The Bourne Legacy

The Bourne Legacy is the latest installment in the Bourne series, but it's sort of a reboot, as franchise mainstay, Matt Damon, decided he was done portraying Jason Bourne in 2011. A more than capable, Jeremy Renner, steps in for Damon, assuming the role of Aaron Cross, a highly trained "Black briar" operative. Tony Gilroy, director or 2007 Academy Award winning, Michael Clayton, helmed this movie as well as shared the writing duties with his brother, Tony.

Given the very high visibility that Matt Damon had as Jason Bourne, paired with the box office power of the previous films, this was a franchise that was going to be carefully handled through its transition phase by the studio, in this case, Universal. They chose a familiar, action/suspense movie-tested leading man, in Renner, and even added some notable actors like Edward Norton and Rachel Weisz. Both really brought exceptional performances that added considerable value to the production.

Unfortunately, there isn't too much that stuck out too me from this one, which must be a big bummer for execs at Universal, while breaking down its $125 million budget. But, following on the heels on, "The Bourne Ultimatum" was never going to be easy, although I think this movie served as a solid vehicle to transport the franchise from the Damon-era, into the Renner one. Overall, there's still a couple blockbusters in theaters that are a little bit more worthy of seeing than this one, but that's not to say it's not entertaining and worthy of the price of admission.

The Watch

The Watch isn't going to win any cinematic awards in recognition of its original screenplay, astute writing, or cinematic achievement, any time soon (Well, ever actually). Browsing a few reviews from "the elite" of the movie critics of the nation, I can see that my sentiment is shared, but I differ with how harshly a lot of them perceived this movie's shortcomings. Obviously, it's going to seem like it was haphazardly directed/written, when you have a collective of actors like you do in this one, you have to let them improvise a bit. So, my assumption is the script supervisor on this one was a bit lenient at times, while screenplay scribe team Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg were innovative in allowing the actors room to have their character's voices tailored to their specific acting styles. Akiva Schaffer, a writer of several Saturday Night Live segments and director of many shorts, helmed this movie, lending to what I think was a very loose, relaxed set.

The best way I have to describe what seeing this movie is like, would be to compare it to some of the other efforts from writing tandem Rogen/Goldberg. I'd say it's not quite as good as Pineapple Express, besides that movie had more of a cult following due to its distinct references to drug culture. The Green Hornet was based on a graphic comic book series, and such had a following of geeks and fanboys alike, but still was entertaining. The Watch does what both those movies do, it pairs funny actors together, into a scenario that at it's roots is conceptually believable. The Watch morphed well beyond the realms of "potentially believable science-fiction" around the time where a scene made famous by the trailer, involving a questionably dead alien and some final gunshots to confirm the deed. It's a very crass film and if you don't mind that, then there's a lot to enjoy about this movie.

Stiller, Vaughn, and Hill are all exceptional in their respective roles in this one, I just think that 20th Century Fox gambled a bit too big on this one, with an estimated 65+ million budget. But, the timing of the release of the movie probably also doomed it because it bowed in the Dark Knight Rises second weekend. Nevertheless, I see this movie having very long legs on television, becoming a staple for prime time and post-prime time slots, in maybe 8 months to a year or so.