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Every Superhero Needs His Theme Music

14 Jun

superman-headphonesWith the new Superman movie now in theaters, it’s time to dig out all those Superman-themed songs that we know and love.

You know the ones … “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues” by the Spin Doctors, “Superman’s Song” by Crash Test Dummies, “Superman” by R.E.M., “Kryptonite” by 3 Doors Down, etc. etc.

Want ’em all in one place? You’re in luck: To celebrate the release of Man of Steel, I’ve put together a Spotify playlist of Superman music. It includes the obvious candidates, plus one or two that reference Superman, and a few that were new to me but still worth including. Continue reading →

Welcome to the Planet

13 Jun

man_of_steel_posterThese days, it seems you can go one of two directions with your superhero movies.

There’s the Jon Favreau/Joss Whedon route, where the film reflects a comic book sensibility and there’s a healthy mix of action, pathos, and humor — as there was in Whedon’s The Avengers and the three Iron Man films.

Then there’s the Christopher Nolan route, where the stakes are greater than in a typical comic book movie and the drama takes place at an epic pitch, as in The Dark Knight Rises.

(Basically, it’s the Marvel way vs the DC way.)

Director Zack Snyder has taken the latter route with his Superman reboot, Man of Steel. (No surprise, given that Nolan is a producer of the film.) Following Nolan’s lead wasn’t a bad decision, but in doing so, Snyder makes us ask the same question the Joker asked in The Dark Knight: “Why so serious?” Continue reading →

Disaster Lockdown

12 Jun

This-Is-The-End-PosterThere’s no reason why This Is the End should be as good as it is.

The film is a goof on end-of-the-world disaster movies, made by and starring the guys from such films as Pineapple Express, Superbad, Knocked Up, and nearly every other Judd Apatow–produced comedy of the past decade.

All the guys play themselves — that is, they play over-the-top, exaggerated versions of themselves — and the film is filled with enough filthy trash talk and bad behavior to fill an entire season’s worth of dumb comedies.

And yet … God bless whatever studio executive green-lighted this movie — he must have been high at the time — because This Is the End turns out to be one of the smartest inside-joke riffs and one of the funniest movies in recent years. Continue reading →

It’s Not Perfect, But It’s Real

11 Jun

before-midnight-posterIn 1995, writer/director Richard Linklater made a small film called Before Sunrise, which told the story of Jesse and Celine (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy), an American man and French woman, who meet on a train, disembark in Vienna, and wander the city all night long, getting to know each other.

Nine years later, in Before Sunset, the action shifted to Paris, where the now married Jesse is promoting a book he’d written inspired by his one night with Celine. As the two wander the city all day and catch up, it’s clear the spark lit all those years earlier is still very much alive.

Fast forward another nine years, and the three have reunited once again to check in with Jesse and Celine. In Before Midnight, we find the pair — now living together and with twin daughters of their own — in Greece, where they’ve spent the summer. But unlike in the past, when love for these two was an ideal, a dream, a possibility, now it’s reality, and it’s not so dreamy. Before Midnight tackles that shift head-on.

Continue reading →

Everybody’s Searching for Something

6 Jun

the_internship_posterIt’s hard to judge The Internship solely as a movie.

That’s because it’s more an advertorial for Google than it is a movie — as anyone who’s seen even the smallest shred of the film’s marketing campaign can attest.

I mean, holy product pimping, Batman! This film shills harder for the search engine and all its auxiliary tools than American Idol does for Coke and Ford.

It’s more in the tank for Google than You’ve Got Mail was for AOL back in 1998.

More than The Wizard was for Nintendo back in 1989.

And yes, even more than Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle was for the burger chain in 2004.

Hell, I’m surprised the film’s not called Google: The Movie.

But alright, now that we’ve got that out of the way, can we move on?

Yes.

Let’s.

Continue reading →

Thank You for Fast Cars

24 May

Fast-Furious-6-PosterGentlemen, start your engines.

Again.

Fast & Furious 6 — yes, there’s a SIXTH Fast & Furious movie — hits theaters this weekend, bringing with it a now-trademark mix of testosterone, hot women, cool cars, ridiculous action scenes, and far-fetched plot twists.

This time out, the gang, still ably led by Vin Diesel’s Dom and Paul Walker’s Brian, teams up with the Rock’s federal agent Hobbs to bring down a British terrorist whose own team includes the love of Dom’s life, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez). Wait, didn’t she die two movies ago? Surprise!

So yeah, that’s the big difference between this film and the others: Our “heroes,” who usually fall on the wrong side of the law — including in the last movie, where they pulled off an Ocean’s Eleven/Italian Job–style heist in Rio — here are on the side of the good guys.

Like that really makes a difference.

Continue reading →

The Party’s Over

22 May

hangover-part-iii-posterThe marketing campaign for The Hangover Part III is largely centered around the idea that this movie marks the conclusion of the series.

Indeed, the film’s posters boast taglines including “The end” and “It ends,” and the movie itself includes lines of dialogue like “It all ends tonight.”

(It’s subtle, I know.)

But anyone who’s seen all three films, as I have, would agree: This is a series that should have ended after the first one. After all, the first sequel was nothing more than a carbon copy of the original Hangover, just set in a different city, with more raunch and a lot fewer laughs. Now we have a second sequel that’s not very funny and isn’t even about a hangover, but certainly feels like one.

It ends tonight? Damn. What took you so long? Continue reading →

Within and Without

9 May

great-gatsby-posterIt comes within the first few seconds of the film.

Tobey Maguire, playing Nick Carraway, utters the first lines of The Great Gatsby. Except, they’re not the words as written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. They’re a close approximation — just without the elegance and thematic context.

That’s your first indication that Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of the Fitzgerald classic will be good, but not quite as good as its source material.

But really, how could it be? Gatsby is a book that many (but not everyone) consider the Great American Novel. One that’s been a high-school-reading staple for generations. A novel that seems damned near impossible to adapt in any sort of satisfactory fashion, despite four big-screen attempts (including a 1974 version that starred Robert Redford and Mia Farrow).

So having Nick (and Luhrmann) reset the audience’s expectations right off the bat frees us up to just watch the movie and not be disappointed later.

It’s kind of a smart move, if you think about it. Continue reading →

Turn It Off

12 Apr

disconnect-posterThe new film Disconnect is meant to be a cautionary tale.

So is this review.

A laughable collection of stories whose moral is no deeper than “The Internet is evil,” the film covers the same ground that films like Identity Thief and Bully, and TV shows like Catfish, already have. Not only does Disconnect add nothing new to the idea that you need to be skeptical when it comes to communicating with others online, it way overhypes  the idea that there’s nothing good about the Internet, so you should stay far away.

Either the filmmakers — who include director Henry-Alex Rubin (the excellent documentary Murderball) — have been burned so badly by online relationships that they need to exact revenge, or they just don’t understand how the Internet works. My money’s on the latter. Continue reading →

You Let Me Love Baseball Again

11 Apr

42-movie-posterThe new film 42 is going to do a great public service for a new generation of baseball fans who may be familiar with the name Jackie Robinson, but who don’t know much about him.

It’s a rousing movie that casts Robinson in the role of noble baseball player — a man who earned admiration not just because he broke the sport’s color barrier, but because he was a terrific athlete on the field and, just as important, a class act off it.

Which is not to say it’s the best baseball movie ever. It’s not even one truly worthy of the man himself. Predictably, with its reverential tone, majestic music cues, and sometimes cheesy dialogue, 42 is a rather conventional biopic. It tells the story of this all-American hero, putting a fine point on his accomplishments, and hammering home the point that those who objected to the integration of baseball were on the wrong side of history.

For a more rigid critic, the manipulative sincerity of the film might be a turnoff. But not me. 42 isn’t a walk-off home run, but I still scored it a solid run-scoring double. Continue reading →

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