BAD WORDS  3.0***

 

        “Bad Words” is a dark comedy with instances of pure vulgarity and vileness that is at the same time, heartwarming–yes, you read that right.

The film opens with an unexplained 40 year old genius Guy Trilby (Jason Bateman) entering himself in a regional spelling bee, with a brief flashback explaining how he has been able to register legally. From the moment the movie starts, Bateman at first shocks you with his attitude and profanity but then quickly has you laughing. He easily wins the regional bee sending him off to the finals of the super bowl of spelling bees, The Golden Quill. Trilby meets "Chaitanya Chopra" played by Rohan Chand (“SlumDog Millionaire”) on the airplane to the competition and is quite annoyed but later is befriended by him at the hotel . Trilby uses mean dark humor as a strategy against some his young competitor spellers to throw off their concentration, which helps give him an edge and get him to the final spelling showdown with Chopra.

The mystery behind Trilby's anger with the world, constant bitterness and his obsession with winning the bee is at the center mystery of the film.   .

 

You will find some of the humor to be harsh, rude, and even racist, but if you can look past all that, it's really an enjoyably and quite funny.  And the envelope is constantly being pushed and with  each character Trilby interacts with, whether it be for an extended period of time or briefly,, Bateman nails each and every scene with a natural sense of arrogance.  

Bad Words is surely one of the most memorable comedies of the year. And the only thing bad about it, is how much you will find yourself laughing at some of the most inappropriate things.

Rated R for very crude and vulgar language  and some sexual content plus brief nudity.

 

Clark

NOTE: The title of this movie is misleading except to the extent he uses a lot of bad words and the movie poster is ridiculous… neither give you any idea what the movie is about.

 

 

  MUPPETS MOST WANTED 3.2***

 Somehow the world is just a better place with the Muppets in it. “Muppets Most Wanted” marks the eighth Muppet  movie and the second since their successful 2011 reboot “The Muppets.”

This new movie may not be as hip as the last one, which opened with a sarcastically sunny number and kept its ironic tongue in cheek throughout.  Instead, the new film feels a little more like a look back to earlier installments like "The Great Muppet Caper," which were less self-referential than just plain silly, with a variety of guest stars (mostly in cameos) fearlessly joining in the childlike fun.

The movie starts with a big production music number about sequels (which, it cheerfully admits, are "never as good"), then moves to a corny plot about an international master criminal ( Constantine), who just happens to be a dead ringer for Kermit. And in a flash there's a frognapping — and poor Kermit is off to a Russian prison (actually, a gulag) while the devilish Kermit look-alike Constantine is leading the Muppets on a European concert tour (which conveniently hits a string of cities with some begging-to-be-robbed museums).

Admittedly, most of the songs  go a little on too long and the movie itself is a little too long (just under 2 hrs.). But as the human villains, Ricky Gervais, as Constantine’s Number 2 accomplice, is surprisingly bearable and Tina Fey, as a Nadya, the Russian gulag warden, is very funny. And although some of the big celebrity cameos fall a little flat, most of them are delightful.

Of course it's the most fun for Muppets fans. But if you don't love the chipper Kermit, the self-involved Miss Piggy, the sweetly foggy Fozzie — not to mention the hard-to-explain Beaker, Animal and the Great Gonzo — well, please, sit over there, I don't think I quite trust you. But if you do — well, then you'll  be glad to see them back. And you’ll agree with Disney that — as long as they keep the quality up, and the guest stars coming back - it is easy being green. Or at least raking it in.

Clark

NON-STOP  2.5***

 

          Another year another Liam Neeson action thriller. First his daughter got “Taken”, then he and his wife got “Taken 2”  and now his plane gets taken .But this year the new concept is "air marshal threatened by mysterious on-board texter threatening to kill a passenger aboard a 6 hour transatlantic flight every 20 minutes unless $150 million is paid into his account. Who is the mystery killer? Who can he trust? What is the bigger picture behind events?"

 

 

The name of the game is "guess who?" And to that end we are fed a lineup of shifty individuals who may or may not be the mystery attacker/s.  Making a thriller  is rather like performing Magic and the secret is misdirection and sleight of hand and the movie does an OK though not spectacular job. Action is naturally limited given the confines of an airplane packed with passengers but they do use the tightness to create good  close quarter combat between Neeson and various opponents.

The villains motivations, when revealed, are quite interesting if somewhat lacking in logic.  Some reviewers have complained about the fact that a Muslim doctor is shown positively while the terrorists this time are not Islamic, but in its defense a real Muslim terrorist would not have gone through all this twisty- turny misdirection plot stuff but would simply have blown the plane to bits 10 minutes after takeoff, which though more realistic frankly wouldn't have made for much of a movie!

Reminiscent of those mostly forgotten airliner thrillers from the early- mid 90s, this will doubtless share the same fate but may amuse for now, and Liam Neeson still looks and moves great for a 62 year old .

 

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, some language, and drug references… but a “soft” PG-13.

 

 

ROBOCOP  2.8***

 

I went to Robocop (mainly because it was at the Raleigh I-Max) expecting disappointment, but in spite of being at odds with it at the start I found myself caught up in what turned out to be an engaging story.  I liked this film almost as much as the original (1987 with sequels). From the director on down to the actors you can tell they cared about this movie and gave their best. The film aims pretty high and for the most part succeeds.

 

 

Alex Murphy, damaged in an explosion to the point of death, is the ideal candidate for a new initiative to join human sensibilities to computerized and robotic law enforcement hardware. In other words, Murphy still has his mind and emotions to guide his actions. Thus the movie is more of a re-imagining of the original story, rather than a simple remake of basically the same script. Here the focus is on the emotional and psychological stakes as much as on the physical stakes for our lead character. There is more time taken to build a  character that still lives and breathes, which in turn makes for a better-rounded film. The effects of Murphy's transformation on both himself and his wife and son  make for an interesting and less straight forward action flick.

The actors do well their  in their respective rolls.. I liked Joel Kinnaman (who I have only seen in a TV cop show)) as Alex Murphy. He brought a human gravity to the character that works.. Gary Oldman is my personal favorite as a conflicted Dr. Frankenstein type who turns out to be the  heart of the movie.
 Michael Keeton plays with relish  the slimy CEO of Omnicorp Raymond Sellars who will do anything to succeed with his robot worldwide business. Lastly, Samuel Jackson as the Bill-O'Reilly-type far right conservative TV host, Pat Novak, is an ultra-hawkish saber rattler, so much so that you can’t help but chuckle.

This is an honest and loyal remake that will appeal to most action movie fans including the loyal fans of the 1987 Robocop who fell in love with the story precisely for the moralistic themes the remake explores.

The rating is PG-13. . there is plenty of action but the violence is not  sadistic or gory and there is no profanity (imagine that!).

Clark

 

NEBRASKA   3.5***

         Nebraska, is a heartfelt, humorous, offbeat story about family as revealed in a road- movie setting. It's a wonderful little movie about dreams and regrets. It's beautifully shot in black and white. And it's also downright charming. The movie doles out the “feel-good” in small doses but by the end of the film it turns out to be just right. It has been nominated for Oscar’s Best Picture.

As the film begins, retired alcoholic auto mechanic Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) keeps wandering away from his home in Billings, Montana. It seems he's determined to walk to Lincoln, Nebraska to claim a million dollar sweepstakes prize he believes he's won. His family knows better, but Woody is steadfast. Finally, his youngest son, David (SNL-vet Will Forte), agrees to simply drive him there in order to settle the matter once and for all. But Woody is injured shortly after the start of the journey and David decides they should take a detour to Woody's hometown of Hawthorne, Nebraska to allow him to recuperate for a couple of days. Once there, Woody visits his brothers and their families (these scenes are achingly realistic), retraces his past and encounters some old faces; David, meanwhile, gets to know his father in a way he never has before.

Dern gives a brilliantly restrained performance, proving that less-is-more.(He’s been nominated for Oscar’s Best Actor) Forte is perfectly deadpan as the patient, accommodating son, David, who is experiencing a role reversal now that he's the one who must care for his aging parent. And June Squibb is brilliantly funny  and steals every scene she's in as Woody's self-centered, brutally frank wife.(She’s been nominated for Oscar’s Best Supporting Actress) . The all-around marvelous performances from the cast  including several local non-professional actors add an unmistakable authenticity to this slice of Americana

Whether or not Woody is really a prizewinner is a mystery that's not solved until the end. But moviegoers are all surely winners for having made  the trip.

It’s rated “R” for some language but it is a “soft” R … more like PG-13.

Clark

 

      

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY  3.3***

 

 To begin with, this is a very dreary movie….. not dreadful,  but dreary and sad. It may be the only movie you’ll ever see with Julia Roberts without her million dollar smile. There is no smiling, no joy and no feel-good in this movie.

 

It  is  the story about the Weston family. A family that gives new meaning to the word “dysfunctional”…it  puts it on a new level of bitterness and heartbreak. It begins with the disappearance of patriarch Beverly Weston (Sam Shepard) which  serves as the emergency that brings the family together at the family home in Osage County in the  hot month of August. Grief and uncertainty have seemingly little impact on Violet (Meryl Streep), his bitter, cancer-stricken wife with an unholy dependence on prescription drugs and cigarettes.  In what one soon gathers is characteristic form, Streep doles out bile and loathing to her three daughters: strong-willed Barbara (Julia Roberts), whose marriage to writer Bill (Ewan McGregor) is slowly disintegrating; dutiful Ivy (Julianne Nicholson),who has been living at home with her parents but has finally decided on a better future with her cousin Little Charles (Benedict Cumberbatch); and flighty Karen (Juliette Lewis), who turns up with her new sleazy businessman-fiancé Steve (Dermot Mulroney) in tow.

 

The blistering portrait of a family in breakdown comes sharply into focus, cracks and all,  when Streep presides over a post-funeral dinner-table sequence, both tension-filled and horrifying, a sequence that may be one of the most exhilarating, awful scenes you'll ever see constructed out of insults, secrets and shame. Streep hurls abuse at each of her family members with the expertise of experience, switching from poisonous to sympathetic in a beat of her hateful, broken heart. They react in varying ways: Roberts with a white-hot rage, Nicholson with a tremulous sweetness that explains why she never managed to free herself from her mother's strangling grasp and Lewis with a “ love cures all” response  which is ridiculous since she’s a dingbat who has been desperately looking for love, usually in all the wrong places.

 

Meryl Streep gives one of the best performances of the year as the pill-popping, mean old lady who is constantly bullying her family members until she can't possibly torment them anymore. The things her character says are gut-wrenching but Streep's performance is so soulfully heartbreaking that you can almost forgive her. She certainly earned her Best Actress Oscar nomination.

Julia Roberts gives a very simple, brutally raw performance as  the strong-willed daughter.  She's an un-glamorous spectacle to see  and is deserving of her Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. The rest of the ensemble is incredible as well regardless of their screen time

 

As good as the performances are they don't outshine some flaws in  the movie.  The drama is at times too heavy-handed to the point where it pounds you over the head when a slap in the face would suffice.

 

A good way to describe this movie is that if movies could have babies, and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woof" had a baby with "The Big Chill" and that baby grew up and sold its soul to the Devil, that movie would be "August: Osage County." This is ensemble human misery unveiled, pulled open wide, and made more poignant by how well it is done. Consider yourself warned.

 

Rated R for language including sexual references, and for drug material.

 

Clark

 

JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT 2.5***

 

    The Jack Ryan character in this movie has little to do with the Jack Ryan depicted in the Tom Clancy novels. In the books and the other movies,  Ryan is a CIA analyst who ends  up having to do some dangerous field work. In this movie, they try to  make him a Jason Bourne wannabe, which doesn't make much sense keeping in mind Ryan's lack of experience doing such dangerous field work.  

 

Here Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) is a student in London who, after witnessing the news of 9/11, enlists in the U.S. Marines. During one mission, his helicopter gets shot down and he gets badly injured. While he's in rehabilitation, he meets the movie's generic love interest, Doctor Cathy Muller (Keira Knightley), and CIA agent Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner). Harper is amazed by Ryan analytical skills and enlists him into the CIA. Ryan starts working undercover on Wall Street looking for signs of terrorism.  He eventually  finds out about a villainous Russian, Viktor Chereving (Kenneth Branagh), who plans to destroy the U.S. economy following a disastrous 9/11 type terrorist attack. For this first movie, the filmmakers decided to try to tell the “how he got to be” story of Ryan.  As with most movies of this type, the primary problems  come down to the script. It’s just we've seen most of this stuff before, and done much better.

 

Chris Pine playing himself for the umpteenth time actually makes for a pretty good Jack Ryan, and Kenneth Branagh is convincing as the Russian Villain and also does a competent job of directing a rather generic action movie. K Knightly and K Costner are okay for what they have to work with.

 

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit ends up being a somewhat lame excuse of a reboot that will end up in the Walmart discount bins a few months after being released . Might be worth to checking  out on TV only if for free or a few dollars just for some good action.

 

Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and intense action, and brief strong language.

 

Clark