Back to the Future Trilogy

Back to the Future
Year: 1986
IMDB / Wikipedia / Trailer

Back to the Future, Part II
Year: 1989
IMDB / Wikipedia / Trailer

Back to the Future, Part III
Year: 1990
IMDB / Wikipedia / Trailer

Starring:
Michael J. Fox
Christopher Lloyd
Crispin Glover
Lea Thompson
Thomas F. Wilson
James Tolkan
and Mary Steenburgen

Though I watched this trilogy a couple of weekends back, I can still write this post as nearly every frame of these three films are ingrained in my mind. As a child, I watched movies. A lot of movies. This trilogy, at one point, was up for my favorite movies of all time (in a tight race with Ghostbusters for sure). There were a lot of nights where I would lie awake and imagine myself in a Marty McFly-esque predicament and one way to fix things was to hop in a supped-up car and hit 88 mph to travel to the past or the future. I still think about time travel, its potential, its pitfalls, and what opportunities I would take if given the opportunity. But I digress.

The films hold up well, not only because I loved them once, but because they are structurally sound. They were popcorn films but forced the audience to pay attention and not switch off their brains for a couple of hours. It’s this level of nerd-like detail and love that has inspired science-fiction comedies ever since, including the just-ended Futurama, which is the only example in the genre that comes close to its attention to detail. But the stories are engaging, the characters are well-drawn and well-acted, and the action is just the icing on the cake. It is, at its heart, an 80s movie, but it sets itself apart thanks to the efforts of filmmakers who held themselves to a higher standard.

Most Valuable Actor: It’s easy to put Michael J. Fox in this slot since he was the driver of the entire series, but I have always been partial to Christopher Lloyd’s character, Dr. Emmet Brown. Doc was a great character because he was part Einstein and part Jim Ignatowski, and those two characters could only be amalgamated by someone with the acting and comedic chops of Lloyd. He’s not a caricature, he’s not a buffoon, he’s an eccentric with good intentions and that is why he’s here.

RED 2

Starring Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, and John Malkovich
Directed by Dean Parisot
Year: 2013
IMDB / Wikipedia

My wife surprises me from time-to-time and, when she told me she wanted to see the original RED when it came out in 2010, I thought she was either messing with me or didn’t fully understand what the movie was about. So, we went to the theater, watched it, and she actually liked it. She wasn’t ga-ga about it, but she had positive things to say. She didn’t bring it up too much and never pushed to buy a copy of it so I thought she tolerated it. However, when the first trailer for the sequel came out she immediately said we should see this one, too. Another surprise. It’s good when your spouse can keep surprising you.

The second was much like the first, lots of explosions, a lot of gunplay, people being killed indiscriminately, plenty of laughs, and a plot that requires a suspended sense of disbelief as a pack of retired CIA spooks trot the globe to find a missing nuclear weapon and the people who want to see it ignite a geopolitical incident. Though implausible, the script is well written, the actors seem to lose themselves in their roles and, in a film where everyone has license to overact, they all seem to share the screen equally well without one overshadowing anyone else. It’s a fun way to spend a couple of hours but don’t look for anything terribly original or groundbreaking. It’s a good ensemble film and the next one will probably be some sinful popcorn fun as well.

Most Valuable Actor: The strength of this cast is their ability to work well together but that also makes awarding this honor next to impossible. Willis is steady but unremarkable, Malkovich and Mirren are both wonderful but don’t get enough screen time to warrant the honor. Newcomer Byung-hun Lee adds a good element to the film but his character isn’t drawn as well as the others. This leaves Parker who is essentially Nancy Botwin in a different life in this film. Fuck it, they all get the honor.

Trailer:

Armed and Dangerous

Starring John Candy, Eugene Levy, and Meg Ryan
Directed by Mark L. Lester
Year: 1986
IMDB / Wikipedia

I seem to have a soft-spot in my heart for funny-yet-terrible movies. This is one of them. But, then again, how can anything starring John Candy be all that bad? And Eugene Levy?

The film centers around a former cop (Candy) and former lawyer (Levy) who try to find a new lease on life by becoming armed security guards. They uncover a plot by the union boss (Robert Loggia) to steal a lot of money and set out to foil the crime. It’s a simple plot, but it was a comedy made in the 80s so no one noticed.

I love this movie because with SCTV writers and talent at the helm, this comedy comes off way smarter than it should but has its share of slapstick and even some stupid humor that makes it work. The plot holes are glaring but the laughs are enough to fill most of them in. Plus, this isn’t an award-winning film, so there’s only so much you can expect.

Most Valuable Actor: The key to this film is John Candy as Frank Dooley, not because of the character was written but because of how Candy brings him to life. Many overweight comedic actors seem to set themselves up as a two-dimensional person–the doofy guy who messes up and then gets sad when people make fun. Candy was always different, tempering that clumsy stereotype with a quiet dignity and sense of himself that elevated him to a leading man. That’s probably why he is one of my favorite actors.

Trailer:

Analyze This / Analyze That

Starring Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, and Lisa Kudrow
Directed by Harold Ramis
Years: 1999 & 2002 (respectively)
Analyze This: IMDB / Wikipedia
Analyze That: IMDB / Wikipedia

I have been known to be frugal. When I began collecting movies I had one rule: I only buy what I’ve already seen and loved. When a friend of mine came to me raving about this movie and how it was an unsuspecting comedy classic, I had to listen. This is a guy who doesn’t get excited about movies (music is his bag) so to hear this I was immediately intrigued. Since this was in the days before Netflix, and I’m not a fan of renting movies, I decided to take the plunge and buy a DVD of a movie I had never seen. Besides, Best buy had it on sale one day.

To this day, I feel I broadened my horizons making the purchase. This movie is an outstanding example of how you can take a unique idea, load it with cliches, and still make something funny, witty, and original. I never thought I would write such a thing, but it’s true.

The story centers on gangster Paul Vitti (De Niro) and a psychiatrist, Ben Sobel (Crystal) whose paths cross when Vitti starts having panic attacks. Sobel reluctantly takes Vitti on as a patient after he learns his life may be in danger but is unaware at the lengths Vitti will go to get treatment and what kind of danger Sobel will be introduced to along the way. It’s funny, it’s vulgar, and it’s everything a movie about a mobster in therapy should be.

Then, a few years later, a sequel was made. This was during the time when Hollywood was making unnecessary sequels to movies (I think we all would like to forget The Whole Ten Yards) so I didn’t know what to expect. I know De Niro and Crystal have each made their own respective crappy movies, and following up a film like Analyze This could only spell disaster.

I remember watching Analyze That for the first time and thinking it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t anything to get excited about. Re-watching it the other day gave me a whole new appreciation for the movie. It re-hashed jokes from the original but did so in a thoughtful way. It had a more complex storyline than most comedies should. Plus, there was a sense of bullshit in the air about the entire plot but that only added to the humor and the playful nature of the film. It was a well-crafted story, delightfully acted, and well-written–so many sequels should be so lucky.

And then I step back and look at these movies as a package. Was a door left open for another sequel? I don’t think so. Thought Hollywood screenwriters can pull any sort of plausible plot extension out of their collective ass to create sequel foundations, it’d be hard to do it here and I think that’s why I enjoyed That so much. You know when you see a movie and, at the end the door is left wide open for a sequel, it makes the movie seem incomplete? I didn’t get that here with either movie. The first movie can stand on its own and the second is a welcomed and unlabored extension. It is refreshing to see this kind of movie collection come out when the demand for sequels, prequels, remakes, reimaginings, and reboots are so trendy these days. Keep it simple and, if I go fag, you die.

Most Valuable Actor: the late Joe Viterelli as Jelly, Vitti’s loyal man who delivers many of the best lines in the movies. his character is set up to be the slow gangster sidekick but he turns out to be a very complex character thanks in no small part to Viterelli’s acting ability.

Trailer (Analyze This):

Trailer (Analyze That):

21 Jump Street

Starring Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, and Ice Cube
Directed by Peter Lord and Chris Miller
Year: 2012
IMDB / Wikipedia

Every now and then, I will find it necessary to break protocol to tend to my extremely large Netflix queue. This is one of those times. 

There are certain expectations made in the mind of a movie-goer when they watch a trailer or TV spot for a movie. Those trailers and commercials that are well done will not only convey the generalized plot of the film but also the tone of the film. Sometimes this is done well while other times very very poorly.

Coming into this film I expected a comedy-action cop film on the same level as the Billy Crystal/Gregory Hines buddy cop movie Running Scared. What I got was an attempt to make a buddy cop movie in the style of Starsky & Hutch (read: unfunny) but insanely more vulgar. The laughs were there but the story failed to satisfy.

My major complaint about the film was the relationship between the two characters. Schmidt (Hill) was a smart but insecure and awkward high school loser while Jenko (Tatum) was a dim but popular jock meet several years later when they join the police academy. Schmidt knows the procedural and law facts while Jenko is an ace on the firing range and the obstacle course. They decide to team up to make it through the academy together and become friends along the way. Though a believable series of events, the amount of screen time dedicated to establishing this story was as long as it took to read this paragraph, which made it seem contrived and very loose.

From there, the story treads on some familiar ground with the television series but the similarities are only skin deep. This movie is a farcical take on the dramatic show and, while there are some laughs and some goofy parts, to link them together is a real stretch.

The plot of a new synthetic drug going through a local high school and infiltrating the popular cliques to find the suppliers and dealers is well woven, but it seemed like the comedy and the plot were taking turns realizing themselves on screen and never really harmonizing. Even the motifs of friendship, trust, and finding yourself is muddled and not enough screen time is dedicated to fleshing out any one of them. It seemed like the studio gave them a hard minute-count to stick to and they tried their best to cram all they could into that time which ended up being a big waste.

In the end, this movie will be remembered for a few great one-liners (“Fuck you, Science!“) but weak as far as everything else is concerned. Even the ending and the eventual supplier was contrived and mostly spoiled by many of the trailers. However, if you have a couple of hours and want to take a chance give it a shot. You may end up liking it more than I did.

Most Valuable Actor: Channing Tatum did a great job playing … himself? His persona in real life is much like his character (and that’s probably why he was selected for the role) but the character was essential for the perpetuation of the movie. Jonah hill did a good job trying to play the lead and the guy who finally fits in at high school 10 years later but it was Tatum’s vulnerability as the guy who was truly still clutching to the past that made the dynamic between Jenko and Schmidt plausible. Not an Oscar-worthy performance but enough to make me respect him.

Trailer (Red Band – NSFW):