A.C.O.D. (2013): He’s About to Ruin a Perfectly Good Divorce

Carter’s life without his family seems to be running relatively smoothly. His parents divorced following his 9th birthday, but it even surprises him that he turned out so seemingly well-adjusted. In order to keep his life balanced, he keeps his parents at a safe distance. When his younger brother decides to get married, Carter feels forced to reconnect his parents to both be present for the wedding. The initial meetings with each parent turn out to be disastrous, so he takes a bold move and sets up a dinner for both of them to attend. Following this rough moment, he experiences only a short moment of peace, when suddenly the entire plan turns awry. His bitter, angry, divorced parents are caught having an affair, he begins to feel the pressure for the tempered relationship he has with his girlfriend, the book that chronicles his childhood struggles with divorce becomes a reality, and his restaurant is now in jeopardy due to his angry stepmother.

Starring: Adam Scott (Carter), Richard Jenkins (Hugh), Catherine O’Hara (Melissa), Amy Poehler (Sondra), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Lauren), Clark Duke (Trey), Ken Howard (Gary), Valerie Tian (Kieko), Sarah Burns (Margo), Jessica Alba (Michelle), Jane Lynch (Dr. Judith)

Adam Scott gives a mostly uptight, stiff performance, though it was meant to fit his character’s experience. While he was the central focus of the film, the relationship between Jenkins and O’Hara was more intriguing. They were both able to display the anger and resentment when their characters at the beginning and were even able to hold onto the sense of continued disagreement even after reconciliation. The rest of the cast seemed to fall into the background, particularly considering Lynch’s role similar to her character from a number of her other films.

Stu Zicherman’s film explores the current reality of the high number of divorces of today’s society and how it affects adults who experienced it as children. In the case of this film, it was a little less generalizable in the way that Carter’s parents ended up deciding to get back together and maintaining a rouse regarding their actual relationship intentions. A lot of the drama with his parents felt exaggerated and unrealistic, as the characters were more about maintaining tension versus simply afraid to reveal their true feelings. Highlighting the importance of communication, each of the characters have issues with either failing to reveal their issues, shielding others from serious problems, or lying to themselves to prevent pain.

The one-dimensional characters and simplified storyline take away from the actual potential conversation about the affects of divorce. Looking at Carter’s life, his childhood experience caused him to grow up quickly and avoid serious feelings to avoid the potential for getting hurt. As an adult, he was avoidant of the mess his parents were making, allowing himself to extend his relationship with Lauren beyond that of a dating couple, and dealing with the anger he felt about his childhood. While he took a leap of faith by proposing, there was never any resolution for the affair that he had or exploration over the fact that he was turning into his father. There was little actual exploration of the commonality and the way that he connected with Michelle. There was no exploration of how Trey actually came to believe the best of his parents and turned out differently than his brother, other than being shielded.

This is a film that had a lot of potential but did not deliver in the end. There are a few somewhat humorous moments, but they are more snickers compared to big laughs.

Dan’s Rating: 2.0/5

Runner Runner (2013): Play or Be Played

As a Masters student at Princeton, Richie Furst is struggling to play for his college bills but tries to manage the debt through online gambling. Making a commission on getting his students to sign up to play, the dean catches wind of his ventures and orders a cease on all gambling activities. Richie decides to play out all of his luck on an all-night bender. He loses it all but believes that something greater than chance was at play. With his friends, they discover that the site was cheating players by changing the odds. Desperate to reclaim his money, he travels to Costa Rica to find Ivan Block and report his scandal in hopes of recovering his losses. Instead, Ivan respects his tenacity and offers him a job with his organization. Quickly, Richie gets in deep with all of the money and benefits but learns that there is a major dark side to the lifestyle. With threats from within and the FBI pressuring his involvement in the investigation, Richie needs to find a way out.

Starring: Justin Timberlake (Richie Furst), Ben Affleck (Ivan Block), Gemma Arterton (Rebecca Shafran), Anthony Mackie (Agent Shavers), Michael Esper (Billy ‘Pet’ Petricoff), Oliver Cooper (Andrew Cronin), Yul Vazquez (Delegate Herrera), John Heard (Harry Furst), James Molina (Esteban), Louis Lombardi (Archie), David Costabile (Professor Horstein)

In this thriller, Timberlake serves the role as the protagonist who goes from being a little sure of himself to scrambling for a plan. Given his polished appearance, he tended to reduce the believability of his character’s plight considering the lack of funds to travel. Affleck was not overly compelling but filled the role as the villain decently. Mackie’s character seemed a little overzealous at times. Arterton felt like no more than eye candy, as her character was underdeveloped with her lack of a more comprehensive backstory.

Brad Furman’s thriller was set in Costa Rica and explored the dangerous world of gambling and criminal activity. Richie was a smart kid and had a lot of opportunity in front of him. While he had participated in a gamble in the past with Wall Street, he was unable to maintain his involvement and required further education to reenter his dream job. He did not know that he could get involved in a gambling organization and Ivan was able to convince him to abandon his old life to take on a new one. The money and status kept him in the business for a while, but his friends (who he brought down to work with him) began to hit their limit. The sleaze and the illegal activity had become too much for them. Even Richie realized he was in over his head, but he was forced to get a little too close to death before he devised his plan to release himself from the burden.

The movie had some twists and turns, but a lot of what was portrayed was flash with little substance. The thriller element was mostly displayed through scenes like the crocodile feeding and the attempted breaking point when Richie was short the bribe money. The plausibility of someone throwing their life away for a huge gamble was both the point of the movie and a very weak plot point. Finding the right type of ending to the film was going to be tough, and it just seemed like it was wrapped up with a bow a little too easily (except, of course, for the getaway for the hero and his love interest). Weak emotional connections with the characters and hazy action hurt the actual thrill elements of the film.

Runner Runner could have been a more intriguing film, but several other gambling films have already proven themselves more engaging, intriguing, and emotionally investing.

Dan’s Rating: 2.5/5

Oldboy (2013): Ask Why You Were Set Free

Trying to land a new contract for his agency, advertising professional Joe Doucett fails to land the contract after taking his interest in his associate’s partner too far. After getting drunk and wandering the streets, he collapses and vanishes. Waking up in a small room, he discovers that he is in some sort of solitary confinement with no sense of why or how he ended up there. Whoever has imprisioned him has gone to great lengths to keep him alive but also under control. The television begins to broadcast news reports about his involvement in the murder of his wife and his subsequent disappearance. Obsessed with trying to survive for his daughter, he eventually finds a way to escape and goes on a tear to find Mia and enact his revenge. Armed with his list and a new friend, he begins to hunt the people who imprisoned him, only to discover that his imprisonment and release was much more complicated than he could have guessed.

Starring: Josh Brolin (Joe Doucett), Elizabeth Olsen (Marie Sebastian), Sharlto Copley (Adrian/The Stranger), Samuel L. Jackson (Chaney), Michael Imperioli (Chucky), Pom Klementieff (Haeng-Bok), James Ransone (Dr. Tom Mebly), Max Casella (James Prestley), Linda Emond (Edwina Burke), Elvis Nolasco (Cortez)

Starting off as a rather brash and unlikable character, Brolin brought a certain misguided natural to his role. While his character seemed to find a way to go on a methodical rampage, he seemed to be able to find his order through the confinement over the 20 years. Olsen appeared to be a very kind and caring individual, though easily misguided and unclear with the conclusion of the film. Copley was quite the villain, with just the right amount of obsession to make his plan an intriguing story. Jackson portrayed his trademark brutish and over-the-top nature.

Adapted from the original 2003 South Korean film, Spike Lee’s version pitted a hapless advertising agent against a vengeful conspirator set on completing an eye-for-a-eye mission in as painful a way as possible. Joe’s abduction was one that seemed to have no sense or purpose, other than to destroy his life. Spending 20 years locked away, he believed that he discovered a way to escape but seemed to not realize that his getaway was part of a grander plan set forth by Adrian. Having suffered an experience of incest and witnessing the murder/suicide of the rest of his family for a rumor spread by Joe during college, Adrian was able to manipulate Joe into a path that would allow him to experience nearly the same fate that he had befallen.

The film is one that maintained a dark and dangerous tone throughout while also including a lot of violence and gore. Once released from his imprisonment, the film depicted the rampage of Joe with the use of a hammer and a knife to Chaney’s neck. The aggression in Joe’s demeanor was clear, as was the transformation once he discovered the truth behind his imprisonment and subsequent release. Adrian’s story was tragic and brought a certain sense of compassion for his situation, even though it was not revealed until near the end of the story. While these events were intriguing, the character development was so minimal and rushed that it felt like there was something significant missing. Joe just seemed like an alcoholic who mysteriously was able to kick it and become fit in a montage and Chaney felt like his involvement in the plan was weakly supported by the plot.

Oldboy is a movie that seemed to mirror a lot of the elements of the original but lacked the depth and connectedness needed to be a stronger adaptation.

Dan’s Rating: 2.0/5

Machete Kills (2013): Trained to Kill, Left for Dead, Back for More

At the Arizona-Mexico border, Machete and Sartana Rivera confront a group of weapons dealers and break into an all-out gun war. Just before falling to the gun of the cartel leader, a group of masked men show up in helicopters and take out the remaining cartel members. In the fray, Sartana is killed and Machete is captured and delivered to Sheriff Doakes. While in the process of being hung in the sheriff’s office, President Rathcock calls and requests Machete join him for a mission to stop a madman aiming a missile at Washington. Machete heads to Mexico with the help of his friend, Blanca Vasquez, to take out the revolutionary Marcos Mendez. Upon arrival and meeting with Marcos, Machete learns that the revolutionary has rigged the missile to his heart, which will automatically launch it if his heart stops. Machete changes the plan and takes Marcos on a trip back across the border to get the maker of the device disarm the missile.

Starring: Danny Trejo (Machete Cortez), Mel Gibson (Voz), Demian Bichir (Mendez), Amber Heard (Miss San Antonio/Blanca Vasquez), Michelle Rodriguez (Luz), Sofia Vergara (Desdomona), Charlie Sheen (President Rathcock), Lady Gaga/Antonio Banderas/Walton Goggins/Cuba Gooding Jr. (La Camaleon), Vanessa Hudgens (Cereza), Alexa PenaVega (KillJoy), Marko Zaror (Zaror), Tom Savini (Osiris Amanapur), William Sadler (Sheriff Doakes)

This is not the type of movie that boasts strong acting. To be honest, it lacks the charm of the characters from other films from a similar vein, like Sin City or Kill Bill. Danny Trejo is a man of few words. His performance was much more about looking menacing and lethal, which he technically was able to achieve. Gibson was a bit of an off character, as he appeared sophisticated but primal when put under pressure. The strongest characters in the film were the women, Rodriguez, Vergara, and Heard, but even their development was minimal. The most entertaining character was Bichir and his bipolar rage.

Robert Rodriguez has had success directing violent, dark thrillers before, but this film ended up simply being a cheesy story with poor acting. Machete, a man who appeared to be invulnerable, had his heart ripped out by the sudden death of his partner and love interest Sartana. When he agreed to take the case to go after Mendez, he allowed himself to ignore his pain over losing Sartana and have a tryst with Vasquez. Even after capturing Mendez, he seemed to develop a sense of trust and respect for the revolutionary’s crazy, destructive ways, potentially feeling for the guy’s lack of self-control. Double-crossed and nearly left for dead, he discovered that Vos was the one behind the threat on Washington and was using Mendez as his delivery method. The battle left Machete betrayed, Luz blinded, and the story with no clear ending or closure, other than the prevention of the missile and the escape by Vos.

The film never took the time to develop any character. Sartana was the most innocent of them all and she was out in the first 10 minutes. Desdomona went nuts going after Machete but there never seemed to be a reason for her rage other than how he decided to take Cereza out of the brothel. La Camaleon also did not seem to have a clear motive for his pursuit. While the $20 million reward would make sense for La Camaleon, Desdomona was in pursuit before the announcement and it was a rather weak plot point to serve as filler action between the entrance of Mendez and arriving at Vos’s lair. There was also a strange intro with Machete in space, with a follow up to the intro at the close of the story with Machete agreeing to go track down Vos in space.

The film is relatively gory violence with a hint of a storyline. Nothing more and possibly less.

Dan’s Rating: 1.5/5

R.I.P.D. (2013): To Protect and Serve the Living

Having been double-crossed by his partner, former Boston police officer Nick finds himself trapped just beyond the world of the living. After meeting the Proctor, he is presented a deal: join the Rest In Peace Department and hunt the lost souls refusing to leave the world of the living or be put up for judgment and possible damnation. Thrown into the mix with an Old West marshal, Nick struggles with the idea of losing his wife and being stuck defending a world in which he no longer takes part. Encountering the first of many undead creatures, he nearly falls once he lets his guard down. Nick quickly learns that his life, or afterlife, will never be the same. Meanwhile, Nick and Roy begin to discover that the undead appear to be collecting pieces of gold but cannot figure out what their obsession might be. All Nick can determine is that his former partner is somehow entangled in the mystery.

Starring: Jeff Bridges (Roy), Ryan Reynolds (Nick), Kevin Bacon (Hayes), Mary-Louise Parker (Proctor), Stephanie Szostak (Julia), James Hong (Nick’s avatar), Marisa Miller (Roy’s avatar), Robert Knepper (Stanley Nawicki), Mike O’Malley (Elliot), Devin Ratray (Pulaski), Larry Joe Campbell (Officer Murphy)

Though Bridges may have first billing on the film, Reynolds was actually the star. That said, neither of them turned out significantly impressive performances. Reynolds was a little more reserved than would be expected, but it actually worked out to his advantage slightly (considering the failure of The Green Lantern). Jeff Bridges was like a cartoon version of himself, boasting of greatness and lacking likability. Bacon and Szostak are the only two that seem to have any range but both of their characters are underdeveloped. Parker suffers a similar one-dimensional issue, only being a stone cold administrator.

Robert Schwentke has directed a number of decent films, but this fails in comparison. The story, being a little too predictable, focused on the concepts of acceptance and justice. Nick was caught up in something that was too much to handle. When he and Hayes took the gold from one of their crime scenes, he felt the guilt too strongly and decided that he could not bear the weight. When he was double-crossed, he found his choice to be a simple one, as it gave him the possibility to return to the world of the living and try to see his love. Failing to be able to make true contact with her, he buried himself in his work with Roy and instead turned toward a mission to uncover the truth about the undead and their connection to Hayes. In the moments that he finally was able to enact revenge against Hayes and prevent the end of humanity, he found peace with his fate and was able to let go of his wife to let her live.

While the story was a little too derivative, the presentation of the story was actually even worse. With little care for any of the characters and the oddity of how it felt like the movie was a poor ripoff of Men in Black, the gimmicks seemed to be where the movie tried to find its niche. The first gimmick was the images that Roy and Nick presented to the world of the living. With bad discriminatory jokes and gratuitous sexuality, this angle was barely even used, particularly considering how it was used in the preview to promote the film. The undead creatures also were a little odd. Each one was simply a monstrous and deformed version of their human form and there was no point that their mutation was explained in the film.

This is a clear pass in comparison to the more entertaining and better designed films out there. This film should definitely be put to rest.

Dan’s Rating: 1.5/5

Pain & Gain (2013): Their American Dream is Bigger Than Yours

Having felt like there is more to life, Daniel Lugo begins to seek out his next venture after serving time for fraud. He attends a seminar hosted by Johnny Wu and gets excited about the idea of transforming Wu’s concept of being a doer to extorting his new trainee at the gym. Alongside his new friend, Adrian Doorbal, and a recently released cocaine addict, Paul Doyle, he schemes to kidnap Victor Kershaw and force him to sign his life away to the trio. While their plans do not go so smoothly at first, they are successful at eventually capturing and entrapping Kershaw in a warehouse. It takes some time to break him, but Lugo eventually gets Kershaw to start signing over his savings and possessions to the three bodybuilders. While everything seems to be going their way, little mistakes start to intensify and their plans begin to unravel quicker than they can react.

Starring: Mark Wahlberg (Daniel Lugo), Dwayne Johnson (Paul Doyle), Anthony Mackie (Adrian Doorbal), Tony Shalhoub (Victor Kershaw), Ed Harris (Ed DuBois), Rob Coddry (John Mese), Bar Paly (Sorina Luminita), Rebel Wilson (Robin Peck), Ken Jeong (Johnny Wu), Michael Rispoli (Frank Griga), Kelli Lefkovitz (Krisztina Furton), Emily Rutherfurd (Carolyn “Cissy” DuBois), Larry Hankin (Pastor Randy)

In an attempt to get the right actors to play these roles, it seemed that Wahlberg, Johnson, and Mackie fit the bill fairly well. Wahlberg had just enough of the gym rat personality balanced with the scheming element to make his ringleader role believable. Johnson has stretched himself in several films, but this one combined a need to be “saved” and fall back into drugs at the same time. He was able to appear devout at times, while desperate at others. Mackie was a little more reserved in comparison but still was able to step up a bit in his more significant moments. Shalhoub was a standout as well, with a larger than life personality and easily hatable identity.

While Michael Bay is usually on-board with more action-oriented films, this was a nice opportunity to create a more acting and story-oriented film. Lugo may not have been a complicated man but still had wherewithal to set up a plan to make it big, even if it was illegal. Doyle and Doorbal did not seem to contribute as much to the planning process but were vital for putting the pressure on Kershaw and providing the extra muscle needed to pressure him into turning over his wealth. Kershaw may have been a bad person, but he also seemed to be lucky and survived quite an ordeal when the trio tried to kill him to prevent any backlash after establishing their new lives. With Kershaw surviving the attack, he was able to mount a counteroffensive that seemed to only add to the self-destruction created by the overspending and irresponsible behavior between Doyle and Doorbal.

This story was based on real events. With his name changed for the movie, Marc Schiller was actually kidnapped and tortured for about one month in an effort for the bodybuilders to take him for everything he had. While the film included elements that lightened the mood in many ways and turned the story into more of a dark comedy, the real captive described his captors as much more menacing and deadly. The real Daniel Lugo was a “lethal manipulator” and suffered from wild mood swings. The real Adrian Doorbal was also not as rational and calm as played by Anthony Mackie. He was actually much more combative with Lugo and much more violent. Paul Doyle does not exist, but rather was a combination of the other three men who were part of the Sun Gym Gang. The biggest departure from the truth was the portrayal of Marc Schiller as Victor Kershaw. Schiller was never a criminal or a drug lord. Instead, the film intended to make the gang seem somewhat deserving of some redemption and to make the victim seem like they somewhat deserved bad things to happen to them.

If you take away the truthfulness of the portrayal of the story, the film is entertaining. While it fails to accurately represent the real crime, it was an interesting combination of actual and dark humor to provide a platform for Wahlberg, Mackie, Shalhoub, and Johnson.

Dan’s Rating: 3.0/5

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013): In Demigods We Trust

After completing his battle with the Lightning Thief, Percy Jackson feels like his heroic adventure has slipped away. Falling behind Clarisse in recognition as the warrior of the demigods, he fails to beat her in the gauntlet after deciding to help another opponent who gets caught on one of the lower level obstacles. Although he has the wherewithal to help a fellow competitor, Clarisse receives all of the glory. Suddenly, the barrier protecting the camp fails and lets in a giant mechanical bull, almost destroying the camp until Percy takes it out with his sword. At the end of the battle, he is confronted by Luke, who tips him off to a prophecy which puts them in conflict over the Golden Fleece. Percy volunteers information to Mr. D and Chiron but is passed over for Clarisse to save the camp. Percy and his friends sneak off anyway to see if they can make sure the prophecy leads to positive over destructive results.

Starring: Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson), Alexandra Daddario (Annabeth), Douglas Smith (Tyson), Leven Rambin (Charisse), Brandon T. Jackson (Grover), Jake Abel (Luke), Anthony Head (Chiron), Stanley Tucci (Mr. D), Connor Dunn (Tereus), Paloma Kwiatkowski (Thalia), Nathan Fillion (Hermes), Mary Birdsong (Gray Sister #1), Yvette Nicole Brown (Gray Sister #2), Missi Pyle (Gray Sister #3)

The performances were stronger in the first film compared to the second one. The animated nature of the cast felt a little more reserved and lifeless, as Lerman failed to show the same passion as he achieved in his first adventure. Daddario and Brandon T. Jackson also took more of a back seat, allowing Douglas Smith and Leven Rambin the opportunity to be featured more prevalently. While great acting is not expected in family-genre films, even these couple actors who were featured more felt stiff. The best performance was Nathan Fillion, who at least possessed a sense of charm and wit lacking from the other actors.

Taking over for the sequel, Thor Freudenthal tried to keep the mysticism and the presentation of the lore of the original and expand on the story. There was an unidentified amount of time that passed between the Lightning Thief and the start of this new adventure, but this new one was based around the properties of the Golden Fleece and the existence of another offspring of Poseidon. With a cyclops half-brother, Percy was feeling like more of a joke in the eyes of his peers. Sneaking off to explore his legacy and prophecy, he found himself sidetracked by the kidnapping of Grover and intrusion of Luke. Unaware that Luke’s goal was to reestablish the rule of the Titans, Percy set himself on simply finding the fleece and returning it back to the camp to revive Thalia, the spirit who created the barrier protecting the camp.

Involved in this quest were the Gray Sisters, Hermes, and the Titan Kronos. Including the Gray Sisters as the cab drivers made for an interesting little adventure. How the rest of the world did not notice a crazy driving taxi is beyond belief. Hermes provided the greatest moment of the film. While the arguing snakes on his staff were a bit unnecessary, his charm popped off of the screen. There was also a moment with him where an additional element of Luke was revealed, with Hermes expressing his remorse for not being there for his son. The cyclops guarding the fleece was a bit of a comic relief but ended up being mostly harmless for such a towering beast. Kronos was truly the most menacing of the characters in the film. Unaware that his blade was the cursed one able to beat the Titan, it ended up being luck that he discovered how to take down the nearly unstoppable creature.

The film has its small moments that are entertaining, but it does fall short of its predecessor. With a potential for additional films, a return to the previous director may be recommended.

Dan’s Rating: 2.0/5

The Heat (2013): Good Cop, Mad Cop

Having established a pristine record with the FBI, Agent Ashburn seeks an opportunity to move up in the Bureau. Uncomfortable with her failures to work well with others, even with her success rate, he tells Ashburn to head to Boston to take down drug cartel that has plagued the city under the organization of Mr. Larkin. Upon her arrival, she immediately begins to butt heads with Officer Mullins, whose brutish brand of policing is in complete contrast with her more ordered and proper style. They discover that they have some similar motives for solving the case but are forced to work together by Mullins’s captain. While their relationship continues to be combative throughout their investigation, they have to find a way to work past their differences to discover the identity of Mr. Larkin and take him down.

Starring: Sandra Bullock (Ashburn), Melissa McCarthy (Mullins), Demian Bichir (Hale), Marlon Wayans (Levy), Michael Rappaport (Jason Mullins), Jane Curtin (Mrs. Mullins), Spoken Reasons (Rojas), Dan Bakkedahl (Craig), Taran Killam (Adam), Michael MicDonald (Julian), Thomas F. Wilson (Captain Woods)

While the film boasts the talents of two actresses that have some strong performances behind them, this film just felt tired and lackluster. For McCarthy to be the crazy cop, she failed to really give the character much dimension. Bullock has played an FBI agent before, but her performance in Miss Congeniality was more thought out and dynamic than this significantly stiff performance. This just felt like nobody was really excited to do this film. Michael Rappaport and Spoken Reasons appeared to be the only actors who took it somewhat seriously.

While Paul Feig had a lot of success with Bridesmaids, The Heat felt like a failed attempt to create a female cop comedy to the effect of some of the great male films like Lethal Weapon or Bad Boys. The story followed the conflict between two law enforcement officers from different departments trying to find a way to work together to catch a drug lord. Along the way, they attempted to interrogate several people but few of them seemed to have any real connection to the potential drug lord. While they were part of the chain, the officers learned nothing significant to help them crack the case. In the end, they discovered the drug lord by accident after getting past their conflict and agreeing to go in guns blazing.

The laziness of this film is integrated across all dimensions. The graphics department seemed to use extremely basic techniques to represent explosions and gunshots. It looked like it could have been done on someone’s home computer. The comedy writing clearly put out its best jokes in the preview and seemed to stay in the realm of awkward, unfunny humor. Jokes like the one with the spanks felt so overdone and gave the same sort of impression that elongated SNL skits seem to have. The personalities of the two officers are not supposed to work well together, but it is a surprise that they magically seem to fix all of their problems by the end when there was little attempt to actually display any real mutual respect between the characters. Ashburn turns down a promotion with the FBI to work crime in Boston? It is a movie but still left a disappointing feeling in the end. And what was the deal with the fat cat?

While some may find the crude dialogue and awkward comedy entertaining, I felt that this film lacked depth, creativity, and truly laugh-out-loud laughs.

Dan’s Rating: 1.5/5

The Spectacular Now (2013): Somewhere Between the Past and the Future

Sutter is quite the partier. Not taking his academics too seriously, he is friends with nearly everybody. After a party one night, he finds himself waking up to one of his classmates poking him while he lays on the ground in someone’s front yard. Having a quick attraction to the understated beauty, he starts to spend more and more time with her. While he influences her to start drinking more and take more charge in her life, she begins to break down his emotional walls and forces him to start thinking about his life a little more differently. Still hung up on his past love and unsure about the relationships within his family, he continues to try to keep himself at a safe distance from Aimee as to not feel too committed. Things are changing all around him and now Sutter has to decide if he wants to continue to live in the now or begin to plan for the future.

Starring: Miles Teller (Sutter), Shailene Woodley (Aimee), Brie Larson (Cassidy), Masam Holden (Ricky), Dayo Okeniyi (Marcus), Kyle Chandler (Tommy), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Sara), Nicci Faires (Tara), Ava London (Bethany), Whitney Goin (Aimee’s Mom), Andre Royo (Mr. Aster)

While Miles Teller typically plays the supporting role, this was his chance to take the lead. As a wayward high school student, he fairly accurately represented the sense of unsureness that many young people struggle with in their late teens. While he seemed to get away with a lot of drinking throughout the film, his changes were very apparent between the beginning and end. Shailene Woodley also continued to prove how she is the next great actress. Presenting the kind girl-next-door vibe, she mixed a tentativeness with a sense of purpose that matched well in the story-telling.

James Ponsoldt’s adaptation of the young adult novel made for quite the story of a somewhat lost young adult’s coming to terms with his life. Sutter was unaware of a lot about his current situation, as he was continually numbing himself with alcohol. His parents had divorced and he felt disconnected from almost everybody. At the same time, the alcohol helped to fuel his partying ways and ability to seem like he was everybody’s friend. Aimee helped him start making changes in his life, but it was the meeting with his father that served as the most significant catalyst in his maturation. He never knew that his father left him and his sister behind. Instead, the meeting with his father finally allowed Sutter and his mother to come to terms with their fractured relationship and start to repair what had been lost. These changes also seemed to change his perspective about living in the now, as his father failed to make anything of himself because of that philosophy.

The relationship with Aimee was a rather interesting one. While Ricky thought that Sutter was trying to rebound off of Cassidy, he was actually falling in love with something new and different than the hookups that had been occurring between Cassidy and other students in his class. He had not completely changed, so he was still holding onto hope with Cassidy, even though she never let herself fully reconnect. Aimee was the good girl he had never given the time of day, and even she was changing through their relationship. She began to drink more often like Sutter and let herself experience a lot of relationship firsts. They struggled in most part due to Sutter’s immaturity, but Aimee gave him chance after chance until he missed her departure to Philadelphia for college. While he took an opportunity to try and repair his relationship with his mom and make a tough choice about thinking about his future, he decided to take a trip out east and see if he could continue the best thing he had ever had with Aimee.

This is a beautiful story, though it also struggles from a somewhat slower first half. The film definitely served as a great representation of the futures of Teller and Woodley.

Dan’s Rating: 3.5/5

Turbo (2013): Slo No Mo

Living in a tomato garden in the front yard of a house, Turbo and the other snails work day in and day out harvesting the overripe tomatoes. Believing that there are bigger things in store for him, Turbo experiences the backlash from his brother and the other snails. Looking to get away from the embarrassment, he ventures out and admires the traffic at the highway. When a truck whizzes by and knocks him off of the bridge, he falls onto a car and gets sucked through the engine. He is able to get himself home, when he discovers that he has absorbed nitrous oxide and taken on supernatural abilities including super speed. After an incident causes him and his brother to get stolen away to a snail racing circuit, he becomes the saving grace for Tito and his brother’s taco truck business as a possible entrant in the Indy 500.

Starring: Ryan Reynolds (Turbo), Paul Giamatti (Chet), Michael Pena (Tito), Samuel L. Jackson (Whiplash), Luis Guzman (Angelo), Bill Hader (Guy Gagne), Snoop Dogg (Smoove Move), Maya Rudolph (Burn), Ben Schwartz (Skidmark), Richard Jenkins (Bobby), Ken Jeong (Kim Ly), Michelle Rodriguez (Paz), Mike Bell (White Shadow), Paul Dooley (Foreman)

This film struggled a bit from overacting and unbalanced acting, even for an animated features. Ryan Reynolds appeared too one-dimensional, as there was no difference between scenes where he was excited, depressed, or otherwise. Giamatti was a little closer to giving his character more personality but not to the extent of saving the film. It felt somewhat stereotypical in the way that Pena and Guzman played their characters, in a way that seemed overly forced and similarly one-dimensional.

David Soren’s animated feature was derivative and lacked creativity. The moral of the story was out there from the beginning. Turbo was focused on breaking from the norm and achieving something greater than himself. The absurdness of a snail racing in the Indy 500 could only be done as an animated feature, but it felt too obscure at the same time. Putting one’s hopes on a snail to save a commercial property felt forced. Somehow the set of commercial owners had enough money to sponsor the snail but were unable to drum up any business for what seemed like quite some time. Meanwhile, Angelo’s business was the food truck, which his brother stole to transport the group to the Indy 500. All of these items together make for a challenging and confusing film.

The most challenging element of this film, which was eluded to earlier, was the stereotypical way the characters were presented. Having the main human characters being hispanic and running a taco truck felt a little too straightforward and stereotypical. They were also designed to provide more of the comic relief, which has been typical of Hispanic characters in animated features. This seems to prevent children from seeing Hispanic characters for more than the stereotypes. Similarly, the best driver in the race was a Frenchman, who was turned into the villain. This was not done in a way like Talladega Nights, but rather as a character that plays dirty and tries to kill the hero. This is also a common theme in films. While it may be a little sensitive to notice the trend, it is also challenging when displaying these themes on a more regular basis in children’s movies.

While Turbo may have its challenges, it still serves as decent entertainment for children, but there is not much to expect to distinguish it apart from other animated features.

Dan’s Rating: 2.0/5