Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)

2/5

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is a fairly tame 3D adventure flick for kids. The movie is a sequel because it takes place after another movie and has the same main character, but it actually requires no knowledge of the previous film to enjoy it. (Or not enjoy it, if you want to be snarky.) The problems start with the story, which is outright silly. The problems continue with special effects that already look outdated, combined with an incessant use of 3D objects coming out of the screen at you. The story follows a self-proclaimed "Vernian," someone who believes that all of Jules Verne's novels describe real places. The titular island, which houses tiny elephants and gigantic bees, is actually a day away from submerging and becoming Atlantis, which provides the perfect impetus to turn this scientific exploration into an action adventure. The story elements, from the budding romance to the stepfather-son bonding, all felt like checkboxes that producers filled out in an attempt to sell more tickets. The movie's saving grace was Dwayne Johnson, who was able to provide both believable action and comic relief. He is the only reason to see this movie. He is able to add a star to just about any movie just by being in it.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1397514/

Traffic (2000)

4/5

Steven Soderbergh's Traffic weaves an intricate, spellbinding tale that is nearly impossible to take your eyes off of for its entire 2.5 hour running time. The plotting is impeccable, keeping you engaged whether detailing the intricacies of drug consumption or the complex involvement of governments on drug trafficking. The stories, as penned by Stephen Gaghan, are eye-opening and richly-textured. We are thrust into a collection of environments so authentic that we cannot help but take the events that pass as reality. We become involved and complicit; we end up shaken and unclean. Every person has a little bit of good in them and a little bit of bad in them, making decisions equal parts wrong and equal parts right. There are heart-breaking scenes in here, made all the more powerful thanks to superb acting, that combine with profound and provocative ideas to bring home a very specific message: the war on drugs is a lost cause. The film ends on a solemn, haunting note, showing us characters continuing to fight a battle that will never end and will only take more lives. Everything feels so overwhelming, and we are all so helpless to effect change.

But despite my high praise, the movie also fails on a number of levels. Honestly, I hated the editing. The pacing was practically non-existent, with innumerable superfluous scenes cut together haphazardly. (Not that the movie was boring per se, just that there was about 30 minutes of extra footage meandering throughout its nonlinear storyline.) The editing was almost as bad as some of Soderbergh's directing decisions. Really? Blue, orange, and red? That's your big contribution to the story? I'm not saying it's not a well-directed movie from other standpoints, just that the colors were a bit too in-your-face for me. It was about as subtle as a sledgehammer. But Soderbergh still somehow manages to fill our minds and our hearts to their breaking point, giving us a timely and timeless story that is both absorbing and poignant. And also unforgettable.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181865/

Waiting (2005)

4/5

Waiting is an absolutely hilarious comedy about a group of college-age kids who wait tables at a restaurant. It's not particularly new or interesting, but it takes its simple concept and makes the most of it. From mean customers to bad tippers, imagine how you would handle the situation. And if you were stuck there, imagine what kind of games would you play in the back room to extract tiny morsels of joy out of your miserable existence. And then turn it into a raucous comedy, and you have Waiting.

The characters are by far the best part about the movie. The movie starts with Monty (Ryan Reynolds) taking a new trainee (John Francis Daley) under his wing for the day. His best friend (Justin Long) feels inadequate because of a high school friend who recently got his bachelor's in electrical engineering while he has been working at Shenanigan's for the past four years. Monty, the suave underage-chaser, has his eye on the hostess, who is just one week shy of turning 18. Naomi is perpetually angry at everyone, yelling and swearing to everybody and nobody in particular, but always puts on a smile for the customers. Raddimus is the cook who loves handjobs, showing his penis and balls to his coworkers so he can call them gay, and dropping food on the floor. I don't know why, but I apparently found this movie much funnier than the people I was watching it with. I really don't know how to else to review it except to say that it's hilarious. I loved every moment of it. Go watch it!

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348333/

The Limey (1999)

4/5

The Limey is smart, unique, and innovative. Soderbergh displays his true artistry in this film, a film that is stylistically divergent from every other revenge thriller. Terence Stamp plays a father fresh out of a British prison who goes to the States to discover the details of his daughter's "mysterious car accident." As with any movie based on this premise, it was not an accident, but murder. And he must kill the person responsible. The plot is nothing to write home about; the striking aspect is the style. Soderbergh pushes the envelope of common cinematic conventions like shot/counter-shot dialogue. People have a single conversation at different times, in different places, yet it feels natural and smooth because a consistent mood is maintained. The cinematography was unbelievably stunning and the editing was refreshingly new. The writing was simple yet effective. My favorite line: "There's one thing I don't understand. The thing I don't understand is every motherfuckin' word you're saying." The most enduring line: "You tell him, you tell him I'm coming. Tell him I'm fucking coming!"

The beginning of the movie was quite confusing because of the stylistic choices. After a while, the style itself lost its power and grew a bit tiresome. The movie can be a bit too artsy, which can turn people off if they go in expecting a typical action movie, but I didn't mind it. What did bug me was the introduction of Peter Fonda's Terry Valentine. The use of dissolves made it look like a Calvin Klein ad. I found a lot of the acting stale and unrealistic (mostly by the women). There is a shot near the end that mirrors the opening shot, which I was really hoping they would close on. Unfortunately, they didn't.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0165854/