Martin's Musings

There are two nice things about being an amateur film critic.

One is that I don’t have to see every movie that comes out. Only the ones I want to see.

The other is that when I see a movie that leaves little to no impression on me, I’m under no obligation to fake it through a thorough and intelligently written review.

That second thing is why this review of People Like Us won’t be my longest, best, or most thorough one.

In the film, Chris Pine (Star Trek, Just My Luck) plays Sam, a guy whose estranged father has passed, and who learns he has a sister, Frankie (Elizabeth Banks). Sam is short on cash, when his father leaves Frankie a bunch of it, Sam befriends her and her son, hoping he’ll be able to score at least some of it.

Also in the cast are Michelle Pfeiffer as Sam’s mother, who may or may not have known about Frankie, and the lovely Olivia Wilde, as Sam’s long-suffering law-student girlfriend. Continue reading →

What would you do if the end of the world was three weeks away?

We’re not talking some crazy Harold Camping theory that won’t come true.

We’re talking a 70-mile-long asteroid that’s three weeks away from hitting the earth, and not even Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck can save us.

This time, it’s really gonna happen.

That’s the scenario facing the characters in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.

When the movie starts, Dodge (Steve Carrell) and his wife are hearing the news that the end is near — but don’t worry, there are still plenty of classic rock tunes left to play! (That’s the first of a few good laughs.) She promptly opens the door and leaves him.

Lost and distraught, Dodge keeps on keeping on. He continues to go to work selling insurance (apocalypse package not included), continues to work out, and just keeps operating like nothing’s wrong. After all, what else is he gonna do? Continue reading →

True story: In 1997, the editors of Backwoods Home Magazine were struggling to fill space in their classifieds section.

One of them came up with the idea to write a mock ad that began “WANTED: Someone to go back in time with me,” and it was printed in the magazine. (Intentionally, for all you quality- and/or process-minded folks out there.)

Years later, the ad gained attention thanks to internet pranksters, who spread it around, adding their own photos, videos, and interpretations.

And now, five years later, there’s a movie, Safety Not Guaranteed, that takes the premise of the ad and dramatizes it. Continue reading →

In space, no one can hear you scream.

But in a crowded movie theater, they can hear you say, “Wow.”

And if you go to see Prometheus, Ridley Scott’s unofficial prequel to his Alien series, you will no doubt say that quite a few times.

It’ll start with the gorgeous opening credits sequence, shot in Iceland, which is just amazing. See this film in 3D and you’ll instantly know you’re in the hands of a master filmmaker, one who not only understands the value of another dimension, but who knows how to use the technology effectively. (In that respect, it’s reminiscent of Martin Scorsese’s Hugo.)

We’re plopped down pretty quickly in Scotland, in the year 2089, where two archeologists, Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway (played by the Swedish Lisbeth Salander, Noomi Rapace, and Logan Marshall-Grant, previously best known for playing Trey Atwood on The O.C.), have stumbled upon a star map that they think will lead them to the secret of life. They interpret this as an invitation to go find the so-called Engineers, who “created” the human race.

And so, we’re whisked up, four years later, onto the scientific space vessel Prometheus, where Shaw and Holloway have joined with mission director Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) and her crew to travel to a distant moon to find the Engineers. “It’s a scientific mission,” they say. “No weapons necessary.”

Suffice it to say, things go wrong.

Horribly, horribly wrong. Continue reading →

What is Moonrise Kingdom?

Where is Moonrise Kingdom?

In Wes Anderson’s enchanting new film, Moonrise Kingdom may be the name the two main characters give to a section of beach where they spend a special evening together, but it’s clear that Moonrise Kingdom is so much more than one single place.

In Moonrise Kingdom, Sam and Suzy (Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward) are young kids who run away together — he from his scout troop, where he’s the least popular member, and she from a home where she’s a problem child to distracted parents. They’re in love, you see — a relationship that blossomed via a series of letters sent back and forth — and nobody understands. Continue reading →

Ten years after the last Austin Powers movie, there’s been talk that the British super spy is returning to the big screen. (Yeah, baby.)

Coincidentally, 2002 was also the year we last saw a Men in Black film.

That both of these series have been dormant for so long is probably a good thing — especially, in the case of Men in Black, because the second film was not very good, and it’s not like Agents J and K were the most beloved characters of all time. (At least, they weren’t as far as I was concerned.)

And yet, those dapper secret agents are now back (yes, in black), and providing a good example for how to relaunch a film franchise.

Mike Myers, please pay attention. Continue reading →

There’s a game I like to play from time to time called “Fun with Facial Hair.”

The rules are simple: Stop shaving around my mouth, grow a goatee, and see how long I can stand it before my appearance is a complete turnoff, either to myself or to others.

Why do I do this? I’m not really sure.

Sometimes it’s because I’m lazy and don’t feel like shaving (though having to “sculpt” the goatee does take some work).

Sometimes it’s because I need a new look for a little while; friends have taken to calling me “Evil Martin” when the goatee is there, and I kinda like that.

But if the folks in Morgan Spurlock’s new movie Mansome are to be believed, there are three main reasons:

1. I do it to assert my masculinity.
2. I grow hair on my face simply because I can.
3. And I do it to show I’m a man, not a boy.

So there you go. Grunt. Continue reading →

Dear Sacha Baron Cohen,

When most of America first met you in the film Borat, your brand of comedy was new and novel.

The way you didn’t just play a character, you became that person — on screen and in every promotional appearance — was a brilliant display of performance art. You drew laughs from our discomfort, and I loved it.

Your next such movie, Brüno, was less successful largely because you basically did the same thing all over again, just with a gay German fashion reporter instead of a clueless Kazakh reporter. Yawn.

Now you’re starring in The Dictator, playing Admiral General Aladeen, a despot from the fictional North African country of Wadiya, who sees himself as a peer and friend of Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi, etc. The film is a satire of current world politics, a sendup of the Middle Eastern dictator culture, and again, you’ve been out promoting the film in character.

You’ve been at the Oscars, where you dumped Kim Jong-il’s “ashes” on Ryan Seacrest, and on Saturday Night Live with your Hugo director, Martin Scorsese. And you’ve made multiple other appearances as Aladeen, making many of the same jokes we saw in the film’s trailer and that we see in the film itself.

If your intention is to shock and offend us, then why ruin the gags for us before we’ve even paid for a ticket?

I’m sorry to be the one who has to tell you, but at this point, it’s not just “been there, done that” … it’s over. Continue reading →