Kingsman: The Secret Service

— Poor Colin Firth, to be mixed up in this mess! After seeing it, I’m glad I waited for it to be released on DVD because it really isn’t very good. The problem seems to be that it never knows if it’s spoofing the Bond franchise or striving for over-the-top cult status. Either way, it’s just an uncomfortable two hours of viewing with occasional and sometimes vague bits of humor. It really isn’t my kind of film.

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[2014. 129 min. Directed by Matthew Vaughn. Starring Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, and Samuel L. Jackson.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/kingsman-the-secret-service-2015

Ant-Man

— The least expensive Marvel Studios production to date is pleasantly different from the rest and I like this kind of quirky, more human side of the Marvel universe. I don’t like it as much as the exceptional “Guardians of the Galaxy”, but it still is a nice surprise, probably because there’s some decent low-key humor and Paul Rudd is a lot easier to identify with than most of the bulked-up Marvel crowd. Besides, I’m partial to “normal” characters whose powers come from science and technology instead of from their lineage. The first third of the film is a little slower paced as it sets the stage and introduces the characters, but once it gets going, it ably moves the weird premise forward, and at the same time links it within the Marvel universe. All the while, it doesn’t even have to venture into the Stratosphere to tell the story, although the sub-atomic level isn’t out of reach. In the end, it’s a pretty decent heist flick! I don’t think it’ll match the popularity of many of the other Marvel films but, with a lower production cost, it doesn’t have to to be successful.

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[2015. 117 min. Directed by Peyton Reed. Starring Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll, and Evangeline Lilly.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/ant-man-2015

Cold In July

— If you’re a fan of that western/southern pulp vibe that permeates good B-movies, this film’s for you. An East Texas thriller created on a low budget with bigger budget stars, it starts and finishes with a flourish and in between is a taut thriller. It’s a little dusty and bloody but exactly what it should be.

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[2014. 109 min. Directed by Jim Mickle. Starring Michael C. Hall, Wyatt Russell, and Don Johnson]
http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-reviews/cold-july-review-film-anyone-3769038

Amy

— A well-crafted documentary on the evolution and devolution of Amy Winehouse. There's something a little voyeuristic about this glimpse of an incredible talent spinning out of control. It’s hard to know how true the portrait is but between her parents, her boyfriends, her husband, her sudden fame and resulting commitments and paparazzi, to say nothing of drugs, alcohol, and an eating disorder, it isn’t hard to understand how it ended badly. The music is incredible. Particularly touching are some of the early gigs, scenes of her in the studio, and the scene of her recording a duet with Tony Bennett. Amy comes off as a somewhat sassy but still fragile soul who never expected fame and never fully realized how talented she was. Even if you don’t think you’re an Amy Winehouse fan, you may be by the end of this film. It’s good and about much more than just “sex, drugs, and jazz”.

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[2015. 128 min. Directed by Asif Kapadia. Featuring Amy Winehouse.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/amy-2015

Inside Out

— I don’t see many animated films. “Frozen”? I’ve never seen it. “Nemo”? Never. Nor “A Bug’s Life”, “James and the Giant Peach”, “Tangled”, or even the “The Little Mermaid”, but the previews for “Inside Out” were so unusual that I ended up checking it out. I’m glad I did because it is a very clever approach to a pretty abstract concept. An 11-year-old girl’s emotions—personified as the characters Anger, Disgust, Fear, Sadness and Joy—grapple for control of her mind as she and her parents move from Minnesota to San Francisco. It took incredibly creative minds to turn a story that mostly occurs inside a kid’s head into something comprehensible and, even better, enjoyable. It kept me involved and I was amazed to see kids in the audience being attentive too, so it must operate on more than one level. Of course, in the end it’s clear that it takes all the emotions to make a well-rounded personality, that joy doesn’t’ exist without sadness, and that emotions need to be accepted instead of suppressed. It’s being called “Pixar’s Brain Candy Cartoon” and I’d recommend it.

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[2015. 94 min. Directed by Pete Docter and Ronaldo Del Carmen. Voices by Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Lewis Black, Phyllis Smith, Mindy Kaling, Kaitlyn Dias, Diane Lane, and Kyle MacLachlan.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/opinion/sunday/the-science-of-inside-out.html

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

— A favorite from Sundance that is arthouse quirky and a very entertaining, teen-centric, comedy-drama. It’s about Greg, a student whose mother forces him to befriend Rachel, a girl with leukemia. Greg’s only other friend is Earl, with whom he’s spent most of his life doing a poor job of remaking classic films with a humorous twist. The joy of the film is in its humor and, at least for me, it was very clever and funny. Even better, I felt like I was catching most of the references. (Aside: my life among academics was of particular help in appreciating Greg’s tenured professor father.) It’s really a film about finding your place in the world and even if the journey is angst-filled for Greg, it’s delightful for the viewer. Brian Eno’s music is also great. If you think this may be your kind of film, it probably is.

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[2015. 105 min. Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. Starring Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, and Olivia Cooke.]
http://www.indiewire.com/article/sundance-review-why-me-and-earl-and-the-dying-girl-makes-quirky-teen-comedies-appealing-again-20150127

Jurassic World

— I admit I may be the last earthling to see “Jurassic World”. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be part of a summer blockbuster about a theme park where everyone’s put in danger because greed (along with prehistoric critters) is allowed to run rampant, when the film, coincidentally, managed to smash the record as fasted film to gross a billion dollars. It’s predicable and doesn’t really break any other new ground, but the pace is perfect after the first fifteen minutes of somewhat awkward stage setting. Solid editing and careful tugging at all our emotions, a decent cast, and the right mix of intrigue and awe, build to well-done action sequences and make it a perfect mid-summer escape. I was entertained, enthralled, and happy with the value I got for the price. I can see why everyone’s seen it already and why sequels are inevitable.

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[2015. 124 min. Directed by Colin Trevorrow. Starring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Irrfan Khan, Vincent D’Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, and Nick Robinson.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/jurassic-world-2015

The Wolfpack

— An interesting documentary about six brothers and their sister, all raised in near-isolation in a Manhattan apartment. It’s a decent film, mostly because the brothers are articulate and likeable with a curious background. During their years of mostly isolation, feature films provided the bulk of their understanding of the outside world and they re-enacted scenes from favorites like “Batman” and “Reservoir Dogs”, providing the filmmaker with great visuals and an entry into how we perceive the “real” world. The problem with the film is that it doesn’t provide enough information. The filmmaker lucked out when she stumbled upon the pack of boys just as they’d started to push the boundaries set by their father and peek into the outside world, but while we’re given hints that their father’s motivation wasn’t solely to protect them, the filmmaker never seeks the answers we want, focusing instead on contrasts between life in the apartment and on the streets, between urban and rural settings, between fiction and reality… The film is worth seeing, but isn’t among the top documentaries I’ve seen this year.

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[2015. 80 min. Directed by Crystal Moselle. With Bhagavan Angulo, Govinda Angulo, Jagadisa Angulo, Krsna Angulo, Mukunda Angulo, and Narayana Angulo.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/24/movies/the-wolfpack-tells-of-one-new-york-apartment-with-seven-children-locked-inside.html