Mid-Summer Movies

I'll kick this off with "Now You See Me," which is quite possibly already out of theaters (so much "no one saw it" pun potential). This movie centers around a group of illusionists/magicians who pull of major crime heists while performing. It seems pretty unbelievable. Even when the movie explains how they did it, it still seems unbelievable. The movie spent all of it's time focusing on theatrics and not on the plot. I'm not a huge fan of the lead, Jesse Eisenberg, who I'll admit it was fantastic in "The Social Network" but mainly because he looks freakishly like Mark Zukerberg and got all the mannerisms down. I want to know how people like Morgan Freeman, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson and Michael Caine read this script and thought it sounded like a good idea. Honestly, if I didn't write a blog I would have forgot about this movie immediately after leaving the theater. It might not even make it to cable as it dies in the vault of no-network-even-wanted-to-pay for it films. Woody, I expected better from you.

I also went to see "Man of Steel." In the past I haven't been a huge Superman fan (does anyone remember the 2006 remake?) but I love Henry Cavill from "The Tudors." Unfortunately I still didn't really like it. It's superhero meets aliens meets big summer blockbuster budget (i.e. let's see how much shit we can blow up just because we can). The movie is stacked with good acting talent (Amy Adams, Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, Diane Lane) but the plot just seems to drag. All the fight scenes and explosions take up what could have been used as plot and character development. The only development is at the beginning and it seems like a lot of setup with little payoff. The ending seems to come abruptly and makes it clear they plan on continuing this franchise (it grossed $398.3MM worldwide through 6/23). But get excited, the big news coming out of Comic Con is that Warner Bros. is making a Superman/Batman movie involving collaboration from Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan, so that has to be good. At least it will be better than "Man of Steel."

A couple weeks ago I went to see "The Heat," the cop comedy starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. The previews looked hilarious and the movie did not disappoint. Bullock and McCarthy had a good on-screen chemistry as a dynamic duo. It's like you can picture them being friends and getting into mischief in real life. McCarthy's performance was the better one to me. Bullock was good but it was almost the exact same character she played in all the "Miss Congeniality" movies. Also of note is Demian Bichir, who plays Bullock's FBI boss. He's been appearing in a lot of stuff lately and doesn't get the recognition he deserves (plus he's a very attractive older man, loved him in "Weeds"). The movie plot is pretty basic. The FBI and local Boston police are reluctantly forced to work together to catch a drug lord. I was actually slightly surprised by the plot twist of the movie, which you don't really expect from a fluff comedy. I liked this movie overall but would say it's fine to wait until DVD release.

Last weekend I went to see "Bling Ring," the new Sophia Coppola flick based on a true story. The "Bling Ring" is a group of 5 over-privileged, fame-obsessed teenagers living in Calabasas (near LA). In order to afford the lifestyle they felt they deserved of partying, drugs and high fashion, they used the Internet to track when celebrities were out of town and then would subsequently burglarize their homes. Celebrities victims include Paris Hilton (multiple times, they refer to it as "going to Paris"), Lindsey Lohan, Rachel Bilson, Audrina Patridge, Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr and Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green. What's kind of hilarious is that Sophia Coppola got Paris Hilton to not only make a cameo in the movie, but she also allowed them to film the heist scenes in her actual house (yes, the disco room is real). My mom also brought up an interesting point. This movie is a commentary on materialistic, over-privileged rich kids feeling entitled to the wealth playboy lifestyles they'd see around LA. With Coppola's famous last name, these are probably the type of kids she grew around (albeit she grew up in NYC). The movie's got a fun soundtrack as well. Definitely recommend checking out this flick before it disappears from theaters (it was a limited release as-is).

It's the End of the World As We Know It

If you were hoping for an REM concert review, you will be sorely disappointed. I did not get to see Michael Stripe, I got to see "This Is the End," a humorous/apocalyptic movie. It wasn't heavily promoted at all but has been relying on word-of-mouth to keep it going. Seth Rogen wrote, directed and stars in the film. The premise sounds pretty humorous. A bunch of comedians/celebrities are at James Franco's house party when the apocalypse happens. Everyone in the movie is playing themselves, which makes it extra hilarious. The main case is Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Jay Bauchel (you'll recognize him from all the Judd Apatow movies), Danny McBride and Craig Robinson.

I though the first half of the movie, which is when the party is raging on before the end of the world, was hysterical. On top of the main characters, Emma Watson, Michael Cera, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, Paul Rudd and a host of other B, C and D list celebrities are also in attendance. Michael Cera's coked-out version of himself was probably the highlight for me. Paul Rudd deserved more than his two minutes. And Emma Watson gets to be bad ass (go Hermoine!). But then the apocalypse starts and things get weird. Really weird. Like demons with giant penises weird. So then that part drags on for about 30-45 minutes but the ending brings it back to the hilarious realm. SPOILER ALERT: In the last scene they get the full Backstreet Boys crew to reunite and preform, which is so random but so awesome for anyone who remembers the 90s. I wouldn't say rush out to theaters to catch this flick, but it's about to become a late night cable favorite for stoners everywhere so catch it when you can.