Jurassic World (2015)

Amy, Nick, Jack and I enjoyed this sequel to the 1993-1997-2001 series in which a beautiful workaholic manager and a handsome scientist try to save her nephews and everyone else when all hell breaks loose at the dinosaur theme park. Lots of action, a high body count, some laughs, high tech special effects, and plain old corn are par for the course for a Steven Spielberg-driven project (he directed the first two and his Amblin Entertainment put out all four, with more on the drawing board).

Bryce Dallas Howard (last blogged in 50/50) is suitably Type A as park manager Claire who can run like the wind in her Jimmy Choos and Chris Pratt (most recently in Guardians of the Galaxy) should have been given more comedy but is getting better and better at this leading man stuff. Irrfan Khan (last in The Lunchbox) moves away from his stereotypical poverty roles and this time plays the wealthy owner in a gorgeously tailored suit. BD Wong (covered in Focus) reprises his role of Dr. Wu from the 1993 movie, and who better than Vincent D'Onofrio (most recently in The Judge) as the angry and reckless head of security? Jake Johnson (last blogged in Safety Not Guaranteed) and Lauren Lapkus (small part as a prison guard in season 2 of Orange is the New Black) have some good moments as computer geeks and it's nice to see Omar Sy moving to this side of the pond from his French roles (most recently The Untouchables), here as a guard.

This movie was our annual splashy pre-fireworks date, so, while we were stuck in traffic downtown, I read to Jack some of the trivia (there's a lot and we didn't get through it all, so I can't properly warn you about spoilers). We liked knowing beforehand that Jimmy Buffet is the guy holding two margaritas in the Margaritaville restaurant, the little boy hugging the giraffe is Howard's own son, and that Jimmy Fallon reads the safety instructions on the Universal Studios tram tours. I appreciated that Howard's all-white wardrobe is an homage to the white suits worn by Richard Attenborough, who had her role in the original. Jack liked that Pratt got to keep the motorcycle.

The director/co-writer this time is Colin Trevorrow, in his second feature gig after the afore-mentioned Safety Not Guaranteed, a small independent movie with little in common with this one other than Jake Johnson, a science fiction theme (albeit low-budget), and writer Derek Connolly. The husband-wife team of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Rise of the Plant of the Apes) are also credited as co-writers and for the story. And of course, the late Michael Crichton wrote the 1990 novel on which all of this is based.

Cinematographer John Schwartzman (profiled in Saving Mr. Banks) shot the lovely and scary pictures, while prolific and admired composer Michael Giacchino (last scored Tomorrowland) provides the soundtrack, which I found surprisingly unmoving for someone of his talent. Listen for yourself.

You already know if you're going to like this, regardless of Rotten Tomatoes' critics (71%), audiences (82), or us. Just think carefully about which kids you bring because we found it quite violent and occasionally terrifying. PG-13 is probably about right.

Rule #17 for movies and television

Someone who knocks on a hotel room door is not housekeeping nor room service, even if he or she pretends to be. Thanks to Jodi for the suggestion. See this link for the complete list.

Magic Mike XXL (2015)

Seeing this movie, as we did, in a packed house of rowdy women is the best way to enjoy this lightly plotted beef-fest about strippers making a comeback. Jack was a good sport (I saw one other man) and said he did enjoy the music (here's a list). Jodi formed a moms' movie club for her and her friends to get away while their husbands stay home with the kids and we joined her two and half weeks ago for a preview screening. I just read the first sentence above to Jack and he added that "lightly plotted" is generous.

The 2012 original Magic Mike wasn't bad, directed as it was by Steven Soderbergh (last linked to previous work in Haywire, although Side Effects came out after and was in the same post as the old Magic Mike). Soderbergh did shoot and edit both, and Reid Carolin wrote both, but directing duties this time went to Gregory Jacobs (new to me).

The guys all return, led by Channing Tatum (last blogged in Foxcatcher), and are surprisingly humorless, though Tatum smirks a fair amount. A few new characters join the cast but, really, this isn't good.

As the trailers were playing, one woman yelled, "Bring on the men!" The gals around us hooted and hollered as the studs gyrated, so it was kind of low-brow fun, but now, I think, the hootin' and hollerin' will have died down, so save your money. You can read these spoilers instead if you like. Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are more generous than we, averaging 64% and 68% respectively. It was sixth at the box office last weekend, with 21 new screens added, so some people are clearly happy with it. Jodi's movie club now includes husbands and friends and caters to brows both high and low.

The Overnight (2015)

We liked a lot this edgy comedy about the new friendship of two couples who meet when their young sons bond at an LA park. I was intrigued after hearing Adam Scott and Jason Schwartzman discuss their nudity and the prostheses they wore to cover it. Scott (last blogged in Friends with Kids) and Taylor Schilling (she'll be known only as Piper on Orange is the New Black for a very long time) are Alex and Emily, new to LA and eager to meet people. Schwartzman and Judith Godrèche (most recently in Big Eyes and Potiche, respectively) are hipsters Kurt and Charlotte, welcoming long-time residents.

This is the second feature for director/writer Patrick Brice, who was nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for this movie. There are only four producers: Scott, his wife Naomi Scott, someone I didn't know, and Mark Duplass (last produced The Skeleton Twins). Certainly the first and last of these are no strangers to edginess and weird relationships.

I can't find links to the soundtrack by Julian Wass (he scored another Duplass production The Do-Deca-Pentathalon), but he has a website with many tracks of his pleasant other work, and an album of singles by others has been released (here's the iTunes link).

The movie was shot in either 12 or 15 days (depending on which festival interview you heard) at the home of comedian Adam Carolla. And a lovely home it is.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are averaging 81% and its audiences trailing at 68, which just goes to show that not everyone has Jack's and my sense of humor. If nudity and sex on screen don't bother you, and you like cringing comedies, go see it and laugh a lot.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)

This tremendous dramedy about awkward teens won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance and that's just the beginning. We loved it. It's hilarious, it's moving, it's insightful, and it has clever and artful touches too numerous to list, including wonderful fodder for film geeks. "Me" is Greg, played by Thomas Mann (he played the lead's best friend in It's Kind of a Funny Story, and anyone who loves this one should see that one). Greg's best friend Earl is played by RJ Cyler, who has but one other credit that I didn't see. The dying girl is Rachel, diagnosed in the first five minutes with leukemia, and played in a many-layered performance by Olivia Cooke (new to me), who happens to be English but you'd never know it. Connie Britton (last blogged in This Is Where I Leave You) and Nick Offerman (most recently in these pages for In a World... after 125 episodes of Parks and Recreation) are Greg's earnest and quirky parents, respectively. Molly Shannon (some of my favorites of her work include Happiness (1998), Analyze This (1999), Never Been Kissed (1999), Superstar (1999), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006), and Year of the Dog (2007), but you probably know her best from 117 episodes of Saturday Night Live from 2005-2010) provides a few uncomfortable laughs as Rachel's mom and Jon Bernthal (first came to my attention as a regular in the mediocre series The Class of which I watched every one, then was in several other serieses and movies before being seventh-billed in The Wolf of Wall Street) has passion and tattoos as a favorite teacher whose motto is "Respect the research."

The other day I heard novelist Jesse Andrews talking about his 2012 book (he also wrote the screenplay) and telling the audience that the novel The Fault in Our Stars, which is also about a teenage cancer patient, came out the same year and that movie was released last year. We didn't see that one, maybe because there were no laughs in the trailer. I will mention here that in looking for the soundtrack (see below) I came upon this movie's tumblr page, on which someone posted that Earl and his family are stereotypical black people, and I can't really argue that that may be true, but still it may be the movie's only flaw.

Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon started as an intern, then personal assistant to the likes of Martin Scorsese and Alejandro González Iñárritu (who are among the celebrities in the acknowledgments) and has moved up through some Emmy nominations to this, his second gig as a feature director.

The production design team, led by Gerald Sullivan (so many great credits) deserves props (see how I did that?) for the aforementioned artful touches. Also, Greg and Earl love to remake classic movies as short subjects using themselves, animation, and punny titles, and they're very funny.

Brian Eno (last blogged for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) and Nico Muhly (Kill Your Darlings) provide a wonderful score, supplemented by many songs, including themes from Greg and Earl's movie shorts. You can stream the soundtrack here or cherry-pick from this list.

I'm so glad Jack and I got to this today. Rotten Tomatoes' critics are coming in at 82% and its audiences at 90. Go see it. Stay for the credits and try to read all the spoof movie titles.

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.