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Bill I’s Rating – 3.5 out of 5

I almost gave this a 4 rating because I enjoyed it so much, but I thought due to its formulaic structure (boys meet boys, boys lose boys, boys get back together) I didn’t think it’s a top movie of the year so far. But what’s there is captivating, from the rise of the young members of rap group NWA coming together to create music and messages that rocked the culture. It’s got some great elements: rags to riches, brotherly bonding (both more captivating and more realistic then what we see in Entourage movie), the music hits business (including the slick talking manager), betrayal, villains (cue Shug Knight!), growth, and ultimately death. Ice Cube is portrayed by his actual son (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) who looks just like his dad. Easy E is the most compelling character, and the always great Paul Giamatti excels in manager sleaziness disguised by loving mentor and plain talking businessman. I could go on and describe some great scenes, especially the crowd receptions, the riots, but the biggest emotional impact for me was to see how the police treated these young “gangsters”, which hits so close to home when seeing it happening in everyday America. I never cared much for NWA’s music, and in fact despised their F*** tha Police song, but put into context here (Ice Cube writes it literally after experiencing first hand police thuggery and racism), it make sense and comes across as a legitimate form of civil protest. The violence and  sex is nothing too brutal or explicit, and I think the movie is OK for teenagers 15 and over. It’s nothing they haven’t already heard, and by seeing this film we can understand where the NWA members came from.

 

Bill C’s Review – 2.5 out of 5

The new The Man From U.N.C.L.E. film is a prequel to the the 1960’s TV show. This was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid.  I thought the film was OK, but there are tons of this type of movie (Mission: Impossible, for example) that are better.

I was hoping that the nostalgia factor would overcome any shortcomings, but while they used the same title, characters , etc.,  the movie came up short in this area.  My memory of this TV show from my childhood is probably faulty—I’m actually recording a couple of episodes to see what it was really like.  As a prequel that tells the story of how Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakan came to be a team working for Mr. Waverly, the movie had none of the friendly banter I remember from the show.  Worse, Kuryaken was nothing like he was on the TV show.  I remember him as a really smart person who was not physically intimidating, but in the movie he can rip trunk doors off of cars.  While the movie version of Napoleon Solo was similar to the TV show character, Henry Cavill is no Robert Vaughn.

The film’s action scenes, humor, and plot were fine, but again nothing special.  I’d like all who were fans of the show to check this movie out to see if they agree.  Otherwise, you can probably skip this one.

IMDB

Rotten Tomatoes

Bill C’s Review – 4 out of 5

This is the fifth Mission: Impossible film (about 20 years since the first!), and the franchise is still going strong.

The scene from the coming attractions of Cruise hanging on to the outside of an airplane as it takes off is just from the set piece before the opening credits.  This film is 2+ hours that flies by due to great action sequences as well as some Simon Pegg for comic relief.

Kudos to Cruise for still doing outrageous stunts into his 50s.  Don’t analyze the plot too closely and just go along for the ride.

Bill I’s Review – 3.5 out of 5

It’s a fun, action filled episode, with Tom Schmooze doing his best, and paired with a charismatic, enigmatic, beautiful nemesis/ally (you are kept guessing where her loyalties lie) played by Rebecca Ferguson. I think we’ll see much more of her, she’s so good. Reminds me of when I first saw Jessica Chastain. As Bill C. says, don’t expect the plot to pass deep examination; in fact, I was confused at several points. Why is Tom diving into an industrial whirlpool and switching orange security cards under water? How do you just run into your colleagues on a random street in Morocco? How are you able to build a high tech bullet proof glass cage with gas jets in like, a couple of hours? (By the way, what happened Tom’s wife, played in prior episodes by Michelle Monahan? Not here, guess she’s already been kidnapped and rescued so she is playing it low key.) So, the confusion distracted me (I did close my eyes for a few minutes, maybe I missed the whole explanation). There are funny parts, and Simon Pegg is a great buddy for Tom. Jeremy Renner seems wasted as his ostensible boss, and Alex Baldwin is great as the CIA chief who believes Tom and his IMF crew are the ones going rogue. The villains are cliches, probably leftovers from Austin Powers. They capture you but take their time to torture you before killing you, giving you plenty of time to figure out how to escape. It helps if you get within striking range when Tom is tied up, so he can kick you in the chest or head butt you. Amazing motorcycle chase scenes and great scenery along the way. Perfect summer movie, but not one of the best Mission Impossible films.

IMDB

Rotten Tomatoes

Bill C’s Review – 4 out of 5

Amy is the documentary about the life and (spoiler alert) death of Amy Winehouse.  The film makers had access to tons of footage from friends and family which makes this much more than you’d get with just a bunch of talking heads discussing her life in retrospect.

The film gives a good view of her meteoric rise, what she was like before her drug addiction and then the sad  and possibly preventable downfall.  It gives a sad view of how some around her were more interested in her fame than in helping her recover.

An excellent documentary but definitely a downer.

IMDB

Rotten Tomatoes

Bill I’s Rating – 4 out of 5

This is not a great movie, but it’s got so many laughs, especially in the first half before it turns sentimental, that I have to rate it so high. I loooove Amy Schumer (watch her TV show, Inside Amy Schumer, hysterical), and there are scenes that were incredibly funny. And, believe it or not, at one point Amy gives a speech that brought tears to my eyes. Definitely R rated, adults only. Best comedy in recent memory! Bonus – Lebron James has a real role and he’s good!  Amare Stoudemire is not bad in a small role. John Cena, the wrestler, is eye candy for the woman and has one of the funniest scenes. I can’t begin to describe it here, and don’t want to spoil your fun.

Bill C’s Rating – 4 out of 5

Below is my review when I saw this as a work in progress during SXSW in March.  This is Judd Apatow’s latest starring Amy Schumer.  Like most Apatow films, it’s rude, crude, very funny and has a heart.  Schumer plays a magazine writer with commitment issues (explained via a very funny opening sequence).  The supporting cast includes Bill Hader (as the orthopedic surgeon for athletes and one of Schumer’s love interests)  and Lebron James in a much larger role than I expected that he totally pulled off (including a very funny 1 on 1 match with Hader).  I thought the ending went a bit overboard, but if you are an Apatow fan, you will definitely like this movie.

IMDB

Rotten Tomatoes

 

Below are some of my favorites for the first half of the SXSW Film Festival.  This year there are about 150 films with about 100 being premieres (world or US).

Trainwreck – 4 out of 5

This is still listed as a work in progress, so it can still change (so I’ll need to see it again!).  This is Judd Apatow’s latest starring Amy Schumer.  Like most Apatow films, it’s rude, crude, very funny and has a heart.  Schumer plays a magazine writer with commitment issues (explained via a very funny opening sequence).  The supporting cast includes Bill Hader (as the orthopedic surgeon for athletes and one of Schumer’s love interests)  and Lebron James in a much larger role than I expected that he totally pulled off (including a very funny 1 on 1 match with Hader).  I thought the ending went a bit overboard, but if you are an Apatow fan, you will definitely like this movie.

Raiders! – 4 out of 5

Back in the 1980’s a bunch of kids spent their summers doing a shot for shot remake of Raiders Of The Lost Ark.  They remade the whole movie from the time they were 11 to around 18 with the exception of the airplane scene (that includes lots of explosions and a guy fighting Indy meeting up with an airplane propeller).  Last summer they decided (with the help of Kickstarter) to film that last scene.

This documentary tells about their making of the remake, their lives since then, and the filming of the final scene.  It’s a fascinating, funny  story.  These kids did an amazing job and this doc shows their obsession and ability to persevere on a film that had tons of special effects, people burning, hanging on to speeding trucks, etc.  Luckily they survived.  The course of their lives and friendship over the next 30 years and the filming of the final scene is also fascinating.

After the screening they showed the final version of The Raiders of the Lost Ark remake with their final scene included.  It was awesome but you don’t need to see that to enjoy this documentary.

Get Hard – 3.5 out of 5

This is the new Kevin Hart and Will Farrell movie coming out  soon. Will Farrell is framed for a crime and headed to jail and hires Kevin Hart to train him on how to survive in prison.  I found it very funny.  It is also rude, crude, politically incorrect and definitely goes over the edge at times (there are parts that are definitely offensive).  Despite that I did like it a lot and this is my favorite Will Farrell movie in quite a while.  While watching this, I wondered if Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor remade Stir Crazy today if this is how it would turn out.

The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson – 3 out of 5  

Another good documentary. Wilco Johnson is a musician who is told he has inoperable cancer and  he has at most 8 months to live.  Instead of just succumbing to his fate, he decides to live the rest of his life to the fullest and goes on one last tour.

T-Rex – 4 out of 5

A very good documentary about a U.S. boxer hoping to become the first winner of Olympic gold in women’s boxing.  This is not just about her training, but also about life in low income neighborhoods and her interactions with family, friends, and trainers.

Peace Officer – 4.5 out of 5

A documentary about a policeman who set up a SWAT team in his city and how thirty years later the SWAT team he originally set up killed his son-in-law.  This explores the militarization of the police in the U.S.  and how in some cases they’ve lost sight of their true mission.  This is a very topical film with events such as Ferguson in the current news.

Spy – 3 out of 5

The latest from Melissa McCarthy.  The title says it all.  If you like her you’ll like this.  If you don’t, you won’t.

Best of Enemies – 3.5 out of 5

Another really good documentary about the 1968 debates between Will F. Buckley and Gore Vidal on ABC during the 1968 political conventions that year.  ABC did this because they were the last-place network and they need to do something out of the ordinary for ratings.  Some say this was the start of the road to our sad state of discourse now with Fox News, MSNBC, etc.

Fantastic Fest is the largest genre film festival in the U.S. and features horror, science fiction, action, fantasy, Asian, and cult or anything else that strikes Tim League’s fancy.  This was its tenth year since being founded by Tim League (Alamo Drafthouse ), Harry Knowles (Aint it Cool News), and others.  Since this festival is held in Austin at the newly reopened Alamo South Lamar (except for special events), I decided to give it a try.

In addition to the movies with directors, producers, and actors in attendance, there were several events and parties at the neighboring The Highball, including an event with Leonard Maltin and a taping of the  Doug Loves Movies podcast with Doug Benson.   The Alamo Drafthouse theaters serve food and drink, so there is no need to leave  the premises once you get there for your first movie…except eight days straight of Alamo Draffthouse food is not a very healthy diet.

I had a great time and will probably attend Fantastic Fest again. There were generally five slots of movies a day with 4-5 films to pick from.  I usually made between 2-4 showings a day.  Not all of these movies were totally up my alley, but here are a few that  I really enjoyed (not in any specific order):

As Seen By The Rest: A Bollywood film noir that at times reminded me of Roshomon, Pulp Fiction, and Sin City.  As with all good Bollywood movies, this breaks into song and dance several times,  planned for an intermission, and inexplicably and frequently switches between an Indian dialect and English,  even in mid-sentence.

Man From Reno: A Japanese mystery writer gets involved and helps to solve a real mystery in San Francisco.  Good plot with good twists.

Duke of Burgundy: Avoid this at all costs.  A lesbian love story that almost put me to sleep.

Kung Fu Elliott:  One of my favorites of the festival.  This is a documentary about a guy who wants to become the biggest action star in Canada.  This movie follows him as he is shooting his latest,  Blood Fight (his first film was titled They Killed My Cat).  Unfortunately he is not good at making movies nor at Kung Fu.  This started out as a ligh-hearted look at a guy whose aspirations exceed his skill set, but midway through takes unexpected turns and gets much darker.  This is both funny and disturbing.

Bros Before Hos:  A very funny, politically incorrect, raunchy film from the Netherlands about two brothers who fall in love with the same girl.

Lost Soul: An excellent documentary about the 1997 disastrous making of The Island of Dr. Moreau starring Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer.  The original director, Richard Stanley, was fired early on and participated in the documentary and was at the screening.  He has very strong opinions as this had a big negative impact on his career.  The movie turned into a disaster for a lot of reasons, and the documentary is fascinating.

Master Pancake mocks The Island of Dr. Moreau:  Master Pancake mocks movies, ala Mystery Science Theater.  I always enjoy Master Panacke, but after seeing Lost Soul I was interested to see their mocking of this movie. While they hadn’t prepared as well as they normally would, this movie was very easy to mock, and it was a very funny show.  Even during the mocking,  you could tell what a bad movie this was.  Richard Stanley participated.

Goodnight Mommy: The original Austrian versions title translates to I See, I See, but for the American release, it will have this terrible name.  This was Tim League’s pick for the secret screening, so I had no idea what to expect. It’s a mystery about a mother and her two sons.  She is recovering from an accident and they are having relationship problems.  It’s not clear exactly what is going on until the end.  I liked it a lot, but be warned: it gets pretty violent along the way.

In Order of Disappearance: Another one of my favorites.  When a man’s son is wrongly killed by drug dealers, he seeks revenge.  This was much funnier than I expected.  You also get to see the serious snow clearing machines that they need in a country like Norway!

The Tribe:  I’m not sure this will appeal to many people.  This is a Ukranian film set in a boarding school for the deaf.  It’s a 2+ hour film with just Ukranian sign language and no subtitles.  But it’s not hard to follow the plot.  The film is about a new student at the school trying to adjust.  He gets involved with a group of thugs.  This is very gritty and gets very violent at the end.

The Tokyo Tribes:  This film was quite a contrast to that previous 2+ hour one with no dialogue. This movie was the story of gang warfare in Tokyo told totally via hip hop (plus lots of action).  My son always makes fun of West Side Story.  I wonder what he would think of this!