Spy (2015)

This hilarious spoof of James Bond movies kept us laughing all the way through, as our clever heroine moves from humiliation to triumph. Melissa McCarthy is more than up to the task, as are her co-stars Jude Law, Rose Byrne, Jason Statham, and Bobby Cannavale, among others. McCarthy was last blogged in St. Vincent, Law was mentioned in The Grand Budapest Hotel and Side Effects and linked  to his previous work in Anna Karenina, and Byrne was most recently in these pages for Annie. Statham, new to the blog, is the proud winner of the 2006 Most Offensive Male Character Award from the Women Film Critics Circle for Crank (2006), and some of my favorites of his work include his first role ever in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Snatch. (2000), The Italian Job (2003), and Cellular (2004). Bobby Cannavale, who joined the cast because he's dating Byrne, was last blogged for Danny Collins.

Paul Feig (most recently directed The Heat) had always wanted to direct a James Bond picture such as Casino Royale, but realized he would have a better chance, given his reputation for slapstick, of making a comedy. He has a cameo as a drunken guest outside a Parisian hotel room. McCarthy's husband Ben Falcone also makes an appearance as a tourist.

The locations, with Budapest standing in for Paris and Rome (Rule #2 may be computer-generated) as well as itself, are glorious and all the production values are high enough to be Bond-worthy.

McCarthy's early makeovers (hair, makeup, wardrobe) are the source of some of her humiliations. "Really?" she says as they're revealed, but two of the later ones are spectacular.

In the couple weeks since we saw this I've forgotten whether the original music by Theodore Shapiro (last mentioned for scoring St. Vincent) was noteworthy, but I imagine it was because of the talented composer--listen here. The original soundtrack album (on this youtube link it's slowed down--click the gear and raise the speed to 1.25, or don't, because it's okay at regular speed) is full of agreeable pop songs and more Bond-worthiness.

Jack and I are definitely not alone in praise of this summer entertainment. Rotten Tomatoes' critics are averaging 95%  and audiences 84 after the movie's fourth weekend. Good fun for when it's too wet, hot, or cold to play outside.

Dope (2015)

Jack and I loved this tight dramedy about a straight-A African-American nerd in the 'hood, whose plans to leave Inglewood for Harvard seem to go sideways after a chance encounter. A Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee, the movie stars Shameik Moore, in his first leading role after only a handful of others, as Malcolm and, as his best friends, Kiersey Clemons (6 episodes of Transparent on Amazon as ex-stepdaughter Bianca hanging around the pool plus some other TV) and Tony Revolori (the lobby boy in The Grand Budapest Hotel). Two second generation actors in the picture are Zoë Kravitz (last linked in It's Kind of a Funny Story, and was in Mad Max: Fury Road but I didn't mention her) and Quincy Brown (new to me). Kravitz' parents are Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz and Brown's adopted father is Sean Combs, a producer of this movie. The guy who plays Dom is top billed and apparently a famous rapper named A$ap Rocky, Blake Anderson (of the TV show Workaholics) has a funny bit as a hacker, model Chanel Imam plays an exhibitionist named Lily in her acting debut, and former basketball star Rick Fox (dozens of credits, none of which I've seen except the series Dirt) makes an appearance as well as a Councilman. Forest Whitaker (last blogged for starring as The Butler) narrates and produced.

Directed and written by Rick Famuyiwa (co-writer of Talk to Me (2007), the bio-pic of radio personality Petey Greene, the only one of the six he wrote that he didn't direct. He's currently in production directing one that he didn't write, a TV movie called Confirmation about Anita Hill starring Kerry Washington), the story moves beautifully through its twists and turns, with lots of laughs, plenty of hormones and raunch (these are high school kids, after all), and social commentary. Editor Lee Haugen won at Sundance and costume designer Patrik Milani should have been recognized for the colorful wardrobe. The three kids are obsessed with 90s pop culture, hence the imaginative outfits, and Malcolm sports a Kid 'n Play flattop haircut, leading me to be confused at first as to whether it's set in the past or the present. It is most definitely set in the present--Malcolm has an iPhone and talks to his mother about bitcoin.

There are great music tracks, including some played by the three kids in their own band--you'll hear "Oreo," but I had a closed caption device at my seat (I love them!) and can tell you that they spell it Awreeoh, which made me think of That Thing You Do (1996), when Tom Hanks made his charges change their band name from The Oneders to The Wonders. Imbd does a good job of documenting the songs, some of which are available on an album.

Lots of folks are talking about this and Rotten Tomatoes' critics are up to 90% (89 yesterday) and its audiences 86. You don't necessarily need the big screen to see this but we highly recommend it A$AP.

Entourage (2015)

Jack and I had a lot of fun with this continuation of the HBO series, in which our boys are involved in a new movie and manager Ari comes out of retirement. We loved the series and we think the movie is great. Anyone who complains it's just like the show is stupid for expecting anything else.

The entire original cast is here: Kevin Connolly (blogged in He's Just Not That Into You) once again top-billed as Eric, Adrian Grenier as Vince, Kevin Dillon as Johnny Drama, slimmed-down Jerry Ferrara as Turtle, Jeremy Piven as Ari, and so on. New cast members Billy Bob Thornton (won an Oscar for writing Sling Blade (1996), nominated for starring in it and for A Simple Plan 1998); was also great in Primary Colors (1998), Pushing Tin (1999), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), Monster's Ball (2001), Bandits (2001), Bad Santa (2003), Intolerable Cruelty (2003), The Ice Harvest (2005), and last year's mini-series Fargo) and Haley Joel Osment (Oscar-nominated at age 11 for supporting actor in The Sixth Sense (1999), he also played Forrest Junior in Forrest Gump (1994), the main kid in Pay It Forward (2000) and A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), and a lot of TV, then a recurring role on the outstanding and current Amazon series Alpha House) are joined by cameos almost too numerous to count. Okay, I'm going to count them: 41 people played themselves (read the entire cast here), including Mark Wahlberg (producer of the series and this movie). And then there's Greg Louganis as Lloyd's fiancé. Doug Ellin, creator/director/writer of the series, is at the helm here as well.

The opening credits, of Los Angeles landmarks with cast and crew names substituted, are fabulous. I looked for them on youtube but you'll have to watch at least the first part of the movie to see them. Practically worth the price of admission. Shots of foreign resorts and the best of LA and Beverly Hills are also outstanding, although on imdb every location listed is USA. Imdb is sorely lacking soundtrack information, because only one song is on the site and many were on screen after the word sountrack [sic]. These folks compiled a list for me.

I'm sure I don't have to tell you to leave the kids at home. This is raunchy, and not just the language. Apparently one scene was so over-the-top that it had to be re-edited to avoid a dreaded NC-17 rating. Rotten Tomatoes' critics don't want anyone to see this, averaging 30%, while their audiences come in at a more realistic 74%. No need to rush out to see it on the big screen, but it's good entertainment for adult fans of the show.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

This dystopian fantasy in which rebels split from the army of an evil dictator who withholds water from the poor has amazing visuals, fascinating picture vehicles, artful production design, a high body count, and oceans of sand. Charlize Theron (last blogged in A Million Ways to Die in the West) is pretty great with buzzed hair and charcoaled face as the main rebel Furiosa, and Tom Hardy, wearing a different face mask than he did in The Dark Knight Rises, is the titular Max, who doesn't have a lot of lines. It's really Theron's movie.

Australian director/co-writer George Miller (his feature directing debut was the first Mad Max in 1979, followed by the 1981 and 1985 sequels--I think I saw them; I loved The Witches of Eastwick (1987) and quite liked Happy Feet (2006)) will apparently be directing a fifth chapter after this one. Miller's writing partners on this project, Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris, make their screenwriting debuts, and the latter acted in the original Mad Max.

Cinematographer John Seale (won an Oscar for The English Patient (1996), nominated for Witness (1985), Rain Main (1988), and Cold Mountain (2003); his diverse work on Children of a Lesser God (1986), The Mosquito Coast (1986), The Firm (1993), The Paper (1994), An American President (1995), Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), Spanglish (2004), and The Tourist were all noteworthy) and production designer Colin Gibson (of his credits the one that stands out to me is art director for The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)) can take a lot of credit for for the look of the picture, seemingly shot in the gates of hell.

The music by Tom Holkenborg AKA Junkie XL is remarkable and one of my favorite bits is the kettle drummers playing on the back of a truck during battle. I got really happy when they did that, despite it being such a depressing picture. The entire two hour soundtrack is available for your streaming pleasure from this link.

Jack couldn't go with me four weeks ago, so I don't know if he would agree with the critics on Rotten Tomatoes, averaging 98% to audiences' 89%. It's definitely good, if you like that sort of thing.

The Tourist (2010)

I know we saw this thriller when it came out--Angelina Jolie is a femme fatale who brings an unsuspecting Johnny Depp into her web--and I'm pretty sure we liked it. It needs to be in the blog, in the index, and in the count. It was also the answer to a trivia question about Depp a few months ago. Shot in Venice and Paris, it has enjoyable scenery, as I recall. That's all you're getting tonight, though.

I'll See You in My Dreams (2015)

Jack and I really liked this lovely little story about a lovely 70-something woman whose life gets shaken up for worse and better. Blythe Danner nails her portrayal of Carol, and her karaoke of Cry Me a River alone is worth the price of admission (part of it's in the trailer, but the trailer summarizes several of the movie's best moments and I recommend you not seek out said trailer if you haven't seen it already). In an interview the director said that they wanted Carol to sing the Carpenters' Superstar (written by Leon Russell, Bonnie Bramlett, and Delaney Bramlett in 1969, also covered by Bette Midler), but its cost was prohibitive and that turned out to be a good thing.

This is Danner's first leading role, at age 72, after wonderful performances in The Great Santini (1979), Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986), Another Woman (1988), The Prince of Tides (1991), The Myth of Fingerprints (1997), Meet the Parents (2000) and its Fockers sequels in 2004 and 2010, Sylvia (2003), The Last Kiss (2006), and the wonderful Showtime series Huff (2004-06), to name a few. Carol's friends/bridge partners are great fun as played by 85 year old June Squibb (covered in Nebraska, for which she was Oscar-nominated), 68 year old Rhea Perlman (best known for 270 episodes of Cheers (1982-93), she has dozens of other credits, with no recognition for any of them), and 67 year old Mary Kay Place (profiled in Smashed). Second billed to Danner is 30-something Martin Starr (after I covered him in Adventureland, he's been in 17 episodes of Silcon Valley, now in its second season) as a nice, albeit lost young friend. Sam Elliott, 70, is a warm love interest (my favorites of his work include Mask (1985), Rush (1991), Tombstone (1993), The Big Lebowski (1998), The Contender (2000), Off the Map (2003), Thank You for Smoking (2005), Up in the Air, The Company You Keep, and Draft Day--Jack is a fan of Justified, which stars Elliott without his trademark mustache, but I've seen none of it), and Malin Akerman (last blogged in Wanderlust) is Carol's sweet daughter. The photos of Carol's late husband may look familiar because they are of Danner's late husband Bruce Paltrow, one with their daughter Gwynyth.

I send a special shout-out to the excellent animal wranglers for the docile dogs and a certain black furry creature.

This is director/co-writer Brett Haley's second feature, at age 31. Watch for his cameo as the first karaoke singer. Apparently he and co-writer Marc Basch (in Basch's feature debut) wrote the script in two weeks, shot it in 18 days, and funded at least part of it on Kickstarter.

I can't find any clips to share with you of composer Keegan Dewitt's (of his 30 credits I've seen only Land Ho!) soothing soundtrack but trust me, you'll like hearing it. He wrote the title track and sings the second version of it, over the end credits.

We're with Rotten Tomatoes' critics this time, who average 94% to audiences' 74%. This is good stuff, and not just for the geriatric set.

Love & Mercy (2014)

Jack and I loved this bio-pic of Beach Boy Brian Wilson, alternating between the 1960s and the late 80s. Paul Dano and John Cusack are both brilliant sharing the lead, and Paul Giamatti and Elizabeth Banks are also quite good as 80s Wilson's psychiatrist and girlfriend (last blogged in Prisoners, The Butler, The Congress, and Pitch Perfect, respectively).

This is the sophomore effort of director Bill Pohlad, whose first feature was 25 years ago. He was a producer of Brokeback Mountain (2005), Into the Wild (2007), Food, Inc., The Runaways, Fair Game, The Tree of Life, 12 Years a Slave, and Wild, among others, but may be better known as the son of billionaire Carl Pohlad, owner of the Minnesota Twins baseball team.

Co-writers Oren Moverman (covered in The Messenger) and Michael A. Lerner (new to me) worked with Pohlad to successfully blend the time periods in a cinematic and cohesive style.

Of course the music is awesome. This link contains what looks like a fairly accurate rendering of the end credits (as well as a photo of the wonderful poster). Unlike the imdb list, the first link shows which songs were sampled by composer Atticus Ross (most recently in the pages for Gone Girl). And here is a spotify playlist and article about the soundtrack, which has yet to be released for us to purchase.

Yep, we're with the majority here, as Rotten Tomatoes' critics are averaging 88% and its audiences 94. If depictions of Wilson's mild psychosis won't strike a painful nerve, you should definitely surf down the street to see it.

Tomorrowland (2015)

Jack and I didn't hate this story of a smart, determined boy in the 1960s and a smart, determined girl in the present who travel in time. What we loved were the retro stylings, including the 1964 World's Fair. Personal note: my family moved from New York to the heartland in 1963 but we did make a trip back to Queens for that Fair on the site of the future (and now past) Shea Stadium and I sort of remember it.

Thomas Robinson (the kid in The Switch) is cute as 10-year-old Frank but George Clooney (last blogged in The Grand Budapest Hotel) as grown up Frank lacks Clooney's signature humor. Britt Robertson (Dan in Real Life (2007) and a small part in Delivery Man) is extremely earnest as 16-year-old Casey. Raffey Cassidy's (I don't remember her in Dark Shadows) striking good looks and acting skills as young Athena promise a good future for her should she stay in the business. Another thing I loved was a blue dress worn by Athena in the 1964 sequence (scroll down on this link to see a photo). Tim McGraw (most recently in these pages for Country Strong) makes an appearance as Frank's father. It's always fun to see Hugh Laurie (profiled in The Oranges), even with, again, no humor. Leave it to Keegan-Michael Key (half of comedy duo Key & Peele, a series arc as Joe on Parks and Recreation, and much more) and Kathryn Hahn (last in This Is Where I Leave You) to tease out a few chuckles in a comic book shop scene (according to an interview with co-writer Damon Lindelof (most recently blogged for Prometheus), that scene is full of "Easter eggs") that made me think of Men in Black.

Lindelof's co-writer was director Brad Bird (last directed Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol). It wouldn't have killed them to make it lighter. Maybe it was Disney's fault. It's a Small World, after all (yep, that song is in there, and now in your ear). In fact, the basis of the whole movie is the Disney theme area, Tomorrowland, at that 1964 World's Fair. From the opening credits, where the usual Disney castle is modified to match this movie, to the future world, which looks just like it (and a little like the Emerald City), you won't forget that this is Walt's small world.

Composer Michael Giacchino (most recently scored This Is Where I Leave You) reliably provides interesting tunes (stream the whole thing here) and there are great tracks by The Black Keys and Hound Dog Taylor.

Critics came closer to hating this, averaging 49% to audiences' 58% on Rotten Tomatoes. I'm not advocating you to skip it, but you could probably wait.

Lambert & Stamp (2014)

Fans of The Who and others of "my generation" will enjoy this documentary about Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, filmmakers who helped grow the careers of Messrs. Daltry, Entwistle, Moon, and Townshend. The directorial debut of cinematographer James D. Cooper (he shot David and Lisa (1998) and more, using the name Douglas Cooper), it features tons of music, lots of film clips from the '60s and beyond, and current interviews with survivors Roger Daltry, Pete Townshend, Stamp, and his much more famous brother Terence Stamp, among others.

I didn't count the songs in the credits but this list looks pretty complete. Rotten Tomatoes' critics average 86 and its audiences 63. Check it out before it leaves our neighborhood art house tomorrow night.

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

This entry in the Marvel Comics oeuvre may be too long, as usual, but Jack and I laughed a lot during the action as our heroes Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Captain America, Black Widow, and more battle new villain Ultron. Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson (last blogged in Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Foxcatcher, Snowpiercer, and Lucy, respectively) reprise their good-guy roles, while the unmistakable voice of James Spader (profiled in The Homesman) brings to "life" Ultron, who waxes extremely philosophical for a robot. Paul Bettany (last in Margin Call) once again provides the voice of the Jarvis operating system.

Director/writer Joss Whedon did the same on The Avengers and cinematographer Ben Davis's (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) outdoor shots are spectacular. Just look at this long list of locations.

Those in the know will wait eagerly for the obligatory cameo of Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee. You won't miss this one because they tease us with three shots of another 70-something white guy before pausing full frame on Lee's face as he delivers his line. Then he follows with another. According to a contributor on imdb it's Lee's favorite cameo to date.

So much trivia! My computer has a pretty big screen, and I hit "page down" 18 times to get to the bottom of the entire list. I just learned the abbreviation for this: TLDR (too long, didn't read).

Danny Elfman (most recently in these pages for Big Eyes) and Brian Tyler (last blogged for Thor: The Dark World) provide a booming soundtrack, which can be streamed in its entirety from this link.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are averaging 74% and 88. You already know if you're going to like this. Act accordingly. The DVD's release is estimated to be August 2015.

Cinderella (2015)

I predict a nomination, at least, if not a fourth Oscar, for costume designer Sandy Powell (she won her third for The Young Victoria) for the magnificent gowns in this opulent live-action version of the Disney classic. Lily James (willful Lady Rose in Downton Abbey) stars in the title role, written to be a bit of a doormat and definitely not a role model for little girls. Incorrectly top billed (it must have been demanded by her agent) Cate Blanchett (last blogged in How to Train Your Dragon 2) isn't fiery enough as the evil Stepmother, although her costumes are also off the page. The movie doesn't really pick up until Helena Bonham Carter (most recently in The Lone Ranger) appears as the Fairy Godmother. A cute casting twist is that Sophie McShera (Daisy in Downton Abbey) plays a stepsister bossing around Cinderella, when on Downton their stations are reversed.

Director Kenneth Branagh (last blogged in directing for Thor) definitely has the chops for the medieval look of the thing, but didn't do it for me.

My favorite imdb trivia point is that in the ballroom dance, many of the dresses are based on those of various Disney princesses, including Belle from Beauty and the Beast (1991), Tiana (The Princess and the Frog (2009)), Aurora (Sleeping Beauty (1959)), Snow White (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)), Mulan (1998), and Ariel (The Little Mermaid (1989)). Also, apparently all the women wore corsets and are very thin to begin with, so their tiny Barbie waists are not digitally altered.

The Patrick Doyle soundtrack is lovely and can be streamed from this link. There are bonus songs at the end, sung by James and Carter. You can hear them at 1:15 and 1:17 on the youtube page above.

It makes a change that the Rotten Tomatoes critics and audiences liked it better than I, averaging 84% and 83% respectively.

I saw it by myself two and a half weeks ago, Jack having refused it as an option about three weeks before that. Your best bet is to wait for the DVD, estimated in July 2015, and sit with your little girl, enjoying the wardrobe, and being sure to tell her that Cinderella should have stood up for her rights!