This Is Where I Leave You (2014)

4/5

This Is Where I Leave You is a tender, funny film about a dysfunctional family reuniting after their patriarch's death. The title comes from one son (Bateman), who leaves his wife (Spencer) after he finds her cheating on him. His sister (Fey) knows about their separation but must hide it from the rest of their siblings (Stoll, Driver) until he is ready to tell them. But their mother (Fonda) forces them all to sit shiva for a week after his funeral and all their neuroses comes out.

The brilliant script is full of meaningful writing, espousing big ideas on a small scale. Watching it makes me wish I had grown up with Tina Fey as my sister. It also makes me want to watch Girls just to see more of Adam Driver. Because this movie is hilarious. That being said, This Is Where I Leave You contains pretty ho-hum cinematic technique other than the writing/acting. Still, I highly recommend it.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1371150/

The Internship (2013)

3/5

The Internship is a fairly predictable buddy comedy that I've come to expect from the likes of Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. The movie focuses on two middle-aged salesmen who lose their job and apply for an internship at Google in the hopes of rebooting their career. As you might expect, they have no technical background but a wealth of people skills and they eventually triumph in the face of much smarter but less experienced college-age kids. The movie has its fair share of laughs, romance, and feel-good moments. There's honestly nothing surprising at all about this movie. It's a light piece of fluff that will brighten your day if you have it on in the background while doing some actual work.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2234155/

Neighbors (2014)

3/5

Neighbors is an astonishingly stupid adult comedy starring Seth Rogen and Zac Efron as feuding neighbors. I call it an adult comedy because of the content--which includes plenty of sex, drugs, and profanity--but it is really quite puerile in just about every other way. From uninspired acting to barebones characterization, the movie isn't so much a movie as it is a collection of gag jokes and juvenile pranks shot on screen. It's surprisingly similar in feel and scope to the movie Jackass, but with a little extra fiction added on. Even though it's not the most wholesome movie, the humor works. I was laughing the entire time. I won't say that I'm proud of it, but I certainly enjoyed the very vulgar Neighbors.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2004420/

X-Men: First Class (2011)

3/5

X-Men: First Class is just another mediocre superhero movie. The movie tracks the origins of Professor X (McAvoy) and Magneto (Fassbender) when they battled together against a common enemy, Sebastian Shaw (Bacon), during the Cold War. The plot is trite and unoriginal, the side characters are forgettable cardboard cut-outs, and the dialogue is nauseating. And Beast is just laughable. The rest was a mixed bag. The special effects were either seamless (yay) or appallingly bad (boo). The action sequences were usually pretty tense and exciting. What the movie had going for it was the character development in the young Xavier and Magneto. They were given much more depth and humanity than in the previous X-Men movies, but unfortunately not enough to recommend this movie to any but the most devout of comic book nerds. Overall, I was thoroughly underwhelmed by this movie.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270798/

Bridesmaids (2011)

4/5

Bridesmaids is easily the funniest movie I've seen this year. Like Knocked Up and The Hangover, the humor is raunchy bordering on vulgar. And best of all, it is non-stop. The movie is about preparing for a wedding. More specifically, it is about how all the pre-wedding traditions (dress-fitting, bridal shower, bachelorette party) get butchered by the maid of honor. Annie (Wiig) is the awkward but kindhearted best friend, too exaggerated to be a real person but genuine enough that her downfalls can pull at your heartstrings. Lillian (Rudolph) is the bride-to-be, caught between the nostalgia of her humble past and the allure of a lavish wedding. Annie is, of course, the maid of honor, but after a few botched jobs, the friends have a falling out and Lillian's new best friend Helen (Byrne) takes over the wedding planning.

I neglected to mention the rest of the cast, all unique and memorable. But the one that stands out the most is the groom's sister Megan (McCarthy). She is amazing. She carries the humor and the heart in this movie as much as Kristen Wiig does. She absolutely blew me away. Her character and her portrayal adds a whole new dimension to the movie that elevates this film above most other modern comedies. I loved her.

As for the technical aspects of the movie, I was impressed that the cinematography and editing was not terrible, but not actually impressed with it at all. The writing, as you can tell by my profuse praise of the comedy in the film, is right on point. The actors add impeccable timing to make this film a riot. The story is a good length and it touches on some finer points of friendship and female-female interactions that I didn't think it would touch on. When it comes to movies, Bridesmaids has just about the whole package. I recommend it 100%.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1478338/

Knowing (2009)

4/5

Alex Proyas's Knowing follows Nic Cage as an astrophysicist who discovers a secret code in a letter written 50 years ago predicting all major global disasters, including ones that have not yet happened. Is it just in his head, seeing patterns where they don't exist, or is it a warning? Was he chosen to prevent them all from happening, or was he just an unsuspecting participant in the randomness of nature? It may sound a bit silly or cheesy written out, but the film is made with a seriousness and purpose that quickly removes any doubt you might have had about the quality of this film.

For the most part, it was truly astounding. There were some technical aspects that were a little rough around the edges. For example, some mysteries were left unanswered and some dialogue was hammy and overwrought. But for each of those small flaws, the movie made up for it tremendously. The entire plot was suspenseful and riveting and the special effects were awe-inspiring. The cinematography was absolutely phenomenal and breathtaking, the compositions luminous and stunning, and the editing brisk and lean. The acting and characterizations were a welcome step above what I expect for this genre of movie. (And the genre, by the way, is a mix of horror and disaster, not mystery and action, as I had assumed going in.)

What I like about Proyas is that he doesn't spoon-feed us answers, nor does he beat his message into our heads. He treads a fine line, but he trusts his audience to figure it out for themselves and interpret his movie in manners he may not have even considered himself. Sometimes he succeeds (Dark City and I, Robot), and sometimes he fails (The Crow), but he is willing to take the risk of making a new and different movie experience. And here he has succeeded again. Knowing was a wholly unexpected and exhilarating surprise.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448011/