After curious and vulnerable teenager Annie (Liana Liberato) falls into a trap set by an online sexual predator, her family begins to disintegrate, uncertain how to cope with such a devastating tragedy. Utterly consumed by rage, her father (Clive Owen) sets out seeking vengeance.
Have you ever ate a sandwich that was an just ordinary, but later on in the day, you just can’t get that particular sandwich out of your head. It wasn’t the best sandwich you ever had, but it damn well satisfied your hunger. Well Trust is like that sandwich. It does a lot of things well that turns it from an interesting watch into a great one. Its subtle approach and respectful take on its subject matter are two of its brightest qualities.
A drama centered on a rape isn’t easy to handle, specifically when it involves young teenage girl. Often times the film gets off track and spends too much time getting revenge on the rapist rather than exploring the wounds they leave on the victim and the people around her. Trust handles the matter in a tragically twisted way, keeping the rapist hidden away off screen outside of its brief yet terrifying moment. It puts the young girl into the spotlight and forces the audience to watch her become lost in a wall of manipulation. It’s a struggle to watch because you want to knock some sense into her, but it helps establish a connection with her father. He constantly wonders what went wrong, how she let this happen, and worst of all how he couldn’t save her. The key in the middle of all this mess is that you never feel cheated out of the film; it doesn’t ever turn into something glamorized nor thrilling. Its focus is Annie and that’s all that’s needed. The one true misstep the film has is her mother. The mother-daughter bond will always be there, but the film never gives her opinion on the matter. This is something where all three are needed to overcome this travesty, but the film seems content with just two of them. It may sound small, but going with the theme of it all, it feels much bigger.
Much of the screen time is taken up by the daughter Annie and her father, Will. Very unknown Liana Liberato takes a big step into making a name for herself. She takes the character and gives it her all, shaping her into a confused girl who feels her world beneath her crumbling. It’s a vulnerable performance that deserves some recognition. Her father played by Clive Owen may be even better, but it’s a role that doesn’t seem too tough to do. Any sane person would go through the motions that he does. It still doesn’t hamper what he accomplishes, and in a few scenes is a different person who seems to be struggling more than his daughter with the rape. It’s a challenging connection between these two.
Trust is like a little piece of treasure you find hidden in a box of sand. It’s a small film that fulfills big intentions. It’s a film that you should watch and find entertaining in the way it is handled rather than the story itself. It will likely wind up being one of the best films that nobody ends up watching, but hopefully this opens your eyes to it and you give it a go.
Fun little Fact before I’m wrap it up. David Schwimmer directed this film. Many of you will know him as Ross of Friends fame.
Disgruntled buddies Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day) can't leave their miserable jobs, so they cook up a creative strategy for eliminating each other's micromanaging and maniacal employers (Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell, Kevin Spacey) instead in this crackpot comedy. Peculiar advice from con artist Motherfucker Jones (Jamie Foxx) gets the scheme in motion, but the pals can't keep the wheels from flying off.
Another week into the summer of 2011 and we get yet another foul-mouthed raunchy comedy. It’s a trend that hopefully continues to happen because as I said countless times before, these are the best kind of comedies; they can do whatever they want to get you to laugh without having to worry about the underage children. Horrible Bosses combines its crude yet witty dialogue along with a great ensemble cast to make the second funniest movie of the year behind the yet to be released Friends with Benefits.
The easiest reason this comedy works is its cast. They are great together. You know it’s great when you have a hard time figuring out who you loved the most. Of the employees, Charlie Day seems to steal the show. He’s got a fast and weird sense of humor that ends up on the receiving end on most of the laughs. Jason Bateman and Jason Sudeikis are the other two; Sudeikis keeps up with Day for the most part but unlike Bateman doesn’t need anyone to play off of to be funny. He creates his own jokes that stray away from what the other two are doing and is pretty damn funny. The best roles have to be the bosses. Kevin Spacey essentially plays himself, but plays the complete asshole to perfection. The film makes you want to actually kill him. The other two are the two brightest spots of the film because Aniston and Farrell are allowed to go outside their norm and play characters they are obviously having a blast with. Farrell and his comb over is great as the cokehead bad boy. He gets the least amount of screentime, but does a lot with what he gets. Aniston impresses me most because this is exactly the type of role I’ve always known she could pull off but never chooses too. She creates the most laughs with her absolute vulgar dialogue with Charlie Day. The two should end up creating a spin-off prequel of their own, I’d watch it. I am positive now that if Aniston would have starred in Bad Teacher instead of Diaz, it would have been double as fun.
Horrible Bosses is another comedy to add to the long list already released. It will be one of the funniest films you see this year. Its comedy is spot on and flows in a way that never does the film have a downtime. It keeps you laughing consistently the whole way through. I’d have a hard time picturing someone not at least enjoying this, but I have a feeling people will come to love this. It’s the type of film that shows the product you get when you take a creative risk in Hollywood. This is the type of film you should make time to see soon rather than later. So do it.
Fallen angels (Matt Damon and Ben Affleck), a gnarly demon (Jason Lee) and a half-baked apostle (Chris Rock) walk among America's cynics and innocents and duke it out for humankind's fate in director Kevin Smith's 1999 comic meditation on religion. A modern-day battle against evil takes place in suburban New Jersey, after an abortion clinic worker (Linda Fiorentino) gets a higher calling from two clueless prophets (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith).
Way back before the new millennium was upon us, Kevin Smith was on a roll. He had directed three well received films that would go on to become cult classics. His fourth film, Dogma, would do the same, but not before it underwent a giant slew of controversy. The film is essentially a complete mockery of the Catholic Church. This film was a giant risk for all parties involved and in the end everyone benefited from it for the better. It is one of the rare moments in Hollywood where their money hungry mouths didn’t come first.
I’ll be the first to say I didn’t understand every little quib that Kevin Smith threw at us that poked fun at the religion, and there were even times when I didn’t even have a grasp of what they were talking about, but for most of the film I knew enough to smile at the humor being shown during those moments. Ntothing is ever laugh out loud funny, but that seems to be because it essentially isn’t a comedy; but a light drama with plenty of comedic ploys. The actual story is highly entertaining to watch as you watch two Angels try to get back into Heaven. Their journey works because it equally divides its time between them and the group trying to stop them.
The film wouldn’t even be remotely successful if the characters didn’t all gel together. Chris Rock is slightly more appealing than normal as Rufus the forgotten thirteenth apostle, Alan Rickman as the dickless angel, Hayek as Serendipity, and the always enjoyable Jay and Silent Bob. They all have a flow and chemistry together that makes their adventure worthwhile and their little bickering’s to each other feel as important to the story as the journey itself. The true stars were Ben Affleck and Matt Damon as Bartleby and Loki, the two angels looking to find a loophole back into heaven. They easily lure you in with their fast paced but smooth conversations about whatever is on their mind. It happens in their actions too; they do what they want, and killing happens to be what they feel like doing. They are the stars in a fairly entertaining team up once again.
While the ending was good enough, part of me wonders if it was supposed to be funny or dramatic, and upon further viewings, I still don’t have an idea. Over the years it has developed a cult following that comes with just about every Kevin Smith flick; they tend to overrate the film to a degree, and even though it’s not Smiths best effort, it’s awfully close. You haven’t already taken the time to watch Dogma, do it.
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.
