Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

By George M. Thomas

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 opens on screens Friday.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 earns a rare distinction.  It joins a list of films -  THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE– that equals or outdoes a predecessor.

A myriad of reasons reveal themselves to bolster that assessment.  Guardians, however, has shown in two outings that it’s the one series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that can balance humor, action and heartfelt emotion into a charming, irresistible cinematic cocktail – one that’s easy to consume and say “Thank you, please, may I please have another.”

Joy

Review by Pamela Zoslov

Back in the '90s, I became addicted to home shopping TV channels. In hindsight it seems tacky, but as an over-thirty law student under crushing pressure, I found solace in the patter of the smooth, charismatic hosts hawking gold jewelry, fake diamonds (“Diamonique”), clothes and household gadgets, each piece of merchandise flattered by star-filtered lights and the caresses of the well-manicured presenters. I came to know the hosts and their stories — witty New York-bred Kathy Levine; Judy Crowell, briefly married to a rakish fellow host, who asked her for a divorce just before airtime; Lisa Mason, fashion-model gorgeous but charmingly self-effacing; David Venable, the handsome ex-news anchor whose Southern charm could coax the bark off a Magnolia tree.

Aloha

By Pamela Zoslov

Cameron Crowe's first feature film in four years, ALOHA, had a rocky time getting to the screen. First conceived way back in 2008, the Hawaii-set military romantic comedy — originally titled Deep Tiki, then Volcano Romance — was repeatedly postponed, finally beginning filming in 2013. Now that it's completed, the film is being criticized for “whitewashing” Hawaii, appropriating Hawaiians' sacred word “Aloha,” and sidelining the Hawaiians' native culture.

Serena (opens in Cleveland March 27th exclusively at the Cedar Lee Theatre)

[SERENA opens in Cleveland on Friday March 27th exclusively at the Cedar Lee Theatre.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

Within its first ten minutes, SERENA resoundingly establishes its credentials as a bad movie. Unless you have to watch the movie to review it, or you're a masochist (sometimes feels like the same thing), you should cut your losses at this point. The film is badly cast, badly written, badly directed, badly edited, and badly scored. At least cinematographer Morten Søborg does his job well, but no matter how well you film a traffic accident, it's still a traffic accident.

American Sniper

Review by Milan Paurich

“It’s a hell of a thing, killing a man. Take away all he’s got, and all he’s ever gonna have." - UNFORGIVEN, 1992

That line from Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-winning twilight western is never spoken in Eastwood’s latest film, AMERICAN SNIPER, but you can hear it reverberating inside the head of Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle from beginning to end. Because Kyle, who served four tours of duty in Iraq, racking up 160 confirmed kills, is a stoical type who internalizes his emotions, we never hear him actively comment on the toll his military-sanctioned killings may have taken on him. But it’s written loud and clear across the face of Bradley Cooper who embodies Kyle in an intensely physical, deeply empathetic performance.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Review by Bob Ignizio

Abducted by aliens as a little boy, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) grows up to be a ne'er do well space pirate who calls himself Starlord, not that anyone else does. He teams up with a talking raccoon named Rocket (voice of Bradley Cooper), a walking tree named Groot (Vin Diesel), a green skinned assassin named Gamora (Zoe Saladana), and an extremely literal tattooed barbarian named Drax (Dave Bautista) to keep a glowing purple rock of immense power out of the hands of bad guy Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) who wants to use the rock to destroy the planet Xandar, ancient enemy of his race the Kree.

Other notables in the mix include Yondu (Michael Rooker), a space pirate Peter double-crossed, purple skinned evil doer Thanos (Josh Brolin), Ronan's evil underling (and daughter of Thanos) Nebula (Karen Gillan) and his other evil underling Korath (Djimon Hounsou), Xandarian cop Dey (John C. Reilly), weird hoarder dude The Collector (Benecio Del Toro), and head of Xandarian defenses Nova Prime (Glenn Close).

American Hustle

Review by Bob Ignizio

AMERICAN HUSTLE is based very loosely on the FBI ABSCAM sting operation that, back in 1978, took down 6 members of congress and a Senator, not to mention a few smaller fish. The bureau did this in part by utilizing the services of a convicted con artist who helped create a convincing set-up involving a phony middle eastern sheikh.

That much, at least, does make it into the film. But there's a reason AMERICAN HUSTLE begins with the onscreen disclaimer, “some of this actually happened” rather than the usual “based on a true story”. Not only have names been changed, but characters and situations have been invented, and director David O. Russell intentionally rewrote Eric Warren Singer's screenplay to make it more comedic. The costumes, hair, and make-up further push the film into camp territory, with the amped up performances by just about everyone in the cast pushing the movie completely over the top.

The Hangover Part III

Review by Pamela Zoslov

There was an episode of I Love Lucy in which Desi Arnaz, as Ricky, made a mistake in his lines. The spontaneous error was so charming the director wanted to leave it in the show, but a technical problem required that the scene be reshot. Desi tried to repeat his endearing goof, but the magic was gone.

That's how it is with movie sequels. It's usually impossible to capture the qualities that made the original film successful. No one predicted that THE HANGOVER, the 2009 comedy about four dudes' crazy misadventures in Vegas, would be a hit, but it transcended the raunchy-comedy fray with a funny script, a likeable cast of non-stars, and a twisty plot that found room for Mike Tyson and his pet tigers. At the time, it was the highest-grossing R-rated comedy to date, and predictably, it launched a franchise. The sequels, the darkly misanthropic THE HANGOVER PART II and now, THE HANGOVER PART III, the last of the trilogy, make it hard to remember what we ever saw in THE HANGOVER.

The Place Beyond the Pines (opens in Cleveland on Friday April 12th exclusively at the Cedar Lee Theatre)

[THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES opens in Cleveland on Friday April 12th exclusively at the Cedar Lee Theatre.]

Review by Pamela Zoslov

The surprise of Derek Cianfrance's second feature, THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES, is that it is three films in one. The first section of the triptych, shot in the moody, azure-tinted style of BLUE VALENTINE, centers on Luke (Ryan Gosling), a drifter and stunt motorcyclist who adopts a life of crime to support his baby son. The second, shot in a more traditional style, is a police drama focusing on Avery (Bradley Cooper), a rookie patrolman who has a fateful encounter with Luke. The third, and least successful section, set 15 years later, focuses on the now adolescent sons of the criminal and the cop. Cianfrance, who also co-write the script, has attempted a multi-generational saga, with linked sections reminiscent of Stephen Soderbergh's TRAFFIC (or, less flatteringly, the Wachowskis' CLOUD ATLAS). Ambitious in its sweep and running just under two and a half hours, the film promises greater significance than it delivers. But it is not without stylistic flair and thematic interest.

Silver Linings Playbook

Review by Joseph Anthony

What happens when a man with suppressed bipolar disorder discovers his wife cheating on him with one of her coworkers?  

Director David O. Russell tries to answer this question in SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, his first film since the success of THE FIGHTER. Russell has become increasingly efficient in telling focused human stories about people who are relateable, but just a little different than the rest of us. In this case it's Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper), a man whose life has been turned upside down by his adulterous wife, Nikki (Brea Bee). Upon the discovery on his wife’s affair, Pat beats the man she is cheating with within an inch of his life. This earns Pat eight months in a psychiatric ward and a restraining order against his wife and their former workplace, a school.

When Pat is released, he goes home to live with his mom (Jackie Weaver) and dad (Robert De Niro), but he doesn’t find any relief there. His father is a Philadelphia Eagles junky, and bets on them every week while simultaneously keeping up his superstitious behaviors. Meanwhile, Pat is determined to win his wife Nikki back. Everyone in Pat’s life, including his therapist (played hilariously by Anupam Kher) tries to get Pat to move on, while also controlling his anger. Pat has many triggers for his anger, but his wedding song is the worst of them all: it's the same song that was playing when he found his wife cheating on him.

The Words

Review by Pamela Zoslov

Just before the closing credits for THE WORDS began to scroll, a loud murmur arose from the screening audience. Clearly, this is a movie that requires some discussion afterward.

The film, written and directed by Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal, is constructed as a story-within-a-story-wthin-a-story. It's about a purloined manuscript and a writer who becomes famous by publishing another man's work. The story's narrator is an author, Clay Hammond (Dennis Quaid), who has written a book about the case.

The Hangover II

Review by Bob Ignizio

You know those puzzles where the goal is to find all the tiny little differences between two nearly identical pictures? That's kind of what THE HANGOVER II feels like. THE HANGOVER II is set in Thailand; the previous film took place in Las Vegas. In the first movie it was Doug (Justin Bartha) whose marriage precipitated a bachelor party orchestrated by Phil (Bradley Cooper) that goes awry thanks to the presence of obnoxious man-child Allan (Zach Galifianakis); this time it's Stu (Ed Helms) tying the knot. The guys woke up to find a tiger in their hotel room last time around; this time it's a monkey. You get the idea.