"Justin Bieber: Never Say Never"
Richard's Review: 3 stars
WARNING! No matter what age you are "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" will make you feel old. The story of a pop prodigy who mastered a drum kit before entering the double digits and sold out Madison Square Gardens when he was barely old enough to drive will make you wonder what you have done with your life.
This documentary -- concert film hybrid, which could be more rightly called "Portrait of a Sensation," follows Bieber from his humble beginnings with single mom Patti in Stratford, Ontario to YouTube sensation to sharing the stage with Miley Cyrus and Jaden Smith at Madison Square Garden. It's an up-close-and-personal look at the star. So up-close-and-personal we even get a shot of his vocal chords!
Bieber, in case you've been living under a rock for the last year, is the singing sensation who Tina Fey describes as looking like "a dreamy Christmas elf." After being discovered singing covers of chart hits on YouTube he was mentored by hip hop star Usher when he was only in Grade 8 and is now the heart throb du jour for tweens everywhere. One young girl admits to thinking about him "99 per cent of my life," while another teen confidently announces, "I'll be his first wife." Lock up your daughters; it's Bieber Time.
Generally these kind of music bios offer up lots of music with some exclusive backstage footage and embarrassing childhood photos wedged between the tunes, and by and large that's what "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" provides, but it also paints a portrait of a real kid in a very unreal situation.
It wasn't that long ago that he was playing for 40 or so fans at a water park in Poughkeepsie, New York -- 2009 to be exact -- and now he's selling out Madison Square Gardens in 22 minutes. It's been a wild ride and we get a sense of that in the movie, of the hard work and talent that got him to where he is. But don't expect any searing personal insights.
We learn that he's very close to his family, that he behaves like any other 16-year-old kid would when he isn't on stage, and that he still gets told to clean his room by his grandmother. But there is little light shone on how his rise to fame has really affected him.
We're told that he sometimes "whines" that he doesn't have a normal life and his Stratford buddies complain that they don't get to see him everyday anymore, but there is very little from Bieber himself. Maybe it's too early to tell how all this will affect him, after all it has all happened rather quickly, but some insight from the star himself would have made this more interesting.
Still the movie seems less contrived than you might imagine from someone at the very peak of teen stardom. It's interesting to compare Bieber to his Disney and Nickelodeon colleagues. Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers, for example, all have tightly controlled public personas, but Bieber, who hasn't been pushed through the Disney/Nickelodeon sausage factory, seems far less manufactured. Perhaps it's because he's Canadian, but Bieber comes across as earnest, not contrived.
Maybe it's the difference between well-managed rather than prepackaged.
"Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" has some touching moments -- hearing his grandparents talk about their grandson's move to Atlanta to follow his career -- some odd moments Snoop Dogg discussing hair styles -- some self depreciating moments -- a slo mo hair flip montage is funny -- and lots of standard teen dream music. It's bound to be a fan favorite but a little more depth might have opened up its appeal to people not yet infected with Bieber Fever.
"Just Go With It"
Richard's Review: 1 star
With the release of "Just Go with It," the latest Happy Madison comedy, Adam Sandler puts himself one step closer to Woody Allen territory.
But not in a good way.
He now joins the ranks of middle-aged movie stars who cast themselves opposite impossibly hot love interests. Watching the 44 year old star whooping it up with a 23 year-old swim-suit model put me in the mind of Woody's endless attempts to recapture his long forgotten cinematic youth.
"Just Go with It" begins with one of those premises that only exists as a movie idea. Sandler plays Danny, a successful Beverly Hills plastic surgeon. Twenty years ago he learned the kind of valuable lesson that can only be taught in rom coms. That is, women cannot resist a man with a wedding ring and a story of marital woe.
By day he reshapes rich people's bodies with the help of his pretty assistant Katherine (Jennifer Aniston); by night he picks up young women in bars. Everything changes though when he meets Palmer (Brooklyn Decker), a va-va-voom 20-something teacher. For the first time he meets a woman without using the ring trick, but when she discovers his prop wedding ring he fabricates a long story about being on the edge of a divorce. Of course she wants to meet the soon-to-be-ex to make sure the story is true. And then the fun begins.
Except that it doesn't.
The movie never takes off. It feels less like a story and more like an endless stream of inappropriate remarks and IBS gags masquerading as jokes. That's true of several of Sandler's movies, but usually he‘s charming enough to carry the day and usually the movies aren't this bad. This truly is a case of likeable actors making an unlikeable movie.
The film's premise is odious enough, even for a rom com but worse than that is probably the most annoying kids' performances ever -- sorry Bailee Madison, but that Eliza Doolittle accent thing you do isn't cute, it's grating -- and the comic stylings of Nick Swardson manage to make things even less amusing than they already were.
The film's nadir is a desperately unfunny scene in a nightclub that will make you long for the days when Adam Sandler got into fist fights with Bob Barker and battled a cursive problem.
On the plus side there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo from Heidi Montag which suggests maybe she does have a sense of humor about her plastic surgery woes. Also former swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker adds some eye candy, (but acts about as well as you would imagine a swim suit model would act), the "Ha-wow-ee" setting is nice and boomers may enjoy the all-Sting soundtrack but that's about it.
Despite its beautiful features -- both location and cast -- "Just Go with It" should be, more truthfully, titled "Just Go Away From It."
"Gnomeo & Juliet"
Richard's Review: 3 stars
"Romeo & Juliet" is arguably the best known of Shakespeare's plays. Certainly it is his most loved romance and is one of the most filmed plays of all time. Among the modern versions of the two young "star-cross'd lovers" are a classic big screen MGM adaptation starring Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer, the musical "West Side Story" and an anime rendering about two rival ninja clans fighting each other. Perhaps the strangest reimagining of the story, however, hits screens this weekend. As the title suggests, "Gnomeo & Juliet" replaces the human protagonists with garden gnomes. That's not gnormal but then again, this isn't your garden variety kid's flick.
Set on Verona Drive, the movie takes place in the back gardens of feuding neighbors Mr. Montague and Mrs. Capulet. Their dispute isn't the only grudge on the block however. While they are away at work or asleep at night their garden gnomes come to life and do battle. Divided into red and blue gardens, every night the gnomes kick some grass in an effort to sabotage one another. The whole situation comes to a head when Gnomeo (voice of James McAvoy) and Juliet (Emily Blunt) fall hopelessly in love after a chance encounter.
"Gnomeo & Juliet" isn't a strict translation of Bill Shakespeare's play. In other words, and this is not a spoiler, it doesn't end in gnomacide. Other than that the themes of the original are in place -- like the forcefulness of love, love as a cause of violence and the individual versus society -- but that's for eggheads and this is for kids. In the movie the high-falutin' themes have been winnowed down to nice teachable moments for the tots about tolerance and not judging a book by it's cover, or in this case, a gnome by the color of their hat.
Parents will likely get a kick out of the nods to classic movies -- there's the chariot race from "Ben Hur," the bucket scene from "Flashdance" and "American Beauty's" bed of roses to name a few -- and the equally classic Elton John song (he's a producer on this along with his husband David Furnish) but overall this is pitched at young children.
The best thing about "Gnomeo & Juliet" is the animation. Each of the colorful gnomes has a distinct personality and the animators have carefully recreated the weathered ceramic look of real garden gnomes.
The downside is kind of dull voice work -- surprising because the cast is a who's who, including Michael Caine, Maggie Smith and Ozzy Osbourne and even duller 3D. But despite the lack of really memorable voices the story carries the day to create a fun family-friendly film.
"The Eagle"
Richard's review: 2 1/2 stars
"The Eagle," a new "Gladiator-lite" movie from Academy Award winner Kevin MacDonald, plays more like a BC buddy picture than a brutal Roman centurion drama.
Based on the legend of the Legio IX Hispana (Ninth Spanish Legion) -- a group of 5,000 warriors thought to have disappeared in Britain in AD 117 -- the film sees emotive former fashion model Channing Tatum as centurion Marcus Aquila, the son of the leader of the Ninth Legion. His mission is to discover what really happened to his father's battalion and recover the lost golden Eagle statue. Along for the ride is his slave Esca (Jamie Bell), who helps navigate the treacherous lands beyond Hadrian's Wall (modern day Scotland).
Channing Tatum, an actor poised on the edge of becoming the next big thing, is the central character here. He's in 99 per cent of the film, and it is his story that drives the action. It's too bad then, that he is so wildly miscast. Channing is not without his physical charms -- think Brad Pitt in "Thelma and Louise" -- and is a credible movie star but perhaps a modern day setting would better suit him. Frankly, he's more San Diego than sword and sandal. In short, even though he gives the role a heroic try, "The Eagle" will not be his "Gladiator."
Tatum aside, the movie feels lackluster despite its beautiful photography and interesting design. It's a well made but poorly paced film that puts WAY too much emphasis on the retrieval of the golden eagle, a small statue we're told is the symbol of Rome. For much of the movie the golden idol is a McGuffin, little more than a device to get the action started, but by the time the story really gets underway we're supposed to care whether or not Aquila recovers it. Unfortunately we don't. It's a central premise that doesn't engage the viewer. Also, wouldn't a large golden eagle weigh at least 100 pounds? The way these actors toss the thing around it seems lighter than a real life sparrow.
Better is the connection between Aquila and Esca. Their slave vs. master bond doesn't hold much promise as a warm and fuzzy relationship and yet the movie demonstrates how friendship can slice through political divides.
"The Eagle" is a strange hybrid of history and pop culture -- a mix of period and anachronistic dialogue with a modern buddy story grafted onto a Roman backdrop -- that, despite its title, never really takes flight.
"Cedar Rapids"
Richard's Review: 2 stars
In "Cedar Rapids," a new comedy from "Youth in Revolt" director Miguel Arteta, Ed Helms plays a small town schlub who goes to the big city of Cedar Rapids and discovers a purpose in life. Unfortunately for moviegoers along for the ride, in Cedar Rapids, to borrow a phrase from Gertrude Stein, there's no there there.
Tim Lippe (Helms) has worked at Brown Star Insurance his entire professional life. He's a child-man whose boss says looked like a "kid who's gonna go places… and then you just didn't." Nonetheless, when the year's biggest insurance festival comes around Tim is sent to Cedar Rapids to represent the company and, hopefully, bring back the coveted Two Diamond Award for insurance excellence. Once there he dives headlong into a cesspool of corruption, wanton sex and drug use and learns that whatever happens at an ASMI convention in Cedar Rapids should stay in Cedar Rapids.
"Cedar Rapids" is a Sundance comedy. That means its character based and not a laugh a minute. In fact, it's not even a laugh every five minutes kind of movie. Some of the characters are nicely defined. Anne Heche's Joan, for instance, is an interesting portrait of a woman living life on her own terms. John C. Reilly's Doug, however, is a caricature of the worst conventioneer ever. It makes his work in his Will Ferrell movies, like "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" and "Step Brothers" seem nuanced. Add to that Ed Helm's now standard awkward man-child routine and you have a cast of characters that don't seem to belong in the same movie.
"Cedar Rapids" stays with its characters as they forge toward a feel good ending, the trouble is, since they don't feel like real people we don't really care what happens to them.
