Transformers: Age of Extinction

Transformers: Age of Extinction - Dir. Michael Bay (2014)

"A new era has begun. The age of the Transformers is over…"

Oh, where to even begin with this movie. We might as well start with the plot, such as it is. Transformers: Dark of the Moon concluded with the heroic Autobots repelling a Decepticon invasion that left Chicago devastated and 1200 humans dead. Age of Extinction picks up five years later as the American government has cut all ties with the Autobots. CIA agent Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer) heads up an off-the-books operation that involves hunting down all Transformers, regardless of whether they are Autobots or Decepticons. The robots are harvested for parts and shipped to Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci), the brilliant head of a technological conglomerate. Joyce has discovered an unstable metal dubbed "Transformium," which he and Attinger plan to use to create their own army of Transformers. In order to gather more of the metal, Attinger has struck an alliance with the bounty hunter Lockdown (Mark Ryan). In exchange for capturing Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), Lockdown will give Attinger the Seed, a terraforming device that would create Transformium.

In Texas, Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) is a down-on-his-luck inventor who is struggling to pay the mortgage on his farm and send his daughter, Tessa (Nicola Peltz), to college. He purchases a rundown semi-truck hoping to find something salvageable. The exasperated Tessa can only remark that he's just turning junk into other junk, which could be a perfect metaphor for this entire franchise. The truck turns out to be Optimus Prime and his presence alerts a CIA strike team led by the remorseless Savoy (Titus Welliver). Now classified as fugitives, Optimus and the few remaining Autobots must protect their new human allies.

The human protagonists from the previous movies are gone and forgotten with nary a fleeting reference. Not that the new characters are an improvement, they are all just as bland and uninteresting. Sure, Mark Wahlberg is a better protagonist than Shia LaBeouf, but his being an inventor bears no little impact on the plot. He never invents anything to defeat the Decepticons, he just grabs an alien gun and shoots stuff. On the other hand, producers are wise enough to fill the supporting cast with actors like Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, and Titus Welliver to lend some legitimacy to the ridiculousness. Grammer and Welliver play standard issue cardboard villains, but Tucci has fun hamming it up as an evil Steve Jobs. If you didn't get that reference, there's a black and white portrait of Tucci in a turtleneck sweater hanging prominently in the background.

As Michael Bay's latest ingénue, Nicola Peltz isn't given any opportunity to differentiate herself from Megan Fox or Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Peltz is dressed in cutoff shorts just like Fox and even uses a tow truck to assist the Autobots during the climax. There are plenty of shots from between her legs as the camera leers at her thighs and buttocks. The way Michael Bay fetishizes Peltz feels dirty when you consider that her character is 17, despite the actress being 19 in real life. However, that's nothing compared to the sequence in which Bay justifies statutory rape. Tessa's boyfriend, Shane (Jack Reynor), a 20-year old Irish race car driver, pulls out a copy of a "Romeo & Juliet" law allowing the two of them to be together since they dated before he turned 18. Yes, one of the heroes in Age of Extinction, is a creep who carries around a photocopy of a law that allows him to have sex with an underage girl. In a film about giant robots from outer space, why is this subject even being broached?

Congratulations to Michael Bay for hitting all new lows though the usual trademarks of a Bay production are present here. We have the rampant misogyny represented by the fact that nearly every female character in the movie is thin and impossibly gorgeous. The only exception is the sassy, overweight black woman who serves as comic relief. Aside from Peltz, the only other actresses who receive any significant screen time are Sophia Myles as a geologist and Li Bingbing as an executive in Joyce's employ. They are just as one-note as everybody else in the whole series and both women appear and disappear whenever it's convenient for the plot. Li Bingbing's inclusion and an entire third act set in Hong Kong is a blatant attempt to pander to Chinese audiences, who have become increasingly vital to the wallets of studio executives. The product placement throughout Age of Extinction is equally forced with actors shoving Bud Lights and Beats speakers into your face in full IMAX 3D. One would think Bay was doing this with a hint of irony, but it's hard to tell anymore. Next, we have racist caricatures in the form of Drift (Ken Watanabe), an Autobot modeled after a samurai who speaks in Haikus composed of broken English.

Just as he couldn't be bothered to come up with unique personalities for the humans, screenwriter Ehren Kruger couldn't be bothered to do anymore with the Autobots. Hound (John Goodman) fulfills the exact same role as Ironhide that of the grizzled war veteran while Bumblebee gets surprisingly little screen time given his popularity. Lockdown is the most interesting villain in the series, a Transformer who owes no allegiance to either the Autobots or Decepticons. He works for the mysterious Creators (the Quintessons?) who originally built the Transformers as slave labor. Also, long-time fans might be pleased to hear Frank Welker return to voice Megatron who has now been upgraded to Galvatron ala Transformers: The Movie. The designs of the Transformers have also been improved so that the viewer can actually differentiate one robot from the other. The biggest additions to the robotic roster are the fan-favorite Dinobots. Prepare for Devastator-sized disappointment, folks, you will have to wait over two hours into the movie before the Dinobots appear, despite them serving as lynchpins of the marketing campaign.

If you're wondering how Kruger spent his time during the script writing process, it certainly wasn't crafting scintillating dialogue. Nobody was expecting David Mamet in a Transformers picture, but you'd think Kruger would at least put a modicum of effort beyond, "Take that bitch" or "Do you have a warrant?" "My face is my warrant." And it's always thrilling to hear Optimus Prime, the noble warrior that he is, running around rooftops screaming, "I'll kill you."

SPOILERS: At the end of the movie, Optimus shoots off into outer space with the aid of rocket boosters in his feet, which begs the question why didn't he use them before, instead of turning into a truck to slowly save the day? Also, he threatens to kill the Dinobots unless they join forces with him. Then, Optimus lets them loose on the Chinese countryside because it's always a great idea to have mechanical dinosaurs running around completely unfettered.

Story has never been Michael Bay's strong suit. It's traditionally been incidental to the visuals. The last three films suffered from action sequences that descended into incoherent visual noise, but Bay's camerawork seems to grown more patient in Age of Extinction. This allows Bay to make good use of 3D imagery, particularly during a set piece wherein the Cade and Tessa dangle precariously from grabbling cables high above Chicago, a city which shows no evidence of serving as ground zero for an alien invasion a few short years ago. Bay takes a page out of Terrence Malick's playbook by shooting the farm scenes at golden hour with actors silhouetted against the backdrop of a beautiful orange sky. The beauty is almost undone when you realize Bay's idea of small town Texas is a Bostonian, a surfer dude, an Irishman, and a girl who struts around the rural countryside in high heeled boots.

Transformers: Age of Extinction runs two hours and forty-five minutes, a punishing length filled with inane dialogue, illogical plot developments, and relentless stupidity. Revenge of the Fallen still stands as the worst of the bunch, but it has the excuse of being rushed into production during the writer's strike. Age of Extinction has no excuse. However, none of that will mean a damn thing because audiences still eat these movies up with a spoon. The fourth Transformers film scored over $300 million worldwide during opening weekend. If you enjoy Transformers, then more power to you. Personally, I find it sad that this is a resounding success while Edge of Tomorrow, a far better written blockbuster with one of the strongest female characters in recent memory, was a box office flop.

Rating: ** (*****)

Lone Survivor

Lone Survivor - Dir. Peter Berg (2013)

Operation Red Wing was a 2005 military operation in which a four man SEAL team stationed in Afghanistan was tasked with eliminating Ahmad Shah, a high-level Taliban target. The mission went tragically awry and only Marcus Luttrell survived to tell the tale. Another sixteen troops were killed when their helicopter was shot down during an attempted rescue. Along with novelist Patrick Robinson, Luttrell co-authored Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10, his account of the undertaking, which was quickly optioned by writer/director/producer Peter Berg, who was coming off the box office flop of Battleship.

In Lone Survivor, Luttrell, a hospital corpsman, is assigned the mission along with team leader Lt. Michael Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), communications specialist Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch), and sniper Matthew Axelson (Ben Foster). The SEALs are dropped into the mountainous Hindu Kush region, but are eventually spotted by an elderly goat herder and two young boys. The SEALs choose to release them, despite knowing the civilians will alert Taliban forces to their presence. Sure enough, they are on the run, severely outnumbered and outgunned.

With a title like Lone Survivor, there's little doubt left to the ending, even if you aren't familiar with the real-life events. However, it's the journey that's important and Lone Survivor takes us on one harrowing ride. The film begins innocuously enough as the protagonists enjoy their down time by discussing wedding gifts, kitchen tiles, and hazing the new guy. Once the action begins, it almost never lets up as the movie becomes an extended firefight.

Berg is no stranger to kinetic action as seen in 2007's The Kingdom, which helped him earn credibility with Luttrell. Berg drops you right into the thick of things without relying heavily on the shaky cam that so many American directors employ. Yes, there are handheld shots, but not enough to make you confused as to what's happening on screen. He makes you feel every bone breaking hit when the SEALs tumble down a mountainside. And Berg doesn't shy away from the gorier bits as a bullet rips through a man's body in slow motion.

The acting is on point, particularly the always intense Ben Foster. The leads are called upon to convey distinct personalities with very little material. Berg doesn't attempt to shoehorn in back stories for each character; he's only interested in the here and now.

This being a Hollywood production, Lone Survivor does embellish the events for dramatic purposes. The film sees Luttrell's unit facing an enemy force of over a hundred while military reports list the number as anywhere from a dozen to the thirties. While Luttrell found safe harbor in a Pashtun village, the climatic shootout against Shah and his men never happened.

Lone Survivor is a realistic and brutal portrayal of war. It's gripping and action-packed while remaining respectful to those who lived and died during the actual events.

Rating: *** (*****)

2 Guns

2 Guns – Dir. Baltasar Kormákur (2013)

2013 was another huge year for comic book movies with Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel doing blockbuster numbers and Thor: The Dark World closing out the year. Meanwhile, films based on non-superhero properties like R.I.P.D. and Red 2 didn't get quite as much attention. This brings us to 2 Guns, based on a little known mini-series published by BOOM! Studios. Most folks would probably be surprised to hear that it was adapted from a comic though it does feature the titanic team-up of Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg.

Bobby Trench (Washington) and Michael Stigman (Wahlberg) are a pair of crooks who decide to steal $3 million from safety deposit boxes belonging to drug lord Papi Greco (Edward James Olmos). These boxes are tucked away inside a bank vault in the tiny town of Tres Cruces. If that sounds familiar, then you’ve seen the 70's neo-noir classic Charley Varrick, which screenwriter Blake Masters borrows heavily from. In a series of twists and turns, Trench is revealed to be an undercover DEA agent while Stigman is actually working for Naval Intelligence. Neither man was aware of the other's true identity. Even worse, the bank didn't hold $3 million, but over $43 million belonging to an illegal CIA slush fund. Stigman narrowly escapes an attempt on his life by his corrupt commanding officer Quince (James Marsden), who wants the cash for himself. He'll have to get in line because Papi wants it too and so does the sadistic CIA agent Earl (Bill Paxton).

2 Guns feels like it could have come straight out of the hyperkinetic wheelhouse of the late-Tony Scott. This is a fast-paced, brainless affair that builds to a cluttered climax as four different factions (five, if you count a herd of stampeding bulls) shoot it out for a trunk load of dollars. However, Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur, who previously worked with Wahlberg on Contraband, doesn't have Scott's visual panache. Still, the action sequences are decent enough, save for a rough looking car chase.

What really sells 2 Guns is the chemistry between its leads. The interplay shared by Wahlberg and Washington harkens back to the buddy cop formula set by Lethal Weapon. Both protagonists give as good as they get as their one-liners fly faster and more frequently than their bullets. The burden of carrying the movie doesn't fall squarely on their shoulders thanks to a game supporting cast. Perennial nice guy James Marsden is cast against type as a back-stabbing naval officer while Edward James Olmos is perfectly grizzled as a cartel boss. Yet, they all pale in comparison to the scene chewing performance of Bill Paxton, who affects a thick Southern accent to portray the main antagonist. 2 Guns is so overstuffed with testosterone that there's no room for a strong female character. That's a shame because Paula Patton played a pretty kick-ass secret agent in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Instead, she's a damsel in distress who spends most of her time either tied up to a chair or gratuitously slinking around with nothing on except wafer-thin panties. Yeah, okay, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

2 Guns is such a breezy trifle that you almost forget just how surprisingly cynical it is. Just about every branch of the American government is portrayed as corrupt, incompetent, or simply uncaring. Stigman cracks a joke about purchasing his high-powered sniper rifle at K-Mart (are they still around?) and the US/Mexico border is patrolled by good ol' boys looking to dispense redneck justice to anybody with dark skin.

2 Guns may be formulaic and predictable, but the winning charm of Washington and Wahlberg make it a passable bit of popcorn entertainment.

Rating: ** (*****)

Pain & Gain

Pain & Gain - Dir. Michael Bay (2013)

I'm not sure what's more unbelievable about Pain & Gain, the true life story upon which it was based or the fact that this was Michael Bay's idea of a low-budget indie movie.

Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) has a great body, but not a lot of brains to go with his delusional view of the American dream or his staunch sense of entitlement. After doing time for a Ponzi scheme, Lugo goes to work as a personal trainer at the Sun Gym in Miami. Formerly a rundown spot for old folks, Lugo turns it into a haven for the built and beautiful. However, he's not satisfied and spots a big, fat payday in his obnoxious client Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub). Kershaw openly brags about his wealth, his offshore accounts, and the Schlotzsky's Deli he owns at the airport. Lugo hits on the idea to kidnap Kershaw and hold him hostage until he signs over all his assets. This ersatz mastermind recruits his best pal Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie), a fellow bodybuilder who has been rendered impotent by steroid abuse, and Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson), an ex-con who has traded his coke habit for Jesus. After several bumbling attempts, the muscle-bound trio snatches Kershaw and tortures him for nearly a month inside a warehouse full of sex toys. Lugo and his crew are able to enjoy their ill-gotten gains primarily because Kershaw is such a prick that the police have a hard time believing or sympathizing with him. When Doorbal and Doyle blow their newfound wealth on penile injections and cocaine, Lugo is forced to abduct a new mark with disastrous consequences.

Pain & Gain is unmistakably a Michael Bay film even without the widescreen mayhem and deafening explosions. His garish aesthetics are simpatico with the bizarre, true-life events adapted for the screen by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (Captain America, Chronicles of Narnia). For once, it actually makes sense for Bay to populate the backgrounds with buxom babes since the story involves strippers galore. The saturated orange and teal color palette accentuates the sun soaked paradise of Miami. The camera whips along at a frenzied pace with super slow motion employed to great effect during a SWAT team raid. When Doyle barbecues a pair of dismembered hands to destroy fingerprints, an intertitle is stamped onto the screen to remind you that this is still based on fact. The question remains: is Bay just doing what comes natural or has he developed a sense of awareness that allows him to lampoon his own style?

As Bay flirts with the notion of self-parody, he walks a thin line between glorifying and condemning the actions of his characters. There's no doubt that these men aren't the least bit sympathetic, not to mention aggressively stupid. The fact that their brutality was played for laughs has upset the real victims of the Sun Gym Gang. The dark humor eschews closely to the works of Guy Ritchie or the Crank films. Stomachs may turn when chainsaws are broken out to chop up corpses or when a severed toe comes into play.

The cast really sinks their teeth into their respective roles with Mark Wahlberg excelling as the archetypal meathead. His Daniel Lugo is definitely cut from the same cloth as Dirk Diggler with a more sinister side. Tony Shalhoub brings Victor Kershaw to odious life while Rebel Wilson, Michael Rispoli, and Peter Stormare fill out the colorful supporting cast. Ken Jeong is thankfully utilized in small doses as a motivational speaker ("Be a do'er, not a don't'er") that inspires Lugo.  Ed Harris portrays the straight man as a retired cop turned private investigator. He essentially takes on the Tommy Lee Jones role in No Country for Old Men as the one good man in an insane world. The best performance in Pain & Gain belongs to Dwayne Johnson, who bulked up to bigger proportions than he ever had in his WWE career. There's a naiveté initially displayed by Johnson that makes Doyle a gentle giant, then shows deft comedic timing when he reverts into a desperate coke head.

Pain & Gain is easily Michael Bay's best picture, which may be a backhanded compliment when his filmography includes Bad Boys 2 and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Rating: *** (*****)

Broken City

Broken City - Dir. Allen Hughes (2013)

When you have a film that stars big-name talent like Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, and Catherine Zeta-Jones, you expect it to get a prime slot in the release schedule. Instead, Broken City gets dropped into the wasteland of January. Without all the famous faces, it could have easily faded off into direct-to-video obscurity.

Broken City opens with Det. Billy Taggart (Wahlberg) at the center of controversy for gunning down a teenaged rape suspect in the Bolton Village projects of Brooklyn. Crucial evidence is covered up by Mayor Nicholas Hostetler (Crowe) and the Chief of Police Carl Fairbanks (Jeffrey Wright) and the case is dropped though Taggart is forced to resign from the NYPD. For the next several years, he ekes out a living as a private investigator snapping pictures of adulterers. The Mayor, currently in a heated campaign against a young upstart subtly named Jack Valliant (Barry Pepper), hires Taggart for the sum of $50,000 to collect evidence that his wife, Cathleen (Zeta-Jones), is cheating on him. Taggart thinks it will be an easy payday until his mark ends up dead. It's the tip of a vast conspiracy involving a land deal that could mean billions for a few and forced evictions are hundreds of people.

Broken City is the first solo effort for Allen Hughes who has previously directed Menace II Society, From Hell, and The Book of Eli with his twin brother Albert. Newcomer Brian Tucker wrote the screenplay, which has been in development for several years and once made the Black List. That must have been a completely different version. Hughes and Tucker have created a glossy little blockbuster with aspirations of being a socially relevant political thriller. Instead, what we get is a bastardized and sanitized hybrid of Chinatown with the works of Sidney Lumet, specifically Serpico and Prince of the City, except there's no grit or rich storytelling to be found. The script relies too heavily on lazy contrivances to advance the plot. At one point, Taggart falls off the wagon and stumbles through the streets drunk. Then, he's called to a crime scene and shows up completely sober. Another scene Taggart observes the bad guys shredding and disposing of documents. Yet, he just happens to find an entire box full of incriminating evidence in pristine condition right next to the dumpster.

Wahlberg has made it a habit of playing these blue collar Joes and he's perfectly adequate here. The rest of the cast is strong though Jeffrey Wright blows everybody out of the water for what little he is given. Standing out amongst all the veteran talent is young Israeli actress Alona Tal (who some might recognize for her stints on Veronica Mars and Supernatural) as Taggart's loyal secretary Katy. Tal beams in a spunky performance and has some great banter with Wahlberg.

Broken City is disposable cinema, utterly forgettable save for those who are tremendous fans of hard boiled dialogue and macho posturing.

Rating: ** (*****)

Contraband

Contraband - Dir. Baltasar Kormákur (2012)

Stupid 9/11 comments aside, I like Mark Wahlberg. As evidenced by this turns in The Happening and The Lovely Bones, he's not a nuanced thespian capable of heavy drama. But, he is an underrated comedic performer and a convincing big screen tough guy. Much like Vin Diesel or Jason Statham, Walhberg could be a more prolific action star if he found better roles. Instead, he's content for run-of-the-mill pictures like Shooter, Max Payne, and now Contraband.

Contraband is a loose remake of a 2008 Icelandic crime thriller called Reykjavik-Rotterdam whose star, Baltasar Kormákur is the director of the Hollywood version. Wahlberg plays Chris Farraday, a former smuggler who has gone legit and works as an installer of home security systems in New Orleans. Kate Beckinsale is his wife, also named Kate, and they have two sons together.

Kate's dumbass kid brother, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones), is still involved in the smuggling business. Now, he owes $700,000 to a violent gangster named Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi) after tossing a shipment of cocaine into the water during a surprise customs search. Chris is forced to intervene when Briggs not only threatens Andy, but his whole family. Chris assembles a small crew on board a cargo ship in order to smuggle $15 million in counterfeit bills from Panama to pay off the debt.

Contraband is formulaic through and through. This is your basic "one last job" movie where the protagonist must pull off a big heist for a massive payday. Murphy's Law always seems to rear its ugly head and no plan ever comes off without a hitch. In Wahlberg's case, he has to deal with a crooked captain (J.K. Simmons) and a psycho crime lord (Diego Luna) who ropes him into an armored car robbery.

There's not much here to differentiate Contraband from the numerous pictures just like it. I do like that the hero is a smuggler rather than an overused profession like a bank robber or hitman. The bulk of the film is set on the cargo ship, which is another unique setting. Yet, Contraband doesn't delve deeper into either element. It's not interested in the intricacies of the smuggling trade, just generic shaky cam action sequences.

J.K Simmons is pretty much the best thing in the movie, bringing much welcomed humor to the role of the uptight captain. Giovanni Ribisi goes way over the top as a tatted up scumbag with a nasally voice. Ben Foster co-stars as Chris's best friend, Sebastian, who has also gone legit and is a recovering alcoholic. Foster is intense as usual, but with an understated quietness. There is a twist to his character that anyone can see coming a mile away. Finally, there's poor Kate Beckinsale. If you want to see her kicking ass, watch Underworld: Awakening. If you want to see Beckinsale in the thankless role of damsel in distress, see Contraband.

Contraband isn't a terrible movie, but it is indicative of the generic flotsam dumped by the studios during the uneventful early part of the year.

Rating: ** (*****)

The Fighter

The Fighter - Dir. David O. Russell (2010)

The story of the underdog boxer on the road to the championship has been told countless times dating all the way back to 1931's The Champ, starring Wallace Beery. The Fighter certainly has a lot in common with the iconic Rocky.

Both films feature blue-collar heroes, the former has Rocky Balboa from Philadelphia, the latter focuses on "Irish" Micky Ward from Lowell, MA. Rocky forged through adversity with the love of pet shop clerk, Adrian, while Ward had the feisty Charlene, played by the equally feisty Amy Adams. One of the roadblocks set in Rocky's path was his alcoholic brother-in-law, Paulie. Ward has to deal with a domineering mother and his half-brother, Dickie Eklund, whose crack addiction derailed his own boxing career. Eklund's descent into drugs became the centerpiece for an HBO documentary about crack. That very same documentary forms a framing device for The Fighter.

The picture opens with Eklund (Christian Bale) talking to the camera. He has deluded himself and others into believing the movie is about his comeback to the world of boxing. Eklund's career highlight was a bout against Sugar Ray Leonard in which Eklund knocked down (not out, just down) the world renowned pugilist. Nowadays, he works as the trainer for his younger brother Ward (Mark Wahlberg) along with their mother, Alice (Melissa Leo), who serves as Ward's manager. Alice is also the mother of seven shrill daughters (one of whom is played by Conan O'Brien's sister) by way of two different men. It is clear to anyone that Ward is being held back by familial ties. Alice hardly has the business acumen she claims she has to successfully guide her son's career. Meanwhile, Dickie frequently misses training sessions while getting high at a local crack house.

Ward's fortunes change when he meets Charlene, who is in the same On the Waterfront 'I coulda been a contender' territory. She is a former high jumper and college dropout working a go-nowhere job as a bartender. Charlene gives Ward the strength to distance himself from his troubled family and give his career a shot in the arm.

The Fighter isn't solely about boxing. No, the sport serves as a backdrop for the story of two men who must find the confidence to take control of their own lives. While Walhberg's dramatic chops can be a bit dodgy at times, he is effective here in portraying Ward as a working class schlub on the verge of success. This shouldn't be surprising as it’s a role Walhberg has played before in Invincible and even Rock Star and Boogie Nights. However, his co-star, Christian Bale, is receiving the lion's share of attention for his performance as Dickie Eklund. Bale certainly has the showier role, which required him to look emaciated and don false rotted teeth to play the drug addled Dickie. Bale is noticeably gaunt, but it is nowhere near his frighteningly, shriveled appearance in The Machinist. He's certainly dynamic whenever he appears on screen, full of bravado and nervous energy. Not to be overlooked are Melissa Leo and Amy Adams who provide a welcome female touch to an otherwise male-dominated film. Leo touches upon numerous emotions as the white trash matriarch of the Ward/Eklund brood while Adams is scrappy enough to stand toe-to-toe with their haggle of harpy sisters.

The cast also includes Jack McGee as Alice's henpecked husband, George, and Ward's real-life trainer, Mickey O'Keefe as himself.

The Fighter also serves as something of a comeback for director David O. Russell. The film was originally slated to be directed by Darren Aronofsky and would have served as a fitting complimentary piece to The Wrestler. Aronofsky eventually dropped out and Russell (who first worked with Walhberg on Three Kings) stepped in. Russell's last film to hit theaters was 2004's I Heart Huckabee's, which flopped at the box office and received mixed reviews. His next project, Nailed, became infamous as a troubled production that will likely never see the light of day. As the man behind the camera, Russell proves he still has the chops to helm a compelling film. Russell captures the dramatic moments of The Fighter while adding a comedic touch to all the right moments, including the sly use of "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake as Ward's entrance music. The boxing sequences are also dynamic with a unique montage set to The Heavy's "How Do You Like Me Now?" The montage comprises of Raging Bull-style close-ups of slow motion fists smashing into sweaty drenched faces. The major fights were painstakingly recreated using the original bouts as the basis. Russell gathered the actual technical teams from the HBO fight night matches and shot with the same cameras giving the scenes a pixilated video quality.

Sports movies and romantic comedies generally stick most rigidly to formula than any other genre. Sometimes it's not about telling new stories, but telling stories well. By those standards, The Fighter gets an easy recommendation.

Rating: *** (*****)

The Other Guys

The Other Guys - Dir. Adam McKay (2010)


Riggs and Murtaugh. Tango and Cash. Add Hoitz and Gamble to the buddy cop pantheon.

The Other Guys opens in true action film fashion with a rousing car chase through the streets of New York City as top cops, Danson (Dwayne Johnson) and Highsmith (Samuel L. Jackson), run down the perpetrators. A massive amount of property damage is done to bring in a few crooks possessing a miniscule amount of marijuana. Back at the station house, Danson and Highsmith are greeted with a hero’s welcome. None of the accolades are thrown the way of Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg) and Allen Gamble (Will Ferrell). They don’t blow shit up, they don’t get the girls, nor do they make the big arrests.

Hoitz could be doing those things, if not for an embarrassing shooting mishap, which relegated him to desk duty. His partner, Gamble, is a forensic accountant who gleefully enjoys paperwork and has no desire to see any action in the field. While investigating a minor oversight in construction permits, Gamble and Hoitz uncover a Bernie Madoff-style plot by millionaire mogul David Ershon (Steve Coogan) to embezzle $32 billion.

The main cast also features Michael Keaton as the precinct captain who moonlights as the manager of a Bed Bath and Beyond, Eva Mendes as Gamble’s inexplicably hot wife, Ray Stevenson as an Australian mercenary, and an uncredited Anne Heche as a corrupt CEO employing Ershon.

The Other Guys is the fourth collaboration between director Adam McKay and Will Ferrell following Anchorman, Talladega Nights and Step Brothers. Other Guys isn’t as hilarious as the first two films, but it’s several notches above the somewhat crass Step Brothers. As a spoof of buddy cop films, it works better than Kevin Smith’s Cop Out. However, the genre has become such a self-parody of itself that McKay is simply beating a dead horse. Seeing Wahlberg in a slow-mo John Woo shootout isn’t as funny as it should be because the gag has been done to death.

Where the film excels is in the interactions between the lead actors. Wahlberg has given some terribly wooden performances recently in The Happening and The Lovely Bones. He’s better suited for action and comedy and he’s excellent as the hotheaded straight man. Ferrell’s idiot man-child routine wears thin so he wisely tones it down for Other Guys. There’s a slow burn for his character as they slowly reveal the darker side he’s hidden.

McKay tops it off with his own brand of absurdist humor displayed in many hysterical gags sprinkled throughout the film. Some of the funniest bits include: Coogan bribing our heroes with tickets to Jersey Boys, a run-in with a group of horny hobos led by a fellow named Dirty Mike (played by McKay himself), an ending credits sequence utilizing Powerpoint-style animation to explain Ponzi schemes and government bailouts, and Ferrell constantly being hit on by gorgeous women like Brooke Shields (wife of co-writer Chris Henchy).

Rating: ***

Date Night

Date Night - Dir. Shawn Levy (2010)


Putting Steve Carell and Tina Fey together seems like an easy way to find comedic gold. With his work on The Daily Show and The Office, Carrell cemented his status as a bankable movie star following the success of The 40-Year Old Virgin. Fey has done the same on Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock. Though she wrote Mean Girls and took a supporting role, she has yet to find a star vehicle worthy of her talents. Date Night is definitely not it.

Carrell and Fey star as Phil and Claire Foster, married with two kids and living in suburban New Jersey. He’s an accountant and she’s a real estate agent. Hoping to shake up their stagnant relationship, the Fosters hope to get a table at a trendy new restaurant in Manhattan. They wind up stealing another couple’s reservations, which becomes a running gag throughout the movie. A case of mistaken identity sends them on the run from a pair of gun-toting thugs (Common and Jimmi Simpson) who are after a flash drive. That’s just the beginning of one crazy night that involves car chases, crooked cops, and mobsters.

Taraji P. Henson co-stars as a sympathetic police detective and Mark Wahlberg appears as a perennially shirtless securities expert. Mark Ruffalo and Kristen Wiig have maybe one scene each as another married couple on the outs. James Franco and Mila Kunis round out the cast as a two low-rent crooks named Taste and Whippit who originally made the reservation. They almost manage to derail the picture into something livelier.

Those of you expecting Date Night to be a Hitchcockian edge of your seat thriller ala The Man Who Knew Too Much must have severe brain damage. The jokes come straight out of a bad 80’s sitcom with some labored slapstick gags thrown in for good measure. Fey and Carrell are never allowed to rise above the bland, cardboard characters they play, despite their best efforts. Date Night’s funniest moments don’t occur during the movie at all, but in the outtakes shown over the end credits. Given the freedom to adlib, they’re able to show off the natural wit that made them stars, coming up with funnier material than what was provided for them.

Rating: *

Max Payne

Max Payne - Dir. John Moore (2008)

Wow…a video game movie that sucks. What. A. Fucking. Shock. Max Payne may not have been directed by Paul W.S. Anderson or Uwe Boll, but John Moore does nothing to distinguish himself from either hackmeister. Moore captures the atmosphere with a stylish, Sin City-esque setting, but lacks any emotional connection whatsoever. Ponderous allusions to Norse mythology and valkyries poorly attempt to add a more cerebral layer to what is a dumb action movie.

Perhaps, the film’s biggest downfall is the miscasting on nearly every level. Mark Wahlberg plugs into the stoic action roles well, but whose bright idea was it to cast Meg Griffin as a badass, Russian mafia assassin? Ludacris as an internal affairs investigator? Chris O’Donnell as…well, anybody? The paper-thin story, cardboard characters, and God awful dialogue could have been forgiven if it weren’t for the fact that Max Payne is an action movie almost devoid of any action.

The finale features some good Matrix-style shoot-em-up moments, but it’s too little, too late. An hour and a half of Mark Wahlberg talking to donkeys would have been infinitely more entertaining. "Say ‘hi’ to your mother for me, all right?"

Rating: *

The Happening

The Happening - Dir. M. Night Shyamalan (2008)

The trees have it in for us.

The Village may have had an idiotic, twist ending, but at least it had an ending. Shyamalan's latest disasterpiece is all build and no payoff.

Shyamalan's keen sense of direction and suspense is enough to lift this above his last two bombs, but not enough to overcome laughable performances.

M. Night, swallow your pride. Hire a script doctor.