SNATCHED Review

If Snatched is what you expect it to be is that necessarily a good thing? Probably not, but if it's better than you expected does that make it a good movie or, just, not a terrible one? It's a tough line to walk and an even more difficult one to decipher, but at the end of the day it can't help but to feel as if Snatched, overall, is more of a missed opportunity than a success by the standards of its genre tropes. Missed opportunity due to the fact that not only was it written by a single screenwriter in Katie Dippold (The Heat, Ghostbusters) and directed by Jonathan Levine (50/50, Warm Bodies), but that it also stars one of the world's most popular stand-up comedians (like it or not) while being able to pull seventy-one year old Goldie Hawn out of a fifteen year semi-retirement. If one is able to rope in a comedic legend like Hawn for your project one might imagine that individual or team would utilize her and her talents to their greatest effect, but in Snatched it seems Levine and everyone around him were afraid to ask Hawn to do anything too uncomfortable and instead kept her tasks in as safe and as easy a box as possible. This only stands to resort the movie to Hawn playing an overly-cautious mother figure while Amy Schumer is the irresponsible, narcissist of a daughter that exemplifies every negative stereotype one could come up with about millennials and then throws them into a hostage situation where balance in the two competing personalities is supposed to be found. Alas, that is what the movie goes for, but none of it ever feels natural or authentic, but rather very much like a movie. Everything about Snatched is very movie-like and while that isn't always a bad thing, especially when as much is intentional, this technique only bodes well for Snatched part of the time and most of that time is when the film is actually being funny. In short, when the film owns up to its promise and delivers on the capabilities of its talented cast and creative teams, but more often than not Snatched feels like a given of a movie where, after it was decided Schumer and Hawn would play a bickering mother/daughter pair, the rest was left up to that chemistry to make the ship sail successfully. Schumer and Hawn more anchor the film than anything though; holding the antics steady despite the fact the ship itself hasn't been that well-constructed.

SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR Review

In the spring of 2005 my newly minted eighteen year-old self highly anticipated director Robert Rodriguez's adaptation of the Frank Miller comic Sin City. Keep in mind this was a world before Christopher Nolan's genre re-defining Batman Begins or Zack Snyder's influential visual stylings of 300 and so to see something so inherently original in its take on both aesthetic and story was exciting even if I wasn't familiar with the source material. Add on to that the fact Rodriguez enlisted the creator of the comic book as his co-director and gathered up an expansive cast that included Bruce Willis, Benecio Del Toro, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Brittany Murphy, Michael Madsen, Powers Boothe and the first interesting role Mickey Rourke had taken in some time (essentially the one that made him cool again) and you had something people were generally intrigued by. Almost a decade later though and the anticipation for any such follow-up to the film has long since faded and thus the original would have likely survived best if left alone rather than trying to return to the days of former glory with a sequel that doesn't really expand the world of the titular environment as much as it gives us the same things we were treated to the first time around, only this time with less of a punch to the gut. Less punch because we've seen them before, less surprise because we know the characters better, more of the same because we realize the characters weren't as developed as our first impression led us to believe. In short, the sequel more or less points out the flaws of the world in which it exists rather than enhancing or expanding the universe the original set-up and when a sequel does this it only makes its existence feel all the more forced than necessary. There are of course a few redeemable aspects here, the stark visuals still elicit a certain mood and look stunning on the big screen and the addition of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and his storyline is engaging and deserved more screen time, but these aren't enough to spice up what is overall rather boring and a flat narrative. There will always be a certain nostalgia for the original Sin City given it's place in time and my stage of life when it was released, but if there was any hope A Dame to Kill For might do the same, re-create those feelings, or even spark interest in eighteen year-olds today those hopes were dashed when Rourke's narration began and the style was more cloak and pattern than function to deepen story or theme.

First Trailer for SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR

Way back in 2005 I went to see Sin City for my eighteenth birthday and became so caught up in the visual style of the world Robert Rodriguez created as he brought the Frank Miller comics to life that I don't rightly remember much of what the story concerned itself with. I remember simply being impressed and overwhelmed by it all that the fact it was broken down into several different narratives with an insane amount of characters and a balancing act hard to get a grasp on the first time around didn't bother me much. It was one of those films that seemed to demand a sequel upon its release and it became easier and easier to forget the initial film with each passing year (instead we got Miller's horrible solo effort The Spirit in 2008). I will admit to not re-visiting Sin City much over the past nine years, but would be lying if I said I wasn't the least bit excited to finally see Rodriguez and Miller continue their tales of Basin City. This time around, Joseph Gordon-Levitt heads up the impressive roster of new and returning cast members that will weave together two of Miller's stories. With 300: Rise of an Empire out tomorrow it is only fitting we now get our first look at the other Frank Miller adaptation this year. While 300 has become the more definitive staple of Miller's visual style it was always clear Sin City was the more ambitious in terms of both style and substance and if the first trailer is any indication (according to the early reviews for Rise of an Empire) it seems the follow-up to Sin City will also be the more substantial in terms of narrative even if the visual effects look like they have a long way to come before that release date. Let's just hope this doesn't skew towards cheap knock-off more than authentic replicate as Rodriguez's Machete Kills did last year. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For stars Josh Brolin (taking over for Clive Owen) Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Bruce Willis, Rosario Dawson, Jaime King, Eva Green, Dennis Haysbert, Christopher Meloni, Jeremy Piven, Ray Liotta, Juno Temple, Stacy Keach, Julia Garner and opens on August 22nd.

MAN OF STEEL Review

To first put my perspective of Superman in check would be to inform you of what I've seen before. There are of course the first two Christopher Reeve movies (I skipped out on III and IV simply because I've heard nothing but terrible things) from which I moved onto Bryan Singer's 2006 Superman Returns. I enjoyed the romanticism and meditation of that film despite it now being panned by pretty much any fan boy you talk to. I've never seen an episode of "Smallville" and sans for a couple of animated features my knowledge of the DC mainstay is somewhat limited. Thus it was with great anticipation that I looked forward to a new vision, a re-booted film interpretation in line with Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy that has defined the space that films based on DC comics characters will occupy in this Marvel world. Personally, and as much as I enjoy the Marvel movies, I was more intrigued and engaged by the bleak and more serious moods that hung over the Nolan films as they were appropriate to the central characters tone. Though I was slightly concerned with this same tone not applying to the guy commonly referred to as the ultimate boy scout it seems that persona was not always true and director Zack Snyder along with Nolan as a producer and David Goyer (who also penned the screenplay for Batman Begins) have adapted the Superman story to not only exist in a similar universe with Nolan's Batman films, but within his own, more realistic world that doesn't simply pit the classic superhero against a bad guy in order to champion truth, justice and the American way. What they have done here and what makes me appreciate the film all the more is that while keeping in step with the kind of movies Nolan has made DC could attempt a Justice League movie in the future with this as a good place to start, but it also doesn't limit itself to that same completely realistic world of what we know because Superman is an alien and with that they ask the question of what would happen in a real world setting if Superman were to show up. It is that basic set-up that guides the film throughout and, despite a few flaws, had me gushing with excitement for what may come next.

42 Review

I'm not a big sports fan, in fact you could say I'm barely a fan at all, but like most kids I played little league baseball and came to have a certain nostalgia for the game in my now early adult years. Besides that, I have always enjoyed films about sports despite my lack of any real interest in professional league athletics. Though 42 doesn't reach the heights of some of the greater sports films and instead turns out to be rather straightforward and formulaic it is still a solid, interesting, and inspiring film purely on the basis of how rousing and great the actual story of Jackie Robinson truly is. Like I said, not knowing much about sports I couldn't attest to the historical accuracy of the film, but as a person who knows little to nothing about professional baseball I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed the film and that lack of interest in what serves as the backdrop for the drama here didn't hinder my experience. Writer/director Brian Helgeland (A Knight's Tale) still seems a little unsure of himself behind the camera as that straightforward, square vibe the film radiates is partially due to the completely conventional and basic way in which the film is shot and the story is told. It could be called uninspired or it could be said that Helgeland knew his material was strong enough that he didn't need to worry about trying something innovative or different in the way he conveyed the story. This is true, but this also keeps the movie safe and inside the lines of every sports drama that has ever come out. What is disappointing about that is the fact Robinson's story is anything but safe and so outside the box that I hoped a film about his life would be the same. Despite these complaints, I can't harp on the shortcomings of the film too much as I found myself always engaged and entertained by what was unfolding on screen.