THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN Review

The Girl on the Train, the film adaptation of Paula Hawkins best-selling novel, is directed by Tate Taylor (The Help, Get On Up) and features a solid cast of talent led by the remarkable Emily Blunt, but ultimately serves as a reminder that even the most creative juices can be filtered through the system and down into the most generic of thrillers when there is no more motivation to a story than to relay melodrama. My apologies for the run-on, but like the movie it is describing there is a lot going on in The Girl on the Train with none of it seeming to amount to much at all. Even as the film comes to its "shocking" conclusion there is little to take away from the film other than the fact that we now know "whodunit" never mind the fact we don't really know why they did it or what more might be going on below the surface because that is as deep as The Girl on the Train gets: surface-level. That isn't to say there aren't glimmers of more interesting caveats to the film as it's clear the intent of the premise was to allow the material to explore how we perceive the lives of others yet only assign them a handful of details to remember them by when they, in reality, have just as full a life as one's own self. Taylor and screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson (Secretary, Men, Women, & Children) don't have much of an interest in these aspects of the story though as they seem more concerned with cramming in as much of the source material into their one hundred and twelve minute feature version without bothering to flesh any of that material out. Novels are, by nature, too layered and more inherently nuanced than films to be adapted directly and so the key when taking on a project such as this is to latch onto one idea or theme that the book contains and view the entirety of the story through that prism so as while maybe not capturing every moment from the beloved book one actually stands a better chance at capturing the spirit-which, both fans of the novel as well as the uninitiated (count me among them) will undoubtedly thank you for in the long run. This will not only add more compelling and fascinating aspects to the film with each viewing, but it will help viewers to better understand the fractured psyches through which this story is conveyed. As for the product Taylor and his team have delivered-there will be no replay value to this film. Once the mystery is gone it only becomes more glaring how poor the execution is.

First Trailer for TABLE 19 Starring Anna Kendrick

While Fox Searchlight as a studio has become more broad in its releases since the early days of its inception it is still nice to see the logo pop up in front of smaller fare that one hopes will be good based on its promising premise and cast. This could all be true of director Jeffrey Blitz's dramedy, but that January release date sure doesn't help much. Given we are getting the trailer in the midst of summer I was hoping we might see the film release a little earlier, say late September/early October, but while I can't seem to find any reason not to be excited for the film there will always be that release date during what is Hollywood's typical dumping ground month that will hang over its head until I inevitably see the film late in the first month of 2017. Only adding more to the optimistic side of this news though is the fact Table 19 was written by the Duplass brothers who, if you aren't familiar with the name, have been producing quality independent work for the better part of a decade now. The basic premise is catchy: a group of people who barely know the bride and groom find themselves assembled together at what amounts to the reject table at a wedding. Led by the charismatic Anna Kendrick who once dated the brides brother who is now the best man this ensemble comedy looks as if it will tap into some of the small caveats of the wedding ceremony that serve to expose how ridiculous the larger spectacle of such a day can be overblown and ridiculous-especially when you're nowhere near the level of bliss the bride and groom are. That Blitz has helmed episodes of Parks and Recreation, The Office, and the well-reviewed, but quickly cancelled Review is encouraging and only adds to my hope that this could be a truly funny comedy that just happened upon the misfortune of a release date typically occupied by trash. Table 19 also stars June Squibb, Craig Robinson, Lisa Kudrow, Stephen Merchant, Amanda Crew, Tony Revolori, Wyatt Russell, and opens on January 20th, 2017. 

NEIGHBORS 2: SORORITY RISING Review

Two summers ago we were introduced to Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) Miller, a couple who'd just welcomed their first child into the world and purchased their first home in what were natural steps towards adulthood. That seemingly smooth transition was abruptly interrupted when they learned they were actually living next door to a fraternity. Led by incorrigible party guy Teddy Sanders (Zac Efron) the two households went head to head with one another in a war of wits and schemes that once again conveyed the age old lesson of Seth Rogen comedies in that there comes a time in every young man's life when it's time to become a confused man-child. While this interesting, albeit somewhat contrived premise worked wonders the first time proving fertile ground for consistent and interesting comedy, it was such a singular type of event that to make a sequel would seem to automatically cheapen the effect of the first film. Lucky for us, director Nicolas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) along with Rogen and longtime writing partner Evan Goldberg as well as Brendan O'Brien and Andrew Jay Cohen have crafted a screenplay that not only allows for this same premise to work again, but also uses this set-up to make legitimate social commentary. Executing comedy successfully is difficult enough, but to on top of that endeavor to actually say something substantial in between your weed and dildo jokes is admirable, at the very least. What this comes down to is placing a fledgling sorority (led by the likes of Chloë Grace Moretz, Dope's Kiersey Clemons, and Beanie Feldstein) in the house where Teddy's Delta Psi once resided. In doing this, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising is able to transform itself from simply giving the Miller's another challenge in sleep deprivation to a film that analyzes the inherent double standards of society by exposing how our system has more or less been cultivated to give males the advantage in the majority of circumstances. The issue of being able to party may be a trivial one, but this is obviously an in to a bigger means and that Neighbors 2 makes you contemplate anything at all is rather impressive.

First Trailer for THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN Starring Emily Blunt

I've yet to read Paula Hawkins psychological thriller, The Girl on the Train, that was released at the beginning of last year, but based on the teaser trailer for the film adaptation I'll be adding it to my queue immediately. With Emily Blunt in the titular role the story concerns Blunt's divorcee who uses her daily commute to fantasize about the seemingly perfect life of the couple she sees every day when the train stops at a signal. It is when she sees something shocking during the train’s routine stop on an otherwise normal day that she is thrust into a web of intrigue and goes from being a casual observer to an active part of the puzzle. Hawkins' book has naturally been compared to Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl which had its own blockbuster adaptation two years ago, but both novels drew comparisons to the work of Alfred Hitchcock and it's not hard to see why. With Hawkins work being adapted by Secretary screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson and The Help and Get On Up director Tate Taylor helming the project I have no reason to think this project won't fulfill all of its obvious potential. While this is certainly something of a different type of film for Taylor I have enjoyed both of his previous films thoroughly with Get On Up specifically being an interesting and evocative take on the music biopic. If Taylor has any more such innovations in his back pocket I look forward to seeing how he applies them to this suburban mystery/thriller that, in lesser hands, might be something one catches on Lifetime on a Sunday afternoon. That said, the visual aesthetic certainly seems to favor those types of TV movies whereas David Fincher's very particular visual style helped elevate Gone Girl from simply being a conventional genre movie to that of something genuinely cinematic. I can only hope cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen (The Hunt, Far From the Madding Crowd) lends this adaptation a flair of its own as it certainly has the star power and apparently the story to go far. The Girl on the Train also stars Rebecca Ferguson, Justin Theroux, Edgar Ramirez, Allison Janney, and Lisa Kudrow, Luke Evans, Hayley Bennett, and opens on October 7th, 2016. 

First Trailer for NEIGHBORS 2: SORORITY RISING

While I wasn't lucky enough to be surprised by the 10 Cloverfield Lane trailer last night in front of my 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi screening I did catch the first trailer for the sequel to the Seth Rogen/Zac Efron hit Neighbors in front of Ride Along 2. If you recall, in 2014 Rogen and Efron kicked off the summer movie season with a rather inspired piece of convoluted yet still natural comedy that placed a boy who was really trying to mature into a man next to a house full of his younger selves. Rogen and his writing partner Evan Goldberg have always been interested in scavenging their own psyches to try and crack just what it is about the male brain that puts off maturing for as long as possible and with Neighbors (as directed by Forgetting Sarah Marshall helmer Nicholas Stoller) they found both a hilarious and somewhat weighty way into the topic by having a man unsure of if he was ready for the responsibility he'd already committed to face down multiple versions of himself. When it became a huge hit ($270 million worldwide on an $18m budget) the idea of a sequel was inevitable and thus here we are. While I was skeptical as to how they would craft a similar situation to the first while still keeping this one different enough it seems they've found a way back into the conceit without being any more convoluted than the first time around while also finding good reason to bring Efron's character back as well. I laughed out loud multiple times during this trailer and so while we definitely didn't need a sequel to Neighbors I'm kind of glad we're getting one. Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising also stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Rose Byrne, Selena Gomez, Dave Franco, Ike Barinholtz, Kiersey Clemons, Lisa Kudrow, Carla Gallo, Billy Eichner, and opens on May 20th, 2016.

NEIGHBORS Review

Neighbors feels natural. For all its contrived plot set-ups that for no seemingly apparent reason allow a large, stereotypical fraternity to move off campus and into a typical suburban neighborhood where children play and senior citizens work in their gardens, it still feels completely natural. There is an honesty, an authenticity to the way in which the characters interact with one another and go about developing relationships with those around them and their changing worlds that make what is essentially an extended investigation into a premise rather than a full-fledged story work as well as it does. I'm a lover of comedy, whether that springs from a longing to not let go of adolescence (a theme explored in Neighbors) or simply because I've always felt a more inherently deep connection with those that make you laugh rather than those that deliver strong drama I am always excited to see what people (actors, directors, writers) have to offer in the comedic genre and while this genre will no doubt always be the most subjective it has retained somewhat of a reliability factor due to the specific groups of actors working within it over the past decade or so now. There were a few years between 2008's Pineapple Express and last summers This Is The End where it seemed Seth Rogen had seen his career pinnacle come and go, that he'd had his good run in Knocked Up, Superbad and Express while his next few broad efforts (Zack and Miri, Observe and Report, Funny People) were all somewhat underwhelming either critically or commercially which only caused him to reassess and go in a different direction, some of which worked (50/50) and some of which didn't (The Green Hornet). With his resurgence not only as a comedic actor, but as the writer and director of last years summer hit he has seemed to hit a comfortable stride that has allowed him to surround himself with the right people (new and old friends) and to make the kind of strong, raunchy comedies he was always meant to while continuously diversifying the types of stories he is telling and the kind of comedy he is conveying. I may be getting a little ahead of myself as this is his first effort since This is The End, but that is how confident I feel about Neighbors.

First Trailer for NEIGHBORS

Though 2012's The Five-Year Engagement wasn't exactly what everyone expected following director Nicholas Stoller's one-two punch of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek, apparently no one expected anything because hardly anyone showed up for that film and despite its many flaws there was some heart in there and Jason Segel is always a welcome persona in my books. Stoller has seemingly moved on and decided to approach his comedy from a fresh perspective that doesn't completely focus on the comedy of examining the relationships between men and women, but does so while adding a broad concept to it. This will no doubt be more akin to Greek in most ways, but simply from the teaser trailer it is easy to see a new layer of perspective to the his style. Stoller has broken apart from his partner actors such as Segel and Jonah Hill and has instead enlisted their friend Seth Rogen to head up what is now being called Neighbors. Originally titled Townies the film tells the story of a thirty-something couple (Rogen and Rose Byrne) who have just had a child and move unknowingly next door to a fraternity. Zac Efron and Dave Franco lead the pack of fraternity brothers who soon begin a war of pranks and outlandish activities with their neighbors who seem to want nothing more than peace and quiet. The trailer offers plenty of hilarious sight gags and the broad concept is certainly intriguing as is the casting of Efron in the more villainous role. I've enjoyed all of Stoller's films to some degree though and so I doubt this one will be any different, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I have pretty high hopes. The film also stars Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jake Johnson, Ike Barinholtz, Jason Mantozoukas, and Lisa Kudrow. Neighbors opens in theaters on May 9, 2014.