While there’s nothing really remarkable or particularly original about We’re the Millers, it still manages to provide quite a bit of raunchy fun with a more than capable cast to boot.
The pic reunites Jennifer Aniston and Jason Sudeikis, stars of another (slightly better) R rated hit Horrible Bosses. Sudeikis is low-level pot dealer David, forced to go on a Mexican drug run by his quirky boss (Ed Helms, surprisingly ineffective in a broadly written role). Sudeikis enlists his stripper neighbor Rose (Aniston), 18 year-old virgin neighbor Kenny (Will Poulter), and runaway teenager Casey (Emma Roberts). Together – they are The Millers, posing as a family to divert suspicion from driving a tricked out RV across the Mexican border filled with two tons of marijuana.
Naturally, many things don’t go as planned and the Millers experience a number of adventures while – yes, arguing and yes, bonding just like a real family! You’ll see where We’re the Millers is heading from a mile away but the film works often because of its talented cast and frequent laugh out loud moments. While Aniston is stuck doing the “playing against type” naughty girl routine again (like in Bosses), she sells it well. Sudeikis is seamlessly making the transition from SNL MVP to movie star. And many of the most humorous moments come from supporting players Nick Offerman and Kathryn Hahn as Don and Edie Fitzgerald, another RV sporting couple who befriend the Millers. These two character actors work well enough together that I wouldn’t completely oppose a We’re the Fitzgeralds spinoff.
We’re the Millers is not Wedding Crashers or Superbad or The 40 Yr. Old Virgin – movies that I find myself quoting and going back to frequently. However, I’d put it on the level of a Date Night or Forgetting Sarah Marshall – movies that, when they’re rerunning on TV, I probably won’t turn off.
In early 2009, Taken was an unexpected smash hit that gave Liam Neeson a second career as a badass action star. The film was a B-movie treat in which ex CIA agent Bryan (Neeson) used his “very particular set of skills” to retrieve kidnapped daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) from Albanian sex traffickers.
Taken‘s box office success has led to this sequel nearly four years later. Original director Pierre Morel is out and the awesomely named Olivier Megaton is behind the camera, but original screenwriters Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen return to pen the script. The concept is simple: instead of Kim being taken, this time it’s Mom – Lenore (Famke Janssen). Years after their divorce, Bryan and Lenore are starting to become a bit “taken” with each other again – if ya know what I mean. Mom and daughter join Bryan in Istanbul where he’s just finished a job and it’s not long before the father of one of the guy’s Bryan brutally offed in the original looks to exact revenge. He’s played by Rade Serbedziga, who gets to growl his way through dialogue about avenging his perv boy son’s death.
Much of Taken 2 simply feels by-the-numbers and the action isn’t as impressive as in the first. One problem is that Neeson doesn’t get to show off that particular set of skills enough. Too much of the pic is filled with lackluster car chases, though Neeson does involve Kim in the most intense driving demonstration since that high schooler drove Leslie Nielsen and John Houseman in The Naked Gun. The fact that Kim is dating her first boyfriend and taking her driving test for the third time involves some suspension of disbelief since the actress playing her is 30 years old. I’ll chalk that up to the rapid aging process due to her stressful first “vacation” in the original.
Truth be told, Taken 2 will hold your attention for its brisk 90 minutes, but this a prime example of an unnecessary sequel. The film even forecasts a potential third Taken towards the end. After all, these endless henchman Bryan is offing will always have vengeful relatives. How much “taking” can one family take? Taken 2 suggests stopping at one abduction probably would have been enough.
In Savages, director Oliver Stone take a rare break from making films about politics and instead concentrates on a fairly straightforward drug crime flick. There’s no grand statements about the drug war (this isn’t Traffic), but there is one fascinating subtext. A corrupt DEA agent (John Travolta) explains at one point that eventually the U.S. is going to legalize pot and it got me thinking about how all the bloody mayhem involved in this picture probably wouldn’t happen if that occurred. However, that’s a discussion for another day and it’s not the primary focus here.
Savages centers on two independent marijuana dealers – one is short fused Afghanistan War vet Chon (Taylor Kitsch) and the other is Ben (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a Buddhist and more of a pacifist. Together, they make a fortune out of developing a potent product with highly elevated THC levels. Other than a successful business, they also share something else: Ophelia (known as O), played by Blake Lively, a beach babe who loves them both.
Naturally, Chon and Ben’s thriving company attracts the fascination of the Mexican drug cartels, who look to buy out the boys. When things don’t go as planned, O is kidnapped and thy must figure out a way to get her back.
We meet the disreputable cast of characters who make up the cartel. It’s headed by Elena (Salma Hayek), who inherited the business through her dead husband. She’s lost some of her children in brutal fashion as well and her daughter (who lives in the States) wants nothing to do with her. This is actually a fact that makes Elena proud. If you’ve been lucky enough to watch the documentary Cocaine Cowboys (if not, watch it immediately), you’ll notice that Elena’s character is very similar to Griselda Blanco, a real-life drug kingpin who was just recently assassinated. Elena is the best character in Savages – so much so that I wish the entire movie had been about her.
Elena’s enforcer Lado is played in a typically solid and slightly bizarre performance by Benicio Del Toro. He has a memorable scene with Travolta’s DEA agent that comes towards the end. Once again, the fine acting of Hayek, Del Toro, and Travolta and their dynamic could have been one unique picture.
Alas, Savages is more about Chon, Ben, and O. And therein lies the central flaw of the film… it’s central characters aren’t very special. Especially O. I will not blame Lively wholly for this, even though her performance is lackluster. It’s more that her character is written as nothing more than a dull pothead beach babe. Frankly, with her being the character in the most danger, it’s hard to really care much about what happens.
Savages is no doubt a stylish feast for the eyes. Stone is, of course, a heckuva director. And the secondary performances mentioned above are noteworthy. It’s the main troika of characters and their relationship that makes Savages a bit of a letdown, albeit a good looking one.
January is typically seen as a dumping ground for films that studios have little confidence in. When a picture opens in the first month of the year with big stars, that can usually be seen as a red flag. And so it is with Gangster Squad and Broken City, which both opened in January to disappointing box office results. Audiences got it right here – they’re both forgettable titles that don’t deserve the considerable talent involved.
Gangster Squad is from Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer and takes place in Los Angeles circa 1949 when gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) has taken over the city with his particularly deadly Mob tactics. A straight-laced Sergeant (Josh Brolin) is enlisted by the police chief (Nick Nolte) to form a squad to take Mickey out and restore order at any cost. Brolin enlists lots of recognizable actors to help in the cause, from Ryan Gosling to Giovanni Ribisi to Michael Pena to Robert Patrick to Anthony Mackie.
The pic is a highly stylized exercise whose tone is closer to The Untouchables than other genre entries. The difference? The Untouchables was really good and effective. Squad feels unoriginal and derivative. Sure, it looks good, but you won’t remember much about it the morning. Most of the actors try their best, but they have skimpy material to work with.
Among the issues I had: we get a romance between Gosling’s character and Mickey’s girlfriend, played by Emma Stone. As you will recall, Gosling and Stone had major chemistry in 2011’s romantic comedy Crazy Stupid Love. Here, their relationship is underwritten and dull and it left me wishing I was watching their previous movie. Sean Penn, one of the finest actors of his generation, goes way over the top as Mickey. Also, his make-up job is pretty ridiculous. Brolin’s character is a bit of a bore and ultra cliched. He even comes with the pregnant wife whose character is straight outta Screenwriting 101.
Gangster Squad wants to bash us over the head with its excessive violence, but never bothers to give us interesting, well-written characters to get involved with. Director Fleischer showed tremendous promise with the original Zombieland. This movie doesn’t have an original idea or thought in its head.
Gangster Squad: ** (out of four)
Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe headline Broken City from director Allen Hughes (who co-directed Menace II Society and From Hell with his brother). The city is New York City, where Wahlberg is an ex-cop turned private eye who’s hired by the corrupt Mayor (Crowe) to find out who his wife is sleeping with days before the Mayoral election. This leads to your usual double crosses and instances where “not all is at it seems!”.
The first hour or so of City is decent if unremarkable. Eventually, the screenplay moves toward twists and turns that rely on BIG and unbelievable conveniences, like Wahlberg finding key pieces of evidence in a dumpster where the rest of the documents are being shredded. Thank goodness they forgot to shred the most important piece of evidence!
Like Squad, the characters are poorly developed. Wahlberg’s story arc is a familiar one – he’s a cop who may or may not have shot an unarmed suspect. He had a drinking problem… wanna take bets on if he relapses? He’s conflicted about doing the right thing, yada, yada, yada…
Crowe adds some decent acting to an otherwise unremarkable character. Catherine Zeta-Jones doesn’t have much to do as his neglected wife, who may or may not be having an affair.
Broken City fails mostly because of a lackluster screenplay. Wahlberg and Crowe deserve better and director Hughes has certainly shown an ability to do far better.
Broken City: ** (out of four)
So the January curse holds true for these pictures. Are they both watchable? Sure, but with lots of end of 2012 titles just reaching home release and the summer season beginning at the multiplex, why waste your time? I just did that for you!
Iron Man 3 is essentially competing against two expectations from previous pictures. First, the general feeling (one I agree with) is that Iron Man 2 was a bit of a letdown. Second, the general feeling (which I also adhere to) is that last summer’s The Avengers was pretty frickin’ awesome.
So where does Tony Stark/Iron Man go from here? In Iron Man 3, the character goes into the hands of director/co-writer Shane Black. Jon Favreau directed the first two installments and he reprises his role as Tony’s former bodyguard Happy. But it’s Black who now inherits the franchise. For those who don’t know, Black is best known as the screenwriter of action extravaganzas such as Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout. In 2005, he made his directorial debut with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, a terrific action/comedy that starred… Robert Downey Jr.!
Shane Black’s contributions give Iron Man 3 a different feel than what we’ve seen previously. It’s darker in tone yet it also has a comedy spirit at times that works well. Black is a great writer and his work here shines. We also delve a bit deeper into Stark as a person. A lot of the action the character is involved in this time around is accomplished without Tony wearing the Iron Man suit. Furthermore, Gwyneth Paltow’s character Pepper is given more to do – she even gets to don the suit!
While Mickey Rourke ended up being a fairly blah villain in the second flick, this time around we have Sir Ben Kingsley as evil terrorist The Mandarin. It’s pretty much impossible to describe Kinglsey’s character without revealing major spoilers. I will say this: Kingsley is fantastic in the role and he will be the character you’ll probably talk about the most. Guy Pearce gives an effective performance as another villain… again, can’t talk too much about him due to spoilers.
I won’t get into the plot details of Iron Man 3 – I mean, you’re gonna see it anyway if you haven’t already. Bottom line: Iron Man 3 is not quite on the level of the first for me, but it’s a definite improvement over #2. Downey is brilliant as always in the title role and I particularly enjoyed his rapport with Harley (Ty Simpkins), a kid who Tony befriends.
The film doesn’t attempt to outdo the grandeur of The Avengers and that’s just fine. It feels like a smaller film – at least small compared to Avengers. It may not rank at the very top of the best superhero movies, but Iron Man 3 is well worth seeing and kicks off summer 2013 in good manner.
Iron Man 3 is solid enough that I certainly hope Downey doesn’t abandon the role. My guess is that he won’t. And I also hope Shane Black returns for a fourth installment. His presence is a welcome addition to the Marvel world.
All My Life... I Wanted To Be A Blogster 