Movie Review Hop

Hop (2011) 

Directed by Tim Hill

Written by Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio, Brian Lynch 

Starring Russell Brand, James Marsden, Hugh Laurie, Gary Cole, Kaley Cuoco, Elizabeth Perkins

Release Date April 1st, 2011

Published April 1st, 2011

"Hop" is yet another example of a movie that is more ideal than it is a story. The idea: What if the Easter Bunny ran away to Hollywood and met a struggling schlub who always wanted to be the Easter Bunny himself? Now, while that is a potentially funny and strange idea, the makers of "Hop" seem to have stopped at coming up with the premise.

Russell Brand as the Easter Bunny

"Hop" stars the voice of Russell Brand as E.B, a young rabbit destined to become the Easter Bunny. But, E.B he doesn't want to be the Easter Bunny. E.B's dad (voice of House star Hugh Laurie) is passing the job to him after years of being the Easter Bunny himself. E.B however, dreams of being a drummer in a band and with his dream in mind, he runs away to Hollywood.

Running parallel to E.B's story is that of Fred O'Hare (James Marsden) who is living with his parents (Gary Cole and Elizabeth Perkins) after being fired from his job. Fred has no direction or ambition until his sister (Big Bang Theory's Kaley Kuoco) gives him an opportunity to house sit at a glorious Hollywood mansion.

David Hasselhoff is not funny

That's when Fred meets E.B and, to no one's surprise, E.B begins shaking up Fred's life, causing trouble wherever the two of them go. Fred is a good sport however, and he does take E.B to an audition for a TV talent show hosted by the egregiously unfunny David Hasselhoff.

I will stop there with the 'plot' description as the rest is relatively predictable nonsense. "Hop" was directed by Tim Hill who brought the same eccentric chaos to the first "Alvin and the Chipmunks" movie and the second 'Garfield' movie. To Mr. Hill's credit he has become very competent at incorporating animated characters and human characters.

Set ups, gags and no story

If only Mr. Hill had the same attention to story detail as he does to animated ones. Sadly, Mr. Hill, along with the several screenwriters on "Hop," neglected the story in favor of setting up and paying off gags that could be described as hit and miss if I wanted to be generous. There are far more misses than hits in the gags of "Hop."

The biggest problem with "Hop" is that it is a premise and not a movie. The creators of "Hop" invented an idea about the Easter Bunny in the real world and then invented some gags to play against that premise but nothing that ever coheres into a well told and meaningful story.

Why see Hop when you could see Rango

Kids might enjoy the colorful animation and I know a few adults who just like the sounds of Russell Brand and Hugh Laurie's accents, but these are not the kinds of pleasures that a critic can recommend you spend your hard earned money on. I especially cannot recommend a movie like "Hop" when "Rango" is in theaters. "Rango" is a movie that does more to earn the price of a ticket in the opening credits than "Hop" does in its entire 90 plus minute run time.

Movie Review Pineapple Express

Pineapple Express (2008) 

Directed by David Gordon Green 

Written by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg 

Starring Seth Rogen, James Franco, Gary Cole, Rosie Perez, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Bill Hader

Release Date August 6th, 2008 

Published August 5th, 2008

Pineapple Express is arguably the Citizen Kane of stoner movies. In this tiny comedic sub-genre there is little competition to overcome, nevertheless this witty, oddly violent pot comedy squeezes more laughs out of its stoner heroes than 2 Harold and Kumar movies combined. That is likely because of the behind the scenes all star team involved.

The guys behind Superbad and Knocked Up, writer, actor Seth Rogen, his writing partner Evan Goldberg and producer Judd Apatow combine their talent for stoners with a heart of gold with the tremendous directorial skill of indie veteran David Gordon Green to create a stoner comedy that, at the very least, is better than any of the stoner comedies to come before it.

Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) is a pot smoking, talk radio loving, process server who spends his time in costume delivering subpoenas for a living while really living for his next hit. Dale's dealer is Saul (James Franco) a sweet, good natured drug dealer who thinks Dale is his friend when in reality, they wouldn't know each other if Saul didn't sell pot.

Saul has just come into possession of some new weed called Pineapple Express. It is supposed to be grown in such a unique way that it actually gets you higher than any other pot in existence. Saul sells some to Dale who is unfortunately smoking it in front of the home of another drug dealer, Ted Jones (Gary Cole), when he witnesses the dealer kill a man.

Leaving behind his rare weed, Dale is convinced that the joint can be used to find Saul and if they find Saul, that would lead to finding him. And he's right. Ted and a corrupt police officer, played by Rosie Perez, identify the weed and go after Saul who goes on the run with Dale and well, a whole lot of stuff happens and a whole lot of stuff gets smoked.

Pineapple Express is the rare comedy that zigs when you think it will zag. Unpredictability is the film's hallmark as instead of just bumbling through a series of gags, director David Gordon Green goes for edgy comedic violence and often leaves your jaw dropped with it. Some of the violence is painfully funny, some of it is shocking but all of it serves the purposes of the plot that propels from one entertaining scene to the next.

Seth Rogen and James Franco make for a terrific comic team. Exhibiting the kind of male bonded performance that is now the hallmark of the Apatow brand of comedy, Pineapple Express has given rise to the term Bromance to describe the extraordinarily close yet platonic bond between two male best friends. Rogen and Franco do everything short of make out to demonstrate how much they care about each other and the more they push the line, the funnier it gets.

Pineapple Express doesn't reach the comedic highs of Superbad or Knocked Up but as stoner comedies go, it doesn't get much better than this. Terrifically funny, surprising and shockingly violent, Pineapple Express never goes where you expect it to. Rogen, Apatow and now David Gordon Green are at the forefront of modern comedy and now with Pineapple Express they can continue to write their own ticket in Hollywood.

Write it, roll it up and smoke it, if they want to.

Movie Review: Breach

Breach (2007) 

Directed by Billy Ray

Written by Adam Mazer 

Starring Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Laura Linney, Dennis Haysbert, Caroline Dhavernas, Gary Cole

Release Date February 16th, 2007 

Published February 17th, 2007

Robert Hanssen was America's leading expert in Russian counter-intelligence. When communism fell it was because of guys like Hanssen whose fluency in how the Russians conducted intelligence and counterintelligence helped topple Moscow. So how does a man so proud and outwardly patriotic become the greatest traitor since Benedict Arnold? That is one of two stories that unfold in the new movie Breach from director Billy Ray the young auteur behind Shattered Glass.

When agent Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe) was assigned to be the assistant to veteran agent Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper) he was told that this could be his opportunity to earn his way into becoming a full fledged agent. It was not because Hanssen was a 30 plus year veteran whose experience would be a great learning experience for O'Neill. Rather, this was a test of the young agents spy mettle.

Eric was chosen to watch over Hanssen whom he is told is a sexual deviant and thus susceptible to blackmail by foreign agents. Choosing a more veteran agent to watch Hanssen would arouse suspicion, so it's up to the. Little did Eric know, there was far more to this new detail than just sexual deviancy. He has actually been dropped right into the middle of the biggest internal FBI scandal in history.

Breach directed by Bill Ray, the man behind the Stephen Glass expose Shattered Glass, is a brisk exciting drama that tells the story of Robert Hanssen with an icy, quicksilver pacing that never rushes but never pauses too long either. The spycraft is formal and by the book, made exciting by the hard work of the actors and the terrific staging.

Chris Cooper shows once again why he is the preeminent character actor in the business. His Robert Hanssen is a constipated family man who is constantly fed up with just about everything. Everyone around him is regarded as a fool and he does not suffer fools kindly. The explanation for his treachery may just be an overall frustration with the people around him. He wants the system to conform to his idea of efficiency and when it doesn't he decides to goose the system by subverting it.

Ryan Phillippe continues to choose smart roles. His career track started as that of a teen idol after 1999's Cruel Intentions. Thankfully, brooding, handsome type was not the career he wanted and while his choices, from the cool underappreciated Way of the Gun to Antitrust to Crash, have been spotty, he has been good even in his most off-kilter role.

In Breach Phillippe plays a naive worker bee very well and his character grows up quickly. Initially all confusion and ambition his Eric O'Neill toughens up quickly and is able to use his naivete as a perfect wedge against the always suspicious Hanssen.

Breach is a breathtaking, fast paced story, exceptionally well told by director Billy Ray. There is not an ounce of fat on this story, every detail, from Hanssen's religious convictions to O'Neill's relationship with his wife played by the wonderful Catherine Davernas, it all pays off in a way. The crisp, efficient storytelling is aided by exceptional performances by Phillippe and Cooper and an extraordinary group of supporting players.

Laura Linney, Gary Cole and Dennis Haysbert bring expert skill to the roles of Hanssen's investigators. Linney is especially good as the strong willed lead investigator Kate Burroughs who made the tough call to put the kid O'Neill in with the veteran Hanssen. Icy and workmanlike, Burroughs hard nosed investigation was going on for two years before she brought in O'Neill as a last ditch effort to catch Hanssen in the act.

The person in charge of capturing the suspected mole before Hanssen was identified? Hanssen himself, something Burroughs is very aware of.

Taut, invigorating storytelling, Breach is the kind of thriller that excites with dazzling intellectual storytelling. Director Billy Ray may not be much of a visual stylist but he more than makes up for it with his ear for smart dialogue and his instinct for telling his story in a compact, quick witted way. The pace of the storytelling never outdoing the development of the characters, Breach unfolds the greatest failure in American intelligence history in the most entertaining way imaginable.

Movie Review One Hour Photo

One Hour Photo (2002) 

Directed by Mark Romanek

Written by Mark Romanek 

Starring Robin Williams, Michael Vartan, Connie Nielsen, Gary Cole, Eriq LaSalle 

Release Date August 21st, 2002 

Published August 20th, 2002 

Director Mark Romanek cut his teeth on music videos for artists like Lenny Kravitz, Madonna, and En Vogue. Especially memorable was the video he directed for Fiona Apple's "Criminal." A controversial video with Fiona and others in varying states of undress, the video had an atmosphere that dripped with sexuality. In the "Criminal" video, Romanek used everything from costumes to the set's retro-seventies green carpet to create an atmosphere at once familiar but also forbidden.

Atmosphere is what makes Romanek's second feature film--his previous work was 1985's Static--One Hour Photo, a creepy glimpse inside the mind of the most mundane madman the screen has ever seen.

Robin Williams stars as Sy the Photo Guy, as his customers at the retail store SavMart call him. Sy is an affable photo shop employee who is overly dedicated to the quality of his customers' photos. He has worked in the photo shop long enough to know the names and addresses of his regular customers and through their photos he knows even more than they would want him to. 

There is a very effective scene early on where Sy, the narrator, introduces us to some of his regular customers including amateur porn guy--maybe the only guy creepier than Sy himself. Sy's favorite customers are the Yorkin family. Stay at home mom Nina (Connie Nielsen), 9 year old Jakob, and Will (Michael Vartan). As the film develops (bad pun) Sy's obsession with the Yorkin's grows.

What sounds like a typical suspense thriller setup is played much more simply. Romanek allows the story to unravel at its own pace. This gives Williams the opportunity to reveal his character in more unique and interesting ways than your average thriller usually does. Williams seizes every opportunity to make Sy more vulnerable and almost innocent, which makes him so much scarier. You don't sympathize with Sy, but he earns your pity easily. I really liked the way Williams and Romanek conveyed Sy's sense of feeling that he was doing the right thing, Sy never seems to rationalize what he does because he doesn't think he has to.

As great as Williams is in One Hour Photo, for me the film is all about Romanek, who crafts a film of both visual and intellectual depth. Romanek employs these sensational tracking shots of Sy walking down these sterile hallways and perfectly assembled shelves at SavMart, all of it with the camera trained on Sy's determined, creepy stare.

Also effective is the score, which seems, at times, to be running through Sy's head. The rhythm of the score seems at times to match Sy's emotion. An early scene that takes the camera inside the inner workings of a film-developing machine is like a trip inside Sy's mind. Even the things that Sy watches on television however mundane they are seem to dovetail with what Sy is thinking. All of it creates an atmosphere that has not been so well-evoked since the days of Hitchcock.

Others have said that the film is told in flashback as Sy explains what happened to a detective played by Eriq Lasalle. I have a different take. I think Sy was running all that happened back in his own mind. He never told the police anything, except at the end, when he hints at what motivated the actions that the police already know about.

While the ending is somewhat unsatisfactory, attempting to explain why Sy does what he does demystifies him too much. Nonetheless, One Hour Photo Is an awesome film with visuals that should be used in film schools as a teaching tool. This is one of the year's best films.

Movie Review Talladega Nights The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Talladega Nights The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) 

Directed by Adam McKay 

Written by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay 

Starring Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Sacha Baron Cohen, Amy Adams, Gary Cole, Leslie Bibb

Release Date August 4th, 2006 

Published August 3rd, 2006 

Will Ferrell struggled through 2005 with a pair of potential blockbusters that went belly up. Kicking And Screaming and Bewitched were Ferrell's attempt to solidify his star status outside the auspices of his frat pack pals Vince Vaughn and the Wilson brothers and they failed. With his first effort of 2006 Ferrell returns to safer territory. Under the guidance of his Anchorman director Adam McKay, Ferrell gets back in the comedic driver seat in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

Using their Anchorman formula, McKay and Ferrell simply adapt Anchorman to the Nascar track. Take an arrogant simpleton seemingly on top of the world. Pull the rug out from under him and then watch as he crawls back to the top as improvised comic madness rains all around him. Some may fault the formulaic approach but you can't deny that this formula works.

Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) is the number one driver in all of Nascar. His risky style has him finishing first or crashing the car and not finishing at all. With the help of his teammate Cal Jr (John C. Reilly), Ricky Bobby's place in the winner circle every week is assured. That is, until the arrival of the French formula one champion Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen) who arrives gunning for Ricky Bobby.

In their first showdown, Girard gets the best of Ricky when Ricky is involved in a major crash. The aftermath of the crash has Ricky thinking he is paralyzed and leads to his being unable to drive fast anymore. Can Ricky get over his fears, get back in the car and win at Talladega again or will he be delivering pizzas on a huffy bike the rest of his life.

That is what passes as a plot for a plot in Talladega Nights though plotting is not something director Adam McKay and star Will Ferrell are all that interested in. Working from a script left open for much improv, the point of Talladega Nights is crafting gag after gag after gag. Some of the gags don't work, many more do work and produce big, big laughs. In particular watch out for Will Ferrell improvising a unique dinner blessing and Ferrell's inspired reaction to his harrowing 'fiery' crash.

The talented cast of Talladega Nights, lead by Ferrell, Reilly and Cohen and backed up more than ably by Michael Clarke Duncan, Jane Lynch and Gary Cole, turns out some terrifically inspired moments of sheer goofiness and energetic weirdness. Much of the humor is based on what must have been hours of improvisation.

If there is one problem with the cast it's with the film's use of Oscar nominee Amy Adams. Hired to play Ferrell's secondary love interest, Adams is introduced early on and then abandoned. She returns but not until the third act and even then is limited to one terrifically eccentric monologue. There is no question from this monologue that Adams can hang with this terrific troop of improv actors but it seems that much of her role is on the cutting room floor.

Talladega Nights is deeply flawed as a typical three act film. The story arc is weak and the storytelling is disjointed. But, none of that really matters once you accept that all of this goofiness isn't really a movie as much as it is a series of gags. Some of these gags are funny, some are very funny and some fall flatter than a blown tire.

Sacha Baron Cohen has star potential rolling off his every mangled syllable. His upcoming comedy Borat, based on a character from his HBO show The Ali G Show, is generating big buzz. Talladega Nights is an excellent introduction of his talent for weird accents and highly eccentric characters. Watching Cohen and Ferrell riff back and forth, Cohen with his astonishingly incomprehensible French accent and Ferrell with his simpleton's twang, in several confrontational scenes is pure comic gold that, no doubt, left plenty of material for a DVD worth of improv riffs, some of which you can see over the films credits.

In a cast filled with scene stealers Gary Cole nearly walks away with the entire picture as Ricky's no good, low down, drug dealing, car racing daddy Reese Bobby. Known more for his buttoned down simps, Bill Lumberg in Office Space or the Vice President on The West Wing, Cole shows a surprising talent for being a dirtbag. With a beer in his hand, a twang in his voice, and clothes that almost stink through the screen, Cole is pitch perfect as a redneck deadbeat.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby is very funny as a series of Nascar based improv skits. As a movie it's a disjointed, often ridiculous exercise in plot mechanics and minor melodrama. I found the film left a lot to be desired in terms of great filmmaking but that is a minor concern when a movie makes me laugh as much as I laughed during Talladega Nights.

Movie Review: The Ring 2

The Ring 2 (2005) 

Directed by Hideo Nakata

Written by Ehren Kruger 

Starring Naomi Watts, Simon Baker, David Dorfman, Elizabeth Perkins, Gary Cole and Sissy Spacek 

Release Date March 18th 2005 

Published March 17th, 2005 

When The Ring was released in 2002 and became a nationwide sensation with 129 million in box office sales and there was no doubt that there would be a sequel.  Hell, the Japanese version of the film spawned multiple sequels so there was even material from which to borrow for a new movie if necessary.  The real question was whether the story they told in the sequel would matter to viewers, not that it mattered much to marketers who had the poster mocked and approved on The Ring's second weekend atop the box office. Unfortunately there is no more story worth telling, or if there is the producers of Ring Two failed to locate it.

A quick recap of the original concept: The Ring was founded on the idea of a crazy looking videotape that, when viewed, left the viewer with seven days to live. A girl trapped in a well used the supernatural powers of the videotape to escape and claim anyone who watched the tape. Naomi Watts starred in The Ring as a journalist named Rachel who saw the tape while searching out a story about the urban legend surrounding it, a legend that may have claimed the life of her young niece.

Rachel is back in Ring Two with her preternaturally creepy son Aiden (David Dorfman). The two have escaped the tape's supernatural curse by running off to a small town somewhere in Oregon where Rachel has taken a job as a reporter for a small town paper run by Max (Simon Baker). How location could prevent a supernatural being from finding victims is a logical question that the film fails to address, among many other failures in logic and works of luck and chance that would be forgivable were they not so numerous.

Unfortunately for Rachel and Aiden, the tape has been traveling with a new legend attached to it. Teens are passing it around under the pretense that if you can get someone else to watch after you the curse is transferred from you to them. This theory fails a teenager who tries to pass it off on an unsuspecting girl. This is in the opening ten minutes and for some reason is the last time in the film we will hear about the killer video.

From there the film changes the supernatural elements, losing the videotape and randomly deciding that Samara, the killer chick in the video, can attack by possessing Aiden, Exorcist style. This leads Rachel back to that well in the basement of Samara's house and to Samara's real mother, an institutionalized woman played by Sissy Spacek. None of this leads to any satisfying conclusion though to the film's credit there is no overt set up for another sequel.

Ring 2 is shockingly bad. Truly shocking considering the talent of director Hideo Tanaka whose original Ringu is terrifically stylish and suspenseful. Ring director Gore Verbinski skated by in the original by being visually inventive and taking advantage of the films unique premise. Ring 2 abandons the original premise and even much of the strong visual aspects, replacing them with what amounts to a series of rip-offs of other horror movies.

Ring 2 is the perfect example of what I have called 'sequelitis.' It's a film that exists solely as a concept, a poster, a series of demographic marketing numbers and never anything resembling a real film.