My Review: In A World...(7/10)

"This Wednesday, one woman will teach another woman to sound a little less retarded."

Lake Bell starred, directed, and wrote the screenplay for this quirky romantic comedy which doesn't follow the normal standards of a genre film and at times feels like it's all over the place, but the awkward and goofy humor really worked for me. The kind of humor in In a World isn't for everyone, but I had a blast because I have a similar weird sense of humor like this. Bell was great in this film and I really liked her goofy character, she was charming. I had a lot of fun with this story and enjoyed all the quirky characters, but despite all the goofiness the film does make a statement about sexism in the film industry. Perhaps it is a bit heavy handed in the way it hammers the issue over and over again but the satire of Hollywood and all the back stabbings involved in the business worked extremely well for me. This screwball comedy is a bit ambitious but it works thanks to some charming performances and a tender romantic backstory.

The film opens with a tribute to the now deceased Don LaFontaine (who was the king of movie trailer voice-overs) through archival interview footage. In the interview Don's close friend and also a voice-over artist, Sam Sotto (Fred Melamed), is sharing his memories with the legend who coined the phrase "in a world" at the beginning of most of the movie trailers he lent his voice to. The other person interviewed is Don's son, Gustav (Ken Marino), who has inherited his father's empire and follows his foot steps as well. Sam has also been mentoring Gustav who he considers to be the future of the voice-over world. We are then introduced to Sam's daughter, Carol (Lake Bell), who has been working as a voice coach for other actors helping them on their accents and dialects. Carol doesn't make enough money to live on her own so she moves in with her sister, Dani (Michaela Watkins) who is married with Moe (Rob Corddry). Her life turns around when she agrees to do a voice-over gig that a young shy kid named Louis (Demetri Martin) offers her. Louis runs a sound mixing studio along with Heners (Nick Offerman) named Sound Mix-A-Lot. Carol does her job so well that she quickly begins getting more offers and all of a sudden has become a threat in the male dominated voice-over profession, competing against her father and Don's son. 

Lake Bell is charismatic and her character has a lot of spark in this film which allows her to carry the movie despite being all over the place at times with different subplots. She is easy to route for in a male dominated world which she is about to interfere with. The story has many awkward moments which I found silly, but charming. She had great chemistry with Demetri Martin and their romantic story was more tender than what we usually see in a Hollywood rom-com. In a World is unbalanced at times, but the individual performances make each turn worth it. Nick Offerman and Rob Corddry were great in their secondary roles and they gave the film that extra spark that was needed. There were also some entertaining cameos. Lake Bell's solid work here leaves me interested in her upcoming projects because she has proved she has talent and a voice that should be heard.

My Review: The Way Way Back (8/10)

"Duncan! On a scale of 1 to 10, what do you think you are?"

It's been a great year for people like me who love coming-of-age films. So far I haven't been disappointed. Mud is my favorite film of the year, The Kings of Summer was a lot of fun, and The Way Way Back was charming. I loved this film despite it pretty much following the same formula most of these coming-of-age films do. The thing that stood out for me here were the performances and the emotion involving script written by Academy Award winning screenwriters Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (The Descendants). I was engaged with the story from the very opening scene and cared deeply for these characters. There were a perfect mix of funny and entertaining moments with some emotional drama. Liam James delivers a strong lead performance although at times he overdoes the physical aspect a bit by shrugging his shoulders a little too much (especially during the first half of the film until he begins building his confidence). It felt like he was trying too hard to point out that he was shy and lost, but I still sympathized with his character. The true stars of this film however are the secondary characters. Sam Rockwell gives yet another spectacular performance and he owns this movie. It was a pleasure to see his character on screen and he had great chemistry with Liam as he helped the kid grow and became a sort of a father figure to him. Steve Carell hits all the right notes in this film as the douche bag without overselling the performance. No matter how much you may love him as an actor, he genuinely is despiteful in this movie. Allison Janney is also hilarious in this movie. For a coming of age film I thought the adult actors were much better than the kids (at least their characters were better developed), and the location truly felt like a Spring Break for adults. Faxon and Rash not only wrote the script, they also played secondary characters (they were also really funny), and this was their first film as directors. I really liked this movie and thought it was even better than Payne's The Descendants which they helped write. The Way Way Back gets my respects and I definitely recommend this movie.

Fourteen year old Duncan (Liam James) is a shy and lonely kid who is being forced by his mom, Pam (Toni Collette) to travel with her to her boyfriend's beach house for the summer. She has been dating Trent (Steve Carrell) for over a year now and they decide to travel together along with his daughter, Steph (Zoe Levin). Once they arrive to their destiny they are welcomed by Trent's single sister, Betty (Allison Janney) and her two kids: Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb) and Peter (River Alexander). Duncan has a difficult time talking to anyone and would have preferred going to his father's house in California (especially since Trent treats him so badly). At this unexpected place he begins to find himself when he accepts a summer job at a water park managed by the goofy Owen (Sam Rockwell). Owen takes a liking for the shy kid and teaches him a few life lessons. He also befriends the rest of the employees of the park including Caitlin (Maya Rudolph), Roddy (Nat Faxon), and Lewis (Jim Rash). He tries to spend as much time as he can in the water park, since back home the only person he can actually talk to is Susanna with whom a nice friendship slowly begins to form. Rob Corddry and Amanda Peet also star in this film as Trent's friends with whom they spend most of the time.

The Way Way Back has some similarities to Adventureland and although that film might be a little better I still think The Way Way Back holds its own mainly because of how great Sam Rockwell is here. It was easy for me to identify with Duncan and the film builds on that nostalgic sentiment of adolescence at times. Some elements may seem familiar or taken from other movies, but they still work in a unique way here. I really wouldn't mind watching this film again because it was a pleasant experience. It's like a summer destiny I would like to visit again the following summer. I loved how they managed to turn so many familiar elements from the genre and make them feel fresh and new. There are moments where you will find yourself laughing hard and then the next minute you will feel heart broken. I also loved the soundtrack for this film. The Way Way Back is a very enjoyable film, especially if coming-of-age films are you sort of thing.

My Review: Pain & Gain (5/10)

"The event you are about to see took place in Miami Florida between October 1994 and June 95. Unfortunately, this is a true story."

Michael Bay decided to take a break from his latest big budget movies (Transformers, Armageddon, and Pearl Harbor) and pursue something much smaller. Pain and Gain is based on a true story, but it adds all the Hollywood condiments to make it suitable for moviegoers. First off all you get three likable actors like Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson (The Rock), and Anthony Mackie to play three criminals who really don't look anything like the real people involved in these crimes. I guess Bay was trying to get us to sympathize a little with these people despite their horrific acts. There's another thing Bay always does in his movies (big or small) and that is to include a gorgeous actress. In this case he got Bar Paly to play an inexistent role or at least I really never understood what she was doing here or why these men needed her. Bay also turns the victim here into a very unlikable character. I wonder how he or his family feel about this movie considering his kidnappers were just portrayed as some dumb bodybuilders who just wanted to take a shortcut to achieve the American dream. I really didn't have a problem with any of this, I just don't like the way Hollywood keeps on claiming films are based on true stories when they are only inspired by them. This dark criminal comedy didn't really work for me despite the strong cast. One of my major issues had to do with the length of the film; it just seems to drag forever. This would've worked much better as a 90 minute movie. The second problem is that the more you are reminded that the film is based on a true story (it reminds us midway though the film) the less funny and more messed up it gets. I'm not a Michael Bay hater, I liked Armageddon, The Island, Pearl Harbor, and the first Transformer, but I just didn't seem to care too much about this movie. I think Wahlberg and Johnson are great actors, but they didn't really seem to fit the part here. 

Pain and Gain starts off by introducing us to Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg), a personal fitness trainer at a Miami gym. He is all about achieving the American dream and being patriotic. Somehow he sees himself as better than most Americans because of the way he has built his body. What he has in muscles, he seems to lack in brains. Although he has tripled the amount of customers that go to his boss's (Rob Corddry) gym so he seems to know a thing or two about business. His other partners at the gym, Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie) and Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson) are even dumber. Adrian has used so much steroids that he is now suffering from the side effects, and Doyle is a former coke addict who is trying to reform his life. Daniel is so desperate to live the American dream that he convinces Adrian and Paul to kidnap a client at the gym (played by Tony Shalhoub) and steal his possessions. He believes they can get away with it, but things begin to get out of hand for these amateurs so the plot begins to get more and more complicated as the film moves on.

The incompetence of these criminals and the incompetence of the Miami police force is really what Bay is trying to make fun of here, but considering there were real victims involved it is hard to laugh at what is going on. As likable as Wahlberg and Johnson are, and as hateful as their victim is you kind of want them to get away with the crime. Bay kind of tries to pull our strings here because what these three men actually did is nothing we should be rooting for. Insisting that it is a real story only makes things more difficult for the viewer because somehow you feel sorry for these criminals because of how inept and dumb they are. The voiceover narrations that Bay implements in the story with every character doesn't work either (he should take some notes from Scorsese). The entire tone of the film just didn't work for me. I thought the film began well but just went downhill from then on. Skip this. 

Rating: 5,6/10