…And Dip (Chips, 2017)

Chips was an action/drama from 1977 about motorcycle cops Ponch and Jon. I know I watched it as a kid, but beyond Erik Estrada and the other guy? Don’t remember much. But when it was announced that they were making a comedy movie based on the show, it seemed like an odd choice.

Written and directed by Dax Shepard, the update begins with Ponch as an FBI Agent who is sent undercover to bust a drug ring suspected to involve crooked motorcycle cops. He is teamed up with the highly inept Jon, who is trying to save a marriage he does not get is over. Ponch and Jon are constantly at odds to an annoying degree. In what I suspect was intended as a “positive” message, Jon criticizes Ponch of being homophobic which leads to, unsurprisingly, a whole lot of “Eeeew! NOT GAY” type of jokes.

The jokes don’t land and the characters lack chemistry. By the time Ponch and Jon are a team, it feels entirely unearned. The jokes are forced as well. This is a shame, as the cast is the one high point of the film. Michael Peña has great comic timing. And Vincent D’Onofrio is the villain. And yet, neither get to bring their skills to the rather uninspired script. Dax’s Jon is particularly flat. His real life wife, Kristen Bell just has a sweet persona and it is hard to buy she is this terrible marriage destroying wife.

Chips obviously aimed to fall into the same company of 21 Jump Street…but it misses that mark by a great distance.

September 7, 2017 0

Go Ahead and Jump (22 Jump Street, 2014)

After the success of the first film, a second was pretty much inevitable. And so Jenko and Schmidt are on a new mission that goes hilariously awry. This leads into the running gag of the film.

Sequels are soulless cash grabs, which admittedly, they often are. Here, they are told they screwed up the mission and it was just to different. They are sent to the new Jumpstreet. 22 Jump Street to be exact. It has a bigger budget, is in a new location and so on. Same boss, Captain Dickson (Ice Cube) with the same attitude.

They send the boys on a new undercover job at a college to bust a drug ring…you know…like the first movie.

The end result is a movie that manages to live up to it’s successor. What really works, yet again, is the chemistry of Tatum and Hill’s characters. As college relationships seem to pull them apart, they start to fail at their mission. It is only their realization that it is their differences that make them a great team that they can solve the mysteries of the drug ring.

Schmidt meets a girl, Jenko meets a boy and friendships drift apart. There is a gay subtext to the relationship of Schmidt and Jenko, but surprisingly, it is not of the “Eeee!” kind of attitude so frequent in “bro-comedies”. There is even a brief scene were Jenko expresses remorse upon realizing how many gay slurs he used to use in high school.

I was skeptical when they announced the first film…by the end of the second one, I was more than willing for another round.

The end credits are must watch. I was in tears with the running gag of the endless sequels and merchandising. Though, the fact that there is a 21 Jump Street/Men in Black crossover makes the gag a bit ironic.

September 6, 2017 0

Might As Well Jump (21 Jump Street, 2012)

A trend began in the early 2000’s of making movies based on dramatic action shows from the 70’s and 80’s, but treating them as a joke. This has had…decidedly mixed results.

21 Jump Street was part of the line-up of a upstart new network called Fox. It was the story of a division of young cops who would go into schools undercover, posing as students, to bust drug dealers and the like. The show’s biggest claim to fame was that it introduced Johnny Depp to the world.

In the film, we meet loser Schmidt (Jonah Hill) who has a humiliating day at school. He is rejected by a girl and pushed around by his bully Jenko (Channing Tatum) . Except, Jenko is having his own trouble…his grades are so bad, he is not going to be allowed to go to prom. A few years later they are both at the police academy. At first, Jenko resumes his role as bully, but they quickly realize both can help each other get through. As Jenko helps Schmidt with the physical tests, Schmidt helps Jenko pass the mental ones.

They are disappointed to discover their first gig is as bike cops in a park. But an ill fated drug bust leads them to Jump Street, an old program that is being revived. They are sent into a high school to determine who is selling a new and dangerous drug.

The story is not entirely fresh, and yet, this is kind of the point. The filmmakers are seeking to have some fun with both cop and action film tropes. This leads to a lot of entertaining visual gags. The drug ring is run by hip and socially conscious kids. When Jenko tries mocking kids for being concerned about the environment, he is informed that this is just so uncool. In fact, the two friends find their social heirchy inverted. On top of that, they confuse who is which undercover character, forcing both into roles outside their comfort zone.

21 Jump Street is not an outright parody of it’s namesake. It is set in the same universe as the show (with original actors reprising roles from the TV Show), but it sees some of the absurdity in the concept. And it plays with the conventions pretty well (including the very problematic area of the “Inappropriate Love Interest”).

What really holds the film together though is Hill and Tatum. They are a genuinely enjoyable combo with a friendship that is a bit endearing. The action scenes are well choreographed. And, important to any action comedy film? The action and jokes do not step on each other, so to speak. 21 Jump Street is a pleasant surprise, with it’s combination of humor and enjoyable characters.

September 5, 2017 0

Home Alone (Night of the Comet, 1984)

The world is abuzz over the arrival of a comet that will come unusually close to the earth. High schoolers Regina and Samantha are not into it and miss the show. They awake the next morning to discover that the world has changed.

Apparently, the comet came a little to close…people outside were reduced to dust, while most people indoors are simply disintegrating a bit more slowly, resulting in scary mutants. Only people, Such as Regina and Samantha, who were protected by certain environments were unaffected. After meeting up with a guy named Hector, the girls make contact with people who claim they can be of help…hint, they are not decent people.

Night of the Comet is a very teenage take on the whole “Last Person on Earth” concept. At first, there is little drama, as the girls were miserable putting up with their stepmother. So they celebrate, raiding a shopping mall. Of course, this does not last long and soon Regina, Samantha and Hector find themselves trying to escape a dark cabal of scientists. And it works pretty well. Catherine Mary Stewart and Kelli Maroney are engaging leads and the film has several great b-movie favorites.

If you start to heavily scrutinize “how stuff breaks down” if there is nobody around to run it, the films tidy ending probably falls apart…but it is a fantasy and it is a fun one.

August 31, 2017 0

Daytripper (The Dark Tower, 2017)

The Dark Tower has had a long trek to the silver screen. There have been attempts for many years…at one point, there was an announced plan that included A movie and television series, so the story would keep going between films. Very ambitious, but questionable how to make it work. The Dark Tower series by Stephen King is a sprawling epic. There are eight books in the series at this time.

Roland Deschain is a Gunslinger. They were similar to an order of Knights, though are modeled closely on the old west. Roland is the last of the order, and he seeks a dark sorcerer The Man in Black to take revenge. Roland has lost his way, no longer focused on protecting the Dark Tower. The Dark Tower, by the way is the center of the universe and protects the Universe from “What is Outside”. Meanwhile, in our world, Jake Chambers has nightmares about the man in black and Roland. He ends up finding a house from his dream and there finds a portal to another dimension and…

Sound complex? That is because it is. For one? This film is not so much an adaption as a sequel, even though it borrows elements from the first novel, the Gunslinger, such as meeting Jake Chambers. The movie is set up as a sequel to the seventh book. And so the film rushes to fill in as much information as possible, explaining stuff that probably makes more sense if you have read all the books.

In the books, King liked to tie in parts of his other novels, characters pop up, terms…in this film, you will maybe recognize the reference to Jake’s “Shine”. And so the film spends a lot of time and dialog trying to catch the audience up…and the end result is that everything feels like cliff notes. The film never truly gets to breathe, so big “moments” in the film never resonate quite like they could. Even “lighter” moments feel like they deliver no payoff or relief. When Roland asks if bullets are hard to come by in “our” world…Jake tells him he will really like our world. This should be a moment that delivers at least a chuckle…and the audience I was with simply sat silent.

This is not to say there is nothing I liked. Both Elba and McConaughey turn in good performances, which is to be expected. McConaughey portrays the Man in Black with a calm menace. He never seems to panic or lose his cool…even when doing evil, he maintains a gentle and assured tone. Elba plays the Gunslinger in the mold of the embittered and broken Western Hero. He also finds himself becoming a new father figure to Jake, progressing towards the restoration of his role as Gunslinger.

Visually, the film is pretty good, though a bit overdone in the de-saturation of color. But the visuals of Roland loading his guns, shooting his guns…the monsters look good…but in the end, the immensity of the source material kind of over runs the film. Those who have read the books are likely to be frustrated by the liberties, those unfamiliar with the books left confounded by all of the information they have to unpack.

August 5, 2017 1

Bombshells (Atomic Blonde, 2017)

Based on the graphic novel the Coldest City is a spy thriller set days before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Lorraine Broughton is a highly skilled British spy on a mission to collect a dossier that could expose countless deep undercover spies. The problem is, determining who she can trust. Her contact in East Berlin, David Percival, has “gone native” in the punk scene. He is working to get a Russian nicknamed Spyglass to freedom in exchange for the information.

Told in a flashback format, we have Lorraine presenting her story to her MI6 boss and a CIA Representative (John Goodman). The film gives you a warning of the fight ahead of Lorraine by introducing us to her after her mission is over…she is severely bruised and covered in cuts. And this is an important thing to understand…

The promotional material would have you think this is just a kick ass action hero type of film. There have been comparisons to James Bond, but this is a very surface comparison. Atomic Blonde is far grittier and the action much more brutal. This is an action packed espionage film, not an action movie.

This is not a criticism of the film, it is quite a good espionage film with plenty of uncertainty as to how certain aspects will play out. Theron’s Broughton is tough and blunt, refusing to quit. Along with the cast, the film’s 80’s soundtrack is very much a character in this film. Chase and fight sequences are set to the likes of Bowie, New Order and Siouxsie & the Banshees with great effectiveness.

Atomic Blonde is a strong and dark thriller full of twists and turns.

August 4, 2017 0

I Hate Mondays Chapter 2 (John Wick Chapter 2, 2017)

When we last left John Wick…he was still working to get his car back. And after a very crazy and intense fight to do so, he heads home. He buries his weapons, planning to quietly slip back into retirement. But instead, his actions have come to the attention of Santino D’Antonio, to whom Wick owes a favor…and seeing how John left retirement, he is determined to cash it in.

John refuses and Santino handles it badly. A visit to Winston lets John know he has to honor the debt…but after the debt? John is in the clear to get back at Santino. And so John goes off to Italy to complete the mission…and…well, let’s just say his day goes from bad to severely life threatening.

John Wick Chapter 2 picks right up and never lets up. Even the quiet moments feel like they are a build up to something intense. As hit men rain down on Wick, he is constantly on guard. Every corner reveals a new threat. This gets amusing, such as one scene where Wick and Cassian (played by rapper and actor Common) are walking through a train station, from a distance trying to shoot each other (but carefully missing the people around them).

Many of the hit men are brief roles, yet the film gives them each unique and personal styles suggesting a backstory (we will never get). Director Chad Stahelski returns with the second installment and it pays off. John Wick Chapter 2 takes the best parts of the first film and amplifies them.

As before, the action is extremely well choreographed and the story kept very tight. Rather than start to give the film to much more background, as sequels are prone to do, it follows the rule of “Keep It Simple”. This really works in Chapter 2’s favor.

And finally, the film is clearly set for a Chapter 3…and the final moments of Chapter 2 hint that it will be quite a thrill ride.

August 3, 2017 0

I Hate Mondays Chapter 1 (John Wick, 2014)

John Wick is having a bad day. A really bad one. This is the gist of the film. John Wick is mourning the death of his wife. He is gassing up his car one day when some punks express interest his car. That night, they break in, assault John, hurt his dog and steal his car.

One little thing…John Wick is a notorious hitman. He is the boogeyman hitmen tell each other about. Wick had retired, but now he has a mission. That mission is to get his car back…but that means a whole lot of people are going to meet untimely ends.

John Wick is an action film with no aspirations to be anything else. Wick is a very simple character in a post-Taken world. He has a very special skill set and connections to a very dangerous community. This works in the film’s favor, as it makes it pretty easy to go along with the outlandish action sequences.

I have long argued that the key to a good Keanu Reeve performance is a character who might be smart, but is generally clueless about the plot. And admit it…most of his most memorable performances involve kind of clueless characters.

Not John Wick. Wick knows who he is, what he wants and how to do it. And it is pretty exciting to see him do it. The fights are tightly choreographed and eye catching. Reeves maintains a strong presence considering the fact that there is not much to the character. This is a lean action film full of characters with no real complexity. Each character has a specific role and they play it well. The film does not give you a lot of background to many characters…instead it allows the actors to bring a certain amount of their own presence. Ian McShane gives the “Overlord” Winston instant gravitas, while Lance Reddick’s Charon carries a real weight of quiet authority.

This is director Chad Stahelski’s directorial debut. He was primarily a stunt coordinator/choreographer who has done some assistant director work…but for a debut film, Stahelski does a pretty solid job. Probably the biggest knock against the film is the choice to view the entire film through a blue tint, which can get annoying at times.

John Wick is a strong debut for a first time director and a good start to what has become a franchise.

August 2, 2017 0

Speed Racers Pt 8 (The Fate of the Furious, 2017)

If prizes were awarded for the most inconsistently named franchise? Pretty sure this franchise would own that. If George Lucas was involved, they would all get renamed something like Dom Toretto and the Fast and The Furious (Who care if Vin is in every film or not).

By this time, our heroes have gone from criminals to underdogs to helping the authorities. But after saving the world last time around, Dom has apparently switched sides and is helping Charlize Theron take on the world. She is an evil hacker with big plans…and so Mr. Nobody calls in The Fast and Furious team and a surprise guest…the last film’s villain (Jason Statham). Has Dom truly gone bad? Is he really turning his back on his family?

This is the first film in the franchise not directed by Justin Lin, and it definitely loses some of that cohesiveness. It feels less like a continuation and more like a flat out sequel from the…uh…sequel factory. F. Gary Gray is a strong director and has some definite “action/Car movie” cred with the 2003 remake of the Italian Job. But the story itself feels like it was conceived months after the last film was released and worked to fit their latest idea together. The previous films felt more “organic” with Lin at the helm.

I cannot pinpoint exactly why this is, as the guy who wrote this film (Chris Morgan) wrote every film since Tokyo Drift. Maybe Gray connects with the characters differently. But one thing that stands out is that there is a big plot point that comes pretty much out of nowhere as Dom’s motivations. There is no point in a prior film to see it coming. It feels purely invented for the film, like a last minute idea to solve a problem they were having.

Fate is certainly not lacking for action, though they may finally be hitting that point where it is hard to top the big set piece of the previous film. The massive race across the ice and attempts to outrun a massive submarine feel more like they cobbled together ideas from the previous film, so instead of giving us an impressive and new sequence it highlights cooler moments of past films.

While Fate of the Furious is not terrible (and not by the standards of the franchise itself, it has its moments), it does feel like the franchise is finding it harder and harder to sustain itself.

August 1, 2017 0

Speed Racers Pt 7 (Furious 7, 2015)

The seventh film in the series that has not apparently run out of gas (and fifth film directed by Justin Lin) finds the team no longer on the run and being a family. Dom and Letty are working on their relationship, as she has not regained her memory. Brian and Mia are enjoying parenthood. Everything is going smoothly…well, except the fact that somebody is trying to murder the crew…and not just the crew, but anyone connected with the take down of Shaw in the previous film. Which means Hobbs needs to team up with the family once more.

The big threat here? Shaw’s big brother… uh… Shaw. Well, this brother gets a first name as well. Overseeing our intrepid clan is Mr. Nobody…played by Kurt Russell. Because if your films are full of familiar faces and names… you cannot go wrong adding Kurt Russell to the mix.

Seven ups the stunt ante again…”Gee, we had a tank last time?” How about skydiving cars? Cars driven from from skyscraper to skyscraper…via the top floors? In this film, they crash cars and use pieces of the cars in hand to hand combat. The Rock picks up a giant gun and starts to shoot down a helicopter. And then? It gets nuts.

Overall, it is a pretty solid effort, though false a bit short of the sixth entry. Part of this is due to the film having been faced with an unexpected tragedy before they were done filming. After leaving an awards ceremony Paul Walker (Brian O’Conner) and a friend were killed in a car wreck (the friend was driving). It was very clear from the response of the cast and crew that they had all gotten very close, and were crushed by the loss of their friend.

But this forced some story alterations. I doubt their plan was to send Brian out of the series. But now they had to adjust the story to do that. With help from Paul’s twin brother they filmed some final shots. The final moments are full of heavy comments about not saying good-bye and how things are never going to be the same. They are clearly paying their respects to Walker, which is both understandable and touching. But it does make things a little awkward.

Paul Walker has passed away, but Brian and Mia are just done with adventuring and are going to raise their kids. Yet, each character speaks as if they will never see Brian and Mia again.

Overall, while not quite as strong as Fast Five or Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7 is still a lot of fun…and it could have made a nice finale for the franchise.

July 31, 2017 0