"The Way, Way Back" will make you want to go for a nice swim, it's also a pretty good movie

When we first meet Duncan, he's in the very back seat of a stationwagon and he's not having a very good time. He's on his way to a beach house to spend time with his mother and her boyfriend for the summer. It's a nice house bordering the shore, lots of cute girls, parties, etc... but when you're an awkward teen being thrown into the perils of divorce, all that fun stuff can blow right past you. Duncan is mostly grumpy, trying to adjust to life with his mother and her boyfriend, but the boyfriend, Trent, (played by Steve Carell) isn't really helping matters.

Trent flat out asks Duncan to rate himself on a scale of 1 to 10. After much goading, Duncan finally answers. He thinks of himself a "6." Trent, on the other hand, thinks he's a "3." Not a great way to try to get along with your girlfriend's son, but we'll soon learn that Trent really is kind of an asshole. That said, Duncan doesn't exactly help. Should he try to be happier, for the sake of his mother? Perhaps, but "The Way, Way Back" is smart in that it showcases how these beach house trips really isn't about the kids at all, but more like "Spring Break for adults," as one kid wisely observes. So, it's understandable why a lot of kids in the area aren't exactly thrilled to be there. The trip is all about the parents, with very little time spent with the kids. What's a teenage boy to do when you're stuck in a place you don't want to be? Well, in this case, you bump into Sam Rockwell (his character, that is).

To be honest, while "The Way, Way Back" starts off nice enough, you will be breathing much easier once Sam Rockwell enters the screen. His character, Owen, brings such necessary life and spirit to the film and things really move along smoothly when he's on screen. He's such a strong on-screen presence that the rest of the movie begins to suffer in comparison. Duncan and Owen wind up bonding and Duncan gets a job at Water Wizz, a water park Owen manages. Thanks to Owen, Duncan begins to lighten up a bit more and becomes a hit with the guests (who apparently go there everyday). Duncan even begins to put the moves on Susanna, a cute girl who stays in the beach house next door. But when Duncan bikes away from Owen and Water Wizz and has to deal with the drama going on at the beach house, the tone just feels too wildly different.

What "The Way, Way Back" also suffers from is having a mopey lead character. There are a lot of coming-of-age stories that have this problem. I highly enjoyed "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," but the lead character was probably the least interesting of the bunch. Same is the case here. Duncan is not even the "straight man," he's just brooding. He loosens up when he starts working at Water Wizz and once that happens, the film becomes much more enjoyable. But again, because the water park scenes are so fun, it makes the more dramatic scenes at the beach house kind of a chore to get through.

This might be because it's made by first-time directors. Nat Faxon and Jim Rash were part of the Oscar-winning three-man writing team behind "The Descendants." Alexander Payne, of course, was that third member of the writing team and he directed the film. "The Way, Way Back" has a similar feel to "The Descendants." It's very laid back, a little free-wheeling, but because the main character isn't as fun, the dramatic moments are harder to get through. "The Descendants" worked mostly because George Clooney oozes charisma and you felt for his character, in "The Way, Way Back," Duncan is just a whiny teenager. You understand what he's going through, we've all been there, but sometimes you wish he'd just lighten the hell up. His anger is sometimes justified, but other times, he's just a bit too sensitive. It's hilarious to watch Sam Rockwell's Owen bounce off Duncan, but it seems Faxon and Rash had some difficulty finding that right tonal balance that Alexander Payne is such a master at.

That said, "The Way, Way Back" is still a very solid, often enjoyable film that has a great cast. Aside from Carell, Sam Rockwell, and 16 year old Liam James who plays Duncan, there's also Toni Collette, the always wonderful and underrated Allison Janney, Maya Rudolph, Rob Corddry, and Amanda Peet. I actually think it should be a requirement for Allison Janney to appear in dramadies like these. She's always very memorable when she plays these types of roles, best exemplified from her turn in "Juno" where she plays the title character's step mother. She's just a pro and she gets the second best lines in the film (Sam Rockwell comes out on top in that category, sorry).

And yeah, can't say enough about Sam Rockwell. Rockwell is at his best when he's given the chance to be loose and just shoot the shit. He deserves to be in more comedies. Steve Carell is also memorable as the dickish 40-something boyfriend of Duncan's mother. This role is a great change of pace for Carell who usually plays likable guys. He showcases here that he can play a pretty convincing jerk. Good for him.

And while I do think Faxon and Rash's debut film has a few problems, I am really interested in seeing more films from them. "The Descendants" was Alexander Payne's most laid back film and I really enjoyed the way that film was paced. "The Way, Way Back" shows the writer/directors' were just as much responsible for "The Descendants" being as successful as it was. If they can just correct a few kinks here and there, they can wind up having solid directorial careers.

It could stand to be a little more fun, but "The Way, Way Back" is a good film with a great cast that will make you want to start looking for your swimming trunks.

Grade: B

"The Hangover Part III": a fitting, mostly funny conclusion to an uneven trilogy

"The Hangover" is a film that, when it came out, it was an instant classic. Not only that, it exploded in the box office and everyone and their mother went to see it and laughed their asses off no matter how depraved it was. Sequels were inevitable, having the sequels being constantly measured up to the first one would be inevitable as well. With "The Hangover Part II," Todd Phillips decided the best way to go about that would be literally copy the formula of the first film, to almost an exact science. Not only was the setup and payoff the same, many of the jokes were similar as well. It was an experiment in self-plagiarism. Todd Phillips tries to deny that the two films are basically the same, after all, the second one's in Bangkok! I mean, come on! But if "The Hangover Part II"was made by someone else and was never called "The Hangover Part II," you can bet Todd Phillips would be crying foul. I guess when you make a film that crosses $500 million in the box office, denial becomes your best friend.

The first thing that becomes clear with "The Hangover Part III" is that it's not a carbon copy of the first one. Thank God. Instead, the film heavily references events that transpire in the first movie and apparently Alan's (Zach Galifianakis) actions have set a chain of events that has made John Goodman's character very pissed off and looking for blood. In the third one, the Wolfpack have to go to Tijuana to find Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong), who had stolen $21 million of gold from Marshall (John Goodman). They must find him and bring him to Marshall or else Doug (Justin Bartha) gets killed. Trying to find Leslie Chow ultimately leads them back to the place they hoped they'd never have to come back to, Las Vegas.

Basically, the plotline for "The Hangover Part III" is very, very, very standard. What made the first movie so fun was how original its concept was. It was an R-rated mystery comedy. This time, the plot structure is your standard thriller. We will kidnap your friend (or lover or child) and will kill that person unless you bring us Chow (or money or whatever). So it's a very basic plot and basic structure. Nothing happens in the movie that would be coming from left-field, except maybe one scene involving a giraffe.

"Part III" is an average comedy. The bad news being that it's definitely a step down from the first one, but the good news? It's a vast improvement from the second.  "Part III" doesn't do anything special, but it at least provides another good showcase for these characters to play off each other and, after looking at some of the critics reviews, I was surprised at how often I laughed. Some claimed the movie goes into flat out "thriller" territory and stops being funny, but I definitely disagree. There are still plenty of funny scenes in the second half. Leslie Chow is still an annoying character and Ken Jeong has pretty much worn out his welcome for me, but he's definitely not as annoying as he was in the second one.

Perhaps it's because I hated the second one so much that I was able to enjoy this one much more, but I don't think that's completely the case. The truth is, I like these characters. I like Stu and Phil (Ed Helms and Bradley Cooper). I think Helms, Cooper, and Galifianakis are great together. I was wondering when Mike Tyson was gonna show up, he never did, but I still enjoyed seeing these characters back together without doing the same exact things that they did in the first two movies.

I liked the inclusion of John Goodman as the bad guy as well. The general public largely doesn't realize just how nasty John Goodman can get so it's nice to see his mean-spirited-ness on full display here.  I love that he's appearing in more movies once again.

And even though the third one does have a very basic plot, it's still fun to see how it ties in to events that happened during the first movie. It's also nice to see Alan's character mature a little bit and the return of Heather Graham and her son (Carlos!) is nice as well. Sorry critics, this isn't as terrible as you're claiming this to be. It's not great and it's very formulaic, but it's a step up from the second film and, overall, a pretty fitting, mostly funny conclusion to the trilogy.

Grade: B-

"Before Midnight" is another welcome entry in the "Before" series

It's nine years later. Jesse and Celine are together... finally. They have twin daughters. They have a whole life together. They felt a deep connection with each other when they first met 18 years ago, then nine years later, decided to act on that connection. And now here we are. "Before Sunset" ended on a suggestion, "Before Midnight" shows the result. Jesse and Celine are together and now have to deal with the consequences of real life. While Jesse asked Celine to travel around Vienna with him on a whim in "Before Sunrise," "Before Midnight" shows how those moments of spontaneity can have all kinds of long-lasting effects. If Jesse had known that taking a brief detour with Celine could impact his future son's life, would he have done it still? Was it all worth it?

Better yet, if the events of "Before Sunrise" took place in 2013, would any of this matter? "Before Midnight" not only explores the continuation of Celine and Jesse's relationship, it also explores how technology has greatly impacted the modern relationship. Jesse and Celine could not communicate for nearly a decade after they met in "Sunrise." But on their trip to Greece, they meet a young couple who had met and fallen in love in Greece, kept in contact via Skype, and were able to keep that relationship alive. The fact of the matter is, that nine year block when Jesse and Celine weren't together has caused a permanent strain on their current relationship. Jesse now has a 14 year old son that lives in Chicago and can only visit during the summer. He wishes he can be closer to his son and be more of a presence in his life. But these are things Celine doesn't want to hear.

Overall though, how are Celine and Jesse these days? Well, they're a lot of things. They have their ups and downs like any other couple. Suddenly, reality has made their incredibly romantic story incredibly... normal. They are passionate, they can still have involving conversations with each other, but they also fight. They fight a lot. And "Before Midnight" climaxes with an incredibly ugly fight where many things are said, feelings being thrown around with reckless abandon, literally preventing them from what was to be a planned romantic night.

"Before Midnight" not only works as a welcome third part of an amazing trilogy, but it also provides amazing insight into the life of a committed couple, now into their 40s, that is so life-like that watching them fight in a hotel room will make you cringe. It's not that either one of them are right, that's exactly the point. They have their own agendas that they're pushing towards each other, their arguments are such that it's impossible for either to be right. What originally had them fall for each other is now what makes them fight all the time. They're both passionate people, from different ends of the spectrum.

These issues were touched upon in Judd Apatow's "This is 40," but obviously those circumstances are a bit different. In "This is 40," Pete and Debbie are going through mid-life crises and that, in turn, affects their love life. But "Before Midnight" is much more consistent and really puts the microscope on these feelings. "Midnight" has long scenes of just conversation, like the previous two films, where ideas are explored from multiple perspectives. At the end, nothing is necessarily resolved but you get the feeling that this is just another fight. Celine and Jesse are meant to be together, they were made for each other. They will have their bitter fights, but there is still something there that keeps them together. There's an unspeakable bond.

Director Richard Linklater has been all over the map in the past ten years, as a filmmaker. But, when he returns to this material, he handles it as deftly as he did the previous two times. The only thing this film is missing, that the previous two had, was a sense of time running out. In "Sunset" and "Sunrise," Celine and Jesse eventually had to part ways, or at least that is how those stories were framed. Therefore, it automatically made their day carry emotional weight. Each minute that passes by makes it closer to the inevitable. But here, there is no parting ways. They made a commitment to each other and this is it. So while the film is a necessary and logical next step in their relationship, it's not quite as compelling overall as the previous two films. Other than that, the film is a delight, and a must-see for fans of "Before Sunset" and "Before Sunrise."

Grade: B+

Cannes Winners

 2013 FESTIVAL DE CANNES WINNERS:

PALME D’OR:
LA VIE D’ADÈLE - CHAPITRE 1 & 2 (Blue Is The Warmest Color) by Abdellatif KECHICHE

GRAND PRIX:
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS by Ethan COEN, Joel COEN

PRIX DE LA MISE EN SCEN (BEST DIRECTOR):
Amat ESCALANTE for "HELI"

PRIX DU SCENARIO (BEST SCREENPLAY):
JIA Zhangke for "TIAN ZHU DING" ("A Touch Of Sin")

CAMERA D’OR (BEST FIRST FEATURE):
"ILO ILO," Director: Anthony CHEN

PRIX DU JURY (JURY PRIZE):
"LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON" by KORE-EDA Hirokazu

PRIX D’INTERPRETATION FEMININE (BEST ACTRESS):
Berenice Bejo, "THE PAST"

PRIX D’INTERPRETATION MASCULINE (BEST ACTOR):
Bruce Dern, "NEBRASKA"

----------------------------------------------

PRIZE OF UN CERTAIN REGARD
THE MISSING PICTURE by Rithy PANH

JURY PRIZE - UN CERTAIN REGARD
OMAR by Hany ABU-ASSAD

DIRECTING PRIZE - UN CERTAIN REGARD
Alain GUIRAUDIE for STRANGER BY THE LAKE

A CERTAIN TALENT PRIZE - UN CERTAIN REGARD

For the ensemble cast of LA JAULA DE ORO by Diego QUEMADA-DIEZ

AVENIR PRIZE - UN CERTAIN REGARD
FRUITVALE STATION by Ryan COOGLER

FIPRESCI PRIZE - COMPETITION PRIZE
Blue Is The Warmest Color (La vie d'Adèle — Chapitre 1 & 2) by Abdellatif Kechiche (France, 2013)

FIPRESCI PRIZE - UN CERTAIN REGARD PRIZE
Manuscripts Don't Burn (Dast-Neveshtehaa Nemisvosand) by Mohammad Rasoulof (Iran, 2013)

FIPRESCI PRIZE - PARALLEL SECTION
Blue Ruin by Jeremy Saulnier (USA, 2013), shown in the Directors' Fortnight.

ECUMENICAL JURY PRIZE
LE PASSÉ/The Past de Asghar Farhadi (Compétition Officielle)

ECUMENICAL JURY PRIZE - SPECIAL MENTION
SOSHITE CHICHI NI NARU (TEL PÈRE, TEL FILS)/Like Father Like Son de Hirokazu Kore-eda (Compétition officielle)
MIELE de Valeria Golino (Un Certain Regard)

Films on my radar: the month of June

So, I've been struggling since my return from California to see the movies I want to see in time. But, mostly, I have been having to catch up. I just don't have as much time this summer and the price of movie tickets in NYC has gone up to $14.50. Ridiculous! If only more people read this blog, I could get press credentials or something. But if I had a bigger readership, I wouldn't be able to get away with saying this: fuck shit ass tits balls.

I don't bother with the "Fast and Furious" movies because, honestly, those movies are critic proof. Same thing with Transformers. You either like that shit, or you don't. I still have to see "Star Trek Into Darkness," hopefully that will be soon. From what's also currently out, "Frances Ha," "The Hangover Part III," and "Before Midnight" are films I hope to tackle within the next two weeks.

Next Friday are two wild cards: "Now You See Me" and "After Earth." One is a magician heist film, which sounds lame, but it has a good cast. Morgan Freeman, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Melanie Laurent, etc. "After Earth" was directed by M. Night Shyamalan and stars Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith. Can M. Night finally turn the corner and make a good movie after years of mediocrity? Are we finally sick of Will Smith? Do we really care about his son? If the answers to those questions are no, yes, and  no then you cross this one off my radar.

June - nine films on my radar, let's see which ones they are in order of release...

June 7th

The Internship

 Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson back together for the first time since "Wedding Crashers." Will this outing be as successful as last time? Not sure. Could be a fun comedy, but honestly, I didn't even love "Wedding Crashers" that much. I dig both actors and they obviously have great chemistry, but I'm not sure if this is going to be funny or just a giant advertisement for Google. By the way, the blog is owned by Google so I ain't talking shit about Google, believe me. Heh, heh, heh....


Much Ado About Nothing

Joss Whedon. Shakespeare. To Joss Whedon nerds, it's a match made in heaven. For me, I'm just... interested. I'm not sure if I'll catch this one in the theaters but I might. I saw the trailer for this one and it looks kinda weird. Shot in black and white, using the Shakespeare dialogue, but set in modern times. I don't know, we'll see how this pans out.



June 14th

This is the End

June is filled with "maybes" and that's the case with "This is the End." It's got an all-star cast filled with the Apatow gang, but will it be hilarious or incredibly self-indulgent?



Man of Steel

Zack Snyder always brings the interesting visuals, but usually with an empty story and annoying slow-mo action scenes. So it'll be interesting to see how Christopher Nolan's influence affects his style here. Will people be able to get excited about Superman, finally?



The Bling Ring

This one got a faintly positive reaction out of Cannes, but that doesn't always mean anything. It's nice to see Sofia Coppola do a movie that's not incredibly personal. It's not that I don't enjoy her personal films, but it's just nice to see her sensibilities put to work in a different story. Some have said that the film is pretty one-dimensional, but Coppola is an interesting enough director that I will be wanting to see this when it comes out in theaters.



June 21st

Monsters University

Another Pixar sequel. This one could be as fun as Toy Story 3 or as forgettable as Cars 2.



World War Z

[aceshowbiz]

Running over budget, release date delays, re-shoots, re-writes, etc. World War Z has had a boatload of problems, but Brad Pitt in a zombie film is still a reason to see this film. I don't care what you say.



June 28th

The Heat

"Bridesmaids" director Paul Feig reteams with Melissa McCarthy and they team with Sandra Bullock. "Identity Thief" got middling reviews earlier this year but the draw of Melissa McCarthy turned it into a box office success. Can the same happen with "The Heat"? Will Paul Feig bring some quality to this film or was "Bridesmaids" just a success because of Kristen Wiig's unique comic voice?


I'm So Excited

Ah, Pedro Almodovar. I have made no secret about my love for this man's films. So, obviously, I want to see this one. "The Skin I Live In" was my number 2 favorite of 2011. "Talk to Her" is one of my favorite films of 2000s. The man has been getting better with age and now he's back with a fun little comedy. I can't wait.

Well, I WAS going to make a post about Cannes reactions, but...

Last year, I did something that I thought was pretty cool: posting critics reactions to films coming out of Cannes. But I must not have noticed Criticwire at the time. This year, Criticwire has totally got me beat. Their coverage of critics reaction towards Cannes movies is awesome. You get a good sense of who likes what, what films are getting a lot of buzz, and what films are getting panned, and the stuff in the middle. I'll post links to the movies that most peak my interest.

The 2013 Cannes Review Report: 'Nebraska'

The 2013 Cannes Review Report: 'All is Lost'

The 2013 Cannes Review Report: 'Only God Forgives'

The 2013 Cannes Review Report: 'Behind the Candelabra'

The 2013 Cannes Review Report: 'Inside Llewyn Davis'

The 2013 Cannes Review Report: 'The Bling Ring'

Here is what I am gathering from reaction to these movies. Bling Ring is Sofia Coppola still in "vacuous celeb-culture" territory. There are some positive reviews of her movie, but many conclude that there's not much more going on than what meets the eye.

"Inside Llewyn Davis" is getting raves across the board. The Coen Bros are back baby!

Soderbergh's last film "Behind the Candelabra" is also largely getting positive reviews whereas Refn's "Only God Forgives" is getting the most divergent reviews of the festival.

JC Chandor's "All is Lost" is pretty mixed, but the reaction to Alexander Payne's film "Nebraska" is interesting. It's not polarizing, but some are more enthused about the film than others. Some feeling he's gone into soft territory, others thinking it's wonderfully subtle and moving. I'm really looking forward to it, that's for sure.

Some of the foreign language films, like "Blue is the Warmest Color", "Like Father, Like Son" and "The Past" is getting really strong reviews too. I have a feeling "The Past" will win the Palme, the Coen brothers have a good shot too but the jurors never really go for the "obvious sexy choice." But we'll see. I think the Coens won the Palme for Barton Fink back in 1991 just to give some more context to the situation.

"Mud" review

"Mud" plays out like a modern day fable, in some ways. You have two boys, Ellis and Neckbone, making their way to a small island via motorboat where they discover a large boat stuck in a tree. That's where they come across Mud (Matthew McConaughey), a former native of the region who has just returned, hiding out on the island because he shot and killed a man, a man who threw Mud's old girlfriend (Reese Witherspoon) down the stairs, causing her to lose the baby she was carrying. In the course of helping this potentially dangerous man, Ellis learns about the nature of love and trust, in all their pratfalls.

Every character in "Mud" deals with love in their own way. Neckbone, unaware of who his real parents are, only has Uncle Galen (Michael Shannon) to look up to and Galen treats his women like objects. Ellis's parents are going through a painful divorce that will wind up forcing him to move out of the houseboat that he's spent his whole life in, forcing him to live in the town. He has a "girlfriend" named Maypearl who, after one date, doesn't give him the time of day. Ellis wants to help Mud because he believes Mud truly loves Juniper, an old girlfriend that's back in town, looking for him. But does Mud love her? Does Juniper love Mud? To Ellis, the issue is black and white, but of course we know there's more to it than that.

There's a point in all of our lives where we start to realize that what we know about our parents, what we know about love and marriage, goes beyond what we can comprehend. We assure ourselves, and others assure us, that it's because we're not old enough to understand, but the truth is it's beyond understanding. Mud is just as childish as Ellis is when it comes to love, killing a man to protect his "true love" without thinking through all of the consequences. No matter how old we get, we still have so much to learn about life. By the time we've got it all figured out, it's too late. Like Tom Blankenship (Sam Shepherd), an old man who lives in a houseboat by himself. Ellis wonders what Tom's story is. How did he get to be so lonely? Then we come to find out that Tom lost the love of his life, and it's left him heartbroken and alone.

We're all the product of our own environment and sometimes our environment can be so overbearing that we feel we owe to ourselves to get away from it all. While Ellis and Neckbone can't imagine being anywhere else, nearly all of the adults in "Mud" are looking to escape. Mud is trying to escape via the boat in the tree, Ellis's mother wants to escape her husband and leave the houseboat behind, Juniper is in a more complex situation. Part of her wants to escape with Mud, another part of her simply wants to escape... period.

"Mud" is a wonderful film because it has such a thematically rich story with actors that sink their teeth so well into these roles. The film reminded me of "Winter's Bone," which was another coming-of-tale set in an area where people have their own language, their own code, their own way of living. "Bone" is a bit more stark with a tough bitch of a main character, whereas "Mud" is a bit more hopeful. Things are bad, but they can get better. There's an element of danger in "Mud" that feels real, whenever Ellis goes out to give Juniper a letter, you're hoping that nobody is watching or following him. The dramatic points are downplayed so beautifully, the tension is created so naturally and gradually that it sneaks up on you. By the time we get to the climactic scene near the end, it's simply chilling.

Matthew McConaughey continues to impress with yet another strong performance. His character, Mud, is so many things at once. You don't know whether to feel bad for him, to be afraid of him, or to look down on him. Reese Witherspoon is also great as the torn lover, who tries hard to wait patiently for Mud, but just can't. And while Sam Shepard is as solid as usual, it's Tye Sheridan who has the most important role here. He was as compelling here as he was in "The Tree of Life," the 14 year-old Ellis is so layered and relatable, it's easy to get sucked in.

"Mud" wraps up a little too neatly for my taste and while I appreciate its thematically-rich story, I did think it was too on-the-nose in some places. Nevertheless, "Mud" is a wonderful Southern drama you won't want to miss.

Grade: B+