Review: THE WALK

THE WALK  (DRAMA/BIOPIC) 
3 out of 4 stars 
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Charlotte Le Bon, James Badge Dale, Ben Kingsley, Ben Schwartz, Steve Valentine, Benedict Samuel
Rated PG for thematic elements involving perilous situations, and for some nudity, language, brief drug references and smoking.
123 minutes
Verdict: Robert Zemeckis's recreation of high-wire artist Philippe Petit's "artistic crime of the century" starts out kind of kooky, but pays off with breathtaking spectacle.
YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN THE WALK IF YOU LIKED:
MAN ON WIRE  (2008)
HUGO  (2011)
ANT-MAN  (2015)
FLIGHT  (2012)
PREMIUM RUSH  (2012)

THE WALK is absurd, but so is the true story it's based on.  In 1974, French performance artist Philippe Petit established himself as the undeniable world champion of high-wire walking for time immemorial by walking, kneeling, dancing and even laying on a wire cable 1,350 ft (400 meters) above the ground, fastened between the newly-opened Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.  It's about as impossible a thing that could be done that has very much been done.  There's a great documentary all about it and the years of planning it took to pull off the illegal stunt called MAN ON WIRE, which you can stream on Netflix, but Robert Zemeckis's new narrative film version is pretty good too, and spectacular in stereoscopic 3D.

The role of Petit is performed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, whose affectation of a thick French accent is a little goofy at first, but is coherent within the loony (or dreamlike, if you prefer) tone that is especially prevalent during the first half.  With instruction from seasoned high-wire performer Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley) and in collaboration with his girlfriend Annie (Charlotte Le Bon), a fellow street performer, Philippe begins preparing to cross the towers as soon as he learns of their construction, a plan he refers to as "le coup".  Assembling a team of similarly artistically-minded rebels to help him pull of the "artistic crime of the century", the movie shifts from a highly-stylized storybook fantasy in Paris to a heist thriller in New York.
As Petit, Gordon-Levitt narrates the film to the audience from his perch on Lady Liberty's torch, with the 1970s Manhattan skyline in the background, a narration that's occasionally intrusive, especially when it comes in during the climactic "walk", but eventually has a strong payoff.  Capitalizing on the 3D cinematography, the main point of which is enhancing the vertigo-inducing effect of the titular stories-high walk, Zemeckis fills up the rest with creative angles, transitions and effects akin to those in HUGO and LIFE OF PI, but without the clearly fantastical angles of those films.  The effect is whimsical at times, and at more times, it's only almost whimsical but also humorous, and the stranger than fiction, reasonably faithful accounting of events is modestly endearing in its own way.
The heist aspect of the story is when things really tie together with a kooky sense of humor, high stakes and edge-of-your-seat thrills.  We know how things will play out (especially if you've seen MAN ON WIRE, the events in which are nearly identical with a couple of major points not present in Zemeckis's film), but the progression of the inevitable hiccups and problem-solving is plentiful in humor and heart well-served by the characters.  The walk, which is lengthy, played out in approximately real time, is well earned and breathtaking in 3D, as Petit's cable cuts through the foreground, emphasizing the sheer depth down to the streets below.
It's not as precise as the wire-walker's steps must be, not by a long shot, but as the sum of its parts, it's a solid and definitely unique film that isn't quite a "family movie" in the usual sense, but that most families can enjoy together regardless.  The first two-thirds is really just amusing set dressing for the super-charged thrill of the climactic 'walk', though.

Images via TriStar

Review: SICARIO

SICARIO  (CRIME-THRILLER/DRAMA)
3.5 out of 4 stars
Directed by Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Daniel Kaluuya, Victor Garber, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey Donovan, Raoul Trujillo, Julio Cedillo, Hank Rogerson, Bernardo Saracino, Maximiliano Hernandez, Jesus Navarez-Castillo
Rated R for strong violence, grisly images, and language.
121 minutes
Verdict: Gorgeously shot and full of visceral thrills, SICARIO is also a chilling, thoughtful meditation on an unwinnable conflict and its intimate consequences.
YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN SICARIO IF YOU LIKED:
TRAFFIC  (2000)
PRISONERS  (2013)
THE HURT LOCKER  (2009)
TRAINING DAY  (2001)
EDGE OF TOMORROW  (2014)

No war is a 'good war'.  As former president Jimmy Carter said when accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, "War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will never learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children."  War breeds moral decay and a war without a clearly defined enemy, like the so-called "War on Terror" or "War on Drugs", creates an environment lacking clearly defined ethics.  Such is the world on display in Denis Villeneuve's deliciously intense and admirably thoughtful dramatic thriller SICARIO.
Emily Blunt stars as Kate Macer, a straight arrow FBI agent picked up by cavalier Department of Defense adviser Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) and his steely-eyed partner Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro) to help take down a major cartel boss.  Although initially eager to see the crime bosses who killed two of her men in an Arizona raid brought to justice, Macer is gradually disillusioned by the increasingly hazy ethics and improvisational procedure that her new bosses at the DOD and the CIA practice and expect her to take part in as well.
The cinematography by Roger Deakins is gorgeous, emphasizing the sharp contrasts of vast Mexican landscapes and densely packed cities with intimate, claustrophobic perspectives, as well as the distinct dark and the light, all itself in contrast to the thoroughly murky nature of characters' actions and motivations.  For all its weight, SICARIO is also an intense, exciting thriller.  In one of the great set pieces, Graver's team becomes trapped in a traffic jam at the border while transporting a high-profile extracted prisoner, and in the midst of dozens of tightly-packed cars full of civilians, they become aware of cartel men within the jam sent to prevent their crossing back over.  The drums in Johann Johannsson's musical score beat menacingly as paranoia sets in, and to Macer's horror, for the rest on their team, the conflict is reduced to them vs. us with numerous civilians in the crossfire.  The sequence is beautifully executed, visually and psychologically, playing off the landscape and the chaotic anarchy within the neat ordering of backed-up vehicles.  It's one of the most exciting action scenes outside of a Mad Max movie that I've seen this year.

It's an urgent and angry film, a powerful exposé of an apparently hopeless and ever worsening situation on an intimate level.  It's a fairly well-known sentiment; the War on Drugs is a failure which has only escalated violence in Mexico and around the U.S.-Mexico border, but SICARIO takes the plunge into the dark, nitty-gritty of this.  Individual human beings are so susceptible to moral failure and misunderstanding, and the pursuit of justice and order all too easily descends into vengeance and chaos.  It is the nature of the cycle of violence that one's justice is another one's injustice, and each begets another in an ever-escalating, ever-perpetuating back and forth.  Drugs themselves are very much on the sidelines while the war revolves around responding to each side's increased pressure and violence, and neither side is so much a 'side' as they are the idea of one.  The film begins in Chandler, Arizona, where the Mexican drug cartels have made an exceptionally rare move on U.S. soil to the horror of government agencies and media, and we as the audience are startled too, but by the film's close, the war zone is still very much alive, but now tucked away south of the border where we find it so much more tolerable.

Images via Lionsgate

Review: THE MARTIAN

THE MARTIAN  (ADVENTURE/SCI-FI)
3 out of 4 stars
Directed by Ridley Scott
Starring: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jeff Daniels, Kristen Wiig, Sean Bean, Benedict Wong, Kate Mara, Michael Pena, Donald Glover, Sebastian Stan, Askel Hennie, Mackenzie Davis
Rated PG-13 for some strong language, injury images, and brief nudity.
141 minutes
Verdict: Buoyed by a facetious but intellectual attitude, THE MARTIAN is a solid adventure story with an encouraging promotion of survival skills, innovation and problem-solving, despite running overlong.
YOU MAY ENJOY THE MARTIAN IF YOU LIKED:
INTERSTELLAR  (2014)
PROMETHEUS  (2012)
APOLLO 13  (1995)
MISSION TO MARS  (2000)
GRAVITY  (2013)

Continuing the trend of the past few years in which Hollywood releases a new NASA space adventure in the fall, preceded by GRAVITY in 2013 and INTERSTELLAR in 2014, THE MARTIAN brings with it the humor that was mostly absent from those especially serious films, and while it doesn't quite have the heart and efficiency of GRAVITY, it excels in many of the areas that Christopher Nolan's INTERSTELLAR tried and failed.  THE MARTIAN doesn't bother much with putting on airs, despite laying out the science very thickly, and unlike the unintentionally goofy propaganda piece that Nolan's film was last year, it's an intentionally goofy adventure that's far from perfect, but still a proper good space adventure.  Now that I've gotten my snipes at INTERSTELLAR out of the way...
In THE MARTIAN, based on the 2011 novel by Andy Weir, adapted by Drew Goddard (co-writer/director of THE CABIN IN THE WOODS and writer of CLOVERFIELD), Matt Damon stars as Mark Watney, an astronaut stranded alone on the planet Mars when his crew believes him a casualty while escaping a deadly sandstorm.  Rather than wait to die, Watney opts to "science the shit out of this thing," figuring out how to grow plant life in the hostile environment and trying to contact help on Earth, while NASA scientists on Earth, led by Vincent Kapoor (Chiwetel Ejiofor), NASA director Teddy Sanders (Jeff Daniels) and mission leader Mitch Henderson (Sean Bean), discover his survival thanks to satellite images and begin planning the practically impossible rescue mission.
It's not quite the Matt Damon Show, with a lot actually going on elsewhere as everyone is trying to figure out how to bring him home, but the most interesting stuff is in the scenes on Mars.  Wildly hit-and-miss director Ridley Scott seems to be taking a back seat to the dominating influences of Goddard's witty, procedural script and Damon's charismatic performance, which is a good move, but Scott indulges in the big images of a Martian landscape.  Filmed on a massive sound stage and supplemented by images of frequent Mars stand-in Wadi Rum in Jordan, the Red Planet is presented in impressive scope.  The real highlight is the science however, which is admirable, although it's sometimes difficult to keep up with the rapid-fire engineering concepts, not that it inhibits an overall understanding of the film.  The trial-and-error process of the science does run overlong, and the length of the film is probably its greatest fault, running at least 20 minutes longer than it should at 141 minutes.
Buoyed by a facetious but intellectual attitude, THE MARTIAN is a solid adventure story with an encouraging promotion of survival skills, innovation and problem-solving at the core of human experience. 

Cinematic Antidepressants

Movies are like mood-altering drugs.  There are pick-me-ups, downers, adrenaline rides and laugh fests.  I used to wonder why people liked sad movies, why anyone would go to a movie fully aware that it would make them sad, but the thing about movies is that they're a safe space to feel those things.  You can engage in a sad story, experience and empathize with the hardships, approach real-world and hypothetical issues with the safety net of fantasy.  There are real problems in the real world to deal with, but movies are practice, a testing ground for ideas and feelings.
On the other hand, when you're bummed and all out of Zoloft and Xanax, a sad movie is obviously out of the question and a lot of movies just sound irritating, like being given a big, juicy steak but you have the flu.  These movies are the ones that strike just the right balance.  When I've had a bad case of the depression blahs, I wished there was a better list of movies like these, pick-me-ups that are uplifting, calming, thoughtful, funny and emotionally honest, so I made one myself.  There's a wide range.  A couple are a little heavier, but most are pretty easy, and some are on the funnier side, while others are more contemplative.  However, they're each good-natured, emotionally-soothing movies to watch when everything sucks.

ED WOOD  (COMEDY/DRAMA, 1994) 
Directed by Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Lisa Marie, Jeffrey Jones, Bill Murray, George 'The Animal' Steele, Juliet Landau, Mike Starr, G.D. Spradlin, Vincent D'Onofrio
Rated R for some strong language.
127 minutes
Loosely based upon the career of Edward D. Wood Jr., whose numerous low-budget and shoddily constructed films (mostly poverty row exploitation) earned him a posthumous reputation as one of the worst directors ever, ED WOOD re-envisions the filmmaker as an impossibly upbeat go-getter who idolizes Orson Welles, surrounds himself with an eclectic band of fellow industry outsiders (including Bela Lugosi, a touching and Oscar-winning performance by Martin Landau), and will stop at nothing to have his vision realized.  Probably Tim Burton's most mature film to date (many would say his best), it's dreadfully funny, beautiful and layered, but also just a big warm hug of a movie.

THE STRAIGHT STORY  (DRAMA, 1999) 
Directed by David Lynch
Starring: Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, Harry Dean Stanton, Jane Galloway Heitz, Joseph Carpenter, Donald Wiegert, Ed Grennan, Jack Walsh
Rated G
112 minutes
In this decidedly non-Lynchian truth-based drama from David Lynch, everything is slowed down to parallel the journey of septuagenarian Alvin Straight (portrayed by Richard Farnsworth) who travels from 240 miles from Iowa to Wisconsin on a 1966 John Deere riding lawnmower when he discovers his estranged brother across the country has suffered a stroke.  It's a great slow movie for when you just need to slow down, full of poignant insights and headlined by Farnsworth, one of those rare actors you just can't go wrong with, in an ultra-minimalist, gently humorous story.

BREAKING AWAY  (DRAMA/COMEDY, 1979) 
Directed by Peter Yates
Starring: Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, Jackie Earle Haley, Paul Dooley, Barbara Barrie, Robyn Douglass, Hart Bochner, P.J. Soles, Amy Wright, John Ashton
Rated PG for unspecified reasons
100 minutes
A sweet and very funny coming-of-age story about a group of aimless young men struggling to enter, or not enter, adulthood in a college town where they're looked down upon by the affluent college guys, BREAKING AWAY is an under-appreciated classic that put Dennis Quaid and Daniel Stern on the map.  It's emotionally honest, but a genuine crowd-pleaser.

BEAUTIFUL GIRLS  (ROMANTIC-DRAMA/COMEDY, 1996) 
Directed by Ted Demme
Starring: Timothy Hutton, Matt Dillon, Uma Thurman, Natalie Portman, Noah Emmerich, Max Perlich, Michael Rapaport, Lauren Holly, Rosie O'Donnell, Mira Sorvino, Martha Plimpton, Anne Bobby, David Arquette
Rated R for strong language and nude pin-ups.
112 minutes
I was trying to find a list of movies like this when I discovered this understated dramedy, and it's quickly become a go-to movie for me in times of emotional tumult.  Set in a snowy Massachusetts small town, a group of old high school friends, now in their late 20s, are reunited for a high school reunion as they each find themselves at crossroads in their respective lives.  Each of them are still trying to decide where they want their lives to go, especially with their relationships, as the film explores issues of male insecurity and early-life crises with quiet sensitivity and eloquence.

PIECES OF APRIL  (COMEDY-DRAMA, 2003) 
Directed by Peter Hedges
Starring: Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson, Oliver Platt, Alison Pill, Derek Luke, John Gallagher Jr., Alice Drummond, Sean Hayes, Lillias White, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Sisqo
Rated PG-13 for language, sensuality, drug content and images of nudity.
80 minutes
If you can go along with the ultra-cheap, camcorder-shot production, PIECES OF APRIL is a very sweet, simple and funny story of reconciliation and redemption as a family torn by bad history reluctantly reunites for what may be their last Thanksgiving together.  It's a bit of a tearjerker, but the happy kind.

AS GOOD AS IT GETS  (ROMANTIC-COMEDY/DRAMA, 1997) 
Directed by James L. Brooks
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear, Cuba Gooding Jr., Shirley Knight, Jesse James, Skeet Ulrich, Yeardley Smith, Lupe Ontiveros, Harold Ramis, Julie Benz
Rated PG-13 for strong language, thematic elements, nudity and a beating.
139 minutes
Being a James L. Brooks film, AS GOOD AS IT GETS is a bit on the schmaltzy side, but the misanthropic lead played by Jack Nicholson is so savagely, cringe-worthily, hilariously acerbic that it mostly balances out.  The story of how one reluctant favor brings a loathsome hermit out into the world of personal relationships as he decides, in baby steps, to be a better human being, it's a gooey sweet charmer.

PARENTHOOD  (COMEDY/DRAMA, 1989) 
Directed by Ron Howard
Starring: Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Jason Robards, Dianne Wiest, Rick Moranis, Tom Hulce, Martha Plimpton, Keanu Reeves, Harley Kozak, Joaquin Phoenix, Eileen Ryan, Jasen Fisher, Helen Shaw, Ivyann Schwan, Paul Linke, Alisan Porter, Alex Burrall
Rated PG-13 for unspecified reasons (mature thematic elements including sexual material and references, language and brief smoking).
124 minutes
You may be familiar with the NBC series Parenthood (the second TV series loosely based on this movie), but this 1989 adult comedy-drama is a poignant, funny look at the ups and downs of family life and the tough but fulfilling role of parent.  It also sports a stellar ensemble cast led by Steve Martin, along with Mary Steenburgen, Dianne Wiest, Rick Moranis, Tom Hulce, Keanu Reeves, a young Joaquin Phoenix (credited as Leaf Phoenix), and Jason Robards as the Buckman clan's emotionally-distant patriarch.

FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL  (ROMANTIC-COMEDY, 2008) 
Directed by Nicholas Stoller
Starring: Jason Segel, Kristin Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand, Bill Hader, Jonah Hill, Liz Cackowski, Da'Vone McDonald, Jack McBrayer, Maria Thayer, Paul Rudd
Rated R for sexual content, language and some graphic nudity.
111 minutes
FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL is an unmistakable romantic comedy with a familiar story, but amplified with absurdly funny, absurdly raunchy comedy and writer/star Jason Segel's idiosyncrasies.  Segel plays a TV composer who is unceremoniously dumped by his girlfriend (played Kristen Bell, now probably best known as the voice of Anna in FROZEN, so now you can shut your eyes and imagine the Disney character saying those filthy things) and decides he needs to get away, but discovers the she and her new boyfriend are staying in the same Hawaiian resort.  It's a nice comedy that mines from the rich vein of getting over one's ex, and Segel also shows off his considerable member in the most brilliant scene, if that's what your into.

SUPERBAD  (COMEDY, 2007) 
Directed by Greg Mottola
Starring: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader, Seth Rogen, Martha MacIsaac, Emma Stone, Aviva, Joe Lo Truglio, Kevin Corrigan, Clement E. Blake
Rated R for pervasive crude and sexual content, strong language, drinking, some drug use and a fantasy/comic violent image - all involving teens.
113 minutes
This may seem like a weird inclusion, but it always leaves me with a potent case of the warm fuzzies.  Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (who lent the main characters their own first names), who penned their first draft while still in high school in Vancouver, the proudly raunchy comedy is a "one crazy night" story about high school seniors who go to extreme lengths to get alcohol for a party, and in so doing, hopefully impress their respective crushes enough to get laid two weeks before they graduate.  It's a bit like AMERICAN PIE but done right, with tons of filthy, gut-busting laughs, and a very sweet, mature heart.

OBVIOUS CHILD  (ROMANTIC-COMEDY, 2014) 
Directed by Gillian Robespierre
Starring: Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffman, David Cross, Gabe Liedman, Richard Kind, Polly Draper, Paul Briganti, Cindy Cheung, Stephen Singer
Rated R for language and sexual content.
83 minutes
Movieguide.com ("The Family Guide to Movies and Entertainment" from a "Biblical perspective") called this unconventional romantic comedy about an immature comedian who gets pregnant from a drunken one-night stand a "morally reprehensible, unfunny, and incredibly offensive movie that celebrates the killing of children through abortion".  I call it a painfully funny and crude, but also sweet and sensitive, feel-good love story.

INSIDE OUT  (ANIMATION/FAMILY, 2015) 
Directed by Pete Docter
Featuring the Voices of: Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, Bill Hader, Kaitlyn Dias, Diane Lane, Kyle McLachlan
Rated PG for mild thematic elements and some action.
94 minutes
Pixar's recently released animated hit is another that will bring you down a bit before leveling things back out again, but it's so fulfilling.  As Devin Faraci in his Birth.Movies.Death. review noted, "Inside Out is an empathy interface, giving you the language to see where other people are coming from."  It's a smart movie about emotions for when you're feeling emotional.

PAPERMAN  (ANIMATED SHORT, 2012) 
Directed by John Kahrs
Featuring the Voices of: John Kahrs, Kari Wahlgren
Rated G
7 minutes
If you're in a hurry, you can't do better than this 2012 winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Short which played before the Disney animated feature WRECK-IT RALPH.  Over the course of only 7 minutes, in black-and-white and not a word of dialogue, it tells a poignant, magical, strange and euphoric love story about a boy and a girl and a lot of paper airplanes.

GOOD WILL HUNTING  (DRAMA, 1997) 
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Starring: Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver, Stellan Skarsgard, Casey Affleck, Cole Hauser, John Mighton, George Plimpton
Rated R for strong language, including some sex-related dialogue.
126 minutes
It's corny and melodramatic, but it's hard not to leave this one feeling good.  A breakout film for both Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (who, as struggling actors, wrote it for themselves and later won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay), the story about a young, ne'er-do-well genius from South Boston who becomes the interest of M.I.T. professors who want to see his potential realized is anchored by the scenes of Will Hunting (Damon) in court-ordered therapy with Dr. Sean Maguire, played by Robin Williams in the performance that finally won him an Academy Award after three prior nominations.  It's like the movie equivalent of a corny old grandpa who somehow knows just the right thing to say.

LIFE OF PI  (ADVENTURE/DRAMA, 2012) 
Directed by Ang Lee
Starring: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Rafe Spall, Tabu, Adil Hussain, Shravanthi Sainath, Gerard Depardeiu, Po-Chieh Wang, Ayush Tandon, Mohamed Abbas Khaleeli, Andrea Di Stefano
Rated PG for emotional thematic content throughout, and some scary action sequences and peril.
127 minutes
This 2012 Academy Award-winner comes with the caveat that before it picks you up, it will take you down, a long ways down, but when all is said and done, it's a thought-provoking balm for the soul.  Based on the 2001 novel by Yann Martel, it's a Book of Job-style "baptism by fire" parable of religious belief that explores weighty themes of faith, endurance and man's relationship with God and spirituality.  Visually stunning and deeply moving, LIFE OF PI is one of my all-time favorite movies, and even as a tumultuous emotional journey, it never fails to make me feel peaceful at the moment it starts and the moment it ends.

BACK TO THE FUTURE  (COMEDY/ADVENTURE, 1985) 
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, Thomas F. Wilson, Claudia Wells, James Tolkan, Marc McClure, Wendie Jo Sperber
Rated PG for unspecified reasons (PG-13-level; some teen drinking/smoking, brief drug use and sensuality).
116 minutes
One of the quintessential American comedies, Robert Zemeckis's time-travel movie about 1985 teen sent to 1955 where he must play matchmaker for his teenage parents is a funny, iconic blockbuster, but also a very sweet story about connecting with your parents and the shared experiences between generations.

GROUNDHOG DAY  (COMEDY/FANTASY, 1993) 
Directed by Harold Ramis
Starring: Bill Murray, Andie McDowell, Chris Elliot, Stephen Toblowsky, Brian Doyle-Murray, Angela Paton, Rick Dicommun, Rick Overton, Robin Duke, Marita Geraghty
Rated PG for some thematic elements.
101 minutes
This 1993 comedy has been quietly coming into its fully deserved status as a bona fide classic, but not simply because it's funny (which it is) or that the story itself is one of the most genius ever created for a movie (which it also is), but because it's such an unexpectedly moving, uplifting, slyly edifying movie.  Oh, and it's way better than GHOSTBUSTERS (yes, it is).

THE APARTMENT
(ROMANTIC-COMEDY, 1960) 
Directed by Billy Wilder
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Jack Kruschen, Ray Walston, David Lewis, Hope Holiday, Joan Shawlee, Naomi Stevens, Johnny Seven
Not Rated (PG-13-level; mature thematic elements, some suggestive material and smoking).
125 minutes
This seminal 1960 romantic comedy written and directed by Billy Wilder is one of my all-time favorites.  It's a real movie's movie, with a melodramatic overture by Adolph Deutsch (his penultimate score before retiring in 1961), meticulously crafted comedy, drama and visuals, and a shamelessly romantic finale.  Again, the emotional lows are pretty low, but it all pays off in the contrasting highs at the end.  Wilder was a noted cynic, but with unmistakably gushy center, a balance that is never better displayed than in THE APARTMENT.

Review: HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 2

HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 2  (ANIMATION/FANTASY-COMEDY)
2 out of 4 stars 
Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky
Featuring the Voices of: Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, Asher Blinkoff, Fran Drescher, Molly Shannon, Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman, Dana Carvey, Rob Riggle, Mel Brooks
Rated PG for some scary images, action and rude humor.
89 minutes
Verdict: Like the original, HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 2 isn't quite as bad as it looks, but there's little to enjoy for anyone older than 10.
YOU MAY ENJOY HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 2 IF YOU LIKED:
HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA  (2012)
BEDTIME STORIES  (2008)
ZOOKEEPER  (2011)
IGOR  (2008)
MONSTERS VS. ALIENS  (2009)

HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 2 is a shameless cash-grab that might usually have gone straight-to-video, but like the original, it's still not as bad as it looks.  It's unmistakably a kids movie with little to offer anyone over the age of 10, but it's not as vile as Adam Sandler's usual, and he even co-wrote this one.
In as predictable a sequel development as possible, Dracula's (voice of Sandler) daughter Mavis (voice of Selena Gomez) and her human husband Johnny (voice of Andy Samberg) have a kid, resulting in all the typical hijinks from pregnancy cravings to helicopter parenting.  But when little Dennis (voiced by newcomer Asher Blinkoff) still hasn't gotten his fangs and is nearing 5 years old, Mavis is considering raising her apparently human son in a human neighborhood away from Hotel Transylvania, the monster (humans welcome, since the events of the last film) resort, much to Dracula's dismay, so while Mavis and Johnny take a trip to California, Drac and his monster pals try to bring the monster out of the kid.
The sight gags and cliches are laid on in approximately equal and considerable thickness.  It's insanely, frenetically energetic in spite of its soulless mediocrity, like a bargain brand energy drink, and the results are intermittently amusing (maybe one or two real laughs) but also grotesque.
I don't think it's a spoiler to say that this is exactly the kind of animated movie that ends in an inexplicable dance party with all the characters, holding up a big middle finger to the parents dragged into the theater, saying, "Hey, it's a kids movie- money in the bank."  There's worse things a movie can be, but it is what it is.

Review: THE INTERN

THE INTERN  (ROMANTIC-COMEDY) 
2.5 out of 4 stars 
Directed by Nancy Meyers
Starring: Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo, Anders Holm, JoJo Kushner, Andrew Rannells, Adam Devine, Zack Pearlman, Jason Orley, Christina Scherer, Nat Wolff
Rated PG-13 for some suggestive content and brief strong language.
121 minutes
Verdict: Nancy Meyer's first film in six years is par for the course a sugary sweet comedy-melodrama (not that there's anything wrong with that) and coasts on the charm of its cast and a few scattered laughs.
YOU MAY ENJOY THE INTERN IF YOU LIKED:
IT'S COMPLICATED  (2009)
SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE  (2003)
THE HOLIDAY  (2006)
THE INTERNSHIP  (2013)
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA  (2006)

THE INTERN, like most of writer/director Nancy Meyers's work is a nice "chick flick".  It feels like the movie is trying to dismiss the terminology of a chick flick, but for lack of a better term, it's what fits.  With a premise not too dissimilar from the dreadful 2013 alleged comedy THE INTERNSHIP, it drops an older individual with a lifetime of knowledge into the naive hipster world of online business, but it puts its premise to better use, and rather than trying desperately to be hip, THE INTERN is all too satisfied to feel surprisingly old-fashioned, just like its protagonist.
Robert De Niro is Ben Whittaker, a widowed septuagenarian who finds life as a retiree unsatisfying and lands an internship at an online fashion outlet where he bonds with his standoffish but brilliant boss Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway) and teaches a thing or two about professionalism and old-school chivalry to his Millennial co-workers.  It's very familiar, frothy comedy and melodrama that Meyers specializes in, but is well carried by her two leads who have a good father-daughter-style chemistry.  The story is slight, the strokes are broad, and as the chipper piano plays over Ben's first day on the new job, it feels as though for a moment that we've stumbled back into the '90s, but it's hard to complain about a movie that knows just what it's doing and for which audience.  There are a few laughs and the cast is likable, especially De Niro, but it's exactly the kind of movie you'd expect, for better or worse.

Review: MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS

MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS
(THRILLER/ACTION-ADVENTURE)
3 out of 4 stars
Directed by Wes Ball
Starring: Dylan O'Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Kaya Scodelario, Rosa Salazar, Jacob Lofland, Dexter Darden, Alexander Flores, Giancarlo Esposito, Aiden Gillen, Patricia Clarkson, Alan Tudyk, Barry Pepper, Lili Taylor
Rated PG-13 for extended sequences of violence and action, some thematic elements, substance use and language.
131 minutes
Verdict: It's still a hopelessly second-tier YA franchise, but THE SCORCH TRIALS improves on its predecessor with a better cast, a sense of momentum and larger scope, making it an entertaining, if generic, apocalyptic action-thriller.
YOU MAY ENJOY MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS IF YOU LIKED:
THE MAZE RUNNER (2014)
WORLD WAR Z (2013)
DIVERGENT (2014)
I AM LEGEND (2007)
THE HOST (2013)

Cobbling together an assortment of tired cliches from young adult-aimed post-apocalyptic/dystopian/fantasy fiction, the Maze Runner series is not as intelligent as the Hunger Games, nor as inventive as Harry Potter, but by drawing its obvious derivations from more varied sources, newly revitalized characters, and expanding the scope of action, MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS is a substantial improvement on the first film.  It's still a second-tier franchise in the field of YA literature adaptations, but at least in its second installment, it's solidly entertaining.
Based on the series by James Dashner, THE SCORCH TRIALS picks up immediately where THE MAZE RUNNER left off, with a group of young lads (and one lady) called "Gladers" recently escaped from a labyrinthine prison now on the run from an organization none-too-subtly named WCKD ("wicked") in a world devastated by a solar flare.  Catching wind of an army of resistance fighters against WCKD, the Gladers, led by Thomas (Dylan O'Brien), resolve to join them, but to find them they must cross a perilous desert called the Scorch, where the ruins of a city are inhabited by "Cranks", or as most movies call them: zombies.
THE SCORCH TRIALS is practically a horror movie, cribbing as many tropes from post-apocalyptic zombie movies as it does from the usual science-fiction/fantasy YA material.  People are bitten, there are questions of how to deal with someone in the group transforming into a zombie, and all of that is played out as it has been done in previous, better movies.  However, Wes Ball's direction has improved and possesses a strong sense of forward momentum and gripping visuals, and his cast is better rounded out with veteran character actors like Giancarlo Esposito and Alan Tudyk, who add a greater sense of gravitas and humor.  Even O'Brien, who was dreadfully wooden and uninteresting in the first film, has upped his game to be a good, if unremarkable, leading man.
The action is more exciting, and well complimented by the sets and scenery, and even if the motivations and nature of the central conflict is muddled to say the least, there is a sense of moral complexity.  THE MAZE RUNNER was supposed to be a cut above the usual YA adaptations but was just another rehash of the same thing we've seen many times before but with an undue self-seriousness.  THE SCORCH TRIALS, on the other hand, earns a ringing endorsement of "not so bad".  I may not give a damn about what will happen next (MAZE RUNNER: THE DEATH CURE is currently scheduled for a 17 February 2017 release with Ball returning to complete the trilogy), but hey, it was a fun ride while it lasted.

Images via 20th Century Fox