Despicable Me 2 - Movie Review

Starring the voices of Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Benjamin Bratt, Miranda Cosgrove, Russell Brand, Steve Coogan, Ken Jeung and Nasim Pedrad.
Directed by Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud.

★★★

Maybe it's because summer is perfectly programmed to the largest common denominators, focussed-grouped and refined to such a point that we're getting what we're getting.  Maybe it's because studios have faith in what they're putting in the summer to be somewhat good, so they're not jettisoning them to January.  Maybe I appreciate the air conditioning and comfy seats.  I find myself "kinda liking" everything I see in theaters lately.

I liked the first one. It was a pleasant surprise. It was the Dr. Evil movie, but if Dr. Evil suddenly had three cute orphans dropped on his doorstep.  Gru grew in the first movie, so where does he go from here?

Part 2 is about Dr. Evil becoming Austin Powers. Now that Gru has retired from his evil ways, the Anti-Villain League wants to recruit him to work for them.  The cranky Gru thinks about it, looks at his girls, and decides this would be a good thing.

The visual work here is impressive.  The opening sequence is like any great Bond movie, with the camera swooping and racing after the action (in fact I noticed more than one nod to The Incredibles). The Minions get more screen time for the childish jokes, i.e. giggling at the name of the AVL head Silas Ramsbottom.  (They also have a drinking song, which is a highlight.) There's a lot of physical humor here worthy of Chuck Jones, and I can't help but think he was part of the inspiration in the design of a few of these characters.  El Macho has a giant upper body but short and skinny legs reminiscent of Yosemite Sam or Witch Hazel, for instance.

So yes, it's worthy family fare.

Pacific Rim - Movie Review

Starring Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Ron Perlman, Rob Kazinsky, Clifton Collins Jr. and Burn Gorman.  Directed by Guillermo Del Toro.

★★★

It's giant robots fighting the monsters that Godzilla's not here to kill.  We're clear on this, right?

I always give a movie its premise.  An inter-dimensional rift has opened on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, allowing 150-foot-tall creatures to come through and terrorize coastlines.  I accept this.  The world came together and built 150-foot-tall robots called jaegars to fight them, operated by two pilots.  Of course they did.

I wound up enjoying this a lot more than my wife.

We're somewhere around the year 2025 for this action, where the kaiju (the monsters) have become part of everyday life.  They have fluorescent lines on them for some reason, and more than one scene, I couldn't help think that they were really thinking about the toy line in designing some of these.

Anyway, the story revolves around Raleigh Becket (Hunnam), a jaeger pilot who quit after his brother died in battle.  He's called in for duty when the diminished jaeger corps need his help.  We meet the other teams, and it's like meeting other video game characters ("the Russians!"), and we see their unique jaegers (where do they get those wonderful toys?).

Elba brings movie-star charisma to his role as the leader, and he gets his pre-battle speech that blows Bill Pullman's Independence Day monologue out of the water.  I was confused by Hunnam. His accent was all over the place so I couldn't tell if he was American, or something else.  Charlie Day was funny in the Rick Moranis role.  His sidekick (Burn Gorman) was a bit too cartoony for my taste.  He made me think of Emmerich's Godzilla, and you do not want to do that.

It's over two hours, and it has one too many obstacles thrown at our heroes in Act III.  I wanted to check my watch a couple times during some of the final fighting, a cardinal sin in an action film.  Most of the time, though, I was digging it.

2013 Emmy Nominations

OUTSTANDING DRAMA
Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
Homeland
House of Cards
Mad Men

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Connie Britton, Nashville
Claire Danes, Homeland
Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey
Vera Farmiga, Bates Motel
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Kerry Washington, Scandal
Robin Wright, House of Cards

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Damien Lewis, Homeland
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones
Christine Baranski, The Good Wife
Morena Baccarin, Homeland
Christina Hendricks, Mad Men

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Bobby Cannavale, Boardwalk Empire
Jonathan Banks, Breaking Bad
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
Jim Carter, Downton Abbey
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Mandy Patinkin, Homeland

OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Margo Martindale, The Americans
Diana Rigg, Game of Thrones
Carrie Preston, The Good Wife
Linda Cardellini, Mad Men
Jane Fonda, The Newsroom
Joan Cusack, Shameless

OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Nathan Lane, The Good Wife
Michael J. Fox, The Good Wife
Rupert Friend, Homeland
Robert Morse, Mad Men
Harry Hamlin, Mad Men
Dan Bucatinsky, Scandal

OUTSTANDING COMEDY
30 Rock
The Big Bang Theory
Girls
Louie
Modern Family
Veep

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Laura Dern, Enlightened
Lena Dunham, Girls
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Jason Bateman, Arrested Development
Louis CK, Louie
Don Cheadle, House of Lies
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Mayim Bialik, The Big Bang Theory
Jane Lynch, Glee
Julie Bowen, Modern Family
Merritt Wever, Nurse Jackie
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
Anna Chlumsky, Veep

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Adam Driver, Girls
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family
Ed O’Neill, Modern Family
Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Bill Hader, Saturday Night Live
Tony Hale, Veep

OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Molly Shannon, Enlightened
Dot-Marie Jones, Glee
Melissa Leo, Louie
Melissa McCarthy, Saturday Night Live
Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live
Elaine Stritch, 30 Rock

OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Bob Newhart, The Big Bang Theory
Nathan Lane, Modern Family
Bobby Cannavale, Nurse Jackie
Louis CK, Saturday Night Live
Justin Timberlake, Saturday Night Live
Will Forte, 30 Rock

OUTSTANDING REALITY SHOW HOST
Ryan Seacrest, American Idol
Betty White, Betty White’s Off Their Rockers
Tom Bergeron, Dancing With the Stars
Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, Project Runway
Cat Deeley, So You Think You Can Dance
Anthony Bourdain, The Taste

OUTSTANDING REALITY SHOW COMPETITION
The Amazing Race
Dancing With the Stars
Project Runway
So You Think You Can Dance
Top Chef
The Voice

OUTSTANDING VARIETY, MUSIC, OR COMEDY SERIES
The Colbert Report
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon
Real Time With Bill Maher
Saturday Night Live

OUTSTANDING TV MINISERIES OR MOVIE
American Horror Story: Asylum
Behind the Candelabra
The Bible
Phil Spector
Political Animals
Top of the Lake

LEAD ACTRESS IN A TV MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Asylum
Laura Linney, The Big C: hereafter
Helen Mirren, Phil Spector
Sigourney Weaver, Political Animals
Elisabeth Moss, Top of the Lake

LEAD ACTOR IN A TV MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Michael Douglas, Behind the Candelabra
Matt Damon, Behind the Candelabra
Toby Jones, The Girl
Benedict Cumberbatch, Parade’s End
Al Pacino, Phil Spector

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A TV MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Asylum
Imelda Staunton, The Girl
Ellen Burstyn, Political Animals
Charlotte Rampling, Restless
Alfre Woodard, Steel Magnolias

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A TV MINISERIES OR MOVIE
James Cromwell, American Horror Story: Asylum
Zachary Quinto, American Horror Story: Asylum
Scott Bakula, Behind The Candelabra
John Benjamin Hickey, The Big C: hereafter
Peter Mullan, Top of the Lake

Most notable omissions:
BEST DRAMA - The Good Wife, The Walking Dead, Justified
BEST ACTRESS DRAMA - Julianne Margulies (The Good Wife), Keri Russell (The Americans)
BEST ACTOR DRAMA - Timothy Olyphant (Justified), Matthew Rhys (The Americans)
BEST SUPP. ACTRESS DRAMA - Michelle Fairley (Game of Thrones)
BEST SUPP. ACTOR DRAMA - Freddie Highmore (Bates Motel), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones), Walton Goggins (Justified), Nick Searcy (Justified), Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire), Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead), Dean Norris (Breaking Bad), Corey Stoll (House of Cards)
BEST COMEDY - all other comedies over Girls
BEST ACTRESS COMEDY - Zooey Deschanel (New Girl), Patricia Heaton (The Middle)
BEST ACTOR COMEDY - Johnny Galecki (The Big Bang Theory)
BEST SUPP. ACTRESS COMEDY - Aubrey Plaza (Parks & Recreation), Yvette Nicole Brown (Community)
BEST SUPP. ACTOR COMEDY - Nick Offerman (Parks & Recreation), Ed Helms (The Office)

Emmy people!  Two of the coolest TV characters of all time have yet to be nominated.  I mean, deep down I understand why Norman Reedus hasn't been nominated for The Walking Dead as Daryl Dixon, but how can you not nominate Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson? We're talking about Ron f'n Swanson!

Weekend Box Office - 7/14/13

For the weekend of July 12-14.

1. Despicable Me 2 - $44.75 million ($229.24) - 2 wks (U) -46.4%
 . . . 4003 screens / $11,180 per screen
2. Grown Ups 2 - $42.5 - 1 wk (Sony)
 . . . 3491 / $12,174
3. Pacific Rim - $38.3 - 1 wk (WB)
 . . . 3275 / $11,695
4. The Heat - $14 ($112.36) - 3 wks (Fox) -43.5%
 . . . 3128 / $4476
5. The Lone Ranger - $11.14 ($71.1) - 2 wks (BV) -61.9%
 . . . 3904 / $2853
6. Monsters University - $10.62 ($237.76) - 4 wks (BV) -46.1%
 . . . 3142 / $3380
7. World War Z - $9.43 ($177.09) - 4 wks (Par) -48.8%
 . . . 3003 / $3140
8. White House Down - $6.15 ($62.96) - 3 wks (Sony) -54.4%
 . . . 2566 / $2397
9. Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain - $5 ($26.38) - 2 wks (LG) -50.2%
 . . . 892 / $5605
10. Man of Steel - $4.83 ($281) - 5 wks (WB) -57.7%
 . . . 2150 / $2244
11. This is the End - $2.95 ($91.7) - 5 wks (Sony) -49.7%
 . . . 1394 / $2116
12. Now You See Me - $1.31 ($113.29) - 7 wks (LG) -54.1%
 . . . 850 / $1541

Illumination made Despicable Me 2 for half of what Pixar spent on Monsters University, and it's going to be a larger success.  I expect DM2 to wind up being the second-highest grossing movie of the summer, behind Iron Man 3.  Gru is now for Steve Carell what Shrek was for Mike Myers.

Grown Ups 2 is going to be profitable, and it just justifies Adam Sandler continuing his lazy ways that have made his movies worse and worse.

Pacific Rim had a $190 million production budget, but this is also a movie made with international sensibilities in mind first.

The Heat's continuing at a steady pace, should be able to get to the $150 million mark.

The Lone Ranger is a flop. It looks doubtful to hit $100 million domestic at this point.

Random Movie Stuff - 7/13/13

- Chloe Moretz will next star in If I Stay, about a teenage girl who has an out-of-body experience after falling into a coma.  She then debates whether to stay and live a difficult life or give up.  Moretz will next be seen in Kick-Ass 2 in August and Carrie in October.

- Morgan Freeman's joined the cast of Transcendence, starring Johnny Depp and Rebecca Hall as husband-and-wife scientists working on artificial intelligence.  It also stars Paul Bettany, Kate Mara and Cillian Murphy.  It's set to open April 18, 2014.  It's the directing debut for Wally Pfister, cinematographer on such films as Moneyball, Inception, and the Dark Knight trilogy.

- Lawless co-stars Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman and Jason Clarke are reuniting in Child 44, starring Hardy as a member of Stalin's Secret Force investigating a serial killer loose in the Soviet Union.  It co-stars Noomi Rapace (Prometheus), Joel Kinnaman (AMC's The Killing) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master).  It's directed by Daniel Espinosa (Safe House).

- Sam Mendes (Skyfall) has agreed to return to direct the next James Bond movie, now set to open November 6, 2015.

- Aubrey Plaza (The To-Do List) and Dane DeHaan (Chronicle) will star in Life After Beth, about a young couple dealing with the issues that come with her being resurrected from the dead.  Paul Reiser co-stars as her father.

Some New Trailers:

Christian Bale stars in the gritty revenge drama OUT OF THE FURNACE:



Jeff Bridges stars in the fantasy adventure SEVENTH SON:



Keri Russell stars in the light-hearted rom-com AUSTENLAND:

The Heat - Movie Review

Starring Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy, Damien Bichir, Marlon Wayans, Michael Rapaport, Jane Curtin, Dan Bakkedahl, Taram Killam, Michael McDonald and Toby Hale.
Directed by Paul Feig.

★★3/4

This could have been a vehicle for Shelley Long and Bette Midler in 1987.  And I would have called this remake a little better.

All I want from this, all I can hope for, is that it be funny. Please just be funny.  And Melissa McCarthy doesn't disappoint.  Sandra Bullock gets some laughs, but she's mostly the foil for McCarthy, doing her thing.

Bullock plays an FBI agent, loathed by her co-workers, who goes to Boston to work on a case, and if she performs well there, she's a shoo-in for a promotion.  She has a run-in with a brash detective (McCarthy) and the two are "forced to work together" on the case. Personalities clash; hijinks ensue.

McCarthy was the funniest part of Bridesmaids and the least painful part of This Is 40, so she's someone who can elevate whatever material she's given.  I don't know how many of her actual laugh-lines were in the script or how much of it is just her riffing, but she has some good ones.

It's fun for what it is. Wish it'd been funnier, but it'll do.

Side Effects - DVD Review

Starring Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Vinessa Shaw. Directed by Steven Soderbergh.

★★★½

No one is as crisp a filmmaker as Soderbergh.  I love that now that he's doing these less ambitious projects, they're still every bit as professionally done as any "prestige" pic he might want to work on.

The 50-year-old director has threatened retirement a few times, and I hope that's not the case.  He's working on a TV mini-series now starring Clive Owen as a doctor at a New York hopsital in the 1900's, but no more movies are on his plate.

This is a straightforward mystery and it plays like a novel.  A young woman (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's Rooney Mara) with anxiety and depression issues is waiting for her husband (Channing Tatum) to get his release from prison.  He'd been in for insider trading, and they're ready to get their life back.

Mara goes to a doctor (Jude Law) and he prescribes a fairly new medicine on the market for her symptoms.  But the prescription has some severe side effects. And it goes from there.  It flows at a Hitchcockian pace, and there isn't a wasted scene anywhere.

Beautiful Creatures - DVD Review

Starring Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis, Emma Thompson, Emmy Rossum, Thomas Mann, Margo Martindale, Eileen Atkins, Zoey Deutch and Kyle Gallner.
Directed by Richard LaGravenese.

★★

It's Twilight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Teen fantasy romance meets Southern gothic in this latest capitalization on best-selling YA fiction.

My first problem: Very few of these actors are from the south, and it pained my ear to hear the way some of them faked it so.  It takes more than changing "oil" to "awl" to make it sound like you're a natural resident of the Carolinas.

My second problem: The story essentially entails all the other characters waiting around to see if our heroine is going to turn into a good witch or a bad witch.

The little-known Alden Ehrenreich and Alice Englert play the two star-crossed lovers, he a normal boy from the sticks, she the niece of the wealthiest family in town, rumored to be cultists.  They meet cute and flirt, but eventually a bad-girl cousin and a pure-evil mama show up to stir up trouble for them.  Obvious Brits like Jeremy Irons and Emma Thompson get to chew their bits of scenery, but it all builds to a frenzied anti-climax that I'm sure came off better in the book.

Despicable Me 2 wins weekend

For the weekend of July 5-7.

1. Despicable Me 2 - $82.52 million ($142.07) - 1 wk (U)
 . . . 3997 screens / $20,645 per screen
2. The Lone Ranger - $29.43 ($48.94) - 1 wk (BV)
 . . . 3904 / $7539
3. The Heat - $25 ($86.4) - 2 wks (Fox) -36.1%
 . . . 3184 / $7852
4. Monsters University - $19.59 ($216.13) - 3 wks (BV) -57%
 . . . 3739 / $5239
5. World War Z - $18.2 ($158.76) - 3 wks (Par) -38.9%
 . . . 3316 / $5489
6. White House Down - $13.5 ($50.48) - 2 wks (Sony) -45.7%
 . . . 3222 / $4190
7. Man of Steel - $11.42 ($271.21) - 4 wks (WB) -45%
 . . . 2905 / $3929
8. Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain - $10.1 - 1 wk (LG)
 . . . 876 / $11,530
9. This Is the End - $5.8 ($85.55) - 4 wks (Sony) -33.3%
 . . . 2104 / $2757
10. Now You See Me - $2.77 ($110.42) - 6 wks (LG) -50.6%
 . . . 1606 / $1725
11. Star Trek Into Darkness - $1.31 ($223.07) - 8 wks (Par) -38.5%
 . . . 565 / $2319
12. Fast & Furious 6 - $1.02 ($235.44) - 7 wks (U) -58.2%
 . . . 617 / $1660
13. The Way Way Back - $.58 - 1 wk (FS)
 . . . 19 / $30,263

Despicable Me 2 looks to easily outdo its surprise-hit predecessor and be the highest-grossing animated film of the summer.  Monsters U is doing well, but DM2 should pass it.

The Lone Ranger, meanwhile, had a $215 million production budget and looks like it will fall short of getting that domestically.  Johnny Depp has a track record of doing well overseas, so this will need a lot of help in that department if it wants to break even.

The ABC's of Death - DVD Review

Starring Eva Llorach, Harold Torres, Matias Oveido, Steve Berrens, Brenden J. McVeigh, Arisa Nakamura, Martine Arnes, Adriana Paz, Octavio Michel, Daisuke Sasaki, Kelly Tandiono, Tipper Newton, Wiwatt Krongrasri, Manon Beuchot, Yvanna Hilton, Valentino Sabajo, Adam Wingard, Simon Barrett, Slobodan Bestic, Lucy Clements, Neil Maskell, Kyra Zagorsky, Elizabeth Rosen, Dink O'Neal, SIssi Duparc, Tim Dunn and Hiroko Yashiki.
Directed by Nacho Vigalondo, Adrian Garcia Bogliano, Ernesto Diaz Espinoza, Marcel Sarmiento, Angela Bettis, Noboru Iguchi, Andrew Traucki, Thomas Cappelen Malling, Jorge Michel Grau, Yudai Yamaguchi, Anders Morgenthaler, Timo Tjahjanto, Ti West, Banjong Pisanthanakun, Helene Cattet & Bruno Forzani, Simon Runley, Adam Wingard, Srdjan Spasojevic, Jake West, Lee Hardcastle, Ben Wheatley, Kaare Andrews, Jon Schnepp, Xavier Gens, Jason Eisener and Yoshihiro Nishimura.

This was 26 short films by 26 directors about death, each given a letter.  I think they made a deal with those directors that no matter what they made, it was going in the movie.

A is for Apocalypse - ★★
B is for Bigfoot - ★★
C is for Cycle - ★★
D is for Dogfight - ★½
E is for Exterminate - ★★
F is for Fart - ★
G is for Gravity - ★★½
H is for Hydro-Electric Diffusion - ★
I is for Ingrown - ★½
J is for Jidai-Geki - ★
K is for Klutz - ★½
L is for Libido - ★
M is for Miscarriage - ★½
N is for Nuptials - ★★½
O is for Orgasm - ★½
P is for Pressure - ★★★
Q is for Quack - ★★★
R is for Removed - ★½
S is for Speed - ★½
T is for Toilet - ★½
U is for Unearthed - ★½
V is for Vagitus - ★½
W is for WTF! - ★
X is for XXL - ★
Y is for Youngbuck - ★
Z is for Zetsumetu - ★

So what is worth it? NO! Two that were good, two that weren't bad, and the rest ranged from mediocre to crimes against humanity.

Overall: ★½

Random Movie Stuff - 7/2/13

- Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher have been asked to get in shape for their extended cameos in Star Wars Episode VII.

- Django Unchained alum Leonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx will reteam in Mean Business on North Ganson Street, about two detectives investigating the murders of some local police officers.

- Helena Bonham Carter is in talks to play the Fairy Godmother in Disney's live-action Cinderella movie, starring Lily James (Downton Abbey), Richard Madden (Game of Thrones) and Cate Blanchett (Hanna) as the Wicked Stepmother.  Sir Kenneth Branagh is directing.

- Daniel Huttlestone, who played Gavroche in Les Miserables, is in talks to play Jack in the big-screen Into the Woods movie, starring Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Johnny Depp, Chris Pine and Jake Gyllenhaal.

- Helen Mirren and newcomer Manish Dayal will star in The Hundred-Foot Journey, about a woman who opens an Indian restaurant in southern France, causing competition with neighboring restaurants.

- Timothy Simons (HBO's Veep) has joined the cast of Inherent Vice, the next film from director Paul Thomas Anderson. It stars Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Josh Brolin and Martin Short.

Some leftover movies from 2012:

SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED (★★★) - Starring Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni, Kristen Bell and Mary Lynn Rajskub.  Directed by Colin Trevorrow.

Well-done indie about a reporter who sees an ad for someone wanting a time-traveling companion, serious inquiries only, safety not guaranteed.  She and two co-workers head to the small town where he lives to find him and see if he really believes what he's saying.  Audrey Plaza takes a break from rolling her eyes on Parks & Recreation to play a girl with a soul, and Mark Duplass has the right amount of off-putting quirk to make the relationship feel more organically developed.

----

SEEKING A FRIEND AT THE END OF THE WORLD (★★★) - Starring Steve Carell, Keira Knightley, Connie Britton, Rob Corddry, Martin Sheen, Adam Brody, Melanie Lynskey, Patton Oswalt, William Peterson, Derek Luke and Gillian Jacobs.  Directed by Lorene Scafaria.

This movie had more melancholy attached to it than the trailer suggested, which is a good thing. It was an indie film pretending to be mainstream fare.

Carell plays a sad-sack named Dodge who learns along with everyone else on Earth that a deadly meteor is heading right toward them, and it will wipe out the human race.  By chance he meets his bohemian British neighbor Penny (Keira Knightley) and the two of them set out on a quest, he to get her to an acquaintance with a plane so she can fly across the Atlantic to be with her family in the final days.

These two hold to their purpose while the world falls around them in morbidly comical ways. While most people are using their little time left to try orgies and heroin, these two develop an odd, affecting friendship in their quest.  I liked it.

White House Down - Movie Review

Starring Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, James Woods, Richard Jenkins, Joey King, Nicolas Wright, Jimmi Simpson, Michael Murphy, Rachelle Lefevre, Lance Reddick, Matt Craven and Jake Weber.
Directed by Roland Emmerich.

★★½

Emmerich movies always have the tongue implanted in cheek, and this movie's no exception. Think of the big-budget disaster flicks like 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow or the more action-oriented flicks like The Patriot or Independence Day.  Now comes a ridiculous buddy-action-comedy between a Secret Service wannabe and POTUS fleeing terrorists in Die Hard in the White House.

Jamie Foxx is the Obama-esque President, and I'm not saying that because he's black.  He even adopts the way Obama speaks, at least in the beginning of the movie. His character's name however is President Sawyer.  Sawyer has announced he's withdrawing all US troops from the Middle East, which makes some never-seen CEOs of defense-contractor companies upset.  Needless to say, eventually some mercenary types start blowing stuff up around the White House. I wonder who could be backing them...

Tatum's character is John Cale.  Not quite John McClane, but come on, he even winds up wearing just the wife-beater by the end of the movie.  It's never bold enough to have him declare "Yippy-ki-yay!"  That'd just be too much.

The movie's fun the whole time.  Even when it gets stupid, and it does, it never forgets it's just a moooovie.  Tons of explosions, gunfire, but with the cameras angled just right to help keep that PG-13.

Tatum and Foxx have infectious chemistry.  Joey King (Beezus & Ramona) has her own moments as Cale's daughter.  MVP is Nicolas Wright as the tour guide. It seems like a throwaway part that just keeps getting better.  Anyone left of center should love that all the bad guys' motives hit on every Evil Republican cliche. Some are in for white supremacy, some are in it for money, some are in it to create more war, etc. We just needed one terrorist to say he's pro-life.

It's not the best movie of the summer, but it's worth seeing if you take it on its own level.

Monsters U is still #1, The Heat is #2

For the weekend of June 28-30.

1. Monsters University - $46.18 million ($171) - 2 wks (BV) -44%
 . . . 4004 screens / $11,533 per screen
2. The Heat - $40 - 1 wk (Fox)
 . . . 3181 / $12,575
3. World War Z - $29.8 ($123.72) - 2 wks (Par) -55.1%
 . . . 3607 / $8262
4. White House Down - $25.7 - 1 wk (Sony)
 . . . 3222 / $7976
5. Man of Steel - $20.82 ($248.66) - 3 wks (WB) -49.6%
 . . . 4131 / $5040
6. This Is the End - $8.7 ($74.68) - 3 wks (Sony) -34.5%
 . . . 2710 / $3210
7. Now You See Me - $5.5 ($104.68) - 5 wks (LG) -30.2%
 . . . 2564 / $2145
8. Fast & Furious 6 - $2.41 ($233.31) - 6 wks (U) -51.1%
 . . . 1550 / $1555
9. Star Trek Into Darkness - $2.04 ($220.5) - 7 wks (Par) -35.6%
 . . . 1035 / $1971
10. The Internship - $1.43 ($41.71) - 4 wks (Fox) -58.1%
 . . . 1008 / $1414
11. Iron Man 3 - $1.4 ($405.44) - 9 wks (BV) -36.6%
 . . . 540 / $2598
12. The Purge - $1.23 ($62.79) - 4 wks (U) -65.7%
 . . . 1122 / $1095

The Heat is Sandra Bullock's best opening of her already impressive career.

White House Down was not able to get the $30 million that Olympus Has Fallen got with the same plot.  The two films might have opened too close together.

Monsters University has grossed $300 million worldwide so far.

Despsicable Me 2 and The Lone Ranger open later this week.

Box Office Tracking - 6/25/13

Looking ahead at how upcoming movies are tracking.

Opens June 28
THE HEAT - $35 million, $140 total
WHITE HOUSE DOWN - $34 million, $110 total

Opens July 4
DESPICABLE ME 2 - $76 million, $353 total
THE LONE RANGER - $35 million, $135 total

Opens July 12
PACIFIC RIM - $55 million, $185 total
GROWN UPS 2 - $40 million, $128 million

Opens July 19
THE CONJURING - $23 million, $65 total
RED 2 - $22 million, $71 total
TURBO - $21 million, $80 total
R.I.P.D. - $12 million, $30 total

Opens July 26
THE WOLVERINE - $65 million, $160 total

Opens August 2
2 GUNS - $43 million, $127 total
THE SMURFS 2 - $26 million, $100 total

Opens August 9
ELYSIUM - $30 million, $90 total
WE'RE THE MILLERS - $22 million, $83 total
PERCY JACKSON 2 - $20 million, $77 total
PLANES - $17 million, $70 total

Opens August 16
KICK-ASS 2 - $25 million, $58 total
THE BUTLER - $17 million, $68 total
PARANOIA - $11 million, $32 total
JOBS - $10 million, $28 total

At one point, The Heat and White House Down were both flirting with a $40 million opener, but with the giant success of Monster U and World War Z, they've both settled into the mid-30's.

Disney has to be happy with The Lone Ranger numbers.  Domestically, no, that's not great, but Depp translates great overseas, and it will wind up being a profitable venture after all.  Despicable Me 2 already has its spinoff movie Minions in the works.

R.I.P.D. still has a lot of work to do to prove it's not a Men in Black ripoff (even if that's what it essentially is.)

The Wolverine anticipation is increasing.  It benefits greatly from being the only movie opening that week.

Monsters University is #1

For the weekend of June 21-23.

1. Monsters University - $82 million - 1 wk (BV)
 . . . 4004 screens / $20,480 per screen
2. World War Z - $66 - 1 wk (Par)
 . . . 3607 / $18,298
3. Man of Steel - $41.22 ($210) - 2 wks (WB) -64.7%
 . . . 4207 / $9797
4. This Is the End - $13 ($57.79) - 2 wks (Sony) -37.3%
 . . . 3055 / $4255
5. Now You See Me - $7.87 ($94.45) - 4 wks (LG) -28.6%
 . . . 2823 / $2788
6. Fast & Furious 6 - $4.73 ($228.41) - 5 wks (U) -50.7%
 . . . 2417 / $1955
7. The Internship - $3.43 ($38.37) - 3 wks (Fox) -52.1%
 . . . 1916 / $1788
8. The Purge - $3.41 ($59.43) - 3 wks (U) -59%
 . . . 2201 / $1550
9. Star Trek Into Darkness - $3 ($216.61) - 6 wks (Par) -52%
 . . . 1565 / $1917
10. Iron Man 3 - $2.18 ($403.12) - 8 wks (BV) -26.4%
 . . . 924 / $2354
11. The Bling Ring - $2 ($2.34) - 2 wks (A24) +832.9%
 . . . 650 / $3077
12. Epic - $1.73 ($100.99) - 5 wks (Fox) -72.5%
 . . . 1994 / $868
13. Before Midnight - $.93 ($4.65) - 5 wks (SPC) -32.9%
 . . . 441 / $2104
14. After Earth - $.85 ($57.3) - 4 wks (Sony) -79%
 . . . 1166 / $729
15. The Hangover Part III - $.71 ($110) - 5 wks (WB) -74.7%
 . . . 530 / $1330
16. Much Ado About Nothing - $.68 ($1.1) - 3 wks (RA) +320%
 . . . 206 / $3300
17. The Great Gatsby - $.57 ($141.57) - 7 wks (WB) -65.8%
 . . . 362 / $1580

Monsters University is indeed the 2nd-highest opening in Pixar history.  World War Z is also the 2nd-highest opening for a movie not debuting #1.

World War Z - Movie Review

Starring Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale, Ludi Boeken, David Morse, Fana Mokoena, Peter Capaldi, Pierfrancesco Favino, Sterling Jerins, Abigail Hargrove, David Andrews and Matthew Fox.  Directed by Marc Forster.

★★★½

I haven't read the source material, but what I see in front of me works.  It's a globetrotting view of the zombie apocalypse.  We've seen zombie-outbreak movies that focus on one area and they only vaguely hear of it happening in the rest of the world.  This time we follow a protagonist, Gerry Lane, (Brad Pitt) who starts in Philadelphia but goes to South Korea and to Israel and to Wales trying to find out what's going on and how to stop it.

It starts small, with Gerry and family stuck in traffic, but then like a wave it hits, and these are the fast-running kind of zombies.  They cooperate like army ants and wash through the streets like a flash-flood.  There's big emphasis on Gerry getting his family to a safe place.  Once that happens, he takes back his old job as a UN special-ops guy to fly with a scientist to see if they can trace the origins of the zombie outbreak.  If they can find the origin, maybe they can find a cure.

The PG-13 rating means we don't get a lot of gore.  Stabs to the head are off-camera.  We do still get a well-paced procedural, surprising considering all the production turmoils it went through.  I also liked how just as the scale was getting larger and larger, Act III narrows its focus and zooms in on a WHO building in Wales.

I'd like to know why Matthew Fox was all but edited out of this movie. If I didn't know he was in it, I don't know if I would have recognized him.

Friday's Box Office

For June 21.

1. Monsters University - $30.51 million - 1 day
2. World War Z - $25 - 1 day
3. Man of Steel - $12.7 ($181.49) - 8 days
4. This Is the End - $4.1 ($48.89) - 10 days
5. Now You See Me - $2.45 ($89.03) - 22 days
6. Fast & Furious 6 - $1.45 ($225.14) - 29 days
7. The Purge - $1.17 ($57.19) - 15 days
8. The Internship - $1.08 ($36.02) - 15 days

Pixar rules, as does Brad Pitt.  MU should get around $80 million for the weekend, and WWZ should get around $55 million.

Man of Steel is having a big dropoff for its second weekend.  It'll pass $200 million its second weekend, but it'll be scraping and crawling to get to $300 million domestic.  Still, overall, MoS has to be considered a successful reboot.

This Is the End and Now You See Me can be considered successful as well, relative to their budgets and expectations.

Man of Steel - Movie Review

Starring Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Christopher Meloni, Michael Kelly, Harry Lennix and Richard Schiff.
Directed by Zack Snyder.

★★½

This Christopher Nolan reboot adds some gravity to the Superman story. Maybe a little too much.  There's a lot of brooding, and it could have used some more fun.  Overall I liked it but it had its issues.

First, we'll start with Krypton. (Ever notice how all other planets have one government running the entire planet?  Earth has something like 180 countries, but how come other planets...?) Anyway, Krypton is about to be destroyed by a people too stupid to stop mining its core for energy.  Now to demonstrate how Krypton is run by the folks from Idiocracy, they have sent out scouting ships to other planets to test sustainability, but all of the projects were abandoned. Not really clear why.  But Jor-El (Russell Crowe) manages to sneak his baby boy on a capsule before the whole thing blows up.

Oh, but before that happens, General Zod (Michael Shannon) tries to overthrow the government and fails.  He and his followers are sentenced to 300 years in the Phantom Zone, a safe place that isn't about to blow up.  So Kal-El isn't the only surviving Kryptonian.  Those resourceful Phantom Zone dwellers survive as well.

Kal-El grows up to be Clark Kent, a drifter who goes from town to town trying to find himself, but as soon as he uses his powers to save lives, he moves on.  He just has to find the right time to go public.  Well, the right time is when Zod shows up and lets the whole world know an alien lives among them.

I just wish it hadn't been so brood-tastic.  This is Superman!  He's an alien!  We started out on another planet that looked like Dune meets Attack of the Clones.  I like that it actually digs into how alienating it must've been for Clark to just pretend he doesn't have powers.  Thing is, Clark's still trying to find himself at age 33.  C'mon, Clark.  Be a man already.

Zod is the villain, and Michael Shannon had no chance of outshining Terence Stamp's "Kneel Before Zod."  This Zod doesn't make the smartest decisions and he doesn't seem to understand anything about diplomacy or leadership, but he thinks he does.  He's like the Santa Anna of space generals.

The rest of the cast does the best they can with what they're given as well.  I liked Cavill; I think in the next movie he'll be allowed to have a little more fun.  Amy Adams wasn't right as Lois Lane, but this Lois wasn't anything like what Lois should be.  This Lois was a device to advance the plot.  She didn't really seem like a reporter.

Couple other points:
- Pa Kent's death was stupid. They should have left it as a heart attack.
- The final battle must have killed a lot of people.  You'd think Superman would have tried to get the fight into a more rural area.
- I did get a kick out of a couple Easter eggs in there.