Martin's Musings

Six weeks before she’s due to move back to San Francisco, Erin (Drew Barrymore) meets Garrett (Justin Long) in a New York bar, and instantly they hit it off.

They promise not to get too attached, but of course, they can’t help it, and when Erin crosses the country to go back to journalism school, the two decide to give the whole long-distance thing a try.

And that’s what gives the new rom-com Going the Distance its double entendre title.

Real-life on again/off again couple Long and Barrymore have a warm, believable chemistry, and they make this challenged relationship (and film) worth rooting for. Continue reading →

When you go see a movie like Piranha 3D, you don’t go expecting it to be good.

You go hoping it’ll be so bad that it’s awesome fun, that the filmmakers and the audience will be in on the joke just as much as you are, and that you won’t regret the past two hours when the lights go up. (You know, like The Expendables or Snakes on a Plane.)

Unfortunately, Piranha 3D is just bad. (Keep your “I told you so”s to yourself, please.)

It’s not funny, it’s not silly enough, it’s misogynistic, sexist, gratuitous, ridiculous (not in a good way), and it features some truly bad special effects and lots of unnecessary 3D. Continue reading →

The first five minutes of The Expendables tell you everything you need to know about the movie: A group of mercenaries bust up a kidnapping aboard an ocean vessel not by killing the pirates, but by destroying them. The mercenaries’ firepower is just too robust for the pirates’ bodies, and the kidnappers explode in blood and guts. The audience erupts in cheers and applause, and we’re off and running. (Actually, at the screening I was at, people were cheering from the second Sylvester Stallone’s name first appeared on screen.) Awwwww yeah!

Yes, The Expendables is that kind of movie. It is to action flicks what the Oceans series was to heist films: That is to say, it boasts an all-star cast (Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Terry Crewes, Steve Austin, Dolph Lundgren, etc.) and it’s great fun. But whereas the Oceans films were big on style, The Expendables is big on, well, size. There’s a ton of explosions, a ton of action, a ton of muscle and testosterone. The plot’s nothing to get excited about — really, it’s just an excuse to get these guys all together blowin’ sh!t up — and neither is the screenplay. But if you go to the theater simply expecting a good time, then you won’t be disappointed. Nearly every member of the cast gets his image tweaked (including the Governator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who joins with Bruce Willis for a quick cameo), people get beaten up and blown away in increasingly more amusing ways, and 110 minutes later, you walk away with a big smile on your face.

Dismiss it as a big, loud summer action film if you will, but don’t deny that The Expendables is one of the more enjoyable movies of the season so far. I’m giving it a B+.

The Other Guys is the movie Dinner for Schmucks wanted to be. That is to say, it’s a funny pairing of two guys in a high-concept big-screen summer comedy. Oh, and did I mention it’s funny?

Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg star as Allen and Terry, two desk clerks for the NYPD, who get the chance to be heroes when the conventional hero-types die and Allen and Terry uncover something sketchy involving a Bernie Madoff–like financial executive.

Directed by Ferrell’s longtime collaborator Adam McKay (Step Brothers), The Other Guys is a bit too long, doesn’t always do right by Wahlberg, and it loses steam about two-thirds of the way in. But it starts funny and ends funny, Eva Mendes is good, and I laughed a great deal more than I did at the aforementioned Schmucks. Continue reading →

In the film The Kids Are All Right, a married couple is shaken up when their teenage children decide to seek out the sperm donor who fathered them. That the married couple is a lesbian couple adds another layer to the plot, but one of the standout features of this film is how matter-of-factly this is treated. And as played by Annette Bening and Julianne Moore, gracefully and naturally, this couple is one of the most normal, down-to-earth, relatable couples on screen in a long time — flaws and all.

The Kids Are All Right is that kind of movie; what might seem on its surface to be a “message movie” about how even lesbians can successfully raise children is just at its heart a movie about a family — any family — dealing with an unexpected circumstance. And heart is the key word here, since writer/director Lisa Cholodenko has imbued the film with plenty of it (Stuart Blumberg co-wrote the screenplay). Rounding out the cast are Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska (much better here than in Alice in Wonderland), and Josh Hutcherson, all of whom are wonderful.

In a summer full of bombast, The Kids Are All Right is notable not just because it’s a well-made movie, but because it’s the rare film that without gimmick, mockery, or heavy-handedness shows how important family is, and trusts that audiences will get that message no matter what type of family it is. I’m giving The Kids Are All Right an A–.

I have to be honest: I’m not the world’s biggest Angelina Jolie fan. I find her cold and severe looking, too rail-thin, and just not as hot as some other men do. (TMI, perhaps?) Her new film Salt doesn’t exactly turn the tide for me. Here, Jolie plays a CIA agent who may or may not be a Russian spy. For the first half of the movie, I really didn’t care which side she was on. Her character didn’t engender much sympathy. And then, predictably, there’s a twist, but it doesn’t exactly make her more sympathetic — even though it’s probably supposed to. Salt has some decent stunts, a good chase scene or two, and Andre Braugher in a really random blink-and-you’ll-miss-him supporting role (seriously, what was the point of that??), but it’s just an average summer flick that thinks it’s more but really is just alright. You’ll have forgotten it by the next morning. I’m giving Salt a B–.