The Butler

"The Butler" is probably the first movie of the summer that your mom, grandmother and aunt want to see, more or less because Oprah is in it. "The Butler" tells the true story of Cecil Gaines, played by Ridgemont High's own Forest Whitaker. Mr. Gaines was a butler in the white house for 8 Presidents, the movie is basically history through his eyes during the height of the Civil Rights movement while he serves the people who will shape it. Basically "The Butler" is "Forrest Gump", if Forrest Gump was a butler. The movie is riveting in parts however it does commit the mortal movie sin of trying way way too hard to become a prestige picture. The performances, especially from Oprah and Forest Whitaker are great and the overall story and execution is worthy.

Usually a movie with the cast predominantly made up of African Americans has the words "Tyler Perry's" in the title, its unfortunate and unnecessary but the majority of films made or starring African Americans are crap. Even when Hollywood deems a movie with this subject matter marketable it either comes off as a movie about kindly white people helping blacks in need (The Help) or just comes off as blatantly racist or stereotypical (Precious). The director of "The Butler" is Lee Daniels who also directed "Precious", himself an African American and while "The Butler" is a lot more accessible to the mainstream than "Precious" was the fact that this movie has Academy Award consideration written all over it the overall message of it sometimes gets lost.

Cecil Gaines was raised on a cotton farm in the south and after the death of his father by one of the farm owners family members Cecil is brought into the house, again by a kindly white woman (Vanessa Redgrave) and is taught how to serve the family and houseguests thus is his destiny to become a butler. Cecil as a grown man finds himself working in a hotel and through the recommendation of one of his regulars gets a job at the white house starting off with the Eisenhower administration. All of the Presidents are played by name actors: Robin Williams and Dwight Eisenhower, James Marsden as John F. Kennedy, Liev Schreiber as Lyndon Johnson, John Cusack as Richard Nixon and Alan Rickman as Ronald Regan. The other presidents that he served during his tenure are left out, either due to running time or they couldn't find any name actors that resemble them. Cusack as Nixon for me was the only one that really stood out and the choice to have name actors in these small, almost niche roles comes off more as stunt casting than anything as their screen time is minimal at best.

When on the clock Gaines is there solely to serve, if you believe the movie he was there to comfort Jackie Kennedy after JFK was assassinated and help Lyndon Johnson with his apparent constipation problem with prune juice always readily available. Where "The Butler" succeeds are the scenes featuring Gaines's family including his wife played in a great turn by Oprah Winfrey and his battle with his son (David Oyelowo) who is at the forefront of the Civil Rights movement and battles with his father on this subject matter. Had the movie focused more on this element and less on the showcase of Presidents the movie's overall message would be more clear rather than a cinematic Cliff's note of history through the turbulent 60's, 70's and early 80's.

Despite the criticism overall "The Butler" is a worthy movie and probably an important one for those not familiar with the time period on which is focused here. Though not as enthralling as his turn in "The Last King of Scotland" which got him an Oscar statue Whitaker is almost assured of a nomination for his work here as well as Oprah for best supporting actress as she certainly is not playing "Oprah" playing a character.

Blue Jasmine

"Blue Jasmine" is the latest film from legendary filmmaker Woody Allen. While not up to par overall with recent Allen flicks like "Vicky Christina Barcelona" and "Midnight In Paris" Jasmine does offer a tour de force performance by lead actress Cate Blanchett as well as solid supporting performances which comes as expected from Allen films. This reviewer is sort of a late bloomer to the work of Allen only fully becoming appreciative of his films with his more recent work.

The story is set mostly in present day San Francisco, a first for an Allen film and tells the story of Jasmine, played by Blanchett who comes to S.F. from New York after the death of her husband played by the always dependable Alec Baldwin who was in prison for a Bernie Madoff like financial scandal that lead to his suicide while in prison. Jasmine moves in with her adoptive sister Ginger played by British actress Sally Hawkins. Jasmine herself has recently suffered a nervous breakdown of sorts and the movie is basically her story of trying to adapt from her life of luxury and riches to trying to pick up the pieces and try to survive in a life of normalcy.

Allen has been making films since the 70's, he has always written female characters well from Diane Keaton in his most famous movie "Annie Hall" to most recently Scarlett Johansson in films like "Match Point" and the before mentioned "Vicky Christina Barcelona". Allen is pushing 80 years old and while his movies are generally set in modern times I often wonder if he actually still does all his own writing, be that as his may the script here is solid as usual even if with a 90 minute run time it does run long in places and some plot points like Jasmines relationship with her stepson fall flat and take away from the overall story. The dialogue remains sharp and timely and while this is much more a drama than comedy there are enough chuckles among the melodrama.

Blanchett is most assuredly getting an Academy Award nomination for her role here and if the remaining years female performances don't show something outstanding she is clearly the frontrunner to take home her second statue. Jasmine is either crazy or ignorant to the fact that her life is changed and Blanchett doesn't play either side to the point of parody or imitation of past performances in other films, its sad, depressing and funny all in one. The rest of the cast is filled with also great performances from Baldwin as well as character actor Bobby Canavale and an out of nowhere subtle performance from former 1980's stand up comedian mega star Andrew Dice Clay. Clay's performance is really really good, its unfortunate though that he only has a few scenes in the film or he could easily be looking at a best supporting actor nomination for himself which would be in the vein of Mickey Rourke getting his nomination for "The Wrestler" but its unlikely to happen. Ahead of seeing the movie I was looking most forward to seeing another stand up comedian, Louis C.K. but again while he is very good with what little screen time he is given I was looking for more humor from his character, this could be just the expectation from myself as I am a huge fan of his stand up and TV work on "Louie".

So overall unless you are interested in seeing great performances or are a fan of Woody Allen either from past or present "Blue Jasmine" is probably not the film for you. If you are interested though rent "Annie Hall" or "Hannah and Her Sisters" or "Vicky Christina Barcelona" so you get an idea of what to expect from this auteur. It will be well worth your time.

Kick-Ass 2

"Kick-Ass 2" comes in as one of this reviewers most anticipated movies of the Summer, if not the year. The original "Kick-Ass" came out in 2010 and while not a huge box-office success grew enough of a fanboy and cult following that three years later we now have the aptly titled "Kick-Ass 2". For the uninitiated, "Kick-Ass" is the name of our titular hero who during regular hours is Average Joe high school senior Dave Lizewski. The movie, as was its predecessor uses the most of its R rating  is extremely violent but still keeps its humor in tact and while not as outstanding as the original is still a sequel that is warranted and immensely entertaining.

The story picks up with Kick-Ass abandoning his role as a community service superhero and trying to lead a normal life. His former partner the fan favorite Hit-Girl, played by the great young actress Chloe Grace Moretz is not adapting as easy to regular life and she soons enlists Kick-Ass to help her defend the city to keep the dying wish of her father, Big Daddy formerly played in his last truly great performance by Nicolas Cage. Soon it comes about that another former average joe superhero, Red Mist has now converted himself into average Joe super-villain known as "The Motherfucker" who seeks vengeance against Kick-Ass for the death of his father at the end of the first installment.

Highlights:

Hit-Girl: I thought one of the difficulties the sequel might have is making the character of Hit-Girl as outlandish and brazen as she was in the first movie. The big problem is obviously Hit-Girl is no longer a 9 year old girl who curses and wields a butterfly knife whilst kicking bad guys heads in. Now as a 15 year old the cursing element isn't as shocking obviously but the character is still one of the better ones of the last decade. Chloe Grace Moretz looks to be the Jodie Foster of her generation, I look forward to seeing her continue to take on complex and varying roles a'la Jennifer Lawrence and Scarlett Johansson. Hit-Girls storyline works as she mutates into your stereotypical 15 year old teen-bop as well as still holding onto the great elements that are Hit-Girl. Robin wishes she was her indeed.

Jim Carrey: Jim Carrey takes the place of Nicolas Cage as the big name in the cast. Carrey has separated himself from "Kick-Ass 2" during the publicity tour because in light of the recent school shootings and gun control battle he didn't think it was appropriate. This is a shame as the role of Colonel Stars and Stripes, another suburban super hero is easily his best role in years and its unfortunate that its both more of a cameo than a supporting turn and that he has turned his back on it after declaring that he was a fan of the first film.


Violence is a big part of the movie, most of it over the top and often played for laughs. I can understand in theory Carrey's point about not wanting to seemingly endorse a product that glamorizes violence given the numerous events over the last year alone. My counterpoint would be that the movie is rated R for good reason but its kind of hypocritical that movies such as Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel show destruction upon destruction which leaves thousands upon thousands dead but because they actually don't show people dying or they show bloodless deaths it's ok because it gets a PG-13 rating. 

Kick-Ass doesn't try to be anything that its not. If you are a fan of the original then you will love this new entry, if you have no idea who or what Kick-Ass is then its probably not the movie for you.

2 Guns

"2 Guns" brings us the unique pairing of two of the bigger stars of the moment, Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg. This summer movie season has brought a plethora of action pics to the cinema and now as we wind down the summer movie season some might be getting a bit tired of the genre. "2 Guns", even with its generic title and at times discombobulated storyline does work on many levels and is an effective entry in the 80's style action yarn that has seen a renaissance as of late thanks in part to Sylvester Stallone and his "Expendables" series.

Like we talked about in this season's earlier entry "The Heat" movies such as this either flip or fly based on the charisma between the two main leads. While "2 Guns" is not a straight comedy as "The Heat" was they are similar in that Washington and Wahlberg play extremely well off of each other like Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy did. The cast overall is superb with everyone seeming to have fun with dialogue that in lesser hands could come off as stale and generic. Wahlberg and Washington play two would be crooks who are actually working undercover unbeknownst to each other, Washington as a DEA agent and Wahlberg as a naval intelligence officer. Both are trying to infiltrate a drug kingpin's cartel. The kingpin is played by Edward James Olmos (Stand and Deliver) in a great turn that is sorely underused. The absolutely breathtaking Paula Patton plays Washington's DEA partner and while in a perfect world I'd be raving about her acting chops, she is really there just as eye candy which is certainly ok by me. The one that really steals the show is the always dependable and "AOM" fave Bill Paxton as a corrupt CIA bigwig. One of "2 Guns" faults is that there are too many villains as James Marsden shows up as a Naval officer with bad intentions as well. Olmos and Paxton alone are worth the price of admission, Paxton has a great scene with Washington involving Russian Roulette and this might be a turning point in his career as he transitions into character actor from leading man a'la Alec Baldwin.

Washington and Wahlberg are on the run from all the bad guys involved after a failed bank robbery which becomes all the more difficult after they both realize they are undercover and not sure if they can trust one another. The movie has a hard time transitioning from comedy to straight action and while Washington knows how to read his character Wahlberg's interpretation of the character goes from fast talking wiseguy to serious where it would just be better if he stayed funny all the time. This can be blamed on the script as it goes from a great first half, to a confusing yet entertaining middle and then goes full Michael Bay for the conclusion, again its a mess but its a very fulfilling/entertaining mess.

The Wolverine

"The Wolverine", the sixth entry in the Marvel comics movie franchise of "The Uncanny X-Men" might well be the biggest surprise of the summer, considering that the last stand alone Wolverine movie, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" almost nearly destroyed one of the 21st centuries most iconic screen characters.

"X-Men" has taken the reverse action against its Marvel counterpart "The Avengers" in that we first got the original trilogy of "X-Men" films which featured the group of superhero mutants including Storm, Cyclops, Professor X, Rouge and countless others as well as most notably Wolverine who at this time is the only one to have his own stand alone features. This is not shocking as Wolverine has the best backstory out of all the "X-Men" and with thanks to star Hugh Jackman is the most charismatic. After the original "X-Men" trilogy ended with the ho-hum "The Last Stand" it was with great anticipation that we got 2009's "Origins". "Origins" was to tell the story essentially of how Wolverine came to be who he is: a man who lives seemingly forever and due to scientific experiments has obtained an adamantium skeleton which gives him the ability to heal from any type of injury whether it be a broken leg or surviving an atom bomb attack. The movie failed on basically every level and came off as more of a weaker version of "X-Men" with uninteresting supporting characters including fan favorites "Deadpool" and "Gambit" and even Jackman came off as bored with the role and just in it for the fat paycheck that he surely got.

Whether it was the success and goodwill that 2011's franchise reboot "X-Men: First Class" got upon release or that just enough time has passed since his last stand alone outing Jackman is back in full mutton chop and wife-beater shirt mode with "The Wolverine". While there are definite connections to the original "X-Men" movies I consider this to be more of a standalone adventure. Other than a few cameo scenes from one "X-woman" in particular Jackman/Wolverine is the only recognizable face here as the rest of the cast is rounded out by Japanese actors as the story is set in present day Japan. This is probably the biggest reason why the movie succeeds, "Origins" made the unfortunate mistake of casting Ryan Reynolds aka "box-office poison" to partner with Wolverine as the before mentioned "Deadpool" and the movie was so focused on getting the audience to like "Deadpool" it took away from Wolverine.

The story for "The Wolverine" first takes place moments before the atomic bomb drop in Nagasaki, Japan during WWII. Wolverine/Logan saves the life of a young Japanese soldier who, fast forward 60 years later has become a giant corporate billionaire dying of cancer and wants to repay Wolverine for what he did for him so many years prior, but is it to good to be true? Wolverine is found in rural Alaska by one of the billionaires employees, who also happens to be a kung-fu master with psychic abilities. She's played by Japanese actress Rila Fukishima who will definitely give "Pacific Rim" star Rinko Kikuchi a run for her money in the "hot geek Japanese chick" race. Once Wolverine is convinced to take the trip back to Japan he gets involved of course in the conflict between the Japanese mafia and the billionaires family. While the overall the plot is by no means "based on a true story" after the CGI madness that was "Man of Steel" and even good movies such as "Pacific Rim" and "Iron Man 3" its nice to see regular good old fashioned real fight scenes here and the overall story is generally based in somewhat reality other than the kind of sloppy ending which comes off like the end of a bad James Bond movie, but even that is redeemed with a surprising twist that is very satisfying.

Director James Mangold, known for more adult fare such as "Walk the Line" and "3:10 to Yuma" was an odd choice especially after original choice Darren Aronofsky was such a brilliant one but had to drop out. Mangold doesn't do anything groundbreaking here but he keeps the action moving swiftly, most notably a scene taking place on a bullet train going full speed is one of the better action scenes of the year. "Everyone you ever love will die" is a phrase used throughout the movie, when you actually think about that phrase and how it connects with why Wolverine is a grumpy introvert and reluctant hero, it makes this a true origins story, even though Wolverine's other mainstay: a cigar is surprisingly and disappointingly absent.

Jackman was able to sing and dance through the French Revolution in "Les Miserables" because of Wolverine, he owes his career to the character. He is a very charismatic actor who can both be funny and serious, just like Wolverine. This movie requires the main character to carry the film and Jackman succeeds in bringing his signature role off of life support and back into the consciousness. It will be interesting to see where the character goes from here as its the rare character that the actor can actually age with, not saying I want to see him yelling "get off my lawn!" to a bunch of young mutant punks but it could be interesting.

**As with any Marvel movie be sure to stay for the end credits as you get a great sneak peek at next years "X-Men: Days of Future Past" which collides both group of X-men from original franchise and first class. I love that Marvel does this with all their movies, its a reason to go to the theater and their sneaks are usually effective in getting the fanboys excited and this peek is no exception, its better than most trailers can even hope for.

The Conjuring

After a fantastic opening title sequence "The Conjuring" seemed like it was going to fall into the same realm of today's version of "scary" movies, which in fact aren't scary at all. The first half hour or so is filled with the standard "Paranormal Activity" "scares" of creaking floor boards, doors closing on their own and creepy children. Thankfully though "The Conjuring" then takes a unpredicted turn and while the filmmaker still uses the old standard scare tactics the execution is such that "The Conjuring" ranks for me as one of the better standard scary movies of the last decade.

"The Conjuring" is based on a "true" account from real life Ghostbusters and husband and wife team Ed and Lorraine Warren. I'll say that while Ed and Lorraine are in fact real people and ghost-busting is their real profession I'm sure as with most "based on a true story" flicks a lot of liberties are taken here. Director James Wan, who most notably made his debut with the original and easily best movie in the now defunct "Saw" franchise and more recently with another haunted house flick "Insidious", which I found unbearably not scary and forgettable other than a great performance by Barbara Hershey. "Conjuring" and "Insidious" share a lot of the same DNA, including star Patrick Wilson but whether its the true story elements or just learning from past mistakes "The Conjuring" is vastly more superior and effective than "Insidious". The big difference is that "The Conjuring" is not your ordinary scary movie in that it borrows from many different genres and past movies.

Homages to "The Exorcist", "Amityville Horror" and "Rosemary's Baby" among other great scary movies are all evident here. As opposed to playing out one genre to death "The Conjuring" gives us numerous tastes but never enough to either become boring or repetitive. The exorcism angle was for me most notable as it is very rarely effective on film unless you are watching "The Exorcist" and in this day of computer special effects they chose to use old school make-up effects which makes it look more real which in turn makes it more scary. Creaking floor boards and things of that nature don't really do it for me in terms of getting the chills but as evidenced by the popularity in "Paranormal Activity" people do go for that stuff and there is a lot of it here as well. The musical score, as composed by Joseph Bishara adds to the scare tactics implemented here.

"The Conjuring" is also composed of a surprising for the genre high pedigree cast.  The before mentioned Patrick Wilson (Watchmen)  rebounds from his horrible guest starring role in last seasons "Girls" to play Ed Warren and as his wife Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel) shows she can do this type of genre in her sleep. Ron Livingston (Office Space) and Lily Taylor (Say Anything) round out the adult cast. As was the case with "Pacific Rim" there are very good child performances in "The Conjuring", especially from relative newcomer Joey King who looks like she may be following in the footsteps of Jodie Foster and more recently Chloe Grace Moretz.

Telling you the scary parts of a movie is like telling you the funny parts in a movie, it just doesn't work. What can be said though as someone who is one of the biggest skeptics of "scary" movies out there "The Conjuring" by maybe just process of elimination as there is nothing released recently to compare it to is something that as either a genre fan or as someone looking to get to 2nd base should lay down the cash and go see.

Pacific Rim

"Pacific Rim" the newest movie from fanboy fave director Guillermo Del Toro is 2+ hours of the longest, most expensive, most visually stimulating fanboy cream dream that has ever been seen. If the 13 year old version of myself could come out for a moment I can sum up the movie this way: "Pacific Rim" is FUCKING awesome!

The Setting for "Pacific Rim" is in the not too distance future when giant monsters start emerging from an alternative universe whose gateway portal to earth is discovered to be thousands of miles under the sea. The monsters are known as Kaiju and after lengthy traditional battles the world unites to undertake a project to build a series of man operated machines known as Jaegers. The Jaegers are operated by two co-pilots with "Avatar" like technology where their minds meld together as one brain, one controls the left side of the robot while the other controls the right.

Charlie Hunnam known by most from "Sons of Anarchy" but known by cool people for his work on "Undeclared" is the main character a once hot shot Jaeger pilot who due to the death of his co-pilot brother quits and becomes a construction worker. Fast forward a few years and the governments of the world have decided the Jaeger program is no longer working and have decided to build large walls around costal cities as a sort of blockade from the Kaiju, a very wall that Hunnam's character is working on! British badass and Julianne Gabert crush Idris Elba plays the leader of the newly underground Jaeger program and he seeks out Hunnam to re-enroll in the program as his old machine, aptly named "Gipsy Danger" has been put back into active duty.

Even if that above plot sypnosis did nothing for you or just made no sense "Pacific Rim" is for anyone who likes going to the movies to be wowed. We make fun of Michael Bay a lot here at "The AOM" and we will continue to do that here: "Pacific Rim" is just like "Transformers" if "Transformers" had any type of soul, humor and a director who wasn't in love with himself. Del Toro puts all of his geekdom passion in this effort, there are enough geek references and MechWarrior nods to keep the nerds happy and enough humor and originality to keep those with significant others interested. Even Hellboy himself Ron Pearlman stops by in a great role as a black market dealer known as "Hannibal Chau" (be sure to stay during the credits for a bonus scene involving Chau's fate). Japanese babe Rinko Kikuchi also stars joining a long list that includes Angelina Jolie, Milla Jovovich and Jennifer Lawrence as a hot babe who kicks ass.

Del Toro has proved with "Pans Labyrinth" and even the "Hellboy" movies that his prime objectives are visuals and story. The overall story of "Pacific Rim" has a few holes but is understandable and a given for a movie on this large of scale. the individual stories of the characters however are what really make the movie work. Most notably Kikuchi's character suffers a great loss as a child in the film that is told in flashbacks. Del Toro does have a pension for showing children in crisis and these scenes are heartbreaking to watch, massive shout-out to the child actor here who gives the best performance by a kid I've seen since the creepy little boy in "Looper". Idris Elba- who rocks in any role he takes but is especially great here, even delivering an "Independence Day" style speech towards the end that should evoke audience applause. Hunnam is more or less the star here, he definitely has the looks of a star but has to work on the American accent a little bit as there is a right way and a wrong way to deliver cheesy dialogue which he still hasn't figured out how to do. "Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia" star Charlie Day is also featured with a few funny scenes but overall teeters on the brink of annoyance.

Some of the Kaiju monsters look like rejected drawings from the new "Godzilla" reboot and 99.9% of the battles inexplicably take place during giant rain storms which since this takes place roughly 7 years from now could be the direct cause of global warming. The battle scenes between monster and robot are glorious, I saw it in standard 2D but this might have been the rare exception where the IMAX 3D expense would have been well worth it.

If you are like me and like your 200 million dollar budgeted popcorn summer blockbusters with a little bit of substance please seek out "Pacific Rim". On paper it might seem like a 12 year olds fanboy magna novel, which it is but it also is escapism to the very core. Look for end of the year awards consideration for the special effects, sound and sound editing, cinematography and if there is any justice at least a nomination for Ron Pearlman for "Best Supporting Actor".