Cindy Prascik’s review of Despicable Me 2 & R.I.P.D.

Dearest Blog, a hot, humid, rainy day means one thing to me: lots of people sharing my cinema. It's a prospect that doesn't thrill me, to say the least, but off I went anyway for a double-bill of Despicable Me 2 and R.I.P.D.

Spoiler level here will be mild, limited to things you'd know once you'd seen a trailer or two.
Our leadoff batter was the animated sequel Despicable Me 2.

Former super-villain Gru has gone straight, and spends his days being a father to Margo, Agnes, and Edith, and trying to start a business, his own line of jellies and jams. When a new threat emerges, the Anti-Villain League recruits Gru and his super-villain knowledge to help thwart it.

I liked Despicable Me 2 easily as well as its predecessor, in fact, maybe even a little better. The Despicable Me franchise has learnt that its bread is buttered on the Minion side, and the little yellow fellows play an even bigger role this time around, which is to the film's benefit.

The solid voice talent includes Steve Carrell and Russell Brand, reprising their roles from the first film, as well as newcomers Kristin Wiig, Benjamin Bratt, Ken Jeong, and the delightful Steve Coogan. The movie looks great, too. I saw it in 2D, and while I could certainly see things that were designed for 3D effectiveness, there's nothing that didn't look right in 2D, and everything is clear and bright. The second half does fall off somewhat from the first, which might have left me with a less-positive impression if the ending weren't so much fun.

Despicable Me 2 clocks in at 98 minutes and is rated PG for "rude humor and mild action." It's a family-friendly good time, well worth your movie dollar.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Despicable Me 2 gets seven and a half.

Next up on my agenda was the comic book movie R.I.P.D.

A cop (Ryan Reynolds) is killed on the job and joins R.I.P.D. ("Rest In Peace Department"), a team of undead good guys who keep undead bad guys from taking over the Earth. He's partnered with an old West lawman (Jeff Bridges) who disdains the idea of any partner, let alone one of the newly-dead.

Now, dear Blog, I try to make a point of being a well-educated consumer. As such, it's not often I get stuck paying for a movie I hate. For sure some are better or worse than I anticipate, but as long as the trailers aren't misleading, seldom am I all that disappointed. R.I.P.D. is the unfortunate exception to the rule; I was bored out of my gourd from beginning to end.

If we're being honest, I don't think most of us expected R.I.P.D. to be anything more than a poor man's Men In Black: good action, some awesome monsters, and hilarious wisecracks. Unfortunately, the action isn't exciting, the monsters look terrible, and the wisecracks are anything but funny. I don't think I laughed even once. The plot didn't engage me for a second, and the whole thing looks so dark (even daylight scenes) that it appears to be under a heavy fog. By luck of the schedule draw, I ended up seeing this in 3D, which is pointless.

The cast is decent, but mostly phones it in. Ryan Reynolds is as likable as any actor working today (ditto his leading lady Stephanie Szostak), but his role is so bland I couldn't say I was actively rooting for him. Academy Award winner Bridges has cornered the market on crusty-but-lovable, kooky old guy roles, but unfortunately this one is just crusty and not at all lovable. By rights he's supposed to provide most of the comedy, but he left me totally flat. Any way you slice it, I was getting stuck with one of my most-despised actors, Mary-Louise Parker, this weekend, as she also stars in the weekend's other big action flick, Red 2. It goes without saying her presence didn't help anything. My beloved Robert Knepper has a cameo that's so bad I'd have been happier not seeing him at all. Other than Szostak, pretty much the only thing the movie has going for it is Kevin Bacon, who is oddly perfect for his role. Oh, and if they got one thing right, it's that Boston is surely a bastion of the undead...I know every time I look at Aerosmith.

R.I.P.D. runs 96 minutes, which seem like 96 hours, and is rated PG13 for "violence, sci-fi/fantasy action, some sensuality, and language including sex references."

Of a possible nine Weasleys, R.I.P.D. gets three.

If I hadn't had to wait for my ride anyway, I probably would have walked out on it.

Until next time...




EEK! The Boston Undead!!

MOVIE REVIEW: R.I.P.D.

Veteran sheriff Roy Pulsifer (Bridges) has spent his career with the legendary police force known as R.I.P.D. tracking monstrous spirits who are cleverly disguised as ordinary people. His mission? To arrest and bring to justice a special brand of criminals trying to escape final judgment by hiding among the unsuspecting on Earth. Once the wise-cracking Roy is assigned former rising-star detective Nick Walker (Reynolds) as his junior officer, the new partners have to turn grudging respect into top-notch teamwork. When they uncover a plot that could end life as we know it, two of R.I.P.D.’s finest must miraculously restore the cosmic balance...or watch the tunnel to the afterlife begin sending angry souls the very wrong way.~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Director: Robert Schwentke

Cast: Jeff Bridges, Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Bacon, Mary-Louise Parker, Stephanie Szostak

Release Date: Jul 19, 2013 RealD 3D

Rated PG-13 for violence, sci-fi/fantasy action, some sensuality, and language including sex references

Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy

Review:

R.I.P.D is a hammier sillier knock off of Men In Black, some of the character designs and sets look like they’ve been stolen from their backlot, with bits of Ghostbusters sprinkled in for good measure. If you can get past that fact then you might be able to enjoy some of the goofy fun on display here. Robert Schwentke created a breeze silly little film with some rather impressive action set pieces especially the 3D finale. It rarely lingers much on anything and moves from scene to scene like a college kid on a bar hop. When it does linger to long on quiet moments it really bogs down, thankfully there aren’t many. Most of the cast seems to be having a ball especially Jeff Bridges who chews up scenery throughout. Bridges just looks like he’s having a ball and while he and Ryan Reynolds don’t have perfect chemistry together it works well enough. Reynolds himself does his usual act and it fit the character for the most part. Mary-Louise Parker is great in a small but fun turn as the duo’s boss. Kevin Bacon is the only one that kind of phones in his performance, he seems rather disinterested for the most part. Honestly, that might be a result of reading the overly predictable script. There isn’t any tension throughout the film and the plot is rather uninspired even downright lazy occasionally. R.I.P.D is harmless fluff that’ll probably be viewed more often than not on cable tv.

C+

TV SHOW REVIEW: ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

Piper Chapman (Schilling), a woman from Connecticut, living in New York City who is sent to the women's Litchfield, NY federal prison for possessing a suitcase full of drug money for Alex Vause (Prepon), an international drug smuggler and Chapman's one-time lover. Sentenced to serve a fifteen-month sentence, Chapman must survive the hardships of prison life, and she may have to be a different person to do so.

Cast: Taylor Schilling, Jason Biggs, Michael Harney, Natasha Lyonne, Laura Prepon, Kate Mulgrew, Pablo Schreiber

Created by Jenji Kohan

Based on the book Orange Is the New Black by Piper Kerman

Review:

Jenji Kohan’s Weeds is the type of show that really divided a lot of people after certain massive changes utterly changed the landscape of that show. Personally, I’ve always been impressed by how bold Kohan was but I digress. I loved Weeds more often than not and it made me a big fan of Mary Louise Parker in the process. Kohan’s new series has some of the hallmarks of what people liked about the first few seasons of Weeds, sharp writing and a deft mix of comedy and drama. Orange is the New Black does occasionally head into melodramatic territory but the sharp writing and impressive ensemble keeps you interested throughout. The story unfolds with a Lost style series of flashbacks after the main plot is presented, each episode focuses on the backstory of one inmates, so we are introduced to the characters before we know their story. As a result, Kohan has us playing into a lot of stereotypes Piper experiences. I’d never call this a hard hitting Oz style prison drama but it does pack an emotional punch quite consistently while providing plenty of laughs along the way. Taylor Schilling, who looks like a pathetic version of Diane Kruger in this unglamorous role, does a solid job in the lead role. She’s believable as a yuppie trying to navigate prison but she isn’t tasked with carrying the entire series. Her character is complex and somewhat unlikable especially as the series progress. Luckily the supporting characters are just as interesting, occasionally more sympathetic, than the lead. The supporting actors and actresses make up one of the most eclectic cast assembled in recent memory. They run the gamut of Star Trek, That 70’s Show, American Pie franchise alums, to character actors who have populated the background of various movies or shows. Each one delivers a strong sense of authenticity to their characters. Kate Mulgrew turn is rather impressive since it’s so effective while she’s sporting a bad Russian accent. Jason Biggs does a solid job as Piper’s fiancé but his American Pie castmate, Natasha Lyonne, really shines throughout. Lyonne, who’d had her battles with addition, nails her portrayal of a former addict. She has a certain warmth and acidity to her performance while never overdoing it. Laura Prepon is nearly as impressive as Pipers ex-lover especially once her backstory is fleshed out. Laverne Cox provides a fascinating performance as a transgender inmate. Pablo Schreiber provides the most obvious antagonist throughout and he makes you hate his character more and more with each passing episode. The world they all create is incredibly rich with multiple characters bringing an engaging storyline to the series. This first season covers a lot of ground in the main and supporting characters emotional arches but leaves plenty to explore in season 2 which I’ll be looking forward to.

B+

Cindy Prascik’s review of Pacific Rim

Dearest Blog, today it was Godzilla versus Transformers as I hit the cinema for Pacific Rim.

Spoiler level here is mild, mostly limited to what you'd know from the trailers, though I must get specific on one point. In an attempt to remain as unspoilery as possible, I won't name the characters involved.

In the not-so-distant future, alien monsters dubbed "Kaiju" have come through a fault deep beneath the Pacific Ocean and are attacking Earth. Mankind creates giant robots called "Jaegers" to defend itself and fight back.

Pacific Rim is not a perfect film. It's not even a special film. It is, however, an enormous, entertaining summer blockbuster that not only MUST be seen at the cinema, but should be seen as soon as possible on the biggest screen you can find.

Dear reader(s), it says nothing very good about me that, since discovering Charlie Hunnam was going to be in a movie called Pacific Rim, at least 85% of my brain has, at all times, been occupied with finding some play on those words to bring up Hunnam's early work on Queer as Folk. Reader(s), it is to your benefit (or your great disadvantage) that I got nothing...but I still giggle a bit every time I think "Pacific Rim."

Anyway, getting the bad news out of the way first, here are Pacific Rim's (heheheheheh) weaknesses.

Too long, too long, too long! Pacific Rim is barely over two hours, but would have been better at 1:30-1:45. Might have stopped them shoehorning in so many......forced emotional moments. Father/son. Hero/heroine. Mentor/protégée. Person/dog. There's about as much chemistry as between me and my cat. (Hint: my cat hates me.) Sometimes it's the writing, sometimes it's the acting, sometimes it's a li'l of both, but it's extra-annoying because the movie stands well on other merits and could have done without any of it.

Charlie Hunnam is the weakest link in a pretty strong cast, and I wasn't impressed by his leading lady, Rinko Kikuchi, either. Sadly, the same is true of Hunnam in his TV series, Sons of Anarchy. A good actor never appears to be acting, but with Hunnam, it's always obvious how hard he's working. He's not a terrible actor, by any means, but he's not strong enough to front a project of this magnitude, and he's consistently outshone by lower-billed cast. Kikuchi's longing looks in his direction are inappropriate for the character and for the circumstances and set me off right out of the gate. (But who hasn't looked at Charlie Hunnam that way a time or two, right??)

Some of the monster/robot fight scenes drag on too long, and jiggly, super-close-up shots make it difficult to see what's happening....not to mention making me a bit seasick.

Finally, there's one dippy moment where a character is unconscious and possibly dead, and rather than...oh, you know, DOING ANYTHING TO HELP...another character sits there sobbing, "Don't go! Don't go!" I wanted to throw something at the screen.

The good news is there's plenty of good news to outweigh the bad.

Pacific Rim looks spectacular in every way. My cinema doesn't have IMAX or any other special technology--hell, I didn't even see it in 3D--but those giant monsters and huge robots are overwhelming and seem almost ready to come off the screen. I love that the monsters are actually scary, credit I'll very rarely give, and the robots so intimidating. Very, very impressive technical and design work.

Pacific Rim boasts a super supporting cast, led by the incomparable Idris Elba. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Charlie Day and Torchwood's Burn Gorman are terrific, together and separately, as a pair of scientists among all the military personnel. Clifton Collins, Jr. gets more screen time than I anticipated, and more Clifton Collins, Jr. is always better than less Clifton Collins, Jr. And...Ron Perlman's brief but entertaining turn totally steals the show. Let's be honest, too: Charlie Hunnam is easy on the eyes, and I won't complain about looking at him for two hours under any circumstances, even if he's not Oscar worthy!

Pacific Rim tells a solid, original(ish) story that reels you in from start to finish. It presents characters you're rooting for because the movie's made you care about them, and not just because you're supposed to be pulling for the "good guys."

Pacific Rim clocks in at 132 minutes and is rated PG13 for "sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence throughout, and brief language." It's a top-notch summer blockbuster, and there's something very wrong with a world where the movie-going public fails to make it summer's biggest hit.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Pacific Rim gets seven and a half.

Until next time...




Wait...what was I saying?

MOVIE REVIEW: PACIFIC RIM

Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro teams up with Legendary Pictures to bring audiences a unique take on the monster film with this sci-fi production. Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy) stars as a washed-out controller and pilot of a series of robots called Jaegers, which are put into production after Earth is invaded by a species of giant monsters, the Kaijus. Thor's Idris Elba leads the rest of the starring cast, which includes Charlie Day, Rob Kazinsky and Ron Perlman. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Rinko Kikuchi, Ron Perlman.

Release Date: Jul 12, 2013

Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence throughout, and brief language

Genres: Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Review:

While I know Pacific Rim is meant as a loving homage to Godzilla films personally I had my head floating in thoughts of other repurposed anime cartoons from my childhood (Robotech, Voltron, etc…). Whether it was intentional or not Pacific Rim tapped into those much loved recesses of my memory with such verbosity that I literally got chills when a Jaegers pulls out a sword in the outreaches of the atmosphere. Guillermo del Toro has delivered something that was missing from the robust manically excess of Michael Bay’s Transformers film, consistent fun. Yes the characters are broadly drawn and closer to cartoon character than real human beings but that never keeps the entire thing from being 2 and half hours of jaw dropping intensity and fun. The cast, a mini FX channel reunion, does a solid job of grounding the action while never getting in its way. Charlie Hunnam, still carrying that Jax Teller walk and sound, is a solid lead and has a decent if not great connection with his costar/love interest Rinko Kikuchi. Idris Elba is appropriately stoic and inspiring when needed. Personally I think Guillermo del Toro has created a modern day classic which will age very well. It’ll leave a generation of children fills with dreams of robots and monsters. I’ll just keep praying someone will make me a Robotech film, I’d love to see that before I die…

A

MOVIE REVIEW: THE BAY

Three years after a massive government cover-up involving a parasitic outbreak in a small seaside town, a reporter unearths chilling footage that reveals the terrifying truth in this ound footage-style shocker from Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson. On July 4th, 2009, the town of Claridge, Maryland experienced an unprecedented biological disaster. An isopod parasite typically found in fish somehow found its way into a human host. As the town gathered for its annual Independence Day celebration, the parasite began to spread at unprecedented speeds, consuming its victims from the inside out. Now witness the terrifying events that unfolded that fateful holiday weekend as captured on the security cameras, mobile phones, and webcams of the people who witnessed them firsthand, but never lived to tell their stories. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director: Barry Levinson

Cast: Christopher Denham, Stephen Kunken, Frank Deal, Kether Donohue, Kristen Connolly

Release Date: Nov 02, 2012

Rated: Bloody Images, Language and Disturbing Violent Content

Runtime: 1 hr. 24 min.

Genres: Horror

Review:

I remember seeing the trailer for The Bay and being vaguely intrigued by it because I’m a sucker for found footage films plus Barry Levinson was directing it. Strangely it came and went with very little fanfare. Thankfully it pop up on Netflix streaming recently which, truth be told, made me wonder if it was just a bad film. I was rather surprised at how effective it was and am still rather left wondering why it was mostly ignored. The premise is kind of a hodgepodge of found footage, suppressed footage in this case, plotted with a sprinkling of Jaws and Contagion. It’s fairly graphic once the infection / infestation starts spreading. It does its job well enough to leave you feeling kind of icky afterwards and wondering about your drinking water. Its green message isn’t very subtle which might be a turnoff for folks looking for a straight up horror film. That being said it works most often than not, rarely relying cheap scares. The whole thing feels rather authentic throughout although there are a few people in the town taking the whole thing far too well. Its overall authenticity is probably aided by the fact that Isopods are real albeit living in their natural habitat, the deep ocean.

B