Wknd Box Office: Man of Steel, This is the End, The East, Before Midnight, Fill the Void [LeMale et Ha'Halal], Love is All You Need

Here is an interesting article from http://www.debbieschlussel.com/ reviewing some of the movies that came out over the past weekend. This follows this post about some of the movies from last week and THIS POST about some movies that have been released over the past few years that you might have missed! This all follows this post about guidelines to chosing good movies to watch yourself!

Wknd Box Office: Man of Steel, This is the End, The East, Before Midnight, Fill the Void [LeMale et Ha'Halal], Love is All You Need


By Debbie Schlussel



There were so many new movies at the box office, this weekend. So here’s my complete set of reviews:




* “Man of Steel”: UnAmerican UnSuperman of Dull; “Truth, Justice & The American Way” MIA


By Debbie Schlussel



The first thing you need to know about “Man of Steel” is that there is no “Truth, Justice, and the American Way.” The iconic, patriotic Superman phrase is never uttered in this new movie, allegedly about Superman.


Bland of Steel



After all, the filmmakers hope to make mega-millions overseas, and why offend the mega-millions of America-hating foreign movie-goers with anything positive about America? I suppose this is liberal Hollywood’s version of “evolution,” since the last incarnation of Superman, “Superman Returns”–which stank and was far worse than this one (read my review)–had Daily Planet Editor Perry White say, “Truth, justice, and all that other stu.”



In fact, it’s hard to tell if the new “Man of Steel” movie, in theaters today, is really even about Superman. The word “Superman” is only mentioned once, and only in the last third of this very long, quite dull, and incredibly uninspired movie. It’s like they’re embarrassed by the guy. And it’s like he’s in perpetual embarrassment the whole way through, since I can’t remember seeing the guy (played by British actor Henry Cavill) smile until the very end of the movie. He’s in perpetual gravitas. Also not in the movie: photographer Jimmy Olsen, Lex Luthor, and kryptonite. They don’t exist in this version of Metropolis. There is however, a Black Perry White (Laurence Fishburne) and “Jenny” (with no last name), who is presumably the new chickified Jimmy. But the PC stuff isn’t completely down pat yet, because Superman hasn’t come out yet as a vegan Muslim Wonder Woman trapped in an carnivorous atheist Superman’s body, struggling to come out and get a sex change.



Though we see a few scenes of the American flag and some bumbling U.S. Army Generals (who mostly view Superman as the enemy), if you’ve seen the trailers and posters, the new Superman’s uniform is reptilian, dark, and dingy, and looks black and dark burgundy. That, too, is Hollywood lib evolution, since in the last Supe movie, “Superman Returns,” it was navy and maroon.



Also missing is any sense of morality, which was ample in most of the previous Superman products. In this movie, young Clark Kent’s dad (Kevin Costner) tells him that instead of saving a bus full of his classmates (after the bus careened off a bridge and sank in a river), he “maybe” should have let them die, in order to keep secret that he has super powers. Later in the movie, the dad stops Clark Kent from saving him from a tornado, in order to keep his special power a secret.



But here’s what is in the movie: the word, “d*cks”–not once, but twice . . . in two different scenes. Just GUH-REAT for a superhero movie filmmakers know will be attended by gazillions of young kids. Completely unnecessary. In one scene, a school bully calls a young Clark Kent, “a d*ckhead,” and in another scene, Lois Lane chides American generals, proclaiming that “if we’re done measuring d*cks,” she wants to look into mysterious developments near an arctic military base. In another scene, there is a field of skulls, but I guess today’s kids have already been exposed to such graphic stuff.



For me, Clark Kent will always be the late Christopher Reeve. He had charm, he had personality, he had chutzpah and was witty, and he was self-deprecating, humorous, and cool. There is none of that in this Superman. In fact, Henry Cavill is more the anti-Superman or unSuperman than anything. He’s almost more shlemiel than “Man of Steel.” He’s like a college professor activist for Greenpeace, not a superhero. Or maybe he thinks he’s a male supermodel, stuck forever in a pretentious pouting, brooding pose of extreme seriousness and pensive “thought.” Or, toward the beginning of the movie, he’s “The Incredible Hulk,” minus the green, but complete with shirtless, sculpted chest and torn up pants ripped off at the knees, stealing some people’s laundry for a change of clothes. But there is none of the magic or fun that Reeve and the writers and directors brought to his Superman movies in the late ’70s and early to mid-’80s. Those were entertaining. This is just a long slow slog that gets off to a decent stat, but just dies the rest of the way.



This movie did remind me a lot of the one bad Reeve “Superman” movie, “Superman III,” in which Superman is drunk, destroys a lot of buildings, and fails to save quite a few people. In “Man of Steel,” Superman destroys a lot of buildings while he’s fighting off his enemies from Krypton who come to planet earth, and a lot of people die. But I thought Superman was about peace and saving people. Hard to tell in this. And there are boring, prolonged, repetitive scenes of mass destruction of downtown Metropolis that are straight out of the “Transformers” (and “The Avengers”) movies’ playbook. Been there, seen that. And a little goes a long way. This was overkill.



There’s a lot in this movie that’s dull. Amy Adams is dull as Lois Lane, and she doesn’t seem right for the part. She phones it in when uttering her lines, completely devoid of any emotion or inflection most of the time . . . like vacant Brad Pitt in that weird, New Age Chanel No. 5 commercial. The movie is mostly washed-out sepia tones. I didn’t care for the flashbacks and flash forwards of this movie, which are constant. It was herky-jerky and ruined the continuity of the story and the plot. That apparently was by design because the plot is flat, and the villain, played by the one-note Michael Shannon, is dull, too.



The basic story is the one you’ve come to know about Superman–that he was born “Kal-El” on the planet of Krypton to parents. This time, his father, Jor-El, is a bloated Russell Crowe who is killed by rival, General Zod (Shannon). As they are about to be killed and their planet destroyed, the parents send their son to Planet Earth, where he is found and raised by Diane Lane and Kevin Costner. They are the only bright points in this movie.



We see Clark Kent as a kid in Smallville, where his special powers make him a pariah of sorts, so his father demands that he hide them from people. Later, because of this, he’s a drifter trying to find himself–first working on a rig, then in a restaurant in a small town. When Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane hears stories about a mysterious structure hidden near an arctic military base, she heads there, after winning a lawsuit against the U.S. military, which tried to keep her out. She comes upon Clark Kent, who rescues her as she explores a mysterious set of caves and tunnels in a mountain and sees strange robots flying in the air inside those tunnels. She writes it up, and her editor, Perry White, refuses to print it. So she seeks a Matt-Drudge-like website to release the story. But just before their encounter, Clark has released a beacon that alerts General Zod of Clark Kent’s whereabouts, and General Zod comes to earth, threatening the world unless Clark Kent is turned in to him. The FBI arrests Lois, and so Superman surrenders to the U.S. military, who surrenders him to Zod.



For the rest of the movie, it’s mostly non-stop fighting between Superman and Zod and his fellow criminals from Krypton, who broke free when the planet was destroyed. They want to re-establish Krypton on Earth, which will mean the end of human civilization, and Superman wants to save the Earth. At this point, you’ll probably be reminded of “Superman II,” in which Superman fought off three villains from Krypton (in fact, the female villain in this one looks a lot like the female villain in that movie). And like in that movie, they are stronger than he is. Also, like that movie, he inexplicably overcomes them and is victorious. I didn’t quite understand how Superman beat the much stronger villains from Krypton in this, and it’s kind of confusing and a bore for the last third of the movie.



This movie is nearly 2.5 hours. At least a half hour should have been lopped off. The script should have been tightened, and some magic, charm, and personality inserted somewhere. Many critics describe this Superman as “dark.” But, if anything, it’s more of a “cold” movie. It’s just not that entertaining. And it’s definitely not amusing. The movie was better than I expected, but that’s because I expected to absolutely hate it. It’s far better than the last outing, “Superman Returns.” But it still leaves a lot to be desired. It’s missing something, many things actually. It was just an okay movie (I saw it in 3D, which didn’t help make it better). And it didn’t seem like a Superman movie at all. “Man of Steel” is an imposter.



Near the end of the movie, Superman tries to convince the inept U.S. Army generals that he’s American and will work with them. “I grew up in Kansas. You can’t get more American than that.” (I wonder if they’ll keep that line in the film as they show it overseas.) It seems he’s trying to convince us in the American audience more than the generals onscreen.



No sale for me. In “Man of Steel,” we’re not in Kansas anymore.



HALF A MARX PLUS AN OBAMA


* “This is the End“: The good news about this movie is that half of Hollywood dies toward the very beginning. The bad news is that that part isn’t true in real life. Otherwise, this is yet another raunchy, disgusting, rarely funny offering aimed at teen and twenty-something slacker guys. If your idea of showing a guy urinating all over a toilet seat up close is funny, then this is for you. Ditto if you enjoy dumb, unfunny jokes about a guy ejaculating all over an old Playboy magazine or a scene of another guy getting oral sex. Classy. The movie also looks like a bunch of 30-something Hollywood stars wanted to make a quick buck and hang out at the same time, so they made it into a movie.

The story: a bunch of celebrities play themselves and attend a party at James Franco’s new, garish modern home in the Hollywood Hills. The story initially focuses on Jay Baruchel who came to Los Angeles to visit and stay with his fellow Canadian actor, Seth Rogen. But Baruchel is kind of a misanthrope. He hates hanging out with people, especially Hollywood people, hates L.A., and is suspicious of the motives of actors who claim to like him, such as Jonah Hill. But, despite his objections, Rogen drags him to Franco’s party, which is chock full of stars, including Rihanna, Emma Watson, Paul Rudd, and others. Soon, however, there are mysterious attacks on Hollywood earth, and it appears aliens have struck or that there is a giant earthquake. Baruchel and Rogen are the first to discover this because they went on a run to a convenience store. When they return to the party, no one believes them, until the ground starts caving in, in front of Franco’s house. Many of the celebrities and other guests at the party fall to their deaths in a giant black hole. The few remaining stars hole up in Franco’s house, including Rogen, Baruchel, Hill, Danny McBride, and Craig Robinson, trying to survive what eventually turns out to be the apocalypse, while they fight amongst themselves.



A few–very few–parts of this are funny. Mostly it isn’t. Even among raunchy, disgusting movies featuring big and semi-big stars, this was the least funny I can remember in some time. And, like I said, it was mostly just gross. It’s definitely not boring, but that’s the best I can say for it. It’s filthy crap. I liked the idea of the apocalypse and how childish and idiotic Hollywood stars act when it comes. But the movie collapses under unnecessary raunch, idiocy, and a flat-out mess.



FOUR MARXES


* “The East“: I had mixed feelings about this movie. On the one hand, it’s a terrific thriller, very interesting, and not anything you’ve ever seen before. And, even though it’s fiction, it has great insight into the far left, the Occupy Wall Street crowd, and the world of anti-business terrorists. It gets them down pat, down to the fact that many are the spoiled rotten, privileged kids of the wealthy. On the other hand, I felt it put too many ideas into the heads of those who want to attack businesses and perpetrate acts of terrorism upon them. And, worst of all, this movie seems to ultimately–at least in part–take the terrorists’ side, by showing the targets of the terrorist attacks to be evil corporate villains who poison and pollute America. Yes, the typical far-left view of business. But I think the movie also shows that the terrorists go too far, and, in the end, the protagonist of the movie–while for a time becoming sympathetic to them–doesn’t like what they do and realizes that they actually do real harm and are dangerous.



The storyline: a devout Christian (Brit Marling) former FBI agent is hired by a company that does counter-espionage against terrorists who attack large corporations. She is sent out into the field to infiltrate a terrorist group, “The East,” which poisons CEOs and does other terrorist attacks on corporations and their executives. Some of the group are scions of wealthy families and corporate CEOs. They get jobs as waiters at parties for top drug company execs and poison their drinks with deadly medicine produced by the company. They kidnap a Corporate CEO and one of his top execs and make them strip and go into polluted water. They are monsters and far worse than any of the allegedly wrongful business execs they attack. They are also “Freegans,” eating out of dumpsters, while they live in a boarded up home on the land of their leader, Alexander Skarsgard. As I said, the movie has these leftist freaks down pat, down to their various indoctrination techniques and cultish commune style living, complete with free love, community baths in a lake, in which they wash each other nude, and so on. It’s weird, but that’s how they are. Heck, that’s how they are in their tents in New York at their Occupy crap.



The movie is co-written by its star, a fantastic actress, Marling, whose praises I’ve sung before on this site. All of her movie projects are interesting and new, and several of them are great. And she writes and stars in most of them, always with keen, nuanced performances.



While I didn’t like all the messages, it’s an interesting and entertaining movie, if you know that these terrorists are the enemy, and I think everyone reading this site and this review knows that.



TWO REAGANS


* “Before Midnight“: This is the third installment in a series, beginning with 1995′s “Before Sunrise,” then following up with 2004′s “Before Sunset.” You don’t necessarily need to see the other two to figure out this movie, but it’s a good idea.



The first movie is the story of an American guy, Jesse (Ethan Hawke), and a French chick, Celine (Julie Delpy), both in their 20s, who meet and fall in love on a train running through Europe. They promise to meet again in ten years, but when that doesn’t happen, you get to the story of the second movie, in which he is a successful author who has written about the experience in his novel and she shows up to his book signing in France. He’s married, and they sleep together, with him missing his return back to America. This third (and, supposedly AND hopefully, final) installment finds Jesse and Celine married with very cute, young twin daughters. They are on summer vacation in Greece, where they are staying at a famous author’s home, while Jesse writes his next book.



I mostly hated this movie because it’s the story of every unhappy far-left wife who thinks she’s the Joan of Arc of feminism, and is “enslaved” by her evil husband who wants to work. Except the reality in this marriage, that Celine doesn’t get is that she’s the man in the relationship, and is lucky that henpecked, unappreciated Jesse remains. He wants to move the family back to his native Chicago, so that he can be with his son from his first marriage and be in his life as he becomes a teen and comes of age. But Celine wants to take a left-wing activist job in France, where they live. There is a ton of arguing and fighting, and who needs to go to the movies to see that. On the other hand, her feminist shrieking and ranting come off as absurd (because they are), and Jesse’s responses in their arguing are hilarious and I laughed repeatedly. You feel for this guy who gave up his American life for this annoying, far-left shrew. At least I did, though I don’t think it’s what the filmmakers intended.



I could have done without this movie and stuck with the far more charming first two installments. This was like the nightmare of reality. And who needs reality when you go to the movies? You want escapism. Instead, you have the constantly whining Delpy, who is now somewhat overweight, not that attractive, and spends half the movie in an ill-fitting dress that is too tight on her. Then, in one of the fighting scenes, she is topless with her droopy mosquito bite breasts. Yuck. Didn’t need to see them . . . or to see Hawke kissing them. No thank you.



Ditto for the movie, which is filled with New Age psychobabble of liberal Europeans.



ONE-AND-A-HALF MARXES


* “Fill the Void [LeMale et Ha'Halal]“: I’m not sure what the point of this Israeli film was . . . other than to creep people out about Orthodox Jews of the Chassidic variety and make their lives seem totally unhappy and weird. That’s what I got from this boring, awkward, pointless movie. And if I did not know and have Chassidim in my family (my cousin, Yermiah, is the leader of the Belzer Chassidic choir in Jerusalem), this propaganda might be effective, as it has been to so many movie critics who’ve seen it and, unfortunately, decried this life in a way they would never ever decry Muslim life. Most of the Chassidic Jews I know are actually very happy, joyous, and contented people, more so than most other segments of society. But you wouldn’t know it in this cold, sad movie. And if you didn’t get that in spades, the movie adds in a creepy character with no arms who has to have others hold her drinks while she drinks through a straw. Not sure what the armless have to do with Chassidic Judaism (as handicaps such as this afflict all walks of life no matter the religion or ethnicity), but they put it in, anyway. You can always count on secular Israelis to make the most anti-Semitic, anti-Jewish, and anti-Israel films imaginable. No wonder this won awards at so many Western film festivals, including Sundance.



In Hebrew with English subtitles, the movie is the story of a Tel Aviv-area Chassidic girl (strike one!–most Israeli Chassidic Jews live in Jerusalem), Shira, who desperately wants to get married and is in the process of meeting men for an arranged marriage. Soon, her pregnant sister dies in childbirth, and Shira and her mother take care of the baby. But the father wants to get re-married, and the grandmother is afraid she will lose contact with her grandchild if he marries and moves away, adding to her sorrow from losing her daughter. So, she pressures her daughter, Shira, to marry the man who was her brother-in-law. Through a series of silly machinations and arguments, the wedding eventually happens. The end.



Oh, and did I mention that, aside from being self-hating propaganda, this movie is slow and boring as hell?



FOUR MARXES PLUS FOUR BIN LADENS


* “Love is All You Need“: This movie was not bad, but I could have done without all the fighting and melodrama. The suave and debonaire Pierce Brosnan plays a cantankerous, wealthy fruit magnate and widower who is based in Copenhagen, Denmark. (The movie is half in English and half in Danish with English subtitles.) His son is marrying the daughter of Ida (the charming Trine Dyrholm), a Danish hairdresser, who has just survived breast cancer and lost all of her hair. She catches her loutish slob of a husband cheating on her, just before she flies to the coast of Italy for the wedding at Brosnan’s seaside estate. At the airport, Ida has a car accident with Brosnan in the parking lot, and they discover they are soon to become in-laws. Eventually, they fall in love, amidst much turmoil and drama at the Italian estate. It’s definitely an entertaining, relaxing movie, but for the drama and weird, side gay tangent. I didn’t need to see two guys making out. Otherwise, I enjoyed it. It’s a cute love story, and the acting of the main players is pretty good, as is the chemistry between the romantic leads. The scenery is beautiful, too.



This is a chick flick, but it’s a decent one.



ONE-AND-A-HALF REAGANS