Edge of Tomorrow

One of the biggest complaints people have when it comes to movies is that they lack originality. I've been guilty of complaining about this. There are too many sequels and remakes and reboots. So, what happens when we finally get an utterly original, wholly entertaining film? No one goes to see it and it bombs at the box office. Thus, sort of proving to Hollywood big wigs that they are right - what everyone in the world wants is a fourth Transformer movie and not anything daring or original or different. We've only got ourselves to blame.

Edge of Tomorrow is that unique blockbuster that isn't a recycled plot you've seen a million times. Sure, you've seen it once or twice. In Groundhog Day, most famously. Or maybe you've read about it in a book like last year's spectacular Life After Life. But, this isn't the same old material regurgitated for the millionth time. Edge of Tomorrow stars the last of the great action superstars, Tom Cruise, as a cowardly bureaucratic Army guy who has never seen combat, or even trained for combat. He's a talker and a manipulator, not a soldier. But, he ends up on the front lines anyway and a "surprise" attack on the aliens lifeforms they are fighting turns horribly wrong. They've been waiting for the attack and Cruise's Cage is dead within five minutes. But, then he wakes up on the front lines again, ready to relive the day over and over and over until he can get it right, and kill the enemy leader. Eventually he teams up with Emily Blunt's super (read: BAD-ASS) soldier, Rita, and together the two relive the day dozens of times, maybe even more, changing little things every time, until they get it right.

I know, I know. This may sound repetitive and boring, but director Doug Liman does an amazing job of really getting the point across - Live, Die, Repeat, with humor and intelligence without making it seem like you are watching the same thing happen over and over. This movie is creatively done on all counts - writing, editing, directing, acting. This movie is clever and smart and absolutely satisfying on every level.

Tom Cruise is maybe the last of the great action stars. He's been one of the most famous people on the planet for decades now, and while I'm not necessarily a fan of him personally, I don't think you can argue with him as an actor. He's the rare kind of actor; the kind who is magnetic and charming enough to be a larger than life superstar, but still has the acting chops to pull off intimate character moments too. The only other person I can think of off the top of my head who has that same duality is probably Will Smith. And, sure, superstars make missteps, too (see: last year's Oblivion, which wasn't terrible, but was disappointing). But this film and role from Cruise is on point. He's electric to watch, and it's also fun to see him play someone who is so cowardly at the beginning. We aren't used to seeing our Tom Cruise making excuses for reasons not to go to war. He's usually kicking ass and taking names. But, really, the true star of this movie is Emily Blunt. This may be the only alien sci-fi epic feminist movie in existence. Blunt is spectacular as the kick ass super soldier. She is tough and tender and just all around bad ass. She is an absolute delight to watch, especially all the "Let's just reboot" scenes which are dark and funny. She should probably be the biggest star in the world right now, and I hope she becomes a huge household name. Action movies are usually no place for women. We are stuck either playing some sexy, leather clad villain, or the damsel in distress. But Blunt is just as tough, if not tougher, than the men in this movie. This is the sort of female character we need more of in films.

All in all, Edge of Tomorrow is a damn entertaining movie. Sure, it could have had a bit more character development, a little more back story on the war (we're pretty much thrown right into the story). But, then I guess, we'd all be complaining that it's too long. It's a shame this movie did so poorly at the box office, but here's hoping it finds a cult life when it comes out on DVD. This is the sort of creative, fun, entertaining action movie we should all be celebrating. We need more summer blockbusters like Edge of Tomorrow.

Grade: B+

Friday Top Five: Football Movies

Football season is back!! Hooray! So, this week, I am counting down my top five football "movies", with one exception. There is a reason "movies" is in parenthesis and you will find out what it is in a moment.

05. Lucas (David Seltzer, 1986)
First things first, when Corey Haim was young, there was no one cuter in the whole world. In Lucas, he plays a dorky kid who is in love with an older girl. This girl falls for his friend instead of him and in order to prove he is a man, or whatever, he joins the football team where he proceeds to get hurt. The movie is as much about football as it is about falling in love and getting your heart broken for the first time. It's funny and touching and the quintessential 80's movie.

04. Rudy (David Anspaugh, 1993)
This is the sort of movie that makes grown men cry. There is a scene in this movie that will literally make the biggest, toughest, strongest man weep like a baby. (It's the jersey scene). But more than being a simple movie about football, it's about following your dreams, never giving up, and all that jazz. A seriously great football movie.

03. Remember the Titans (Boaz Yakin, 2000)
Besides starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Gosling, Remember the Titans is the true story of the first year of a racially integrated football team and the way they made history despite a whole lot of drama. I've seen this movie so many times, and it's probably a tad heavy handed and it's probably a bit cheesy, but I love it nonetheless.

02. Jerry Maguire (Cameron Crowe, 1996)
This, to me, is the role that proved that Tom Cruise could be a huge blockbuster action star, and a an actual good actor at the same time. Jerry Maguire is a sort of perfect beast of a movie. Is it a perfect movie? Not by any stretch of the imagination. Is the dialogue that is so oft repeated these days ring true all the time? Not really. But, Jerry Maguire is a pure joy to watch and the sort of movie that gets better with time.

01. "Friday Night Lights" (various, 2006-2011)
So, I told you there was a reason "movies" was in quotation marks. It's because there's no way I was going to take about anything doing with football without mentioning one of the greatest TV series I've ever seen. (It's based on a movie, if that helps). Friday Night Lights was the rare sort of TV show that was five seasons of near perfection (the only misstep I can think of was that whole Landry/Tyra killing someone story line). The show was as much about angst-ridden high school kids and real life drama as it was about football. It was My So-Called Life with football. It introduced us to the most realistic portrayal of a married couple on television - Coach and Mrs. Coach (Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton), who both acted the crap out of their roles and also had incredible, natural chemistry. Plus, the talent involved was incredible. This show launched the careers of so many actors - Chandler who will soon be seen in the new Scorsese, Britton was on American Horror Story and now Nashville, Taylor Kitsch was in a slew of box office disasters but still has a chance to be a star, Scott Porter stole scenes in The To-Do List, Minka Kelly was in The Butler, and, of course, Michael B. Jordan is wowing everyone in Fruitvale Station. The list could go on, but the truth of the matter is that Friday Night Lights is exceptional television, the sort of show that stays with you long after it has ended.


Now, get ready for an entire day of football on Sunday and go Steelers!

Oblivion / The Lords of Salem

I'm not going to sit here and try to convince anyone that Oblivion is some sort of revolutionary movie going experience. However, on Saturday, I did a double feature, and compared to the movie that I saw after, it made Oblivion look like The Godfather.

First things first, Oblivion takes place well into the future after America defeated an alien race hell bent on wiping the planet of our resources. As Tom Cruise's Jack says in narration, we won the war but lost the planet. So, now planet Earth is pretty much a wasteland and all of the human race lives on Titan, one of Saturn's moons. Everyone except Jack and his partner Victoria, that is. Victoria mans the control tower (and talks to Melissa Leo's Sally who is on a space station named Tet) while Jack zips around on a dandy little space ship and mostly fixes drones who fight off the savages still on the planet during the night. Eventually, Jack learns that he and Victoria are not alone and instead the group of savages are actually human and led by Morgan Freeman.

So, plot wise, Oblivion is mediocre. I actually enjoyed the film a lot more until the plot began to thicken and thicken. It sort of felt like the filmmakers just wanted to get in every single sci fi cliche that they possibly could. And the movie really didn't need all of that, because what works for the movie - and it works well - are the breathtaking special effects and the high octane action scenes. I sort of feel about this movie the way I felt about Wanted a few years ago (also co-starring Morgan Freeman!!) - the less plot, the better. The plot in that movie just got in the way of Angelina Jolie throwing cars at buses. And while there's nothing quite that awesome in Oblivion, it still is a pretty decent popcorn movie.

And compared to the movie I saw immediately afterwards, well, damn...

Because next came The Lords of Salem. Here is a sort of diagram about the trajectory of Rob Zombie's directing career:

House of 1000 Corpses - Awesome!!!
The Devil's Rejects - Damn Good!
Halloween - Bad
Halloween 2 - Worse
The Lords of Salem - QUITE POSSIBLY THE WORST MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE

Directors careers are supposed to go opposite. You are supposed to get your shitty movies out of the way first. I mean, geez, David Fincher's first movie was Alien 3 and now he's a goddamn rock star. But, no, Rob Zombie went in the wrong direction real quick. And it's a shame because there were moments in his first two films that really showed that he actually has potential.

But I digress. The Lords of Salem is actually the worst movie I have ever seen in my entire life. It's so bad that the city of Salem should probably ask to have its name removed from the title. In fact, the only thing I didn't hate about the movie was the fact that it was shot in Salem and I enjoyed noticing places that I had been. The plot of the movie follows Sherri Moon Zombie's Heidi who works the night shift at a radio station and gets a special delivery of a crappy album by a band called The Lords which turns the women of Salem into homicidal maniacs. Of course, Zombie tries to tie all of this to the Salem witch trials. Of course, the movie is offensive, disgusting, ridiculous, and above all, stupid. I almost think that maybe he was just messing with us. Maybe he wanted to see just how bad of a movie he could make? I don't know. I guess he was going for a Rosemary's Baby kind of vibe but, if so, he failed miserably. The Lords of Salem have absolutely no redeeming qualities and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone - not even my worst enemy (i.e. that bitch Amanda Clark).

Grades: Oblivion - C+; The Lords of Salem - F

Catching Up on Summer Movies

So, I sort of temporarily abandoned blogger but it was only because, for some reason, it wasn't allowing me to update. It looks like that might be fixed now so I have returned. In my absence, I was trying to keep up with things over on tumblr. If you want to read my recent full reviews go here: http://thiscinephile.tumblr.com/. For now, however, I will just post little quickies to get up to date.

Rock of Ages - Very similar to Burlesque but without the awesome performances courtesy of Cher and Stanley Tucci. The story of a young girl who tries to make it in Hollywood in the 80s, Rock of Ages was a huge success on Broadway. Julianne Hough has potential. She can dance and sing and act (her level of talent goes in that order too) but lacks any sort of chemistry with Diego Boneta, who also has absolutely no charisma whatsoever. Catherine Zeta-Jones is a titan of the musical world (Chicago) and takes a one-dimensional, slightly annoying role and proves why she is a superstar. Russell Brand and Alec Baldwain are forgettable at best. Paul Giamatti manages to give a great performance in the role of an unlikeable jackass. Then there is Tom Cruise. If you are going to see Rock of Ages, go see it for Tom Cruise. I'm not his biggest fan. But as Axl Rose clone Stacee Jaxx, Cruise, who makes his entrance in assless chaps, is all in. His dedication to this character is ridiculous and he parades around this movie like a peacock, so showy and vain and just damn good. The music in the movie is super fun (and there's a lot of it), but ultimately it's just a Tom Cruise vehicle. Somehow, this movie just didn't jive for me. Something was lacking and missing. Grade: C+

Magic Mike - Under the direction of Steven Soderbergh, Magic Mike becomes so much more than a movie about male strippers. The dialogue is rich and flows realistically. It's also genuinely funny and has a lot of heart. The filmmaking is just great and I especially loved the way the film seemed so vivid at night, but was sort of muted and washed out during the day, looking how you feel with a hangover. The performances are great, as well. Channing Tatum, this is story is based on his life, is clearly the best dancer and is so charming and charasmatic that he just keeps begging his haters to find faults with his seriously improved acting. Cody Horn is a great find and has great chemistry with both Tatum and Alex Pettyfer. Saepking of Pettyfer, this is his finest performance to date (especially during his second half unraveling) and proves he is much more than a pretty face. Then there is McConaughey, so dirty and grimy and slimy and hilarious as the perverse father figure of this group of lost boys. All in all, I loved Magic Mike. Soderbergh and this talented cast created a film that is downright good. Grade: B+

Ted - It seemed everyone in the audience with me loved this movie. I did not. Ted wasn't completely without laughs but mostly I found it boarish and just plain boring. I don't feel like rehasing a negative review so head over to Tumblr to read the whole thing if you want. Grade: D-

The Amazing Spider-Man - The film wastes a lot of time with the first act that doesn't necessarily go anywhere. The movie isn't really all that long (compared to other summer comic book movies) but it sure as hell feels like it. The best thing about this movie is Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker. He just completely nails it and you almost don't want the original trilogy to exist because this movie will always be compared to those movies and Garfield doesn't deserve that. He is extraordinary. The Amazing Spider-man is at its best when it's this cute indie love story inside this epic film. When it's at its best, I'm so glad they decided to reboot it. The 3D aspect of the film also ratchets up the fun quotient. I'm not a big fan of 3D but if there was ever a superhero who begged to be in 3D, then it's Spider-man! The other downside is that I felt cheated out of a villain. Horror movies are only as good as their villains and it takes the Lizard nearly two thirds of the movie to arrive, and then he's more misunderstood then villainous. Emma Stone is sassy and witty and adorable as Gwen Stacy. The Amazing Spider-man is, indeed, amazing. It's ultimately a fun, exciting and sweet summer movie. Grade: B

Savages - Savages was a strange kind of movie for me. It's a really well done film, both dark and gritty and kind of funny. There's sex, drugs, violence and it has an actual plot, which is pretty for a summer movie. Plus, the cast is universally pretty great. Still, I was expecting more. Aaron Johnson and Taylor Kitsch are pot growers who are in love with the same woman (Blake Lively) and get involved with a Mexican drug cartel headed by Salma Hayek and her sociopathic goon Benicio Del Toro. The plot and script is mostly great, engaging, interesting, thrilling and intense. Some of the dialogue, however, is a bit cheesy / corny / dumb (mostly Lively's voice overs). The cinematagraphy is great as well. The major problem for me was the terrible / preposterous / ridiculous / stupid ending. Seriously, there had to be a better ending out there somewhere!! Hayek, Del Toro and John Travolta are all hammy great. Johnson is sensitive and endearing. Lively is the weak spot, of course. But Kitsch finally put his summer blunders behind him. This the kind of intense, dark, gritty work the actor should be doing, not fluff like Battleship. Grade: B-


The Dark Knight Rises - The best movie of the year, so far, for sure. It might not be as good as The Dark Knight but it's pretty damn close. There are flaws in the movie, sure, but sometimes you just have to look at the bigger picture and appreciate a movie for being so epic and entertaining. And all the good stuff, no BRILLIANT stuff, more than makes up for any nitpicky flaws you might find with the movie. My review over on Tumblr is longer and more detailed but the gist is this: Christopher Nolan has crafted a trilogy that will stand that test of tie and be revered as, probably and hopefully, the greatest superhero trilogy of all time. The Dark Knight Rises is the perfect ending to that trilogy. Grade: A-