The Town

The Town, has an uncanny ability to make crime seem very cool. Whether it's dousing a bank with bleach after a hectic robbery, bashing in a bank manager's face with an AK-47 then whispering him something sly, or seamlessly switching getaway cars after tearing through the crammed North End of Boston at breakneck speeds. The Town, or maybe rather it's director, Ben Affleck, is masterful at depicting the brazen activities of the underworld, seen through the eyes of a couple of Charlestown-bred criminal "brothers".

The film stars Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall, and Blake Lively. It's a story about a couple of bank robbers who during a heist are forced to take a hostage, who they later find lives a few blocks from them in the small neighborhood of Boston, known as Charlestown. Charlestown is credited as being the bank robbery capital of the world (Which for some reason to me, doesn't seem possible). But, nevertheless this is an intriguing claim and adequately aids to the pacing of the very fast-paced opening of the film.

Affleck and Renner are the main characters, with Hamm, of "Mad Men" fame playing the role of the FBI agent charged with the task of catching these criminals. Hall plays the role of, Claire Keesey, the bank manager who is taken hostage. The movie is cast very well, with supporting roles having a very authentic feel to them. Affleck shows his directing prowess by crafting a 2 hour long crime thriller that will show audiences across the country a side of Boston they probably didn't know existed. He blends frenetic paced gunfights with Fenway Park as the backdrop with much softer dialogue heavy scenes between Renner, Liively, Hall, and himself.

The Town is one of the best movies of the early fall season, with some drawing comparisons of it to "The Departed". I'm not sure it will have the legs to carry it into awards season, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Renner get an Oscar nomination for his supporting role.

Takers

#1 Movie in America? Yes, it did sell the most tickets over last weekend, but that doesn't make this movie the number 1 movie in the land, not by an epically long shot even. Honestly, I think Screen Gems inflated their box office numbers to beat out "The Last Exorcism", so they could utilize the tagline above, that this movie doesn't deserve.

During a trailer for this movie, I remember seeing that a critic considered this to be, "This generations Heat". That person should lose their job immediately. I know that is harsh, but Takers isn't even in the same league as Heat, let alone a movie like "The Italian Job" or even Ocean's Thirteen.

It was just bad all around. The only positive aspects to take from it are: a very solid performance from Idris Elba (he's really emerged this year), Paul Walker's film career may be over (Oh wait, filming is already underway for Fast and Furious 5...), and Chris "Breezy" Brown out-acted fellow musician Tip "T.I." Harris without question.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, is the third feature film from British born, Edgar Wright, director of cult classics, Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead. It's his first film shot on American soil and with American actors. The movie stars Michael Cera, Anna Kendrick, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jason Schwarztman, Kiernan Culkin, Ellen Wong, and Aubrey Plaza (Long list, yes, I know, and they may not all be "stars" yet, but whatever). The synopsis of the movie goes like this: Scott Pilgrim, played by Cera, is a 23-year old slacker "in-between" jobs, living in Toronto, playing bass in a rock band, when he comes across the dangerously attractive Ramona Flowers (Winstead). After a first date with her, Scott learns that Ramona has seven evil ex's that he must defeat in order to win her heart(Sounds weird, I know, but give it a chance). The movie is based off of the Oni Press graphic novels, by Bryan Lee O'Malley. It incorporates alot of the themes from these graphic novels into the film, which I really liked.

I have a few criticisms for the movie, firstly, why Kendrick decided to be cast in the film for such a minor role. She's fairly fresh off her Academy Award nomination for, Up in the Air, and she has about 7 minutes of screen time in this one (Very unfortunate). Secondly, Winstead a certifiable "hottie" isn't portrayed well enough in during the trailers to let potential moviegoers know that, that's what side of her they'll be seeing on the big screen (I could barely even tell it was her during trailers due to her pink and blue wigs). Thirdly, the movie's estimated budget according to IMDB was $60 million, which seems very high to me, but considering how many special effects the film has that number doesn't seem too epic. But, honestly what is Universal thinking banking that much money on a movie with the biggest star being Michael Cera? I don't think the fan base for the graphic novels was big enough to justify doing this. Also, I feel that they should have overseen distribution for the movie in Japan, where the movie could and should be a big hit. Instead a company called Toho-Tawa is distributing it.

Criticism aside SPVTW is a clever, fantastically stylized comedy with great performances worth a trip to the theater.

Salt

Salt is is an intelligent, sleek, suspenseful thriller about a CIA operative who is suspected to be a double agent for Russia with plans to bring down the United States (Ohhhhh the drama!). It stars the unmistakable Angelina Jolie, in her first movie role since Wanted. She is anchored by co-stars Liev Schrieber and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

The marketing behind Salt was intentionally vague, with a tag line, "Who is Salt" and a trailer showing Jolie performing "Jason Bourne-esque" narrow escapes and hand to hand combat, also repeating the line "You think everybody is who they say they are?". It's not a shock that execs at Columbia Pictures wanted to play up the enigmatic theme behind this action flick, because it certainly evokes feelings of the Bourne franchise. But, during a period of July where virtually the whole country was trying to figure out what happened in Inception, Salt managed to have a very healthy weekend at the domestic box office, taking in $36 million. It's definitely already looking like a success for Columbia, especially with the global recognition that Jolie has and the fact that FX has already purchased the rights to broadcast the movie on it's network in 2012.

Like I touched on earlier though, Salt, is an enigmatic thriller that will keep you guessing till the very end. It includes solid performances from Schreiber and Ejiofor. It also showcases some pretty incredible stunt work and has the "#1 bad ass action movie woman in the world" sporting two incredible looks (Yeah, I had to give her that title). It goes without saying, but Salt is certainly worth seeing.

Inception

Inception is well on its way to being the most talked about film of the summer. It doesn't really matter if you've seen it and were completely lost, or you haven't and you detest when movies receive so much hype and critical acclaim so early after their release, but it's difficult to deny my earlier statement because the movie has certainly been a major talking point over the last week and a half.

It's already garnering a bit of Oscar attention, and some are anointing Christopher Nolan, the movie's director, as the next "big thing" and potential candidate for Oscar's best director next March.

The performances were very much on point with DiCaprio leading a cast including Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Tom Berenger, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, and Cillian Murphy. But, it was arguably the plot and imagined world that Nolan created, that so satisfyingly and enigmatically immersed millions in that has movie-goers singing its praises.

Inception is without a doubt worth seeing, maybe even worth seeing twice to fully digest and understand the plot progression and conclusion.

Despicable Me

Despicable Me, is a humorous, heartwarming animated movie that depicts the life of Gru, the self-proclaimed nastiest villain in all the world and his evil plan to steal the Moon. Gru, is voiced by none other than comedic genius, Steve Carrell. The movie also features the voices of Kristen Wiig, Jason Segel, Will Arnett, Russell Brand, Jermaine Clement, Danny McBride, and Julie Andrews.

Vile Gru, is forced to get rather creative in acquiring a shrink ray, which he needs to carry out his moon capture plan. He must adopt three orphan girls, who are being forced by the equally despicable, Miss Hattie (Kristen Wiig), to sell cookies.

Carrell’s accented voice performance is great because at times the audience isn’t aware it’s him, and it’s pretty easy for them to get lost in it. It is a solid cross between a crazed Nazi and a Russian Mafioso (Props to Roger Ebert on that one), which is just funny in itself. But, it’s the voices done by Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, and Elsie Fisher, the three orphans that pretty much take the cake. Their playful, needy, and "frighten-able" (Spell check's telling me that's a word) toward Gru basically from the time they meet him. The best part of the movie may be the transformation that Gru undergoes through the presence of the girls and the affect that he has on them.

But, Despicable Me is definitely worth a watch, even if it doesn't make you laugh your pants off it should put a warm feeling in your heart.

Clash of the Titans

I recently read an article that discussed how the summer blockbuster has essentially ruined Hollywood. I'm not sure what news outlet released it or who wrote it really, but those details aren't too necessary to the point I'm trying to make with this "movie review". The article credited George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, the orchestrator's of blockbusters like Jaws, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and countless others, with seemingly putting into motion the deterioration of studios releasing films with any substance during the summer months. The author of the article certainly has a leg to stand on, when you see studios shelling out loads of cash to make movies like MacGruber or Jonah Hex, but to rebut this argument, just look at Toy Story 3 or The Karate Kid, movies that lack originality, but are solid popcorn flicks that allow audiences to re-live some of their childhood fantasies (While having massive amounts of exposure, both films opened at close to 4,000 theaters). I'm not sure what better time of the year movies like this would have to reach the audiences that they do, but that is definitely an opinion worthy of more discussion.

Anyways... Clash of the Titans, falls very definitively into the category of summer blockbuster fodder, or in other words Warner Brother's unsuccessfully attempting to capitalize on the warm weather and entertainment-hungry, minds of the masses. The screen-writing is pretty cliche and acting isn't memorable, but the set designs partially make up for this. The storyline is rather predictable and the action/battle scenes weren't that impressive to me (Sorry to the stunt men who I'm sure worked hard on this). The blame should be put on the cinematographer though, because the angles and camera direction during a lot of these scenes, just flat out blew.

Gemma Arterton was absolutely stunning again and Sam Worthington played the role of, Perseus, rather well. I was actually pleasantly surprised by Mads Mikkelsen's role of Draco, Mikkelsen played the villain in the James Bond movie Casino Royale. Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes were without a doubt the highlights of a generally mediocre ensemble cast (If only one of them took more responsibility as a producer or consultant to the movie).

I could certainly dedicate a lot more time to discussing this topic, but time is not something I have a lot of right now. If your reading this though, comment and I'll respond when I can.