At first, Stretch started out kind of fun. I liked the set up and the humor. There’s a cameo early on from David Hasselhoff that is laugh-out-loud funny (wish the Hoff was getting more comedy work – he’s really good at it). But then things get less creative, more LA-inside-baseball, and the film loses major steam about 5 minutes after Chris Pine is on screen.

Pine’s character is so forced, so not funny, that it takes most of the fun right out of the film. Being outrageous is what passes for comedy these days but showing gross outs and out-of-this-world sexual innuendo isn’t clever or new. All of it just hits with a thud and for the last half of the film, I could barely make it through. This is a totally forgettable film from a director (Joe Carnahan) who should be doing much more interesting and better work.

I won’t be surprised if 99 Homes hits a few critic’s best of the year lists. It’s an engrossing character drama about the housing crisis of the early 2000’s starring Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon. Shannon in particular gives a powerful performance as the greedy real estate business man who is capitalizing on other people’s foreclosures and misfortune. Garfield is also surprisingly great here as a blue collar construction worker caught in the system.

The film does a great job of illustrating the corruption and frankly, just general mess that the real estate industry (and low interest lending to unqualified buyers) was causing to the economy and people’s daily lives. I’m glad I saw it and really liked it but I’m not sure I’d go as far as putting this on a best of list. Still, it’s terrific and worth seeing.

I recently saw a survey of top film critics for the best comedies of all time and Coming to America was in the top 10. It’s been a long time since I watched this so I decided to give it another spin. This film comes from the era when comedies still had a well-thought-out plot and endearing characters (gone are those days it seems). The film credits Eddie Murphy with the story (not the script) and it definitely has that 1980’s classic Murphy feel to it. I love, love, love the callback to Trading Places (also directed by John Landis – one of my favorite directors of all time).

I forgot about the barbershop characters but it’s interesting to note that this was the first film where Murphy dressed up as other characters along with himself in the film. It works great. Arsenio Hall is also awesome here. He’s a funny guy (most people only remember him from his late night talk show). He also plays one of the barbershop characters and has some of the best lines. It’s nostalgic, humorous, and there’s a few uproariously funny moments but it isn’t wall-to-wall laughs. Nevertheless, I can see why critics put this one on the top of the list because it’s so well put together and so quotable. If you haven’t watched it in a while, it’s worth revisiting.

One of the best music biopics I’ve seen in quite a while. The story of Brian Wilson’s (The Beach Boys chief song writer and creative genius) battle with mental illness and drugs during the recording of Pet Souunds, Love & Mercy smartly doesn’t attempt to cover Wilson’s entire life. Instead, it gives us a peek into the creative process and interpersonal struggles of the band as they recorded this brilliant work which many critics consider to be one of the top 10 greatest albums of all time.

Special mention has to go to both Paul Dano (playing the younger Brian Wilson in his prime) and John Cusack (playing the older, seriously mentally ill Wilson). Both do an amazing job of capturing his struggles at each point in his life. Dano is always excellent and does a masterful job here again but I was particularly surprised by how great Cusack was. He seemed to be in a creative slump for the past decade and this was the best work I can remember him doing in a long time. All the supporting cast is good as well with particularly scary and amazing performance by Paul Giamatti as the crackpot psychiatrist / producer dominating Wilson’s later life. If you’re a fan of The Beach Boys like I am, Love & Mercy is not to be missed.

While I don’t disagree with the reviewers who asserted that Sean Penn isn’t an action movie star, he’s still a really good actor and I didn’t mind his non-actionness in this. In addition, a common criticism was that The Gunman was boring but I didn’t find that at all. Sure, this isn’t a nonstop action thrill ride compared to something like the Bourne series but it’s a well-paced, competently-made film and no one is just phoning it in here.

That being said, not all of it works. One thing I hated was how sexist the script was. In an almost all male cast, the one female lead gets virtually nothing to do besides scream in terror, ask dumb questions, play damsel in distress, and be an object of sexual desire for the male lead. Lame. Despite this gripe, there are some pretty cool action scenes & shoot-outs (with low amounts of shaky-cam!). This was nowhere near as bad as critics said. If you like action thrillers, check it out.

Ok, what the heck? I liked this. I can’t understand how critics could trash it so bad. Serena is an engrossing tale of lumber barons, romance, betrayal, murder, and complicated character interactions. Sure, it’s totally depressing but that doesn’t make it a bad film. The period is beautifully depicted with lush colors and warm tones. Some of the shots of the smokey mountains are downright gorgeous. Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper have excellent charisma together and are immediately believable as the love interest (even with a rushed – but what I thought kind of cool idea – courtship & marriage).

Female director Susanne Bier does an admirable job on most fronts, pacing, coaching her actors, etc. I’ll admit that some of the editing was a bit off like the beginning slow motion horse riding sequence. But it was nowhere near (not even in the same universe) as the critic’s claims that the film was an unmitigated disaster. Maybe the biggest problem this film has is that it should have been an hour longer to really be able to develop some of the complicated plot lines. It may not be a masterpiece but if you like films such as There Will Be Blood, you should check this out.

Critics destroyed this when it came out. The trailers didn’t look promising as few, if any, of the jokes hit. But I like Depp and I held out hope this was a throwback type of comedy in the same vein as the original Pink Panther. I’m sorry to report my fears were confirmed. While the film does attempt to capture some of the magic of those older comedies, the big problem is, almost none of the jokes work. The timing is off. The script doesn’t come through. Most everything just falls flat.

This isn’t a terrible film in the sense that it’s poorly made or that the performances are bad. Actually, it seems most of the actors/actresses are giving 100%. Depp appears to be having fun. Bettany is particularly good here. But unfortunately, it’s just not that funny. With the talent involved, this should have been a laugh-a-minute fest like Bill Murray’s The Man Who Knew Too Little. Instead, it’s just a forgettable, slightly humorous slog.

Supposedly, Master of the Flying Guillotine was the big inspiration for Big Trouble in Little China and it’s apparently obvious within the first 15 minutes that there were a lot of ideas taken here. Big Trouble in Little China still has its own thing going on but it’s cool to see where some of the inspiration was drawn from. Basically, this is a kung fu film revolving around a tournament with all kinds of masters coming to fight to the death.

Even though a lot of the film is the tournament challenges, most of the fights are intensely interesting. Creative, weird stuff happening all the time. And the fighters are awesome with obvious influences on Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. Sure, it’s cheesy but if you like Kung Fu movies, this is easily one of the best of the 1970’s.

Ok, I didn’t hate this. I know I should. It’s a video game adaptation and was widely panned when it arrived in theaters earlier this year. But honestly, it’s not terrible. It’s mostly just an action movie. It’s forgettable but also somewhat entertaining at times. Look, I wasn’t expecting much so with lowered expectations, I enjoyed it for what it was. One thing to note, beyond his role as Spock, Zachary Quinto isn’t great, especially in this. No charisma, stilted dialogue, unbelievable character. I questioned his talent level after seeing this.

One good thing to note is that the action here is less shaky-cam than I expected. That already puts it up a notch in my book. Is the plot ridiculous? Sure. Is the acting overly serious while spouting cheesy dialogue? Yep. But it’s based on a video game and in that context, a lot of this fits the aesthetic of the games. If you like this sort of thing, this was better than you heard.

Really interesting film about drone warfare. But at times there’s too much political opinion instead of just showing what drone warfare is like and asking tough questions about it. At one point, the airmen actually question their orders. It seems incredibly unbelievable to see a drone team discussing whether a war is just or not. From the service people I’ve talked to, that would be highly unlikely and uncommon. Some very heavy-handed dialogue comes across as cringe-inducing at times such as “when did we become Hamas?” Whether you agree with the statement or not, in the context of the film it came off as more grandstanding than real dialogue.

One odd thing the film never addressed was how many U.S. service person’s lives were saved by using drones instead of piloted aircraft. Again, regardless of your support of this controversial policy, it’s curious that this point was left out. Also, the whole point of view of trying to justify the terrorist actions and understand why they murder people is sort of pointless and it was weird to see servicemen & women arguing in the terrorist’s behalf sometimes.

The character Ethan Hawke plays is a tough one to pull off but he does it well. The issue for a lot of viewers is going to be connecting with his character. He’s so depressed and with very few redeeming qualities, it could make the film more of a slog, especially for viewers looking for entertainment instead of thought-provoking cinema. What’s really amazing to me about all of this drone warfare is that it isn’t specific to a political party. Shockingly, drone attacks under President Obama escalated more than even under the Bush administration. This film really makes you wonder why and helps you understand some arguments around the cost of this type of warfare. I’d recommend checking this out because it’s one of the best analysis of the drone warfare issue and told in a compelling and relatable way.