Category Archives: Reviews

How do you spell a comically inappropriate directorial debut? “Bad Words”

Photo by Sam Urdank/Focus Features.

As an actor, Jason Bateman has always exuded a charming sense of sarcasm that makes the characters he plays likable even when they probably shouldn’t be. He originally made a name for himself as a smartass child and adolescent in the likes of Silver Spoons, The Hogan Family and Teen Wolf Too. More recently, his wit has endeared him to a younger generation in films like Juno and Extract and television’s Arrested Development. Now Bateman makes his directorial debut with Bad Words, a film that sees him return to his child acting roots. Well, sort of.

Bateman stars as Guy Trilby, a 40-year-old deadbeat who, to the dismay of preteens and parents across the country, enters and excels in The Golden Quill, a spelling bee competition intended for 8th graders. With the help of aspiring reporter Jenny Widgeon (Kathryn Hahn), Guy finds a semantics error in the spelling bee’s rules that allows him to remain in the competition.

Photo courtesy Focus Features.

Refusing to reveal his motivations (even to Jenny, despite their awkwardly intimate relationship), Guy meets opposition in the form of Golden Quill head honchos Dr. Bernice Deagan (Allison Janney) and Dr. Bowman (Philip Baker Hall). Guy, however, is always one step ahead of any obstacle thrown in his path. That is until he meets fellow linguistic competitor Chaitanya Chopra (Rohan Chand), who seems to be the only person unfazed by Guy’s foul mouth and bad attitude. So much so that the two become unlikely pals, with Guy indulging Chaitanya in treats such as ice cream, booze and hiring a prostitute to give Chaitanya his first peek at boobs.

It’s all disgustingly inappropriate, which is exactly what makes it so funny. Guy’s brash behavior is hilarious thanks to Bateman’s wit and dry delivery, but you’d probably want to physically harm this guy if you met him in person. And Chaitanya’s naive optimism softens Guy up enough to make him a little easier to like. As the two spell their way closer to victory, their newfound friendship begins to suffer under the possibility of Guy and Chaitanya being the final contestants. Guy pulls pranks on other rivals, such as squirting a packet of ketchup onto the chair of one female competitor, leaving her mortified at the thought of having her first period in front of an audience. Not that he needs help eliminating his competition; he just finds a twisted enjoyment in embarrassing others. But when he stoops to pulling similar stunts with Chaitanya, it takes their friendly rivalry to sadistically silly new levels.

Photo courtesy Focus Features.

By the time Guy reaches the final stages of his plan, Chaitanya figures out a way to thwart it, which becomes its own comedy of errors. But that doesn’t stop Guy from achieving his goal of embarrassing The Golden Quill and its hosts on national TV. And when his motivations are finally spelled out, the whole stunt is somehow understandable. Given Bateman’s propensity for portraying endearingly quirky characters in absurd situations, Bad Words is just what one should expect from his first foray into directing.

www.focusfeatures.com/bad_words

“Dark House” succumbs to suspenseful trappings, but delivers an unexpected ending

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Photo courtesy Charles Agron Productions.

Birthdays can often be bittersweet combinations of reveling in one’s own existence while lamenting being one year closer to one’s own demise. But for Nick Di Santo (Luke Kleintank), his 23rd birthday includes a lifetime’s worth of highs and lows in Dark House. On the one extreme, some friends take him to a bar for some birthday drinks, he meets a lovely lady (Alex McKenna) and overcomes his social anxieties enough to end up in bed with said lady later that night. To counter all that, however, Nick pays a depressing visit to a Bedlam-looking mental institution earlier that day, where his mother (while babbling at the walls) almost reveals who Nick’s father is before Nick has a vision of how his mother is going to die (this clairvoyance seems to happen to Nick when he touches certain people, presumably those who are going to die in the near future). Then, after Nick and his ladyfriend finish the birthday copulation, his premonition becomes reality as he finds out his mother has been killed in a fire at the hospital.

Talk about an eventful birthday! Oh, and apparently Nick was so excited to be bringing a girl home that he forgot to use protection because his now-girlfriend is incredibly pregnant when the film jumps forward eight months. Also, his girlfriend’s name is Eve, the first of many biblical references in the film. In addition to having a baby on the way, Nick also finds out that his mother has willed him a house. Not just any house, though. This house is the same one he has been dreaming about and drawing for as long as he can remember, and is still compulsively drawing today.

Photo courtesy Charles Agron Productions.

Naturally, he gets his about-to-burst girlfriend and some other friends together and takes a road trip up I-23 (that number comes up a lot) to the town where this house is located. Turns out there is no town, but there is a dinner where some locals inform Nick that the town and his house washed away in a flood 23 years ago. Then Nick finds a framed picture of his house (covered in a thick film of dust, indicating the Health Department doesn’t stop by too often) and is off to find it once again. After a Blair Witch-like search, Nick finds the house fully intact in the woods. And out comes Seth (who looks familiar, but I didn’t realize was Saw‘s Tobin Bell until the end credits rolled), a haggardly creepy guy who comes across like a homeless street preacher with malicious intent.

Like Nick’s mother and other characters in Dark House, Seth converses with the voice in the air vents and knows something about Nick that Nick is trying to find out. After allowing only Nick inside the house, Seth maintains his cryptic disposition while some zombie-like figures arrive outside to spook Nick’s friends (and a couple of land surveyors that helped them find the house). Nick and his friends flee, these zombie things give chase (in a creepy sideways gallop), one guy ends up with an ax embedded in his anatomy and they all escape to a Twilight Zone-like small town that appears to be abandoned to Nick’s group, but the townspeople can see them. They try to head back home, but somehow end up back at the house in the woods, where they decide to spend the night rather than stay outside and risk being terrorized by the zombie things again.

Photo courtesy Charles Agron Productions.

Needless to say it’s not a peaceful night’s rest, and I’m not spoiling anything by saying that this house gets creepier as the night progresses, and Nick’s group starts to get picked off one by one. If it sounds like Dark House is derivative of previous horror films like Final Destination, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark and The Cabin in the Woods, that’s because it is. And after Nick has a shocking moment with Eve and their unborn child, there’s a bit of The Omen/Rosemary’s Baby-like foreshadowing of this child’s future.

But despite the many chilling cliché’s employed by Dark House, the film manages to build up to a suspenseful twist that changes the viewer’s perspective on everything that has happened previously. And like any good horror flick, it sets things up perfectly for a sequel.

www.darkhousemovie.com

Kickbacks and small-town politics result in tragedy in “Kids for Cash”

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Judge Mark Ciavarella is the center of controversy in “Kids for Cash”.

For one man to triumph over more than 3,000 opponents, each no more than a quarter his age, sounds like a heroic feat. But in the case of Mark Ciavarella, an overzealous judge in small town Pennsylvania, it meant sending thousands of adolescents to jail for typical teenage antics such as making fun of a principal on MySpace or unwittingly riding a stolen scooter. Using the post-Columbine panic to justify his harsh sentencing, Ciavarella initially endeared himself to the residents of Luzerne County until his actions began destroying the lives of many youths and their families.

Charmingly cynical student Hillary unwittingly foreshadows her youthful fate in “Kids for Cash”.

Having not heard of this case prior to viewing Kids for Cash, a documentary named after the ensuing scandal involving financial kickbacks, at least one teenage suicide and Ciavarella being sentenced to 28 years in federal prison, I didn’t really know where this story was heading. At first, we mostly hear from the parents of some of the victims of Ciavarella’s tyranny, as well as a few of the teenagers themselves. We hear about the shock of being shackled and shuffled into a dangerous environment with hardened criminals (resulting in teenagers being exposed to drugs and alcohol, learning to make explosives and other legitimately criminal behavior when they could have been preparing themselves for college and adulthood), and the sadness of seeing one’s children snatched away in such a horrendous manner.

Kids for Cash at first seems a bit one-sided. That is until we find out that Ciavarella was motivated by more than just tough justice, as he received enormous financial compensation from the builders of the juvenile detention centers being filled by the teens of Luzerne County. Kids for Cash gets really interesting when we actually hear from Ciavarella and his cohorts. At this point it is clear that the filmmakers are attempting to offer both sides of a story that ends up being tragic for everyone involved. While those affected negatively by Ciavarella’s conspiracy find out he has a history of such corrupt behavior, Ciavarella initially shows little, if any, remorse for his actions. But after a dramatic confrontation one grieving mother outside a courthouse, we gradually begin to see Ciavarella realize the affects of his actions.

High school wrestling star Ed is the most tragic victim of Ciavarella’s corruption.

Ciavarella eventually has an emotional breakdown on camera, realizing that even after destroying the lives of so many, he has nothing to show for it as his impending prison sentence looms. Kids for Cash also shows us where some of these teens and their families are today. Some have adjusted fairly well. Others still suffer from lingering effects including post-traumatic stress disorder or learned behavior/coping crutches that have resulted in additional jail time. And in the most tragic case, a high school wrestling standout resorts to the most devastating means of dealing with his depression. Even with justice finally being served for the oppressors, Kids for Cash shows that some things simply cannot be reversed and even with Ciavarella and others in prison, their actions will always haunt those involved to varying degrees.

www.kidsforcashthemovie.com

“The Legend of Hercules” is anything but legendary

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I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence, some sort of Hollywood collective subconscious or an example of Greek-like irony, but The Legend of Hercules is the first of two Hercules movies being released this year. This one stars The Twilight Saga‘s Kellan Lutz (who also played Poseidon in 2011’s Immortals) as the son of Zeus, and is directed by Renny Harlin (best known for ’80s and ’90s fare like A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master and Die Hard 2, as well as the John Cena action flick 12 Rounds).

Though it’s rated PG-13, The Legend of Hercules really suffers from being too cautious when it comes to showing violence and bloodshed. The opening scene sees the tyrant King Amphitryon (Scott Adkins) laying waste to an opposing king by way of a vicious choke slam followed by what appears to be a beheading. Only when we see the slain foe from above, his head is still attached and there is no blood to be seen. Similar discrepancies plague the entire film as swords are clearly shoved through bodies without the blade emerging from the other side. During a pivotal gladiatorial battle pitting Hercules and Sotiris (Liam McIntyre) against two Road Warrior-esque opponents, there are quick cutaways just before the combatants meet their demise in a pit of spears. So little blood is shown in this movie that it seems like the filmmakers were going for a PG rating.

Photo by Simon Varsano.

That being said, the fight scenes are the only saving grace here. The acting is uninspired, the tyranical motifs are heavy handed and the special effects often look more like a made-for-TV movie than a theatrical release. However, when Hercules gradually begins to realize his Godlike powers and the 3-D effects are at their best, his battles out of slavery and attempts to overthrow his stepfather from power are quite a sight. But a few spectacular fight scenes aren’t enough to make this movie live up to its legendary moniker. So we’ll just have to wait and see if The Rock is able to topple his competition when he takes over the role of this demigod in Hercules: The Thracian Wars this summer.

“Machete Kills” is as gluttonously gory as the original

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Danny Trejo returns and Machete and Michelle Rodriguez is back as Shé in "Machete Kills". Photo by Rico Torres.

Let’s see here. Machete Kills is a sequel to a film based on a fake trailer directed by Robert Rodriguez. And it features an unknown (hah!) named Carlos Estévez as United States President Rathcock. And it features Walton Goggins, Cuba Gooding Jr., Lady Gaga and Antonio Banderas all playing the same assassin. And we get to see Alexa Vega all grown up in ass-less chaps and Sofia Vergara with machine gun boobies. And it stars Danny Trejo reprising his role as Machete Cortez, a former federale hired by the president to prevent a Mexican revolutionary from destroying Washington D.C. I’m there!

Madame Desdemona (Sofia Vergara) leads a pack of pistol-packing prostitutes in "Mechete Kills". Photo by Rico Torres.

Presented in all the same gritty grindhouse glory as the original Machete, Machete Kills is an onslaught of gratuitous T&A, absurd gore and clever dialogue as Machete uncovers a plot by a Mexican mercenary with multiple personalities (Demián Bichir) to blow up our nation’s capital. But not before an opening sequence that includes Machete and Sartana (Jessica Alba) taking on a small army wearing luchador masks near the Mexican border. But once he gets his assignment and makes a run for the border to save Washington, there are pretty much no boundaries on the intentionally exploitative and bloody battles that Machete is forced to engage in.

In case you still think of Alexa Vega as a Spy Kid, her cleavege and athletic skills in "Machete Kills" will make you forget all about that.

Along the way, Machete encounters a Texas sheriff (William Sadler) with a hard-on for catching border jumpers, a whorehouse full of seductive killers, a pageant girl with a secret stash of advanced weaponry (Amber Heard) and an unstoppable martial artist with Terminator-like resolve (Marko Zaror). Then there’s Luther Voz, a weapons manufacturer played by Mel Gibson whose villainous name should be enough to clue you in on his role in Machete’s mission. And when Voz introduces Machete to an arsenal of experimental weaponry it’s not the high tech machete that initially draws Machete’s attention, but a gun that Voz warns him is not working properly yet as it keeps turning things inside out (in other words, the ultimate in comedic foreshadowing). Additional foreshadowing (without giving away too much) comes in the form of Voz’s obsession with Star Wars, all the way down to his own personal landspeeder. But we’ll get to that in a year or so, I suspect, based on the pulpy trailer that appears at the beginning and end of this film.

Perhaps in keeping with the the antihero’s name and choice of weaponry, Machete Kills makes gluttonously good use of blades, especially those attached to helicopters. Like many of Rodriguez’ previous films, it proudly borrows from low budget movies from the ’70s and ’80s without shame. And it’s that type of homage that makes such an enjoyable film despite – no, because of – its blatant absurdity.

www.machetekills.com

“Short Term 12” handles emotionally-troubling subjects with strength, humor and grace

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A girl has to have a pretty thick skin to work at a halfway house for wayward youth. And there’s likely no one that can relate to these kids better than someone not much older than them, especially if that person has some dark secrets of her own.

Mason (John Gallagher Jr.) and Grace (Brie Larson) struggle with their present and future in "Short Term 12". Photo by Brett Pawlak

In the film festival favorite Short Term 12, Brie Larson plays the aptly-named Grace, a young caretaker who has a special knack for relating to the residents of a foster care facility in a calm and understanding way. But her outwardly-compassionate persona comes from some inner struggles that are quickly thrust to the surface when she finds out she and her boyfriend/coworker Mason (John Gallagher Jr.) have an unexpected surprise arriving in about nine months. As if that’s not reason enough for Grace’s emotional fall, she also develops a quick connection with Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever), a troubled teen whose bad attitude and sarcastic wit remind her a bit of herself.

Transitioning from childhood to adulthood is never an easy time, but it becomes even more captivating when childhood traumas carry over into adulthood. Grace is confronted by a disturbing past that becomes more apparent as she helps Jayden and Marcus (Keith Stanfield) overcome their own secrets and fears, as well as contemplating her own future with Mason. It’s an emotionally precarious position to be in, and Larson handles the role with humor, compassion and, well, grace. Grace’s past is what allows her to be so matronly and motherly, which, in turn, earns her the respect of those under her care and her peers alike. But coming to terms with the abuse she suffered as a child prevents her from being able to open up to even those closest to her.

Grace (Brie Larson) heads down an unknown path in "Short Term 12". Photo by Brett Pawlak.

As the lines between Grace’s personal and professional lives become all the hazier, she sets out to find closure with her own past by helping Jayden and others come to terms with their problems. Though she initially follows some dark paths, she (with the help of those under her care) is able to find some peace and make what seem to be the healthiest decisions given her disparate circumstances. In what is easily her breakout performance, Larson conveys the outward strength and inner frailty of Grace in ways that will likely catapult her from supporting roles in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, 21 Jump Street and The Spectacular Now to more complex starring roles. And for writer/director Destin Daniel Cretton, Short Term 12 should create more long-term film-making success.

www.shortterm12.com

“Kick-Ass 2” kicks just as much ass as the original

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Kick-Ass 2 is the sequel to the highly popular 2010 graphic novel-turned-feature film Kick-Ass. It stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass, Chloë Grace Moretz as Mindy Macready/Hit Girl, Jim Carrey as Sal Bertolini/Colonel Stars & Stripes, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Chris D’Amico/The Mother Fucker. In case you haven’t seen the first Kick-Ass, here’s a bit of a plot breakdown, as well as a brief plot breakdown of Kick-Ass 2.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson is back to kick more ass in "Kick-Ass 2". Photo by Daniel Smith.

Kick-Ass is about an ordinary teenager, Dave Lizewski, who decides to become a real-life superhero, calling himself Kick-Ass. Kick-Ass gets caught up in a much bigger situation when he meets Big Daddy (played by Nicolas Cage), a fellow superhero who has trained his young daughter Mindy to become a ruthless vigilante called Hit Girl. Big Daddy is on a quest to bring down drug lord Frank D’Amico (played by Mark Strong) and his evil (but mostly inept) son Chris.

Big Daddy is killed by Frank and his minions, which causes both Hit Girl and Kick-Ass to seek revenge. After a brutal and bloody fight between Kick-Ass and Hit Girl and Frank and Chris D’Amico, Frank is blown up with a bazooka (yes, a bazooka). The film ends with Kick-Ass and Hit Girl deciding to continue fighting crime, and Chris vowing to exact revenge on Kick-Ass.

Chloë Grace Moretz as the purple-clad sidekick Hit Girl in "Kick Ass 2". Photo by Daniel Smith.

Kick-Ass 2 takes place approximately two years later, with both Kick-Ass and Hit Girl coming out of retirement after getting the superhero itch. Kick-Ass joins a team of fellow superheroes (led by Colonel Stars & Stripes) who call themselves Justice Forever. Hit Girl is forced to stop being a vigilante at the request of her guardian Marcus (Morris Chestnut), who promised to take care of her after the death of Big Daddy in the previous film.

Meanwhile, Chris has been plotting revenge against Kick-Ass for his role in his father’s death two years ago, and decides to become the world’s first supervillain, calling himself The Mother Fucker. He puts together his own team of supervillains called The Toxic Mega Cunts, and begins to terrorize the city in an effort to lure Kick-Ass into a final battle.

If you’ve seen the first Kick-Ass, you can expect the same violent, bloody comedy that you saw the first time around. This is not a children’s movie (although my mind was blown when I saw two parents walk in with their infant son). The dialogue, for the most part, is superb, with the comedic timing blending perfectly with the over-the-top blood-and-guts violence. Many subplots from the first film are dropped completely, allowing the viewer to focus on the main plot that unfolds in this film.

Kick-Ass and Hit Girl face off with arch nemesis The Mother Fucker (Christopher Mintz-Plasse)! Photo by Daniel Smith.

Despite being a dark comedy, Kick-Ass 2 definitely delivers when it comes to action, rivaling any superhero movie to date. The fight scenes (although sometimes difficult to see due to the shaky cam effect) are well choreographed, and most of the action isn’t completely mindless (the explosions actually mean something, for the most part). The dialogue is witty and blends in well with the action. In short, it’s pretty much as close as you’re going to get to seeing a superhero graphic novel come to life on screen.

While the first film focused primarily on the journey of Kick-Ass, Kick-Ass 2 shifts a lot of its focus onto Hit Girl and her struggles with growing up fatherless and maturing into a teenager (there’s a great scene where Mindy hangs out at a slumber party, and gets hot and bothered while watching a boy band music video). To compare the two films, Kick-Ass is more like American Pie, focusing on nerdy, sex-starved boys, whereas Kick-Ass 2 is more like Mean Girls, focusing on high school girls and all the drama that comes along with that.

Colonel Stars & Stripes (Jim Carrey) and Eisenhower join the fight for justice in "Kick-Ass 2". Photo by Daniel Smith.

Kick-Ass 2 is surprisingly deep with its themes of love, teenage angst, high school drama and grieving. While it’s likely not going to win any Oscars for any performances, it’s nice to see a comic book movie with real emotions at stake.

It’s tough to talk about my favorite moments of this film (of which there are many) without giving away too much of the plot, so I’ll just say this; the fight between Hit Girl and the mammoth Mother Russia is one of the best fight scenes of 2013, hands down.

Kick-Ass 2 is an incredibly enjoyable film, both as a stand alone and as a follow up to the hit Kick-Ass. If you love superhero movies, go see this. If you love action movies, go see this. If you love teenage angst movies, go see this. But, whatever you do, do not bring young children to this movie. It’s rated R for a reason. Having said all that, what’s the best way to sum up this movie? It kicks ass!

www.kickass-themovie.com