Movie Reaction: Anomalisa

Formula: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - memory wiping

[Voice] Cast: There's only three voice actors. David Thewlis is Michael Stone, the main character. Jennifer Jason Leigh is a woman he meets, Lisa. Tom Noonan is everyone else.

Plot: Michael Stone is out of town to give a speech at a conference. He's desperate to find attachment to someone and he thinks he finds it with a woman he meets at his hotel.

Thoughts: 
This is going to be a tough one to write. You see, I don't like how this one made me feel. I don't disagree with the movie, really. It ruined my night. I think that was the point.

I get why Anomalisa is being praised so much. It's a beautiful movie. That's not a surprise. It's a Charlie Kaufman script. He's one of the singular voices in modern cinema and I can absolutely see how this came from the mind of the man who made Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind. He co-directed this with Duke Johnson who I mainly recognize for directing the Community episode "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas". That too makes sense.

It's a wonderfully simple movie. The majority of it takes place in a single night. Michael arrives in Cincinnati and everyone looks and sounds the same to him. This isn't a new development. I get the sense it has been like this as long as he remembers. The whole world, his whole life, is filled with the same encounters with the same people. His wife, his son, the ex-girlfriend he meets up with, they are all the same. Then he meets Lisa. She's different. She looks and sounds different than everyone else. He's infatuated with this. The movie continues to follow that relationship until it reaches the place it's destined to.

I was impressed by the details of the animation. The way a character leans on another or looks away from the gaze of another. There's a lot of the things that you expect from a live actor, but don't expect an animator to take the time to notice. The humor in the movie is very dry and never intended to make you laugh out loud. Everything is at a low boil but not tense.

I'm jumping around a lot. I apologize. I just don't know how much to get into here and how much is better suited to see in the movie.

Elephant in the Room: It sounds like you are talking around your opinion of it. There's a difference between thinking something is a good movie and liking the movie. I'm good never seeing this again. It's bleak. The things that it is trying to say are deep and complex and honest, but they are also things that I consider unhealthy for me to ponder for too long. I think it will affect some people in profound ways, both good and bad. For me, it's mostly bad.

Regarding more specific matters in the movie, Michael is a jerk. He's an unlikable character. That's not an opinion. You are meant to understand him, not like him. He's self-centered. That's pretty much the point of the movie. I don't pity him the way the movie wants to, and depending on how literal you think any of the movie is, the world is kinder to him than he deserves. I don't find the last scene at all earned.

Here's the Catch 22 of it all. I'll need to see this again to properly process it all, but I don't see a situation in which I'd watch this again.

To Sum Things Up: 
Anomalisa is a deeply human movie. I'm continually impressed by Charlie Kaufman's work. I'm glad that he's making films like this. It examines corners of our existence that aren't comfortable. This will frustrate as many people as it devastates. 

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Alien Nation

What I Guessed It Was About: A movie about a nation of aliens. Maybe they've been quarantined somewhere, like District 9. As for the plot, it could go nearly anywhere as long as the makeup is good.

How I Came Into It: I didn't know much of anything about this movie. I imagined it was in some nether-region between Earth Girls Are Easy and *batteries not included. In other words, things were not looking up. I like Mandy Patinkin and I see the appeal of James Caan. That's a better starting point.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) I liked a lot of the ideas in the movie better than the final product itself. Science Fiction, in its highest form, aims to reflect something on society and this aimed to do exactly that. For a 90 minute movie, it builds a surprising amount of this world with the Newcomers. Using that merely as exposition for an otherwise cut-and-dry cop movie is an interesting choice. James Caan and Mandy Patinkin make a good buddy cop duo. I'd watch them do a Lethal Weapon rip-off even without this gimmick.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: This was really lazy social commentary. Everything about the Newcomers was surface level. It's an apples to oranges swap out for anything. We have acid, they have saltwater (which also doesn't really make sense - think, Signs). We have alcohol, they have sour milk. It even has that required scene where a Newcomers talks about how special humans are (We're not). When you take away the ineffectiveness of the Newcomer element, all that is left is a generic buddy cop movie. I like the sub-genre a good deal, but there needs to be something interesting about it that I like for me to enjoy it.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Mission to Mars

What I Guessed It Was About: Take the episode of Community "Basic Rocket Science" and replace "KFC-mobile" with "Space Shuttle" and that's the movie.

How I Came Into It: Mars has been a pitfall in movies for a while now. Mission to Mars along with movies like Red Planet and John Carpentar's Ghosts of Mars started that in the modern age which left the planet fallow until more recent failures like Mars Needs Moms and the underrated John Carter reasserted that movies shouldn't go to Mars. This is not the best way to go into a movie.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) This is a good cast and Brian De Palma is sometimes a fantastic director. There are moments, like the initial sandstorm at the beginning, that are big and intriguing in the way that make me understand why De Palma wanted to do this and why so many good actors, like Lt. Dan, Andy Dufresne, Basher, and the chubby kid from Stand By Me would want to be in it.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: I have no idea how more reviews of Interstellar didn't reference this movie. It's a similar topic, down to the cop-out ending. Granted, the ending was essentially pulled from Contact. Perhaps this is a genre of movies with nowhere to go when they reach a climax. I get the reasoning for the barbecue at the beginning (to introduce the characters), but it made me feel deprived when it skipped past launch day. I would've preferred the version of the movie that never had them on Earth and opted to start in the space station. That would've required the script to put in some effort into building the characters rather than reducing them to recycled tropes before launching them into space (not that we got to see them launch - No, I'm not letting that go). The mix of dull plotting and characters I didn't care about made this a very forgettable movie.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Dealyed Reaction: Betrayed

What I Guessed It Was About:  Let's see. The poster for it is a man and a woman with a burning cross in between them. I'm going to assume that there were more than a few comparisons to Mississippi Burning made in the reviews.

How I Came Into It: I had very little idea what this was. I thought I was watching the wrong movie several times. I don't really know what Debra Winger looks like, so I couldn't use her as an indicator. I briefly thought I'd recorded The Fisher King when it started with the talk radio host. Then there's the fact that I just watched Deceived and didn't appreciate John Heard popping up in this too.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) I was interested in the moments when the movie doesn't try to over-vilify the KKK. It is an awful group and the people are awful, racist pieces of crap. There's a mundane-ness to them as well though. I believe there's one scene that's a group picnic where everything about it is completely droll except there's a burning cross somewhere. The dullness of it intrigued me. Normally the decision is to go super arch about it. Oh, and there's something hilarious and horrifying about the adorable little girl saying awful racist things. The words simply don't make sense coming from her mouth.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: Remember how I praised the movie for not being too broad two sentences ago? Yeah, there were moments of that kind of restraint. Then, the rest of the time it's as simple a look at KKK types as you could find. I'm not saying I need to sympathize with the Klan, but it's not narratively interesting for them to be this broad. Up to the moment Tom Berenger brings Debra Winger on the hunt, it's just a boring love story. After that, it's a cartoonish love story. Am I supposed to believe she could actually be falling for him? Really? If he was benignly racist on the side, I guess I could see it. When you are hunting minorities for sport: That's a dealbreaker, ladies. All having her still be torn does is make me dislike the protagonist. And, remember when she kills a guy and her boss is like "That's cool. It keeps your cover"? This is tone deaf, unrealistic, and absurd on almost every level.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Harry and the Hendersons

What I Guessed It Was About: A suburban family discovers Bigfoot and takes care of him for a while. Eventually, Jon Lithgow has to convince Harry that he doesn't want him around anymore in order to protect him.

How I Came Into It: Between the obvious title and more than a few pop culture references (Hello, 30 Rock), it's hard not to already know what's going on with this one. Beyond that basic premise, I knew of Lithgow's role in it. That's about it.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) This is a brilliant movie in terms of the pitch. That idea alone is enough to make more it memorable than Nuts, Like Father, Like Son, No Way Out, and Blind Date which all came out the same year and made a good deal more money. So, regardless of how good or bad that you may find it, you certainly remember it. And, John Lithgow gets more emotion out that "Go. We don't want you." scene than he really should've.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: It has the benefit of being so stupid that it's impervious to criticism. It's a single idea made into a 90+ minute movie. Because there wasn't a ton of material in the pitch, it really is too long. More importantly, I didn't particularly love any of the characters, nor did I find much funny.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Rambo 3

What I Guessed It Was About: John Rambo just wants to live his life in peace. He's hiding away in some remote location (monastery, small village). One day, an old buddy or employer comes to him with "one last mission". He reluctantly takes the job, only because innocents are being killed or he has a personal tie to it (maybe a long lost love turns up). So, he goes to this war-torn area and blows it the fuck up.

How I Came Into It: So far, the Rambo movies were exactly what I expected. I had to assume there was a reason why this ended up being the last one for 15-20 years. I was worried.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) It's still John Rambo as a one man army. Sometimes, you just want to see things blow up (A sentence that has since been trademarked by Michael Bay, I believe).

Why I Wish I Hadn't: For a movie that at one point held the distinction of having the highest body count ever, I sure was bored for large chunks. Watching this was virtually a carbon copy of watching Rambo II except I came away from Rambo II more impressed. Maybe it's true what they say about diminishing returns. No, that can't be. How else do you explain Furious 7?

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Delayed Reaction: First Blood

What I Guessed It Was About: John Rambo gets attacked by cops and is better at fighting back than they expected. There's some sort of speech at the end. It's the only thing that doesn't make this an Expendables prequel.

How I Came Into It: Rambo is ubiquitous. Even 30 years later, people remember the character (even if they don't realize why). He's an 80s icon and the ultimate symbol of the machismo action movies of that decade (Sorry Schwarzenegger). Like seeing the first Family Matters episode with Urkel, it's fun to see what started it all.

Why I Saw It: It's interesting that I just watched the Mad Max movies recently, because the same thing happened to that franchise that happened in this one. All the imagery that people think of from the franchise started with the second movie. Compared to The Road Warrior, Mad Max is pretty tame. The same goes for First Blood. Sure, it's a big action movie, but it's grounded in a lot of ways. [From what I understand], Rambo: First Blood Part 2 is when things get crazy. First Blood is almost quaint in the way that it's an escalation of a feud in a small town between the cops and a [highly skilled] veteran.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: I'm sorry, am I supposed to care when it gets to Rambo's speech at the end? I get that it's probably pulled from the book and that it differentiates the movie in a way that lets it stick out. I just don't care. God bless Stallone. I know he wasn't trying to be funny with that delivery, but it's a tough thing to pull off and it certainly played to none of his strengths.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

Movie Reaction: The 5th Wave

Formula: Ender's Game * Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Cast: You see this movie because of Chloe Grace Moretz. Looking at the rest of the cast, landing her was an outright coup for the production. The rest of the young cast is up-and-coming actors: Nick Robinson (Jurassic World), Maika Monroe (It Follows), Zackary Arthur (Transparent), and Alex Roe (no recognizable credits). Maggie Siff and Ron Livingston have blink-and-you'll-miss-them parts. Maria Bello and Liev Schreiber are the adult authority figures.

Plot: Aliens begin an assault on Earth. They do this is five phases, or waves: 1) Cut power, 2) flood, 3) bird flu, )4...I kind of forget, and 5) attack internally by using humans as hosts. Cassie (Moretz) is a regular teenage girl. She loses her parents, gets separated from her brother, and is determined to find him. Meanwhile, her brother gets pulled into an all-child military assault force tasked with battling the aliens. Obviously, twenty sequels are planned, so only a small amount of this gets resolved.

Thoughts:
It turns out that Moretz isn't immune from choosing roles in bad movies after all. I simply didn't enjoy this movie. The plot is gibberish. Nothing about it makes sense. The masterplan of the aliens is highly inefficient. If they are powerful enough to cause these waves, they are also powerful enough to find a more effective plan. Cassie is completely without survival instincts. She really should've died early on (and the explanation for why she doesn't die doesn't cover nearly enough holes). It's outright comical the reason why either side - the humans or the aliens - would use children to fight their war. And it's hilarious every time one of the 8-year-olds are supposed to be seen as military officers. Of all the Young Adult dystopias being made into movies, of which I've seen many, this is by far the most ridiculous story. It has every trope and a story the completely unravels if you pick at it at all.

It's clear why Moretz would want to do this movie. She's proven both that she can lead a movie (If I Stay, Carrie) and excels at action (Either Kick-Ass movie). I have no trouble seeing her as the next female heroine of this ilk in line after Jennifer Lawrence and Shailene Woodley. She can handle that, but she's wasted in this. The way the movie plays, it feels like this was meant to be more of an ensemble movie, and they tried to rework it to make her a lead. Because, what's going on with her and what's going on with Arthur (her bother), Robinson, and Monroe are different movies. I'd be more interested in follow either story alone rather than both concurrently. There are some good ideas at the center of this. It's just missing the writing and execution.

I could forgive just about all of this. I really could. This could be kids movie, like a Spy Kids with a bit more edge, and I'd give it a pass. This is a dark movie though. There's deaths, a lot of them. Protagonists kill innocent people. Tons of gun play. It's got the one "fuck" allowed in a PG-13 movie. This wants to be an adult movie, so I have to pick at it as one.

Elephant in the Room: So will you see the theoretical sequel? Dammit...yeah, probably. I am well-documented fan of Moretz. She'll get me into a theater, and the movie is technically proficient enough to enjoy as long as I completely turn off my brain. Where this movie ends, Moretz is better positioned to dominate whatever follows. Maybe kill off everyone other than her and Maika Monroe. Those are the only two interesting characters.

To Sum Things Up:
The 5th Wave tries to do too much and ends up squandering the talent involved, namely Moretz. Sadly, I can't think of a single thing about it worth recommending unless this genre is exactly what you're into or you're the world's biggest Chloe Grace Moretz fan (guilty).

Verdict (?): Strongly Don't Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Dying Young

The Pitch: Remember when Julia Roberts caused you to cry in Steel Magnolias? Just you wait.

How I Came Into It: The title tells you what you need to know. I figured Roberts wasn't going to be the one dying again [after the aforementioned Steel Magnolias], so it figures to be her love interest. I'm 100% certain this movie was sold on the title and nothing else. Some crazed studio executive saying, "If they want to cry, we'll make 'em cry."

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) Julia Roberts is fine and Campbell Scott clearly did some research to try to be plausible with Leukemia. Looking back, I have to say, Joel Schumacher has had a marvelously eclectic career. I mean, he went from The Lost Boys to Cousins to Flatliners to this to Falling Down and in five years - bat-nipples. That's a pretty wide swing.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: It's not hard to see why this we so derided at the time. It has all the aspirations of Steel Magnolias without any of the follow though. It's called "Dying Young" and Campbell Scott doesn't even die! That's manipulative without even being bold. I gleefully tuned out several times while watching this.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Curly Sue

Other Delayed Reactions

The Pitch: A rich woman takes in a homeless man and his not-daughter and find love.

How I Came Into It: It's the last film John Hughes directed. That's about the only remarkable thing about it. It's from the middle of the biggest point in Jim Belushi's career.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) This is a highly manipulative movie and I can't say I really cared. It never really asked me to take it seriously, so I didn't. Jim Belushi and Alisan Porter play off each other well. Kelly Lynch is likable. Then there's an appearance by a very young Steve Carrell.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: It's not a great movie. It's just an easy to watch movie. It's contrived. It's overly sentimental. I totally get the 14% Rotten Tomatoes rating. That said, it has that John Hughes charm.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Honeymoon in Vegas

The Pitch: Sarah Jessica Parker has to choose between her degenerate gambling fiance and a rich, successful, gambling stranger.

How I Came Into It: I've always looked at this as a prequel of Leaving Las Vegas, so just about anything this movie did was going to have an unintended comedic effect.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) Nic Cage, James Caan, and Sarah Jessica Parker all fit into their roles nicely. This is a low impact comedy, similar to something like Rat Race in its story convolution and goofy comedy.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: There was far less Las Vegas than I expected. The Hawaii stuff was fine and totally in line with the tone of the rest of the movie. But, when I'm promised a Las Vegas movie, I expect it to have a lot more Las Vegas. It's not like there's not enough to do there.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

TV Episode Reaction: The Middle "Floating 50"

I watch every bit as much TV as I do movies, if not more. It's a lot harder to keep up with TV shows though. I did my DVR purges for a couple years. Those were completely exhausting though. With all the shows that Netflix drops on the same day and shows I simply can't keep up with as they come out, there's just no good way to talk about my favorite TV shows consistently.

So, I've come up with a compromise: The Episode Reaction. It's pretty simple. Whenever I have the time and motivation and an episode of a show is good or interesting enough to talk about, I will. It'll a little bit series review, somewhat a season check-in, and mostly an examination of the episode in question.

What better show to start this with than The Middle? You see, The Middle has quietly become one of my favorite shows. It's not flashy. There's no breakout stars. It's not meta or rule-breaking. It's sort of a throwback: A sturdy family comedy. For those of you who are unfamiliar, The Middle is about the Hecks: a lower middle class Indiana family. They are led by family matriarch, Frankie (Patricia Heaton) who fosters an atmosphere of ambivalence. She's a refutation of the Martha Stewart types who have it all figured out. She tries, but she's no good at it and, when she's honest with herself, doesn't mind that at all. Her husband Mike (Neil Flynn), is quiet, stubborn, and easy to please. Flynn is magnificently understated in his performance, kind of like if Dan Conner from Roseanne meets Coach Taylor from Friday Night Lights. The oldest son, Axl (Charlie McDermott) is conceited and lazy. The only daughter, Sue (Eden Sher) is the world's biggest optimist in the body of the world's unluckiest klutz. The youngest son, Brick (Atticus Shaffer) is a highly eccentric book nerd. The Hecks bicker amongst themselves, but at the end of the day, are a loving family.

On paper, nothing about The Middle is special. What sets it apart is an incredible understanding of its characters. It's currently as strong as ever because all any episode needs is an inciting event and the characters' responses naturally carry it. I can't think of a show that does it better.

"Floating 50" is a perfect example of this. The inciting event: Frankie asks for a pizza as a makeup for "floating" her 50th birthday celebration. Everything that follows makes sense. Brick and Axl complain about her pizza choice. Mike and Frankie forget the pizza on the roof. The men realize they need to do better by Frankie and throw her a birthday party. This being the Hecks, this doesn't go well. Every single beat makes perfect sense for the characters. When I saw it writes itself, I mean that as a compliment. One of my biggest complaints about Modern Family is that I can see the strings too often. They structure the show for an endpoint and reverse-engineer the episode to get there.

The Middle is very much the opposite. It's character driven. I honestly don't know how they could've started with the idea of "Frankie isn't there for her own party" because everything falls into place perfectly. It's well established that the men of the family have no idea how to show their appreciation. After the pizza fiasco, they want to make it up to Frankie but don't know how. They decide to throw her a surprise party. Why? Because if she knows about it, they know it'll fall on her to plan it. It makes sense that they leave Sue out of it. Why? First of all, she's at college (looking for a sock, but more on that later). Axl is homeless and has his internship, so of course he'd be around. Secondly, it fits Sue perfectly that she can't keep a secret. That's exactly who Sue is. The Heck men put together the most passable excuse for a party they can. Axl gets the sub, because the less you give him to do, the better. Brick decorates with two balloons, because frivolous things are beyond him. Mike forgets to have someone guide Frankie to show up on time for the party, because he's a simple man who is used to things being reliable and exactly the same as they always are. Why wouldn't he assume that Frankie wouldn't come back home around the time she normally would?

On Frankie's side, she's feeling unappreciated by the men, so she reaches out to Sue, the one person in the family who knows how to cheer her up. The exact timing of her call after Sue finds out about the party in contrived, sure. The fact that Frankie comes out of that conversation deciding to surprise Sue with a visit makes perfect sense though.

This is an odd episode too. It's like they wrote the A-story for the party and still have seven minutes to fill. That's how we end up with the odd B and C stories of Sue searching for a sock and Brick learning a sport. I'll generously call these filler. Structurally, they're quite entertaining though and individually they're pretty entertaining. You could just tell me the pitch "Sue loses a sock in the dryer" and I'm going to chuckle. The character is so well drawn out that I know exactly how this will play out, and Eden Sher is such a pro by now that she'll do it with gusto. Brick's teacher trying to teach him a sport is even more silly, but it fits the pathos of the show perfectly with the teacher having him change his "I can't" by the end. I liked how the Sue story was mostly contained to the first act of the show and Brick's to the second, which left sole focus on the party in the third. Perhaps the "filler" was actually a sign of a more shrewedly crafted script than I initially assumed.

It all comes together with the surprise party with Frankie stuck in Mumford, and that's where the episode truly shines. There's all the neighbors pointing out all the ways that the Heck men screwed up. There's Sue completely folding under the pressure of the phone call. Brick fails at small talk in glorious fashion. Best of all, when Mike finally reveals the surprise, Frankie isn't mad. She's touched. Those beat have been hit many times before, normally on the Mother's Day episodes, which the show itself recognizes. Heaton still nails it, as the effective script earned it. Then there's the small touches like Sue's new friend Lexie showing up with the vending machine "cake". Frankie's right. I see why Sue and her would be friends too.

I worry that The Middle will never get the appreciation that it deserves. Episodes like this one remind me that it's probably the best family comedy of the last decade, given the longevity, consistency, attention to detail, and criminally underrated cast.

Delayed Reaction: Double Impact

The Pitch: What's better than one Jean-Claude Van Damme? Two Jean-Claude Van Dammes!

How I Came Into It: Given the number of Stephen Seagal movies I've had to suffer through for this list of mine, I'm surprised I haven't come across more Van Damme movies. Bloodsport and Kickboxer weren't the hits I thought they were, I guess. Well, the benefit of this is that I'm not tired of his shtick going in.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) I'll say this. The dual role stuff was done well. I wasn't continually distracted by it being obvious that Van Damme wasn't actually talking to himself. This is not the type of movie I'd expect to care much if that part worked, so good on them. And the fighting was expectedly 'roided up.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: Van Damme is so clearly pleased with himself for playing the two characters. I imagine him taking the dailies home with him each night, watching them, and saying "My god, that is two totally different characters, but I am just one man." Just one look at his filmography and all the other dual roles he played confirms that. And it wasn't THAT impressive. He does a fine job in a completely forgettable movie. That's it.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Absolute Power

The Pitch: Who would win in a fight? Clint Eastwood or the president?Definitely Eastwood.
But what if the president was Gene Hackman?
Uhhhh, yeah, still Eastwood.
And the All-State guy works for President Hackman?
Oh, you got me there. That's a good one.

How I Came Into It: Not only did I assume that this was another Dirty Harry movie. I'm still unconvinced that it somehow wasn't.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, E. G. Marshall, Richard Jenkins, Mark Margolis. That collection of men is a fine mix of leading men, familiar faces, and character actors. If a movie had this cast today, the first question I'd ask is "Are they rebooting The Expendables?". Then there's Laura Linney, who I always like because she tries harder than she needs to, no matter what the role.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: The pacing was off. It takes a while to get going and the scene when the president kills his mistress gets too much time to breath. In general, there were just a few too many plot jumps that didn't follow. I've already forgotten too much about it to go any deeper into it.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Movie Reaction: Ride Along 2

Formula: Ride Along: Miami

Cast: Kevin Hart, Ice Cube, and Tika Sumpter are all back. This time, they bring in familiar faces like Olivia Munn, Ken Jeong, Sheeri Shepherd, and Bejamin Bratt.

Plot: Ben Barber (Hart) is a beat cop now, still finding a way be James Payton's (Ice Cube) problem. They go to Miami to investigate a lead on a case and get caught in the middle of a conspiracy involving the port commissioner and one of the city's most influential businessmen. Needless to say, things get complicated and Ben doesn't make it any easier.

Thoughts:
I saw the first Ride Along. It was fine. Hart and Cube have an easy chemistry. That dynamic is about as textbook as it gets. What makes it fun this time is the introduction of their analogues. Munn is the female Cube (no surprise that those two are romantically paired). Jeong is very much the same as Hart. Most of the fun of the movie comes from how it mixes and matches those four at different times, Hart or Cube being the odd man out depending the configuration.

It's pretty ridiculous the number of jokes that were spoiled in the trailers. You see, Kevin Hart's humor doesn't really need context. He's going to yell. He's going to screw something up. He's going to get hurt. As a result, joke after joke from throughout the movie was used in previews. It's a common joke that people say after seeing a movie: "I bet that's every good scene in the movie"*. In this case though, it's not far off. A lot of it is still fun, but the ad department kept stepping on all their jokes. That was disappointing.

*Seriously though, people need to stop saying that. It's almost never true. and saying that stopped being clever before I was even born. Just say what you really mean: "This movie doesn't look good" and save us all your attempt at wit.

This is not a movie to be taken seriously, so it doesn't really matter that the story is gibberish. Director Tim Story is clearly more focused on the comedic elements than any of the action, which makes sense when you look at his credits (Barbershop, Taxi, Think Like a Man, Fantastic Four). That's not a bad thing either. It's not like the Jump Street movies are believable. They are funnier though (albeit in a much different way).

Elephant in the Room: Is Kevin Hart any good as a cop? No. They try even less this time to prove that he has merits. He's still sort of a weapons expert and they add a video game driving mode. His skills as a cop most of the time come down to "sometimes you have to smile" which is a lesson Cube really should've learned already if I'm to believe that he's as good a detective as the movie says. Hart absolutely shouldn't be on the force.
Movie Theater MVP: This goes to the guy sitting behind me who, after every trailer, announced to the theater, via the person he was talking loud6ly to, that he was going to have to see that movie. He quieted down a lot when the movie started, but damn did he love those previews. I don't share his opinion on Fifty Shades of Black, although we are in agreement on Neighbors 2.

To Sum Things Up:
Whatever your opinion is of the first movie, it will be exactly the same about this. Hart and Cube are fun. The jokes are easy. The story is simple. The extras are attractive. What more could you be expecting from this? 

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Delayed Reaction: The Nutty Professor

The Pitch: It's like the first Nutty Professor but with a fat suit.

How I Came Into It: I thought I'd seen this before, but I was thinking of the sequel it turns out. This was the big Eddie Murphy movie when I was growing up, so, for better or worse, it's the comedic performance that I most associate with him.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) This is a big Eddie Murphy performance and a bit of a comeback at the time. I don't think he's had a role since that he looks like he's having as good a time with. Buddy Love is the kind of cocky character Murphy gravitates toward and and the Klumps allow him to get caught up in character work. Without him, I don't see how this remake could've succeeded.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: Most of my ire goes toward watching this on BET. I refuse to watch another movie on that channel. There was literally as much commercials as movie. That's not an exaggeration. It would be 10 minutes of movie followed by 10 minutes of commercials. Ten Minutes Of Commercials! What the hell is that?! That has nothing to do with the movie though. It bothered me a little how much the movie tried to have its cake and eat it too with the fat jokes. It's gleefully written with a bunch a fat jokes, then follows it up with "don't be mean to the fat guy" lessons. That's disingenuous.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Delayed Reaction: There's Something Wrong With Aunt Diane

The Pitch: A documentary crew investigates a deadly New York wreck from 2009.

How I Came Into It: I was on Facebook and a friend of mine posted a list of 10 haunting documentaries (or something like that). Many of them I'd heard of but not seen (Paradise Lost, Dear Zachary), saw and found disappointing (Blackfish), or saw and had my mind blown (The Jinx, The Imposter). This is one I'd never heard of and I was in exactly the right mood for.

Why I Saw It: I love a good mystery/crime documentary, especially feature length so they can get deep into the topic. This one is about a mother who mysteriously crashed her van full of her children, nieces, and nephews after speeding down a highway in the wrong direction for almost two miles. It investigates why she did this, what family members say, the autopsy, and what little is known about her directly before the wreck. It's not an easy watch, but it is certainly an interesting one.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: This is hurt by the same thing that hurts many documentaries: it's hard to get answers. I thought this would leave off in a place with a bit more certainty than it did. The way it played in the beginning, I expected some kind of smoking gun in the final act that wasn't there. In fact, the intrigue diminishes the more you realize that the family of the woman is simply not accepting the answers given to them.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: The Truth About Cats and Dogs

The Pitch: An pretty woman gets an even prettier woman to pretend to be her so that a guy likes her and confusion rules the day.

How I Came Into It: I've heard other people talk about this favorably in a non-specific way. Based on appearance alone, this looks like "Generic 90s Romantic Comedy". While I like Janeane Farofalo, I'm used to seeing her in roles like Romy & Michele's High School Reunion, which wouldn't make for a great lead, so that had me a little worried.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) Yeah, I loved this and I can't put my finger on why. Garofalo and Uma Thurman are a surprisingly enjoyable duo. Ben Chaplin is pretty harmless too, other than I kept reconfirming that he wasn't and older Jaoquim Phoenix. There's a lot of things about this movie that really should bother me to no end and simply don't. I think I'm okay leaving the 'why' of it all a mystery.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: As I said, a lot about this movie should bother me. Garofalo isn't ugly and has no reason to perpetuate her lie. I don't like stories that rely this heavily on farce and misunderstanding. Garofalo and Thurman sound nothing alike, which can't be explained away as easily as the movie pretends. I could keep going, but I won't because, again, I really enjoyed it despite all these things which really should bother me.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: The March of the Penguins

The Pitch: People love penguins. How much?Could we get them to watch a boring documentary about them? Too far.
How about if we get Morgan Freeman to narrate it?

How I Came Into It: I think I firmly established after watching Happy Feet that I don't get the penguin love. They're fine, I guess. The baby penguins are no cuter than any other baby animal. What's the big deal? Needless to say, I was watching this out of obligation.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) Getting Morgan Freeman was smart. Without him, what's the point? I certainly know more about penguins than I did before. That's something.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: This was so boring! Apparently I'm heartless too, because I didn't think much of when the seal or whatever kills the one penguin. Just about the only thing that kept my attention was the throw down when the one mother tries to steal the other mother's baby.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Movie Reaction: The Revenant

Formula: (The Hateful Eight - Resevoir Dogs)  * Grizzly Man

Cast: In descending order you've got Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, Domhnall Gleeson, and of course, the bear, which makes for as strong a quintet as any 2015 had to offer.

Plot: Hugh Glass (DiCaprio) is the guide for a group of fur trappers who are attacked by a Pawnee tribe. As they make their way by foot to the nearest settlement for protection, Hugh is attacked by a bear. He is left for dead and betrayed by one of the trappers (Hardy). Somehow, he has to survive and get his revenge.

Thoughts:
This is a brutal movie. Everything about it. It's set in South Dakota in the winter, snow everywhere. I don't know how everyone didn't die back then. Alejandro Inarritu (impressively only a year removed from the Oscar-winning Birdman) creates a punishing world for all the characters, but especially DiCaprio's. The bear mauling has received the most press for the movie and for good reason. It's pretty savage. I don't know how they shot that. I assume CGI, but it's hard to tell in a lot of places.

The movie weaves in an out of about four narratives, all starting and ending together. There's Glass' struggle to survive. That splits from Fitzgerald (Hardy), who betrays Glass, and a young trapper named Bridger (Poulter), trying to get back to the nearest fort. The least time probably goes Captain Henry (Gleeson) and the rest of the trappers who think Fitzgerald is protecting Glass and venture ahead of them. Finally, there's the Pawnee tribe who attacks the trappers at the beginning and continue to track them down. This really might as well be called "A Million Ways to Die in the Midwest" though, because the primary focus is on how Glass keeps almost dying. It's a Job story at its core.

DiCaprio is impressive throughout. It's not a flashy performance. Glass doesn't talk much. DiCaprio sells it all in the ways he struggles. It's odd because Glass isn't driven by desperation. He survives partly to seek revenge, but largely as a reaction. Glass survives because it's what he does. DiCaprio makes knowing what to do next look easy without the actual tasks appearing easy.

Hardy makes a good villain. You can understand his perspective on the world without ever rooting for him. Poulter is mostly reactive to Hardy. He and Gleeson both exist to show that there is honor among these men. As hard as this world is on everyone, many keep their humanity.

I'll admit that the themes of the movie are a little lost on me. There's definitely messages about survival and revenge. Mostly, it's just a fantastic survival story. I cannot stress enough how beautifully shot it is. All the actors blend nicely into the world, and despite the long run time, it doesn't drag as much as it could've.

Bear in the Room: But about the bear? I'm sorry to say that there's not as much bear as I hoped. It's not The Grey, where he's being stalked the whole time. The bear happens early, ugly, and quickly. It still deserves second billing though.

To Sum Things Up:
If all Inarritu wanted to do was make a gorgeous movie about how much it sucked to live in the 1800s, that's fine by me. There's greater depth to this if you want to find it. Regardless, the cinematography and performances will keep you engaged. It's pretty grim though.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Herbie Fully Loaded

The Pitch: What's a property that we, the Walt Disney Corporation, have that we haven't used in a while? Yes, Herbie the Lovebug. And who's nicer than that Lindsay Lohan girl? She's America's Sweeheart. You saw Mean Girls.

How I Came Into It: The was being made toward the beginning of Lindsay Lohan's career self-sabotage, a train wreck that slowly played out over the two busiest years of her career. This was her follow up to Mean Girls and her partying was already causing issues with the production schedule. What I'm trying to say is that the game inside this movie is guessing how drunk Lohan was in a given scene.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) Technically, Disney put together a cast that I like. Michael Keaton never went away. He just spent way too long making movies like this. And Justin Long gets to use his nervous energy well here. Cheryl Hines, Matt Dillon, and Thomas Lennon are all comedic actors who get a couple chances to show off. This is a perfectly adequate call sheet for a Disney movie.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: The story makes no sense. After applying my "One Big Leap"* principle - Herbie is a car that's alive - the movie is still riddled with holes. The beginning of the movie established that Herbie has been forgotten because he's obsolete, then he's somehow good enough to win a drag race against a NASCAR champion. If Herbie's helping Lohan the whole time, how is this at all empowering to her? How did she get an internship with ESPN? Why did she ride a skateboard to her college graduation? How could Michael Keaton not get better work than this? There's just too many questions and not enough sufficient answers.

*One Big Leap refers to the one crazy thing that I allow a movie before I start picking at it. Sometimes this is a big coincidence (ex. the protagonist's one true love happens to marry her arch-nemesis) or more often the high concept pitch (ex.Person X can travel back in time). After accepting this one big story point, the rest of it needs to make sense.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Race to Witch Mountain

The Pitch*: I bet The Rock can revitalize any franchise. Pick anything from the Disney back-catalog and we'll prove it.

*I'm switching back to The Pitch from "What I Guessed It Was About". It turns out, that I go into too many of these movies blind to make much of a guess. Also, I find the Pitches more fun, even if I don't know exact what the perspective for them is (Is this the pitch that the writer/director used to get it made? Is this the pitch the studio is giving to get an audience to see it? It is a psuedo-tag line? I don't know).

How I Came Into It: I don't remember the original movie at all. I'm pretty sure I have seen it though. It doesn't matter because once the Rock is tied to it, it's going to be made around him. And I'm ok with that. Like Will Smith, he has enough charisma that any middling movie he's in should be made in his image. How else do you explain The Game Plan or The Tooth Fairy working?

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) So, I clearly like what the Rock is cooking. I've never objected to AnnaSophia Robb showing up in a movie either. I like that she's a kid actor that I never wanted to call "precocious". She doesn't call attention to herself like a Dakota Fanning or Chloe Moretz. Granted, they both started much younger, so maybe that's an unfair comparison. Oh, and Carla Gugino. Yay, Carla Gugino. I don't know why I like her so much, but it's nice whenever she shows up in something.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: God, I couldn't tell you a thing about this movie. It's basically E.T. if you combined the role of Elliott and E.T. and recast them as attractive teenagers. The Rock sure is fun though, as the most intimidating cab driver ever.
 Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Final Analysis

What I Guessed It Was About: That's another one of those generic titles. Uhhh, Richard Gere is a lawyer of some sort, or an expect witness in a trial. Some dame makes things complicated. Other stuff happens.

How I Came Into It: By now, it's been firmly established that I have trouble with courtroom movies from this era (or perhaps courtroom dramas in generally, but that much hasn't been as explored). Still, I wasn't looking to dislike this.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) Richard Gere is a great lead for a movie like this. It's got vintage Kim Basinger and Uma Thurman before I would've known who she was. Eric Roberts is delightfully sleazy. This is a cast full of people who get what roles they need to play.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: There's two things I can't shake about this. First, Kim Basinger is literally pretending to have the same issue with alcohol that she had in Blind Date. Is that a weird coincidence or a wink at an earlier role? Either way, that's a bizarre crutch for people writing her roles. Second, not only is this a "twist" that I've discussed before as being one that's been better done since this on numerous cop procedurals, it is virtually the same twist as another Richard Gere lawyer movie. Granted, this one came first, but damn. When people talk about Hollywood running out of ideas, something like this confirms the validity of that complaint.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Delayed Reaction: House on Haunted Hill

What I Guessed It Was About: A millionaire invites a bunch of people to his haunted mansion, promising money if they make it through the night...not many of them do.

How I Came Into It: I fell asleep early into watching the original* a couple years ago, so I didn't go into this with any immediate comparisons to the original. Also, there is no way I'm not confusing this with The Haunting starting now.

*In my defense, it was in the middle of a long horror movie marathon including The Ring, The Blair Witch Project, The Shining, I think Scream, and maybe a couple others.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) Owen Wilson was an interesting choice This is a loopy movie. That's really the only angle I can attack this from. It's like if Clue tried to be an actual horror movie. It turns out this is from the same company that made the Thirteen Ghosts remake, which is a movie I've seen several times for some reason. It makes sense, because this and Thirteen Ghosts feel very similar. This is trying to be a horror movie without any scares and they got Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush to lead it.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: Whatever, the movie isn't actually scary at all and the story is convoluted. I don't care. I want to spend this time on one question: Why cast Ali Larter AND Bridgette Wilson? They are too similar. I get that Hollywood loves pretty people. I do too. But come on. Aren't they too much the same? Think of a movie with Ali Larter in it. Now think of Bridgette Wilson playing that part instead. See no difference. Ali Larter could teaching Billy Madison and Bridgette Wilson is wearing Whip Cream lingerie.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Hotel for Dogs

What I Guessed It Was About: You see, there's this hotel...and it's for dogs. Get it? Because hotels should be for people, not dogs. You see? You'll have to watch the movie to understand. It's pretty subtle.

How I Came Into It: Having started Scream Queens, I was in an Emma Roberts mood and this was what was available from my big list. Beggars can't be choosers.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) Here's the things that a reasonably person sees this movie for:
-Dogs doing a lot of tricks.
-The nifty contraptions they invent for the hotel.
-To be reminded that Lisa Kudrow can milk a laugh out of almost anything.
-To realize that Emma Roberts has been around for a while now.
-To wonder what ever happened to Kayla Pratt.
-Did I mention dogs doing tricks?

Why I Wish I Hadn't: This is a simplistic children's movie in every way. The characters aren't very complex. The story doesn't go anywhere you don't see coming in the first 10 minutes. All the money went into the props and training the pets (which is as good a way to spend the budget as anything). It's as forgettable as movies get, but for the "born in 2002" crowd, I could see how this could be regarded like Harriet the Spy is by me.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

January Movie Preview

The New Year is exciting for a lot of reasons. Resolutions. Football playoffs and bowl games. TV shows returning from hiatus. It's not as exciting at the movie theater though. There's not as many down periods in the calendar as there used to be. Valentine's Day has become a big release weekend in February. The Summer box office season has pushed its way into April. And the past two years have set records for the generally fallow August and September stretch. January is just about the last holdout. It's still pretty dull. It's for all those Christmas releases to milk long runs and Oscar hopefuls to expand to more cities. In terms of new movies, the studios don't try too hard. 2016 looks to be no different. It has the usual assortment of horror movie counter-programming, failed studio burn-offs, and undercooked comedies. There's always room for surprises, and hopefully this January has a few.

2015

Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | Jul | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec 

2014

Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

2013

Mar |  Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

1/8

The Forest

Working For It: Is this Natalie Dormer's first leading role? It's hard to believe it's taken her this long. She's great on Game of Thrones and I've liked her since The Tudors. A horror movie about the Japanese suicide forest is a little out of her known range, but that doesn't mean she can't do it.
Working Against It: First time feature director. Journeyman writers. The odds are strong that this will be up to Dormer to make or break. "Suicide forest" sounds like an interesting pitch, but nothing in the trailers has me hooked. This looks like Mama level scares, which is fine.
Interest Level: Happy to wait

The Masked Saint

Working For It: This is based on a true story about a pastor, who used to be a wrestler, going back into the ring or maybe becoming a vigilante. I'm really not sure. It certainly sounds like Nacho Libre. I don't know if that's the comparison they were going for.
Working Against It: The most recognizable actor in it is "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (RIP). The only credits I recognized for the director is Trailer Park Boys. The screenwriter isn't at all established. I can't tell if this is a spiritual movie or if it is making fun of spirituality (Similar to how I can't tell if The FP is taking itself seriously or not). There are simply too many wild cards here.
Interest Level: I won't see it, but I will inquire about it.

Anesthesia [Limited]

Working For It: This is one of those ensemble pieces where all the characters' lives intersect, hopefully culminating in some big revelation about life (Think Grand Canyon). It's got a very large cast, with familiar names like Kristen Stewart, Glen Close, Michael Kenneth Williams, and Sam Waterson.
Working Against It: Honestly, I was exhausted by the self-importance of it in trailer form. An entire movie of that sounds unbearable. I'm only familiar with writer/director Tim Blake Nelson as an actor (O Brother, Where Art Thou?), so he's earned no trust in his abilities from me either.
Interest Level: Withering

1/15

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Working For It: This looks like the mission that's on trial in The Rules of Engagement if it was directed by Michael Bay. I don't necessarily mean that as a bad thing. It's a military movie about US soldiers trying to rescue an ambassador during some sort of riot. John Krasinski leads a group of "familiar white guys from TV" All Stars like Pablo Schreiber, David Denman, and Toby Stephens as the troops. It's a Michael Bay movie, so I'm sure things explode. It could be fun.
Working Against It: Or it could take itself too seriously. It's hard to say. I don't know if this January release was an attempt to bury it (Michael Bay movies don't tend to show up in the Winter) or if it's an attempt to capitalize of the momentum of American Sniper and Lone Survivor.
Interest Level:So-so

Norm of the North

Working For It: An animated movie about a polar bear kickin' it in New York City. That's about all you need to know. It's got a likable voice cast including Heather Graham, Bill Nighy, and James Corden.
Working Against It: Rob Schneider is the voice of the eponymous Norm, which is a bit more divisive. I'm not sure how this isn't Madagascar, but I'm told that it is. I'm also not sure who Splash Entertainment is.
Interest Level: Avoiding

Ride Along 2

Working For It: Ride Along was enjoyable enough. This is the same thing but moved to Miami, which also makes it oddly similar to 22 Jump Street. Kevin Hart and Ice Cube are back, and they've rounded out the cast with Olivia Munn, Ken Jeong, T.I., Tyrese Gibson, and Benjamin Bratt.
Working Against It: I didn't dislike Ride Along, but I was unimpressed by it. Nothing about this looks like it will improve on the formula. It's going to be a lot of Kevin Hart playing big, which appeals to some more than others.
Interest Level: Moderate

The Benefactor [Limited]

Working For It: Richard Gere becomes obsessed with newly-weds Dakota Fanning and Theo James due to his role in the death of Fanning's family...I think. It's a thriller, so it will all be about figuring out what Richard Gere's deal is.
Working Against It: I really should've come out of seeing that trailer more intrigued. When my first thought is "who cares?" that's a bad sign. I'm happy letting this one slip past me for now.
Interest Level: Nah

1/22

The 5th Wave

Working For It: It's not fair. I want out of these young adult dystopias but they keep casting them to keep my attention. First Divergent gets Shailene Woodley and now The 5th Wave has Chloe Grace Moretz. This one is about aliens that are destroying the Earth through several waves of attacks. It looks like plenty of money went into making it look good.
Working Against It: I really am getting tired of this subgenre. If I see this, it's a testament to how much of a draw Chloe is for me. I don't know if she'll be enough.
Interest Level:Frustrated and intrigued

The Boy

Working For It: Similar to Natalie Dormer in  The Forest, I don't know if I've seen Lauren Cohan in a lead role before, but I'm interested in seeing how she does. This isn't a big leap from The Walking Dead. It's a horror movie about a doll with Gremlin-like rules that is a living boy when no one is looking. It looks like it's full of jump scares and maybe an interesting mythology.
Working Against It: I much prefer horror movies that linger with me rather than ones that scare me in the moment. This looks more like the latter than the former.
Interest Level: Prove me wrong

Dirty Grandpa

Working For It: Recently widowed grandfather (Robert De Niro) tricks his grandson (Zach Efron) into a weekend of debauchery in Florida during spring break. I'm more excited by the supporting cast that includes Aubrey Plaza, Adam Pally, Julianne Hough, and more familiar names in small parts than you can shake a stick at.
Working Against It: Everything about this worries me. First time writer (although his next credit is Bad Santa 2, so this looks like it's his wheelhouse). The director is primarily known for Sacha Baron Cohen shows/movies (and I Give it a Year which I didn't hate). Most of all though, what is this movie doing being released in January? Even Sex Drive got an October release. De Niro and Efron are too big of names to go here unless the studio knows it's a problem.
Interest Level:Highest in a weak month

Mojave [Limited]

Working For It: In this movie, Oscar Isaac stalks Garrett Hedlund after they meet in the desert. Mark Wahlberg, Walton Goggins, and Matt (Badger from Breaking Bad) are in there too, but the trailer isn't all that concerned with them. Writer/Director William Monahan has some good screenplay credits to his name (The Departed, Kingdom of Heaven).
Working Against It: I'm not sure what Monahan looks like as a director. And, this has the look of one of those movies where a supporting performance (Isaac) renders the lead performance (Hedlund) distracting.
Interest Level:Low but curious

1/29

Fifty Shades of Black

Working For It: Statistically, it's gotta be better than Fifty Shades of Grey. Right?
Working Against It: This takes one of my least favorite movies of 2015, spoofs it in the style of one of my least favorite franchises of all time (Scary Movie), and removes the nudity and soundtrack that made the movie appealing in the first place.
Interest Level: Good god, no!

The Finest Hours

Working For It: Think "1952 The Perfect Storm". Chris Pine, Eric Bana, Ben Foster, Casey Affleck, and a bunch of other square jaw sailors are involved in a daring Coast Guard rescue. Holliday Grainger uses gumption to make sure her man comes back home.
Working Against It: This is a strange time for Disney to be releasing this movie. It looks like a winter dump like Chris Pine's Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit two years ago. Then again, this may just be the odd man out positioning around Disney's Star Wars behemoth. I don't know, but the movie doesn't look all that bad.
Interest Level:Could be higher

Jane Got a Gun

Working For It: Natalie Portman vs. Ewan McGreggor in an old west shootout. C'mon. And it's from the director of Warrior! Oh my, this just got real.
Working Against It: I'll admit, the trailer didn't suck me in as well as I'd hope. Then again, neither did Warrior's and I loved that movie.
Interest Level: Very suspicious

Kung Fu Panda 3

Working For It: Is it fair to say this is Dreamworks' most high profile cast? Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, and Dustin Hoffman to name a few. This is a malleable franchise that can keep going as long as Dreakworks wants.
Working Against It: Oof, how the mighty have fallen. Seemingly out of nowhere, Kung Fu Panda 2 stumbled out the gate and failed to come anywhere close to matching the first movie in the box office. I'm still not sure how that happened, but that's how #3 ends up in January, hoping for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water money.
Interest Level:Greatly diminished