Jersey Boys: A Well Crafted Paint By Numbers Rock Biopic

Ok, take some talented types from a nowheresville situation.  Give theme one kind of an edge or another.  Ensure they cross paths with some kind of visionary who recognizes what they have before them.  Give them that hook that ensures an adoring public.  And bang, let the magic happen.  Yep, pretty much the standard recipe for your rock biopic.  Because that is how you distill down the rise of an artist in the Hollywood format.  You rise above the format by filling in the details and telling the audience why this, THIS STORY...is different.

In this case, begin with some hardscrabble youths from New Jersey who are trying to break out of Nowheresville, New Jersey, where their options look bleak (only a couple seem to exist, the mob and the Army, and both run the risk of a body bag).  Vincent Piazza plays Tommy DeVito and steps up to introduce himself as the guy who has the real story of the ascent of the Four Seasons.  You first see the youths involved in what looks like a heist, with Tommy hooking up with Frankie Costellucio (Frankie Valli).  You will run through a few scenes with disapproving parents, the four guys trying to come up with a hook,  girl trouble, infidelity, stresses that threaten to break up the group, jealousy, etc.

Director Clint Eastwood loves music as well as history, which is probably a big part of what drew him to this story.  It does have his skilled hand in both setting tone and visuals bringing to life the era.  The only problem is the format itself.  Formula, if adhered to too closely, and too much of the real spice behind the scenes is left out just so we can get in some songs and the expected arc within a reasonable amount of screen time, the actual meat of why this story matters can be lost, or at least severely dilluted.

But then, I've never gotten watching impersonators try to sing songs that are usually better done by the originals.  And I've always thought Franki Valli did better stuff post Four Seasons anyway.  Grease?  Oh What A Night? You feelin it?

Sometimes  its is just best to go back to the music. 

Twenty Most Boring Cities In America

Haven't been to many of these, but the pictures are pretty.  Chesapeake Bay, Virginia?  Boring?  C'mon.  But yeah.  I believe Plano, TX.

http://www.kcra.com/money/20-most-boring-cities-in-america/26536246?tru=1d9N3#.U6Ps2byS9pc.facebook

Robocop (remake)-Technology Anxiety In An Age Consumed By The Same

Yes, we do live in an era of entertainment where risk averse corporate entertainment conglomerates pillage the most inane properties with the slightest name recognition, or pillaged well-loved heritage properties to try to make a quick buck, with no clue as to what made the original special, much less how to bring a new voice which makes it fresh.  But here's the thing.  You can get a clue as to what you might expect when you see the names attached to the production.

Joseph Padhila was given the go-ahead on this remake because of the success of his Elite Squad films, hard boiled cop movies that take place in his native Rio de Janeiro.  In fact, after being offered a bunch of flicks, according to him, he requested this one.  He brought along Pedro Brofman, the composer of the Elite Squad scores, and Mr. Brofman throws in recognizable hooks from the striking Basil Poledouris score from the original.

The new Robocop also tells the tale of a corporation seeking to offer remedies to solve the crime problems of Detroit.  But while the original offered a satirical look at technology anxiety, the overreach of corporate power, labor/management issues and some sharp criticism at privatization of public services, this version decides to go entirely into technology anxiety.  It heavily delves into automated warfare and the questions of who is in control.  It even takes that question internal, examining the nature of consciousness.  Is Alex Murphy real?  Or was he just a biological mechanism subject to be manipulated and pushed aside by a machine programmed to serve his masters?

Yes, Murphy is again the titular Robocop.  Played by Joel Kinnamen, in this case, Omnicorp isn't seeking to hide his humanity and former identity.  They want the illusion of humanity, so as to sell automated warfare on the streets of American cities.  But they want to be the ones in control.  They want a robot with Alex Murphy's face.  

The pressure is on to put machines in America's streets.  And the hard sell has begun, as the poster boy of the "peace through automation" scenario has been cast in doubt in Omicorp's showcase theater, Tehran, Iran.  Patrick "Pat" Novak (Samuel L. Jackson) thunders about the issue on his TV series.  Michael Keaton (Raymond Sellars) just wants to sell his product.   Rich Mattox (Jackie Earle Hallie) wants to prove that humanity has no place in this automated battlefield.  And AI scientist Dr. Dennet Norton finds himself conflicted between his own illusion of control and his actual pulling for his patient/creation, Alex Murphy, who's human "hard problem" defies his ability to control the situation as a robotics engineer.

This movie is less the savagely playful satire that the original Robocop was.  Less over the top but even more pointed in some of it's criticism, it doesn't forget that Robocop in concept is just as much about certain questions about the day as well as a futuristic police adventure.

Though it got mixed reviews, the movie cleaned up at the box office.  I personally think some of the more negative reviews were less about the virtues or failings of this film and more about the nostalgic attachment to the original.  But such are the risks when one is adapting a beloved property.  Some can't let go and judge it on its own merits.  Know what I mean, Battlestar Galactica?

Me, I enjoyed it.

Her-Lots of Concepts Disguised As A SciFi Chick Flick...

When I saw the trailers for the film Her, written and directed by Spike Jonz, I got the impression of a soft science fiction film starring Joachim Phoenix and Scarlet Johanssen.  It looked like a well made chick flick with science fiction shadings.  That was interesting enough to get my attention, though, the idea of a lonely guy forging a relationship with an advanced Artificial Intelligence.   We live in a society in which many feel that though our technology enables us to communicate with almost any other place in the world and reach out and touch most anyone, we feel isolated and alone.  Can artificial intelligence reach the point of sentience, or at least the level to simulate it so much that it can pass the Turing Test for real?

Yes, Her does deal with all that, but Mr. Jonz, being the skilled filmmaker and storyteller he is, doesn't even stop there.  He reaches much, much higher. Phoenix plays Theodore Twombly, a writer who earns his living by being a letter composer for hire.  He has a reputation for being a sensitive soul and the letters he writes touches those who read them, both men and women.  In fact, one coworker says he has the "soul of a woman", and frankly, Theodore isn't sure how to take that.  But he is lonely, going through a divorce after a long marriage.  His soon-to-be-ex accuses him of not being able to deal with actual female emotions.  He has good friends but does feel isolated and alone.

Then one day, a computer company premiers a new operating system unlike any other.  They claim this OS is truly self aware and truly learns and adapts itself to its user.  Theodore finds himself with Samantha (Scarlet Johanssen).  She is warm, curious, supportive, inquisitive and funny.  She is genuinely curious about the world outside the world of circuits and memory chips she lives in and tries to experience life as Theodore experiences it.  But at the same time, her frame of reference is a unique one as well.  She has access to a tremendous level of information and is not subject to the same limits of time and space Theodore is.  Also, it turns out the OSs are talking to each other as well as their humans and they are rapidly evolving into...well, that is the question, isn't it?  The movie takes a metaphysical turn towards the end which leaves us with lots of question.

Her turns out to be great science fiction, not only about big ideas and and questions about the world we live in, but it also is optimistic.  And as fun as explosions and ray gun fights can be...nary a one in here.  And that's just fine.  It is just people living their lives.  Some of those people aren't human, but not too unreasonable to expect in the world of the future.

I love this movie.

How To Train Your Dragon 2: More lessons on these magical beasts from Dreamworks

Five years after the events of the original How To Train Your Dragon, the Vikings of the island nation of Berk have grown accustomed to having dragons in their lives.  Gone from a perpetual state of conflict, dragons are...co-citizens, in that they are not pets, but  share the labor of the citizens, as well as extracurricular activities.  Dragon racing has become a popular pasttime for Berkians, with dragons and riders engaging in this circuit sport that involves races around an arial obstacle track, with points scored by tossing sheep into baskets.  Hiccup's (Jay Baruchel) friends participate in this, such as Snotlout, Fishlegs, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, and his girlfriend, Astrid Hofferson (America Ferrara).  Hiccup's father, Chief Stoic (Gerrard Butler), notes the absence of Hiccup and Astrid goes out looking for him.  It turns out he is out engaging in long reconnaissance flights with Toothless, his black dragon friend.  He is mapping various regions of their world.  He reveals to Astrid that Stoic has been trying to groom him to be the Chief of Berk, but he's not sure if he wants the job.  He is having something of an identity crisis, not sure of who he is or what he wants to do. 

Eventually, as Hiccup and Astrid wander, they stumble across Eret (Kit Harrington) a dragon hunter in the hired service of Drago Bludvist and begin to find a bit more about the dragons of their world and their social structure.  Also, Hiccup's personal quest to find himself will take some surprising turns as he becomes more aware of a threat brewing against the hearty people of Berk.

How To Train Your Dragon 2 does what a good sequel really should, especially when the original film has introduced a wonderful new world.  It should open up more of this world to the audience, reveal more of the terrain and the conceptual gears that keep it working.  That is done here, as we find much, much more about the dragons, what motivates them and how they organize themselves.  Also, we get a bit of a look at more of the other humans of Berk, not a lot, but a bit, with hints of more.  The biggest hint being is that the close relations the humans of Berk enjoy with the dragons is something of an uncommon state.

Hiccup's own quest as well as that of Toothless, his dragon, takes several leaps forward, with the two of them making discoveries about themselves and who they are and realizing they both have more choice in who they are, despite what they may have previously  believed.

Just enough depth to render these characters as "people", rather than just animated sketches.

Good flick.  Check it out.

Edge of Tomorrow: Kill some aliens, bleed, wake up, repeat...

Poor Tom Cruise.  He still hasn't quite shaken his wacky Scientology associations or the jumping on the couch thing.  Which is too bad, because even in his latter years, he is a good actor who usually picks movies that showcase his abilities well.  He also pours his heart into these things, especially genre pictures.  The guy does not hold anything back.  He obviously devotes himself to his craft and bringing each character to life.   He does that as well in the unfortunately titled Edge of Tomorrow, whose vague attempts at being deep stink of corporate boardroomism, almost as much as any movie title with "Rise" in it. 

But that's ok, because when you get into the meat of this film, which comes across as a mash-up of Groundhog Day and Starship Troopers, you end up with a much better film than one would think it is or perhaps better than it has a right to be. I'm not sure why it is so good, either, as the director (Doug Liman) and writer (Christopher McQuarrie) come across as kinda average in their credits.  Some good films, some decent, some stinkers.  But the stars must have been shining on this production, because everyone mentioned above, co-star Emily Blunt (Sergeant Rita Vrataski) and supporting actors like Bill Paxton all are on point in this tight and thoughtful scifi actioner.

The scenario is this.  Earth is being invaded by an alien race called the Mimics, who seem to operate on some kind of hive organization.   They swarm their targets and have Earth's forces on their backs.  But the situation has forced unity not seen since World War 2 and a huge offensive is planned to take Europe.  Casualties are expected to be enormous.  But victory is shouted from the rooftops in anticipation of this, the biggest mechanized landing in world history.  Pumping this fact is United States Military Major (the US apparently has unified it's forces under one organization) William Cage.  He is a Public Affairs Officer, one of the officers trained to be the mouthpiece and public sellers of military activities.  We find out later that the war, naturally, has been hard on the economy, and Cage joined the military because his ad agency went under.  He is glad to be the face of the military and the war effort, but when one general wanted him to land with the advance forces in the coming invasion, Cage balks, panics, does some stupid things and ends up arrested, busted and thrown into an infantry squad with the grunts.  He doesn't even know how to properly operate the basic equipment of a combat soldier and when he lands on the beach and finds his unit unexpectedly under fire, he stumbles and panics, flip flopping around, where he runs into Sergeant Vrataski, who is one of the heroes of the war.  He then encounters an Alpha alien, and after killing it with a mine, its blood soaks into him.  He dies...and wakes up under arrest with a sergeant screaming at him.

But he has seen this scene before.  And again. And again.  Every time he dies, he starts out at that point.  So, he goes forward, trying to do things a little differently.  Buy him some more time.  Learn to be a better soldier, a more effective warrior, learn more and try to discover the secret of what has happened to him and not only how to stop it, but potentially win the war.

Are we destined to march down a prelaid path?  Are we masters of our fate?  Or is it all an interaction of elements?  A road we are stuck on?  A banquet we feast at?  Or a cosmic relationship in which we give, take and partake? 

I'd check out Edge of Tomorrow.  I can't say it offers definitive answers to those big questions.  To do so would kind of defeat the point anyway.  But it will help prod some weighty questions as well as give you a good time at the theater.

Monuments Men-What Makes a Civilization Civilized and Worth Saving?

Shorthand.  Historical shorthand.  Also, embellishment.  That is what Hollywood often does with historical stories to make them work as movies.  Some might complain about this, saying the approach to history is giving viewers inaccurate impressions about particular aspects of history.  Others counter with the fact that a point of history is being given attention in the first place and moviegoers unaware of this particular point now will be.  Ideally, they will be inspired to go out and do their homework and find out something about the actual history.  At the very least, they know it is out there.

I reluctantly fall in the camp of the latter, though I sympathize with the complaints of the former.  I'm a history buff and I always like being told of aspects of history I was previously unaware of.  And I will be honest, I was unaware of the activities of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives program conducted by the United States Army during World War 2.  This outfit, composed of men and women, military and civilian, was dedicated to preserving cultural and historical artifacts in the nations caught up in the fury of war.

The movie depicts a set of characters representing actual members, or amalgams, of the Monuments Men, and if it can be historically matched, it would resemble the period early in the history of the unit, where it was a group of officer assembling a small group of experts.  They are sent into Europe on this mission of cultural and art preservation, as Hitler's forces seemed to be stealing or destroying many of these artifacts.  Also, use of bombs and artillery were doing many of these cultural markers no favors, either.

George Clooney, who also directed Monuments Men, plays Army Lieutenant Frank Stokes (loosely based on George L. Stout) He assembles his experts. who are played by Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Bob Balaban and others.  They are rushed through Basic Training to give them the fundamentals of soldiering and then are sent on their mission into the European theater to investigate suspected hiding places where the German Army has stashed their loot.

I sympathize with Clooney, as he had a difficult task here. to take a somewhat dry but important and overlooked aspect of the War in Europe during World War 2 and to make a viable two hour movie out of it.  He reached long with it, as the look is right, as is the feel.  The actors, all strong screen presences, are given understated roles, attempting to give just enough to humanize them, give a human element to the mission, but not overshadow it. 

The big question in this film is why go through all this just to save works of art?  Why put people in mortal jeopardy just to preserve paintings and statues?  Hitler sought to steal and destroy a culture, not only by murdering it's people, but eliminating it's voice, it's presence, expressed through art.  What is the point of preserving biological existence if you lose your art?  Or, is it a victory when you save a life, but lose a soul?

For pondering that question and pondering it seriously, this movie is worth your time.