HORNS Review

In the opening moments of Horns, Daniel Radcliffe and Juno Temple lay in a green meadow fawning over one another and exchanging hip yet still cheesy dialogue about being horny and then loving one another for the rest of their lives. It is a short scene that quickly moves us forward to after the major incident that defines the narrative of the film, but is an exchange that makes you wonder. Wonder in the sense that these two intelligent and clearly ambitious actors who want to make art that is substantial and means something have this opening that works contrary to all of that. Radcliffe has been picking projects in hopes of distancing himself from his Harry Potter counterpart for a few years now, but as he and Temple exchange this obvious exposition dialogue clearly intended to tell us these two are in love and doomed because of it (while ironically forcing it to counter-intuitively feel effortless) I wondered what they saw in this script. What about these opening moments made them think this was a good idea? What spoke to them? From that point out the challenge was for the film to make me feel more weight to this exchange that I openly chuckled and slightly cringed at for its seeming contrivances. In short, mission accomplished. In only his fourth big screen appearance after retiring the scar and glasses Radcliffe has made a horror picture, a romantic comedy of sorts and a historical drama where he played poet Allen Ginsberg. I have yet to see that rom-com, now titiled What If with Zoe Kazan which I think might be the most radically different thing he's done to date. With Horns though Radcliffe has done more than I would have ever given him credit for based on the trailers in making strides to be an actor the public actually sees as an actor and not just representative of a single role. The supernatural is somewhat of a comfort zone for him and while I appreciated the aesthetic and throwback style that comprised The Woman in Black, Horns is a much deeper-minded film with more on its mind than giving audiences the creeps or gutting them with dark humor, but instead it is a rather insightful study of who we are as a race and who we desire to be as human beings and how tough it can be to discern the difference.  

THE HANGOVER PART III Review

If you know me personally then you know I have a big soft spot for comedy. I love it and I pretty well like everyone involved in the mainstream comedy game in Hollywood. I root for the underdogs the critics like to bash (I'm hoping The Internship is good, but feel the critical response will be worse than it is for this one) and I've felt I've especially had to stand up for The Hangover films since many, fans included, were disappointed in the carbon copy follow-up the second film turned out to be. I was, like most, a huge fan of the first film. I found it refreshingly funny and daring. It didn't care what anyone thought, it just wanted to be funny and that is what comedy is supposed to be. There should be no fear when putting what you think is funny on screen and that element I think is what saves the third and final part of this men behaving badly series. Director Todd Phillips and writing partner Craig Mazin (Identity Thief) listened to the audience reaction to Part II and appeased the crowds by saying, "okay, we'll do something different for the third one." Naturally, this was a smart move but as the first reactions have come in it seems people are upset that there is no trace of an actual hangover anywhere in the film and that instead of following the antics of these guys on a chase through a random city that has them putting together the pieces of the night before it has them exploring the truth about Alan's psyche and wanting to help him move on with his life. In some aspects it is a film completely devoted to character development and getting Zach Galifianakis' lovable goofball to a place where we as an audience feel content to leave him and the rest of the time it is almost a dramatic man hunt movie that has the wolfpack tracking down Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong). The Hangover Part III is certainly not what you would expect from the trilogy and compared to the others it is definitely the least funny, but that didn't make it a bad movie. In some ways it even made it more of a legitimate film.

First Trailer for THE HANGOVER PART III

It is hard to argue with those who didn't like The Hangover Part II. It was clearly a carbon copy of the first film with a change in location, but it is hard to deny that the film was funny. And the reason it maintained that same level of humor and endearment with the audience is due to the characters. For me, personally it makes little difference what these guys are doing or where they are as long as they are doing it together. That looks to be the main focus of this first glimpse of Part III as the format for someone getting married and a bachelor party have been ditched and the boys are on some kind of quest for something that has the film looking very action-filled. There isn't as much comedy here as I hoped to see, but it is only a teaser and it is likely they have to save some of the best bits for the audience admitted to an R-rated film; here's hoping! It has likely become the hip thing to hate on this series because "everyone" disliked the second film, but it was fun if not innovative like the first. Think about that first one though, it was an instant classic in the realm of comedy and I trust Todd Phillips well enough to know he understands what people disliked about the second film and has fixed it with the third while still maintaining everything that made the first one such a huge success. The core cast is all back with Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, and Justin Bartha (though we don't see Doug once in the trailer) as well as returning members Ken Jeong, Heather Graham, Jamie Chung, Mike Epps, Mike Tyson, Jeffrey Tambor and some fresh blood in Melissa McCarthy and John Goodman. The Hangover Part III opens May 24th. Hit the jump to watch the trailer.