Skyscaper Review -

I guess you can go back to the story of the Tower of Babel to know that humans love to build higher and higher into the heavens. Just like in that story, the cinematic gods have met that hubris in the movies by knocking us back down Earth on numerous occasions. Ok that sounds a bit deep for a movie like Skyscraper; so let me just throw out how much I love 1974's Towering Inferno.

Will Sawyer (Dwayne Johnson), a former FBI agent and war veteran, experienced a horrible and career ending event. He's now started his own business and has been invited to Hong Kong by a former colleague (Pablo Schreiber) to asses security for a skyscraper to end all skyscrapers - called The Pearl. In tow are his wife, Sarah (Neve Campbell) and two children. If you've watched the trailer or are maybe just familiar with Dwayne Johnson movies, you will know this is not going to be an idyllic family vacation. Some very nasty people set an inferno of a fire at The Peal and essentially trap Will's family and the owner of the building (Chin Han) in The Pearl. Will battles to rescue his family and find out what the big bad guys (and one particularly lethal lady) want.

Every summer there is talk of when the dumb outweighs the fun in a "dumb summer blockbuster" and I get it. For example is Skyscaper just an updated Die Hard rip off? Sure that's a bit valid. Are some of the bigger stunts impossible to believe? Why yes they are. There's one particular scene that rivals Bruce Willis jumping a car Duke of Hazard style into a helicopter (thank you for that Die Hard or Live Free). All of the boxes are checked for a sit back and just enjoy type of summer movie and I don't think that Skyscraper inched to close to the dumb versus fun divide. During the movie it seems everyone is either fighting fire, running from fire or dangling over fire. Totally fine with me because I sat in the through the movie 2012 and came out with my intelligence mostly intact. One surprising aspect of Skyscraper? Neve Campbell. Her character, Sarah is given a genuine backstory that is actually used during the movie, making her intelligent, observant and physically capable. I had several flashbacks of "You go Sidney" (No I'm not a senile old man quite yet. That's a Scream reference).
I'm giving Skyscraper a B and say go enjoy it.

Mary Queen of Scots First Preview

First and foremost I am a huge Saoirse Ronan fan, second I love costume drenched dramas even if they skimp on the historical accuracy and third I am an unabashed Anglophile. Someone might as well drop me off at the theater right now.

Mary Queen of Scots starring Margot Robbie, Saoirse Ronan, Guy Pearce, David Tennant and just about everybody with an accent (or can fake one) opens December 7th.

Ideal Home Review

I'm here to today to talk about a Paul Rudd movie but not the one you're thinking of because that movie doesn't need any help. The one I am talking about is Ideal Home starring Steve Coogan and Paul Rudd who is sporting what I must say is a very sexy beard.

Coogan and Rudd play Erasmus Brumble and his partner in life and career, Paul. If you know much about Steve Coogan, I should not have to point out that he carries the absurdly delightful Harry Potter-esque name. He is a celebrity chef and cookbook author while Paul produces his popular Tex-Mex show called Ideal Home. If being sarcastic and snarky are high on your list of relationship goals, you will find Erasmus and Paul quite familiar. Most of the bickering originates with he fact that Erasmus is a convoluted bundle of bravado, rampant insecurities and childish behavior. There's some real affection underneath though and good night of partying with friends seems to soothe out the edges. Their antics could be fun to watch for a while but this is a movie; so some conflict is needed.

One evening while Erasmus is assailing his guests with foodie snob stories, a young kid shows up with a letter explaining he is Erasmus' grandson and he needs someone to take care of him for a while. It turns out Erasmus experimented a bit in the 80's and this resulted in a son who has not exactly gone far from the tree. He's constantly in trouble with the law and in some last minute desperation has sent his son, Bill (Jack Gore), to stay with Erasmus. So here we are with two adult male children taking care of a real adolescent who has an attitude and refuses to eat anything but Taco Bell.

Ideal Home really works for me mostly because of Coogan and Rudd. They play well off of each other and the chemistry (funny or explosive) is a lot of fun. I have always especially loved Steve Coogan. He's played this type of part a couple of times, most successfully for me in Hamlet 2. if you've seen that movie and loved it (don't even talk to me if you didn't) then you will instantly know what I am talking about. He goes all in physically and emotionally as a person just slightly divorced from the reality the rest of us live in. For a real person that can be really annoying but for onscreen laughs it is comic gold. There is some late plotting that explores all the ways that Erasmus' and Paul's relationship is not working and that sucks some air out of the fun balloon. However it's ok because they recover and tug at the heartstrings while supplying the LOLZ.

Everything is ok but not perfect in the end and you are left with a nice but not heavy handed message about the diversity of families. If that is ok with you then I say check out this B+ movie. If it's not then you probably aren't reading this and don't care about my opinion anyway. Ideal Home is in limited theatrical release but available to rent on iTunes and Amazon video.

BumblebeeTeaser Trailer

A Transformers' movie that does not appear to be a loud, chaotic mess? Who would've thought it was possible. I've never been a Transformers hater so to speak but let's be real, Micheal Bay's obsession with "go big or go home" became cringeworthy at some point since we first met Sam Witwicky in 2007. I'm hoping for some scaled down and earnest storytelling here.

Bumblebee starring Hailee Steinfeld and John Cena will be in theaters December 21st.