The Expendables 2

Posted on August 23, 2012 at 4:37 pm

The Botox budget must be bigger than the catering costs but less than the ordnance in this sequel to Sylvester Stallone’s first round-up of the 80’s and 90’s A-Team for an action extravaganza. That’s A as in AARP.

This time, our heroes: Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren and Randy Couture, along with their summer intern and obvious redshirt Liam Hemsworth are on a rescue mission. I’m not going to bother with their character names because the point of this movie is the actors, not the characters.

The guy tied to a chair and about to be tortured is hooded, so you know we are in for a big wink-wink surprise, and yes, it is former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said, “This is embarrassing.” The group rescues him and the Chinese billionaire he was guarding and then literally drops the client off by tossing him out of a plane with Li to guide him down. Li wisely exits the movie at this point, so my hopes for a rematch with Lundgren were tossed out of the plane with him.

Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) calls in a favor that has Stallone and the gang out for a job he insists is simple. All they have to do is retrieve the contents of a safe in a plane that crashed. They will need to take Maggie (the “combat proficient” Nan Yu) along, despite Stallone’s grousing that he does not want to be anyone’s babysitter. Hemsworth comes along for what he says will be his last job because he wants to quit to be with his wonderful girlfriend. He might as well be wearing a sign that says DBTA.

Or, he could be wearing a sign that says, “I am here to let the bad guy show everyone how really, really bad he is. Here I am, cute as a kitten and calling everyone ‘Sir’ and sacrificing myself for the others, so he must be really, really bad.” We also know he is really, really bad because (a) he is played by Jean Claude Van Damme wearing very mean-looking sunglasses and (b) his character’s name is, I am not kidding, Vilian.

The over-the-hill gang engages in various shoot-outs punctuated by lame wisecracks that refer to their iconic roles. Do you want to guess whether someone says, “I’ll be back?” At its best, it’s like watching a theme park stunt spectacular, one set-up after another, with brief distractions as the guys bond by discussing what they would pick for their last meal or just by the usual macho put-downs. Not that any of these guys were great actors to begin with, but they are less so, now. Between the Botox and the scar tissue, their faces don’t really move anymore. As the movie goes on, Li’s decision to literally bail out seems like the wisest move.

Parents should know that this film includes constant mayhem, peril, and violence, chases, explosions, fights, assault weapons, many characters injured and killed, drinking, smoking, and mild sexual references.

Family discussion: What did Barney mean when he said “we keep it light until it is time to get dark.” Why did he agree to fight the bad guy without weapons?

If you like this, try: the earlier action films starring these actors and the first “Expendables” movie

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Action/Adventure Series/Sequel

The Bourne Legacy

Posted on August 9, 2012 at 6:00 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for violence and action sequences
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drugs, drinking
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended spy-type violence with hand-to-hand combat, guns, chases, explosions, many characters injured and killed
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	August 10, 2012
Date Released to DVD:	December 10, 2012
Amazon.com ASIN:	B005LAIIPS

Different spy. Different program. Same evil conspiracy still trying to justify the nastiest of means with the most unprovable ends. This is “The Bourne Legacy,” the fourth in the Bourne series and the first not to star Matt Damon. Tony Gilroy, who wrote the first three films, wrote and directed this latest installment, with “Hurt Locker’s” Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross, like Jason Bourne an inconvenient reminder of an ambitious spy program that at least some people believe needs to be shut down with extreme prejudice. Those of us who felt there was not enough Renner in the crowded Avengers movie (he was the guy with the bow and arrow) are glad to see him take the lead here. He handles it gracefully.

The way he walks, runs, and punches is as important to defining the character as what he says, and Renner moves with an athlete’s economy, precision, and confidence. We first see Cross in an isolated, frozen location (the settings, even more than usual, really tell the story) and we immediately learn that he is brave, resourceful, and very capable. And that he takes some sort of pills. Soon he meets up with another guy (the always-outstanding Oscar Isaac) and even though they have never met, they communicate with the kind of shorthand that lets us know they recognize they share the same training and perhaps more and yet do not entirely trust one another. Soon we find that the same people who wanted to shut down any record of Jason Bourne’s Treadstone project are trying to erase any evidence of Cross’s project, Outcome and they will do anything to make that happen.

Jason Bourne could not remember who he was or how he came to be injured and floating in the water, and we shared his discovery of his own history and growing realization of the corruption and betrayal around him. So it seems logical that Gilroy would go in the opposite direction with Aaron Cross. His problem is not a loss of memory. In a way, he has too much memory. Slight spoiler alert here, though it is revealed in the trailer — the operatives in the Outcome project have been physically and intellectually enhanced with medication monitored by scientists, including Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz, who can carry off the brainy beauty role). Cross does not need to find out who he is. He needs to stay who he has become. When he runs out of the medication, he has to have her help to get him more.

One of the highlights of the film takes place in Marta’s home, a huge house in the country with beautiful lines and a great deal of potential but a shabbiness that tells us she is a person of taste and vision who never created the home she hoped to have. The confrontation that takes place there binds her to Carter and sets the rest of the story in motion. They end up in the Philippines, and Gilroy makes great use of the city for neatly-staged chase scenes.

Renner is a superb choice for an action hero, with easy charisma, intelligence, and mad fighting skills. He holds the screen effortlessly and is quickly becoming one of the most appealing leading men in Hollywood. The problem with the film is the decision to give him chemically enhanced capacities. It’s the Batman/Superman divide. The first three Bourne movies gave us a damaged hero we could identify with because he was so human. But with Cross, it is hard to identify with him or gauge his level of danger because we don’t really know what he can do or whether another hit of the meds could ramp him up further. We’re rooting for Renner all the way. Cross, not quite as much.

Parents should know that this film has extensive spy-style action violence with chases, explosions, fights, shoot outs, some strong language, drugs, drinking, and a non-explicit sexual situation.

Family discussion: How is Aaron Cross different from Jason Bourne? What do we learn from the scene with the other Outcome agent? Who is in the best position to stop Byer?

If you like this, try: the other “Bourne” movies and the novels by Robert Ludlum and “Hanna”

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days

Posted on August 2, 2012 at 6:09 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grades
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for some rude humor

This is the third movie based on the wildly popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney. With each movie, the franchise becomes better at milking the formula that causes 4th graders to cringe with delight. The story is always the same: Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) suffers through the traumas and indignities of a young boy growing up. Tormented by his older brother, hounded by his younger brother, misunderstood by his parents and teachers, and haunted by Holly ( Peyton List), the unattainable pretty girl in his class, Greg muddles through one humiliating mishap after another, accompanied by his well-intentioned best friend Rowley (Robert Capron).

This episode, which is based on the fourth book in the Wimpy Kid series, begins at the close of the school year. The last day is of course excruciating (Greg’s father accidentally gave the school a humiliating baby picture of Greg for the yearbook) but Greg is looking forward to a long and happy summer of computer games and time with Holly. Alas, it is not to be. Greg’s father insists that Greg get out of the house and do something worthwhile. From this premise follows a summer full of catastrophes. Greg’s parents think he might become more responsible if he takes care of a dog. Then they try signing him up to learn outdoorsmanship with Wilderness Troop 133. They consider enrolling him at a disciplinary prep school for irresponsible children. Finally, Greg’s parents leave him alone when he tells them that he has found a summer job. In reality, Greg has no job; he spends the summer sneaking into a country club where he tries to impress Holly. This lie will not end well for Greg, yet like all of the Wimpy Kid movies, everything ends on a warm and upbeat note.

Greg describes his baby brother’s security blanket as “a couple of pieces of yarn held together by raisins and boogers.” One could describe the plot of this movie the same way. There is very little plot to hold together a string of contrived and embarrassing anecdotes. When Greg jumps off the high dive board in front of everyone at the country club, his swim trunks improbably catch on the diving board and come off. He is trapped in the pool naked until an even more embarrassing alternative presents itself: Greg slips on a girl’s bathing suit labeled “princess” across the butt, and hurries out of the pool while people laugh at him and call him “loser.” These episodes are all painful but consistent with the brand of Wimpy Kids, the film always turns away just before the situation becomes truly awful.
The children in the theater all seemed to enjoy being grossed out by Greg’s misadventures. They simultaneously laughed out loud and yelled “Eeewwwwwww.” But those who are old enough to have come to terms with normal bodily functions may be less intrigued.

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Step Up Revolution

Posted on July 27, 2012 at 11:06 pm

A girl. A guy. A ragtag but devoted and immensely talented group of dancers with varied styles and talents. Impressively toned bodies. Breathtakingly athletic moves. Even more breathtakingly sensuous moves. A conflict. A misunderstanding. A pep talk. “We’re going to need a lot more people.” More people. Confrontation. Apology. More dancing!

There isn’t much new in this fourth entry in the “Step Up” series beyond the Miami setting and slightly older characters. What began as a series about teenagers and with #3 took the characters to college is now about people in their 20’s. The performers are different but pretty much interchangeable with the equally bland stars of the previous entry. But why waste any energy on the script and performances when we’re really there to see the dancing? Each new episode wisely devotes less attention to the story and more attention to the dancing.

And the dancing just gets better with every entry. This one leads off with a cheeky flash mob on a busy Miami street that is so joyously kinetic even the cars leap up to get into the act. Sean (Ryan Guzman) is a waiter at an upscale resort whose “Mob” is competing for the most views on YouTube. If they can just beat out the cute cat video, they can win the $100,000 prize. So they stage elaborate surprise dance numbers in hopes of attracting attention. Another is a truly spectacular event staged at a swanky museum gala with dancers camouflaged as parts of the paintings and sculpture so that they seem to bloom out of some magical garden of art.

With a nod to “Dirty Dancing,” Sean meets Emily (Kathryn McCormick) at a bar on the beach that is off-limits for the hotel staff. He thinks she is on the staff, too, and he asks her to dance. With a nod to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and just about every movie about dancers, they challenge each other, show off a little, recognize how beautifully their rhythms synch, and are vastly more eloquent with their bodies than they are when they are talking. One major departure from “Step Up 3:” in that one, the guy does not discover that the girl is from a rich, snooty family until 3/4 of the way through the movie. In this one, he discovers it right away but does not let his friends find out until 3/4 of the way through.

When Emily’s father announces that he is going to build a fancy new resort that would displace Sean and everyone he cares about, Sean and his best friend Eddy (Misha Gabriel) decide “It’s not okay to make art for fun anymore. Enough with performance art; it’s time to make protest art.” Protest art turns out to look a lot like fun art and both apparently require equally determined facial expressions, pretty much the only facial expressions anyone seems to be able to muster. But the dance numbers are brilliantly staged and filmed. A protest dance with gas masks and faux tear gas inadvertently but eerily echoing last week’s “Dark Knight” shooting in Colorado. It is thrilling to see Director of Photography Crash (yes, that’s his name) take full advantage of the 3D technology to amp up the energy and, yes, wit — especially the museum dance, a number with suits, fedoras, newspapers and coffee to mock the developers and politicians, and a rousing finale that brings back #3 star Adam G. Sevani (“Moose”) and Mari Koda of #2 and #3. We sorely miss Alyson Stoner and the Lombard twins, perhaps one more reason to look forward to Chapter 5.

Parents should know that this film includes some sensual dance movies and brief strong and crude language (b-word, etc.)

Family discussion: Who was right, Sean or Eddy? Why? What is the best way for the residents and the corporation to work together?

If you like this, try: the other “Step Up” movies and the documentary about competitive dancers, Rize

The Dark Knight Rises

Posted on July 18, 2012 at 11:38 am

There’s a reason you never hear about “your friendly neighborhood Batman.” Spidey may have some angst and guilt and abandonment issues but he is downright sunny-natured compared to the brooding soul of Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), holed up in Wayne Manor with only his loyal manservant Alfred (Michael Caine) and his tortured memories. At the end of the second chapter of director and co-writer Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, Wayne decided it would be better for the citizens of Gotham to believe that Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) died a hero than to tell them to truth about the descent of a once-honorable man into madness and vigilantism. So everyone thinks that Batman is the villain who killed Dent instead of the hero who saved the city and Wayne is refusing to see anyone.

In Dent’s memory, legislation has been passed to keep dangerous criminals imprisoned and the crime rate is down so low that a policeman jokes they may be reduced to chasing people down for overdue library books. But everyone in this story is tortured by secrets and shame, even Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldham), who carries in his breast pocket a speech setting the record straight but does not have the nerve to deliver it. There is the lissome but light-fingered catering assistant who turns out to be the notorious Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway, rocking the leather catsuit). And there is Bane (Tom Hardy), a terrorist who shows his contempt for humanity by cynically couching his atrocities in the idealistic vocabulary of social justice, trashing spirits as he trashes the concrete and social structures of the community.

It is overlong at two hours and 40 minutes but the action scenes are superbly staged, from the audacious plane-to-plane maneuver at the very beginning to the literally earthshaking attack on the city. The “pod” motorcycle chases are sensational, especially with Hathaway at the helm. She is never referred to as Catwoman, by the way, but when her goggles are up on her head, they amusingly evoke cat’s ears. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a standout as a perceptive young detective who understands Wayne too well. Hardy does his best to overcome the daunting limitations of the masked role, acting with his eyes and body language, but the weirdly disembodied voice is unconnected to the action and at times seems like a bad dub job in a cheesy karate film. Bale’s performance in this role (or, I should say, these roles) has always seemed thin to me, but fellow Oscar-winners Marion Cotillard, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine add some heft, especially Caine’s devoted Alfred, and it is good to see Tom Conti and Juno Temple in small but important roles.

The “Dark Knight Rises” title applies equally to both hero and villain in this story. This is like a chess game where all the pieces are black. Everyone has masks. Everyone has scars and a soul corrupted by a bitter stew of anger, fear, betrayal, abandonment, and isolation. Wayne says more than once he wears a mask to protect those he cares about, but he wears it to keep himself from getting too close to them, too. Nolan continues his exploration of duality and untrustworthy narrators (though one logical inconsistency inadvertently telegraphs a plot twist). Even the WMD at the heart of the action was originally designed for a benign, even heroic, purpose. This is a thoughtful, ambitious story that explores the metaphor and heightened reality of the superhero genre to illuminate the fears and secrets — and potential for heroism and yearning for a clean slate — we all share.

Parents should know that this film has extended comic book-style action, peril, and violence, many characters injured and killed, torture, hostages, references to sad loss of parents, brief mild language, non-explicit sexual situation

Family discussion: Almost everyone in this movie has secrets and conflicts — how many can you identify? Was Bruce Wayne right in thinking the risks of the energy technology were greater than the benefits? How are Bane and Batman alike?

If you like this, try: the Frank Miller “Dark Knight” comic books and the other “Dark Knight” movies