As a director, Clint Eastwood is generally occupied with contemplative exploration of emotion and nuance, often told in a jazzy lower key (think Bridges of Madison County, Million Dollar Baby or Flags of Our Fathers), which makes him an odd choice to helm the adaptation of the long-running Broadway crowd pleaser Jersey Boys. But in peeling back the bombastic stand-up-and-dance qualities that made the live musical so popular and mining the biopic for its nerve center, he has fashioned an effective cinematic adaptation (B+) that explores the ups and downs of music making, the bounds of loyalty and the exuberance of a splendid time and place. The popular music is still there and serves the story, but Eastwood trusts an almost reverse “inside voice” instinct in spotlighting the Rashomon-like account of how the individual members of The Four Seasons rose from shady petty crime origins to chart toppers. John Lloyd Young is effective as Frankie Valli, the heart of the piece. His character battles demons and heartbreak that give growing gravitas to his distinctive angel voice. Vincent Piazza is also strong as the tough guy with mob roots who takes the band to the brink. The period detail and art direction in a near-sepia that emphasizes tones of silver, is gorgeous in its retro muted effect, like you’re waltzing into a Whurlitzer. The melodrama is sometimes laid on thick, as is the old-age makeup (Clint, did you learn nothing from J. Edgar?). And the narrative wraps up a little too tidy with what feels like a closing credits music video tacked on with a completely different and more buoyant mood than the preceding film. Still, it’s recommended for folks who enjoy how art is put together, how relationships withstand adversity and how songs become a sensation. Much more a film with incidental music than a “Capital-M Musical!,” it’s nonetheless absorbing and awakens unexpected senses.
More Franchise Fun in “22 Jump Street”
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s comedy sequel 22 Jump Street (B-) provides just enough laughs from the raunchy raucousness of buddy cops Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill infiltrating college life to ferret out a drug scheme, but the freshness of its predecessor is largely missing. When it plumbs meta antics such as a Buster Keaton style car chase outside the film studies department or a warped therapy session with the psych professor, the film flirts with cleverness that is rarely delivered. The central bromance continues to be an often hilarious draw; and Tatum in particular is a great sport, throwing himself into the part even when the screenplay isn’t throwing him quite the quality content it could. Still, it’s intensely watchable with enough verbal fireworks and physical stunts to render the sequel decent rainy day fun.
“Case Against 8” Chronicles Landmark Legal Fight
Ryan White and Ben Cotner’s The Case Against 8 (A) tells a tale documented over multiple years that builds into greater significance in each and every brilliantly edited sequence leading up to its glorious and life-affirming third act. Buoyed by the unconventional legal team duo of Ted Olson, lead counsel for the Republicans in the 2000 Bush v. Gore Supreme Court decision, and David Boies, the attorney who unsuccessfully represented Team Gore, the documentary also follows Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, and Jeff Zarrillo and Paul Katami, two couples selected as plaintiffs in a landmark case to overturn a discriminatory referendum and pave the path for equal rights for the LBGTIA+ community. All six protagonists help connect the dots to provide compelling points for the audience to relate to in this chronicle of this complex case. It’s a magnificent mix of strategy and poignancy that has the capability to change some minds and at the very least bring depth and dignity to one of the most critical issues of our times.
“Fault in Our Stars” Wins on Chemistry
Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort are extraordinarily charming leads in an Josh Boone’s unconventional contemporary love story The Fault in Our Stars (A). Buoyed by crackling conversations about fate, mortality and making the most of every moment, this young adult drama defies genre limits and expectations to present well rounded characters of epic scope and scale. The film deals beautifully with cancer, disabilities and a bunch of hot button topics that are presented as part of the overall fabric of life. Laura Dern and Willem Dafoe are effective in supporting parts. Prepare to be moved throughout by the winning performances and chemistry.
“Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow” is Solid Thriller
A confusing title, the presence of the recently hit-or-miss Tom Cruise and a dark-looking paramilitary milieu are disguising what is actually one of the most clever films of the year, Doug Liman’s Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow (B). After a bit of a slow start in introducing a future in which warfare is being waged on the European front against squid-like aliens, the story injects a potent mixology of “mimic biology” and game mechanics to allow its reluctant hero to relentlessly reset his days to achieve victory over the earth’s invaders, even if it means dying again and again. Instead of playing his traditional alpha male role, Cruise gets to evolve into his heroism, and he does so with some deft comedy and bright, self-effacing acting choices. Emily Blunt is a fierce presence as the military might of the adventure and makes a sly foil and muse to Cruise. Video game players will relate to the idea of maneuvering scenarios until sequencing a path to success; and fans of the old choose-your-own-adventure books will relish the alternate realities afforded by the film’s central conceit. It’s a smart, action-packed spectacle; and while not as precise or enticing as an Inception, it holds its own in the category of sci-fi mind-benders.
“Monuments Men” is a Misfire
For a film ostensibly about the preservation of art, it’s a shame that The Monuments Men (D+) is about as compelling as watching paint dry. George Clooney has oceans of resources to pull off an ensemble; and as star, co-writer and director, he tackles the tale of an elite force in WWII responsible for saving famous works of art from falling in the hands of the Nazis or from being destroyed. From the opening moments, the tone is just wrong: a strangely old-fashioned Hogan’s Heroes style pervading with clunky lighting and art direction and slow fades from preachy, pedantic exchanges by a cast of talented and woefully underused actors. Matt Damon and Cate Blanchett are among the ensemble members given very little material with which to work. What’s left is episodic. The high stakes heart of the mission seems oddly intellectual when it should feel urgent. This is a good premise that fell into uneasy directorial hands. It’s as if there were enthusiasm for the notion of the film followed by two hours of the air letting out of the balloon.
“Maleficent” Features Jolie in “Sleeping Beauty” Villain’s Origin Story
An absentee wealthy father, three spinster sisters hawking wish fulfillment and blather, a conflicted surrogate aunt with mixed feelings about a visiting teenager and a 16-year-old with a strong attraction to a needle somehow manage to create a fairly inert melodrama in Robert Stromberg’s Maleficent (C), a revisionist Sleeping Beauty told through the perspective of Angelina Jolie’s fabulous costumes. As the object of audience ambivalence, Jolie does strike a mighty mean pose and has some deliciously nasty lines from time to time. She was most surprising when her sensitive side shines through opposite Elle Fanning as about-to-be-a-cutter Aurora. The effects and characters of the enchanted forest are truly laughable: some look like second unit rejects from the Captain EO creature shop; and even though the running time is brisk, the lopsided narrative withholds most of the intrigue for most of the film’s duration. For reclaiming a villain from history, it’s no Wicked. But in saving Jolie’s virtually hit-free career from continued box office poison, she may have just earned her wings.
“A Million Ways to Die in the West” a Failed Comedy
A spectacular fail on the great wide expanse of the American Wild West, writer/director Seth MacFarlane follows up his deliriously ribald Ted with the supremely unfunny frontier comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West (F). Casting himself in the lead role is honestly the first way MacFarlane demonstrates painful western death, with a cloyingly modern but childish sensibility and an utter lack of awareness inhibiting his protagonist’s basic story needs of winning the girl and defeating the villain. His character is largely a tool (pun intended) to observe how pointless living in the west was and to drone on and belabor this thesis with an escalating series of violent or puerile sight gags. Charlize Theron is the only cast member who leaves this blazing prattle unscathed. Lame jokes and dumb pratfalls abound while there are missed opportunities for real satire. MacFarlane as triple threat makes a terrible leading man, acting from a dopey script in an excessive and lugubriously paced summer tentpole comedy. Hopefully for Universal Studios, this vanity project required little more than letting an enfant terrible run amuck on a backlot and in the desert for a few weeks. These gunslingers needed more zingers to justify more than two hours of oppressive running time.
“X-Men Days of Future Past” (2014) a Tedious Installment
Returning to the director’s chair he occupied for the franchise’s first two installments, Bryan Singer brings little new inspiration to X-Men Days of Future Past (C-), a tedious time travel installment in which the veteran ensemble of mutant superheroes sends Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine back to the ’70’s to help his First Class colleagues of younger selves avert a robot war started by Peter Dinklage. After filmgoers have enjoyed better warped reality executions in Inception, more fun with period detail in American Hustle and more all-around humor and adventure in The Avengers, this fifth (or seventh, depending on how you count) outing of this Marvel menagerie just seems like too little too late. It’s especially disappointing coming off a reboot prequel and an origin story (thanks Matthew Vaughn and James Mangold) that held together more effectively. Jackman phones it in, and Jennifer Lawrence gets nary enough screen time to develop her status as a character playing both sides of warring mutant factions. Most series regulars are reduced to extended cameos (Halle Barry may or may not have been computer generated). James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, given amazing characters in their past outing, are merely at the service of set pieces here. Evan Peters’ Quicksilver is a singular highlight with one hilarious montage of time-lapsed highjinks. There is missed opportunity with the waning days of the Vietnam War and the age of Watergate to have had something more to say here about the need for heroes. Instead the series simply needs to be rescued back from Singer’s lugubrious and poorly plotted return.
“Chef” a Wonderful Comfort Food Comedy
Writer/director Jon Favreau’s Chef (A-) is an ordinary story told extraordinarily about a man’s journey to the brink and back, set against a topical landscape blending the zest of cooking for a living, the zeitgeist of social media as a buzz builder for a restauranteur’s commerce, the influence of one’s family and friends on one’s well-being and keen observations about the melting pot of America with mixed families and split households struggling to make their spiritual soufflés rise with righteousness. Effective in the lead role, Favreau is a veritable lava cake of emotions in need of a new direction, and the story takes him from L.A. to Miami, New Orleans and Austin on a quest to reclaim his food, friends and fatherhood. Sofía Vergara as his ex and John Leguizamo as his kitchen mate are wonderful in supporting roles. Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr. and Dustin Hoffman all make high-impact cameos. It’s an emotional feast with laughs that surface naturally from the story. Check operating hours for your nearest Cuban cuisine before viewing, because you will want a Little Havana style sandwich after watching this film.
Explore my “fantasy food trucks” based on foodie films in my story on BuzzFeed.
“Godzilla” (2014) Gets It Right
Gareth Edwards’ vision for a new Godzilla (B+) is a you-are-there disaster epic with undertones of family drama and a down-to-earth reality undergirding its myth and mayhem. There’s no camp or comedy in this mighty, muscular take on the classic monster legend. Gorgeous retro news reels and a globetrotting travelogue of sequences help plot out the possibilities early, even as surprises lurk behind every corner and cavern. Grounding the proceedings in its serious sphere is Aaron Taylor-Johnson as an extremely likable protagonist, balancing duties as father, husband, son and military operative against the backdrop of worldwide catastrophe. Bryan Cranston and Ken Watanabe provide additional heft to the proceedings in supporting roles as men who have studied conspiracies that are finally resurfacing. The monsters and their powers are wisely revealed over time during the film’s somewhat long duration, and the slow burn glimpses help build realism and suspense. The stunt work, art direction and effects are quite remarkable, presenting a modern look and feel while hearkening back to some of the iconography purists will crave. Although Edwards can’t sustain his taut atmosphere through every beat of the obligatory final showdowns in San Francisco, he certainly gives a summer movie audience its packed punch of epic thrills. There’s not gonna be a 13-year-old boy on earth who will be able to resist this action flick; and luckily for folks of all ages, it’s a pretty spectacularly well-made film for this genre if you’re going to venture to the cinema for a big screen blockbuster.
Documentary “Breaking Through” Showcases Barrier-Breaking Politicians
Ripped from the headlines about gay politicians breaking down borders in astonishing ways across America, Cindy L. Abel’s Breaking Through (A) is groundbreaking in both its subject matter and its remarkably moving way of telling its subjects’ back stories. Masterful in its mix of immersive, intimate interviews and powerful motion graphics, this stirring sensory experience fixes in on fascinating subjects and doesn’t let viewers go for the duration of its efficient running time. In many cases, the filmmakers peel back multiple layers of their protagonists’ own prejudices and sometimes self-hate and demonstrate how some amazing individuals overcame incredible odds of race, class, gender identity and powerlessness before they even tackled sexual orientation. Ultimately, the film provides commanding portals through which to relate to each of the profiled leaders. Abel juggles a nearly Altmanesque assortment of real-life characters as she deftly documents the stories with the fevered intensity of a foot soldier in an epic march building momentum by the day and will likely even win over a few cynics about the world of politics. Along with high-profile stories such as Tammy Baldwin’s rise to be the first openly gay U.S. Senator, you’ll also see the journey of a military hero who became a transgendered judge as well as a lesbian Latina sheriff among the stunning triumphs in a film that showcases incredibly unlikely rises to power.
Silver Screen Capture fact: This is the first film from this site to get a pulled quote on a DVD box. Movie available here on Amazon.