While We're Young (7/10): An honest and funny portrayal about aging.

“For the first time in my life I've stopped thinking of myself as a child imitating an adult.”

This is my fourth Noah Baumbach film and up to now I have enjoyed all his movies although I still think Frances Ha is his best possibly because Greta Gerwig is the perfect match for delivering the lines he writes. His screenplays are unique and he writes about things he knows and experiences by living in New York. His characters come out as hipster and snarky most of the time and for that reason it’s hard to enjoy hanging around them, but the way Baumbach approaches the material makes the experience an interesting one. Despite writing his films as comedies, Baumbach is concerned with being honest and arousing deep emotions in his audience. In While We’re Young Baumbach also includes the familiar topic of aging, but he does so with his own unique style. In a great scene we see the older generation messaging each other in their latest iPhones, watching series in their Apple TV, and listening to music in their iPods, while the young and cool kids are going vintage listening to old records, playing board games, and watching video tapes in their squared TV. It was an interesting commentary on how at times we struggle to keep up with technology to continue looking young, while the hipsters go out of their way to try to stand out by bringing things from the past but as hard as they try they never do turn out to be very sincere and authentic or as cool as they’d like to be. This generation gap is honestly explored by Baumbach and he does so with his classic comedic touch.

In While We’re Young, Baumbach introduces us to a mid aged married couple, Josh (Ben Stiller) and Cornelia (Naomi Watts) who unlike most of their other married friends haven’t had children. In a way it does affect their friendship with other couples their same age because they can’t relate in the same way. Josh also happens to be a struggling documentarian who has spent the past ten years trying to finish his latest film. He also gives courses and it is during one of those lectures that he befriends a young couple, Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried). They are hip and cool kids who seem to be living spontaneously. Darby even makes her own ice cream. When Jamie praises John for one of his earlier documentaries, he quickly takes a liking for the kid and accepts an invitation to hang out with them. Jamie himself is an aspiring documentarian and Josh decides to take him under his wings and assist him. Both John and Cornelia befriend this young energetic couple and their lives begin to change. They enjoy the feeling of being able to look and act young again, but not everything is what it seems.

Ben Stiller has worked with Baumbach in the past and he sort of plays a similar character here. He is full of himself and seems to be discontent with the way his life is going. He is still at his dramatic best when working alongside Baumbach. It was fun to see his transformation once he befriends Driver’s character and even begins wearing a fedora to look hip. Naomi Watts is also great and delivers in her physical comedy scenes, especially in one where she is invited to a hip-hop dance class with Darby. Adam Driver also returns after his collaboration with Baumbach in Frances Ha and his character is very phony. From the moment he appears on screen you realize he isn’t as spontaneous as he claims to be. The film is at its best when it focuses on the dynamic relationship between these two couples, but it gets off course at times when it tries to be a commentary on artistic integrity. Baumbach didn’t seem capable of balancing those two themes and for that reason the later section of the film doesn’t work as well as the first half.       

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (5/10): An emotional farewell to Robin Williams, a fun performance from Dan Stevens, but nothing more

“Why don't you take a picture, it'll last longer!”

Nine years after Shawn Levy first directed Night at the Museum, he brings us the third and final installment of the franchise. Who would’ve thought that the film would be so successful at the box office to invest in two more sequels? Critics certainly didn’t because the film was never warmly received. It was an interesting premise and had a charming cast, but you’d think that the magic had run off by now. I wasn’t a fan of the franchise, but I still was entertained by some of the performances and the same can be said about this third film. It has its charming moments, but there are more misses than hits here with the gags. The formula is repeated once again, but one of the positive elements in Night at the Museum is the introduction of Dan Stevens (from The Guest) as Lancelot. He is the funniest character in the film, although he plays sort of the same character as Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story. He thinks he is real and the gags center on that. It is recycled material, but Stevens is funny and makes it work. The other new addition is Rebel Wilson who plays a guard at a British museum, but her character doesn’t work. She plays her usual self and the jokes fall flat here. Apart from the lead performance from Ben Stiller and the addition of Lancelot, other positive things about this sequel are the returning characters: Jedediah (Owen Wilson) and Octavius (Steve Coogan) who are perhaps my favorite of the franchise, and the cameos from Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Cobbs who return from the first film. Of course the most emotional and engaging scenes are the ones that feature Teddy Roosevelt. It’s the opportunity to see Robin Williams in his final feature film. Roosevelt isn’t among his best characters, but it was still emotional to see him one last time and get a chance to say good-bye to one of my favorite comedians of all time. 

The Night of the Museum franchise is family friendly and probably one of the films most families will get together to watch during the Holidays. It is entertaining and kids will enjoy it. There is nothing fresh about this sequel, but I don’t think parents will mind. Shawn Levy has made a career of directing these light comedies and his films are mostly average (my favorite of his is Real Steel and that is probably how they got Hugh Jackman to do a cameo for this sequel). There are funny moments, but this isn’t one of those comedies that is worth rewatching because the material is recycled. It is fun for a one time watch because of the cast involved, but I don’t think audiences will find it funny on a second viewing. There is not much more to add about this film, if you were a fan of the previous two films you will probably end up loving this, but if not it really is more of the same.

My Review: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (5/10)

"To see the world, things dangerous to come to. To see behind walls, draw closer. To find each other and to feel. That is the purpose of life."

That quote is the central theme of this film directed by Ben Stiller and adapted by Steve Conrad (The Pursuit of Happyness) from James Thurber's short story, which actually is repeated throughout the film and can even be read during various scenes. It is a feel good message about achieving your goals and finding your purpose in life, but at the same time it's repeated so many times that the film feels forced and preachy at times making it loose its value. This is without a doubt Stiller's most ambitious film, but unfortunately it becomes predictable and instead of focusing on the adventures it becomes a preachy film about the cliched phrase "Stop dreaming, Start living." My main complaint however has to do with the pacing of the film which is really unbalanced during the first 30 minutes where the story seemed to lack identity and compelling characters. It really suffers from some sort of identity crisis at first not really understanding what kind of film it wants to be. The romantic relationship didn't work very well either, and Kristen Wiig was underused. Her character didn't have much depth and she seemed too restrained in her role. On a positive note, the strongest point of the film was without a doubt the cinematography which was beautiful and once the story becomes a globe trotting adventure going through Greenland, Iceland, and Mount Everest it really picks up and becomes escapist entertainment. By the end it's difficult not to leave with a warm and optimist heart because the story ends up being quite inspirational. The film may not be the modern fairytale it tries so hard to be, but it does have some fun and entertaining moments. 

Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) has worked for Life magazine over twenty years as one of the main photo developers, but now that the company has decided to go digital many of the employees feel their jobs are hanging on the line. Ted Hendricks (Adam Scott) has been assigned to manage the company's transition and isn't too impressed with Walter once they meet and he begins to day dream and zoom out during the middle of a conversation. Walter does this a lot since he is bored with his life and dreams about doing things he would never do in real life, like speaking to his co-worker Cheryl (Kristen Wiig) whom he has a crush on. Walter's life takes an interesting turn when he doesn't find one of the films that his elusive photographer (played by Sean Penn) has sent him which is supposed to be the cover of the magazine's last issue. This leads Walter to travel across the globe trying to locate him in order to save his job, and that is when his true adventure really begins. No more dreaming, it's time to live.

Ben Stiller gives an entertaining performance, but as I mentioned before the romantic relationship between his character and Wiig's didn't really work too well. I hated Adam Scott in this film and thought that his character was too cartoonish and over the top. His scenes weren't funny, they felt awkward and forced like many other moments of the film. Shirley MacLaine and Patton Oswalt on the other hand gave great performances and stood out in their supporting roles. Patton was probably the highlight of the film for me despite not having much screen time. It was also interesting to see Sean Penn deliver a comedic role in a Ben Stiller film considering the hilarious scene in Stiller's previous film, Tropic Thunder, involving the never go full retard scene referencing his role in I Am Sam. There were several funny moments despite some of the misses and the beautiful scenery makes this film worth checking out. The day dreaming sequences didn't work very well for me, although I laughed really hard at the Benjamin Button one. Despite being uneven it is an entertaining and optimistic film. Be warned there is a lot of product placement in this movie, but I didn't have a problem with all the commercializing since I think it is part of life anyways. I guess in the end the long development and producing issues the film went through hurt its potential.

My Review: The Watch (5/10)

¨There is an alien invasion happening; they are among us.¨

The Watch had an outstanding comedic cast like most summer comedies tend to, but the material failed to live up to those talents once again. I really liked these actors and was hoping the film to be a huge success, but despite laughing several times I felt this film was missing something. I found myself laughing throughout several scenes, but at the same time thinking to myself how ridiculous and predictable the plot and jokes were. The material isn’t really that good, but we have excellent actors that can make a mediocre movie into a better one and this was the case. The jokes weren’t as funny as the performers. I`m still waiting for that one hit comedy of the year (I haven’t seen Ted yet and am hoping that will be it), but I was definitely disappointed with The Watch despite not having a terrible time with it. The Watch is one of those films you might enjoy watching once if you`re really bored, but you will probably want to stay away from a second viewing. The characters are all common stereotypes: you have the nerd who wants to please and befriend everyone, the man child who is always screaming (a character that Will Ferrell made famous), the sex driven guy with the funny accent, and the tough guy who still lives with his mother. They all come together once again for this buddy comedy that mixes the humor with a sci-fi adventure theme that really never works. The action and the comedy didn’t blend in as well as it did in Pineapple Express for example, and in my opinion this film was trying to set a familiar tone.

The plot revolves around four guys who decide to start a neighborhood watch group after a murder takes place in their small town. Evan (Ben Stiller) is always trying to please people and keeping busy in the community by starting local clubs and events. He`s also the local manager of Costco and happily married to Abby (Rosemarie DeWitt) with whom he`s trying to have a child. When a local guard from Costco is murdered he decides to begin a neighborhood watch in order to keep everyone safe and find the murderer. The police in town represented by Sgt. Bressman (Will Forte) are pretty incompetent, so Evan finds it in his kind heart to help despite not anyone else carrying. Only three neighbors show up to the first meeting after Evan gives his uninspiring speech to the community; they are Franklin (Jonah Hill), Bob (Vince Vaughn), and Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade). The three of them really show up for different reasons: Bob wants to escape his married life and bond with the guys, Franklin always wanted to be a police officer but failed his exams, and Jamarcus is the foreigner who wants to make new friends (and if possible save a beautiful girl so she can reward him). None of them really know what they are going to go up against, and the rest of the community think they are a joke. The criminal they are looking for turns out not to be human, and when they encounter the alien for the first time they take it upon themselves to protect their neighbors at all costs.

The film is as ridiculous as the premise sounds but you will find yourself laughing throughout the film because of the talented cast working together. One of the funniest scenes for me revolved around the four guys taking pictures of themselves with an apparently dead alien, but you can watch this scene in the trailers so I guess it`s not saying much. The film is really predictable and forgettable but I didn’t find it really awful either. By tomorrow I will have probably forgot all about it, but for an evening in which I had nothing to do it was ok. This is perhaps one of Seth Rogen`s worst work as a screenwriter although he had some help this time and therefore can share the blame. The director, Akiva Schaffer, really hasn’t had much experience as a film director since he is mostly known for his direction in Saturday Night Live. The film itself could have probably worked better as a five minute SNL sketch than a full feature film. Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller should try to do something different and move away from their typical roles. I could have said the same thing about Jonah Hill, but he did try something different in Moneyball and it completely worked for him, but he came back once again to his typical role. Richard Ayoade I had not heard of so I can`t say anything on his behalf, but it pretty much felt to me that all these actors played it safe with their roles and didn’t take any risks. That is why no one will remember The Watch came out by the end of the year.

     

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My Review: Tower Heist (6/10)

¨A robbery can change very quickly. You have to adapt to the situation at any moment. Anything can happen.¨

Tower Heist is the latest Brett Ratner vehicle, and it isn’t as good as the film that made him popular, Rush Hour, but it still has it`s funny moments thanks to Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller`s performance. I`m barely giving this a fresh rating because I was entertained, but by no means is it memorable and I can understand if many people found this movie stupid because the robbery is beyond ridiculous, but I guess that is alright because they never try to take things seriously. Ratner continues to remind us that he`s just having fun with this film and he can go overboard with the plot if he wants to. The entertaining moments come from the classic Eddie Murphy lines and Ben Stiller always playing his usual self. People who enjoy his comedy will like this movie, but those who don’t like him won`t like this either because it`s your typical Ben Stiller comedy. I just went along with the robbery scene and decided to have fun with it knowing it wasn`t trying to take itself seriously. Screenwriter, Jeff Nathanson, could have used some of the knowledge he gained when adapting the script for Ocean`s Eleven, but I guess it wasn’t that important for him. They focused on the jokes and that was enough for me. The action is ridiculous, but the comedy is present so I had a decent time with Tower Heist.

As for the story goes we are introduced to the main character right away, Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller), who works as the manager of the Tower, which has the most expensive residential apartments in New York City. He is really dedicated to his job and is dedicated to keeping its residents happy, including wealthy financier Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) who even manages his and the rest of the employees pensions. Charlie (Casey Affleck) is Josh`s brother in law and he also works at the Tower despite being a terrible worker under his high standards. Some of the other staff members are Lester (Stephen Henderson), Enrique (Michael Peña), Odessa (Gabourey Sidibe from Precious), and Miss Iovenko (Nina Arianda). Together they seem to have everything pretty much in control, but one day the FBI comes to arrest Mr. Shaw for financial fraud and Agent Denham (Tea Leoni) makes the arrest. Shaw pays bail and undergoes house arrest until court date. Lester tries to commit suicide when he hears about Mr. Shaw. When Josh finds out that Lester had given Shaw his entire retirement savings to invest on, he snaps and storms Shaw`s apartment in search for answers. Josh loses his temper and is fired from his job along with Charlie and Enrique who were with him at the moment. The three, along with a former tenant who was evicted from the apartment, Mr. Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick), and a thief named Slide (Eddie Murphy) decide to commit the perfect crime: steal the 20 million Shaw has hiding in his apartment and give back the money he has stolen to the rest of the apartment staff.

There isn’t really much more I can say about this movie. I liked it enough to give it a fresh grade, but I wouldn’t be recommending it or watching it again. This is no Rush Hour, it doesn’t have that many funny moments, but it still managed to keep me watching it with a smile in my face. I am a Ben Stiller fan so that might be one reason I actually enjoyed this movie because it really doesn’t have many other positive things going for it. Eddie Murphy is funny in this, but he doesn’t have many scenes. Casey Affleck is far from the roles he got back in 2007 with Gone Baby Gone and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, but he`s still a likeable character. Sidibe proved she can also do comedy, and not just dramas. She does have some funny scenes. I also enjoyed Broderick`s performance quite a bit. The cast in this film is really interesting and Ratner has done some good work in the past so I can see why I was entertained with this film despite the plot and the material. It is a decent film with some funny moments and a good way to spend a boring evening at the house, but don’t go expecting much more than that. It`s not a buddy comedy either so don’t go expecting a lot of scenes between Murphy and Stiller because there really aren`t that many.

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My Review: Greenberg (7/10)

¨Dear Starbucks, in your attempt to manufacture culture out of fast food coffee you`ve been surprisingly successful for the most part. The part that isn`t covered by `the most part` sucks.¨

This line pretty much sums up Ben Stiller`s character, Roger Greenberg, as a man who is going through a mid life crisis and seems to complain about everything in life. Noah Baumbach, known mostly for his award winning movie The Squid and The Whale, directed this film, wrote the screenplay for it, and co-wrote the story along with Jennifer Jason Leigh who had a small role in the movie as well. Baumbach`s films are known mostly for having very rich and interesting characters that are developed really well. In this movie the character study is done well, although not as good as in his previous movies. The main point of his movie isn`t the story, it has more to do with introducing us to these rich characters going through ordinary situations. The problem with this film is that the first half is pretty slow and it takes a while for us to take interest in the characters, but the second half picks up once we get to know them and perhaps even identify some of our friends with them. Ben Stiller plays a different role in this movie just like Adam Sandler did with Punch Drunk Love, or Jim Carrey in The Majestic so don`t expect a laugh  out loud movie or a Zoolander like role, because his character is pretty depressing, but Stiller still does a fine job.

Ben Stiller is Roger Greenberg, a man who is going through a mid life crisis and wants to sit back for a while and not do anything. He is angry towards society and finds a reason to complain about everything. If you ever worked at a company in the customer service department, then Greenberg would be the guy that keeps on sending those complaint letters. He is definitely unhappy about life and often wonders how different his life would have been if he signed that record deal with his band in his early 20`s. Roger has been living in NY, but he decides to return to LA to housesit his brother`s home who is leaving for Vietnam along with his wife and kids. In LA he befriends the family`s personal assistant, Florence Marr (Greta Gerwig), who has just come out of a long relationship and is about 15 years younger than him. She is nice and is going through that stage in life where she doesn`t know what her next step is going to be, but she admires Roger for not worrying about the conventions of society and feeling good with himself about not doing anything. The main point of the movie focuses on these two characters and their relationship, along with a few other supporting characters such as Ivan (Rhys Ifans), Roger`s friend and ex band member and apparently the only one who really talks to him because the rest are upset for him having broken off the deal with the record label.  The main purpose of the film is the character study of Roger, his relationships with Florence and Ivan, and the story is not the important factor.  

Greenberg might not be a film for everyone. It has a slow beginning and there is not much comedy or action going on. Fans of Baumbach will probably enjoy this movie, although they will find it a little less satisfying than his previous work. I still think this movie is very interesting and is worth a watch for the character study, Greta Gerwig`s performance, and for Ben Stiller who tries a different kind of role this time and does a good job. The pace of the movie is probably the weakest link, but it is still worth watching and seeing how these characters develop. Greenberg is a complex character, not a person we would really like to be friends with, but there is still something about him that we wish we could understand or comprehend. I tend to enjoy these psychological films and really ended up enjoying Greenberg, but I can understand how this movie might not be for all audiences. This is not your typical Hollywood movie with a fairytale happily ever after love story, but it is very realistic.

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