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 choosing good movies to watch yourself!



 

Wknd Box Office: Chappie, Unfinished Business, Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

By Debbie Schlussel
Spring may be near, but it’s yet another crappy weekend at the box office, as I wasn’t much enthused about any of the new offerings in theaters, today.


* “Chappie“: This is the relative best of the new movies this weekend, with the emphasis on the word, “relative,” as I wouldn’t pay ten bucks-plus to see this. And, in the end, the movie tends to glorify two thugs merely because they aren’t as thugly as other thugs. I questioned, also, why a movie that takes place in South Africa contains mostly white crime lords and gangstas, when we know that in South Africa, they are mostly Black. Um, hello . . . .? On the other hand, that’s no surprise, since this movie is written and directed by Neill Blomkamp, who was also behind “District 9″ (read my review), and is obsessed with the race agenda–ie., that Whites are racist, but Blacks aren’t.
The story: in South Africa, crime is now so bad, that instead of sending police to fight the mostly White criminal gangs, robot police are sent out. They are tough, indestructible, and owned and operated by an American company run by Susan “Sigourney” Weaver. The robots’ inventor, Dev Patel, wants to take a damaged robot and convert him into a humanitarian who writes poetry. When his boss, Weaver, forbids this, Patel sneaks the robot out of the company premises. But both he and the robot are kidnapped by criminal thugs who owe $20 million to a crime lord. They want to use the robot to rob banks and steal cars and eventually train and trick the robot into doing that. (Two of these lesser thugs are played by a real-life South African husband and wife White rap duo, Yo-Landi Visser and Ninja, who call themselves, “Die Antwoord.”) Meanwhile, a company rival of Patel, Hugh Jackman (in the world’s ugliest mullet), wants his new “Moose” robots to stop crime instead of Patel’s smaller police robots, so he disables the programs of the police robots, starts chaos on the streets, and causes a lot of problems, including mass destruction. There is also the concept of human consciousness being transferred out of humans and into robots and computers (which we’ve seen in other recent movies, such as “Lucy”–read my review–and “Transcendence”–read my review).
The funniest part of this movie is when the thugs train the robot to act “all gangsta” in the way he walks and talks. But the most interesting and frightening part of the movie is that thugs could actually train indestructible robots to commit crimes against humans. That may be coming in our future as robots are more and more developed and technology advances. But it wasn’t worth watching this movie to raise that point in our consciousness.
HALF A REAGAN

Watch the trailer . . .

* “Unfinished Business“: Don’t let the trailer fool you on this one. It isn’t funny, just absolutely awful and gratuitously crude. This is stark Gitmo torture material. A bathroom full of penises sticking through “glory holes” at a gay bar–this is funny how? Men “shaking hands” with those penises–that’s funny? Ugh. This movie is utter garbage, extremely dumb, and long, slow, and boring despite being just 1.5 hours. I kept looking at my watch, with my mind begging for this to end already. It seems the whole purpose of this movie was to show multiple scenes of penises and womens’ naked breasts.
The “story”: a businessman (Vince Vaughn) quits his sales job after being denied a raise. He decides to start his own company competing with his former employer. He hires an incredibly stupid job applicant (Dave Franco) and a former colleague who was forced to retire. They desperately compete for a contract selling “swarf,” metal filings left over from finished industrial jobs. But they are repeatedly led on a wild goose chase by employees of the company set to buy from them. And they are competing for the deal against Vaughn’s former boss and company. They fly all over the world and go through all kinds of ridiculous, unfunny situations to get the deal done. In the meantime, Vaughn’s kids are being bullied and he communicates with them and his wife on FaceTime.
I hate-hate-hated this movie, and it’s–hands down–the worst movie I’ve seen in months (though maybe only slightly worse than “The Wedding Ringer”–read my review–and “Hot Tub Time Machine 2″–ready my review), despite the stiff competition for that title. Skip at all cost.
FOUR MARXES PLUS FOUR ISIS BEHEADINGS

Watch the trailer . . .

* “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel“: I’m not sure why a sequel to “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” (read my review) needed to be made. The first one wasn’t that good. In fact, it was a cheesy senior citizen’s version of “The Love Boat,” taking place at a rundown hotel in India. This is the same thing for the second time, but even less charming and with the addition of Richard Gere. At age 65, he’s transitioning into “American Gigolo–AARP Edition.” Amidst the stories of senior citizens, there is a story about the hotel’s 30-something (or 20-something?) proprietor, Dev Patel, his upcoming marriage, his competition with a rival, and his seeking to expand his “hotel empire” with a outside investors who’ve sent a secret inspector. Or something.
This long, slow, boring movie is an insult to senior citizens, at whom it’s aimed. And the disjointed stories are long, boring, uninteresting, and not tightly written. There is no suspense, and nothing to care about. It’s just an empty waste of time. Oh, and did I mention that this is the Feel-Good Senior Citizen Suicide Movie of the Year? One of the characters commits suicide at the end, for no apparent reason. Like I said, this isn’t well-written at all. They don’t explain things, and I just didn’t care, even if they had. This is a snoozer.
The ending, in which Richard Gere and the other senior citizens are dancing in a “Bollywood”-style routine at a wedding, is just absolutely comical, cheesy, and ridiculous.
Skipworthy.
ONE MARX

Watch the trailer . . .

Wknd Box Office: Arbitrage, Robot & Frank, Sleepwalk With Me, Detropia

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 some of the movies from last weekand 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: Arbitrage, Robot & Frank, Sleepwalk With Me, Detropia


By Debbie Schlussel



I didn’t dislike any of the new movies this weekend, which is rare.


* “Arbitrage“: There is a lot of Oscar buzz around this movie starring uber-lefties Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon. And, though the movie definitely has an Occupy Wall Street vibe to it and an Occupy ending, it’s a taut, well-done thriller that will engage you and keep you on the edge of your seat. There is also a Black-versus-White vibe to it, with the White guy as sort of the user in a “Driving Miss Daisy”-on-steroids kind of a way that I resented, since it’s manipulative and the same old, stale, liberal older-rich-White-dude-uses-younger-poor-Black-guy narrative we always get (and it’s never the other way around). Still, even with all of these strong caveats, I enjoyed it anyway because I know better and, as with any good thriller, I wanted to see what happens next. You will, too.



Gere is a Bernard Madoff-esque billionaire in Manhattan who is married to Susan Sarandon. He is celebrating his 60th birthday at the same time that he is desperately trying to avoid auditors finding a giant hole of missing funds (which he lost on a bad investment deal) that could sink him and his hedge fund. He’s trying to sell the company to save himself and his family, but the billionaire thinking of buying keeps putting him off. One of Gere’s rich friends has given him a massive amount of money as a “loan” to cover the whole, but he wants the money back now. Gere’s ethical, diligent daughter (Brit Marling), who is his company’s compliance officer, begins to notice accounting irregularities and starts asking questions. And at the same time all of this is happening, a much larger crisis emerges: something happens to Gere’s extramarital girlfriend (former supermodel Laetitia Casta), and he is now under investigation. All of these crises come to a head simultaneously, and Gere must do the impossible: fix them all at once and outsmart a Columbo-like detective (Tim Roth).



The script in this is tight and, unlike most Hollywood movies that root against the rich, this one is designed to make the audience root for Gere to extricate himself and get away with it all. He’s not one of these evil rich that Hollywood’s hypocritical class wars usually give us. He’s more nuanced and has a conscience, despite his cutting ethical corners all around. He wants to do the right thing, even if he’s a marital cheat, fudges numbers on the books, and lies to police about an accident. All of these things are definitely bad and wrong, but still, there is something redeeming about him that causes you to want him to make out okay in the end. And he’s not really like Madoff. He didn’t deliberately cheat his company or the government out of money. He just made bad investments and risky choices and is trying to fix it without stealing.



As I noted, I didn’t like the ending or some of the typical liberal narrative, but it’s still fun to watch, anyway. I like a good thriller, and this is that. And whether or not you like Gere’s politics (and I do NOT–particularly the U.S.-funded campaign commercials in which he appeared with Islamic terrorists and Jew-haters for the Palestinian elections), you cannot deny his acting chops. It’s a weak year at the movies, thus far, so I’ll bet he gets an Oscar nom for this role.



TWO-AND-A-HALF REAGANS (Would Be Three-and-a-half, But For the liberal-infused themes)


* “>Robot & Frank“: I like actor Frank Langella. Even when the movie is bad (which is rare for his projects), he’s always good. But this was a good movie, and he sparkles as usual. It’s a fun, light movie that takes place in the future. Cars haven’t changed much, but libraries are in the process of closing up shop (along with physical, bound books), and phone calls are on video. Also cellphones are transparent, and robots exist to help people as caretakers and companions.



Langella is a divorced, retired jewelry burglar whose memory is lapsing, as are his self-care skills and his homemaking. His son (James Marsden) buys him a robot to help take care of him and make him healthy. At first he is resentful, but soon he is planning a robbery with the robot. Langella’s daughter (Liv Tyler) is an anti-robot liberal who is touring the world on grant proposals to help the poor. Susan Sarandon also co-stars.



Funny, enjoyable, entertaining, and it has what I like in a good movie: a semi-ambiguous and cool sci-fi ending to an interesting futuristic movie.



THREE-AND-A-HALF REAGANS


* “Sleepwalk With Me“: At first I hated this movie and every single person in it. All of the characters were annoying and none of them was likeable. Plus the main characters are hipsters, and I hate hipsters . . . with a passion. But the movie finally got better and became more interesting once it delved into the sleepwalking dysfunction of the main character. And thankfully, the high-pitched Carol Kane made a quick exit.



Mike Birbiglia plays a comedian wannabe who is stuck in a dead-end job as a bartender. But soon he gets a gig on the road. He’s not funny but he keeps getting booked on gigs no one else wants and/or which have to be filled quickly. Suddenly, he is on the road non-stop, and comes out of his shell becoming funny once he begins ripping on his new fiancee (Lauren Ambrose) in his act. At the same time, his anxiety about getting married and being on the road in a tiring routine exacerbates his sleepwalking disorder. Birbiglia’s disorder gets so bad, he runs through hotels and jumps through windows while he is asleep. It’s interesting, but once we really get into it, it kind of collapses into the ending.



Not really sure I’d pay ten bucks for this. But I might rent it.



ONE REAGAN



* “Detropia“: While I enjoyed much of the cinematography in this documentary about the dying and death of Detroit–it has a retro cool vibe to it, there isn’t much new in it, especially if you live in and/or grew up in the Detroit area, as I did. You’ve seen similar footage around the internet, and we see it whenever we drive into or through Detroit: dilapidated, decayed, collapsing buildings that were once grand. A desolate city becoming ever more desolate by the day. The thing is, the movie doesn’t show the Marxist Third World Detroit City Council and its responsibility for much never getting done. There is no comment on the welfare state that has overtaken Black culture and, with it, Detroit. And constant commentary by a Cadillac-driving auto union official fails to really challenge the union’s contribution to the death of jobs and the auto industry here. On the other hand, it unintentionally shows that contribution when a union meeting results in militant workers refusing to take a pay cut. The plant closes as a result, and they all lose their jobs. But, again, there’s little new in this movie. Still, the visuals are well shot and it is entertaining from that perspective. The sadness of Detroit and the sense of the greatness it once was is well captured. As for the pretentious street theater in the movie, it’s just stupid (and, thankfully, limited).



ONE REAGAN