Movie Review Air

Air (2023) 

Directed by Ben Affleck 

Written by Alex Convery 

Starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Viola Davis, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker 

Release Date April 5th, 2023 

Published April 7th, 2023 

Air takes advantage of the collective nostalgia of sports fans of the 1990s. It's a powerful force that alters our critical thinking and places in a welcomg headspace regardless of our critical faculties. Thus how we get a movie about corporate titans, literal billionaires, becomes a shaggy underdog narrative about overcoming the odds. Never mind that Nike always had the means to land Michael Jordan and make him the global brand he became, it's more compelling to pretend that they had no chance and were some kind of upstart in an industry they'd made a billion dollars in in just a decade of existence. 

Our culturewide nostalgia for what Michael Jordan represents leaves us willing to center a story about the triumph of a black entrepreneur that is centered on the success of the white men who proved capable of seeing his worth and willing to bend their profits to his will. Yes, there was still plenty of stakes in 1984 and there was always the chance that Michael Jordan could have gotten hurt or developed a disinterest in greatness, but we know that didn't happen and that fact makes this story much easier to be nostalgic about. 

The makers of Air are aware of the issues we are bringing with us into seeing Air. The film is aware that Nike is the weird cult of a billionaire's personality. The filmmakers are aware that they are taking a story of black excellence and centering it on a group of white men, Nike was well aware that they were seeking athletes they could exploit for financial gain that would mostly go to the white men exploiting them. The film pitches these problems in dialogue and bats them away by telling you a pretty good story about charismatic characters in a complicated and fast paced fashion. Does this excuse the sins involved? No, not in the least, but there is no denying the entertainment value of our blinding nostalgia. 

Matt Damon stars in Air as Sonny Vaccaro, basketball guru. Hired to define the Nike Basketball brand, Vaccaro works alongside marketing guru, Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman), to find athletes willing to be paid to wear Nike basketball gear. As we join the story, it's 1984 and Nike ranks third in the world in basketball shoes. Adidas and Converse are numbers 1 and 2 and the biggest stars are making deals with them. This includes the top 3 picks in the 1984 NBA draft, Hakeem Olajuwon, Sam Bowie, and Michael Jordan. Nike has high hopes for maybe inking  a deal with someone named Mel Turpin. 

Then, late one night, Sonny Vaccaro watches Michael's legendary NCAA Tournament winning shot from the 1982 NCAA tournament championship. In that legendary video, he sees something that no one else had seen before. In Sonny estimation, Michael Jordan, then a Freshman, was actually the first choice to make this game winning shot. Of all the stars at the disposal of legendary College Basektball coach Dean Smith, he chose to draw up a play that relied on Michael Jordan to make the most important shot. On top of that, Jordan appears unafraid of this kind of pressure, he's calm and he confidently hits a shot that hundreds of other players might not have the nerve to make. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Horrible Bosses 2

Horrible Bosses 2 (2014) 

Directed by Sean Anders

Written by Sean Anders, John Morris 

Starring Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Jamie Foxx, Chris Pine 

Release Date November 26th, 2014 

Published November 25th, 2014

Streaming on HBO Max 

“Horrible Bosses 2″ is a strange experience. While it was happening I laughed and it seemed to be working. I step away from it however,  and time is unkind. “Horrible Bosses 2″ unravels like a homemade Christmas sweater when placed under a critical eye.

Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day are back in the roles of Nick, Curt and Dale and out from under the yoke of their horrible bosses that they attempted to kill in the 2011 original. Striking out on their own they have an invention that they hope will make them their own Bosses. Unfortunately, though the product does attract financiers, our heroes’ business instincts leave them in the hole and forced once again to extreme measures.

2 time Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz is the big bad Boss this time who quickly hoodwinks the trio out of their invention. Waltz’s Bert Hanson takes little time outwitting our heroes leading to the scheme that is the center point of the film: kidnapping Hanson’s son Rex (Chris Pine) in hopes to score enough ransom to save the company and the dream of not having a boss.

Starring Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, Jamie Foxx, Chris Pine, Jennifer Aniston and Christoph Waltz

Energy is the main reason why “Horrible Bosses 2″ works in the moment but does not sustain itself in memory. The laughs that the film generates come from the immediate energy with which Bateman, Sudeikis, Day and Pine interact. Each segment of “Horrible Bosses 2″ plays out the same way: a scene begins with one character introducing a plot point and then the other actors riff on it until things get loud enough for Bateman to throw cold water on the whole thing as the straight man.

Scene after scene in “Horrible Bosses 2″ plays out in the exact same fashion and eventually the law of diminishing returns kicks in. As a change up, the third act turns nasty with an unexpected murder and the return to the plot of Jennifer Aniston’s sexpot and Jamie Foxx’s hustler each to lesser levels of excitement and humor.

I’m being hard on “Horrible Bosses 2″ and yet I really did laugh a lot during the movie. Bateman, Sudeikis and Day can’t help but be funny together and the obvious freedom they have to invent their dialogue allows them to bounce off each other in the colorful and familiar fashion of real friends.

Those interactions however, even as they are funny in the moment, don’t have a lasting quality. Nothing about “Horrible Bosses 2″ resonates long after you see it. The energy of the moment dissipates quickly after the movie ends and what remains is the vague memory of laughs and some of the nastier parts of the plot that failed to enhance the humor.

Movie Review Juno

Juno (2007) 

Directed by Jason Reitman

Written by Diablo Cody

Starring Elliott Page, Jason Bateman, J.K Simmons, Allison Janney, Jennifer Garner, Michael Cera

Release Date December 5th, 2007

Published December 4th 2007

We've seen movies with smart ass motormouths and quick to quip teens. What separates Juno from characters of our recent, acerbic past is a performance by Ellen Page that simply rings truer than other similar performances. Page's Juno plays like a real teenage who happens to be savvier than most of the people she meets.  

Juno (Elliot Page) is just 16 but she has that typically movie worldliness that seems so rare in real life. Quick with a quip, Juno's wit belies a vulnerability that comes out when forced to confront her real feelings for her good friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). Juno and Paulie had danced around their feelings for each other in typical teenage gamesmanship until one night when each took things further than expected.

The sex was the kind that teenagers often experience, fumbling yet transformative on an emotional level. There is no real sex scene in Juno but visual and verbal allusions tell us all we need to know about the encounter. More important to the movie is the result of the brief encounter, Juno is pregnant.

Now she must tell her parents, Dad Mac (J.K Simmons) and stepmother Bren (Allison Janney) are both relieved and disappointed. The relief is that Juno hasn't been arrested or expelled from school, their initial suspicions when Juno when Juno sat them down for a talk. Their disappointment, typically parental, are concerns about her future and that of the unexpected grandchild.

After a brief flirtation with the big A, Juno is put off by a lone protester who tells her her baby already has fingernails, leads Juno to a more unique solution. The local Nickel Saver flyer has real advertisements for couples seeking babies. There Juno finds Mark (Jason Bateman) and Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) a well to do yuppie suburban couple who seem like the perfect fit.

Looks are deceiving however as Juno bonds with Mark, a frustrated musician turned jingle writer, who longs for the days when it was just him and his band and his music. Meanwhile baby fevered Vanessa puts off all around her with her baby preparations and constant nervousness over whether Juno will actually give up the child.

Writer Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman wring some real surprises out of these characters whose lives unfold in a most unique and engaging manner. Holding it all together is Page's Juno whose vulnerability behind the quick witted bravado is the heart of the picture.

Page more than deserves the Oscar nomination she was recently rewarded with. The layers she brings to what could have been an overly familiar, too smart for her own good, teenage adult are quite surprising. The acerbic teen in movies more often than not sounds like a mini-adult with the writers of Seinfeld whispering in their ears. Juno too is quick with the quip but somehow Elliott Page makes it feel real.

She is aided greatly by a skilled supporting cast; that seem just the type of people who could bring about a personality like Juno. J.K Simmons as Juno's dad may not be hip and his wit is not as cutting as his daughters but his befuddled skepticism and earnest curiosity give a definite idea of where Juno came from. Especially when it's combined with the no nonsense toughness and good heartedness of Juno's stepmom played brilliantly by Allison Janney.

And then there is the exceptional Michael Cera who captures the awkwardness of youth like few actors we've ever seen. His Paulie is quirky and weird and clumsy but true hearted and in love with Juno whether she is willing to see it or not. The relationship is a near perfect depiction of teenage love, unlike anything we've seen before.

Juno and Paulie are not Dawson's Creek characters who say all the right things all the time or seem understanding beyond their years. This is how real teenagers express their love with metaphoric hair pulling and subtext filled bickering because they can't express or understand their true feelings. The love is clumsy and faltering and so very true.

It is at once astonishing and not all that surprising that all involved are so very young. For director Jason Reitman Juno is only a second feature. This is writer Diablo Cody's screen debut and for star Elliot Page, they are  almost a veteran appearing in their third feature outing following the well reviewed indie Hard Candy and the big budget actioner X-Men: The Last Stand.

It is their youth that invigorates Juno and gives the film its truth. They know these characters and this situation because they are so very close to them in terms of experience and age. Youthful exuberance is what enlivens the whole of Juno and makes it such a pleasure to behold.

I would be remiss if I did not also praise the soundtrack of Juno, so sadly overlooked by Oscar. The music of Juno is integral to the drama without ever overshadowing it. Nor does the music act as Greek chorus, Reitman and music supervisor Peter Afterman make near perfect use of both classic pop/alternative and newer music from bands like Belle and Sebastian and The Moldy Peaches.

The Peaches song "Anyone Else But You" provides one of the years great music moments, a coda to the film perfect in it's subtlety.

Movie Review The Change Up

The Change Up (2011) 

Directed by David Dobkin 

Written by Jon Lucas, Scott Moore

Starring Jason Bateman, Ryan Reynolds, Leslie Mann, Olivia Wilde

Release Date August 5th, 2011

Published August 5th, 2011 

Body switching comedies were all the rage in the 1980's. Back then George Burns became Charlie Schlatter, Judge Reinhold became Fred Savage and Dudley Moore became Kirk Cameron. Why anyone would think they could improve out on that genre gold is beyond me and yet, we have The Change Up in which Ryan Reynolds become Jason Bateman and vice versa.

Dave (Bateman) is a family man who's grown tired of his routine of diaper changes and no sex with his beautiful wife Jamie (Leslie Mann). Mitch (Reynolds) is an overgrown child who sleeps with any woman who looks at him and spends his days getting high when he isn't acting in softcore porn movies.

When the two life long friends get together for a beer and a game they end up confessing how they envy each other's lives. Unfortunately, they happen to be urinating in a magic fountain when they make their mutual confessions and the next morning they wake up with their bodies switched.

Now, Dave has to pray Mitch can go do his job at his law firm well enough to secure his promotion to partner while not neglecting his life at home with Jamie and their three kids including twin babies. Mitch, meanwhile, has nothing whatsoever at stake for Dave to screw up save for his regular Tuesday night sex-fest which Dave refuses to honor for reasons that you must experience for yourself.

The Change Up was directed by David Dobkin the director of The Wedding Crashers, a film that brought a little bit of heart to a very R-rated premise. Dobkin attempts to bring the same amount of heart and low brow humor to The Change Up but it simply doesn't work; Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds lack the magical chemistry of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson.

The problem is the character of Mitch who is such an unredeemable dirtbag he makes it impossible to care about his story arc. We are invited to empathize with him but we are never given a good reason to actually offer that empathy. It's hard to feel sorry for a guy whose biggest problem is a bad relationship with his father; played by Alan Arkin, a bad relationship that is clearly his own fault.

The R-Rated gags of The Change Up are kind of funny here and there; especially funny is Reynolds who finds himself in the worst possible situations with women. After the body switch poor Dave has to avoid cheating on his wife with one of Mitch's women and has to fight off sex with Olivia Wilde, which is a Herculean task.

I'm not going to tell you that The Change Up isn't funny; there are a number of big laughs spread throughout the film. The problem is a story that requires you to sympathize with a character, Mitch, who is not sympathetic and who, when played by Bateman, is an idiot and a jerk without being a funny idiot jerk.

Movie Review Sol Goode

Sol Goode (2001) 

Directed by Danny Comden

Written by Danny Comden

Starring Balthazar Getty, Jamie Kennedy, Jason Bateman, Cheri Oteri

Release Date March 11th, 2003 

Published March 11th, 2003 

When we were kids, my sister had a huge crush on Balthazar Getty. It was based on Getty's one big role in Young Guns 2. Since Young Guns 2, Getty has seemingly dropped off the face of the Earth, save for a cameo in Natural Born Killers and his supporting role in the dopey 50's gang flick Deuces Wild. Well as it turns out Getty has actually had quite a lucrative career starring in a few direct-to-video movies. His latest non-theatrical movie is called Sol Goode, a comedy about a slacker actor who skates on his looks while awaiting his next acting job. One wonders if there isn't an element of self-parody.

Sol Goode is a good-looking young wannabe actor living off the good will of friends and family. The film's opening credit sequence includes a montage of bimbos who are asked what they think of Sol, some like him, some loathe him. It doesn't do the picture much good that the women who loathe him come off better than the ones who like him. As we meet Sol for the first time, he turns to the camera to talk to the audience about what he likes to call P.O.D, or post orgasmic disgust. P.O.D, describes a man's feelings when he wakes up next to a woman he wishes weren't there. Charming.

What does one do when suffering from P.O.D, well of course you do the classy thing. You call a friend, in Sol's case his narcissist best friend Cooper (Danny Comden), and have that friend come over and make you believe your house is on fire and run the girl out of the house quickly. Once again, charming.

Sol has other problems, rent is due and he hasn't worked in a couple of months. His roommate Justin (Jamie Kennedy) can't afford to cover him again and Sol's unemployment benefits have run out. With no other options, Sol is forced to once again ask his parents for money. In a scene that I wish I had never seen, Sol accidentally catches his parents (Robert Wagner & Christina Pickles) having sex with his Dad dressed as a baseball umpire. Eeewwww.

From there we move from there into the film's plot which involves Sol realizing that his womanizing ways are unfulfilling as is not having a real job. So Sol decides to change and figures he is in love with his other best friend Chloe (Katherine Towne). Unfortunately for Sol, she has a crush on his cousin Happy (Jonathan Schaech). Whether Sol will convince Chloe he's changed and win her heart is the center of the plot.

From beginning to end, Sol Goode is a picture that is desperate to be considered cool. Director Danny Comden, who also wrote the screenplay and plays Cooper in the film, throws in catchphrases and gross out humor in an attempt to make the film seem edgy and hip. Unfortunately, every decision he makes is wrong.

None of the catchphrases, like P.OD, or Cooper referring to his hair as his salad(?), none of it is funny. Throw in an extremely slow, glacier-like pace and an extremely unfunny Tori Spelling and you have a painfully dull movie. And as for the film's gross out humor, if you think irritable bowel syndrome is hysterically funny then maybe Sol Goode is for you. It's certainly not for me.

Movie Review: The Switch

The Switch (2010) 

Directed by Will Speck, Josh Gordon

Written by Allan Loeb

Starring Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Patrick Wilson, Jeff Goldblum 

Release Date August 20th, 2010

Published August 19th, 2010

There is chemistry between Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman despite what you see in the new movie The Switch. In a rare few scenes of this disposable formula comedy from the Hollywood factory floor Aniston radiates warmth and Bateman shows wit and the personalities that I'm sure they thought these characters had shines through.

These scenes are all too brief and surrounded by so much tripe that I cannot recommend you bother searching for the good moments, I can merely assure you those moments really are there. The Switch buries what good there is between the two leads beneath so much banal, humorless chatter that sifting the remains becomes a dumpster dive.

The Switch stars Bateman as sadsack stock trader Wally who is in love with his best friend Kassie (Aniston) though he doesn't yet know it. Kassie doesn't know it either but only through a massive level of cluelessness. Both are in their early 40's when Kassie announces she wants a baby and will be getting an artificial insemination.

Wally is opposed to this plan, not because his best friend is aiming to become a 40 something single mom but because he's in love with her but incapable of admitting it. Thus we arrive at the title plot; at a party where Kassie will be inseminated (is this really something people do?) Wally get wasted and stumbles on the sperm, plays with the sample cup and accidentally spills it. His solution? Give a new sample. These scenes are handled with the implied level of dignity, i.e none whatsoever for poor Jason Bateman, or poorer still, Diane Sawyer. Don't ask.

Cut to 7 years later, Kassie moved to Minnesota with her new baby but is now ready to return to New York. Wally is waiting and because he doesn't remember making the switch, he doesn't know the kid, Sebastian (Thomas Robinson), is his. Oh but he will find out and then tell Kassie and well you can figure out where all of this is going.

There is a talented ensemble rounding out the cast of The Switch including veterans Juliette Lewis and the wonderful Jeff Goldblum, but sadly all are stranded in a go nowhere script by Allen Loeb and the atonal direction of Josh Gordon and Will Speck. As the actors ache to bring something more to these characters they are shredded down to essences, Wally is morose and bumbling, Kassie is shrill and clueless and everyone else is rendered unimportant, more walking exposition than characters.

Scenes arrive and thud as the characters sketch the plot points and the scene ends without anything funny happening. The dialogue is witless and the direction strips out nuance in favor of hitting imaginary points along the lines of a map toward banal, middle of the road Hollywood romance.

The Switch is more concept than movie. Jeffrey Eugenides conceived the idea for his short story The Baster which is a thoughtful if slightly depressing short story published by the New Yorker in 1996. That story involved characters who were aware of their feelings, abortion and a deep history between the characters that Eugenides manages to communicate with an economy of words that would barely add up to 3 or 4 scenes in The Switch. 

Gone is any hint of honest back-story replaced with cluelessness that becomes not a running gag as maybe it should have been but is instead one of the artificial roadblocks used to pad this story out to feature film length. The other device is Patrick Wilson as Roland the cuckold in waiting who exists only to sustain the unlikely notion that Wally and Kassie won't end up together. 

I will leave you to discover what happened in Mr. Eugenides' far superior short story; you don't need a map or a spoiler alert to intuit where things are headed in The Switch. As with any romantic comedy it's not about the destination, we know what's expected and what we all want to happen in a rom-com. The key is crafting a journey for the audience that is smart, funny and diverting enough to make the inevitable payoff worth your time. The Switch fails miserably on this front by crafting a tedious, unfunny journey. 

It's a real shame because there is a moment when Jason Bateman is watching the kid, now 6 years old, and Jennifer Aniston walks in just watches Bateman and the kid. In this moment you can see the potential and when they finally look at one another you can sense the better movie that these two talented people could have made were they not saddled with the conventions of such an insipid and typical Hollywood formula.

Movie Review The Ex

The Ex (2007) 

Directed by Jesse Peretz

Written by Michael Handelman 

Starring Zach Braff, Jason Bateman, Amanda Peet, Mia Farrow, Charles Grodin, Donal Logue, Amy Adams, Paul Rudd 

Release Date May 11th, 2007 

Published May 11th, 2007

The tortured history of the movie The Ex is almost too much to explain in this space. The film began life as a workplace comedy about four guys trying to get ahead in business. That film was called Fast Track. Somewhere along the line that film disappeared and in its ashes rose The Ex, a romantic comedy with just a touch of workplace stuff from the original script.

Gone from the movie, aside from cameos, were stars Paul Rudd and Josh Charles. In are supporting performances from Charles Grodin, acting for the first time in over a decade and former Oscar nominee Amy Adams in an absurdly small and underwritten cameo. The film was purchased by the Weinstein company and released as Fast Track back in January.

For whatever reason the film was pulled from that platform release and pushed into theaters with little fanfare five months later.

Tom (Zach Braff) is about to become a father for the first time. Unfortunately, he just lost his job. With his wife Sofia (Amanda Peet) having already given up her law practice to take care of the baby, Tom is forced to accept something he never wanted to accept. Tom must move his family back to his wife\'s hometown in Ohio where he will take a job working for her father (Charles Grodin).

The job, at a new agey marketing agency, has Tom working alongside his wife\'s ex-boyfriend Chip Sanders (Jason Bateman), a parapelegic who really has it out for Tom, likely because he still carries a torch for Sofia. Chip makes Tom\ 's work life difficult, sabotaging his presentations, stealing his ideas; and he gets away with it because of everyone\'s sympathy for his handicap. Chip hopes his devious plan will drive a wedge between Tom and Sofia.

Directed by Jesse Peretz, The Ex is an occasionally funny mess. Stars Zach Braff and Jason Bateman have a natural chemistry that makes for a few really big laughs. Those laughs however, are random and not necessarily organic to this plot. The film falls back on physical humor often to cover lapses in the plot. Thankfully, both Braff and Bateman are game physical comics, they manage to sell the silly slapstick regardless of the plot constructs.

The Ex wants to be a black comedy about an evil parapalegic. It also wants elements of lighthearted romantic comedy, and there are still elements of the workplace comedy that the film used to be. It\'s a complicated mix that is likely why the film, though often laugh out loud funny, is so disjointed and confoundingly edited.

Jason Bateman would have made a terrific villain for a Farrelly Brothers comedy about a Machiavellian paraplegic. That is sort of the character he plays in The Ex, or it would be if the film had a more consistent tone. As it is, Bateman does what he can with a one note villain role that just happens to be a guy in a wheelchair.

Zach Braff is one of the most likable comic actors working today. Those of you missing his work on TV 's Scrubs are missing the biggest laughs on any sitcom on television. In The Ex, Braff uses that likability to sell a difficult and confused plot and helps to smooth over many of the bumps created by the films tortured rewrites and reshoots.

The behind the scenes story on The Ex may likely make for a funnier dark comedy than anything that is left on the screen in The Ex. Still, this is not a terrible film. A terrific cast delivers a few pretty solid laughs and works hard to help you overlook the many odd shifts in tone and focus. Zach Braff has bigger, better and funnier movies ahead of him, while Jason Bateman is assured a future as the go to supporting actor in a comedy. Together in The Ex they turn a potential disaster into a minor, forgettable trifle.

Movie Review One Way Out

One Way Out (2002)

Directed by Allan A. Goldstein 

Written by John Salvati 

Starring Jim Belushi, Jason Bateman, Angela Featherstone 

Release Date May 29th, 2002 

Published December 9th, 2002

It doesn't happen very often but occasionally a straight-to-video title will actually start with a good concept but fail in execution. The new straight-to-video movie One Way Out starring James Belushi has an interesting concept, a story that if better executed with better acting, directing and budget, could have been a pretty good movie or at least a good episode of NYPD Blue.

In One Way Out Belushi is hotshot cop Harry Woltz, one of those "makes his own rules" rogue cops screenwriters write with their eyes closed. Harry wears designer suits, drives nice cars and has a very serious gambling problem. Harry is deep in debt to a pair of club owning gangsters. Instead of breaking Harry's legs the mob guys offer him a choice, he can pay them something in the tens of thousands or they can kill him, or he can help them kill their business partner. Why doesn't Harry simply arrest them? Because they have threatened to have their bosses kill Harry's partner if he squeals.

One thing that makes the job a little easier for Harry is he doesn't have to carry out the murder himself. The mobsters want Harry to use his knowledge of crime scene investigation to help another guy, John Farrow (Hogan Family star Jason Bateman, stop laughing I'm not kidding) the husband of the business partner, get away with murder.

So Harry and John begin to set a plan in motion that should make John the lead suspect in the murder but leave no actual evidence. The plan is actually quite fool proof as long as John holds up his end. Unfortunately for Harry, John screws up and Harry becomes more involved in the plan than he wanted to be.

Complicating matters is Harry's partner Gwen (Angela Featherstone), who has been assigned to investigate the case. With no evidence available, Gwen begins to suspect John while also falling for him. Knowing that John actually killed his wife and seeing his partner falling for a killer has Harry in a tight spot, when suddenly an anonymous phone call draws Harry into the case as an investigator and then a suspect himself.

The concept of a cop in debt to the mob helping to stage a murder isn't bad and is efficiently executed. Unfortunately director Allan A. Goldstein lacks the ability to frame the story in any interesting way. The film's biggest problem is Jason Bateman who is completely overmatched. Bateman is a joke as the master manipulator, who outwits cops with his charm and good looks. That he was cast in this role is chuckle-inducing so you can imagine how unintentionally funny the performance is.

Belushi for his part is efficient but not memorable. He hasn't done any real interesting work since the David Lynch mini series Wild Palms.

I liked the idea behind this film. Touch up the story to make it a little more dramatic and logical, recast the three leads and up the production value and you might have a pretty good movie. But this version of One Way Out is just no good.

Movie Review: Dodgeball A True Underdog Story

Dodgeball! A True Underdog Story 

Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber

Written by Rawson Marshall Thurber

Starring Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor, Justin Long, Stephen Root, Jason Bateman

Release Date June 18th, 2004

Published June17th, 2004 

USA Today has dubbed them The Frat Pack. Actors Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, Owen and Luke Wilson and Will Ferrell. Each has a tendency to appear in each other’s movies either as co-stars or in cameos. They tend to work with the same directors and writers. Most importantly they have teamed to make some of the funniest movies of the past few years. In Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, it's Vaughn and Stiller teaming up and once again the Frat Pack's brand of scatological insanity is in full effect for one very funny movie.

Vaughn stars as Peter La Fleuer, the slacker owner of a rundown little gym called Average Joe's. Peter takes a rather laid back approach to running the gym, patrons come and go as they please and pay for their memberships whenever they feel like it. It's no surprise that Peter's management now finds the gym in debt for about 50 grand in unpaid bills.

According to the bank's investigator, Kate (Christine Taylor), if Peter can't raise the cash in 30 days the gym will be sold to White Goodman (Stiller) the Napoleon-esque owner of Globo-Gym. White wants to flatten Average Joe's and turn it into a parking lot. He also wants Kate, who wants nothing to with him. despite her better judgment she is interested in Peter and his collection of wacky gym rats.

While Peter seems perfectly comfortable with closing the gym, his regulars including high school cheerleader Justin (Justin Long), obscure sports loving Gordon (Stephen Root) and Steve the Pirate (Allen Tudyk) who honestly believes he is a pirate, want to fight to save it. Their only hope is a 50,000-dollar grand prize dodgeball tournament in Las Vegas. Win the tournament and save the gym.

Of course Dodgeball is not about it's wacky tournament but the comic touches surrounding it and the hysterically over the top characters pulling it all off. First-time director Rawson Marshall Thurber is raw but knows a funny gag when sees one. The script is kind of a combination of Baseketball and a straight sports movie. Surprisingly though, there is little of the grossout humor expected of this kind of movie. Somehow the film earned a PG - 13 rating and you never would have noticed.

Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn work terrifically together with Vaughn's slacker charm balancing Stiller's manic schtick. Some have compared this Stiller dunderhead to his character in Zoolander, similar low-IQ narcissism. However when you look further back into Stiller's career to his villainous turn in the kids movie Heavyweights, you see he has played this role before. Of course the same could be said of Vaughn who perfected this likable frat boy routine in Old School.

Regardless of the character recycling Dodgeball stands on it's own as one of the funniest movies of 2004. Right up their with another Stiller -Vaughn teaming, Starsky and Hutch. As long as the movies continue to be this funny, they can recycle as much as they want.

Movie Review Hancock

Hancock (2008) 

Directed by Peter Berg 

Written by Vince Gilligan 

Starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman, Eddie Marsan

Release Date July 2nd, 2008 

Published July 1st, 2008 

It's the fourth of July weekend and that means Will Smith is back in theaters. This time the world's biggest box office draw is playing a drunken superhero with a major image problem in Hancock. Directed by Peter Berg, Hancock is not your typical Will Smith movie. Playing against type as a charisma free jerk, Will Smith is still funny and fun to watch but also slightly off.

Laying on a bus bench in Los Angeles, with liquor bottles laying at his feet, Hancock (Smith) looks like a homeless guy. However, he happens to be a superhero who makes it his business to get the bad guys and protect the innocent, regardless of the damage he does along the way. Hancock causes as much or more destruction saving lives and protecting property as the bad guys do committing their crimes.

No wonder then that the people of LA despise their superhero savior. Media savvy image consultant Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) decides he will try and change that negative image. Hancock rescued Ray when his car became trapped on railroad tracks with a train bearing down. Naturally, Hancock stopping the train may have saved Ray's life but derailing the train damaged hundreds of other cars and will no doubt cost millions in clean up and other such costs.

At Least Ray is grateful, he even invites Hancock home for dinner with his family, wife Mary (Charlize Theron) and son Aaron (Jae Head). Mary is exceptionally uncomfortable around Hancock while Aaron is the rare kid who sees Hancock as a hero. Ray makes it his goal to turn Hancock from a pariah into a hero by making people miss him. The plan involves Hancock actually going to jail for all of his destructive behavior before being sprung by the very people who put him away after they realize how much they need his help. 

Meanwhile, Mary is holding back something she knows about Hancock; a revelation that eventually becomes an important bit of plot. But the less said about that the better.   

Anyone who has read the Watchmen comics or saw Pixar's The Incredibles will recognize elements of each that combine to create Hancock. Alan Moore's Watchmen series with its jaundiced view of flawed, failing heroes no doubt informs Hancock's flawed alcoholic act. Fans of the Incredibles on the other hand will recognize a major plot point of that film where heroes were forced to give up saving the world from evil after being sued too often and blamed for the damage caused in their effort to serve and protect.

Hancock is nowhere near as special as its influences but with a terrific cast it manages to be consistently entertaining. Smith, playing against type as a charisma free jerk, manages a star performance unlike any he has delivered before. I particularly enjoyed the way Hancock dealt with his anger in ways only a superhero could.

When it comes to bringing the funny in Hancock Jason Bateman is the comic relief. Bateman's nonplussed facial reactions and wry comments on Hancock's brutish behavior are terrifically timed and quite reminiscent of his wonderfully sly Arrested Development character Michael Bluth whose constant astonishment at the depths of his family's ruthlessness was one of the great running gags in TV history.

In an interesting coincidence it was during Arrested Development that Bateman first met and sparked great chemistry with Charlize Theron. Now Theron and Bateman are together again and the chemistry remains strong. Theron's Mary is unfortunately underwritten and suffers from a mid-movie twist that seems to exist only to justify hiring an Oscar winning actress such as Ms. Theron. 

Still, despite the way Theron's Mary is treated by the plot, Theron sparks with Bateman and in a different way with Will Smith. Though you will find the plot hard to believe, Theron's penetrating gaze aimed in Smith's direction communicates a great deal of emotion without words because Ms. Theron is such a terrific actress. Unfortunately, by the fifth time she stands and stares Hancock down, you will want to scream at the screen for her to just say what she is thinking already.

Hancock is entertaining and involving if more than a little uneven and lacking in depth. There are a wealth of possibilities for a story such as this but with little care for creating believable back stories, or as the comics call'em, origin stories for the hero and his various nemeses, Hancock becomes merely a series of well planned effects and stunts and not much more.

Those effects and stunts are fun but not entirely satisfying and thus Hancock is only good and not quite great.

Movie Review State of Play

State of Play (2009) 

Directed by Kevin MacDonald 

Written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tony Gilroy, Billy Ray 

Starring Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright Penn, Jason Bateman, Jeff Daniels, Helen Mirren 

Release Date April 17th, 2002 

Published April 16th, 2002 

Some of my favorite movies of all time have featured crusading journalists. All The President's Men is, of course, the best known, but my favorite is Ron Howard's underrated The Paper. I know I am likely alone on that one but Howard's bustling newsroom filled to overflow with quirk ridden reporters and columnists makes me smile every time I watch it. Michael Keaton may be best remembered as having played Batman but for me he will always be the ink stained wretch who kept after the story even after the paper had gone to press. Randy Quaid, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall and Marisa Tomei round out a brilliant cast in a movie that dripped with ink.

Now comes State of Play, another crusading journalist story, this one with the kink of having notorious reporter hater Russell Crowe as of all things a reporter. It's a sensational piece of casting, working for the aforementioned kink and because Crowe is just so charming. What source wouldn't turn cartwheels to help this guy get a scoop.

Crowe is Cal McCaffrey, a 15 year veteran newsman at the Washington Globe. While the rest of the industry is on laptops and blogging, Cal is still all about the pen and the kind of shoe leather journalism that gets you information you could never get in an email or a Facebook posting.

McCaffrey is investigating an odd double homicide when his best friend, a Congressman named Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) suddenly comes to the center of all Washington headlines. Collins' top assistant and secret bedmate has been killed or maybe committed suicide and the Congressman is in hot water. He turns to Cal for some sympathy and boy does Cal owe him one.

You see, Cal has a history with his best pals' wife (Robin Wright Penn) and doesn't think the Congressman is going to let him forget about it. So, Cal quickly helps the Congressman with some crisis strategy and even crosses an ethical line by trying to convince one of the paper's online bloggers, Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) to not report certain details about the Congressman's affair.

Eventually, the murder Cal is covering comes to cross paths with his pals political scandal and Cal has no choice but to join the two stories and begin looking for answers. Answers about the murder, about a potential Government and Corporate conspiracy and some very uncomfortable questions about his best friend the Congressman.

Russell Crowe joined the cast of State Of Play a week before shooting began, Ben Affleck shortly after Crowe, and yet both are terrifically well cast.. Crowe is especially good, coming to perfectly embody the role of a hardscrabble reporter. With his greasy, floppy hair and a guy that says he spends all day hunched over a keyboard, Crowe owns this character and it is through him that State of Play succeeds.

Affleck is strong as well but he's much more in the background of this story than the commercials may be. Scenes where we are focused on Affleck's Congressman are arguably the weakest of the movie but that is no comment on Affleck's performance but rather of how compelling the newsroom scenes with Crowe, Rachel McAdams and the great Helen Mirren as their crusty editor are.

We are left wanting more of those scenes and are a little letdown when Crowe is offscreen so other information can be imparted.

There are some little inconsistencies in this allegedly modern newsroom. First comes with a line from McAdams about people wanting to read their big scoop stories and 'get ink on their fingers' as if the story weren't going online well ahead of the print edition. The other minor niggling detail is, really could a scandal ridden Congressman really walk into a shady hotel or even less plausibly, A Washington D.C Newsroom, without someone hitting Twitter or Facebook within seconds with the news that said scandal ridden Congressman has just walked in.

The film and the plot have neither the time or the inclination to tackle such modern technological issues. Realistically, the film doesn't have to address these things for it to be a highly entertaining popcorn thriller but someday some movie will and that movie will be the definitive movie of the modern newspaper.

State Of Play aims to pay tribute to old school journalism and tackle the modern problems plaguing modern journalism and in the performance of Russell Crowe and in an end credits montage, elements of State of Play are indeed like a Hallmark card to a dying breed of dogged journos.

It is as a thriller where State of Play aims to find an audience and it is a good if not great one. When Crowe accidentally stumbles into some serious danger you will hold your breath waiting for him to be safe again. There are one or two of those moments in State of Play and they are tense and exciting enough and the ending just twisty enough for me to say check out State of Play.

Movie Review: Extract

Extract (2009) 

Directed by Mike Judge

Written by Mike Judge 

Starring Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Ben Affleck, Mila Kunis, Dustin Milligan, Clifton Collins

Release Date September 4th, 2009 

Published September 3rd, 2009 

Writer-Director Mike Judge has a tremendous talent for creating memorable, well observed characters. From the moronic Beavis and Butthead to the best approximation of the American everyman on TV in King of the Hill to his put upon corporate drones in Office Space, Judge's talent for character is the glue that holds his work together.

For his latest effort, the dark comedy Extract, Judge has his talent for character working in abundance. It's unfortunate that his terrific characters are stranded in a meandering mess of plot that doesn't seem to know what to do with them.

Bateman is the star of Extract as Joel the owner of a company that makes sweeteners or Extract. Joel is married to Suzie (Kristen Wiig) but the spark has gone out of the marriage, they haven't had relations in over a month. Joel confesses this to his best friend Dean (Ben Affleck), a scraggly haired bartender at a sports bar. Dean suggests drugs.

First he offers a horse tranquilizer. When that succeeds in zonking Joel out he offers a bizarre solution to Joel's problems. You see, Joel is thinking of cheating on his wife. He has his eye on Cindy (Mila Kunis) a temp at the Extract company. However, he feels to guilty to cheat. Dean's ingenious plan is to get Suzie to cheat first thereby absolving Joel.

As Joel is still whacked on drugs, Dean calls Brad (Dustin Milligan) a good looking doofus who will seduce Susie in the guise of cleaning the pool at Joel's home. Meanwhile, Joel has problems at the factory as well as an industrial accident cost an employee, Step (Clifton Collins) a testicle. He set to sue the company and blow a deal to sell the company to a major corporation.

Cindy is a key to both stories but in ways that never really connect plot wise. There is a whole lot going on in Extract but Mike Judge just isn't certain what he wants to do with it all. He's aware, it seems, that his characters are funny, they really are, but they are funny without a purpose.

The plot is like a spinning top that after 90 minutes finally loses momentum and simply ceases to move. After running out of funny things for his characters to say and do, Judge simply ends the movie and on a note that really has zero to do with anything that happens in the rest of the movie.

I will give you just a hint, the end involves Joel's irksome neighbor played by comic suppporting all star David Koechner. That Koechner is brilliantly funny in the role is without question. Why his seemingly unrelated character figures into the film's ending is an utter mystery, I think even to Mr. Judge.

Extract ends with a bizarre black comic whimper that fails to payoff even the modest arcs that set up early on. Still, because of Mike Judge's talent for great characters and a stellar cast, I am recommending Extract. Just don't be surprised if at the end you are left wanting.

Movie Review Smokin' Aces

Smokin' Aces (2007) 

Directed by Joe Carnahan

Written by Joe Carnahan 

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Jeremy Piven, Ben Affleck, Chris Pine, Ray Liotta, Alicia Keyes, Taraji P. Henson, Andy Garcia, Jason Bateman

Release Date January 26th, 2007

Joe Carnahan was getting his ass kicked. On his first blockbuster assignment, Mission Impossible 3, Carnahan was dealing with a restrictive studio, a demanding star in Tom Cruise, and an unwieldy script that just never made sense for Carnahan’s style of filmmaking. While it would have been a dream project for anyone in Carnahan’s position, leaving Mission Impossible 3  was a blessing for Carnahan who went back to his own work. With the blockbuster behind him, Carnahan was able to make Smokin’ Aces a movie that is perhaps the purest distillation of Carnahan’s style of filmmaking. 

Smokin' Aces is the result of Carnahan's studio movie frustrations. An ultra-violent, multi-character action pic with a final act that kicks the doors down. Smokin' Aces crosses a dash of Tarentino with a hint of Guy Richie and a little Scorsese. But this is no mere homage to other filmmakers. The final act of Smokin' Aces is all Carnahan, an operatic denouement that turns a jaunty exercise in major film violence into a grand guignol of violent drama and revenge fantasy.

Simply put, Smokin' Aces kicks ass.

In a penthouse hideout in Lake Tahoe, Buddy 'Aces' Israel (Jeremy Piven) is hiding out, waiting for the feds to finish his deal. Buddy is turning state's evidence against the mobsters who made him a star lounge act on the Vegas strip. However, do not make the mistake of thinking Buddy is just another snitch. This move comes after his attempt to transition from lounge act to gangster nearly got him killed.

While Buddy hides out his old mob buddies have thrown a one million dollar bounty down on his head and every top hitman in the world wants a piece. Converging on Lake Tahoe are some of the most bloodthirsty cutthroats in the business of cutting throats. Worst of this lot are the Tremor brothers (Chris Pine, Kevin Durand, Maury Sterling), crazed terrorists with no fear of killing in broad daylight, in front of thousands of witnesses. Throwing bombs, literally, the Tremors are as subtle as a jackhammer but they are efficient killers.

On the slightly more subtle side, Georgia (pop star Alicia Keyes) and her girl Sharice (Taraji P. Henson) plan on stealth but carry a 50 caliber machine gun in case things get nasty. On the international front, Pasquale Acosta (Nestor Carbonell) is an efficient killer who specializes in the quiet kill. Assimilating himself to any situation he gets up close and personal with his victims and kills with icy determination.

The most underestimated and lethal killer is a shape-shifter named Lazlo Soot (Tommy Flanagan). No one has ever seen his real face, he specializes in masks and various torture techniques. Standing against this evil menagerie are a pair of FBI agents, Carruthers (Ray Liotta) and Messner (Ryan Reynolds) who have no idea just how bad things are about to get as their boss (Andy Garcia) works on Buddy's witness protection deal.

That is just a thumbnail sketch of the plot of Smokin' Aces which also makes room for roles filled by Ben Affleck, Common, Jason Bateman, Martin Henderson and Peter Berg. These roles may or may not be essential to the film's finale but they all combine for one of the funniest, gaudiest and largest  ensembles of any movie ever. Smokin’ Aces featured stars who would go on to dominate much of the next decade as blockbuster leading men. It’s a testament to how much people believed in the vision of Joe Carnahan back in the day. 

Joe Carnanhan made a killer debut with the movie Blood Guts and Octane back in 2000 and Narc in 2002. But with Smokin' Aces, Carnahan affirmed his directorial chops with a slick, stylish modern thriller that while it evokes many comparisons, in the end, it's all Carnahan After two acts of snarky, over the top violence, the third act of Smokin' Aces becomes a hardcore drama in which Ryan Reynolds' FBI agent steps forward and takes over the picture.

Reynolds had never been known as an action hero or a great dramatic actor before Smokin’ Aces 2006 release but in the final scenes of Smokin' Aces, Reynolds matured before our eyes and quickly showed the ability to take over and dominate a scene with something other than snappy one-liners. The former Van Wilder is a true badass in Smokin’ Aces, an early example of the full power of his superstar charisma. 

Smokin' Aces is a high octane violent spectacle. A superstar ensemble cast brought together by a then rising star director made for one seriously cool movie that has somehow become lost to history over a decade and a half later.. Many considered Smokin' Aces derivative at the time and that perception perhaps lingers, but for me, the cool factor is just undeniable and that goes a long way to redeeming whatever elements may feel overfamiliar today. 

And then there is that killer third act which takes Smokin' Aces from just another ultra-violent modern thriller into a whole other realm of high cool. Smokin Aces is so cool that it’s no wonder that Carnahan has never been able to recapture the magic of it. Carnahan has floundered over the last decade doing punch ups on terrible movies and delivering some of the most forgettable directorial efforts of the last decade and a half. It’s a shame but at least he will always have Smokin’ Aces as a reminder that at his best, Carnahan made one heck of a great action movie. 

Movie Review Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007) 

Directed by Zach Helm 

Written by Zach Helm

Starring Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Jason Bateman 

Release Date November 16th, 2007

Published November 15th, 2007 

Writer-director Zach Helm has a masterpiece in his future. A guy with this kind of imagination can't help but find greatness. Helm started his career with the inventive script for Marc Forster's Stranger Than Fiction, a film about a man whose life is narrated and manipulated by a novelist. Now he has moved on to his first directing gig and crafted the brightly imaginative kids flick Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium.

Just the kind of film that one would assume was adapted from a kids book, it has that much imaginative detail, Mr. Magorium is entirely the creation of Zach Helm. He was inspired by his time working in a toy store before Hollywood came calling. Assembling a top notch cast, including Stranger Than Fiction co-star Dustin Hoffman and the ethereal Natalie Portman, Helm creates a flawed but good natured family flick without the saccharine taste often attributed to the genre.

Mr. Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) has run his magical toy shop for more than 150 years, by his own count. He has made toys for Napoleon, Lincoln and any number of famous historical figures in his lifetime. Now however, it is time for his career to come to an end and indeed his time on this earth. No, Mr. Magorium is neither sick nor suicidal, it's just his time to go.

Before he leaves however, Magorium wants to make sure that his magic toy store is well taken care of. Ever since she was a young piano prodigy to the time she became manager of the toy shop, Molly Mahoney Natalie Portman) has been unknowingly groomed to take over the store. Now that Mr. Magorium is leaving he wants her to have the store.

Molly has never had a moment's doubt about the magic of the store but her failure to write a grand piano concerto after years of being a prodigy have left her with no belief in the magic within herself. Thus why she refuses to accept Mr. Magorium's offer of the store, and she is especially not ready for him to leave. Meanwhile Magorium hires an accountant, Henry (Jason Bateman) to look into the store's finances and discover the magic himself.

The whole thing about finding the magic within which is quite a cheeseball idea and yet it somehow works. Admittedly I almost choked on the line 'finding the magic within herself'. Nevertheless, that is the point of the film and that is not a bad aim for a kids flick. So many modern kids' flicks can barely claim to have such good intentions, often sacrificing good intentions in favor of loud noise and bright colors. Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is not short on bright colors. Thankfully, writer-director Zach Helm has the good sense not to forget to tell a good story as he dazzles us with color and the magic of the toy shop.

Dustin Hoffman is no doubt channeling a bit of Willy Wonka in his Mr. Magorium. In fact, it's just the combination of Gene Wilder's sneaky, smarmy Wonka and Johnny Depp's wackjob, childlike Wonka. The combination works to make Mr. Magorium a terrifically funny and unique character like a grownup Pee Wee Herman.

Natalie Portman's pixie-ish beauty is the perfect casting for Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium even if her performance has a few off notes. Ms. Portman is always a joy to watch but as written her character is the roadblock that keeps Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium from taking off as a truly great movie. As written Mahoney doesn't want to own the magical toy store but it is a struggle for Portman herself to make this feel true.

As cheery and fun as she is and the way she lights up at the magic all around her, it is nearly impossible to believe that she wouldn't jump at the chance to own her own magical toy shop. She seems born to the job. Thus, the film flounders as it tries to keep Mahoney from her destiny and we must wade through a few to many scenes of her doubts and realizations.

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is the kind of family entertainment you won't mind the kids picking up on DVD or catching on cable on a Saturday afternoon. It's harmless and playful and full of imagination and color. That's more than you can say about a number of the so-called 'family movies' we've seen in the past few years. I'm looking at you Cheaper By The Dozen and Are We There Yet.

Director Zach Helm has a masterpiece in his future and based on the wildly imaginative Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, it ought to be quite eye-catching.

Movie Review Paul

Paul (2011) 

Directed by Greg Mottola 

Written by Simon Pegg, Nick Frost

Starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen, Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader 

Release Date March 18th, 2011

March 17th, 2011 

"Paul" is the "Citizen Kane" of nerd humor, the movie all other nerd movies will be compared to for years to come. "Paul" stars beloved geeks (I use the term Geeks with love) Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as a pair of sci-fi loving Brits on holiday at Comic-Con who decide to road trip to their favorite alien hot spots. Along the way they meet a real alien named Paul (Seth Rogan) who takes them on an exciting and very funny adventure.

Paul was directed by Greg Mottola whose nerd credentials include "Superbad" and the cult romance "Adventureland." Mottola infuses "Paul" with unexpected heart and sensitivity that coexists surprisingly well with uproarious R-rated gags. The script comes from stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost whose geek humor knowledge is seemingly limitless. You will have to see "Paul" twice to capture all of the nerd references packed tightly into the 104 minute runtime.

The geek chic extends to the supporting cast including Jason Bateman from the cult TV series "Arrested Development," Joe Lo Truglio from the cult comedy troupe "The State" and Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader who bring SNL's loyal fan base to the film. Finally, "Paul" ends with a cameo that the trailer spoils but I will not. Let's just call it a shocking and gory appearance by a geek goddess and leave it at that.

"Paul" is an uproarious R-rated comedy that manages to be funny and sweet without lapsing into cloying or pandering. Much of the film's surprising maturity comes from the voice of Seth Rogen who brings his typical foul mouth shtick to the film but also a newfound warmth and tenderness to his voice. Rogen offers a reassuring vocal performance that grounds "Paul" within its wacky alien universe of geek references and broad physical humor.

Paul is one of the funniest movies you will see in 2011, and even though it is early in the year, it will remain one of the funniest movies of 2011. "Paul" is a brilliantly funny sci-fi comedy that never fails to be outlandish and raunchy and sweet at once. Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and the voice of Seth Rogen are a terrific comic trio and with all of the geek cred they bring to the film you have the makings of a cult classic to which all other nerd movies will be compared.

Movie Review: Up in the Air

Up in the Air (2009) 

Directed by Jason Reitman 

Written by Jason Reitman 

Starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Danny McBride 

Release Date December 4th, 2009 

Published December 3rd, 2009 

It's a horrifying idea but I am told it is real. Companies actually do hire people to fire employees for them. It's bad enough losing your job but to have the people you have given your hard work and dedication to for however many years hand you off to someone else for the worst moment of your career is a disgusting thought. It's just the kind of cowardly and dehumanizing effect of modern capitalism that turns my stomach. 

George Clooney gives life to one of these workplace specters of career death in a snappy suit, a  and a pamphlet for a sickle. He's the villain of this story in many ways but by drilling down on this character, we don't find a villain but a lonely, sad result of what soulless capitalist pursuits can do to a human soul. George Clooney delivers the best performance of his career under the direction of Jason Reitman in Up in the Air. 

In “Up in the Air” George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a man who takes pride in spending some 330 days of the year traveling. He has a semblance of a home, a tidy bachelor hovel in Omaha, near the corporate headquarters of the company he works for but rarely sees. It is Ryan's job to fly into cities across the country, visit some no name corporate outlet and do the boss's dirty work - firing people. He and the company have some cruel euphemism for firing but it's a firing and it's as ugly as you imagine. 

Ryan is very good at his job, occasionally he's actually soothing which, given the circumstance, is rather impressive. Ryan doesn't love his job, though when asked to he can romanticize and defend it. What he truly loves is the travel which allows him the comfort he's never found at home. In passing relations with fellow travelers and the faux kindness of the service industry professionals he encounters Ryan finds the kinds of relationship he's never achieved with just one person. Simple relationships unencumbered by emotion or instability.

Naturally, all of Ryan's notions are soon challenged. The first challenge is personal as, while on a layover in some airline lounge, he strikes up a conversation with Alex (Vera Farmiga) over her choice of Blackberry. The conversation soon turns to travel, rental cars, hotel upgrades and all of the things both truly cherish. He tells her he has a goal for airline miles but refuses to tell her what it is. That, for Ryan, is too personal.

The second challenge is professional and arrives in the form of Natalie (Anna Kendrick), an up-and-comer from the home office in Omaha who has a plan that will take Ryan off the road and strand him in Nebraska. She wants to fire people over a computer link up and the honchos, led by a less than convincing Jason Bateman, are ready to back the idea. In defending his way of doing things Ryan inadvertently ends up with Natalie as his protégé and traveling partner as he teaches her how to do his job.

Jason Reitman and  co-screenwriter Sheldon Turner tell a two track story in Up in the Air that coalesces into one spectacular series of scenes that includes gate-crashing a computer convention and an appearance by rapper Young MC. These scenes show Ryan and Alex falling in love while young Natalie unwittingly challenges each of their notions about who they are and why they are attracted to one another. This happens as she mourns the loss of the only relationship she has known in her own life. 

Of course, the scenes that will strike a chord with 2009 audiences are scenes featuring real people who went through the pain of being fired during the bailout crisis and recession of this late portion of the decade. Director Jason Reitman hired real people who had lost their jobs to take part in these scenes and the pain in their voices as they talk about the loss of their jobs is exceptionally powerful.

The firing sessions give the film weight and allow the romance to blossom around them in unexpected ways. Scenes with actors Zach Galifianakis and Reitman favorite J.K Simmons provide the visual link between the film world and the real world. Without Galifianakis and Simmons, among others, the transition between the real world of these awful firings to the film world's comedy and romance would be too jarring. It’s among many smart choices in this terrifically smart film.

In the end, “Up in the Air” is a film about connections - literal and figurative. The unique ways in which Ryan Bingham’s personal and professional lives connect are at the heart of a film that may not strive to define the last decade of American culture but in many ways does. From our current economic uncertainty, to our ever more casual sexuality, to our changing attitude about infidelities and modern obsessions with gadgetry, “Up in the Air” offers a modest comment on each and does so with style, wit, a little romance and never feels arrogant or overblown doing it.

Writer George Will flippantly called “Up in the Air” ‘Grapes of Wrath for the service industry.’ He’s not entirely wrong. Where that book and film defined a movement toward social justice coming out of the Great Depression, inside the romance of “Up in the Air” is an inkling of a cry for a just truce between greedy corporate titans and the humans they refer to as resources. It is only an inkling; this is still a modern, big star, Hollywood production, just one with a big beating heart for those who are struggling.

Movie Review The Kingdom

The Kingdom (2007) 

Directed by Peter Berg 

Written by Matthew Michael Carnahan 

Starring Jennifer Garner, Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jason Bateman, Jeremy Piven, Richard Jenkins

Release Date September 28th, 2007

Published September 27th, 2007 

The trailer for Peter Berg's The Kingdom promises much more than the film delivers. Watching the trailer you expect big action, political intrigue and some mystery. What you really get in The Kingdom is CSI: Saudi Arabia. The first two acts of The Kingdom play out with the precision of your average episode of Jerry Bruckheimer's cop science show. The last third of The Kingdom however becomes something close to what was promised. The third act of this foreign set thriller becomes such a rousing action piece that I can forgive much of the dull imitation of a TV cop show that is the first two acts.

In Riyadh Saudi Arabia there is a strip of land where hundreds of American oil workers have recreated America on Saudi soil. It is here that that the terrorsts of the new thriller The Kingdom strike and kill more than 100 Americans and several of their Saudi protectors. Also killed in this attack are a pair of American FBI agents.

After some political maneuvering the FBI's Evidence Response Team leader Ronald Fleury gets his team, including Janet Mayes (Jennifer Garner), Adam Leavitt (Jason Bateman) and Grant Sykes (Chris Cooper), on the ground in the kingdom, as Saudi Arabia is called in private. They are not welcome as their Saudi Arabian police bodyguard Col. Al Ghazi (Ashraf Barhom) explains and American diplomat Jim Schmidt (Jeremy Piven) underlnes.

The teams goal is to find the weapons used in the attack, link them to a specific terrorist and kill him. That it plays out quite that simply is both a virtue and a curse for this interesting but not entirely satisfying thriller. Directed by Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, The Rundown), The Kingdom attempts to be a mystery, a forensic thriller and an action movie and only succeeds at one, and then only in the final act of the movie.

The last third of the film is an extended action sequence involving the capture and near beheading of one of our heroes and his friends' desperate, violent attempts to rescue him. These scenes are expertly captured by Berg's handheld, whip pan camera and in Matthew Michael Carnahan's hard boiled, tight lipped dialogue.

The striking moment, and the films most true, comes as Foxx's Fleury and his Saudi counterpart kick down the door of a potential terrorist. Just before the action kicks in, Foxx asks casually but with some urgent good humor, which side of the door Allah was on. The Saudi's matter of fact response "We'll see" feels real, it sounds like a part of a story that someone might tell over beers after surviving it. It's the most authentic moment in the movie.

Solemn with bursts of awkward wit, the script by Matthew Michael Carnahan fails to give weight to the picture beyond the obvious dangers of the mission. Attempts at politics are fumbled miserably as scenes involving Richard Jenkins as the head of the FBI and Danny Huston as the Attorney General happen without context or consequence. Two fine actors are wasted in a subplot that never develops, in an attempt to bring political weight where none exists.

So just what is the political perspective of The Kingdom? There really isnt any. The film makes passing references to 9/11, Osama Bin Laden, and the war in Iraq. However, the politicians of The Kingdom are fictional as is the films terrorist attack which is loosely based on the 1997 Khobar Towers bombing and the struggles of the FBI in conflict with the Saudis and our own government, but it takes place in a modern context.

The films allusions of depth come not from politics or a subtext of war criticism or the futility of terrorism but rather more facile references to how Americans and Saudis and even terrorists are all just people with families to protect and care for. Thus why we have a few uncomfortable scenes where Jamie Foxx is established as a loving doting dad, scenes where his Saudi counterpart Col. Al Ghazi is seen caring for his two sons and even a scene of a terrorist comforting and teaching his young son about Jihad and American imperialism.

The family scenes feel like a fratboy's attempt at being deep and meaningful and Berg has always carried that fratboy air about him. Writer Matthew Michael Carnahan too has that air of fratboy toughness without thought, sensitivity only in the broadest strokes. In the end it is that fratboy sensibility that makes them terrific with crafting visceral action scenes but at a loss to tell us what it all means or give us anything deeper than 'everyone has a daddy'.

The Kingdom is a deeply flawed action picture that succeeds because its creators are skilled in the art of action and at holding a surface of professionalism. The film always looks good, keeps a good pace, even at 2 hours plus, and it certainly feels like it should be important. Unfortunately, there isn't much beneath the surface of The Kingdom.

A kickass third act is what recommends The Kingdom. If you go in with lowered expectations, lower than the Oscar nominatable expectations I had from that killer trailer, and you may find yourself enjoying The Kingdom.