A Review Too Far - The Intern

This week our cinema geeks review Zucker Brothers' spy/surf movie spoof, Top Secret, the "find yourself" film Camp Takota, and out in theaters now, The Intern.Top Secret! stars Val Kilmer as the American pop star, Nick Rivers, who is thrust into the middle of a Cold War conspiracy. After a chance meeting with a woman on the run from the Secret Police, Nick goes on a roundabout adventure to stop the East German government from using a secret weapon to destroy NATO's navy. Campy and fun, Top Secret! shows that you don't have to make a perfect movie, just an enjoyable one.Camp Takota is a late-bloomer's film about a disenchanted young writer who loses both her job and her fiance on the same day. Distraught and more than a little hungover, she hitches a ride to her childhood summer camp and gets a job as a counselor where she reconnects with old friends, tries to forget her troubles, and is wooed by the attractive young farmer from down the county road. More a Lifetime-movie-of-the-week than anything else, Camp Takota is filled with feel-good cliches and terribly convenient plot twists, but still manages to get a good line or two in... occasionally.The Intern is yet another feel-good click in which Robert De Niro plays a retired executive who is bored with his life an needs a change. He finds that in the experimental "Senior Intern Program" at a hip dotcom sales firm headed by Anne Hathaway. The two bond, share experiences, and lean on each other in the sweetest ways... though, to be fair, most of the leaning is done by Anne's character, Jules, as she absorbs the wealth of knowledge and confidence that De Niro's Ben can offer. The film is sweet and endearing, but suffers from the fact that Ben is just too perfect and the conflicts he miraculously solves with style and class are as forced as can be.

A Review Too Far

This week our Cinema Geeks review White God, Get Low, and out in theaters now, The Scorch Trials.Hungarian film White God tells a moral parable about animal abuse and abandonment with subtle, perhaps arguable nods to immigration and racism all through the lenses of a young girl and her dog and the animal revolution that brews after the canine is left on the side of the road by the girl's frustrated father. Filmed partly from the dog's perspective, think Benji meets Les Misrables as the canine underclass rises up against its tormentors.After that, we take a gander at Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, and Bill Murray in Get Low, which is a subtle character piece about a backwoods hermit who hires two small town funeral directors to throw him a wake while he's still alive. Filled with mystery, regret, and powerful performances, Get Low is a slow burn of a film that will please any who like emotional dramas.Finally, in cinemas now is the continuation in the Maze Runner series, The Scorch Trials, where the survivors of the maze are spirited away from WCKD's facility only to find out their would-be saviors are just another layer in their captor's bureaucracies. Strike out on their own, Thomas and company cross a wasteland and forge new alliances until their pursuers finally catch up thanks to a traitor in their midst. Representing a major genre shift from the first film, this Young Adult Dystopia film switches from scifi to zombie apocalypse movie from moment one and diverges quite a bit from its original source material.

A Review Too Far - 091715

This week our cinema geeks review Martian Successor Nadesico: The Prince of Darkness, Dear White People, and out in theaters now, The Perfect Guy!Up first, Martian Successor Nadesico: The Prince of Darkness is the film sequel for the popular 90's anime of the same name and tells a dark story that takes place three years after the end of the series. With previous main characters dead, former ship's information officer and child prodigy Ruri Hoshino is now in command of the Nadesico-B and has to unravel a conspiracy that aims to overthrow the governments of the entire solar system. Representing a shift in tone from the series and stuffed full of characters and plot threads that require knowing about and playing the video game companion that never released in America, The Prince of Darkness is fraught with issues that might be overwhelming to the general audience.After that, we review Justin Simien's film on race relations in an Ivy-league school entitled Dear White People, where both the students and the staff are grappling with what it means to be black in what some would dub a "post-racial" society that clearly isn't. Doing its best to give a balanced look at modern race-relations, Dear White People only struggles when its characters start delivering messages without the philosophical evidence to back them up. The performances and overall feel of the film counters those issues, particularly when it comes to main characters Sam (Tessa Thompson) and Lionel (Tyler James Williams).Finally, we take a look at our cinema release of the week which is the relationship-thrilller The Perfect Guy, where Sanaa Lathan thinks she's found the man of her dreams in Michael Ealy, but soon comes to realize that he is far from the idea mate. While Ealy shows plenty of both charisma and creepiness, the film is burdened by a bloated third act and shoddy direction.

A Review Too Far - 091015

This week our cinema geeks review Forrest Gump, Chicken Run, and The Transporter:Refueled.Winner of several Academy Awards, Forrest Gump tells the tale of a somewhat slow individual who grows up, witnesses, and indirectly influences many key moments of mid-20th century American history. Starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright and directed by Robert Zemeckis, it's hard to believe that there's a person who hasn't seen Forrest Gump, but we're going to assume there is at least one and review it anyway.Chicken Run, produced by renowned claymation studio Aardman for Dreamworks, tells a familiar story of a WW2 Prison Escape film told from the perspective of chickens trying to avoid being turned into Pot Pies and gaining their freedom by learning to fly as taught by a cocksure rooster on the lam. Mel Gibson lends his pipes as Steve McQueen-insert, Rocky, and AbFab co-star Julia Sawalha takes a turn as camp leader, Ginger, who pins all her hopes on Rocky's teaching skills but shows more triumph in adversity than he ever could. And, finally, The Transporter: Refueled is a soft reboot of the famous Jason Statham franchise, this time swapping out the aging action icon for newcomer Ed Skrein, who gets blackmailed twice into helping a quartet of prostitutes dismantle the criminal empire of their pimp and his associates. With a few car chases and plenty of action-movie tropes to keep it moving, there might be something here for fans, but don't expect high quality.

A Review Too Far - 090315

This week our Cinema Geeks review the indie classic, Swingers, move on
to 1989's Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, and finish up with out in
theaters now, We Are Your Friends.First up, Swingers tells the
tale of a struggling actor in Los Angeles who is trying to get over his
breakup with his girlfriend back on the East Coast the only way he knows
how, but hanging out with friends and slowly wading back into the
dating pool. This film launched the careers of writer/star Jon Favreau
and co-star Vince Vaughn, but definitely shows its seams when it comes
to budget, direction, and cinematography.Moving on, Bill &
Ted's Excellent Adventure tells the tale of two surfer dude would-be
rockers who are failing history and are about to get a helpful leg up on
their final oral report from an unlikely source, a hip time-traveler
from the future who tells them they are too important to future
generations to not end up as rock stars thanks to a little setback like
bad grades. With a silly script and convenient plot devices, Alex Winter
and Keanu Reeves take George Carlin up on his offer of a
dimension-sliding phone booth and proceed to kidnap famous figures in
history in order to get first-hand knowledge of the past and how they
impacted it.And, finally, We Are Your Friends is a genre mashup
of music, coming of age, and prosaic message movies in which a young DJ
struggles with his potential, a love triangle, and outgrowing his
friends, all to the tunes of Electronic Dance Music... or EDM. Set in
the financially depressed San Fernando Valley, Zac Efron leads this cast
of mostly unknowns in a tale of hedonism, music, purpose, modern
sexuality and drug culture.

A Review Too Far - 082715

This week, our Cinema Geeks review Dragon Ball Z:Battle of Gods, Persepolis, and out in theaters now, American Ultra.First up, Dragon Ball Z:Battle of Gods attempts to revitalize the famous fighting anime with a film focused on the new threat of universal "Destroyer" Beerus who awakes from a decades-long slumber to discover series star Goku and friends have defeated all the annoying warriors of the galaxy. Beerus quickly travels to Earth to see what all the fuss is about and challenges Goku to show him the power of a Super Saiyan God.After that is Persepolis, a french-language animated film that is the adaptation of the autobiographical graphic novel by the same name. Telling the tale of author Marjane Satrapi's youth both in Iran during the fall of the Shah and Vienna during her formative years, this film is an often raw look at history, both personal and worldly, from a perspective not often shown to Western audiences.Finally, our cinema release is the CIA mind-control action comedy American Ultra, which stars Jesse Eisenberg as a screwup stoner who becomes targeted by the very government that turned him into an unwitting assassin without him even realizing it thanks to his copious drug use.

A Review Too Far - 080615

This week our cinema nerds review The Castle of Cagliastro, Ant-Man, and Paper Towns.The first feature of the week is 1979's animated adventure film The Castle of Cagliastro which features the notable Japanese gentleman-thief Lupin the 3rd as he attempts to steal away the unwilling bride of a dastardly Count while exposing the Count's nefarious deeds and criminal past. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, this anime classic is a family safe PG adventure with minimal amounts of cartoon violence. Next is the Marvel/Disney production of Ant-Man, the latest in the MCU in which a former burglar (Paul Rudd) who went to prison after robbing from the rich to give to the poor is recruited by an aging inventor (Michael Douglas) to steal a volatile technology being developed by his former student (Corey Stoll). This entails taking up the mantle of the urban legend Ant-Man, whose suit allows him to shrink to microscopic size and control different species of ants to do his bidding. This is an origin story film built to transition the Ant-Man character to the larger MCU universe and join other heroes in upcoming films like Captain America: Civil War and The Avengers 3.Finally, John Green's novel Paper Towns is given the movie treatment in which a boring high school senior (Nat Wolff) is challenged to expand his horizons by the free-spirited Margo (Cara Delevigne) before she mysteriously goes missing. After finding clues to her possible whereabouts, the boy begins a coming-of-age quest that encompasses his friends, his enemies, and a road trip to a town that only exists on a map.

A Review Too Far - 062515

KSJE - A Review Too Far - 06251506/25/2015This week our cinema geeks review Song of the Sea, The Road To El Dorado, and Dope.

KSJE - A Review Too Far - 061115

KSJE - A Review Too Far - 06111506/11/2015This week our cinema geeks review The Virgin Suicides, The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, and Spy~

KSJE - A Review Too Far - 060415

KSJE - A Review Too Far - 06041506/04/2015This week our cinema geeks review They Came Together, The Confederate States of America, and Aloha~