Here Comes The Boom!

A Whole Different Kind of Rocky 

Argo - 3 Stars (out of four)

Score one for Adam Sandler and his Happy Gilmore productions!  Ordinarily, most things Adam Sandler touches are amusing, two or three good joke stories with good hearts.  Not so with Here Comes The Boom!, a truly funny, yet weirdly inspiring underdog story in the vein of Rocky, Rudy, and Hoosiers, but with a lot more laughs.

The story is about a Boston school that has fallen on hard fiscal times whose principal announces that in order to meet their budget, they must cut all extracurricular activities, chief among them the music program. Kevin James plays the once very inspiring, but now apathetic biology teacher who volunteers to try to rally the teachers to raise the necessary $48,000 to save the school and his friend, Henry Winkler's (yes, for those of you old enough to remember, THAT Henry Winkler), job.  He begins to teach a basic citizenship course for immigrants who want to become citizens where he meets Dutch giant of a man who asks Kevin to tutor him.  During their sessions, Kevin founds out that this guy, Niko, is an ex-MMA fighter and that fighters can make a lot of money quickly, even if they lose. He hatches a plan to train with Niko to fight in MMA fights until he can raise the money by losing. When word gets out he is doing this, hilarity and inspiration ensue.  I don't want to ruin the jokes by telling them here only to say this:  Unlike a lot of other films that show their best two gags in the trailer, this is chock full of them that will have you grinning ear to ear by the end.

But this is the best part.  Unlike a lot of comedies today that must broadcast their jokes (including most of Adam Sandler's movies), this one is actually subtle, or as subtle as a comedy can be.  It feels real, not some surreal world of pratfalls and stale routines a la The Three Stooges, Anchorman, or Deeds.  Don't get me wrong, movies like that have their place and can be vastly entertaining, but when you are trying to strive for something bigger, something with a message, it becomes inappropriate and gets in its own way.  I think a lot of that has a lot to do with Kevin James, whose King of Queens on TV, I will admit, I was a latecomer to he party. He has an instantl likeable everyday charisma about him that is crucial, like Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson or Bradley Cooper.  This inherent likeability propels them through what would otherwise be stupid roles in less able hands.  Comedy, by it's nature, is unreal and has its own rules, like a musical.  People just don't act like this in real life, but by its absurdity, casts a distorted mirror up on its subject and highlights what the writer was trying to say without browbeating his audience.  When done right, it can be sublimely satisfying, like this film.

The best part of the film is there are no bad guys, just bad situations to overcome.  The overall culprit is not the system, teachers unions or anything else, although the film touches on both. It's life, and how it throws us a curve occassionally.  How we deal with these curves is just as important than overcoming them, and we just may get a few victories along the way.  But that doesn't mean the way will be easy, or even if we will win in the first place.  But to persevere, that is what's important.  This movie has all of that and more.  Go see it if you need a lift or are discouraged today.  You won't be disappointed.

Argo

Ben and the Argonauts

Argo -  4 Stars (of four)

At the risk of sounding hyperbolous, Argo is a godsend.  The combined crap stew that Hollywood has been spewing out over the past couple years has been mindnumbingly vacuous and condescending.  There was a brief, shining moment when Hollywood realized you can make quality entertainment for an audience over the age of twelve a couple years ago.  But then went right back to the brainless crap that crescendoed with the combined insulting and cynical Battleship.  But then Argo came out.  Finally, a movie made by adults FOR adults that is exciting, dramatic and thrilling.  It can certainly proudly take its place alongside such great films like The Third Man, The Counterfeit Traitor, The Manchurian Candidate, The Odessa File, The Little Drummer Girl, or Gladiator.  I hope George Clooney and Ben Affleck, as the producers of this movie are monitarily rewarded and honored for this film because I want to see MORE of them.  Now, I love a big ole dumb action flick just as much as the next guy, but I really do hunger for great, meaty entertainment the likes of Argo.

For those of you who don't know, Argo is the recounting of a declassified story of how the CIA, along with the Canadian government, exfiltrated six American Embassy workers from Tehran during the takeover of the U.S. Embassy during the 1979 Iranian Revolution.  They did this by making the Embassy employees the crew of a fictitious movie doing scouting locations in Iran.  The CIA officer, played by Ben Affleck, flies into Tehran, meets up with the Americans who had been in hiding at the Canadian Ambassador's residence, and walk out through the airport as a Canadian film crew.

The movie takes some radically different tones.  The first act, setting up the problem, the US Government coming up with absurd escape plans, and finally the creation of the fake movie, Argo, is actually very funny and engaging.  From the absurdities of the State Department's attempts to put an escape plan together to the absurdities of Hollywood egos and fake atmosphere.  The movie takes an almost satirical look at Hollywood culture and shows its artificiality for what it is.  The movie then makes an almost surreal juxtaposition with the ersatz world of show business and the very real business of being a fugitive in revolutionary Iran.  The second act, the plan itself, is all suspense, worthy of being in the company of some of the greatest espionage stories in cinematic history.  Finally, the third act, the actual escape, is nail-biting intensity.  I don't know if the escape was quite so close or not, but it was thrilling to watch.  An interesting side note, the end credits run photos of the actual people involved side by side with the actor portraying them.  The casting choices were phenomenal.

Now, can we finally say it?  When will we, as a nation, finally acknowledge Ben Affleck as a great artist?  What is the source of this communal revulsion, or at least distaste of him?  There does not seem to be anyone in Hollywood that elicits as much ridicule and derision as Ben Affleck.  Why?  Is it because he has been, admittedly, in a lot of bad movies?  All stars go through these.  Harrison Ford made Hannover Street and Hollywood Homicide.  Clint Eastwood made Paint Your Wagon and Any Which Way You Can.  Liz Taylor made Cleopatra.  Al Pacino made Cruising.  Robert DeNiro made Rocky and Bullwinkle.  The Wachowskis made Speed Racer.  George Clooney made Attack of the Killer Tomatoes 2 (!) AND Batman and Robin.  Warren Beatty made Reds AND Ishtar.  Even Steven Spielberg made 1941 AND The Terminal.  So we see they can't all be hits, box office gold.  Was it because he was a bit of a womanizer in his early career?  If you lay that one at his feet, you may as well add him to the club that includes Charlie Chaplin, Errol Flynn, and Warren Beatty to name a few.  All men who were the new young and hot talents for their respective ages.  Is it because he is perceived, unfairly, as a bad actor?  Need I mention John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwartzeneggar or Chuck Norris?  Not being great thespians never hurt them.  Or is it, I believe, that green-eyed monster, jealousy?

1. Ben Affleck has now directed two great movies, Argo and The Town.  He has received an Oscar for Good Will Hunting.  He has received Emmys and Golden Globes   He has been to the heights of success for his MTV movie award nomination for Best Kiss in Daredevil and to the depths for his attainment of the Razzie for the trifecta stinkeroo of Datedevil, Gigli and Paycheck.  And despite what Jay and Silent Bob say, he was NOT the bomb in Phantoms.  But let's take a closer look.  He also made: Good Will Hunting, Shakespeare In Love, Chasing Amy, Boiler Room, Hollywoodland, Dazed and Confused, Jersey Girl (yeah, I SAID it!), Forces of Nature, Changing Lanes, Dogma, The Sum of All Fears and Armageddon. Whether or not they were all equally good is a matter of debate, but they are all entertaining in their own ways.  So why do we act so shocked when he makes great movies like Argo or The Town, like we just discovered a new Gospel?  He's been here all along, and bad press, along with our love to hate somebody has kept him from being recognized as a great artist in his own right, not just the junior partner of Damon/Affleck.  It's time to get over our irrational, knee-jerk distaste of him and really look at what he is capable of, objectively and honestly.

Taken 2

Okay, this will be a little clumsy to start, but let's open with Taken 2, sure to be the big winner this weekend.  To begin, Taken 2 is a rip snorting good time.  It is full of action, action, action.  Car chases, foot chases, rooftop chases, more foot cases, more car chases and ass whupping fights.  I was thoroughly entertained watching it and had a lot of fun.  Unfortunately, that's about it.

Taken 2 starts a couple years after Taken takes place.  It still has Liam Neeson, who, at 60, appears to be the biggest action hero in Hollywood, or at least the most intense anyway.  He still is the doting father of his teenage daughter, and still estranged from his hot ex-wife, played by Famke Jannson.  You may remember her as Xenia Onatopp in Goldeneye, the coldest killer with the oddest fetishes.  In this outing, she has separated from her rich, new husband, and sorta appears to be reconciling with our hero.  He gets a quick security job in Istanbul, and asks her if she and their daughter would like to join him there after the job is finished.  They agree, and the plot spirals away from there.

For those of you who saw Taken, we all know that Liam broke up a group of very nasty group of Albanian white slavers who kidnapped his daughter in Paris to sell to mean arab sheiks who appear to have less than honorable intentions.  Well, even nasty slavers, it seems, have family who loves them  and these nasty slavers are no exception.  One of the dead ones had a dad, played by Rade Serbedzija, Hollywood's go-to guy when they need a safe, foreign-sounding bad guy so the producers don't seem racist.  It turns out that he is very angry and sad Liam killed his kid and vows revenge by kidnapping his wife and daughter to kill and "sell to the lowest brothel" respectively to punish our hero.  Then kill him in a most gruesome way.  The rest of the movie after that is all sound and thunder.

Now, I really liked the original Taken, despite its racist undertones.  It has a little of everything, action, suspense, drama, pathos, even topicality with the human trafficking angle.  Its strength comes from the fact that Liam Neeson is not your standard action hero.  Quite the opposite, actually.  He has clear motivation, saving his daughter, and even a bit of an arc, where he and his daughter change a little on the other side.  In other words, it "feels" real.  There is not too much straining the bounds of reality, or at least the perceived bounds of reality.  Unfortunately, between the time it took to make Taken and Taken 2, something awful happened.  Liam Neeson became an action star.  Also, during that time, because they like the box office an action hero brings in, they decided to make an action movie.  See, the first was more of a mystery, noirish-type of deal.  We were with him every step of the way, tracking the bad guys with scraps of information most people would overlook, sort of like MacGuyver meets Sherlock Holmes.  We have tense moments, betrayal by his friend, and then HE is on the lam.  And in the end, you don't know if he will save his daughter or not.  Taken 2, there is never any doubt.  It is a by the numbers actioner, with no real soul or excitement because we've all seen it before and there's nothing new.

It's sad, because this could have been another great film instead of a good one.  Most of the films this summer were similar, from Bourne to Batman to The Expendibles.  Tragic, missed opportunities that really could have surpassed the mark.  Only The Avengers seems to have escaped this fate, but just barely.  One can only hope Bond's new outing, Skyhook, will buck this trend.  But I am not optimistic.  Hollywood is nothing, if not responsive, to fans and their wallets, and the brain dead fanboys are already clamoring for more gadgets, and where's Q?

You'll probably note that in my description of the plot, it sounds like I'm reading off a stale, worn story, and that's what this is, a comfortable, old shoe.  The stupid description is deliberate, because it is a stupid story.  But, I guess, what can we expect?  I was hoping something a little closer to the first.  Everything in this movie is simple.  Simple plot, simple bad guys, simple feelings.  There is nothing complicated at all.  While this movie attempts to give the bad guy depth by giving him motivation, it is still a simple caricature.  This is why the first movie is a tad racist, and the way you can judge that is:  Can the plot still function if you plug anyone else in there?  If so, you have a caricature, and usually a bad one.  This is lazy writing at best and sinister at its worst. Most people know there are bad people all over the world; they are not focused in Europe or Asia or anywhere else for that matter.  Just because a story is undemanding is not an excuse for lazy characterization.  Ultimately, the best movies are those that have the best characters, good and bad.  They have to be believable. They anchor us to the story by giving us something with which to identify, or at least understand.  This is critical in movies, especially ones that ask us to believe fairly unbelievable things, like sci-fi, fantasy or action movies.

So, that's a long way to say that Taken 2 is fun, entertaining, but ultimately hollow.  If you want to turn your brain off and go with the flow, this is your flick.  If you want something meatier, rematch the original.  2.5 stars out of 4.

Hello and intro

So, this has been a big dream of mine, and apparently a LOT of other people, but here goes.  Hello.  I'm Thombat, and quite simply, I love movies.  I have loved them all my life.  I grew up in a darkened theater, waiting to be whisked off to whatever magical world lay before me.  As time moved on, and I started to understand them and the craft involved, I loved them even more.  Kind of like trying to figure how a magician does his tricks, a director waves his wand and weaves a tapestry of entertainment that can take us anywhere; celluloid dreams in a flickering dreamscape.

Okay, enough of the sentimental crap.  The plain truth is, I'm not artsy (most of the time), I could care less about Godard, Fellini and Bunel.  I am just a regular guy who loves movies, as I assume most of you are as well.  While I may occasionally delve into the esoteric stuff of movies, I set out to create a review site for people like you and me, who see movies as art AND entertainment.  This, in the end, is what I will look at most of the time.  Is it entertaining in my opinion and why?  I would love to hear what you think as well.  Art, in the end, means something different to everybody, and that is part of the fun.  So let's talk.

So sit back, as the lights dim, and if you're sitting next to me in the theater, shut the hell up until the end!  Talk to you all soon!