Tag Archives: hollywood

Mar 26 2013

Review: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

Directed by Don Scardino

The story of the incredible Burt Wonderstone begins in 1982, when a bullied young Burt arrives home after school to find the house empty on his birthday, with instructions from his mother on how to make his own cake, including going to the shop for the ingredients. When he opens the present left for him he finds a magic kit, complete with instructional video, and becomes obsessed with magic, the The Incredible Burt Wonderstone postersense of wonder it brings and the feeling that anything is possible. Through the magic tricks a friendship is formed at school, which over the years ends up being a partnership in a very showy Vegas act, where they speak about their “magical friendship” and it becomes the basis of their act together. Time goes by and Burt becomes tired of his act, but doesn’t want to change anything, until his position is threatened by the arrival of a popular new magician, Steve Gray, who calls himself the Brain Rapist. His acts are as horrific as his name, but he manages to pull crowds by being more extreme, outrageous and even sickening, more like Jackass stunts than magic, but the audience is once again thrilled by new things they haven’t seen before. In a failed attempt to create a similar type of act, Burt and Anton have a falling out and their act falls apart. The two friends go their separate ways but are soon humbled by their experiences and realize all the things they had lost sight of: the importance of their friendship, and their excitement about magic. Everything builds up to a final showdown between the competing magicians, where Steve completes his final dramatic act (there is nothing magic about it, he is just going for gross), but is completely overshadowed by Burt (and new partner Jane) and Anton’s grand new magic act.

It is a heart warming ending to a story that reminds us about the importance of our friendships and not losing the wonder and excitement we had as children.

This is one of those movies that as soon as it started I knew I was going to enjoy it. I was taken back to the eighties in the opening scenes and loved all the details. You can feel the excitement over their newly learned magic tricks and in turn feel the disappointment we are meant to feel when the act goes stale years later. The parts are well cast, particularly Jim Carrey as the “Brain Rapist”, but also Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi as Burt and Anton. Olivia Wilde was great as Jane, but they could have done a lot more with her. She showed off her talent in the parts she was given but I guess after all this is a movie about The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.

I am a sucker for a feel good movie and always love a happy ending so I was pleased with the end result of this film. It was entertaining even if it was predictable, and to my delight I found myself laughing at a lot of the humor.

Written by Ben Freeman

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Mar 12 2013

Review: 2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

2001 a space odyssey

This movie is an epic story starting with the dawn of man, then jumping forward to a future not dissimilar to our own. The opening scenes depict early man struggling with the simplest life, living in a barren landscape, afraid of who will be the next to be taken by the predators living all around them. This is all played out to the famous music that everyone now knows as the theme to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Then one day a monolith appears, standing out in stark contrast to the rest of the landscape and catching the attention of one tribe of ape like people. Interaction with the monolith seems to spark an “evolutionary” process, with one of the tribe figuring out how to use a bone as a tool or weapon.

We then jump forward to the future, at least it was the future when this film was made, where it seems the initial spark of intelligence has grown to the point where man is now capable of space travel, with even hotels in space for workers and presumably tourists who can afford the expense. We follow the story of Dr Heywood Floyd as he travels to the moon on top secret business, which is eventually revealed to be the discovery of another monolith on the moon. After visiting this monolith we again jump forward, this time only 18 months, to a space ship on what is referred to as the Jupiter mission.  There are five crew members aboard this ship and the on-board computer, who is treated like a person, named HAL. Three of the crew members are in hibernation leaving two to run the ship. We see the everyday life as they go about their usual routine, until things start to go horribly wrong and suspicions build against HAL, who seems to be malfunctioning and sabotaging everything to try and cover up his mistakes. I can’t say too much more without giving away too much, in case anyone hasn’t seen this movie, but in the closing scenes of the film we see the monolith once more and are treated to an array of images and colors, finally ending with the theme song.

In a way this is a very controversial movie, not because of the subject matter, but because people seem to either love it or hate it. Saying anything against this movie will just about start a war with the fanatics, but the truth is I did not enjoy this movie. I understand perfectly the reasons the fans say they love it, it was very well filmed, the effects were brilliant for the time and a lot of the scenes were stunning. Much of what was depicted was very realistic, but my main complaint is that it was excruciatingly slow! The word odyssey means a long and eventful journey, which is a very apt word to use in the title, but some scenes were far more long than eventful. Everything takes so long to happen and yes, that adds to the realism, but it takes away the enjoyment. If I wanted realistic, I would watch a documentary, not a science fiction movie! The scenes where they are in their space suit and all you hear is the breathing, again it is realistic, but painfully annoying. Every time the monolith appears and you hear the choir start “singing”, I had to turn the volume down because it was an unbelievably annoying sound, kind of like a million flies or mosquitoes buzzing around your ears.

I admit I’ll never forget the creepiness of HAL’s perfectly even, calm voice as he quietly sabotages the whole mission, or the detail of everything in the space ships and the way the people and objects behaved in zero gravity, but none of this could redeem the movie from the long periods of nothing happening. Fanatics, you can keep this one.

Feb 22 2013

Cloud Atlas – Top Wachowski Films

CLOUD ATLAS

TOP WACHOWSKI FILMS

The siblingdirectorial pairing of Lana and Andy Wachowski teamed up with Tom Tykwer to create the powerful and inspiring epic Cloud Atlas, based on the best-selling novel by David Mitchell.To celebrate the film’s release on 22 Februarywe are going to take a look at the Wachowski’s best work to date, including The Matrix and V for Vendetta.

THE MATRIX

In 1999 the Wachowski’s brought us the ground-breaking and genre-defining Sci-fi film,The Matrix, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving. The film blew audiences away with its ground-breaking introduction of a visual effect now known as ‘bullet time’, which allows a shot to progress in slow-motion while the camera appears to move through the scene at normal speed. The Wachowski’s both wrote and directed this visual masterpiece which grossed over $450 million at the worldwide box-office. The film spawned two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, bringing in a whopping $1.6 billion total box-office for the franchise.

THE MATRIX RELOADED

The Wachowski’s returned in May 2003 to bring audiencesThe Matrix Reloaded, the second instalment in The Matrix trilogy. In the second film Neo and the rebel leaders learn that they have only 72 hours before Zion is destroyed by 250,000 sentinel machines. Neo must try to save Zion while also saving Trinity from the dark fate which plagues his dreams. This second instalment in the franchisegrossed a box-office of over $740 million worldwide.

THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS

The Matrix trilogy ended in November 2003 with the release of The Matrix Revolutions. The final film in the trilogy follows Neo as he fights to end the war between the machines and humans. Neo must finally defeat the rogue Agent Smith while the human city of Zion defends itself against invasion by the machines. The Matrix Revolutions made over $425 million at the box-office worldwide and provided audiences with an explosive ending to the franchise, packed with ground-breaking CGI and an epic one-on-one battle between Neo and Agent Smith.

V FOR VENDETTA

The Wachowski’s wrote the 2006 thriller V for Vendetta, based on the comic book of the same name by Alan Moore and David Lloyd and starring Hugo Weaving, John Hurt and Natalie Portmanand was directed by James McTeigue. The film followed a shadowy freedom-fighter known only as ‘V’ who uses terrorist tactics to bring down the totalitarian society in which he lives. Caught in between the government and ‘V’ is Evey (Portman), who must decide whose side she is on before the explosive finale.

CLOUD ATLAS

The Wachowski’s latest release is the epic Cloud Atlas, based on the best-selling novel by David Mitchell and stars an award-winning cast including: Tom Hanks, Jim Broadbent, Ben Wishaw, Jim Sturgess, Hugh Grant, David Gyasi and Susan Surrandon. This powerful film is full of drama, mystery, action and enduring love, thread through a single story that unfolds in multiple timelines over the span of 500 years.  Characters meet and reunite from one life to the next. As the consequences of their actions and choices impact one another through the past, the present and the distant future, one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.

Cloud Atlas is in cinemas this Friday 22nd February.

Aug 23 2012

I Against I (2012)

The gangster movie I Against I is a dark, fashionable film. The film’s main story arc surrounds the gritty underworld of London and the people who live the high life by running it. Kenny Doughty plays a successful man in this world and is favoured by the “Boss” of this world, Tommy. Even though Tommy’s son Joseph is obviously not a fan of the man who takes his fathers affection.

The films begins with the death of Tommy and CCTV catching both the main character and a man we later find out to be a Russian hit man played by Ingvar Sigurdsson. Finding his fathers body and the CCTV, Joseph proceeds to blame the protagonist due to the evidence and the fact he plainly doesn’t like him! The Russian roulette scene is one in which Mark Womack (Joseph) is dark and believable but also becomes less threatening by the “overacting” of Kenny Doughty.

Anyway back to the main story arc! Joseph uses the two men against each other saying that they must kill one another to prove that they did not kill his father. The two main character’s traits, and maybe due to the actors makes it hard to side with one in particular, we are unsure of who committed the crime and even less sure what their motive would be. This was something that could have stood out originally from the script or maybe even a trait that the actors themselves helped to bring to the film.

Mark Womack really stands out as the jealous son who on the outside is looking for retribution for his father’s death but also clearly doesn’t like the main character and is tormenting him for all the years we believe he had to watch this man become closer and closer to his father. Womack is dark and moody and fits in with the dark, grimy feeling we get from the sets, and settings. There could have been confusion to the Russian hit man being the villain but as the story progresses and we see more of Joseph we can see he is the real villain of the piece.

The film’s main themes give it strength, jealousy and revenge always make it easy to believe in a character’s motive and bring out strong emotions. The theme of survival in a harsh environment also works well for two characters who have a similar path to follow but come from seemingly different backgrounds. The themes and the setting of this film, mostly shot at night give it a gritty edge that suits the underworld of London perfectly. For me the script is a little weak as it’s a simple “murder mystery” and does nothing overly shocking or fantastic, not that is doesn’t have a few twists! As well as Kenny Doughty the support cast of the film let it down. Not fantastic, but easy to watch.

Written by Ben Moughan

Jul 25 2012

Act of Valor (2012)

Act of Valor sees a team of Navy SEALs embark on a mission to find and rescue a CIA agent being held captive. That is the plot summed up in under 25 words, but the basic plot is not the real story here, its the soldiers themselves.

Normally, when watching a war film, you will be expecting to see the usual American epic about some American soldiers who overcame overwhelming odds in order to preserve their way of life. This is where Act of Valor differs from the norm.

The main aspect of this film which I most enjoyed was the real life tactics which were used. Instead of seeing some soldier doing a James Bond run, where he runs in front of numerous guns and never seems to get shot, we see real tactics being used. Some of the manoeuvres they manage is actually shocking and the way they can infiltrate an enemy’s position with such stealth is quite frankly a little scary.

The reason the tactics and action scenes in this film appear so authentic and accurate is because the main cast is composed of active duty soldiers. These men have performed these manoeuvres time and time again and when they do it on camera it looks no different to when they do it in real life, except the actor lives.

The only slight drawback to this film, in my opinion, would be the acting of the main cast. I understand that the main cast are soldiers and not actors but that really does become apparent right from the beginning. But as the film progresses so does the action. These soldiers are then portraying their lives on camera and gradually becoming more comfortable to watch, mainly because the acting is minimal for them during the middle and end of the film as they are in combat. But as I said this is the only small negative I would point out in an otherwise positive experience.

The cast and crew were obviously going for the authentic and realistic approach, and my god did they succeed. Not only did they use active duty soldiers to bring realism to the tactics and dialogue but they even used live ammunition for a lot of the gun fights and explosions. You can identify this almost immediately, the gun shots and explosions not only look fantastic but they even sound completely different. I noticed the camera angels also contributed to this effect. They used a lot of first person camera shots, looking through the eyes of the soldier, seeing what they are seeing. I think this worked wonderfully, especially in the night scenes where the soldiers were using night vision goggles.

So overall I really enjoyed this film. The action scenes were fantastic, the tactics were chilling even if the acting was a little off. The last point I would like to address is the use of not only the active duty soldiers, which I have mentioned, but the exclusion of big actors. Using unknown actors was an excellent choice, especially as they were going for the authentic, real approach and from my experience one of the many things which can snap the audience out of the moment and remind them that this is fake is George Clooney or Brad Pitt showing his face on screen with an army hat on. Not cool.

So if you like war films, if you like blood pumping combat then you will love Act of Valor. And for you women reading this thinking, “great, another 90 minute testosterone filled war film” think again. You get to see these soldiers for who they are, not just killers, not just someone doing their job but husbands and fathers, you see how their families cope, you see the real life and thoughts of today’s modern soldier.

Written by Oliver Willis

Haywire
Jul 4 2012

Haywire (2011)

I would normally open a review with giving a brief and simple overview of the film but for the life of me, Haywire does not make that so simple. In short it is about a black-ops agent who gets betrayed by her employers and then seeks to exact revenge.

That is a simplified version of what the film is about, but honestly, i was unsure who was betraying who for most of the film. Even when it finished i was left wondering what on earth just happened. I am normally good at following complicated plot lines, but this was not so much complicated, as just messy.

So the needless complication of the plot was probably my only negative i am going to give this film, most of it was rather impressive and refreshing. The cinematography was an aspect of this film which i found most impressive. The camera angles were unusual, not the same straight shots etc that you’re used to seeing in your average action film. It didn’t do the quick shots which are common place in fighting scenes to give the impression of the fight be faster than it is.

Instead a lot of the action shots were still, allowing the viewer to see everything that is going on. As the lead actress, Gina Carnao, in an excellent martial artist it was quite something to behold as she took down villain after villain.

The fighting itself was probably the most realistic i have seen in a very long time. No moves added in for show, no useless back flips, just hardcore action the way it would go down in real life you’d believe.

Another point i would like to draw attention to is the use of sound. A lot of the film was done without too much dialogue. The action scenes were just that, action, they didn’t talk to each other, didn’t taunt each other, just both concentrating on not being the one to die. This again added to that sense of realism. How many times have we seen the bad guy taunting the good guy when on the brink of victory, only to have the good guy cut him off mid sentence with the usual epic come-back. Well not this time, you talk you die it would seem.

I believe the cast was another interesting point. They were an odd assortment of actors, not usually seen together. We are talking about actors such as Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender and Channing Tatum. Now these are some big names in Hollywood, but i felt they were, mostly, unneeded. The parts did not seem to call for them to play and i didn’t see their inclusion in the film as something i could not picture a less well known actor doing. The exception to that would be Michael Fassbender and maybe Channing Tatum. Their roles seemed to fit them, i couldn’t picture anyone else as their characters, but with everyone else, i could.

Don’t get me wrong, the film was good, had some rather refreshing takes on the action film scene. The only thing that seemed to kill it for me was the needlessly over-complicated plot. It could have been done to the same effect, or even better, by making it simpler, maybe i would have had a better response to it, but who knows. The bottom line is, Haywire is a good film, i would recommend you watch it if you’re into your martial arts, but its definitely not something to write home about.

Written by Oliver Willis

Transit
Jun 14 2012

Transit (2012)

Nate (Jim Caviezel) is an ex-con who served eighteen months in prison for real estate fraud. In an attempt to reconcile with his wife and two sons, he drives them from Texas to Louisiana, where the plan was to have a camping trip in a remote area. The car ride is strained, to say the least. The worst offender is the oldest son, Shane (Sterling Knight), who has headphones permanently lodged in his ears and holds a grudge as only an angry teenager can. Little do any of them know that four robbers ransacked an armoured truck the night before and got away with $4 million in cash; knowing that they would immediately be spotted by a police roadblock, they stashed the money in a sleeping back on top of Nate’s SUV, fully intending to get it back once everyone got through the blockade.

Transit is a straightforward yet engrossing crime thriller, one that speaks the language of suspense so fluently that we willingly overlook some glaringly implausible technicalities. Although it relies a little too much on stylized action violence, especially during the final confrontation in a swamp shack, they are at the very least entertaining to watch. But to be perfectly honest, what I responded to more was the fact that Nate gets exactly what he wants, albeit in a much different way than he had planned. This traumatic experience unites the family in a way that a camping trip just wouldn’t have been able to do. Had the trip not been interrupted, had they made it to their destination and set up camp, the healing process would have been much slower, if not altogether stalled. Essentially, they’re brought back together through their mutual will to survive.

Adding considerable intrigue is that fact that, although we know him to be innocent, Nate’s wife, Robyn (Elisabeth Rohm), initially believes that he was somehow involved in stealing the money, and that he knows the people who are chasing them. When Robyn angrily leaves Nate on the side of the road with the bag full of cash, he tries to gain the upper hand by wading into the swamp and hiding the bag in a hollow tree. He’s soon found by the real criminals, as are Robyn and her children. The game becomes much more dangerous when Nate goes back to retrieve the bag, only to discover that it’s missing. Who could have taken it? Perhaps it was a man riding a motorboat, who casually passed not long after Nate first entered the swamp. But how could this man have seen anything that was happening, given the thick foliage? The film doesn’t’t attempt to answer this question, but I suppose it doesn’t’t really matter.

As the robbers attempt to extract information from Nate and his family, they engage in their own internal power struggle. One of them, Losada (Harold Perrineau), believes the ring leader, Marek (James Frain), should not be the one in charge. In fact, he believes that Marek’s girlfriend, Arielle (Diora Baird), has done nothing but slow them down. For Marek, this is clearly not about money so much as it is about power; at one point, he tells Arielle that he won’t lose to this man, which is to say that he will not let some random husband and father outsmart him. Even the getaway driver, the exasperated Evers (Ryan Donowho), is clearly afraid of Marek, at one point telling Nate to watch his back. Nate cleverly uses the tension between Losada and Marek to his advantage, although it only works just long enough to let him and his family escape.

There will inevitably be a violent, frenetic final confrontation. I can’t say that I was surprised by anything that happened. After all, that’s sort of how movies like this tend to be structured. Nevertheless, I did appreciate the technical aspects, namely the performances, the editing, the lighting, the choreography, and the tension. I also appreciated the fact that, although this film has its fair share of violence, it never once devolves into a sadistic bloodbath. This is true even when Losada chops off one of Nate’s fingers on the side of the road. I won’t say which finger he lost; I will say that it factors into the final shot of the film, one that seems threatening but is in fact the start – or, rather, the restart – of something good.

This movie is by no means groundbreaking in story or execution. It is, however, a competently made thriller that kept me involved from the first scene to the last. It has good casting, a decent screenplay, and plenty of suspense. It also has what I believe to be a compelling examination of a broken family on the road to healing. Sometimes it takes a lot more than a vacation to close wounds; it takes being thrust into an extraordinary situation and working towards getting out of it. It could even be argued that it’s the best way to determine how deep someone’s love truly runs. One could easily dissect the premise to find all the ways in which it couldn’t’t actually happen, but for goodness sake, that’s what suspension of disbelief is for. If you grant its assumptions, Transit will provide you with solid entertainment.

Written by Chris Pandolfi

Safe
Jun 12 2012

Safe (2012)

Is it just me, or are these Jason Statham action films becoming harder and harder to tell apart? They say to go with what you know, but blast it all, I need to know if this man is capable of something other than fight choreography and witty one-liners. Safe is yet another film that exploits his physicality and completely ignores his potential for actual acting. On the basis of just about every movie he has ever been in, filmmakers don’t regard him as an artist but merely as a tool – the go-to guy for mindless stunts and relentless action violence. Is this because real acting isn’t his forte? If that’s the case, fine, but please have the decency to let me know this. Cast him in a role he’s unqualified for and let me watch him fail. At least then I can finally stop questioning the extent of his range.

Unfortunately, Statham’s typecasting is only part of what makes this movie so bad. Safe weaves a needlessly convoluted tale of crime and corruption, which is to say that audiences seeking the kind of cheap thrills Statham is known for are unlikely to make heads or tails of who’s doing what to whom and why. When we’re not trying to muddle our way through the plot, we must endure scene after scene of gun-pointing and shooting and brutal hand-to-hand combat, most of which are over so quickly and edited with such rapid-fire pacing that it’s virtually impossible to distinguish one move from another. At which point did cinematic action fall victim to such mobility extremes? If it isn’t in agonizing slow motion, then it’s cut together like a frenetic music video. Middle ground seems to have disappeared somewhere along the way.

The plot, as it were, involves a former NYPD cop named Luke Wright (Statham), who was at one time involved in a task force specializing in the assassination of terrorists. Ashamed of his actions, he took to being a cage fighter in New Jersey. During one of the matches, he didn’t take the dive he was supposed to take and ended up putting his opponent in a coma. He also got himself in hot water with Russian mobsters, who punished him by murdering his wife. Rather than kill him as well, they decree that he must live the rest of his days as an outcast of society; anyone he comes into contact with will immediately be killed. He spends the next year living as a vagrant in New York City, acting coldly to anyone that speaks to him. In a moment of weakness, he gave a homeless man his shoes. Any guesses as to what happened next?

As this is being established, and I should point out that the opening scenes are played out of sequence, we meet a twelve-year-old Chinese girl named Mei (Catherine Chan), whose savant-like math skills catch the attention of a ruthless mobster named Han Jiao (James Hong). He has his henchmen kidnap her and, under threat of murdering her gravely ill mother (conveniently unseen), transport her to New York, where she will keep track of all the illegal rackets going on in Chinatown. She’s eventually given an unbelievably long number written on a piece of paper and instructed to memorize it. She does so instantaneously. She was to have been given a second number, but Russian mobsters intervened – which is to say, they crashed their vehicles into those of the Chinese henchmen, shot most of them, and kidnapped Mei. It isn’t long before she escapes and crosses paths with Luke, who was about ready to commit suicide by jumping onto subway rails.

The confusion over the connection between the Russians and the Chinese is maddening. It only gets worse when it’s revealed that both are tied to a group of corrupt cops, all of whom have a serious grudge against Luke. They waste no time in showing it; he’s arrested and driven to a quiet area of the city, at which point they all take their turns beating the living hell out of him. But let’s get back to Luke and Mei crossing paths. For reasons not made apparent to the audience, Luke’s paternal instincts kick in, and he vows to keep her safe. Mei, who speaks fluent English without a trace of an accent, tells him about the numbers she had to memorize. He deduces that hidden within the numbers is a code. It’s around this time that yet another sub-plot is added to the mix, this one involving the Mayor (Chris Sarandon). There’s also more fighting and a lot of Luke taking control through lies and manipulation.

Putting aside the plot altogether, there’s absolutely nothing about the relationship between Luke and Mei that comes off as genuine. One essentially acts as a deus ex machina for the other, their situations contrived solely for the purpose of having the two paired together. It doesn’t help that Statham and Chan have no chemistry; never once do their characters exhibit anything resembling a pseudo father-daughter bond, or even basic friendship. Is this the sign that I was looking for, the one that would let me know that Statham is indeed a bad actor and only good for brutal stunt work? Or is it merely a matter of bad writing and directing? I honestly don’t know. I can’t even tell if Safe was intended to be taken seriously, given the awkward mix of cringe-inducing violence and flippant dialogue. This movie is a gigantic mess.

Written by Chris Pandolfi

Think Like A Man
May 30 2012

Think Like A Man (2012)

So far as I can tell, the intended purpose of Steve Harvey’s book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man was to give women relationship advice from a male perspective, which in turn would help them find the right man. While I have no opinion on his words of wisdom, I do have a thing or two to say about Think Like a Man, a film that injects Harvey’s book into the plot of a romantic comedy. Silly and uninspired, it doesn’t analyze his concepts in plausible, satisfying ways; instead, it applies them to manufactured vignettes in which the men are immature brats and the women are conniving and manipulative. There is no truth to any of the characters in this movie. They serve primarily as comedy relief, goofballs we’re made to laugh at instead of with.

Taking place in Los Angeles, the film is essentially a series of interconnected subplots, all examining relationships between specific categories of men and women. Steve Harvey makes continuous appearances on television screens in homes and bars with the specific purpose of promoting his book; the women, intrigued, all decide to buy a copy and apply whatever advice they glean to the men in their lives. At first, the men are thrown for a loop. Then one of them catches wind of what their women are doing, leading them to buy the book and attempt to beat them at their own game. And so we must wade through an implausible and childish battle of wits before reaching a conclusion so neatly gift-wrapped that it seems to have transplanted from a third-rate sitcom.

Here’s a run-down of the couples featured in this film. There’s a real-estate agent named Kristen (Gabrielle Union) and her boyfriend, Jeremy (Jerry Ferrara), who still hasn’t popped the question after nine years of being with her. Not only is she eager to motivate him apply for a job he’s qualified for, she also wants him to stash his collection of sci-fi memorabilia so that she can redecorate to her heart’s content. This would include getting rid of his couch, which has a colorful history to say the least. There’s Mya (Meagan Good), who’s fed up with one-night stands and decides to try out Harvey’s ninety-day plan on her new boyfriend, Zeke (Romany Malco). This will not be easy for him; a smooth talker who knows all the good pickup lines, he’s an unapologetic lothario with nothing on his mind apart from sex.

There’s a caterer named Dominic (Michael Ealy), who’s known for his lofty dreams. His current dream is to be a chef, and indeed, he has a talent for cooking. Into his life enters Lauren (Taraji P. Henson), a powerful executive who wants a man with a six-figure income and his own sense of power. Desperate to impress her, Dominic tells her that he already is a chef and is deciding between two restaurant offers. And then there’s Candace (Regina Hall), a single mom and Lauren’s best friend. She starts dating a man named Michael (Terrence J), who’s domineered by his mother (Jenifer Lewis). Needless to say, no woman is good enough for her son, least of all a single mother. Incidentally, Candace’s son, while perhaps a little too inquisitive, gets along splendidly with Michael.

Serving as both narrator and the annoying fifth guy character is Cedric (Kevin Hart), who spends most of the film acting like a fool and mooching off of Zeke. He’s in the process of finalizing his divorce from his mostly unseen wife, and claims to be all the better for it. All five guys are friends and spend most of their time either in a bar or on a basketball court, where (you guessed it) they waste much of their energy complaining about the women in their lives. Tagging along is a superfluous man played by comedian Gary Owen, who serves no real purpose other than to be the butt of PG-13-appropriate racial slurs. There’s even time for completely unnecessary cameo appearances by NBA players Metta World Peace, Shannon Brown, and Matt Barnes. Former WNBA player Lisa Leslie joins them as they successfully emasculate the main stars in a basketball game.

You know me. I’m usually the first to let a romantic comedy slide, simply because I accept them as nothing more than fantasy. But in this case, something went wrong. Think Like a Man regards genuine relationship advice as fodder for a series of inane jokes. The characters are so shallow, it’s as if writers Keith Marryman and David A. Newman know absolutely nothing about men or women. For all I know, maybe they truly don’t. Whenever Harvey appears on one of the many conveniently placed television sets, he always gives a piece of advice; each one had the potential to be applied to a complex and thought-provoking vignette, one in which the characters have a bit more depth to them. How sad that his book served as the basis for a film that shows no interest in real relationships.

Written by Chris Pandolfi

Darling Companion
May 27 2012

Darling Companion (2012)

Watching Darling Companion, I could tell that director/co-writer Lawrence Kasdan knew what he was after but had some trouble finding it. Strangely enough, this is surprisingly reminiscent of the film itself, which tells the story of a group of people having a great deal of trouble finding a lost dog. All the characters know that they want to find him, but actually reaching this goal will prove to be a tremendous physical and emotional challenge. It’s a well-intentioned movie, utilizing a reliable relationship plot and terrific actors that give decent performances, although I felt something overall was missing; it lacks the necessary style capable of elevating its merely entertaining and heartwarming premise into something more meaningful.

Before the story proper begins, we’re introduced to several characters. At the top of the list is Beth and Joseph Winter, who have been married for many years and live comfortably in the suburbs of Denver. Beth (Diane Keaton) is an empty-nester, with one daughter already a mother and the other a college student. The latter, named Grace (Elisabeth Moss), is visiting during a term break. Joseph (Kevil Kline) is a successful spine surgeon. He’s so successful, in fact, that he will spend a great deal of time on his cell phone – more time than is necessary, according to Beth. Despite many years of marriage, it’s obvious that the spark is no longer there. Beth thinks Joseph is distant and a workaholic whereas Joseph thinks Beth is overly emotional, especially since their children moved away from home.

The catalyst of the plot is a dog Beth and Grace find abandoned on a highway. Covered with dirt somewhat bloodied, they take him to a handsome young vet named Sam (Jay Ali), who immediately catches Grace’s attention. The dog is treated, and Beth takes him home. Although she and Grace give him a bath, she makes it clear to Joseph that she has no intention of keeping the dog. But you know how it goes in situations like this; one year later, he has been named Freeway and has become a part of the family. So too has Sam, who marries Grace at the family cabin in the Rockies. At this point, we meet Joseph’s sister, Penny (Dianne Wiest), and her new boyfriend, Russell (Richard Jenkins), who has a seemingly harebrained idea to invest their money into a Midwest English pub. This does not please Penny’s son, Bryan (Mark Duplass), who works with his uncle Joseph as a surgeon.

The plan is to stay for the weekend at the cabin. One morning, as Joseph takes Freeway for a walk, the former becomes distracted by a cell phone call while the latter becomes distracted by a scurrying deer. Freeway runs off and goes missing. While Joseph seems rather nonchalant about it, Beth goes into panic mode and launches a full-scale search-and-rescue effort, recruiting Joseph, Penny, and Bryan into the cause. Tagging along is the cabin’s caretaker, a gypsy woman named Carmen (Ayelet Zurer), who recently lost a dog herself and claims to possess psychic abilities. Her repeated visions, vague and arbitrary though they may be, act as a guide for the group as they split up into teams and search the woods for Freeway.

To deal with this right away, the sub-plot with Carmen does not work at all. Regardless of whether she’s a crackpot or genuinely blessed with a third eye, this is a relationship comedy/drama – which is to say, this not the kind of story that supports the inclusion of a character like this. It was a strained, random, and unnecessary move on the part of the film-makers. Straining it even further is the fact that Carmen rather quickly becomes Bryan’s love interest. Their attraction to each other stems from nothing made apparent to the audience, apart from the convenience of two single characters being in the same space at the same time. As fashionable as it is to adhere to the rule that opposites attract, the simple fact is that they don’t seem all that compatible.

Carmen aside, it’s obvious what Kasdan and his wife/co-writer Meg are trying to do here. Darling Companion isn’t really about the search for a dog; it’s about relationships in general and the processes of discover and rediscovery. Through this experience, Beth and Joseph once again learn to communicate, and Bryan learns to see Russell as something other than a lofty dreamer and a leech on his mother. Everyone’s heart is in the right place. Of that much, I’m certain. Having said that, the film is at times rather confused about its tone, shifting wildly from mild humour to serious drama to broad physical gags and caricature profiles. Perhaps the film’s deficits will be overshadowed by the audience’s desire for Freeway to be found. Of that, you won’t get a word out of me.

Written by Chris Pandolfi