#36 Focus
Over a decade ago, the Onion put this kind-of bogus but also accurate and hilarious label on the Fresh Prince (see link). Considering this, it has been interesting to see him at the forefront of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. I'm sure he's awesome in Concussion, and I hope to see it before the season is over to see if, in fact, he was robbed of a nom, despite it being largely trashed on the critical front. I can think of at least one other actor (another white one, unfortunately, coming way later on the countdown) who should have gotten the nod over either Cranston or Damon, who were both good but have been much better in the past. We'll see if Jada was right or just being spurned after all.
In looking over Will Smith's filmography, it should be noted that as he has gotten older he has tended to choose the interesting stuff (I, Robot, Pursuit of Happyness, I am Legend) with a little more frequency than the paycheck movies of yesteryear (Men In Black, Independence Day, Wild Wild West, the latter being the film he chose to make over The Matrix.) The year in Smith '15 has shown a little of both sides, the risk-taking, quiet Concussion and the safer-bet, full-on-Hitch-charm-mode Focus, where he seems to be at his most comfortable.
He is Nicky and she (Margot Robbie) is Jess, con artists forever on the hunt for the perfect grab. They meet after she tries--and fails--to rob him with her partner and he then coaches them on what they should have done differently. He takes her in as his protégé and (duh) lover, but he lets her in a little at a time, on guard, untrusting, making sure not to get burned. After a big job involving a degenerate gambler and the Super Bowl comes scary-close to failing, they part ways. Three years later, their paths cross again, this time at a party in Buenos Aires, where she is playing the long game on a wealthy race car owner (Rodrigo Santoro) and he is called in to help said owner con his biggest rival.
It's a fun one with not a hell of a lot of depth and some serious suspension of disbelief, but if you like throwback Will Smith and, you know, looking at Margot Robbie (actually, she's a pretty good actress), it's a solid way to spend 1.75 hours.
#35 Sleeping with Other People
Even though we have seen this movie in about a thousand different iterations, there are things about Sleeping With Other People, besides just showing up to a 8-year old's birthday party whilst rolling on Molly, that feel like a somewhat fresh take on the we're-best-friends-but-obviously-we're-attracted-to-each-other and will-there-ever-be-a-scenario-in-which-we-are-forced-to-confront-our-feelings-and-move-from-platonic-to-romantic storyline.
One drunken college night, Lainey (Alison Brie) shows up at the dorms, attempting to bang her T.A. (who shows up later in the form of Adam Scott) when Jake (Jason Sudekis) claims her as his guest so that she does not get kicked out. They get to talking and smoking some ganja on a rooftop couch and he convinces her to instead sleep with him, as the T.A. is apparently a real snoozefest. She relents. Years later, we catch up with Jake, getting thrown in front of a cab by his girlfriend for cheating on her and Lainey, breaking up with her boyfriend at a restaurant via telling him that she is cheating on him. Having not seen each other since that faithful night (everyone has a person or two like that), Jake and Lainey run into each other at a, we'll say, "intercourse addicts" meeting. They decide to hang out and though he puts the moves on pretty hard, she wants to just be friends--she's applying to med school in Michigan anyhow. Then they become pals, share everything with each other while dating others, etc. etc. You know how it goes.
There are plenty of genre conventions, certainly, but it is set apart, at least a little bit, by dialogue and situations that feel somewhat truthful. Brie and Sudekis are mostly convincing, chemistry-wise, Adam Scott is villainous as the past she can't seem to shake, and other side characters (Amanda Peet as Jake's boss, The League's Jason Mantzoukas as Jake's cleverly-quipping, token married/jealous of his single life character Xander) move the familiar story along nicely.
# 34 Avengers: The Age of Ultron
Thor broods. Iron Man provides hilarious and smarmy situational banter. Bruce Banner ponders and is occasionally forced to Hulk-smash the hell out of stuff. Captain America walks around puffing his chest out and insisting that he is the leader. Hawkeye runs around and hides behind objects. Black Widow trots about in black leather and makes grave faces. And they all team up against robot James Spader as Ultron, a Bruce Banner/Tony Stark collaboration that gets a mind of its own, and his pals the Maximoff twins (Elisabeth Olson and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, telekinesis and super speed, respectively).
As you can see, there is an Avengers formula, and it certainly applies in this over-serious, way-too-long movie that clocks in at just under an unnecessary two and a half hours. There are, of course, some outstanding CGI action sequences, including Hulk beating an entire city to rubble while under lady Maximoff's mind control until giant-suit Iron Man intervenes, which looks like this:
And this:
Great action sequences that involve some pret-tay, pret-tay sweet Avengers combo moves (I think the other Avengers use Cap's shield more than he does), and of course, the tao of Robert Downey, Jr., save this worldwide blockbuster from being a total waste of time.
Stay tuned for more!
No comments:
Post a Comment