The Way Way Back (2013)

We loved it! A 14 year old boy goes with his mom, her boyfriend, and boyfriend's daughter to a beach house and finds solace from the awful boyfriend with quirky adults at a nearby water park. Liam James (2012, Psych (TV) flashbacks) shines as the boy, Duncan, who comes of age that summer. Steve Carell (last blogged in Hope Springs, in which he did no comedy) again won't have you laughing at the handsome, narcissistic, unkind Trent who somehow has Duncan's mother Pam, played by Toni Collette (most recently in Hitchcock) believing he's a good guy. The comedy comes from, among others, Allison Janney (Liberal Arts) as Betty, the drunk next door who spends most of the movie raucously laughing, and the crew at the water park, led by the brilliant Sam Rockwell (Seven Psychopaths) (do watch this video of his dancing on Jimmy Fallon's show--what a cool dude!) as Owen, who help to ease Duncan out of his shell. No, not literally! Get your mind out of the gutter. Amanda Peet (Please Give) and Rob Corddry (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World) also provide humor as Trent's friends Joan and Kip, and Maya Rudolph (Friends with Kids) is Owen's patient girlfriend Caitlin. The other kids are Trent's bitchy daughter Steph, played by Zoe Levin (new to me but I'll see her when I finish the current season of Arrested Development), and Betty's kids Peter (River Alexander) and Susanna, played by AnnaSophia Robb (I didn't see her starring roles in Because of Winn-Dixie (2005), Bridge to Terabithia (2007), Soul Surfer (2011), nor the TV series The Carrie Diaries). Alexander and Robb are every bit as good as the others (Levin doesn't have much to do).

Nat Faxon and Jim Rash won an Oscar two years ago for writing the screenplay of The Descendants. I hope they're nominated next year for this one, writing and/or directing. They have cameos as members of the water park crew--in the trailer Faxon (16 episodes as Ben in Ben and Kate) is the one telling the shapely girl to wait before before sliding and Rash (70 episodes as Dean Felton in Community) is the one who squeals, "My doctor said not to get water on my face!" Rash said in an interview that when he was 14 he had a conversation with his stepfather similar to the one that opens the trailer and the movie and that inspired the screenplay.

Water Wizz is a real park (funny name!) in Wareham, Massachusetts, just southwest of the Bourne and Sagamore bridges to Cape Cod, and much of the movie was shot there and nearby.

Some of the promotional material says "From the studio that brought you Little Miss Sunshine and Juno." It's a bit of a reach. Fox Searchlight did distribute all three but wasn't involved in the production of this one.

The music includes original material by composer Rob Simonsen (Girl Most Likely, two more coming out this year, and was "assistant to composer" on Little Miss Sunshine (2006)) and plenty of catchy tunes. You can listen to a few tracks of the composer's on his site, read the 23-song list on imdb, read about the 15-song album on squidoo, and preview those songs on amazon.

I'm not the first to say this movie is a welcome respite from the bang bang action movies out this summer (not that there's anything wrong with them) and definitely not the first to recommend it (83% critics and 90 audiences on rottentomatoes). Go ahead and see it now. You'll thank me later.

Unfinished Song (2012)

We enjoyed very much this story of a grumpy old Englishman's interactions with his sweet ailing wife's senior community chorus. Terence Stamp (I didn't see his Oscar-nominated role in Billy Budd (1962) (his second ever acting job), but liked him in Superman (1978); Legal Eagles (1986); The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994); The Limey (1999); Bowfinger (1999); and My Wife Is an Actress (Ma femme est une actrice - 2001)) and Vanessa Redgrave (Oscar winner for Julia (1977); of her five nominations I've seen only the brilliant Howards End (1992); and also liked Blow-Up (1966); Yanks (1979); the TV-movie Playing for Time (1980); Wilde (1997); Cradle Will Rock (1999); Girl, Interrupted (1999); the HBO mini-series If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000); her series arc playing the mother of her real-life daughter Joely Richardson on Nip/Tuck; and Atonement; to name a few) are great as Arthur and Marion. Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace then a small part in Pirate Radio) and Christopher Eccleston (good in Shallow Grave (1994), Elizabeth (1998), and Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000), to name a few) have mood swings of their own as the chorus director Elizabeth and James (Arthur and Marion's grown son) respectively. Little Orla Hill is cute as James' daughter Jennifer.

The British Independent Film Awards nominated director/writer Paul Andrew Williams (new to me) for  the screenplay and Stamp and Redgrave for acting. The other members of the chorus bring a great deal to the table as well, as do the musical arrangers!

There is a score composed by Laura Rossi, but the only time I noticed it was one time when I wished I could hear the voices singing instead. This movie will be inevitably compared to Young@Heart (2007), a wonderful documentary about 21st century senior citizens also singing songs much younger than they are. Young@Heart is available now to stream on netflix. Imdb has a pretty good soundtrack list for Unfinished Song (originally titled Song for Marion). While the credits roll you can hear Celine Dion singing a Diane Warren tune Unfinished Song, which makes me wonder if Dion's star power was the reason for changing the movie's title?

On rottontomatoes this is averaging 63% critics, 71 audiences. We highly recommend it at my neighborhood theatre, playing at least until this Thursday.

Girl Most Likely (2012)

We liked this story of a woman moving home to New Jersey when her glamorous NYC life doesn't pan out. Most reviewers said we wouldn't. They stink, as usual. With a terrific cast, plenty of jokes and quirky characters, and, okay, a few lags in timing, it entertained us fine. Kristen Wiig (last blogged in Friends with Kids) plays the lead Imogene (the movie was originally titled Imogene) as the insecure wreck crawling her way up from the bottom. Annette Bening's (most recently in Ginger & Rosa) Zelda, with a spot-on Jersey accent, lights up her every scene. Matt Dillon (Oscar-nominated for Crash (2004); I also liked him in My Bodyguard (1980), The Outsiders (1983), Rumble Fish (1983), Drugstore Cowboy (1989), To Die For (1995), Grace of My Heart (1996), Drugstore Cowboy (1989), There's Something About Mary (1998), and Factotum (2005), among others) also brings humor as the ridiculous George "The Bouche." We kept looking at Darren Criss, who plays the boarder, and wondering why he looked and sounded so familiar. Turns out he played Blaine, Kurt's boyfriend, on 58 episodes of Glee back when we were still watching it. Mickey Sumner (Frances Ha) has a cameo as one of the bitchy New York socialites, and I might not mention her except for the fact that her mother Trudie Styler is one of the 19 producers (hence the producers plethora tag). And also that many have compared the plots of Girl Most Likely and Frances Ha.

Directed by the married couple Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (directors/writers of American Splendor (2003), which earned them an Oscar nomination for the adapted screenplay, and The Nanny Diaries (2007), among others), written by Michelle Morgan (new to me, she apparently has a cameo in the movie but I didn't catch it), edited by Pulcini, this has lots of 1990s pop music hits, including one sung by Criss. The rest of the soundtrack is by Rob Simonsen (All Good Things) but you probably won't remember it.

Rottentomatoes' critics' average fell a point to 15% from Saturday to Sunday, yet in the video near the bottom of the squidoo page, shot at the movie's Toronto Film Festival premiere, the audience is cheering both before and after. This might be explained by audiences averaging 65% on rottentomatoes. If you want to read a slightly less stinky review, here's Ella Taylor's from NPR.

Because of the haters, we don't expect this to last long in theatres. Janice signaled a big thumbs down across the room to us this afternoon. Jack and I disagree. It was fun.

The Lone Ranger (2013)

Despite dismal reviews, Jack and I thought this was a hoot. Johnny Depp playing Tonto as a skeptical, complaining sidekick tickled us and, along with the magnificent period set dressing and train-top chases, carried us through the slow parts. I must admit, though, I wasn't a fan of the 1930s flash-forward part, even though it has a few laughs as Tonto is senile and silly. The 1869 part is plenty, with social commentary (the 1% represented by the greedy train-builders) (I must add that we are big fans of train travel), bad guys of all stripes (heinous criminals, dubious "lawmen," greedy train-builders), double-crosses, equine stunts, and an exciting soundtrack by Hans Zimmer. Depp (last blogged in Dark Shadows) and Armie Hammer (after The Social Network he was in J. Edgar) have good chemistry as the wise-cracking Indian and the awkward, righteous ranger. Tom Wilkinson (most recently in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), William Fichtner (some of his work I've liked was Strange Days (1995), Albino Alligator (1996), Contact (1997), Go (1999), Crash (2004), Nine Lives (2005), The Chumscrubber (2005), and his 2009-11 series arc on Entourage), Ruth Wilson (apparently the reason her face was familiar is that she was in Anna Karenina), and Helena Bonham Carter (also last in Dark Shadows) are among the featured players, the latter equipped with a wardrobe accessory that has a nice payoff towards the end.

Be prepared for a high body count and lots of property damage (even accounting for inflation). The script is credited to Justin Haythe (co-writer of Revolutionary Road and two others) and the writing team of Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio (Oscar-nominated for adapting Shrek (2001), co-wrote Aladdin (1992) and every iteration of Pirates of the Caribbean (only 2011 is covered in the blog), among others). Director Gore Verbinski (I liked The Mexican (2001), his three Pirates of the Caribbeans (2003, 06, 07), and particularly The Weather Man (2005), but missed Rango (2011), which won him his Oscar for Animated feature) probably shares with the writers the blame for the bad reviews.

You can stream the rousing Hans Zimmer soundtrack at this link but in order to hear each subsequent track you must make the window active before going about your other business (my regular readers know I often listen to the soundtrack while I write).

Those interested in the critics' vitriol can read the rottentomatoes reviews, where the average is up to a whopping 27%. And although audience ratings average 64, this was number five in sales last weekend. We saw it three weeks ago, as part of our usual Independence holiday, before our grand downtown fireworks. It's certainly not the first movie we would recommend this summer, but it is also not the last.

The Hangover Part III (2013)

Everyone said this was the worst of the three and we didn't believe it could be that bad. It is. We saw it a month ago and I can tell you there are many gaps between laughs. Only for die-hard fans.

The Bling Ring (2013)

We liked a lot this parents' nightmare of a movie, in which San Fernando Valley teens steal clothes, jewelry, and cash from celebrities' homes. Based on a true story written by Nancy Jo Sales and published in Vanity Fair about real kids in 2008-09, this is directed and written by Sofia Coppola, was nominated for Un Certain Regard at Cannes last year, and has won one award so far for Coppola, who shows us here yet another side of Hollywood than she did in Somewhere. All the actors are totally believable as fame-obsessed kids in various stages of criminality. Katie Chang and Israel Broussard are new to me but good as the ringleader and her follower, as is Claire Julien (she happens to be the daughter of Cinematographer Wally Pfister who was Oscar-nominated for Batman Begins (2005), The Prestige (2006), The Dark Knight, and won for Inception). David Denby in his New Yorker review commented on how completely Emma Watson (last blogged in The Perks of Being a Wallflower) inhabits the role of a privileged valley girl. The fifth member of the ring looked familiar and then I saw her name is Taissa Farmiga. She is the 21-years-younger sister of Vera Farmiga and, in fact, looks exactly like her and was in Vera's Higher Ground. Leslie Mann (last blogged in This Is 40) has a cameo as the mom of Watson and Farmiga who home schools them based on the principles of The Secret. We laughed during those and many other scenes; not because they are played for laughs but because they are preposterous.

As usual Coppola has assembled a kick-ass soundtrack of popular and interesting music, listed on imdb here. Clips are available on the amazon page and nine whole songs on youtube.

It might be interesting to see the 2011 TV movie, but do see this one. You don't need a big screen, though. The DVD is scheduled for November of this year. Slaves to reviews (you know who you are) will want to use rottentomatoes' 61/47 as justification for skipping it. The rest of us will enjoy it just fine without you.