Bust out the hibachi and the water wings, it’s time for the summer! Big, loud, flashy flicks to rot your brain during the hot months! Here’s the lowdown on what’s sizzlin’ at your neighborhood moviehouse:
STARRING: Jim Carrey, Jennifer Aniston, Morgan Freeman and Steve Carell
I used to think all Jim Carrey needed was a cheeseburger and a hug. Getting paid a gazillion dollars apparently just didn’t seem enough to make the guy happy. Seems the dude wants to be the most beloved movie star around, but can’t figure out how. Does he want to make silly blockbuster comedies like “Ace Ventura” or heartfelt dramatic fare like “The Truman Show”? Seems he wants it both ways, but audiences just won’t have it.
Moviegoers prefer funny Jim to serious James. They want the guy who would blow out his colon to get a laugh. And it put Big Jimbo in a bit of a pickle, alternating between empty yukfests and sallow dramas. But things seemed to be looking up. Either he found a good therapist or finally accepted his fate as a comic hero and placating his serious side in the bargain. Carrey has reunited with director pal Tom Shadyac (“Ace Ventura, Pet Detective” and “Liar, Liar”) for the divine comedy, “Bruce Almighty.”
Carrey plays Bruce Nolan, a beleaguered Buffalo TV reporter, who feels God is punishing him.
He’s stuck doing fluffy stories while his smarmy rival (Steve Carell from “The Daily Show”) gets the anchor desk. And even though he’s got a sweet live-in girlfriend (Jennifer Aniston from “Friends”), Bruce is ticked because he’s always stuck in traffic with his crappy car and his dog keeps peeing in the house. If this was cause for martyrdom, we’d all be saints, but so it goes in this flick. After getting fired for having a hilarious on-air meltdown (one of the film’s high points), Bruce seriously slams the man upstairs and gets called to the main office.
God, played here by the always-reliable Morgan Freeman (“The Shawshank Redemption”), has been keeping tabs on our pal Bruce and he’s pretty tired of all the bitching. If Bruce thinks he can do better than the Holy Father, then so be it. God grants Bruce all His powers and proceeds to take a little vacation. Omnipotent Jim Carrey is pretty much a blank check for outrageous comedy. Whether he’s getting back at some street toughs who hassled him (the term “monkeys might fly out of my butt” will never be the same) or making his condescending anchor bud speak in tongues, your funny bone will be adequately tickled.
“Bruce Almighty” is light and entertaining, even if most of the gags aren’t very original. The film also tries way too hard to produce a catch-phrase along the lines of Carrey’s infamous “Alrighty then” from “Ace Ventura.” But overall, the flick has its heart is in the right place. Carrey may have finally found a decent balance between slaphappy humor and earnest emotion. Maybe he’s realized that he’s got a pretty good gig and there’s nothing wrong with making people laugh.
Gone is the condescending “You want funny? I’ll give you funny” smirk of “The Grinch” and the “Oh, please just give me the Oscar” desperation of “The Majestic.” Carrey’s got more enthusiasm here than his last three films put together. He looks like he’s having a good time and the audience returns the favor. Plus, he gets a chance to effectively indulge his tender side in the scenes with Aniston. The film’s ending may be a little too pat with lessons learned and everyone hugging and stuff, but Carrey doesn’t let the warm fuzzies sink the fun.
Filmboy Recommends: Oh God!
STARRING: Ewan McGregor, Renee Zellweger, David Hyde Pierce and Sarah Paulson
Director Peyton Reed follows up the breezy cheerleader romp “Bring It On” with this ode to the chaste Doris Day/Rock Hudson “sex” comedies of the sixties. He captures the look and feel of the Kennedy era with a wink and a smile and elicits nimble performances from his stars. Ewan McGregor and Renee Zellweger have a swingin’ time playing dress up in this highly stylized and deliciously retro Hollywood confection.
Zellweger (“Chicago”) is Barbara Novak, a liberated gal who’s just penned a feminist chic manifesto entitled “Down with Love.” She posits that women can be just as successful as men if they act more like them – put love and marriage on a shelf, pursue sex without strings, and just go for that brass ring. While you would think this would make most guys jump for joy, Barbara’s bestseller apparently irks most dudes because it’s got their women dropping their frying pans and grabbing briefcases.
McGregor (“Star Wars: Episode Two”) plays playboy journalist Catcher Block, who’s out to expose Barbara for a fraud. She can’t fool him. All women just want to fall in love and get married. Plus, all Catch’s regular booty calls are giving him the cold after reading “Down with Love.” So he’s got more than a bone to pick with the pert Ms. Novak. Catcher assumes the identity of folksy astronaut Zip Martin and courts Barbara with the plan of making her fall for him. Once she proclaims her feelings, Catch will slam her in a scathing article. But Barbara’s got more than a few ideas of her own brewing under her pillbox hat.
Many hijinks – and costume changes – ensue. Reed and screenwriters Eve Ahlert and Dennis Drake (the upcoming "Legally Blonde” sequel) have concocted an incredibly luscious valentine for a near-forgotten era. The cast (which includes delightful supporting turns by David Hyde Pierce from “Frasier” and Sarah Paulson of NBC’s brief “Leap of Faith”), costumes, production design and editing come together to immerse audiences in a bubble bath of perky nostalgia. Every frame is packed with zesty color and vibrant charm. Like the films its emulating, “Down with Love” is sweet and innocent despite all the innuendo and skirt chasing, which makes it incredibly fresh material for today’s jaded viewers.
Filmboy Recommends: Pillow Talk
STARRING: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss and Hugo Weaving
Writers/Directors/Visionaries Andy and Larry Wachowski have stretched about 10 minutes of plot into an entire feature film for this sequel to their innovative breakthrough hit. We’re treated to some eye-popping visuals, but that’s not enough for this flick to completely rise above all its imitators. The original’s stylized vibe has been copied and/or parodied in so many films, TV shows and commercials that what seemed groundbreaking in 1999 now seems sluggishly mundane.
For those of you who have been living in a cave for the last four years, the Matrix movies are set in a future world where machines have enslaved humans, sucking up their life force for fuel. All the while, everyone thinks life is just hunky-dory because they’re jacked into this techno-dream world known as “The Matrix.” Our heroes infiltrate the Matrix to try to defeat the machines and liberate humankind.
Now you can tell the Matrix from the real world because everyone dresses better and uses cool slo-mo karate moves. In the first flick, Neo (played by Keanu Reeves, master of the art of “Whoa”) realized his destiny as the savior of man. In this film, he and his cohorts, Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), try to stop the machines from invading the last human outpost. They return to the Matrix to find the keys to their future. While inside, they meet a host of new characters, including a ghostly pair of dreadlocked albino twins and the luscious Monica Bellucci (“The Brotherhood of the Wolf”) as a curvaceous femme fatale named Persephone.
I enjoyed the first film and I don’t hate this new one, I just don’t see much point in it. Like “Star Wars: Episode Two” and “The Two Towers,” this flick plays like a big, fat middle chapter. Nothing substantial really happens for this film to stand on its own. While the story is weak, there are moments that visually top the original. An extended car chase toward the end will probably go down as one of the best such scenes ever filmed.
Another standout is when Neo confronts the creepy Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving from the first flick and the “Lord of the Rings” movies) in a battle that constantly ups the stakes as Smith multiples into an army of combatants. These segments are delicious eye candy, but do they justify the more than two hours of sci-fi jibber-jabber we have to endure for them? If all we’re doing is killing time for the big ass finale in Chapter Three, why do we even need all this foreplay? Just go straight to the good stuff.
Couldn’t these scenes have played just as well in a film that was more than just some big transition piece? Yes, the film looks cool with people in rad clothes, shooting guns, and kicking butt all while zipping between shots of extreme slow motion and frenzied activity – but so what? I’d like a little substance with my style. Guess we will all have to wait for this winter’s “The Matrix Revolutions” to see if it was worth it. This film’s marketing campaign is an apt one after all – the Matrix does have you.
Filmboy Recommends: The Matrix
STARRING: Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry and Alan Cumming
Bigger, faster and shinier than the first “X-Men,” this super-powered sequel delivers another satisfying salvo of mutant mayhem. This time out, noble Professor X and his X-Men must join forces with the nefarious Magneto and his evil cohorts when the nasty General Stryker declares war on mutant-kind. Thanks to the first film’s success, “X2: X-Men United” arrives with a larger budget, which lets this concept flourish on a much grander scale.
We’re treated to an ambitious storyline with more aggressive action and glorious effects that propel this flick past its predecessor. While “X-Men” was fun and fairly true to its origins, the action felt restrained. Like cautious studio execs had the filmmakers on a short leash. Director Bryan Singer and his team are much more confident this time out, cutting loose with multiple mutants, ambitious sets and an aerial dogfight involving the X-Jet, fighter planes and mutant-conjured tornadoes.
Even with the extra tinsel, the heart of this film is still the acting of Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, and Hugh Jackman as Professor X, Magneto and Wolverine. It’s always refreshing when Hollywood casts strong actors in genre films. Comic book fans deserve not to be embarrassed by the onscreen portrayal of their heroes and these three don’t disappoint. Stewart and McKellan are wonderfully matched as old friends and rivals with very different viewpoints on the mutant/human issue. Jackman finally gets to kick some serious butt, unleashing his berserker rage during a late night attack on the X-Men’s home base.
The rest of the returning cast holds its own, especially Famke Janssen (Jean Grey) and Halle Berry (Storm) who have seen their roles expanded. Storm’s stronger screen presence could be attributed to Berry’s rising star power, but regardless, she’s delivers the goods. There are lots of fresh faces, but the best new addition is the Nightcrawler, superbly played by Alan Cumming (“Spy Kids”) in a deft combination of acting, make-up and effects. Cumming tends to get on my nerves, but his cloying persona disappears as he completely commits to this character.
Nightcrawler is one of the film’s biggest triumphs. A regular in the comics, it was questionable how the filmmakers were going to believably bring to life this teleporting, blue-skinned, German with the forked tail. One mis-step and an intriguing hero on the page could translate into a joke. They pull it off right down to the hero’s signature “BAMF” as he teleports in a puff of blue smoke. The success of these films is based in Singer and his team’s loyalty to the source material. They are turning comic book lore into cinematic magic. And that magic’s only getting stronger. Who’s up for X3?
Filmboy Recommends: X-Men
