Neighbors

Movie Name: Neighbors
Year of Release: 2014
Director: Nicholas Stoller
Starring: Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Effron, Dave Franco, Lisa Kudrow, Ike Barinholtz, Brian Huskey, Carla Gallo, Halston Sage, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Roberts, Jerrod Carmichael, Ali Cobrin
Genre: Comedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5
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Synopsis and Review

Following the well received "The Five Year Engagement", director Nicholas Stoller tackled what became his first collaboration with actor/producer Seth Rogen. The film focuses its narrative on Mac Radner and his wife Kelly, who have recently become new parents with the arrival of their daughter Stella. Much to their surprise the house next to theirs sells to a fraternity by the name of Delta Psi Beta, who is well known for their outrageous parties. The leaders of that fraternity, Teddy Sanders and Pete Regazolli, aspire to join the hallmark of the most infamous parties the fraternity has previously organized. Fearing the worst, Mac and Kelly try to build a relationship with the fraternity, particularly their leaders, who figure out it's best if they invite them for a party. Teddy asks the couple that in case they feel troubled by any of their parties, to simply call him first instead of resorting to the police. That soon turns out to be the case, as one of the parties taking place keeps Stella awake, and Mac after attempting to reach out multiple times eventually resorts to calling the police. This opens up the hostilities between the neighbors, something that quickly starts escalating.

"Neighbors" is an interesting film in the sense that has two very distinct layers coming across as the narrative is unfolding. On one hand there's the slightly risqué tone, almost a node to Bob Clark's "Porky's", where the somewhat archetype of college parties as a means to have sex comes across very heavily, while on the other hand, there's the slightly more interesting part of the narrative with the couple who is in their 30s, has a child and is fearing that their youth is gone, including their ability to be spontaneous and even be sexy towards each other. While Mac and Kelly's relationship is effectively rendered, even if the characters themselves are somewhat stunted in their outlines, the fraternity residents are given very little dimension at all, functioning mostly as clichéd antagonists, as opposed to fully rounded characters who have some depth or even motivation beyond just having parties. Part of the problem with this narrative is also the fact that whatever humor there is, comes primarily from Mac and Kelly's reaction to this disruption in their habitat. Nothing that the fraternity and their residents do or for that matter are, is in reality funny at all. Whereas Fred Wolf's "The House Bunny" had the concept of bringing someone oblivious to reality to a sorority and generating the humor from that inadequacy, in this particular case the fraternity itself comes across as reckless, privileged and cruel (and once again, not funny). The film is salvaged due to Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne's (who is phenomenal in everything she does) performances: they have an undeniable chemistry, and they both manage to bring silliness, complicity and warmth to their characters, in their interactions, but also in how they relate to others. They have good support from the somewhat underrated Dave Franco, Ike Barinholtz and Lisa Kudrow. The production team is effective but not particularly memorable. It's a somewhat unbalanced film, worth watching for Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen's undeniable charisma.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Movie Name: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Year of Release: 2023
Director: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein
Starring: Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Hugh Grant, Daisy Head, Chloe Coleman, Rege-Jean Page, Will Irvine, Nicholas Blane, Bryan Larkin, Spencer Wilding, Kyle Hixon, Georgia Landers
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
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Synopsis and Review

The writing/producing and directing duo of John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein have made a name for themselves since they wrote Seth Gordon's "Horrible Bosses", and have since then tackled interesting projects such as Jon Watts' "Spider-Man: Homecoming" and even this year's maligned "The Flash" which was directed by Andy Muschietti. Their prior directorial effort was the well received "Game Night", featuring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams. "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" is based on the game of the same name, and focuses its narrative on bard Edgin Darvis, who lives with his wife and young daughter in the Forgotten Realms. Edgin's life suffers a dramatic turnaround, which includes the death of his wife, resulting in him having to figure out a different way to make a living, which eventually finds him resorting to theft, with a series of accomplices which includes Holga, Simon the sorcerer, Forge who is a con artist, and Forge's acquaintance Sofina. While trying to steal a "Tablet of Reawakening" (which will enable him to resurrect his late wife), he and Holga are captured. After two years of imprisonment, they escape to Neverwinter, only to find out Forge has in the meantime become the Lord of the domain, and has in fact been the one responsible for Kira, Edgin's daughter. Turns out Forge who thinks he's in charge of the situation, has been a bit of a puppet for Sofina who is in reality a villainous Red Wizard. It's up to Edgin and his friends to retrieve the Tablet and stop Sofina and her master from creating another army of the undead. 

"Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" manages to be an unpretentious action/adventure film that though filled with character sketches, it's nonetheless smart enough to give all these character just enough charm to make them compelling and a bit more than offensive clichés. It's a film that reminds at times the better work of Richard Donner (circa "Ladyhawke" for instance), but with a more substantial comedic tone (the obese dragon is a good example). The directors smartly walk a fine line between not taking the premise very seriously, but also not making the film fall into the trappings of self mockery. It's a breezy action film, which at some point brought to mind what Michael Curtiz for instance did with the original "Robin Hood" (with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland), in the sense that it's colorful, the characters are briefly explained and given some substance, and the chemistry between all of them makes the narrative that much more palatable and engaging. The film also benefits from a solid cast, in particular the trifecta of Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez and Hugh Grant. The production team is equally solid, with highlights going to Barry Peterson's cinematography, Lorne Balfe's score, Ray Chan's production design and Amanda Monk's costume design. Worth watching. 

The One

Movie Name: The One
Year of Release: 2001
Director: James Wong
Starring: Jet Li, Carla Gugino, Delroy Lindo, Jason Statham, James Morrison, Dylan Bruno, Richard Steinmetz, Steve Rankin, Tucker Smallwood, Harriet Sansom Harris, Dean Norris, Darin Morgan, Rom Zimmerman, Joel Stoffer
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4
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Synopsis and Review

"The One" was a vehicle to further cement Jet Li's ascension in the North American market, which started with his supporting turn in Richard Donner's "Lethal Weapon 4", which was quickly followed by lead roles in "Romeo Must Die" and "Kiss of the Dragon". The narrative of the film focuses on Gabe Law a deputy sheriff in LA, who is married to the lovely T.K.. Hot on his trail is another version of himself by the name of Yulaw, who was once an agent part of MVA who police cross-dimensional travel. Yulaw has been killing all different versions of himself across different universes, and absorbing their energy to himself, all with the intent of becoming "The One". His goal is to do the same with Gabe. Agents Roedecker and Funsch are pursuing him and their goal is to both stop Yulaw and also save Gabe from that fate. Gabe in the meantime has also noticed he has been gaining increased strength and speed. Funsch eventually explains to Gabe what is happening, though they're both unable to save T.K. from Yulaw's killing spree. As Gabe and Funsch eventually fight Yulaw, they're sucked in by a wormhole which drops them at the MVA headquarters. 

Coincidentally enough, James Wong's "The One" tackled the topic of Multi-verse well before Marvel came along and planted that narrative device across most of their films. Wong who started his feature  directorial career with "Final Destination", but had an already well established screenwriting career beforehand, has plenty of interesting items to work with in this film (namely this notion of a multiverse police department who keeps an eye on what's taking place across multiple universes). However and while the concept of multiverse allows for interesting permutations with the same characters, this film in particular falls somewhat short since we never get much of an understanding of who Gabe or Yulaw actually are. And while the suggestion of "The One" is supposedly enticing, that narrative mechanism or ploy is never fully explored or explained. This film did have the potential to be an enticing B-movie, one where the characters are briefly explained and where their motives are swiftly rendered, but sadly the director chooses to focus more on action and fighting scenes, which as well staged as they are, don't necessarily add color or detail to what is happening, at least not in the same way some of Jackie Chan's films have been able to do (such as "Police Story" for instance). In the end we're left with some stilted dialogue options, and plenty of action scenes which do illustrate Jet Li's acrobatic skills and very little beyond that. The always underrated Carla Gugino and Delroy Lindo manage to salvage whatever there is from their scenes, while the production design team (headed by David L. Snyder) is underwhelming, with some of the choices bringing to mind some of the Farscape sets. It's watchable and instantly forgettable. 

Prom Night

Movie Name: Prom Night
Year of Release: 2008
Director: Nelson McCormick
Starring: Brittany Snow, Scott Porter, Idris Elba, Jessica Stroup, Dana Davis, Collins Pennie, Kelly Blatz, James Ransone, Brianne Davis, Kellan Lutz, Mary Mara, Ming-Na Wen, Johnathon Schaech, Linden Ashby, Jana Kramer, Jessalyn Gilsig, Rachel Specter, Valeri Ross
Genre: Horror
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 1
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Synopsis and Review

Director Nelson McCormick has largely made a career for himself directing a variety of reputable TV shows, which has included "The Man in the High Castle", "Homeland", "The Good Wife", "Southland", and going back even further, "Nip/Tuck" and "ER". And for all his prolific career on TV, this remake of "Prom Night" was his second feature directorial outing. The film follows the narrative of Donna Keppel who is a high school senior currently living with her uncle and aunt following a traumatic occurrence in her life, specifically one where her father, brother and mother were all killed by a stalker she had, her former biology teacher. As Donna prepares for her senior prom, the local detective learns that the killer escaped from the mental hospital where he was being held captive, and in all likelihood is coming for Donna once again. Donna and her boyfriend Bobby, alongside their close friends all head for a hotel where the prom celebration is taking place, only for the killer to start attacking each one of them all with the goal of getting to Donna. The police uncovers the killings, and orders the hotel to be evacuated and Donna and Bobby to be sent home with a series of police patrols escorting them. However the killer is hot on their trail.

The original "Prom Night" came out in 1980 (directed by Paul Lynch) and featured Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Nielsen in the central roles. It wasn't the most riveting of titles from the time period, and definitely isn't one of the most memorable features in Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Nielsen's respectable careers. This update however fails to do much with the original source material, failing to provide much substance as to who these characters actually are. Donna who is incarnated in this version by Brittany Snow, is somewhat objectified as a lovely young woman, though the audience hardly ever understands what makes the killer so drawn to her ( or for that matter why should we care). The supporting characters suffer a similar contrived experience, ranging from Donna's friends to the police officers who are responsible for her safeguarding. All this array of characters has hardly any motivation or for that matter, existence, beyond being fodder for that persistent killer. Even the killer himself, it's never truly uncovered the reason for his obsession for that young woman. It's a film that fails to not only provide much dimension to any character, but one that also isn't very subtle in the way it stages the killer's attacks and his methods to get to his target. This does not come across as a slick B-movie, instead it's a poorly realized TV slasher film with very little entertainment value, save for Idris Elba who as always manages to do something with the paltry elements he is given and the always reliable James Ransone who also has very little to do here. The production team is somewhat generic and unmemorable. It's a missed opportunity and a lackluster feature. 

Tenet

Movie Name: Tenet
Year of Release: 2020
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Kenneth Branagh, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, Clemence Poesy, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Martin Donovan, Himesh Patel, Anthony Molinari, Laurie Shepherd
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 3
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Synopsis and Review

After the critical and commercial success of "Dunkirk", writer/producer/director Christopher Nolan decided to tackle a deconstructed take on time travel, married with some of the familiar layers he usually peppers his stories with. The film premiered at the height of the Covid 19 pandemic, and didn't get much tracking, particularly when compared to his previous endeavors, which also precipitated his abandon of the long term relationship he had with Warner Brothers. The film focuses on a character we only know by the Protagonist, who gets involved with an underground organization, with the intent to prevent a notorious arms dealer by the name of Andrei Sator to get access to various critical ingredients which will enable him to have nuclear capabilities. While doing this, he gets acquainted with Andrei's wife Kat, who is in a precarious situation when it comes to her personal relationship with Andrei. He also forges a partnership with the resourceful Neil, who always knows a bit more than he leads on. The Protagonist soon realizes that Andrei is always a step ahead, because he has access to futuristic technology which enables him to walk through different timelines and control the outcome of everything. That in itself turns out to be an additional layer of danger he and his team have to learn to overcome so they can avoid the collapse of the entire planet. 

I've long been a big fan of Christopher Nolan, since he always manages to find a fine balance between the cerebral aspect of the stories he's trying to tell, with the human layer which surrounds them, since he has understood all along that without characters, without a human heart at the core of these pseudo-intellectual reflections, there's nothing to vie for. "Tenet" is a big stumble for the director, one where the love for the mechanism of the story is all there, but the marriage with the human element, and the characters themselves for that matter, simply isn't properly addressed or solved for. One of the biggest puzzling effects for instance, is the relationship that is established between Andrei (played by the stupendous Kenneth Branagh) and his wife Kat. It essentially plays itself out like a mediocre action B-movie of the 80s (it reminded me of the plot machinations of some of the Cannon films), never truly expanding much on who these characters or what their goals are, aside from destroying everything (a) and saving a child (b). Truth be told "Inception" failed to elevate much of the familiar relationship of Leonardo Di Caprio's character with Marion Cotillard's, but his guilt propelled him, and instilled a drive in him to keep the game going. Here the director seemingly focused solely on the aspect of the time displacement mechanism, and forgot to wrap actual characters around all this. What ends up happening is a cold observation of what are seemingly very important exchanges between these characters, all of which feels stilted and unimaginative. Where "Inception" constantly felt like time was running out (or stretching itself out), this one relies so much on exposition, and what the mechanism does, that at some point the characters themselves are trying to figure out what all this means (and maybe that was one of the goals of the film itself). To top it all off, the visual effects that populate the narrative end up feeling lackluster and frankly cheap, which is something surprising for a film with this type of budget (and I'm going to say that unlike Doug Liman's "Edge of Tomorrow", this one is not going to age well in that regard). What is left at the end of this interminable saga? Mostly the presence of Kenneth Branagh, who even with an underwritten and cliché ridden role is still a joy to behold, the same going for Robert Pattinson who plays a good supporting character, a bit of a cypher but somewhat of a generic one as well. The cinematography from the wonderful Hoyte van Hoytema is fantastic, as is the score from Ludwig Goransson. It's not a very realized vision from this director, and feels like at some point someone should have said: "we need to talk about this". Too bad no one ever did.

How to be Single

Movie Name: How to be Single
Year of Release: 2016
Director: Christian Ditter
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Leslie Mann, Alison Brie, Anders Holm, Nicholas Braun, Jake Lacy, Damon Wayans Jr., Colin Jost, Vanessa Rubio, Sarah Ramos
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5
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Synopsis and Review

Director Christian Ditter followed his mildly successful "Love, Rosie", with "How to be Single", in what can be considered the typical rom-com format. The film follows the story of Alice, whom we are first introduced as someone who has been in a relationship since she arrived in college and met the affable Josh. Longing to learn more about what's out there, Alice decides to propose they both take a break so she and Josh can see a bit more of the world, and then decide if they do want to stay together or go their separate ways. Alice comes to NY and lives with her sister, a successful MD, who is going through a tough decision in her life, namely figuring out if she wants to have a child on her own or wait. Alice joins a law firm as a paralegal, where she meets the irreverent Robin, who is always partying and enjoying her single life. Robin makes it one of her goals to make sure Alice gets to experience a bit of that as well. Alice has a fling with serial non-committal Tom, a bartender who in the meantime has started to develop feelings for Lucy, someone who is trying to figure out how to date online. Alice decides single life isn't for her and reaches out to Josh, in the hopes they can resume their life. However, Josh has also met someone, and has moved on. Alice finds herself in the position of having to rethink her life and her options, as a single individual as opposed to someone always in a relationship.

"How to be Single" is an interesting feature, in the sense that while not the most original take on the aspirations of a single woman coming to terms of what being single versus being in a relationship means to her, it still holds one's attention courtesy of the very talented and eclectic cast assembled (and one can always revisit Paul Mazursky's "An Unmarried Woman" with Jill Clayburgh in order to witness a far more interesting take on this topic). Alice, the central character to this odyssey, isn't necessarily the most well defined character, but her attempts at figuring her path and options, manage to briefly define someone who is on a journey of self discovery and ultimately becoming an adult. The supporting characters however don't benefit of being quite as well defined, falling into the trappings of either being the outrageous comical sidekick, or the older sensical sister going through some questioning of her own options, or the somewhat idyllic woman who has to come to terms with the brutal aspects of dating. The male characters in this universe, are also somewhat stereotypes, falling either into the bucket of the eternal cynical womanizer, or the bruised and emotionally unavailable single parent, or the immature one. While they provide some fodder for some circumstantial exchanges, they're ultimately not as resonant as they're not fully fledged characters with their own goals and aspirations. For all the script's limitations, the cast does manage to bring something unique to these roles with their performances, particularly Dakota Johnson and Leslie Mann, who share a great complicity, while Rebel Wilson does most of what she can with an underwritten part. The production team is fairly solid, highlighting in particular the cinematography of Christian Rein. While not a terribly memorable film, it's still a watchable endeavor.