The Trip to Italy

Two men travel around Italy on a road trip trying out the latest hotels and restaurants and squeezing in some historical site seeing.

Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, this is a sequel to The Trip (2010).  It is literally a road trip with two very old friends that go around Italy trying out great food, staying in amazing hotels and seeing age-old points of interest all the while the audience is eavesdropping on their private, personal and very often ridiculous conversations.

There is really very little to this story, nevertheless, the nonsensical dialogue that we are privy to is absolutely hilarious.  It is basically their own commentary on pop culture, movies and celebrity impersonations.  While this may sound common enough; anyone that has had a running gag or inside jokes with old friends might appreciate their banter on some level.

This is a slow, deliberate dialogue expose' with pretty scenery. Probably not for everyone but I found it enjoyable.

*** Must See

Not Rated

What if

Wallace and Chantry meet at a party.  Due to current relationships and in spite of their obvious attraction for one another, they each decide that they will just be friends.

I really wanted to like this.  I did.  But I didn't.  I couldn't.  I can't.  I won't.  This is such a poorly written "love" story.  I can't put my finger on it exactly.  I am not clear if it is the unlikeable characters, the forced dialogue, the uninteresting story, the cast, or just the entire package, but I found myself annoyed right from the start and then just horrifically bugged by the end.

As a fan of the iconic When Harry met Sally, I really thought that this might be along those lines, perhaps with a dark modern twist.  No, not even up to par.  It is more like a trite attempt at brightening Annie Hall.  I can't reiterate enough how fake and staged the discourse was, not to mention that when it was all said and done, I not only didn't care about the characters and what happened to them, but I was bored by their plight in general.

I really wanted to like this.  I did.

I don't.

* 1/2 Barely Rentable

Rated PG-13 (for language and sexual content)

Let's Be Cops

Two best friends struggling to make ends meet within the City of Los Angeles dress as police officers for a costume party and accidentally become the neighborhood heroes. This new found adoration and “success” goes to their heads as they parade about LA doing “Police Work.” However they soon find their pretend badges tangled up with real life criminals.


I will admit that I went to go see this movie to see one line of dialogue.

“That’s what you get!”

Yep, that’s all I wanted to see. I had zero expectations going into this other than it would be stupid. I suppose I was accurate in that assumption, however, what was unexpected was how much I actually enjoyed the stupidity. The plot is totally absurd and ridiculous yet it immediately usurps all sense of logic and for some reason you roll with it. There are moments of laugh out loud farcicalities that reminded me of the antics of my teenaged brothers back in the day. It was surprisingly well cast and the characters have a random likability about them in spite of their own folly.

The movie is rated R and rightly so for language and some crude dialogue which is a disappointment as the perfect demographic for this flick seems to be boys under the age of seventeen. Nevertheless, aside from my editing critiques, the random story holes, or that the ADR is poorly synced I was still pleasantly entertained by the juvenile larks not to forget that the scene mentioned above, was totally worth it. 

** ½ Rentable

Rated R (for language, crude dialogue, and gun violence)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo; four mutated, turtle, ninja-warrior, brothers, leave the sanctuary of the sewers to save New York City from the dreaded Foot Clan led by the evil Shredder.

I'll preface my review by saying I was a huge Ninja Turtles fan as a kid. I had all the toys, religiously watched the cartoon series, played all the video games, even my 9th birthday party was an outing with all my friends to see the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie in the theater back in 1990.  We all left the theater jumping and kicking, pretending we were Ninja Turtles.  It is for the aforementioned facts, that much of this movie brought out the 9 year old in me, reminding me of the fun, comedy, and action of the original concept.  I'm sure some of the enjoyment came from my history with the characters, but there is a lot of fun action and some simple, nostalgic/juvenile humor.  That said, this was produced (not directed) by Michael Bay and company, so of course there were certain points that the action was pushed to be a little too wacky.  The story feels like it had the right elements, but wasn't given the time to work out all the kinks and really make it flow.  Some purists might be upset with changes to some characters origins, although I think they work better in this case.  The running time is nice and sleek at 1 hour and 40 minutes, unlike Bay's 2 hour 45 minute Transformers movies.  It also keeps the juvenile humor a little more kid friendly than the other said Bay franchise.  Perhaps the effects and motion capture work is getting overlooked because of the groundbreaking work that was released and heavily covered by the press just a month ago in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, but the effects and motion capture done for the actual turtles is beautiful, amazing stuff.  Overall it's action packed, stupid, silly, nostalgic fun.

**1/2 out of 4.  Theater worthy for fans of the Turtles and big FX action movies.  Rentable, if that for the rest.

The Hundred-Foot Journey

A family in search of a new home finds themselves in a small provincial French town. The patriarch of the family, despite his children’s protest, decides that it is in this town that they will rebuild their lives and open a restaurant…one hundred feet away from one of the most celebrated French restaurants outside of Paris.

This is a nice little light hearted movie about food. The characters are endearing, the setting is charming, the food is abundant, and the story is cute albeit about 40 minutes too long. Here’s the deal. This movie was reminiscent of Chocolat (2000) mixed in with a bit of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012). With that in mind, there are many scenes of food, food prep, food mixing, and food tasting in an endeavor to entice the audience into the film’s world of piquancy and zest. Now, here is the problem, I am not a foodie nor food connoisseur of any kind. My favorite restaurant is McDonald’s and my favorite foods consist of diet Coke, dark chocolate and ketchup. So when they are mixing and tasting these elegant dishes, fawning over the spices and the mixture of flavors created, as a member of the uncouth dining population, I found myself somewhat at a loss. I suppose if amongst the glitz and glamour of the cuisine world or perhaps if you like to cook, one would be terribly impressed and salivate over the presentation. This technique, using the food as the star of the flick, worked divinely in Chocolat, because everyone knows what chocolate tastes like. In this, as a layman, I was somewhat underwhelmed by the seduction attempt.

Sweet but a tad over cooked.

** ½ Rentable

Rated PG (for language and brief violence)

Magic in the Moonlight

A British illusionist that makes a living debunking those claiming to be mystics or clairvoyant finds himself in unfamiliar territory when he is introduced to Sophie, a self-proclaimed medium whom he considers to be an American simpleton.


I have come to the conclusion that I really do love Woody Allen movies… but only when Woody Allen is not in them. This is really a sweet, charming little movie that will just make you smile. Colin Firth is fabulous as the pompous cynic that inadvertently insults his way across the screen. Emma Stone, who is a charismatic actress in her own right, surprisingly holds her own with Firth and the two have a plethora of delightful banter that again makes one happy to be at the movies.

This is a quiet and enchanting period piece that if an admirer of Midnight in Paris one is likely to find almost as entertaining.

*** ½ MUST SEE

Rated PG-13 (for mild language)

Guardians of the Galaxy

26 years after being abducted from earth, Peter Quill has grown up, light years away, only to become a shady outlaw. While attempting to obtain an orb, he finds himself in over his head and the target of Ronan the Accuser. With the unlikely help of four other criminals, each with their own plans for the orb in question, they attempt to keep it out of the hands of Ronan.


I had no expectations going into this. I have never even heard of Guardians of the Galaxy, it’s a comic book, right? Anyway, so I can’t tell you how surprised I was by how fun and entertaining this was. There are 80’s pop culture references peppered throughout the movie, which to anyone that grew up in the 80’s will thoroughly enjoy. The script is pretty fine-tuned and despite the fact, that like most comic book movies, the story is predictable and corny, it is still extremely amusing and engaging. The cast is also smashing. Very reminiscent of the original Star Wars ensemble.

This was a great summer movie and a reminder of the old blockbusters that I grew up with. The soundtrack is awesome too!

***1/2 MUST SEE

Rated PG-13 (for language, violence and sexually suggestive content)

Guardians of the Galaxy

Marvel takes things to outer space with a rag-tag group of criminals, thieves and assassins that join forces to save the galaxy!

One word to describe this movie; FUN!  It feels like a blend of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and The Fifth Element rolled into something new and original.  It's actually quite a funny movie, great back and forth banter between the characters who are all interesting and funny in their own distinct way.  It also has a surprising amount of heart to it, and of course loads of fun action.  The first hour is so completely entertaining that the second half may suffer a tiny bit because of it.  One space battle/chase may go on a hair too long, but the movie clocks in at only 2 hours, so it flies by, unlike the bloated 2 hour 45 minute movies we usually get. Don't worry if you know nothing about the comic books, you don't need to.  Yes, it ties into the other Marvel movies, but this plays as it's own independent thing...that will eventually tie in more to the Avengers.  Everything about this movie is fun, entertaining and cool.  As always, stay after the credits.

**** out of 4.  Must See.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Peter Parker is back as the Amazing Spider-Man, trying to save NYC from evil-doers, unravel the mystery of his parents disappearance and balance his love for girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, whilst keeping a promise he made to her late police chief father to stay away from her in order to keep her safe.

This movie has it's moments.  The leads, Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy have ample amounts of chemistry on screen (I understand they're dating in real life, so there you go) and are very good actors.  Their relationship, how Spider-Man balances his love for Gwen with his desire to keep her safe and honor her father's wishes, is very engaging, funny and emotional.  Where the movie suffers, like many superhero movies have before it, is with it's villains, as in too many of them.  Choose one and go with it.  Give us time to hate/fear him and give him screen time.  This almost felt like two movies jammed into one; a romantic comedy/drama mixed with your run of the mill Spider-Man villain story.  The villains are okay, they're not terrible, but the movie feels overstuffed, and some scenes with a mad scientist and Electro (Jamie Foxx), go over the top cheesy and feel oddly out of place.  The action and special FX are awesome.  Andrew Garfield is a much better Spider-Man than Tobey Maguire.

**1/2 out of 4.  Theater worthy if you're a Spider-Man/comic book fan.  Rentable if not.