Open Letters Mothly: Now You See Me

All-star casts can be hit or miss. For every The Departed, The Expendables or Oceans 11, there is Mars Attacks or this year's absolutely horrid "comedy" Movie 43. To balance so many A-list personalities at once is a magic act in and of itself, and that is the perfect segue into Now You See Me, which has two former Oscar winners and three former nominees among its actors. It's magic act is nothing short of impossible, and that's what makes it so intriguing a premise for the big screen.

One year after four street magicians were plucked off the street by a mysterious benefactor, "The Four Horsemen" are headlining Las Vegas when they pull off the impossible: transporting a man across space and time to help them rob a bank in Paris. When the FBI gets involved and can find no way to see how they pulled it off other than "magic", the Horsemen are free to go. Now it's a race against time as the law tries to figure out how these seemingly harmless magicians are creating the impossible, and its a race against the clock to stop them from completing their final performance.

Now You See Me is directed by Louis Leterrier and stars Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Melanie Laurent, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman.

Click here for the full review at Open Letters Monthly.

Mashup in Manhattan

I try not to make snap judgments when I call a film my favorite so far of the year. I generally attempt to step back from the initial rush I felt in the immediate aftermath of the movie in question and ask myself as to what made that particular title so great. That was certainly easy when the films in question were the relatively unremarkable Haywire, The Secret World of Arrietty and Friends with Kids. Much as I enjoyed each of those titles, they were absolutely the best of what was a swath of mediocre releases beginning in January that has continued largely unchecked in 2012. Having a clear frame of mind became more difficult in March, when the first great film of the year was released in the Hollywood remake 21 Jump Street, and again in April with the horror spoof The Cabin in the Woods. As opposed to simply enjoying myself at the theater, I was actually having  rip-roaring times, firsts for the year. When I stood back and declared them #1's, I had to force myself to look past what I loved about them and see them for what they really were. Fortunately, that still made them excellent films, though I now find myself in an even more difficult position today that I did in those past two instances: a great movie that I thoroughly enjoyed to the tune of it easily catapulting to the top of my 2012 rankings. But does Marvel's The Avengers truly deserve to be known as the #1film of the year? Following is a list of the big and little things director Joss Whedon did right in adapting the popular comic book superhero team to the big screen.

Joss Whedon Success #1: A Classic Tale

I'm sorry, it's still difficult to believe that Chris Evans is that big...

When the Marvel Comics super-group The Avengers was first formed back in 1963 by creative minds Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, it was to unite several of the characters the two men created to battle villains no one hero could defeat, in this case Loki, the Asgardian god of mischief and brother and arch-nemesis of superhero Thor. Knowing this, Whedon gleefully pits Loki (Tom Hiddleston) against Earth's mightiest heroes, or at least those who have had successful film runs to this point. When Loki steals an alien power source with limitless potential, the Tesseract (Sorry, purists, but I'm glad they didn't call it the Cosmic Cube), from the hands of international law enforcement agency S.H.I.E.L.D., director Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) calls together the strongest and smartest known heroes in an attempt to prevent Loki from subjugating the world's population. It may not be all that easy, as it will take the combined strengths of super-soldier Captain America (Chris Evans), genius in a metal suit Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), thunder demigod Thor (Chris Hemsworth), gamma-irradiated scientist/monster Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), and master assassins Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) to prevent the bad guy from using the Tesseract to summon an alien army to pacify the Earth for his rule.

Funny, he doesn't LOOK particularly angry...

Whedon knew what he was doing when he wrote this script; each character has their own stake in what happens, and the balance between characters is such that never does anyone gets too much attention in comparison to the others. Placating the egos of big-name actors is never an easy task, though that was perhaps made easier by presenting them a tale that starts off with huge consequences and that keeps raising the stakes, never allowing itself to falter even in the face of necessary plot exposition or character development. Keeping a steady pace throughout means the audience never feels lost, even if they've never read a comic book in their life or seen any of the preceding Avengers films. Still, I have no doubt that the die-hard fans will have the best experience, as this is a story that hearkens back to the golden age of comic book heroes and villains.

Joss Whedon Success #2: Hero Cooperation... and Conflict

It's a good thing the god of thunder doesn't sucker-punch...

One of the great thing about the Avengers comics over the years was that you had a constantly-rotating group of heroes who fought gallantly to protect the world from evil. Of course, the unsaid portion of that statement is that this group rotated their members because the erstwhile allies didn't always get along. Whedon did good by not making this a seamless transition from a number of solo heroes into bad-ass super group; these guys have little in common, and early on they make it vocal what they despise about one another. What Lee and Kirby knew, and Whedon wisely picked up, is that when the strongest people on the planet have a beef with one another, rarely will words win a fight where fists do quite nicely. In often clashing with one another, the characters' eventual uniting under a shared threat is made far more amazing, especially when those fights prove to be far from over in the heat of battle. Great acting is simply a great topping, as Downey Jr, Evans, Hemsworth et al make the whole thing work, good or bad, in their characters' interactions with one another.

Joss Whedon Success #3: The Hulk Done Right

Okay, NOW we run!

As a film franchise, The Hulk has not really been much of a success by the standard set by Thor, Captain America and Iron Man for Marvel. Failing to gather much traction either in 2003 or 2008, the reason for Hulk apathy is as simple as the hero's premise: Bruce Banner gets mad, he turns into Hulk, repeat as necessary. But what makes Hulk bland as a solo act grows new life when he's thrown against other heroes, whether he's hunting Black Widow through the bowels of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s  Helecarrier or duking it out with Thor. And when he takes his "Hulk Smash" bit out on an invading army... well, let's just say that seeing is believing. Thanks equal parts smart storytelling from Whedon and the casting of Ruffalo (which has proven to be a masterstroke of genius), not to mention unprecedented CGI/motion capture work which finally allow the not-so-jolly green giant to live up to his namesake, The Hulk finally feels like a force to be reckoned with. Combine that with Whedon's liberal use of comedy to disarm your senses, and he appears to finally be coming into his own as a movie character.

Joss Whedon Success #4: Suitable for Your Children

The new Michael Ball fashion show begins with a twist.

Remember last summer, when Transformers 3 hit the big screen? Besides being a jumbled mess thanks to director Michael Bay, the destruction of Chicago (the film's only worthwhile bit) was tempered a bit when scenes were shown of the evil Decepticons gleefully firing on fleeing civilians and turning them into bones and ash. Or Green Lantern, in which Parallax's invasion of Earth began with the disintegration of several people? The fact that these films easily got themselves PG-13 ratings while recent documentary Bully was repeatedly saddled with an R is kind of bullshit, but what makes those films' actions so reprehensible was that the filmmakers KNEW a lot of young kids and teens were going to beg their moms and dads to see these titles, and the actions of the directors left a poor taste in responsible parents' mouths. That isn't a real risk in The Avengers; while there is certainly plenty of exciting action to go around, parents can be reassured that there will be no violent depictions of mass murder to clog their children's minds, only the kind of fights that will inspire them to mock-fight with friends in their yards afterward.

Manhattan has never looked better!

Marvel's The Avengers is frankly a film with few flaws. It's strongly written, loyal to its fanbase without being disingenuous to those who perhaps aren't on the bandwagon, and amps up the action at all the correct moments. The actors are great, the humor is hilarious, the heroes are larger than life and there really isn't any better film to open the summer movie season. The only thing I can honestly say I didn't like was a factor most Whedon fans are intimately familiar with, and even THAT was done for the right reasons, whether or not we agree. Whedon's classic superhero world might not have the brilliant bleakness of Christopher Nolan's Gotham City, and might not stand up in quality to Nolan's upcoming Dark Knight Rises. It's a different animal, but never will there be a moment when The Avengers doesn't get SOME kind of reaction from you, whether good or bad. For now at least, it's not only the best movie of 2012, but the Marvel Comics movie to rule them all. Marvel's reign of dominance shows no sign of letting up, and I can't wait for the next entry to this franchise, as The Avengers left me wanting even more once the credits had stopped running.

The Race is On!

This past week, I went on something of a film binge. With the first major awards show up this Sunday (The Golden Globes, for those of you who might have lost track) time is running out to catch up on all the 2010 releases that made an impact. Though time didn't permit me to see all the films I probably should have (take THAT, 127 Hours!), I did get a trio of films under my belt that will get some attention this Sunday, and may even do so when the Academy Awards roll around next month.

The first of the three movies I saw was the Will Gluck-directed Easy A, starring Golden Globe nominee Emma Stone. Stone plays Olive, an anonymous teen in a Los Angeles high school whose life goes awry after lying about losing her virginity to her best friend. That lie quickly becomes problematic as it turns into a full blown gossip nightmare, with Olive being branded a whore by her classmates and eventually leads her to branding herself with a red letter A, inspired by the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel The Scarlet Letter. Eventually she has do decide whether to tell the truth or risk the people she cares about getting hurt for a lie.

Stone, who I had never been particularly impressed with before, is very much in her element here, though I guess "high school student" wouldn't be much of a stretch for her, having turned all of 22 last year. Still, her portrayal of Olive as feisty and smart with a take-no-prisoners swagger makes for a great hero, and her performance alone would have made the film worth watching. That said, the support of a surprisingly-strong cast make every scene enjoyable, with some of the younger stars such as Amandy Bynes, Penn Badgely, Cam Gigandet and Aly Michalka putting forth some good work, while vets such as Thomas Hayden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Malcolm McDowell, Lisa Kudrow and Stanley Tucci blow them out of the water. Of special note are Tucci and Clarkson, who absolutely kill as Olive's hippie parents.

Somehow I doubt Olive is anonymous after being seen in this

If only the story was as interesting as the film's characters. Though I respect the throwback to 80's style teen dramas like Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, Easy A has something of a shallow tale that, while it cranks out the laughs, goes over the top on quite a few occasions. A perfectly good film and worth a rental, there are probably more worthy titles awaiting your perusal.

Despicable Me was the second film I checked out, just the second animated film I've seen from 2010. Though Toy Story 3 will be the likely victor come awards presentation time, I figured this would be worth the time taken. Led by the voice of Steve Carell, I was sure there would be enough laughs to keep me at bay for a while at least, and while the film isn't a masterpiece by far (not surprising coming from the creator of the superbly-okay Ice Age) I wasn't disappointed either.

Carrel voices Gru, a veteran super-villain eager to prove his worth as he's seemingly never reached his villainous potential. His target? Vector (Jason Siegel), the man who swiftly and unexpectedly became the world's number one villain and in possession of the one tool Gru needs to steal the moon and regain his mojo. For the plan to work, he needs to adopt three cute kids, not realizing that having these children in his life will change him in ways he couldn't imagine...

Don't you just want to market them to tots??

Carrell and the voices around him do an amazing job with their characters, but the film is truly stolen by the Gru's "Minions," tiny yellow creatures utterly loyal to him. Each seemingly with a personality all their own, they manages to steal every scene in which they appear, much like Scratch the saber-toothed squirrel in the Ice Age films. They make perfect sidekicks to Gru, and really make the film differ from it's 2010 peers in the character department.

I liked Despicable Me, though it's second half is much too predictable for all that.. Good triumphs and all that, but when you consider that the film is made for kids it's pretty difficult to argue for a more textured plot. Like most animated films, I was glad I watched it but now have it out of my system, and while I will think it a good film, I'll probably never watch it again.

Finally, I saw a film that is actually getting a lot of Oscar buzz, and has been gathering admirers since it's July release. The Kids are All Right is a look at the modern American family, which in this day and age may not be what it was even twenty years ago. Based at least partially on the life of writer/director Lisa Cholodenko, the film looks at what it means to be a family in today's world, and how those families that seem 'different' might not be nearly so when you take a close look at them. Annette Bening and Julianne Moore play lesbian partners and parents to Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson. When the kids decide to seek out the man who donated the sperm to get their mothers pregnant with them, the inclusion of Mark Ruffalo into this family's world might be too much to handle.

The film is getting a ton of attention from critics leading into awards season, especially for the three leads. It's puzzling because none of the three is necessarily doing anything that stretches the boundaries of what they've played before. Bening plays a drunk neurotic, and there's actually not much to the role besides the strength she puts into her delivery. Moore is a stifled housewife. Again, not a lot of depth. Ruffalo is a carefree man who finds out he can actually be a decent dad given a chance. Wow, that's an award-winner. These are not great characters, but the talent playing them seems to have fooled some people into thinking that they somehow deserve praise like no other. Frankly, I have to think that the most cosmetic differences, that of Benning's and Moore's sexual orientation, has put this film on the Juno fast track, trying to make everyone think that it's a better film than it is.

Yes, we GET it, you're gay! No more group hugs!

What really brings The Kids are All Right down though, is the story. Or rather, lack thereof. I guess realizing about halfway through shooting that there was no story, the film throws in a twist so conspicuous that we're stunned into disbelief. That the film jumps the shark so eagerly to appease audiences brings down the film's authenticity, and while it was still a film I enjoyed, it was nowhere near the critical darling I was expecting. Funny, yes. Caring, yes. Legitimate Oscar contender? Don't get your hopes up.

And so that's it, while there are some films left to see from 2010, I've worked my way much closer to finishing off 2010, much more than I have for any year before already. A few more films and I'll finally be done with last year, just in time to see what I'm sure will be great films like Green Hornet, Season of the Witch, and Cedar Rapids.

Okay, there MUST be better films in 2011. I'll find 'em.