Scarlett Johansson

Rough Night

If I want to see a movie, I’m going to see it no matter what – I’m not dissuaded by negative word of mouth. I’ve gone to see movies that I knew would be awful, like Soul Plane. When I saw the trailer for Rough Night, it struck me as a knock-off of Bridesmaids and very similar to the forthcoming Girls Trip. However, I still wanted to see it despite it seeming derivative. Moreover, I like Scarlett Johansson (Ghost in the Shell) and Zoe Kravitz, (Mad Max: Fury Road), who star alongside Jillian Bell (Fist Fight), Kate McKinnon (Ghostbusters), and Ilana Glazer (The Night Before) as a group of girlfriends reuniting for their friend Jess’ (Johansson) bachelorette party in Miami.

Once a hard-partying co-ed, Jess is now an uptight political candidate, a far cry from former beer pong champion. Alice is a teacher, Blair is a wealthy divorcee and mother, and Frankie has become one of those “crunchy,” annoying social justice warrior types. Jess’ fiancé Peter (Paul Downs, Broad City) is a nice guy, but he is about as exciting as a jar of mayonnaise. Alice is especially close with Jess, spearheading their weekend shenanigans. Rounding out the bunch is Jess’ Aussie pal Pippa, amusingly played by Kate McKinnon.

Writer Lucia Aniello borrowed a page from Bridesmaids, with Alice as the friend who is jealous of her best friend’s new buddy, in a familiar subplot. The crew gets wasted throughout the weekend, as emotions bubble to the surface. Frankie is secretly in love with one of the gang, while Alice and Jess have some unresolved issues that have cropped up in recent years. Friendships evolve, they wax and wane as we mature and dynamics change. The movie touched on the ways in which friends can become distant, but find their way home to each other in the end. The camaraderie and bond of friendship strengthened the movie, but make no mistake: this movie is best viewed at home on the sofa in the absence of sobriety.

Rough Night is not a movie to be taken seriously. It’s probably a good move for the likes of McKinnon, but I imagine Johansson was just bored and maybe thought this would be a fun movie to make. The movie’s major plot point involving a would-be stripper was nothing short of ridiculous. Like, Weekend at Bernie’s levels of stupidity – but without the charm. Demi Moore (Margin Call) makes a cameo, but it only serves to heighten the absurdity of it all. I knew it wouldn’t be good, but I didn’t mind paying the five. You’ve been warned! Grade: C

The Avengers: Age of Ultron

This is my favorite time for movies, even more so than the so-called Oscar season. Summer blockbusters might not be the most critically acclaimed movies, but they sure are entertaining, and with me that counts for a lot.

Marvel has proven successful in bringing the iconic heroes of comic book lore to the big screen. The Avengers franchise combines some of the most individually popular characters for one collective ensemble of awesome star power. 2012’s The Avengers was wildly successful, leaving little doubt that a sequel would be forthcoming. Last weekend I got to check out the highly anticipated sequel The Avengers: Age of Ultron, the first blockbuster of the season.

The sequel finds our heroes more comfortable with each other, as their shared chemistry reveals an amiable familiarity and easy rapport. Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Captain America (Chris Evans), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) complement each other perfectly, and the opening scene highlights their collective strength. The movie begins with the Avengers attempting to infiltrate a base controlled by Hyrdra, the rogue sub-agency within SHIELD. Despite the aforementioned chemistry, the Avengers face a new challenge as they encounter two uniquely worthy foes. Hydra has trained a pair of orphaned twins to counter the Avengers. They are gifted with super speed and telepathy, respectively – and their initial salvo against the Avengers deals the crew a crippling early blow.

The opening scene was successful, because it was action-packed and wasted no time giving us what we wanted. However, the convoluted plot is introduced in the first fifteen minutes, and I found myself struggling to piece it all together. I’ll try to recount it for you, giving only the most pertinent details. Tony Stark and Bruce Banner had been working on new technology in the form of Ultron, an elite global peacekeeper with enhanced capabilities on par with the Avengers. When combined with an element from Thor’s home planet, Ultron comes to life ahead of schedule, but he has been corrupted with evil. He is not a peacekeeper, rather he seeks to destroy the planet – and the Avengers are no match for him. Ultron disables Tony’s trusted cyber soldier Jarvis, and he is hell-bent on going from a computer program to a physical being. The bulk of the movie follows the Avengers as they try to thwart his efforts and save the world.

Age of Ultron strives to give us a deeper insight into the insecurities and personal lives of the Avengers. Natasha has a thing for the good Dr. Banner. Hawkeye actually has a family, and perhaps Tony is the most layered of all. He feels guilty about having created Ultron, but his ego won’t allow him to completely abandon the technology or the ambition that allowed him to create it. The team becomes fractured, as vulnerabilities are revealed. For example, it’s not often that Captain America and Thor get their asses kicked, but the twins and Ultron prove too difficult for them, and even the Hulk. If they want to defeat their enemies, they will have to work together and trust each other.

The film’s first act simply captivated me with the action-packed fight sequences, but the plot details quickly became muddled. Admittedly, plot is secondary in movies like this – but it was confounding nevertheless. At first I thought it was dope, but by the time the credits rolled I thought the movie was just pretty good. The storyline was deficient, but the action and chemistry amongst the cast mostly made up for it. Of the recent Marvel entrants, I thought Thor 2 and Iron Man 3 were among the worst. Avengers: Age of Ultron is definitely better than those, and I put it on par with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It’s worth checking out. Grade: B+

 

Lucy

Last week I had the misfortune of seeing a movie that was every bit as bad as I suspected it would be. Lucy looked silly from the outset, but there was the slightest hint of something cool. Scar Jo kicking butt and taking names? I’m here for it, nonsensical plot be damned. Imagine my disappointment when I not only confirmed the absurdity of the story, but also realized that Lucy’s cool factor was nil.

Judging from the trailer and word of mouth, I expected Lucy to be like the 2011 film Limitless, starring Bradley Cooper. That movie featured Cooper as a lackluster writer who takes a mysterious pill that unlocks his hidden potential. Unfortunately, Lucy was not as clever. The plot was deficient from the start, opening with Johansson as the titular heroine who finds herself the unwitting participant of a botched drug deal. We are given no background or sufficient character introduction – things simply begin happening. Lucy is forced to be a mule, carrying a bag of some new age blue crystallized drug. When she accidentally ingests the drug, she undergoes an almost supernatural change.

The drug allows Lucy to access more brain capacity than the average human being. Supposedly, we only access 10% or less of our cerebral capability. I have no idea if this is true, but it sounded absurd to my ears. Morgan Freeman appears as a scientist who has conducted extensive research on the phenomenon. As the drug continues to course through Lucy’s veins, we witness her rapid evolution as she transforms in unimaginable ways. As her neurological abilities expand, she acquires new “power,” such as the ability to control matter. Here is where the movie really lost me and where comparisons to Limitless fall short. It’s one thing for Lucy to reach her full human potential, it’s quite another thing for her to have the ability to control other people.

Writer/director Luc Besson (3 Days to Kill) is a gifted auteur, having given us the likes of Leon: The Professional, but his creative efforts fell woefully short here. For example, there is one scene where Lucy takes on an entire corridor full of villains. She uses her abilities to suspend the men in midair, instead of fighting her way through the gauntlet. If she has these increased abilities, why not incorporate hand-to-hand combat and let the character make mincemeat out of her foes? We know Johansson is capable from her work in The Avengers. It was just a poor choice in storytelling, in my opinion. Science-fiction movies can still incorporate elements of plausibility, and I thought Lucy took the easy way out. Ultimately, the story was paper thin, with characters just emerging and retreating with no rhyme or reason. Cinematic devices were incorporated and then abandoned. As the movie entered its final act, it reached the height of stupidity.

There isn’t much left to say. I found very little worthwhile about this movie. I like Scarlett Johansson a lot, but what could she do with the material? It’s not her fault; it is what it is. Morgan Freeman’s sage, majestic intonations were similarly ineffective in elevating such drivel. This is the kind of movie you watch on Netflix or cable when you’re bored at home with nothing better to do. And even then, it won’t have your full attention. Grade: D

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

I often lament sequels, because more often than not they are unsatisfying. However, sometimes Hollywood manages to build effectively on an original movie by improving upon the protagonist in the sequel. Superhero movies are in a different realm right now, with The Dark Knight trilogy and Marvel’s The Avengers serving as the standard bearers for the genre. Whereas the Iron Man and Thor sequels have represented a slight decline in quality, I thought Captain America: The Winter Soldier was a marked improvement over its predecessor.

Chris Evans (most recently of Thor: The Dark World) reprises the role he established in 2011, but this time the storyline is significantly more entertaining. Evans has the interesting distinction of playing more than one superhero, having also portrayed Johnny Storm in The Fantastic Four franchise. Steve Rogers/Captain America is a much more compelling character, though his straight-arrow persona lacks the texture of his fellow Avengers. The sequel finds our hero adjusting to life in the 21st century while still feeling like a fish out of water. Recall that he was cryogenically frozen during World War II, only to be thawed out in a completely different era.

The movie opens with a reintroduction to the super soldier Steve Rogers as he undertakes a routine mission for S.H.I.E.LD. It’s established relatively early that Captain America has a simple but unwavering way of doing things.  He likes to deal in facts and strives to be truthful and straightforward in most aspects of life: what you see is what you get.  So when he discovers that S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson, RoboCop) is less than forthright about the mission at hand, he feels slightly betrayed.

Fury’s dishonesty makes Rogers mistrustful of him as well as friend and fellow Avenger Black Widow (Natalia Romanoff) (Scarlett Johansson, Don Jon), who was privy to the deception but doesn’t have the same inflexible “code” as Rogers. This movie differed from the other Marvel entrants in that Fury was featured much more prominently. When he inexplicably becomes the target of assassins, he reveals to Rogers that a splinter group has arisen within S.H.I.E.L.D. That rogue faction is known as Hydra, and they’ve been operating since S.H.I.E.L.D.’s inception. Fury ominously warns Rogers that he can’t trust anyone, and soon he too feels Hydra’s wrath. Robert Redford (All is Lost) is featured as S.H.I.E.L.D. higher-up Alexander Pierce, a questionable character in odd pursuit of Rogers after casting suspicion upon him regarding Director Fury.

The title of this sequel references The Winter Soldier, a soldier every bit as impressive as Captain America. He’s relentless and formidable, complete with a metal arm and seemingly indestructible exterior. His origin is unknown, but Black Widow explains to Captain America that his kills are the stuff of legend. Captain America must expose the Hydra agents within S.H.I.E.L.D., while uncovering their end-game goal. All the while he must contend with The Winter Soldier, a foe against whom he is evenly matched. I’ve tried to describe the movie in a way that is accurate but doesn’t reveal too much – so I’ve been intentionally cryptic about a few details.

I enjoyed the movie because it was entertaining and action-packed. The storyline was more interesting than the first movie, and Rogers’ character was fleshed out more. Additionally, the supporting characters proved to be worthy additions, including Anthony Mackie (Runner Runner) as Falcon, an affable sidekick who fits in nicely alongside Captain America and Black Widow. Men (and some women) will appreciate Scarlett Johansson’s assets, and I thought she more than held her own. All of the Avengers are well cast, and Chris Evans is well suited in the starring role. I don’t go for the “straight-arrow” superhero types, as I like my heroes with a darker side – but he didn’t disappoint. I thought Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 were recent Marvel missteps, but Captain America: The Winter Soldier has the studio back on track and is poised to crush the box office. Grade: A-

 

Her

Sometimes movies take you back to a painful place in your life, or they can open your mind and heart to untold possibilities.  The movies that resonate most with me are those like Her, which struck an emotional chord with its subtle, deeply moving performances and beautiful cinematography.  The film captures the very essence of what it feels like to be in love, from those early stages of rapture, to the uncertainty and fear experienced when a once vibrant love affair begins to dwindle.  To be in love is to feel new and alive in a way that you’ve never felt before, and director Spike Jonze (Where The Wild Things Are) has given us a very interesting, moving film.

The film is set in an unspecified period in the future.  Jonze doesn’t overwhelm us with flying cars or anything too deep within the realm of sci-fi; rather he shows us a very plausible world where our gadgetry and technology are significantly advanced.  We’re introduced to Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix, The Master), a quiet unassuming man who works as a “letter writer,” an odd profession involving personalized hand-written correspondence akin to a greeting card.  Theodore seems reclusive, but he isn’t without social graces.  We see him interact with others, but there is a hint of social ineptitude.  One day he purchases a new operating system for his computer, and his life begins to change.

The operating system is an interactive upgrade, capable of basic tasks like reading his email, but much more.  If a person were able to read your emails, check your browsing history, read every tweet or Facebook post you’ve ever written, and all of the appointments in your calendar – a picture would begin to emerge.  The operating system can do this in an instant, and so it quickly learns about Theodore’s personality and the recent events in his life, including a pending divorce.  Theodore was able to choose the operating system’s gender, and chose a female that ultimately named herself Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson, Don Jon).  Initially he uses Samantha as a functional tool, but she is so advanced that she responds emotionally to him.  Eventually they form the equivalent of a long-distance relationship, conversing regularly and bonding deeply.  Samantha is able to share Theodore’s world because there is a camera on his mobile device and he can hear her with an earpiece.  They go on “double dates,” and even have phone sex.

I don’t really want to discuss the plot any further; I think I’ve set it up for you sufficiently.  I’d rather point out the things that I enjoyed about the film.  Firstly, Phoenix turns in one of his most memorable performances.  This guy is really talented when he’s not making faux documentaries (I’m Still Here).  Theodore and Samantha’s “relationship” waxes and wanes, and the slight tonal shifts Phoenix conveyed were outstanding.  The ebb and flow of their relationship was fascinating, because Samantha is never pictured (obviously).  That means that Phoenix has no counterpart to physically play off of, and that Johansson must do EVERYTHING with her voice.  It was brilliant.

Secondly, Jonze did some incredible things from a visual perspective.  The staging and usage of color and light was genius.  In one scene, Phoenix is shown up close as sunlight filters through the camera lens, the drops of sunlight flickering to and fro. We feel the emotional connection between characters and feel like we are taking the journey with Theodore.  In another scene, Samantha composes a melodic ditty that perfectly captures the shared moment between the two.  Sound, light, and color blended perfectly as we witnessed a magical emotional display.

Some may reduce this movie to its plot and say that it’s about a man who falls in love with his computer – but that would be a disservice to the filmmaker and all involved.  This was a film about love and that deeply human connection that we so desperately need to establish with another person – whether we admit it or not.  And while Samantha wasn’t human in the actual sense, we never doubted the authenticity of their connection – and that’s kind of what makes the movie so special.  When you’re in love the sun shines brighter.  You view the world through different eyes, and Her captured this perfectly.  There were elements that reminded me of Lost in Translation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – so if you liked anything about either of those movies, I think you’ll enjoy.  Grade: A-

Don Jon

Sex comedy.  Like, is that a real thing, a legit genre?  If not, I just made it up – because that’s the best way to describe Don Jon, an entertaining movie that was all at once a farce, satire, romantic comedy, and character study.

I recently found myself zealously defending J. Gordon Levitt (Looper) on Twitter to someone who saw him presenting an award at the MTV VMAs and quipped, isn’t that the guy from Third Rock From the Sun, has he done anything since then?  I replied with Inception, The Dark Knight Rises? Hello?  Levitt is quite the gifted, young actor in my estimation.  He brings a quiet, emotive sensitivity to his roles, and that vulnerability makes his characters more human and relatable.  That sensitivity resonated in movies like 50/50 and 500 Days of Summer, which featured emotionally compelling lead characters.  Well, Don Jon is a departure from those emo, heartwarming flicks for sure – though the ending may surprise you.

Don Jon marks Levitt’s debut as a writer/director, and I think viewers will find his style humorously authentic.  Levitt stars as Jon, a young man who looks like he could’ve been on Jersey Shore.  To my point, the movie is set in New Jersey and Jon is young, Italian, obsessed with his physique and always DTF (down to uh…let’s just say ‘fornicate’).  At first blush Jon is a walking cliché: a young man obsessed with his sexual conquests and women in general.  He and his friends go out prowling, and more often than not Jon is successful, at least in terms of “scoring.”  By any other metric, Jon is lacking, though he is oblivious to his emotional ineptitude.

You see, Jon’s sexual identity and habits are largely shaped by the world of digital porn.  His affinity for porn borders on compulsion.  He’s like a walking boner –  finding visual stimulation in the most innocuous of places, including the check out aisle of the grocery store.  However, lest you think Jon lacks even a modicum of substance – his lifestyle departs from vapidity when we glimpse his love of church and family, which is hilariously juxtaposed with his sexual exploits.

Sometimes it takes a particular experience or person to help us achieve self-actualization in certain aspects of our lives.  For Jon, meeting Barbara (Scarlett Johansson, Hitchcock) inadvertently changes his world.  To say that Barbara is alluring would be an understatement, and her physical appearance draws him in immediately.  Johansson and Levitt had magnetic chemistry, more than any pair I’ve witnessed recently.  Initially Jon is content to bask in Barbara’s sheer hotness, but most relationships that begin with such aesthetic adulation end in disappointment, and Jon begins to question his perceptions about dating and intimacy.  I don’t want to give away too much about the plot, but Julianne Moore (Crazy, Stupid, Love) is featured in a supporting role and perfectly adds to Jon’s character development, contrasting completely with Johansson’s more overt appeal.

I enjoyed Don Jon, because I thought it had a little more substance than people may give it credit for.  Sure, it’s funny and a little raunchy.  But it was also thoughtful, reflecting a depth of character that wasn’t readily apparent.  J. Gordon Levitt has given us a peek at his wheelhouse, and I want to see more.  This movie would make for a great date night, and unlike the typical rom-com: you won’t have to drag your man kicking and screaming.  Grade: B+