Back to life,
back to reality. So after moving, unpacking, settling in and starting at my new
job, I’m finally back at the keyboard doing what I…we… love to do, writing
about movies. I’m not going to lie to you, dear readers, this is a favorite
part of my week – when I can talk movies with you. Life has been crazy but not
crazy enough to skip seeing movies. I’ve got five on the docket for this week.
I’m very excited because I can actually recommend three out of the five films
I’ve seen this week.
Movies Seen In Theatres This Week:
The Iceman, Now You See Me, After Earth,
Fast & Furious 6, The Sapphires
Lesson 5. Never Meet Michael Shannon in A Dark Back Alley
I’ve
recently covered my love for Michael Shannon (he plays a great small part in Mud, his part can only be described as
lovably southern) but in The Iceman
is where he SHINES. That might be the wrong word for someone playing a creepy,
murderous, mafia hit man while doubling as a typical suburban family man, but
Shannon’s performance as Richard “The Iceman” Kuklinski is awesome to watch. The film hits all the right
notes and Wynona Ryder and Chris Evans give performances of a very high caliber.
The Iceman is a captivating film
about the mind of a killer and his motivations that actually makes you question
if what he’s doing is right or wrong. Your homework: find the The Iceman and see it. If not for the
amazingly creepy Shannon, than just for its brave and compelling
storytelling.
Lesson 4. Hollywood’s Most Popular
Metaphor
Little films.
I love little films that could and The
Sapphires is one of them. It’s an Australian film whose only known star is
Chris O’Dowd (who is great as a down-on-his-luck musician who finds a group of
Australian Aborigine girls who can sing like no tomorrow). This is film is
heartwarming, full of standout performances and visuals and it supports a great
script. Simply put: it’s worth seeing. The film is set during the Vietnam war
and follows this up-and-coming singing group as they tour Vietnam performing
for American troops and uses this backdrop to explore many things, including
the civil rights movement, and it’s very clear in the film that treating people
poorly because of the color of their skin is wrong (as we all-hopefully-know).
Why is this the little film that could? It plays on a trend of showing racism
and the civil rights movements as a metaphor for contemporary problems in
America. The Sapphires joins recent
films such as Lincoln, the upcoming The Butler, and to a lesser existent
films like Django Unchained. But many
in recent memory have had subplots dealing with social intolerance in order to
mirror the problems of today.
Lesson 3. How to Test your Suspension of
Disbelief
Going into a
film, you have to be willing to suspend some disbelief in order to accept what’s
happening. In Now You See Me you’re
asked to suspend your disbelief in every sense of the word. At times they
perform actual magic, then expect you accept that it was all just a trick of
the eye because, as they say, you’re “looking too closely.” Let’s put it this
way, I watched Fast and Furious 6
where Vin Diesel literally flies like Supermank, and that felt more real than anything
in Now You See Me. The film tries for so many twists and turns
that you never really know what is happening. All of the actors give solid
performances and the visuals are fun, but overall Now You See Me has no answer to its central question: is magic
real?
Lesson 2. It’s Cute When Kids Want to
be Just Like Dad
After Earth is just as bad as you think it is.
Boring. A failure where the few interesting ideas and the visuals onscreen don’t
add up to the story that it fails to tell. The biggest flaw of After Earth is that Will Smith is a far
stronger screen presence than his son, Jaden Smith. Jaden did the best he could,
but sorry kid, you are simply not as captivating as your dad. What really hurt After Earth is that I wanted to watch
the sub-story far more than the main story. To touch very briefly on director
M. Night Shamalyan, this film’s failures cannot to be completely blamed on him,
he honestly did what he could with this overtly convoluted film. What neither M.
Night, Jaden, nor Will Smith bring to After
Earth is depth. They try to explore a world and concepts without actually diving
into the deep end of the pool. Bottom line: don’t waste time on After Earth.
Lesson 1. Fast &
Furious 6: The Impossible Jump
 |
It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. - Albus Dumbledore |
I.
Love. The. Fast. And. Furious. Series. There are some awful films and then there
are some AMAZINGLY awful films! Fast and
Furious 6 (credited on screen as Furious
6) is off the wall crazy bonkers. In this film, Dom and all his friends basically
have super powers and are able to solve crime and stop one of the world’s most
dangerous terrorists. Hey guys, remember when the fast and furious films were
about street racing? WHO CARES! Oh my goodness. These films understand what is
great about American action films: they’re done with tongue firmly in check,
and director Justin Lin knows exactly what type of film he’s making and never
forgets it. Furious 6 is so much
endless fun, but it has a lot to live up following Fast Five which might be my favorite action film of all time. So
it’s not quite as good as Fast Five
but still, there is endless amounts of stupid, car chasing, blow ups, logic
loop holes, over the top acting, and insane fun. The only down side to Furious 6 is that it ends… AND THEN
THERE IS AN AMZAING TAG SCENE! You have to know what you’re watching. Just
buckle and be ready to be taken on an amazing, crazy ride into the land of Fast and Furious 6. If you haven’t seen
this movie, do so! Keep them making more, please America keep my dream alive! 10
Films, 10 Films, 10 Films!!! We need 10 Fast
and Furious films. We can do it America: stay strong. Keep supporting.
Box Office Totals for
the Weekend of June 7-9
Rank
|
Film Title
|
Weekend Gross
|
Total Gross
|
Budget
|
Weeks in Theatres
|
1.
|
The
Purge
|
$36.3
|
$36.3
|
$3
|
1
|
2.
|
Fast
& Furious 6
|
$19.7
|
$202.9
|
$160
|
3
|
3.
|
Now
You See Me
|
$19.5
|
$61.3
|
$75
|
2
|
4.
|
The
Internship
|
$18.1
|
$18.1
|
$58
|
1
|
5.
|
Epic
|
$12.1
|
$84.1
|
$100
|
3
|
All
Numbers are in Millions and numbers are from of Box Office Mojo.com
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