Fans of Veronica Mars have been clamoring for a movie ever since the television series left the air in 2007. Their wish has finally been granted, and the result is a film that will not only preach to the choir, but also entertain those unfamiliar with the exploits of the teenage private eye.
Of course now, Veronica (Kristen Bell) is all grown up, and she’s left the P.I. business in California for a new life in New York. She’s done with law school and is up for a plum job at a big time law firm when…her old life comes calling.
Director/co-writer Rob Thomas shows great instincts for giving his baby a successful upgrade to the big screen, and for paying VM fans back for their devotion and kickstarter love. He gets everyone caught up in the first few minutes, then centers a murder mystery around Veronica’s 10 year high school reunion. Longtime viewers get to relish the return of all the familiar faces, while Thomas provides the snappy dialogue and brisk pace to keep everyone engaged.
Sure, the shenanigans here are presented with all the depth of adolescent TV, but Thomas offsets it all with a wonderful streak of self-awareness. There isn’t an ounce of pretense in Veronica Mars, which only increases its charm.
Back in the role that made her famous, Bell has never been more likable, carrying the film with a satisfying mix of confidence, intellect, sex appeal and wit. Also, some nice cameos pepper the ensemble cast, only adding to the fun.
And that’s mainly what Veronica Mars ends up being: fun.
For a film about drug use, extramarital sex, feces smearing and conspiracy to commit murder, Better Living through Chemistry retains a surprisingly cheery disposition throughout. In its own way, it also champions wholesome values, all without ever really condemning the extramarital relations, drug use or attempted murder. It does seem to frown on that excrement thing, though, so there are lines it is willing to draw.
The always welcome Sam Rockwell plays beleaguered good guy/pharmacist Doug Varney with characteristic aplomb. Varney’s mild mannered, put-upon existence takes a sharp left when he meets Elizabeth (Olivia Wilde), a trophy wife and fashionable druggy with some lessons to share with the druggist.
Wilde and Rockwell share a fun, edgy chemistry while Michelle Monaghan, playing Varney’s ball-busting wife, steals her every scene. (Stealing a scene from Sam Rockwell is a noteworthy feat.) The three are a blast to watch. They have a lot of fun with the pseudo-subversive silliness and are entirely responsible for whatever enjoyment there is to find in the film.
Too bad the writing/directing pair of Geoff Moore and David Posamentier offers the acting trio too slight a script, as well as tone deaf direction. And their narration device is far less clever than they think.
The film lacks the bite of a true satire or dark comedy. If the point was one of consequence-free binging, the film would actually have been on better footing in that at least it would have been provocative. Instead, it’s a hollow exercise in finding your inner strength through drug-induced misbehavior, and then allowing convenient scripting to help you know when to say when.
I never watched Breaking Bad, but I believe you when you say it is awesome, and that Aaron Paul is awesome as Jesse. I don’t doubt it for one second. Really.
But trust me, Need for Speed isn’t Breaking Bad, it’s just bad.
Paul moves on from Jesse to star as Tobey Marshall, a badass gearhead/street racer who was framed for murder by an old adversary. After serving a prison stint, Tobey rejoins his old garage crew to enter a legendary cross-country race, and hatch a plan that will bring both sweet victory, and sweet revenge.
Even for a film based on a video game, Need for Speed is achingly shallow. Director Scott Waugh‘s biggest error is to give the film the same overly dramatic, utterly heroic tone he brought to Act of Valor. It made sense on Valor, as Waugh was directing active-duty Navy SEALS who had trouble acting, but at least deserved the treatment.
Here, though, the approach is so over-the-top it results in a cornball mess of high octane ridiculousness. Though it’s hard to tell from the squeaky-clean garages, neatly pressed clothes and perfect fingernails, these are street racers, not world-savers. Lighten up already.
George Gatins’s sophomoric and painfully obvious screenplay doesn’t help, bursting as it is with groan-inducing dialog and plotting fit for coma patients.
I suppose there is something here if you like to see cars going fast, but even those sequences are bland, especially after Waugh makes the mistake of including a snippet from Bullitt, one of the greatest car movies ever made. Honestly, you can find more auto-excitica (you’re welcome) in The Town or one of those Jeff Gordon-in-disguise Pepsi commercials.
Even the music is awful, alternating between melodramatic crescendos and tone-deaf remakes of rock classics.
A sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek vibe would have worked wonders on Need for Speed. As it stands, it can’t outrun the stupid, no matter how fast it goes.
Donovan Riley turns 21 today. Well, that can’t even be correct. Wait…March 12…it is! Against all logic, it is actually our boy’s 21st birthday. Holy cow! Well, while we sob quietly, enjoy a list of our fictitious DRW Turns 21 Movie Marathon, where we offer a quick glimpse at how those 21 years were spent.
The Lion King (1994)
Not even two years old, Riley would see the trailer on TV and shout “Rawr!” at the screen, so we figured The Lion King would be a fine choice for his first big screen adventure. Is 18 months too young for a theatrical experience? Maybe for the rest of the audience, but we were ready to challenge them. That’s the kind of parents we are. Turns out, he was all about it, and it set the stage for the game-changer to come next.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHDRl1eBD-M
Toy Story (1995)
It’s hard to put into words how much the original Toy Story changed our world. Beyond the multiple viewings, toys, bedsheets, posters, etc., Buzz, Woody and company were ever-present in our young boy’s mind. It was a great movie, so we really didn’t mind the infatuation. He was moved, and he wanted to preach the gospel…which he frequently did by approaching random strangers in Kroger or Target with a simple query, “Have you seen THE SHOW?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYz2wyBy3kc
Pokemon: The Movie (1999)
We went from a classic to an…ugh. Our parental love was tested by these films, which we were lucky to escape without suffering a seizure. But how the boy loved them! Tears in his eyes when Charizard’s head got caught in that log. Not only did we sit through these god-awful films, we braved the warring hordes on Tuesday nights at Burger King, when new movie tie-in toys were released. No offense, Pikachu, but we’d like to strangle you with our bare hands. Pika! Pika!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrYGPtEhkVQ
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
Always an advanced reader, Riley devoured the Harry Potter books, and was once interviewed on TV at a midnight release party for a new installment. Indeed, his life had a weird parallel to Harry’s, what with that lightning bolt scar he got when he defeated an evil warlock….wait. That’s not right. No, it’s because Riley began kindergarten the year the first HP book was published, and graduated from high school the same year the final l(and best) film was released. It was like he followed Harry through Hogwarts. He liked to think so, anyway, and to honor his hero, he would re-read every installment just before the next was released, and then stay awake until he finished whichever new adventure had just come out. (More fine parenting.) To say the least, the debut of the first film in the series was a pretty big deal. Not a great movie, but a big deal.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
The boy was 9. We took him to an afternoon screening. He’s been buckling swash ever since.
That Thing You Do! (1996)
Listed out of sequence because he didn’t discover it until years after its release, this film is one that found regular rotation on HBO one summer, and it had a devoted audience of at least two for each screening. George and Riley can quote every line from the film, and will forever refer to character actor Bill Cobbs as “Del Paxton” no matter what beer ad or TV movie he stars in.
Ocean’s 11 (2001)
The boy loves a good con movie, and that may have started here. Danny Ocean and his smooth criminals charmed and delighted the would-be con man who, luckily, decided to pursue other career avenues. (We were pretty relieved when he gave up that short-lived dream to be a magician and a card shark as well.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7lrZK21AX4
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)
Riley did not stumble upon this Robert Rodrigues gem until it was available on cable, and then he had to beg to see it because of its R rating. Our rule was that he had to watch any R-rated film alongside his mom, which will seriously squelch a young boy’s interest. But together we watched Johnny Depp chew scenery, lose eyeballs, and look awesome. Families bond in different ways. Besides, it’s too late not to notify children’s services.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
Discovered one night in a Florida Keys hotel room, this Brangelina Spy v Spy action flick became a constant companion during that particular vacation. You know a kid likes a movie when he’ll choose it over Shark Week and the Little League World Series.
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Proof positive that the boy grew up OK, shortly after leaving home and moving to LA to become an actor himself, he changed his FB background to reflect his newest favorite film, the flawless Paul Thomas Anderson epic There Will Be Blood. Say what you will about our sketchy parenting, this suggests that he turned out A-OK.
We can’t wait to be watching him on the big screen. Riley, we love you and we are so proud of you! Happy, happy, happy birthday!!!
Out today on DVD and BluRay is the most overlooked film this awards season, Inside Llewyn Davis. Just another Coen Brothers’ masterpiece, the film follows a phenomenally flawed young artist struggling to stay true to his vision and get a break in the Sixties Greenwich Village folk scene. Immersive, funny, expertly crafted and brilliantly acted – particularly by Oscar Isaac in the title role – the film ranks among the very best of 2013. Perhaps more impressively, it also ranks among the very best of the brothers’ careers.
A hot mess of a film that’s still weirdly fascinating, especially for Bob Dylan fans, is the artist’s own meandering fantasy Masked and Anonymous. Dylan co-writes and stars (that second bit is a little more of a sketchy decision), and he’s joined by an enviable cast: John Goodman, Jessica Lange, Jeff Bridges, Penelope Cruz, Bruce Dern, Ed Harris, Angela Bassett and scores of others. Together they piece together themes and characters from Dylan’s countless lyrical tales, creating a nearly coherent storyline about nasty music promoters looking to score a “benefit concert” with the help of a living legend. More beautiful mess than masterpiece, the film is still compelling viewing for Dylan fans.
Join us this Friday night, 3/14, at 11:30 pm for the demented Aussie masterpiece The Loved Ones! It’s a wild, violent, depraved way to spend 84 minutes, benefitting from one of the most inspired villains in modern horror. Throw in some of Studio 35’s awesome craft beers and settle in for a seriously wrong-minded flick.
Studio 35 Cinema and Drafthouse is located at 3055 Indianola Avenue. Tickets are just $5 and drink specials abound.
Back in 2006, director Zach Snyder paired a Frank Miller graphic novel with a mostly naked, very beefy Gerard Butler, and ancient Greek history was born. The visually arresting 300 was a stylistic breakthrough, if nothing else. Eight years later, though, it’s tough to understand the point of a sequel.
And yet, 300: Rise of an Empire picks up where 300 left off. It’s less a sequel or a prequel and more of a …meanwhile. That is to say that, while Leonidas (Butler) and his 300 Spartans battle Persian god-king Xerxes on the ground (the previous film’s climax), Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) and the rest of Greece takes on Xerxes’s navy, led by the angry Grecian ex-pat Artemisia (Eva Green).
Gone is the painterly quality of the original, an artistic choice that often pays off as it gives the sea battles a little more life. Don’t look for authenticity or gritty realism here, though; the sequel is very definitely cut from the same CGI-laden cloth as Snyder’s epic, but director Noam Murro (Smart People) makes some stylistic alterations here and there.
The sequel is bloodier and rape-ier than its original, all the lurid detail captured in vivid splatter-cam glory. There’s far less exposition and nearly no character development this time around. Murro’s plan of attack seemed to be action sequence followed by rousing speech followed by action sequence overdubbed with rousing speech, and so on.
Given the sheer volume of action (and speechifying), it’s surprising the film becomes so tedious so quickly. To enjoy the full 102 minutes, you might need to have a real itch to see beefcake in battle. (No to shirts, yes to capes in the military uniform? Really?). That is, except for the ferocious presence of Eva Green.
Playing the bloodthirsty naval commander with a grudge against Greece, Green steals every scene and commands rapt attention. She delivers more badass per square inch than the entire Greek and Persian navy combined in a performance that entertains, but also exposes the blandness of the balance of the cast. Even without their shirts.
It’s not the worst waste of time onscreen right now, thanks to Green, but it’s nothing you’ll remember tomorrow, either.
We are thrilled that the Academy honored 12 Years a Slave as the best picture of 2013. We could not agree more wholeheartedly. They made the right decision this year. Sometimes, they don’t.
Here’s our take on the worst films to win best picture, but not the worst choice in a category. When John Ford’s bland How Green Was My Valley can take the prize from Citizen Kane, you come to realize that the Academy sometimes can’t tell a true masterpiece from a decent film.
Rather than point to short-sighted votes that gave a certain year’s top prize to a lesser nominee, let us commemorate bad films of the last 40 years that had no business being nominated, let alone winning. So, yes, Ordinary People should never have beaten Raging Bull, but it’s not a bad movie. You know what is a bad movie? Crash.
Crash (2004)
Crash is a movie Robert Altman might have made had Altman been lobotomized. Trite, self-important, self-congratulatory, pretentious and backhandedly racist, Paul Haggis’s film is a travesty that should have withered and died without an audience.
In an interview before the film was released, Haggis revealed that he and his wife had been victims of a carjacking, which became the inspiration for the film. Two young black men stole not only their car, but the video they were returning. Because the video was a foreign film, Haggis says, he decided to leave that detail out of his movie. He didn’t think the audience would believe it. Which is to say, he was so bothered that these thugs fit the stereotype that he decided to write a film about the experience, leaving out the part where the thugs did not fit the stereotype.
Forrest Gump (1994)
Schmaltzy, sentimental, sanctimonious, manipulative nonsense. There may be no film more contrived to knee jerk its audience toward shallow, meaningless, feel good self-congratulation than this. The ever-likeable Tom Hanks creates an amiable simpleton we can all root for and mock simultaneously without feeling badly about ourselves.
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
A slick, hollow Hollywood cliché of one-dimensional heroes struggling to be the heroes we know they really are. Don’t look for nuance or layers or flaws. Struggles, yes. Flaws? No. These are admirable people behaving admirably despite their heart-wrenching circumstances. Plus, aren’t they pretty?
Out of Africa (1985)
Redford! Streep! The manly hunter and the baroness find romance among the sweeping scenery of Colonial Africa! Nice to look at, maybe, but there’s no chemistry here, very little of anything to hold your attention, and after two and a half hours of relentless boredom, you’re so glad it’s over you can’t even think to ask “is that it?”
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
All these years later, far removed from the tales of a historic studio campaign that successfully overcame the shadow of Saving Private Ryan, you look at Shakespeare in Love and see little more than a star-studded TV movie. Fluffy and slight, this choice will continue to age ungracefully.
The long, national nightmare is over..the Airportfranchise is back, baby!
Okay, not really. There’s no George Kennedy, or Charlton Heston, and no Love Boat-style parade of guest stars hoping for more face time, but Non-Stop brings the mid-air disaster back to the big screen with plenty of B-movie chutzpah.
Liam Neeson stars as Air Marshall Bill, a boozy grump with a tragic past who isn’t too happy with his latest assignment on a transatlantic flight. His particular set of skills is tested a few hours after takeoff, when he begins getting text messages from an unseen passenger. Wire 150 million dollars to a secret account, Bill is told, or every twenty minutes, someone on the plane will die.
It amounts to an interesting setup from a team of writers, one with a Hitchcock-meets-Agatha Christie vibe that director Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown, another Neeson thriller) has no trouble fleshing out. Things move fast and deliberately, as suspicions fall on a collection of interesting passengers, including the friendly redhead who insists on sitting next to Bill (Jullanne Moore, classing up the joint).
The clearer the resolution becomes, though, the more the film struggles with flimsy contrivance. Yes, it’s a bumpy ride, but Neeson again proves his mettle as a late-blooming action star, and there is just enough fun in Non-Stop to make it an enjoyable, if easily forgettable, trip.
“Fame is your generation’s Black Plague.” So says Rat Billings (John Cusack), world-wearied poet and reluctant mentor to naïve college grad and would-be poet, Amy (Emma Roberts).
Rat has lots of good lines – he is a poet, after all – about the strange era of newly formed adults who grew up working toward fame for fame’s sake. “Generation Mundane” he calls them.
Unbeknownst to Amy, she herself fits that description, and that irony is at the heart of the bright indie comedy Adult World. The chemistry at the heart of the film belongs to Roberts and Cusack.
When Roberts’s Amy leaves the nest 90K in college debt with no marketable skill (her degree is in poetry, after all), she takes a job at an old style porn shop. There, a unique and fascinating world revolves around her, but she’s too busy “feeling, deeply feeling” to notice. Which is, of course, the problem with her artistry – she’s trying to write when she has refused to live, so what could she have to write about?
We watch as Amy refuses to participate in life, insulated from the world by her misguided, socially-instilled belief in her own specialness. Thankfully, director Scott Coffey’s film – scripted with refreshing self-deprecation by Andy Cochran – is rarely too overt with its theme. Sometimes, sure, and you would never call the film exactly subtle. But it has some real freshness to offer instead.
While the cast on the whole is quite solid, Roberts really hits high gear in scenes with Cusack. When these characters are together we get to see each at his or her most potent. Films rarely offer such undiluted presences. Neither actor is afraid to embrace what is unlikeable about their own character, and their scenes together are a kind of joyous celebration of flaws. A giddy artistic energy flows between the two performers that is a blast to watch.
Not every pairing goes as well. Amy’s onscreen love interest is played by Roberts’s offscreen love (and American Horror Story co-star) Evan Peters. Though their romance is sweet, its course is also predictable.
Worse still, the great Cloris Leachman is underused, and Armando Riesco’s drag queen is tacked onto the story sloppily and without real meaning.
Still, much of this story rings true, and the approach taken to poke fun at Generation Mundane is clever and well-intentioned. More than anything, though, it’s great to see Cusack running on all cylinders and matched so well.
