This raucous rom-com chronicles the relationship of two busy singles, Dylan (Justin Timberlake) and Jamie (Mila Kunis), who agree to include sex in their friendship -- minus the emotions and commitment. But things get complicated when Dylan (inevitably?) falls for his gal pal.
You may think you have already seen Friends with Benefits way back in January except it was called No Strings Attached. It’d be a simple mistake considering they both involve friends who use each other purely for sex, but there is one thing that is drastically different about them. One is terrible and one is great. If you look and see that No Strings Attached is sitting near the very bottom of my 2011 Movie Rankings, it’s not hard to figure out which of the two I enjoyed more.
The heart of the success comes from its two leads, Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis. They have chemistry together. The kind of chemistry that makes them appear to be best friends and not a couple. Its spot on for its premise. Bad Teacher limited Timberlake into a terrible role, but he’s allowed to do anything here, specifically his Vince Vaughn type comedic conversation. Mila Kunis is fine as ever, but they allow her to be a part of the jokes because she’s funny as well rather than be the eye candy. The films best moments are when these two are together. The rest of the cast is full of win though. They take advantage of the little screen time they have and consistently make you laugh. There was not a single poorly written character that felt out of place here. They all contributed to the comedy.
Where No Strings Attached seemed to be a cautious R-rated film, Friends with Benefits embraces it. They don’t overuse curse words, but place them in spots where it feels natural. Where they take advantage of the R rating is the portrayal of their relationship. It never actually shows any stuff but they go get into detail a bit of their sex contract. It isn’t cautious, it takes chances and is better for it.
Friends with Benefits probably won’t be the breakout hit of the summer because A.) That goes to Bridesmaids and B.) People tend to not flock to R rated rom coms, but boy does it deserve an audience. It leans toward the pre 30s line of humor, but it’s a romantic comedy that does too much right to be labeled ordinary. It’s a great comedy that you will have a great time with. If you see Captain America over this, make sure you don’t end up passing on this because it would be a shame, it is one of the few hits of its genre.
The Autobots learn of a Cybertronian spacecraft hidden on the Moon, and race against the Decepticons to reach it and to learn its secrets.
The Transformers series has been the target of consistent bashings due to the qaultiy of them but part of it seems to come at the director Michael Bay rather than at the film itself. The first Transformers was an over the top action filled bundle of fun. Sure it was never going to win any awards but at least you had a good time with it. Then came the sequel and we all know how the giant mess ended up turning out, even the staff that worked on that movie said it was terrible. With that in mind, promises were made to fix it the problems for the third installment. While it’s a vast improvement over the second, it still feels diluted with too much nonsense.
For a movie called Transformers, they sure do try and force feed the humans upon you. I understand they are trying to go for some kind of emotional balancing point that connects the two races, but nobody really wants to see that if it’s done poorly as it is here. Outside of Sam Witwicky (and even a lot of people hate him), not a single character seems to be developed enough, but that’s probably because nobody else is the least bit interesting. The new love interest, Carly, does a better job than Megan Fox at creating chemistry, but at least they let Fox actually contribute in the fight a bit. Here all Rosie Huntington-Whiteley does is provide Shia LaBeouf with a damsel to rescue. Somehow John Turturro continues to get written into the script as Agent Simmons. He was never funny to begin with and continues to be absolutely useless. Throw in some new faces such as Dempsey, Malkovich, McDormand, and Ken Jeong and you have the rest of a long line of miscasted or poorly written characters; it’s probably both but it’s a moot point by now. I think we can all agree there needs to be fewer humans in the franchise.
Moving onto the Transformers, it’s a very vast improvement over the second one. Gone are the terrible twin robots, gone is that fragile unfunny old looking rust bucket, and gone is the terrible villain, The Fallen. That alone is addition by subtraction. Bay does a much better job at allowing you to identify which each robot was and toned down a lot of the awful jokes they told. The battles and action pieces are superb to watch and some are the most exciting ones I’ve seen on screen, but each one is let down when they suddenly just jump into the next scene. It makes you wonder if they forgot to add something in-between the two scenes. The villains here are handled good up until the ending. You’d think with three of the most powerful Transformers shown on screen would be a long epic battle but if you check your phone for the time, you might actually miss it. The inconsistencies each battle is never usually talked about, but when this is supposed to be the last in the series, you should go all out. Instead they seemed to rush the ending despite its 155 minute runtime. You would never guess this was supposedly the last of the series.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon manages to fix a lot of things, but the second one was so broken, there were still a slew of problems that worked its way into the finale holding it down from being as enjoyable as the first one. It’s a ton better than the sequel but you’d hardly call that a compliment. Transformer fans will be happy to get their fix in, but for the rest of us, this will end up being just another typical summer blockbuster that makes more than it should. The best compliment I can give to this film and Michael Bay is that at least this one was watchable. If you enjoyed the first film, this leans more towards that one then the second, but you should walk in already knowing what to expect.
After a truly awful start to the beginning of the year where only one movie from the first three months made it into my top 20 of the year so far, the second quarter of the year really kicked it off. There were movies from all genres that ended up being quality titles and even had a pretty good romantic comedy thrown into the mix. With the momentum in full swing, the third quarter may end up being the best of the year because July and September are so packed with tons of great looking films and a few that look to have solid potential. I’d be very surprised if the best film of the year didn’t end up coming from these next few months. Without holding it up any longer, here are my most anticipated movies for the next three months. It was very difficult to narrow this down to nine, but after some debating I made a list I am happy with.
#9 |Warrior (September 9th)
The trailer to Warrior may have shown way too much but that still doesn’t mean it didn’t look great. Early reviews for the film are saying that it is more than just a sports drama. It delves into the past present and future of the two brothers and how they have come to that exact moment for the championship. Plus it has Tom Hardy in full physique looking like an absolute animal. Who doesn’t want to see Tom hardy act after seeing what he did with little screen time in Inception and pulled off a eye gazing performance in Bronson. We can only hope Warrior delivers everything and more.
#8 | Transformers: Dark of the Moon (June 29th)
This may be the one true questionable pick on this list because Transformers 2 was just a complete critical failure in just about every aspect about a film. But I just cannot say no to Michael Bay. OPutside of that dreadful sequel I have actually enjoyed most of his films. Yea they are not anything that would make “best of” lists but they are usually solid fun entertainment. He has said all the rights things about fixing the third one, has delivered some really action filled trailers, and early reports are saying this is the first must see 3D film since Avatar released 2 years ago. Color me impressed so far, my excitement has risen every month until its release.
#7 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (July 15th)
I have grown up with Harry Potter. I’ve reread the books a dozen times, watched most of the films repeatedly, and secretly wished when I turned 11 that I would get a letter revealing I was a wizard. Sadly it did not come. The films though have gotten better from book to book. The first half of this epic finale was great but it featured very little action because it was all saved for the second part. The trailers look great, the battles are big, and this truly is the epic showdown millions have waited to see on screen. It may not top the first part, but it will be truly hard to mess this up considering the same people behind the camera are returning. July 15th shall be a sad but great day for fans such as myself.
#6 |Captain America: The First Avenger (July 22nd)
When Iron Man 2 came out and was ruined by the constant reminder that The Avengers is on its way, I doubted Marvel and what they were doing. After walking into Thor and being highly impressed, I won’t doubt them again. Captain America from the getgo has looked like it was handling everything right and that final trailer makes it appear to have a chance to be King of the Marvel Heroes. The real question you have to ask is if this will be Marvels first non-Iron Man film to pass that 200 Million dollar blockbuster status mark.
#5 |50/50 (September 30th)
For awhile this movie seemed destined to sit on the self for years and years because of its subject matter, but bless the gods the trailer officially sealed this Sept 30th date. The trailer makes ou run through all the emotions in a mere 2 minutes and with Joseph Gordon Levitt’s in the leading male role, you know it has a chance to be great. He has been bordering on the edge of stardom and this is his shot to show he has box office power. Hopefully it can find an audience. It’s also nice to see Seth Rogan trying not to be skinny again.
#4 |Cowboys and Aliens (July 29th)
This is one film on this list I have no idea what its actually about. I know aliens come and take people, Daniel Craig has no memory and has an alien weapon strapped to his wrist. It also Has Indiana Jones. That’s pretty much it, but considering its directed by Jon Farvaeu and its based off a popular graphic novel, it has a solid source material and people to create a fun entertaining ride as joyful as the first Iron Man.
#3 |Moneyball (September 23rd)
If you were to watch just the first minute of the trailer, you probably wouldn’t be anticipating this movie all that much but the second half, the part that reveals the movie focusing on how Billy Beane tried to change a way of life for baseball feels incredible. The baseball shots in the night look crisp, Brad Pitt looks warm hearted and Jonah Hill looks dumb in a suit. There si almost no way this ends up in the negative with the critics but reviews on the film have been labeling it the Social Network of 2011. One can only hope.
#2 |Crazy Stupid Love (July 29th)
Some of you may know that I actually watch a ton of romatinc comedies. Yes most of them end up being complete garbage, but when you watch a great one, it can be in your movie rotation practically forever. They have tremendous replay value. Crazy Stupid Love looks like a great; It has a star studded cast led by the future breakout mainstream star in Ryan Gosling. Reviews for this has created some high buzz saying its more than a typical dramedy and some are saying it has potential to be the breakout film of the year. I simply cannot wait to see it.
#1 |Drive (September 16th)
I have never seen such a small film get tremendous amount of praise with such little advertisement and information. The reviews for this film have been so great that I stopped counting the number of perfect 10s it got at around 25. I’d be very disappointed if this doesn’t end up in my top 3 at the end of the year. As you can tell I am an avid Ryan Gosling fan and just cannot wait to see him dominate the year 2011 because this is only the 2nd of three high profile films that he will be starring in. To put it into a litte more perspective, if I were to do a anticpated list for the entire year Drive would still be sitting atop it despite the jam packed winter season to end 2011. I was waiting to the last possible minute to throw this up so I could give you a Drive trailer but they seem content on not promoting it despite being 3 months away. Instead all we have is a 2 minute clip that is still fantastic.
Honorable Mentions: Horrible Bosses | Rise of the Planet of the Apes | Fright Night | Larry Crowne | 30 Minutes or Less | Dream House | Our Idiot Brother
Cameron Diaz stars as Elizabeth Halsey, a scheming and coarse-tongued middle school teacher who gets dumped by her wealthy boyfriend and rebounds by sinking her claws into a handsome substitute teacher (Justin Timberlake). There's just one problem, though: He's already dating Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch), the most revered teacher on campus. And Ms. Squirrel is not at all eager to hand over her beau, who is slated to inherit his family's fortune.
Maybe Hollywood is easing up a bit and coming to a realization that woman can actually be funny if they are given the chance because after the female led Bridesmaid, we are given a comedy led by yet another female face in Cameron Diaz. This can only help woman deviate into these type of comedies rather than pumping out so many terrible romantic comedies. The success these last two films have had will hopefully lead to bigger and better things. Now despite the success Bad Teacher has achieved doesn’t mean it was deserving.
It attempts to throw a lot of swear words at you and call itself raunchy, but the fact of the matter is, without those words this is easily a PG-13 film. If you’re going to go with an R rating you might as well go all out with it. Hear it still tends to be cautious as to not chase away tis female audience that might not be as welcoming to the raunchiness most males tend to enjoy. This type of approach makes it extremely hit or miss. There were some pretty damn funny scenes, but nowadays simply cursing as become so common it’s not enough. That is where it just misses the mark and turns out to be average.
That may have to do with the casting choices it made. Cameron Diaz is fine for the most part, but her character is such a bitch, never do you actually want her to get what she wants. You want to get fired, become homeless, and start turning tricks for cash. Her comedy has always been there but I cannot stand her when shes the leading lady. She seems best served In supporting roles. Justin Timberlake feels like a completely wasted opportunity here. I think he is very funny, but they give him nothing in this film. He acts as the object of affection between two women, and the one scene that thought would be hilarious turns out to be just plain weird. The movies villain, if you want to call her that, is Mrs Squirrel who is initially funny but at some point starts turning into an unfunny freak that just needs to go off screen and die a bit. The boat that keeps the film afloat is Jason Segal as the down to earth gym teacher who just pops into the scene says something funny then slowly drifts away. You’ll be counting the minutes until he pops up again.
Bad Teacher appeared to be something that had a lot of potential but either due to lazy performances or bad writing, it ended up being purely average. It’s not terrible by any means but it has to go down as a disappointment from a comedic aspect. These were funny people starring in a comedy that seemed to have as many hits as misses. If you are looking for a few laughs or to kill some time, this will do the trick nothing more, but maybe less.
Career criminal Milton (Nicolas Cage) breaks out of prison to pursue the cult members who killed his daughter and kidnapped her baby. Milton is in turn chased by a serial killer (William Fichtner) who's determined to catch him before he can find redemption. Aiding Milton in his quest is Piper (Amber Heard), a comely waitress who supplies him with a muscle car that he uses to outrace the police that are hot on his trail.
To put it as simply as I can, Drive Angry will be seen as a terrible movie by 80-90% of anyone who sees it. It will be at the bottom of many lists at the end of the year for them. That other 10-20% of people will have a really good time with this because it thrives in the ridiculousness and doesn’t want its audience to be bored. For the most part is accomplishes just that.
At the beginning, you are given the pleasure of watching Nic Cage break out of hell to avenge the death of his daughter and retrieve the his granddaughter from an apocalyptic cult. Along the way he sorta meets a damsel in distress who helps him in his journey for no other reason for the film to have a slut always in the screen. The man they are after is a preacher of an upcoming epidemic who believes he will be king once it arrives. All the while the devils bounty hunter is chasing Cage down to bring in back to Hell to suffer for eternity. Everything that comes in between is absurd, awesome, stupid, laudable, and exciting.
Cage has been on a stretch to find the most hideious wigs to lay upon his head, but most of the time its distracting because the movie doesn’t call for it, but here it fits in perfectly with his character, John Milton. Cagespews out over the top gunfights and dialogue that you cannot help but smile at. This is the second time this year he’s managed to pull this off. Amber Heard as I said earlier is there for eye candy, but boy does she look better than ever. If the movie was just her walking in slow motion down a long highway road, I’d be there. Billy Burke as the villain Jonah King is a little bit too over the top and has a bad accent and is the worst in a bunch of awful performances. The stand out and guaranteed crowd favorite goes to William Fitchtner as the Devils accountant. He kills people just to kill them, and throws out the best dialogue the film has to offer. He’s an underrated actor that deserves more work. Combine these characters with a slew of over the top action and you’ve got yourself a true cult classic in the making.
Drive Angry is one of many in a long history of terrible yet enjoyable films in the bizarre career of Nicolas Cage. It’s a film that has nothing good about it but still manages to give you a fun time with it. Sometimes these types of film over do things or feature an unlikeable cast, but the fans of this genre know, when they can get creative enough, you’re in from something special. Drive Angry never reaches that level of greatness but it’s a nice solid addition into the genre. You should already know if this was your type of movie already, but I simply suggest you watch it.
Overall Score: 7/10
Blue Score Bumps It up 2 Points for Being So Awesome.
When his wife is sent to jail on murder charges she fervidly denies, college professor John Brennan comes up with a plan to break her out by meticulously plotting the ultimate escape -- despite the fact that he's never committed a crime in his life.
The Next Three Days feels as if Hollywood took a great idea and flipped it into a film where everyone comes out a winner in a good ole fashion happy ending. Had it dared to take a few more risks, it could have been something great, maybe even special, but instead the film came and went without very much attention. It is almost as if the film doesn’t exist at all. That is a pretty good accomplishment when you consider Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Olivia Wilde and Liam Neeson all turned up in front of the camera.
The safest decision they decided came in regard on whether or not his wife actually committed the crime. Instead of playing with the ambiguity of it, I guess they felt it necessary to show her innocence so you could root for her and the mess that the characters make to break her out of prison. I think if they were to make her guilty or rather make it appear she was guilty, would have made the escape and aftermath to feel different in tone and make it a more rewarding payoff. It’d essentially be asking what you would be willing to do to help a loved one rather than freeing her from the injustice the system did to her. The reward would have been worth the risk for this film.
The escape is a little different from your standard breakout film because majority of the film is setting it up and allowing the audience to get a good understanding of how exactly he is going to breakout his wife. It’s interesting, but it all feels a bit too cheesy. Liam Neeson just happens to be readily available in a bar and gives exact instructions on how to break someone out of prison. Just too much of a coincidence to me. It helps a bit though when you see Crowe fail a few times at what he’s doing and seeing him struggle with putting together enough money to make this work. It helps keep the film from steering too far off into the unbelievable.
All of the action is saved for the film ending escape and it is well-done. The plan has to have precise timing to work, and for the most part it pulls that off. There are a few minor kinks in the plan that the film avoids to make the movie work, but I think they once again played it too safe so that the audience wouldn’t dare question that what this couple is doing is the right thing to do. I just keep seeing the missed potential.
If you’re interested in watching a good but too cautious prison break film, look no further than this. It plays out a little different than most and the payoff is probably not worth the buildup, but it’s different and you have to give it credit for that. Put in a little more daring plot points and it might not have been passed over as if it never existed. Walk in expecting something better then Takers, but not too much better.
