything about his character or what he did in the film.

Sadly, Red 2 is even more forgettable than Red.  The way I feel about Red 2 is the way I feel about a lot of family oriented comedies or TV shows.  It's silly and harmless.  I'm actually at a loss as to why it was rated PG-13.  There's barely a drop of blood in it, and I don't recall any objectionable language.  I saw families bringing younger kids with them and nobody seemed to have any issues.  All I heard was laughter at the silly humor.

We pick up with Frank (Bruce Willis) and Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) as they are shopping at a Costco.  Frank is trying his hardest to have a normal life, but Sarah seems to be a little bored.  Marvin (John Malkovich) tracks them down and warns that people are after them again.  As they were leaving Costco, Marvin's car explodes, but there's no suspense to this as we're only five minutes into the film and know that Malkovich is in the movie more.  It just seemed like pointless misdirection and even in the film nobody is fooled by it.

Also, I had to call B.S. as Frank and Sarah leave Costco empty handed, despite seeing them load up a shopping cart in the previous scene.  Nobody leaves Costco empty handed.  NOBODY!  It's was nothing more than one of many examples of product placement throughout Red 2.  There's also Papa John's and probably the most creative use of Pringles I've ever seen on film.

Anyway, Frank is brought in for questioning in his relation to an operation called "Nightshade", but Frank has no recollection of this.  During the questioning, a group of people led by Neal McDonough, barge in killing everyone, before Frank gets away.  I was still invested at this point as I always seem to enjoy McDonough's performances.  He's become one of those delightfully creepy, scenery-chewing actors in the mold of William Fichtner.  I love it when you can tell an actor enjoys playing a villain.  Unfortunately, he's not given much else to do in the film beyond this point.

The trio hop from place to place trying to figure out what's going on.  Besides McDonough, a top contract killer is on their trail, as well as Victoria (Helen Mirren) who is hired by MI6.  The contract killer, Han (Byung-hun Lee), was previously screwed over by Frank, so he's extra motivated to kill.

Then, they run into a Russian agent that Frank used to have a relationship with (Catherine Zeta-Jones), and track down an information broker called "The Frog" (David Thewlis).  They eventually find out that Nightshade involved smuggling a nuclear bomb into Russia, and was related to a physicist named Dr. Bailey (Anthony Hopkins), who Frank and Marvin used to protect, but believed was killed.  Dr. Bailey is actually alive and has been locked away in an asylum for the last thirty years.  They break him out to find where the bomb has been hidden.  Are you still with me?

Besides the overall silliness, the main problem I had with Red 2 is that the plot is ridiculously convoluted.  There wasn't a real need to have a story this all over the place.  Simple is fine when you have this many characters and settings.  Maybe even trim a few of them to make it easier to follow.  This is compounded by having character allegiances that change on a whim, people with unclear motivation, and all kinds of backstabbing.  We finally learn that the bomb was actually made out of something called red mercury, which is supposed to be some kind of super weapon, but it's not clear why.  They said something about it having minimal fallout, but wouldn't that make it slightly less dangerous or minimize collateral damage?  SPOILER - They let the bomb explode at the end and nobody seems too concerned about it, so what was the big deal?

There's another moment at the end where something happens that makes absolutely no sense, and there was no explanation as to how.  Wanna know why there was no explanation?  Cause it couldn't have happened unless Frank had magical powers.  There's no Oceans Eleven type scene that clarified it after.  Here's another thing that bugged me.  How come bad guys never shoot at the ground?  When you start firing into a room at waist or chest level, you have to know the people inside are going to drop to the ground.  Maybe all the gunmen could alternate shooting high and low.

I think even the film was worried you might not be following along.  They show an establishing shot of The Pentagon and actually bothered to put "The Pentagon" on the screen, as if anyone watching the film wouldn't know that you're looking at The Pentagon or be unfamiliar with the general shape.  I kept expecting them to put up other obvious things like "Outside" or "Costco".

I have to blame the script more than the direction.  These are the guys (Erich and Jon Hoeber) that wrote the masterpiece that was Battleship, after all.  I don't get it, you write a piece of shit like Battleship and they hire you to write more movies?  I guess Kevin Smith was right when he said in Hollywood you fail upwards. I actually like director Dean Parisot, as I think he's done some fun movies and shows, and I think that's what he tried to do here.  Just keep it fun, and the cast seemed like they were having a good time and playing off each other well.  Even Bruce Willis seemed to be enjoying himself more here when compared to his performance in the last Die Hard.  There are a few fun action scenes, so it isn't all bad.  I didn't even realize this was based on a DC Comics series until I saw their logo at the beginning, and once I realized that I forgave a lot of the cartoony action.  I also liked how the scene transitions were done in a drawn, comic book style.

As I've said earlier, the humor of the film is very tame and silly.  There are a lot of repeated jokes and gags that weren't really funny in the first place.  I will admit that I laughed a few times overall, but I cringed at the bad jokes even more.

Red 2 is a bit of a mess and too silly at times, but it's harmless enough.  It tries to get by on a good cast and a few entertaining action scenes, but tonally it's all over the place and just kind of lazy.  You'll forget you saw this movie after a few days.  I didn't hate it, but I can't recommend it as anything other than a rental.

2 (out of 5) Death Stars

The Wolverine (2013)

"Hey bub, don't forget about me!  I'm still here!" - Not actually said by Wolverine.  Oh sorry, it's The Wolverine now.

I kind of feel bad for old Logan.  A few years ago he was at the top of the food chain as far as superheroes go, but then Fox decided to piss all over the comics and nearly destroy the franchise.  He's had to resort to uncredited cameos and sneaking a movie in at the end of July.  Despite all the trailers and commercials, a good number of my friends weren't even aware there was a new Wolverine movie coming out.  Judging by the lack of attendance at the theater, I'm guessing that the public at large was either unaware or staying away.  It's a shame because The Wolverine is actually a decent movie.  It's certainly a step up from either X-Men: The Last Stand or X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  That's not saying that much though.  You should have filmed Hugh Jackman pooping on the street, and that would have made for a better film than either The Last Stand or Origins.

I wish I would have
saved this issue.

I was a little hesitant to see this one myself due to all the delays and different directors attached at various points.  It was a few years ago when I last saw Darren Aronofsky doing interviews about it before dropping out.  The most encouraging news I'd heard was that The Wolverine was going to be based on the Chris Claremont Wolverine limited series from the 80's when Logan was in Japan.  That was the definitive Wolverine series when I was a kid.  That's when he became cool to me and my friends.  In fact, that series is what got me into reading comics and into the X-Men in the first place.  We'd trade those around and read them over and over.  The irony is that I barely remember anything about it.  I can say that while The Wolverine does focus on his time in Japan, I'd say it's pretty loosely based on that series.  Some liberties were taken, but that's fine with me though.  It's nothing like the liberties taken in the latter half of Origins.

Taking place sometime after the events of The Last Stand, Logan (Hugh Jackman) is living isolated in a cave up north.  Haunted by visions and dreams of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), he's having difficulty getting past things he's done.  I was having issues with this, too.  I thought we had all agreed that The Last Stand never happened.  I liked that The Wolverine began with him dealing with his internal conflict, I just wish the previous films allowed for a better starting point.  I don't like that the X-Men's movie-universe has already killed off a character like Jean Grey.

Logan heads into town to confront some hunters for poisoning a bear, but before things escalate Yukio (Rila Fukushima), a mysterious swordsman, intervenes and asks Logan to accompany her to Japan to meet her boss.  She reveals that her employer is Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi), the head of a large technology company.  Logan saved a young Yashida back in WWII when the second atom bomb was dropped on Nagasaki (which we see in a cool flashback).  Yashida is extremely sick and wishes to repay his debt to Logan before dying.  What he proposes is to take Logan's healing factor and transfer it to him, giving Yashida immortality and allowing Logan the opportunity at a normal life.  Logan actually refuses this, and Yashida dies that night.  As this happens, Yashida's "oncologist" (Svetlana Khodchenkova) infects Logan with something.

Later at Yashida's funeral, the Yakuza attack and attempt to kidnap Yashida's granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto).  During the escape, Logan is injured and finds he's not healing like normal.  Whatever that oncologist did to him has affected his healing factor.  Mariko and Logan go into hiding together while they try to figure out who's after her and why.

About halfway through The Wolverine it dawned on me that I wasn't watching a superhero movie anymore.  While the setting gives this more of a general martial arts feel, it's more about Logan continuing to struggle with his past and trying to move on.  After the first 30 minutes, there's not a lot of action either, yet I found myself more engaged despite this.  It's much more interesting to watch Logan deal with his failing powers and internal conflict while still trying to protect Mariko.  The fact that he's no longer invincible makes him more human and compelling.  It's also way more satisfying when things eventually turn back to his favor.  Director James Mangold did his best work with these character moments.

The real weakness to The Wolverine is that the plot itself isn't all that developed.  When we find out what these people want with Mariko, it's not all that convincing or even very interesting.  Many of the characters appear to be playing both sides or have unclear goals, but since we don't know much about them it's difficult to understand why or care.  Mark Bomback and Scott Frank's screenplay needed some punch up and fine tuning.  It's frustrating because just a few tweaks here and there could have put this over the top.

There are some great action scenes though.  The highlight is one that takes place on the top of a speeding bullet train.  I was a little worried about the look of it based on the trailer, but it really stands out as the best in the film.  The action scene prior to this could have also been a great scene, but it suffers from bad editing and too much shaky cam work.  It's getting really frustrating that action films continue to employ this when I don't know anyone that likes it.  A later fight scene has too many cutaways and would have been better served to have some wider and static shots.  Part of the issue is that they were going for a PG-13 rating, so they had to avoid showing all the stabbing and excess blood.  It isn't bloodless, but I wouldn't call it bloody.  You do see a few scenes of swords going through people, but it felt like cartoon violence.  Also, you may struggle a few times wondering how a sword or knife is impaling parts of the anatomy where Wolverine's unbreakable adamantium skeleton should have prevented it from happening.

Despite all this, it's not until the very end when it finally succumbs to dumb, comic book movie action, where you've got lots of CG and improbable physics.  Additionally, a friend of mine who knows his metal, pointed out a bunch of inconsistencies regarding the general physical properties of metal during the climax.  It's not enough to ruin the film, but it's hard to ignore when you think about it.  The special effects overall are good though and definitely an improvement over Origins.  I saw this in 3D as I didn't have a choice.  It didn't ruin the film, but didn't add anything to it either.

A few words about Hugh Jackman before finishing up.  I love how seriously he takes this character, but still seems to have fun with it.  I also really respect how seriously he takes getting in shape for the role.  He's in another league as far as preparing yourself physically for a role.  I've seen other actors turn their backs on superhero roles, or not dedicate themselves to the physical demands, but Jackman understands what Wolverine has done for him.  It's hard not to appreciate that he still cares after all these years.

Oh, one last thing.  There's a great post-credit scene that totally made me geek out.  I was already looking forward to X-Men: Days of Future Past, but now I'm really looking forward to it.  There's nothing at the very end though, so you don't have to sit through all of the credits.

The Wolverine is a comic book film that tries its hardest to not be one, but ultimately still suffers from some of their faults.  The dialog and story are little muddled, and it has some bad camera work coupled with a typical big, dumb action climax. Where it works is when it gives us a little more depth into Wolverine as a character.  It's definitely a big step up from X-Men Origins: Wolverine and I think fans of the series will ultimately enjoy it.  Worth a matinee.

3.5 (out of 5) Death Stars

Only God Forgives (2013)

Since "Only God Forgives", does this mean I don't have to cut Nicolas Winding Refn any slack for this head-scratcher of a movie?

Coming into Only God Forgives, I was already on the fence regarding Refn.  I was a huge fan of Bronson (that was based on a true story though), but could barely get through the slog that was Valhalla Rising.  Despite all the critical acclaim and even my own initial love for Drive, I've since soured upon it after realizing many inaccuracies regarding cars and the plot.  If you make something called Drive and can't get your facts straight about cars, it kind of comes off as arrogant to me.  Then, I heard about how he called Carey Mulligan "chubby", and was like the guy is kind of an ass.  Having said all that, I watched Only God Forgives with a fairly open mind, and even though I can't say I liked it, I'm still willing to watch future films of his.  I'll give him credit for doing something different.

At least Only God Forgives has a general plot, but bear with me as I'm going to have to get into some spoiler territory to explain it all.  Julian (Ryan Gosling) and his older brother Billy (Tom Burke, who looks like a poor man's Michael Shannon) run a Thai boxing gym in Bangkok.  They are also criminal drug dealers.  Billy, in particular, is a real piece of work.  He rapes and kills an underage prostitute, but is caught by the police.  Lieutenant Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm) allows the father of the prostitute to beat Billy to death, but then cuts off the father's arm as punishment for allowing his daughter to be a prostitute.  It wasn't clear to me at first that Chang was even a cop.  Based on his behavior and methods, I thought he might be some kind of rival crime lord.

Their mother, Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas), arrives to take care of the body, but she also wants revenge.  She's disappointed to learn that Julian has already let the father go once he found out that Billy raped and killed his daughter.  "I'm sure he had his reasons", she said.  While unintentionally hilarious, it illustrates the kind of person Crystal is.  Later we see that she had a very bizarre relationship with her sons, so it kind of makes you understand how these two didn't go down a good path.  I enjoyed Scott's performance the most though.  She's so creepy and horrible.

Crystal hires a series of hitmen to take out Chang, but he's always one step ahead of them.  Chang is ready with his magical "Sword of Justice" to deal out the punishment.  I call his sword magical, because it always seemed to come out of nowhere.  You'd see shots of Chang from the back where he didn't appear to have a sword on him, but he could reach behind his head and unsheathe it when needed.

I'll say this for Refn, he doesn't shy away from brutal violence.  This features bashed-in heads, forced amputation, and people sliced open.  It's gorier than a lot of horror films I've seen lately.  I also kind of got a misogynistic vibe as well.  Billy's opening moments are asking if he can have sex with a 14-year-old, and then beats up a different woman before finally raping and killing the 16-year-old.  He's quite the psychopath.  Then we see Julian have a prostitute tie him down to a chair while watching her masturbate.  Later he forces that same prostitute to remove a dress he bought her after taking her on a fake date.  Don't even get me into the weird shit that happens on later in the on between Julian and Crystal.  I'm still trying to figure out what the hell one of the final scenes was supposed to mean.

At times it gets all metaphysical with several dreamlike sequences that either flashback or foreshadow events in the story.  It's a little confusing and hard to watch at times.  It also doesn't help that Refn doesn't seem to be a big fan of dialog.  Ryan Gosling has one word, not even a full line of dialog, but one word spoken in the first 23 minutes.  I don't know what it is about Gosling, but he seems to be on a recent streak of movies that don't really demand him to speak all that much.  You can practically count the number of lines of dialog said by the main characters on a hand.  Is Refn's next film going to be called Stoic?  You don't get any emotion from anyone.

Only God Forgives is shot after shot of people stand and staring, or walking slowly past doorways.  I've often heard that every scene of a film should advance the plot or develop a character in some way.  I can't say that happens here.  There's one scene where Gosling stares at his fists and then turns the light off at his gym.  What was that scene trying to say?  When Chang isn't doling out justice, he sings karaoke.  This happens several times.  Is this to show how dispassionate he is about what he's doing?  I get that you can tell a story visually without dialog, but several times I found myself scratching my head wondering what the hell was going or what was trying to be said.

There are some interesting themes regarding family, justice and honor though.  While watching you may change your opinion over who the bad guys are.  I started thinking that Chang was the bad guy, but was rooting for him by the end.  I also looked at Julian as a grey character.  Despite being a criminal, he does have a code of honor, and couldn't completely dislike him either.  The best moment is a showdown between Julian and Chang that I actually had to rewind and watch several times I enjoyed it so much.

Refn does have a very interesting visual style and I like the way he framed many of the scenes.  Even though I don't always like the story, I at least appreciate his films for their look.  While I liked the soundtrack to Drive quite a bit, I thought with Only God Forgives at times it sounded a plane passing overhead.  Later I was reminded of something from a creepy horror film.  It's very moody.

A challenging movie, Only God Forgives is not going to be for everyone.  It's pacing and lack of dialog will make this feel longer than its 90 minute runtime for most.  Some may not even be able to finish it with all the weirdness and violence.  While beautifully shot and there are some interesting themes, there's only a handful a moments that made this watchable.  Even the most die-hard Ryan Gosling fans are likely not going to be able to enjoy this one.  I can only recommend this one if you are a fan of Nicolas Winding Refn, and even then it's a rental at best.

2 (out of 5) Death Stars

The Conjuring (2013)

Haunted house films have been played to death, haven't they?  I'm surprised they keep making them, because what else can they do?  However, every once in a while someone makes one that has an interesting style, twist, or is simply well made.  The Conjuring is one of these films.

The Conjuring grabs you in a unique way right off the bat.  Instead of getting simply meeting the family the story is ultimately about, we actually begin by being introduced to a pair of paranormal investigators.  Fairly well known and respected, Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) explain how they solved a previous case they worked on.  It's like a separate short story featuring a creepy-ass doll.  Beginning the film this way allowed them to setup some of the rules and background without hamfisted exposition later on.  It also establishes the Warrens as a capable duo that really believes in what they are doing.  They genuinely want to help people that think they are being haunted or possessed, and are not trying to take advantage of people or exploit them.  You don't see the Warrens as frauds or anything like that.

We move on to the Perron family as they move into a new home.  Roger (Ron Livingston) and Carolyn (Lily Taylor) have five girls, which could be a separate horror film by itself.  Wasting no time at all, they start noticing strange events around the house.  Things like clocks stopping at the same time every night, weird smells and noises, seeing things in the dark, and Carolyn starts getting random bruises.  Things continue to get worse and worse, leading to the Perrons contacting the Warrens for help.

The Warrens bring a team and setup cameras and equipment around the house to capture any events that occur.  This part of the film reminded me of Poltergeist a bit.  I also liked the fact that one of the members of their team was a local cop (John Brotherton) that didn't believe in this stuff.  Even the Warrens were a bit skeptical and reluctant to check out the house at first.

More events happen after the team arrives and they begin to have an idea of what's causing these disturbances.  I liked that as they discovered more it didn't become ridiculous or convoluted.  It's a standard haunting/possession.  Sometimes keeping it simple works and the film is smarter because of it.  They even address the trope of why the family didn't move out when it was clear something bad was going on.

Another really strong aspect of The Conjuring is that you actually have a reason to like the Perron family.  They're just a normal family that you could sympathize with.  Plus, they don't do any of the typical stupid things that make you want to pull your hair out in typical horror films.  I also appreciated that they stuck to the rules the established in the beginning of the film.  Too often you see a horror film not being consistent with its own rules as the movie goes on.  I have to give credit to Chad and Carey Hayes for their screenplay.  The Conjuring is based on true events, which is something I'm always skeptical of, but this is one of the times where I was so invested in what was going on that I didn't even think about it.

The performances are all strong too.  Farmiga, Wilson, Taylor and Livingston are always solid and nobody was overdoing it.  Even the kids, played by Shanley Caswell, Hayley McFarland, Joey King, Mackenzie Foy and Kyla Deaver, all gave fine performances.  There's no weak links in the cast and everyone treated it seriously.  You really felt how terrified they were as a result.

The Conjuring has a genuinely creepy and eerie tone throughout the film.  While there are a few jump scares here and there, it doesn't resort to cheap scares or lots of blood.  Many times it relies on simple noises, or tricks with shadows and darkness, allowing your imagination to get the better of you.  I'm not embarrassed to admit it got me to jump more than a few times and I got the chills several times as well.  This was while watching in a fairly full theater, but it would be even scarier to watch this at home with the lights off and a good surround system.  I always know when a horror film gets to me when I walk upstairs to my bedroom and I check over my shoulder a few times.

Lastly, I was also really impressed with James Wan's direction.  It seems like he learned from his experiences with Insidious and applied that to The Conjuring.  I thought with Insidious the story got away from him a little bit towards the end, but with The Conjuring he actually managed to keep the tension level very high.  I also liked the attention to detail.  The film is set in the late-60's/early-70's and it really felt like a film made back then.  Not just in it's overall look, but in the style of the film.  This would fit right in with a marathon of films like The Omen or The Amityville Horror.   I had to kind of laugh at one scene where you're in the Warren's home and you see all this red carpet and really awful wallpaper everywhere, and said, "Yep, this is the 60's/70's".  The period helped with the creepiness as well.

The Conjuring is an old-school horror film.  It manages to be consistently scary by setting a creepy and eerie tone, without having to rely on special effects, excess blood or cheap jump scares.  It also has a smart, consistent story and strengthened by good performances that actually make you care about what's going on.  Easily one of the best horror films of 2013 and I highly recommend it to anyone that wants a good scare.

4 (out of 5) Death Stars