DON JON Review

Joseph Gordon-Levitt would like you to believe his directorial debut is a comedy, a commentary on the unrealistic expectations media-consuming millennials have come to expect because of what they see on the internet and in the movies. That these narcissistic brats who constantly text and stare at screens rather than go outside or spend quality one on one time with each other talking face to face have become so self-involved that they are numb to the effect another person might have on them; that, in many ways, we are incapable of experiencing real and true emotion. That is what the advertisements for Don Jon would have you believe, that Gordon-Levitt makes his writing and directing debut behind the smug script that caters specifically to his age set and cashes in on the unknown truth of what romance has become. There is good and bad to the fact that none of this is actually true. Don Jon is as much a romantic comedy with the R-rated twist of porn thrown into the mix as Flight was a mystery thriller about how a pilot saved almost everyone on board after the plane somehow malfunctioned. What makes Don Jon so engaging is the pure energy and palpable excitement that has been put into the project by its writer, director and star. This is clearly a project he's worked tirelessly on and to have the opportunity to manage and control a creative venture is something the multi-talented Gordon-Levitt isn't going to let slip away without leaving an impression. It is what kind of impression he leaves though that makes his film something of a question mark to figure out as you walk out of the theater. Sure, it tries to have its cake and eat it too, but it goes about it in such a charming way and has enough of a solid script and great casting to forgive the formulaic pitfalls it comes around to in the last fifteen or so minutes of the film. I like Gordon-Levitt, I think he has made smart choice after smart choice and continues to show why he deserves the recognition he's been receiving since breaking the child star curse four years ago with (500) Days of Summer. In many ways, that film and Don Jon are kindred spirits in that both characters played by Gordon-Levitt have very specific expectations of what love is supposed to be and as a director Gordon-Levitt clearly has expectations for what his film wants and needs to be as well, but while it feels like he almost gets there he's still missing that something extra.

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2 Review

Back in 2009 I walked, unsuspecting, into an IMAX theater on a rainy, early morning looking to fill my day with nothing but pure escapism and hopefully a little fun. It was a weekday and no one else was in the theater and so I sat in what I could most accurately pinpoint as the center of this massive room and kicked back in front of the largest screen my state has to offer to watch an animated film. I had no expectations, but I was beginning to attempt to see as many films as possible so I could write about them regularly and though I hadn't heard much about this smaller, but impressively cast flick I was excited because the great Bill Hader was getting a leading role and I'd heard good things about the source material it came from. Needless to say, I came out of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs having done nothing short of escaping the dreary day outside and getting wrapped up in the story of Flint Lockwood and Swallow Falls. Not only had the film provided gorgeous animation to drench the world and its creations in, but it was relentlessly funny. I laughed from beginning to end. Directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord (21 Jump Street) had given the film a quirky sense of humor and a pacing that never allowed the audience to get hung up on anything they didn't want them too, keeping the focus on Flint and his invention while littering this world with interesting and funny supporting characters that added layers and layers of, well, character. Once again, needless to say, I was slightly worried when they announced a sequel, but not because I wasn't interested in the further adventures of Flint and his gang, but because Miller and Lord wouldn't be returning to the directors chairs and what set the film apart from the rest of the pack was its off-brand of humor and break-neck pacing that matched its protagonists energy. Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn do well to take notes from their predecessors though as they allow Cloudy 2 to pick up the comedic end of the stick and run with it while delivering all the food puns you could ever hope to enjoy. In a year filled with sub-par animated features, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 stands to be the funniest and most enjoyable trip of the year.

RUSH Review

Upon first hearing about Rush I was under the impression that it would mainly center itself around the wreck in which Formula 1 race car driver Niki Lauda was severely burned and had such a drive to compete and will to win and become world champion that he returned to racing less than a month after his wreck and surprised everyone. Even in that admittedly compact and typical synopsis it is easy to see why this true life story would be ideal to tell on the big screen, especially with the bonus of being a sports movie. I also assumed that Chris Hemsworth would be playing Lauda as he seemed the central point of the project and I had no former knowledge of the world of Formula 1 racing or what type of history they were pulling from here. When I watched the first trailer for the film and discovered that not only was the film about Lauda, as portrayed by Daniel Brühl of Inglorious Basterds, overcoming the brakes his near fatal crash put on his career, but also a famous rivalry between he and the far more adventurous James Hunt (Hemsworth) I was pleasantly surprised there was more to the story. While I've never been a fan of racing it was easy to see why this movie could be an intriguing piece of drama and with Ron Howard (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind) at the helm it was at least guaranteed to some degree that there would be a level of pedigree to the project, but whether it would stray towards safe, middle ground or exceptional territory was what we were left to determine. Lucky for us, Rush is not simply the movie of a man who drives cars in circles for a living overcoming a set of odds, but it is almost a psychological evaluation of two men who have vastly different approaches to the same thing and how those approaches define them as men and determine every other aspect of their lives that has nothing to do with their job that happens to put them in life or death situations every time they start their engines. It is a fascinating and thrilling film to experience, one I could hardly make any complaints about other than the fact that it didn't have as impressive an impact on me as I expected. Still, this is a well crafted film that defies story convention and features great performances from its two leads that will serve as a true breakout for one and a definitive breakaway for the other.

First Full Trailer for DISNEY'S FROZEN

Since the inception of Pixar one has had to unfortunately be rather hesitant when approaching a film strictly produced by the parent company that once ran the market of childrens animated films. As their animated feature run started to dwindle after 2002's Lilo & Stitch with Treasure Planet, Brother Bear, and Home on the Range failing to capture that once inherent magic the studio also had a hard time competing with Pixar when they began producing computer animated flicks. With the one-two punch of Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph though is seems Disney animation studios is back in the game and with their latest feature on the horizon we have finally received our first full glimpse at what we can expect from Frozen. Once again, the animation looks really impressive and the characters, who look much like the humans of Tangled, seem cute and funny enough with the comic relief and likely hot toy of the season this Christmas being Josh Gad's Snow Man named Olaf. What really excited me about the trailer though is that it seems to have the tone of a Disney film from when I was a kid. It looks to have the adventure aspect of something like Aladdin and the romance of a Beauty and the Beast or Lady & the Tramp. I'm not saying it will end up being as good as those films as the trailer is a bit more cheesy than I'd expected, but it has that kind of energy to it. This and the fact the film is directed by Chris Buck (Tarzan) and Jennifer Lee (Wreck-It Ralph) and is said to feature musical numbers that hopefully have a score to match the greats of the studios past works. Frozen features the voices of Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff, Idina Menzel, Alan Tudyk, Santino Fontana, Chris Williams and opens in 3D on November 27th.

AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. Series Premiere Review

There has been much hype around Marvel's transition from the big screen to the small and we finally have our first idea about how Joss Whedon and Kevin Fiege will satisfy fans super hero appetites in between their massive feature films. I have always been weary of TV shows that originate as spin-offs from movies (or from other TV shows for that matter), but as this was simply going to fall into a rather familiar primetime genre and wasn't going to try to make a super hero mini-series, but a look at the liitle-seen government agency in the background of the big movies there was reason to believe it could work. That and Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson has become somewhat of a fan favorite by this point and that he would be heading it up lent the series a whole other level of credibility (and hey! even Cobie Smulders shows up for a few scenes as Maria Hill). Though it is impossible to gauge how the entire series will turn out by simply watching one episode it at least gives us an indication of how the makers plan to structure this and how it will intersect with the movies it will be correlating with. I highly doubt that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will directly tie-in or effect any of the events that occur in Thor: The Dark World, but we may see some easter eggs in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and most certainly in The Avengers sequel should the series be successful enough to make it more than two seasons. Given that idea I think it's necessary to give these characters a shot and see how well they can expand the Marvel cinematic universe as that is after all, the point. Whedon, who created the show and wrote the pilot with his brother Jed and his wife Maurissa Tancharoen, is a series that sports his signature humor (which I've never been particularly attracted to), but does well to manage a large cast of characters and keep the audience engaged and on its toes enough that I will continue to watch if not simply because it has "Marvel" above the title, but because I want to be in the know when I walk into their movies in the future.