ELVIS & NIXON Review

In December 1970 Elvis Presley apparently wasn't feeling too great about the direction America was headed in. If one wasn't aware, Presley was largely a conservative; a man who feared communists, the general tone around the Vietnam War, and the seeming lack of respect for the office of the President. And so, being the King, he assumed he could take such matters into his own hands and indeed planned on doing as much by taking his concerns straight to the White House. In December 1970 Presley's career was as big as it had ever been. The iconic one-piece jumpsuits debuted earlier in the year and the signature karate moves were now an even bigger part of his stage show. His shows at the Las Vegas International Hotel had sold out, set, and broke records throughout the year, but by the end of 1970 it seemed Presley's head was in a very different place. This brings us to the new film from director Liza Johnson, Elvis & Nixon, which discusses little to nothing about the music career of Elvis Presley, but more offers insight into the man Presley was outside of his well-known (and well-worn) persona. It's an interesting take and the film overall is a slight 86-minute excursion that strictly covers the how and why of this infamous meeting offering little to no commentary on the actual events leaving plenty of room for audience interpretation. This lack of any real angle, but rather pure intent to tell the story of a rather strange and unexpected set of events is admirable given today's highly peremptory society and especially considering the topic, but Johnson seems to care little for her characters actual beliefs or motivations, but simply accepts such feelings as fact and follows them with her camera to where such impulses led these actual men. Does this provide a compelling or complex film? No, not really, but it would have been next to impossible to make a film of this meeting not interesting and at the very least Elvis & Nixon is an interesting and straightforward history lesson if not being as necessarily notable as its main characters.

PIXELS Review

This is not your yearly dose of Dennis Dugan's Adam Sandler if that's what you're thinking. No, as big as Pixels looks in its marketing it actually is on the big screen. There seems to have been no expense too big, which includes flawless special effects, big action set pieces, legitimate craftsmanship and, unfortunately for Sandler, the hiring of quality actors to play opposite him that only stand to make him look all the more lazy. While this isn't your typical Dugan/Sandler fest in the vein of Grown Ups or Jack and Jill it is still Sandler phoning it in, doing what he's done every summer since about 2002 when Mr. Deeds more or less set him on a patterned course. There have naturally been deviations both in his comedy and into more serious territory since then, but the comedian always returns to his safe zone and delivers exactly what he believes his teen and contemporary audiences want from him. There is too much going on in Pixels for this to count purely as another Sandler bomb though and fortunately Pixels won't be judged on the immediate reactions of modern critics looking to dismiss the movie because of a single component before even walking into the theater. It is sometimes shocking, the vitriol which is spewed in Sandler's general direction, but I admit the majority of it is well-founded. With Pixels though, it will be the children of today who truly define what role this film will play as part of our pop culture society. In case you are unfamiliar with the name Chris Columbus (and no, not the Italian explorer) he is the guy that brought to life some of my generations favorite childhood films whether they be both Home Alone 1 and 2, Mrs. Doubtfire or even the first two Harry Potter films. Columbus has a knack for tapping into what makes kids enlist their truest sense of wonderment and he seems to have modernized that technique here while still remaining true to the decade that gave him his start. I'm not saying Pixels is as good as anything else in Columbus's filmography, but I am saying kids will love this movie and likely champion it through their teenage years and into their twenties as a haze of nostalgia will keep their love of it intact.

First Trailer for PIXELS

While Men, Women & Children along with The Cobbler were expected to be something of beginning to an Adam Sandler renaissance they proved non-starters when both received less than flattering reviews at last years Toronto International Film Festival with The Cobbler showing up on Amazon Prime last weekend to almost no ones awareness. So, what exactly does Sandler have to do to rejuvenate his officially fading career. Sure, the Grown Ups films have made solid returns and actually pushed the Sand Man to do his first sequel ever after the likes of That's My Boy and Jack & Jill tanked, but where Sandler has really found success  as of late was with his voice work in Hotel Transylvania. While he has already finished work on the sequel to that 2012 smash he is returning to live-action films aimed at children in director Chris Columbus’ latest film. In what they seem to hope will capitalize on the appeal of Wreck-It Ralph this latest attempt to capitalize on nostalgia revolves around a group of 80's arcade game champions who are called upon to help defend Earth from alien invaders who misinterpreted those classic arcade games as a declaration of war. Regardless of what this film might be jumping on the bandwagon of I can't help but to be both excited and hopeful that this is the one that finally puts Sandler back in somewhat good graces. Pairing Sandler with the likes of Columbus (Home Alone, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) is an inspired choice and the two would seemingly have the right mix of mentalities to pull something like this off perfectly, plus the supporting cast that includes the likes of Peter Dinklage, Michelle Monaghan, Josh Gad, Brian Cox and Kevin James doesn't hurt either. Pixels opens in theaters on July 24, 2015.

SPRING BREAKERS Review

Spring Breakers will easily divide audiences who dare to wander into it. Not because it isn't necessarily what the marketing campaign suggests it to be, but because it is a sensory overload that isn't afraid to make a statement. In the doldrums of the early months of the year moviegoers are serviced with plenty of distractions and sometimes barren and empty spectacle, so when something comes along that challenges us that has more of a purpose than to purely entertain, but in fact has something to say it grabs your attention and if it is a good film, it won't let you go. As I walked out of the theater after seeing the latest from director Harmony Korine (Kids) I was stuck with a sense of what an odd piece of cinema I'd just experienced. It had all the makings of a party flick, one that has been crafted to re-enforce the ritual of college kids driving down to St. Petersburg each year for a week and turning into a cess pool of drugs, alcohol, and sex. It is shot to provoke the bright, summer colors that bounce off the beaches and bikinis that are littered throughout the coastline all washed over with a sense of carelessness and no responsibility. This is no party movie in the vein of something like Project X or 21 & Over though, no, this is a film specifically designed and meticulously concocted to expose the dark side of what comes when you throw your inhibitions to the wind and give into the mind set that everything will be fine as long as you know when to stop and can return to the real world. That being easier said than done this group of girls find it hard to re-integrate into that world of order and routine and instead disregard everything they've ever learned for that moment of chaos.