ENTOURAGE Review

Having never seen a single episode of HBO's hit series surrounding a group of friends that follow their up and coming movie star friend to the promise land of Hollywood I went into the feature film version with no expectation and no knowledge of what I was getting into. Four years after the series has ended, the film and its co-creator/co-writer/director Doug Ellin gives fans of the show a recap of what these guys have been up to while introducing newbies, such as myself, to the core characters and the molds from which they come. If you're as unaware as I then the only thing you'd probably heard about Entourage was the fact it was produced by Mark Wahlberg and was loosely based on his experiences as a naive kid from Boston learning to navigate this strange world of the wealthy that is all in the name of making movies and making a lot of money from those movies. Money is power in Hollywood and there is no greater power and yet in what is barely an hour and forty-five minute movie the glamour already began to wear thin, the pointless partying and finagling was understood to be the norm on any random Tuesday afternoon, but like most of these peoples lives, there is no substance to the going-ons of this movie that documents their exploits. What this says about the series, I'm not sure, but I know that it gives me no further interest in going back to see what all the fuss was about my junior year of high school. Instead, I'm more curious as to how much of a payoff this is for fans of the series that have been waiting for more closure or further adventures since the show wrapped in 2011. All of that said, given the premise and clear tone of what we're dealing with here, I don't know what more you could expect from a feature-length version of this kind of story. It is smarmy to the max, repulsive even in some aspects and slightly sickening depending on how much thought you care to give it. The execution unfortunately is unlike its characters in that it feels minimal and rather ordinary when, at the very least, it should be anything but that.

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.

First Trailer for EDGE OF TOMORROW

Have you ever seen the trailer for a film and found it completely acceptable without being particularly motivated to really want to see the movie it's promoting? As happened earlier this year with the other Tom Cruise sci-fi vehicle, Oblivion, his latest, Edge of Tomorrow, looks to be completely acceptable and competent in its execution, but will ultimately serve as a forgettable piece of popcorn entertainment. I hate to make that assumption from a mere two and a half minutes of footage, but while director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) seems to have created a visually gripping science fiction epic the story seems to hinge on the same premise that made Groundhog Day and even Source Code interesting. Can it be repeated? I don't know if it's simply the generic name or the lack of any real moment that defined why I need to see this film being present in the trailer, but I hope this feeling of some aspect being absent is completely shattered when I see the final film. I did like the tone of the trailer and much of that has to do with the choice of song and how it plays up the grounded and gritty aspects of the art direction while implying the weight of the circumstances these characters are placed in. There is potential here, I can easily admit that as Cruise seems to have turned his movie-star skills up to an eleven for this role and has hopefully turned in both a physically and emotionally invested performance (I think if the trailer makes one thing clear it is the physical investment is covered). He is also joined by a tough-looking Emily Blunt who is playing anything but the damsel in distress and instead seems to have the upper hand on Cruise's character in helping him figure out the rules of his situation and how to make it all worth the effort. Based on the Japanese light novel All You Need Is Kill the film also stars Bill Paxton, Laura Pulver, Jeremy Piven and opens on June 6, 2014.