Movies I've Seen...

[dawnybee]

The Fast and the Furious 6


Fast and the Furious: we don't need no more stinkin' subtitle.

The franchise continues with veterans Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, Sung Kang, Ludacris and Tyrese with newer costars Elka Pataky and Gal Gadot, Dwayne Johnson and newbie Gina Carano.



Helmed by director of four of the five entries Justin Lin and written by Chris Morgan who has penned four of the six films, the film franchise is in great hands of people who know their characters and what action the fans want to see.

The Fast and Furious Family


The Badass Beauties of Fast and the Furious


Taking place months after the events of “Fast Five” the team are visited by Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), the agent who chased them throughout the “Fast Five”. He asks Dom to help him catch a gang of British criminals who are due to steal a device that will threaten millions of lives. To lure Dom in Hobbs informs Dom that his thought dead girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) is working with the criminals. For their help they are promised immunity, but what Dom wants most of all is the truth about Letty.

“Fast and the Furious” should be congratulated for thumbing its nose as logic or physics. There are many a times I pulled this face during scenes.

Yeah, right


But Morgan and Lin know their audience and they ratchet up the action but without forgetting the team’s ride or die dymamic that I think pull fans in moreso than the over-the-top action.

Though there were two chase sequences that went on too long for my tastes (if they both came in under 15 minutes I’d be shocked) they were top notch.

If there is a weak element to the story its Luke Evans as Owen Shaw. His villain lacks menace or even presence.

Which is a shame cos Luke is aces




This is only the second “Fast and Furious” film I’ve seen (“Fast Five” being the other), but I have a friend who gave me a primer on the franchise before I saw “Fast Five” and I am impressed by how “Fast and the Furious 6” closes the loop to the existing stories. But not a close to the franchise since it’s already been announced “Fast and Furious 7” will go into production fairly soon with James Wan director of “Saw” and “Insidious” taking over from Lin.

A bit of trivia. Sung Kang's character Han Seoul-Oh (get it, Hans Solo?) came to "The Fast and the Furious" by way of Justin Lin's first film "Better Luck Tomorrow" a film about a group of students who want to get from under the “model minority” stereotype and indulge in criminal activity.



There’s a montage at the beginning of the film that covers all of the films.

Let us say a little prayer to the death of Paul Walker’s hotness


You were so golden. And as bland as watercress on unleavened bread


Sorry, young!Paul


Comfort him, young!Michelle


You’re still golden to me, Brian


Thanks, Dom. And by thanks I mean come over here and give me some sugar.


Oh, damn. Are they--- are they grinding on each other on top of that charger? I have to turn away


Why don’t we ever do that on top of my car, Giselle?



The Is the End


Absolutely the funniest film Seth Rogen has written (check the list: he’s written, co-written or rewrote “Drillbit Taylor”, “The Watch”, “Pineapple Express”, “The Green Hornet” and “Superbad”. All films patently unfunny-thought “The Green Hornet” had its moments).

Jay Baruchel’s weekend trip to Los Angeles for catching up with his best friend Seth Rogen is ruined by Seth’s insistence that they go to a party at James Franco’s house. Jay, who can’t stand Seth’s new Hollywood pals Franco, Jonah Hill and Craig Robinson, becomes stuck with them and party crasher Danny McBride after a cataclysmic event that destroys Los Angeles. The guys think it’s just a massive earthquake but Jay knows the truth: it’s the Apocalypse. The guy struggle with surviving what lurks outside and each other.



There’s drugs and dick jokes a plenty, but the Rogen and co-writer Evan Goldberg inspects the reality of jealousy and change within friendships as well as how truly good we are as individuals. Are we only as good as circumstances allow us to be? But the true humor comes from the varying personalities in the house; personalities of the actors that are constructed from public opinion of them. The one most on-point is James Franco. Seen by many as pretentious or gay (or both), Rogen and Goldberg mines both of those views for their comedy. Between James
attempts to supplant Jay and Seth’s best friend, his hipster cred is set up for ridicule. When James gets angry at Danny for ejaculating on his “tasteful erotica” magazine ” Danny retorts, “Welcome to the 21st century, Buck Rogers! You put iPads in your walls but you masturbate like a pilgrim!”

*It’s only been recently that I’ve been intrigued by James Franco. I think he looks like a weasel but I like that he’s advant garde…or at least think he is. I like that he plays up his public persona, giving the masses what they want which is a construct of himself that they want to believe.

He helps the gay rumors by having a dildo, anal beads cake for his birthday


But I admire him for his focus on intellectual growth. When “Details” did a feature on him before the release of “Oz: The Great and Powerful” the only thing websites focused on was that he said if he were braver he would’ve really went down on a guy instead of simulating oral sex with a dildo for one of his shorts. But what they discuss in the same interview is his educational background.

Dang, son
the six years since he quit being a movie star, enrolled in UCLA, and majored in English, he has

• done M.F.A. work in five graduate schools: Columbia and Brooklyn College for fiction, NYU for film, Warren Wilson for poetry, and Rhode Island School of Design for digital arts

Looks better now than he did in high school




• published a half-dozen books

• exhibited in about as many museums and galleries

• appeared or collaborated on a dozen gay-themed projects, including appearances in drag, leading to great confusion about his sexuality

• taught in a widening number of universities, graduate programs, and acting schools

• written and/or directed numerous conceptual-art features and short films, as well as advertisements and a music video

• kept up the day job-indies, bit parts, cameos, and pseudo-cameos online and on TV (including Franco, the dashing and possibly homicidal conceptual artist on General Hospital)

• ascended to largely A-list roles: As Sean Penn's lover in Milk and as Julia Roberts' in Eat Pray Love. As the climber who escapes certain death in a Best Actor Oscar-nominated turn in 127 Hours and as the geneticist who dooms mankind in Rise of the Planet of the Apes .

Whatever the take on Franco, there's no questioning his effort. At UCLA, he took as many as 62 credits (not a typo) a quarter and graduated with a 3.5 GPA in two years .

And got a star on the Walk of Fame. Bought by Disney, but it’s a Star all the same.


Proud mom


James the son and brother
*James posted this picture of himself and his father when he passed away.


The Brothers Franco
*James, Tom and baby Dave




The Franco Fam
*Their mom is a writer and is active on Twitter, proudly tweeting about her boys and sometimes her bemusement of the things James say in interviews.









Now You See Me


Baby Franco is coming into his own and I think “Now You See Me” is an opportunity to show that he’s more than the comic foil.

Surprisingly it’s a thoroughly entertaining film. I absolutely loved it. Don’t be deterred by Jesse Eisenberg’s straight perm, people, this is a good film IMHO.

Compare the posters and you can tell the film’s influence


Directed by Louis Lettrier (“Clash of the Titans (2010), “The Transporter”) and written by Boaz Yakin and Ed Solomon , “Now You See Me” focuses on four magicians: mentalist Merritt (Woody Harrelson), cocky J. Daniel and his former assistant Henly (Eisenberg and Isla Fisher) and sleight of hand artist Jack (Dave Franco) are summoned to a house for a chance opportunity.



Tasked by an unseen benefactor, unknown even to themselves, the four become a magic act: The Four Horsemen. They use their skills for magic to perform heists for their benefactor. Their first act brings FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) and Interpol agent Alma Vargas (Melanie Laurent) after them.



Frustrated with not having anything to book them on Rhode turns to magic debunker Thaddeaus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) to help him get into the minds of the magicians and find out what they and their bankroller Tressler (Michael Caine) are after.

It’s an snappy paced film that is at times feels a bit too heavy and heady with details but, to me, that just mimics when you’re trying to watch a magician do their trick and how you’re trying to watch for clues to how they do it. But in keeping with magic tricks it’s a bit of misdirection in that the real meat of the film lies underneath the heists.

Of the movies I’ve seen lately this is one of my favorites (right behind “The Way, Way Back”). It’s great fun and the cast is great but if I didn’t love Mark Ruffalo before I love him now. And it ends with the wholly appropriate Phoenix song “Entertainment”.

And Baby Franco has a great action sequence that left me truly impressed by this wee little man






Isla Fisher has more to do in “Now You See Me” then she did in….


The Great Gatsby


Gorgeous sets,


stellar and intoxicating soundtrack, sumptuous clothes, but there’s something that’s missing in “The Great Gatsby”. And I’m not just talking about the lack of chemistry between Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan (does he ever have any chemistry with anyone?)

Taken from the classic novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Baz Luhrman uses his deft hand at anachronistic storytelling and his stunning eye for visuals to tell this tale of Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio) who has it all but what he wants most of all is the love of Daisy Buchanan(Carey Mulligan).



The tale of the mysterious Gatsby is detailed by Daisy’s second-cousin Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) who becomes Jay’s friend and confidente. A spectactor to the world of the haves, stands like a bulwark in the storm that is Gatsby’s life during a pivotal summer.



I must say Leo looks good in this film. Much slimmer than he has been in years.

Lay off the booze


Dazzling to be sure and DiCaprio shows flashes of mischief that his film choices don’t allow him to show (“Django Unchained” being the only recent example I can think of)

*This is the Leo I always think of, the Leo from “Basketball Diaries”

On first meeting Tobey
"After I met Tobey at an audition, I felt like I wanted this guy to be my friend," recalls DiCaprio. "I remember driving back from school and he was doing `Hot Rod Brown Class Clown' with Whoopi Goldberg outside Hollywood High. It was a high school. And I jumped out of my car in the middle of the scene, as they were shooting, practically. I was like, `Tobey! Tobey! Tobey! Give me your number.' He was like, `Yeah, who are you again?'"

but I think tonally it falls flat. It starts out brash and vibrant but the tone demures by the second act. I wish Lurhmann would’ve kept the tone up because it couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be campy and broad or a straightfoward drama.





The cast as their characters

















I did like seeing Joel Edgerton in riding pants




*I didn’t see it in 3D though I may do that before it leaves the theaters. The VFX crew were legion. I loved the extra touches in the credits where each section used the JG emblem that was throughout the film instead of JG (Jay Gatsby) the letters reflected the credits so VF was for Visual Effects and for the song credits it was JZ for Jay-Z, film’s co-producer and music coordinator.

Great jog, Jay


*There’s a GQ interview w/ Leo on stands now and the writer makes a stupid observation that Leo may not have progressed to true adult hood because he’s still friends with his boyhood friends like Lukas Haas, Tobey and Kevin Connolly. The writer acts like it’s bizarre that he doesn’t have new friends but to me it makes perfect sense. Who would you rather have in your life: people who knew you before you reached your stardom or people who only know you in that context? Who would only relate to you as a superstar? Leo says that he lives a normal life. That he goes where he wants to go much more than people believe. He lives near his friends, he’s play uncle to Tobey’s kids,



he has family. I think that’s more important to him than hobknobbing with other celebrities who just want to talk about the business.









Please Lord, don’t let Tobey or Kevin take my man from me


He’s going to leave me for Kevin Connolly, I just know he is. I can feel it in my huge ears.


It was just supposed to be me and Leo getting ice-cream. How the hell did Tobey get here?






We’ve seen this film before but instead of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson it starred Bill Murray and Harold Ramis and it was called “Stripes” or “Meatballs”.

Written by Vince Vaughn and Jared Sternand directed by Shawn Levy (“Cheaper by the Dozen 2”) Vaughn and Wilson portray Billy and Nick two men who careers as watch salesmen come to an end due to the perceived uselessness of watches in the age of cellphones.

Looking for a a new opportunity Billy (Vaughn) suggests they attempt an intern at Google. Excited by the prospect of two fun loving guys interning, they are recruited by young staffer (Josh Brenner) who takes Billy, Nick and a team of outcasts (aren’t they always?) the sullen Stuart (Dylan O’Brien), the nervous overachiever YoYo, the slash, cosplay and hentai loving Leah (the wonderful Tiya Sircar) under his wings as they compete to win the summer challenges against the rival interns led by the snooty top dog (Max Minghella)



Good enough film. It’s plays like a 2 hour long advertisement for Google but it’s the unique casting that makes it all works. I like that they’re giving opportunities to a new crop of actors who have been on the fringe for a while but deserve their chance in the spotlight like “The Daily Show”s Asaf Mandavi as the head instructor, Eric Andre of “The Eric Andre Show” on Comedy Central as one of the instructors and Josh Gad as a mysterious intern.

Vaughn and Wilson’s charms-I found them charming in the 90s-seem worn. They’ve both have seen better days and material but it’s not as bad as some of the other films they have appeared in (“Drillbit Taylor”, “The Watch”).

Rose Byrne rounds out the cast as the instructor that Nick takes a liking to. Also appearing in the film is Will Ferrell, Joanna Garcia-Swisher, John Goodman and Jessica Szohr.

The cast including Mandavi, Andre and Jessica Szohr


*O’Brien used the shoot almost like a summer camp resulting in becoming fast friends with Minghella.







Max’s girlfriend Kate Mara is supportive of their BFFdom








*I now realize that O’Brien’s kinda cute. I’m on the late, late show with that realization. I know when I met him at the screening of “The First Time” I found his hairy arms and moles fetching but that’s about it. But now I can see the appeal.





I think it was the episode of “The New Girl” he appeared it that did it for me. When I wasn’t imagining that his character was Stiles and instead of anti-depressants he was on ADHD meds.



and he couldn’t get it up


because…


…for Derek.

~It won’t be long before Dylan pulls a Colton Haynes and no I don’t mean hiding in the glass closet. Dylan has been cast in two films as of late “Glimmer” and “Maze Runner”. As Linden Ashby who plays O’Brien’s dad on “Teen Wolf” tweeted, Dreamworks really wanted Dylan because they pushed back the shoot to accommodate his schedule.

~I Leave You With…
I haven’t been posting but I’ve kept posted on Tom acting motivated and stuff by actually procuring work!

He finally got his fill of gnawing on Zac Efron’s nipples


And tracing Zac’s ugly tattoo with his tongue.


Tom is in the Ivan Reitman film “Draft Day” and he’s producing a pilot with “Veronica Mars” creator Rob Thomas called “Blanco County” (I can’t wait for that name change).

And before that he whored it up in Vegas for his birthday and looked rough doing it.

Someone actually took a bad picture of Tom. It’s true. Some people just want to watch the world burn




I would’ve rather he jumped out of his birthday cake dancing to Rihanna’s “Birthday Cake”














And threw out a pitch at a game










You’ve come a long way (and a few stones), baby