Don Jon

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has really been beating the pavement to garner publicity for his directorial debut, Don Jon, from a screenplay that he also penned. Gordon-Levitt plays the lead role of, Jon Martello, a quick-talking, ball busting, slick operating Italian twenty-something, who manages to pick up ladies like no one's business clad in only a cut-off tank. The role is one that many men will certainly be envious of, perhaps even more jealous of his co-star, Scarlett Johansson, who plays the role of, Barbara Sugarman, a voluptuous thick Jersey-accented "dime-piece" with a trunk full of attitude. Throw in Tony Danza, as his "chip off the old block" father, Glenne Headley, and Julianne Moore, and you have a supporting cast that is ripe with enriching performances and cross demographic appeal that is sure to score this movie a solid opening weekend. But, leave it to Brie Larson, who plays Gordon-Levitt's sister, Monica, to progress the plot in a significant way with her only two lines of the entire script.

Don Jon, seems a bit redundant and perverted at time's but, if you can make it past these moments you're in for a surprisingly candid movie that depicts the digressions that contemporary couples face in today's dating world. Two thumb's up to Gordon-Levitt for taking a chance with this one and striking a solid chord in the overly factory-churned out world, that has become the norm for Hollywood of late.

The Place Beyond The Pines

Place Beyond the Pines, is the latest picture from Derek Cianfrance, director of Blue Valentine. Cianfrance directed, Ryan Gosling, in both films and after seeing PBTP, I can see why Gosling wanted to be paired with the director again. It's a pretty risky film to decide to direct; following up the critical success of a movie like, Blue Valentine. But, Cianfrance who's worked with the likes of Run DMC and P. Diddy, wasn't deterred in the least. He attracted other A-list talent like, Eva Mendes, Rose Byrne, and Bradley Cooper to his well-written, well paced screenplay and the finished product is a picture that does stay with you, so to speak. It depicts how the trials and tribulations of life come to make a man, and how they can break him. It shows how fatherhood can skip a generation, but how those who hope to have the chance at it, sometimes never realize it. It's a clever picture, with great performances, and it's worth a watch.

Flight

Flight, is a harrowing dramatic picture that portrays a brief period in the life of a misguided heroic pilot, played by Denzel Washington. If you've seen the trailers and other promo for this movie, you've unfortunately seen pretty much the majority of what this movie has to offer. I have a difficult time as well, kind of callously dismissing any cinematic effort from Denzel Washington, but this one has a good bit about it, that I've already dismissed. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of good to take from this, but perhaps my expectations from Washington, and Robert Zemeckis, the movie's director/producer, were a bit too lofty. Also too worth mentioning, Flight seems like the type of movie that doesn't give away too complete of a picture of it's intended message.

Briefly touching on a few critiques from some of Hollywood's more reputable critics, Denzel's performance is lauded as being "one of the best in his career" in terms of depicting a train-wreck of a person, wrapped in such a heroic act that it splits not only the audience, trying to figure out whether or not they should hate this guy or applaud him for being able to do what no other expert could. But, it not only casts this difficult decision on the audience as a whole, but as a moviegoer it makes you have to personally decide which side your on, as well. How can I man throw away what seemed like a solid relationship and a beautiful family away, for bottle after bottle of intoxicating spirits? Yea sure, it can be simple, easy momentary escape, but it always come with repercussions and you can't always call on a "Harling Mays'-esque" character to come and reset your battery. If there's one overall theme to take away from this effort from Zemeckis, is a completely jaded protagonist who's always gotten away with the stupid decisions he's made in the past, but on one given day, the repercussions got too be much for him, and there wasn't really anywhere to escape to. Washington's character provides for an interesting scene at the end of this one, that provides for some post-fallout commentary/discussion about the movie.. But I wont spoil it.

John Goodman's character, although afforded little camera time, does more than steal a scene, he may have also kick started the movie when it really needed a boost. Don Cheadle, is clever and dominant in his supporting role, in a major scene that really required him to be. Kelly Reilly, another actress, who's work is worthy of mention, provides Washington's character with an equally troubled counterpart upon which to massage and mold, Whip Whitaker (The character Washington portrays), into the final product which he see him as, during the deposition before, Melissa Leo's character, Ellen Block and the rest of the NTSB panel.

Flight, is a good movie, but unfortunately with the current crop of films playing, and title's like Lincoln and Skyfall, coming soon, I can't fully recommend using haste to see this one, but certainly see it, if your a Denzel fan or just really want to change your holiday travel plans.

End of Watch

End of Watch, may be the best movie to be released before we get into the more Oscar-minded releases of this fall season. In my opinion, not just the best cop movie in recent years, as one critic asserted, but probably the best police movie since Training Day. It fuses key elements of differing genres, in such a way that by the end of it, you're so enraptured by the protagonists, that the final scenes of the movie evoke a flood of emotion from moviegoers of both sexes.

David Ayer, produced this film, with a reported budget of $8 million. He's the auteur director/writer who penned, Training Day, the Fast and the Furious, Harsh Times, S.W.A.T, U-571, amongst other well reviewed films. Ayer is a master of depicting the lives of those who protect and serve. He's one of the best in Hollywood at portraying these men and women's lives with such realism, grit, and honesty. In this film, he created characters that his two stars, Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña, that audiences could easily relate to. I grew to like them both so much over the movies 109 minute running time, that the film's conclusion was very difficult for me stomach.

The supporting performances in this movie are fantastic, with my nod for best one going to, Anna Kendrick. America Ferrara gets a close second, while Natalie Martinez, rounds out a stellar cast.

End of Watch is more than worthy of the price of admission. See it before, the fall box office gets overloaded with other quality pictures.

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.

The Dark Knight Rises

Typically movies mimic situations and events heavily influenced by our lives, our societal value's, and our popular culture. But, once in awhile it's the other way around, and a film makes a connection with an individual or a group who usually misconstrues its message and attempts to "bring to life" what someone had created with the sole intent of only entertaining people. Unfortunately, a major popular theme of American society includes a fascination with violence. Over my life, I've seen how sick, unstable individuals have manipulated our society's fascination into motives that have spurned them to atrocious acts like the Columbine High School and Virginia Tech University massacres. Most recently, another lunatic turned a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, into something reminiscent of a scene from the movie, the Godfather, leaving an entire community, and the rest of a nation shaking their heads again, wondering what it is that compels a human being to bring such pain to so many innocent people.

This tragedy marred the opening of this very grandiose movie but couldn't keep it from achieving what only a couple of major Hollywood blockbusters have been able to, which speaks volumes about the breadth of what essentially is a piece of moving art. A major piece of moving art, complete with its $250 million + budget, social undertones, and larger than life director, that at the end of the day shouldn't be too heavily criticized because it is one hell of an accomplishment.

I'd rather keep this more short and sweet than typical, but expectations can sometimes be unrealistic, especially when trying to fill the shoes of a movie villain, who won an Academy Award for his performance, or if a movie you released has been the subject of curiosity/discussion for almost 2 years, meanwhile grossing like a billion dollars. But, Christopher Nolan, has assembled a more than solid cast, while pacing an arduously long epic three-quel with twists and turns to its plot, that preys on the weaknesses of its characters, drawing several parallel's between the society which reveres it's masked superhero on the screen and in real life. All the while, not confusing its audience too much...