Spy (7/10): The name's Cooper, Susan Cooper.

“Can you imagine me as a spy?“

It’s a safe bet to say that Melissa McCarthy is at her comedic best when working alongside writer and director, Paul Feig (Bridesmaids and The Heat), so if you were worried about her recent failings in Identity Theft and Tammy, fear not because Spy delivers plenty of laughs and interesting action sequences. McCarthy can easily be discarded for repeating the same gags, but she proves that when given an intelligent script she can continue to deliver strong comedic roles. It helps that Feig is a fan of the spy genre and he cleverly manages to balance the action set pieces with the comedic moments. Spoof films have grown tiresome over the past years, but when done correctly they can still be entertaining and Spy is such a film. The film didn’t open strong with me, but it eventually grew on me as McCarthy’s character was empowered. 

In Spy, McCarthy plays the under confident Susan Cooper, a CIA analyst who serves as the eyes and ears of one of the agency’s top field agents, Bradley Fine (Jude Law). It becomes evident from the opening sequence that Fine is a spoof of James Bond, but I felt those moments a bit forced. When a mission goes wrong and the identities of all of the spies in the agency have been compromised, Elaine Crocker (Allison Janny), the agency’s stern boss decides to send Susan to Europe to uncover a conspiracy involving an arms dealer who is trying to sell a nuclear bomb to terrorists. The elegant dealer, Rayna Boyanov, is hilariously played by Rose Byrne who is convincing as one of the main villains in the film. Susan’s mission in Europe is compromised however, when the aggressive agent Rick Ford (Jason Statham) dismisses orders to stay clear from the site and decides to infiltrate the location despite having his cover blown. The interplay between Susan and Rick and between Susan and Rayna are by far the highlight of the film as these actors play off each other extremely well. 

Despite some hilarious scenes involving Statham, McCarthy, and Byrne, Spy misses some marks with a couple of characters. Jude Law is an incredibly talented actor, but I wasn’t a fan of his role here. He might be spoofing James Bond, but it’s Statham who delivers the most laughs poking fun of the macho character he has played during most of his career. It was great to see him back in a comedic role after his initial collaborations with Guy Rithcie (Snatch and Lock, Stock, and two Smoking Barrels). The cameo with 50 Cents was also quite horrendous and forced. Miranda Hart also has an important supporting role as one of Susan’s best friends in the agency, but I wasn’t a particular fan of her character and most of her jokes fell flat. Despite missing the mark at times, Spy is still hilarious when it centers on McCarthy, Statham, and Byrne. The feminist message might be too loud and obvious, but it works extremely well for a genre film where females are often overlooked and reduced to desk jobs. Spy also succeeds at delivering genuine suspense as we follow the hero trying to solve the case. There are memorable action sequences that take place in a kitchen and on a private jet that are incredibly entertaining, and it’s not something you see in spoof films. Spy balances the comedy very well and it delivers the action that espionage films have us accustomed to. I had a lot of fun with it.  


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Annie (5/10): Uninspired musical, but entertaining thanks to Wallis and Byrne's performance

“It’s the hard-knock life for us.”

I have very fond memories from my childhood of watching John Huston’s musical, Annie, and singing along to the lyrics of “Tomorrow” and “It’s the Hard-Knock Life”. It was one of the films I rewatched the most as a child along with The Goonies and the Disney cartoons. So despite hearing some negative reviews, I still was excited about getting to watch the Annie remake for nostalgic reasons. One of my favorite films of 2012 was Beasts of the Southern Wild, so my expectations were even higher when I heard Quvenzhane Wallis was going to play Annie. Wallis is a force to reckon with and the perfect choice for Annie. This remake (which actually turned out to be more of a modern re-imagining) was directed by Will Gluck, whose latest films (Easy A, Friends with Benefits) I actually enjoyed. So all these elements combined, drew me into wanting to see it despite the very negative word of mouth. My expectations weren’t matched of course because Annie turned out to be a very flawed film, but I didn’t hate this musical either. Wallis’s performance was strong enough to keep me engaged with the story despite all the cheesy dialogues. The biggest disappointment for me however, were the musicals which felt too produced and at times those scenes felt more like a music video clip from MTV than anything else. The story is cliche and familiar, but at the same time it remains family friendly and it has a few emotional moments thrown in as well. For a flawed film, I found myself enjoying it quite a bit, but that was probably due to the nostalgic factor and my love for Wallis. 

The cast of Annie is pretty solid, although there were some performances that didn’t work at all. Cameron Diaz is miscast in the film, playing Miss Hannigan, the guardian of the orphan girls. She goes completely over the top and got on my nerves almost in every scene she was in. She is a great actress, but this sort of cartoonish role which she’s played many times in the past, never works for her. I find her obnoxious every time she plays these exaggerated parts. The same could be said about Bobby Cannavale who never sells his role. I know that the weak screenplay was responsible for this, but the rest of the cast didn’t turn out that bad. David Mayas, Adele Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Jamie Foxx are solid, but the standouts in this film were Wallis and Rose Byrne. They both bring a unique sweetness and charm to their role necessary for a musical like this. Byrne is a talented actress, and she is one of the best things about Annie. Unfortunately, the music never works and the screenplay is uninspired, but I still found most of the film entertaining and tolerable. I’ve seen a lot worse this year.

My Review: Neighbors (5/10)

"Do you think maybe we've gone too far? I'm a child of divorce and I sympathize with them."

I don't think director Nicholas Stoller nor screenwriters Andrew J. Cohen and Brendan O'Brien went too far with the comedy in Neighbors considering it felt like a rehash of hundreds of raunchy comedies we've seen before. I was expecting a much funnier film considering Neighbors has a talented cast and it was warmly received by critics and audiences alike. Unfortunately, I laughed very little and was disappointed with how un-engaging the story and characters were. Seth Rogen is a hilarious guy, but there have been some rare occasions were I really didn't find him all that funny, and that was the case with Neighbors. Surprisingly I did enjoy Zac Efron and Rose Byrne's performances. They had the funniest scenes in the movie, but I just felt those scenes were too far spread out and that as a cohesive whole the film failed. I enjoyed Nick Stoller's previous comedies although I think his best one was his feature debut, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. With Neighbors, Stoller is taking a step down and giving us a comedy with no emotional attachment or interesting characters. Neighbors has plenty of obscene and vulgar humor, but I just didn't find it funny.

Neighbors centers on a couple who have just moved to a quiet neighborhood with their young baby girl. Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly Radner (Rose Byrne) are enjoying their married life and trying to adapt to grown up life now that they have a child. Things take an unexpected turn when frat brothers move in to the house next door. Teddy (Zac Efron) is the president of the fraternity and his right hand man is Pete (Dave Franco). At first Mac and Kelly warmly welcome the frat brothers trying to act as the friendly and cool young couple. They even accept an invitation to party with them, but after several nights of heavy partying and loud music, Mac and Kelly can't take it anymore. They try to politely ask for the guys to turn the volume down, and when their request is ignored they call the police. Feeling betrayed for being rated on, the frat brothers declare war on the young couple and pretty soon one cruel act is responded by another as they go back and forth trying to outdo one another. 

The comedy didn't really work for me although I have to acknowledge some scenes that I found hilarious. My favorite scene was the one in which the frat brothers were having a Robert de Niro themed party, quoting some of his famous lines ("You talking to me?" "You've broken the circle of trust") from his movies. The closing scene at Abercrombie and Fitch was also hilarious, although I heard it was unscripted. There are few loose scenes like these that save the film, but as a whole I just found it boring and uninspiring. Rose Byrne is the real star of this film and she does steal every scene she's in, but it just wasn't enough for me. 

My Review: Insidious (5/10)

"You may be a superhero, buddy, but you're not invincible."

Insidious began with a lot of promise and several scares, but midway through the film it began to lose its appeal and it went downhill from there. James Wan's The Conjuring was one of the best horror films I've seen this decade and I can see how certain elements from this movie (especially the first half involving the haunted house elements) were perfected and used with greater effect there. Wan knows how to scare audiences creating an eerie atmosphere and uses the camera effectively. Despite the interesting premise, I did have some issues with the characters which wasn't a problem for me in The Conjuring. Patrick Wilson was great in that film, but here I felt he had very little chemistry with Rose Byrne. There is one scene where the alarm goes off and he finds the door from the main entrance wide open. He closes the door and sets the alarm on again only to hear it go off a few seconds later and find the door open again. Despite everything that is going on in the house he still doesn't believe his wife and thinks she's overreacting. Even if he didn't believe the ghost story then at least he should've called the police because someone is forcing the door open and sounding off the alarm. I just found it hard to believe he would go back to sleep after that. The characters weren't developed very well, but the scares still worked during the first half of the film. Unfortunately the second half doesn't live up to the standards set during the first half. The final act instead of being scary ends up being laughable, and it is a problem I find with most horror movies nowadays which don't know how to connect the gran finale with the suspense and the tension they've been building.

Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai Lambert (Rose Byrne) have recently moved in to their new home along with their two boys Dalton (Ty Simpkins) and Foster (Andrew Astor), and their baby daughter. Strange things begin to occur in the house, and one afternoon Dalton suffers an accident in the attic. He seems to be fine, but when Josh goes to wake him up the next morning he doesn't awake. The doctors can't explain why, but somehow he seems to be in a coma. They decide to bring Dalton back home as he remains in coma and strange things continue to happen. Renai begins hearing voices through the baby monitor and finding blood stains in Dalton's sheets. She begins seeing strange presences and her son Foster claims to be hearing Dalton walking through the hallway at night. Convinced the house is haunted, Renai asks Josh to move again and so they do. At their new home strange things continue to happen, so Josh's mom, Lorraine (Barbara Hershey) decides to intervene. She had a similar experience with her son Josh when he was younger and gets a group of paranormal investigators led by Elise Rainer (Lin Shaye) to come intervene. That is when things begin to get a little freakier. 

One of the major problems with this film is that screenwriter Leigh Whannell (who worked previously with Wan in Saw and Dead Silence) by trying to stay away from the cliches of the genre takes us to unexpected places during the second half of the film. For instance, he thought it would be great if the family left the haunted house instead of staying there like in other horror films.This should've been a good thing, but Wan was creating such an eerie atmosphere with the classic haunted house formula that somehow it backfired here. The creepy moments that were beginning to scare me completely abandoned me when we got to the new home and the paranormal investigative team began their astral projection talk. This really took me out of the movie and truly disappointed me. The scares were gone and everything became sort of laughable. I think the reason why I really loved The Conjuring is because Wan went back to the classic formula and stuck to the haunted house elements which were working so well for him during the first half of Insidious. I don't think this is a terrible film, but the ending was so disappointing I don't really feel like watching the second film. 

My Review: The Place Beyond the Pines (9/10)

¨If you ride like lightning, you´re going to crash like thunder.¨

The Place Beyond the Pines is director Derek Cianfrance´s follow up to his critically acclaimed drama Blue Valentine which also happened to star Ryan Gosling. I personally never have seen Blue Valentine, so this was the first time I ever watched one of Cianfrance´s films and I have to admit that I was blown away by this epic drama. It may have its flaws, but the film is tremendously powerful and sticks with you long after the credits role. This isn’t an easy watch either as it is a 140 minute movie with a lot of character development, but it has some very entertaining and thrilling moments that make the film go by rather quickly. I never found a dull moment in this film and although it shifts gears several times each part of the film hooked me and left me wanting more. Cianfrance delivers one of the year´s best films thanks to some great performances from Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, and newcomer Emory Cohen. Ryan Gosling give a similar performance to the one he gave in Drive, where his character doesn’t say much but acts really tough and cool. This time around he is an experienced motorcycle driver. This epic film can be divided in three parts, and in my opinion the first 40 minutes might be the best part of the film where Gosling absolutely shines and the film works more like a suspenseful thriller. In the second segment, the film focuses on Bradley Cooper and we get to see him play his useful charismatic self. This was probably the weakest part of the film for me, but it ends with a bang in the third segment where we are introduced to the main character´s sons 15 years later and we get to see how their family´s legacy influences their lives and decisions. Both Emory Cohen and Dane DeHaan give some strong performances here. This last part might feel a bit rushed and I could have used some 20 more minutes of their story, but it was great nonetheless. I was really hooked with this movie and look forward to seeing some of Cianfrance´s previous work.

The story takes place in Schenectady, New York where Luke (Ryan Gosling) is just passing by along with the carnival as he works as one of the motorcycle drivers in the globe of death. He happens to share a connection with the small town as his former lover, Romina (Eva Mendes), lives there. They exchange a short dialogue after his act and he offers to take her home. He discovers that she has had his kid but is now living with another man. Growing up without a father has affected Luke´s life so he decides he wants to be around for his kid despite Romina not wanting him around. Luke quits the carnival and decides to stay in town working for a mechanic named Robin (Ben Mendelsohn). He wants to provide for his son, but the money isn’t enough so Luke is easily convinced by Robin to begin robbing banks. The two form a duo that involves Luke robbing the bank and driving off as fast as he can in his motorcycle while Robin waits for him in a truck where they can easily hideout and escape. They begin to have success, but Robin isn’t sure they should continue to do heists as often as they do. Luke decides to continue on his own and that is where his path is connected to Officer Avery´s (Bradley Cooper), an ambitious police officer who works in a department full of corrupt cops. And yes Ray Liotta plays yet another corrupt detective once again. The film shifts its focus in this second part on Avery and his relation with the police department and his family, specifically with his wife, Jennifer (Rose Byrne) and his supportive father Al (Harris Yulin). The final segment takes place 15 years later and it involves the relationship that Luke and Avery´s sons have with each other.

The film is ambitious but I think it manages to capture several issues in a very powerful away. Some of the things that the director is dealing with here seem to be the importance of a father figure (or lack thereof) in your life, and how the mistakes of our past continue to catch up with us in our generations to come. It is not an easy thing to tackle these issues in such a short time, but the film really felt like a novel and many of the images were left unsaid for the viewer to interpret on their own. The film has a very strong screenplay, some very powerful performances, and several dark dramatic turns. It is also very beautiful to look at despite the film noir look. I really found this to be a wonderful film and one I had to pay close attention to as the events unraveled before the screen. I especially liked the first 40 minutes of the film and the final 20, but I think it worked really well as a cohesive and connected story.

 

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My Review: Bridesmaids (9/10)

¨You`re like the maid of dishonor¨

Bridesmaids isn’t your ordinary chick flick, and I wouldn’t necessary call it the female version of The Hangover either, because this movie works very well for a male audience as well. Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo managed to write one of the funniest scripts of the year in my opinion. I hadn’t laughed so hard in a movie for quite some time. This is definitely the best comedy I`ve seen all year. Kristen Wiig not only co-wrote the script, but she also played the main character of the film; and she was absolutely hilarious. Mumolo also had a small cameo as one of the passengers in the plane that sat next to Wiig. After watching Bridesmaids all I can say is that I hope that these two actresses continue to work together because they managed to deliver a lot of laughs and it’s a movie that both male and female audiences will enjoy. It is probably the best SNL film I`ve seen in a long time. This is a really smart comedy which at times reminded of Tina Fey`s work in Mean Girls. Paul Feig was also the right choice as the director, although he was mostly known for directing TV series like The Office, Nurse Jackie, and Arrested Development. Judd Apatow`s name is also attached to this film as one of the producers and that is always a good sign because Apatow is usually synonym to a funny comedy. This is my favorite comedy of the year so far.

Annie (Kristen Wiig) and Lillian (Maya Rudolph) have been best friends all their lives; they`ve shared the best of times and the worst of times together. Lillian seems to be going through a great point in her life and she has a healthy relationship with Dougie (Tim Heidecker), while Annie is pretty much at a low point after losing all her money in a bakery business that went bankrupt. She also has an unhealthy relationship with Ted (Jon Hamm) who only calls her for sex and then basically kicks her out of the house. Dougie asks Lillian to marry him, and of course Lillian asks Annie to be her maid of honor. Annie decides she is going to give Lillian the best wedding ever, but things don’t turn out as expected. Lillian introduces her other bridesmaids to Annie and she finds a rivalry with Lillian`s new wealthy friend named Helen (Rose Byrne) who seems just perfect. Helen seems sweet and nice, and Annie becomes jealous of their friendship. The other bridesmaids: Becca (Ellie Kemper), Rita (Wendi McLendon-Covey), and Megan (Melissa McCarthy) all seem to love Helen`s ideas as well. As everyone begins to favor Helen; and things continue to go bad for Annie she becomes more and more jealous and pretty soon this might affect her friendship with Lillian. As a side story Annie is pulled over by a cop named Nathan (Chris O`Dowd) who ends up being a neighbor of Annie`s and soon they begin a nice friendship that can turn things around for Annie if she doesn’t blow it likes she`s done so many times before.

The movie began a little slow for me and I didn’t have as much fun with it until the bridesmaids show up and the rivalry begins. I really loved Melissa McCarthy`s (star of the TV series Mike and Molly) performance; she was truly hilarious and stole every scene she was in. Wiig also is great in the lead role and she had good chemistry with her SNL co-star Maya Rudolph. There are also very memorable and laugh out loud scenes like the one in which the bridesmaids go try on their clothes, or when they all get on a plane together to fly to Vegas. There are really great moments in the movie and I had a great time with it. I laughed really hard and loved most performances from the cast. Guys shouldn’t doubt on seeing this film because it isn’t an ordinary chick flick, it doesn’t follow those same formulas, it is much more than that and the scenes work in a true comedic fashion. This is a really funny movie and one you won`t want to miss.

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