Four summer movies

In order of how much Jack and I liked them, from better to worse: How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), Jersey Boys (2014), Tammy (2014), Third Person (2013). It just so happens that's also alphabetical. Go figure.

How To Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) is cute, just like the first one, but not that different. Maybe I had an attitude because I was disappointed because I had wanted to see Tammy that day but got the times wrong (you'll see below that we actually made the right choice). Same director/writer Dean DeBlois, and composer John Powell. All the original voices (Jay Baruchel, Craig Ferguson, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kristen Wiig, T.J. Miller) are back, too, with the addition of Djimon Hounsou (Oscar-nominated for In America (2002) and Blood Diamond (2006), was also in Amistad (1977) and Gladiator (2000), among others) throughout and Cate Blanchett (last blogged in The Monuments Men) arriving in the second act. Still fun for the kids but not too young, in my perhaps over-protective opinion, because there is peril. Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are in love, both averaging 92%. We saw it before the holiday fireworks four and a half weeks ago. Ironically, this is the one of these four we least anticipated and it was by far the best of the lot.

Jack and I were excited to see Jersey Boys (2014) after seeing the stage musical twice, but it didn't pack the punch we hoped. We can't quite figure out why, even under the experienced hand of Clint Eastwood (last blogged as a director in J. Edgar). John Lloyd Young, who played Frankie Valli in the original Broadway cast, kind of left me cold on the big screen. Vincent Piazza (Lucky Luciano in Boardwalk Empire, some episodes of Rescue Me, and the angry brother in Rocket Science (2007)) as Tommy DeVito and Erich Bergen (performed in the touring show for years and has done some TV) as Bob Gaudio try very hard. And then there's an egregious example of my Rule #8, that says Ohio is a place for hicks only. The Four Seasons performed at the Ohio State Fair in Columbus in 1965. Eastwood and his team purposely not only moved the movie Fair to Cleveland (it's been in Columbus since 1851), apparently to parallel something else that happened in Cleveland, but had the Fair audience standing on grass with a cow in their midst. I'm still mad about that six weeks later, especially since they were so meticulous about other facts. Christopher Walken (most recently in Seven Psychopaths), however, turns in his usual brilliant performance. Audiences on Rotten Tomatoes are happier at 69% than its critics at 54.

Two days after training the dragon we did get to see Tammy (2014). What a let down. Not enough slapstick, too much emoting, and Melissa McCarthy (last in The Heat) and Susan Sarandon (most recently in Robot & Frank) caught in the middle. Director Ben Falcone (Enough Said) co-wrote with McCarthy, who is his wife, and they squandered so much star power, including Kathy Bates (Midnight in Paris), Allison Janney (Bad Words), Toni Collette (Enough Said), Sandra Oh (Rabbit Hole), and more. Rotten Tomatoes: 25% critics, 39 audiences.

Third Person (2013) is another one we expected to love and did not. Not one little bit. More squandering of star power, including Liam Neeson (A Million Ways to Die in the West), Olivia Wilde (Better Living Through Chemistry), James Franco (Palo Alto), Mila Kunis (Oz the Great and Powerful), Maria Bello (Prisoners), Adrien Brody (The Grand Budapest Hotel), and Moran Atias (the TV version of Crash), in an ensemble picture that leaves many questions, and not in a good way. Director/writer Paul Haggis won Oscars for co-writing the ensemble picture Crash (2004) and co-writing Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby (2004), which won Best Picture in consecutive years. I loved both of them. I think Jack did, too, though we hadn't yet met, and I can't ask him now because he's asleep, like a normal person. I, for one, expected a lot. We should have heeded Rotten Tomatoes for its then 21% critics and 42 audiences (today, three and a half weeks later, it has soared to 24 and 47). But we seldom do.