2012 SUMMER MOVIES - Sponsored by Sour Patch Kids
We sent our resident celluloid analyst to the air conditioned multiplexes and dimly lit art-houses to take in this summer's crop of films. Here are his findings:
Written by: James Vanderbilt, Alan Sargent, Steve Kloves
Directed by: Marc Webb
If we've learned anything from movies over the last 15 years, the culture war between jocks and geeks has been decided... and it was about as close as Super Bowl XX. Wait, that was a jock reference. (Shows you which side of the divide I find myself on.) Let's try this: It was about as close as the gym class tiff between jock-bully Flash Thompson and the newly Spiderized Peter Parker in THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN. Geeks rule!
Comic book adaptations are so popular, apparently so relevant, they can be remade -- entire sagas rebooted -- within the whip-snap of a decade. In that same time period, war movies, sports pics and Rambo-style action flicks have been stomped on by science nerds with superpowers. Andrew Garfield's emo-mensa geek shows just how easy it is when he embarrasses Flash at his own game (basketball), by dunking on him and shattering the backboard "with no regard for human life." Extrapolate the metaphor and you might feel like a studio exec wondering if Arnold Schwarzenegger really was the Last Action Hero.
Surname aside, sophomore director Marc Webb was handed the keys to the lucrative franchise knowing "with great power comes great responsibility." He was tasked with retelling the same origin story that was told quite well by Sam Raimi and Tobey Macguire in 2002.
From the outset, Webb weaves a tight thread, tracing Parker's mysterious fleeing parents and subsequent upbringing with his aunt and uncle (played with veteran gravitas by Sally Field and Martin Sheen.) For fleeting moments, it feels like the simple tale of a high-born Manhattan child who becomes an introverted orphan teen living in blue collar Queens. Parker's undying curiosity about his father leads him to an R&D megalith corporation where he is inevitably bit by a radioactive lab spider. Although the plot mechanics are clunky, Webb has a knack for taking us through an experience and the deliberate transformation of Peter Parker to Spiderman (in a world without comic book heroes) is rather exhilarating. Garfield, always impeccably disheveled, finds an abandoned warehouse -- that also conveniently doubles as an X-Games training facility -- and he uses the skate ramps as a jump-off for teaching himself his newly acquired superpowers... all set to the melodic tones of Coldplay's 'Till Kingdom Come.
For all its big-budget effects and high-flying stunts, THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN has the DNA strands of an adolescent Indie drama. As he demonstrated in the brilliant and quirky 500 Days of Summer (his only other feature), Webb makes a concerted effort to capture the intricacies of romance, and the heart of SPIDEY pulsates from the relationship between Parker and Gwen Stacy (the radiant Emma Stone.) Clearly, Garfield and Stone are lovestruck (in real life) and their dazzling, in-the-zone chemistry on-camera gives us the impression the swooning continues long after "cut."
Tonally, the film is neither dark and gritty nor fluffy and frivolous. Webb humanizes both his protagonists and antagonists and the action is driven by character motivations rather than expensive explosions or over-the-top villains.
Bottom line: The comic book geek consensus seems to be this version of SPIDERMAN is overly saccharine and it veers too far from Marvel's original vision. To which I reply, "it was enormously entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable..." but what do I know? I'm just a simple-minded jock.
Box office as of 7/23: $228,611,425
TED
Written by: Seth Macfarlane
Directed by: Seth Macfarlane
In Hollywood, the sweet spot for a director is having the credibility to push established actors into bold choices.
Seth MacFarlane, overlord of animated television, accomplishes this with giddy gusto in his directorial debut. TED is full of raunchy sight gags, juvenile poddy humor and jokes he couldn't get away with on Family Guy, but the core comedy resonates from his sweet, well-engineered script. Voiced by Macfarlane, the CGI stuffed bear is a classic male character in an Aptow-ian universe: a kind-hearted stoner who clings to "the good old days" well beyond their reasonable twilight. And as we've seen in Aptow's comedies, the role of the periphery pothead is to resist a transition to responsible adulthood but ultimately assist his more competent best buddy in bridging that divide.
Mark Walhberg, to his credit, has reached a point in his career where he seems genuinely comfortable making bold choices. He plays John, who at age 8, wished for a BFF and lo! ended up with a talking Teddy. The context is almost believable: Ted was tabloid celebrity in the early 90s, pre-reality TV, but society grew bored and moved on... and, like so many child stars before him, Ted settled into a life of drugs, booze and self-deprecating mediocrity. John and Ted grew old together and it should not be understated how this process is easier for stuffed animal. Now 35, John's bridge to responsible adulthood is (slowly) being paved by his four-year relationship with Lori (the ravishing Mila Kunis), who is, of course, a serious and successful woman. Lori is loving and supportive but...(there's usually a but) she's growing ever-weary of her in-limbo boyfriend who still lives and parties with a Teddy Bear. Kunis plays an archetype earnestly but it certainly helps John that his inability to motivate is balanced by being "the hottest guy in Boston."
TED is the movie Adam Sandler should have made 10 years ago, while he still had credibility in this genre. Now he's relegated to playing irresponsible Dads, which is a biting image for our culture in that his characters helped raise a generation of Aptowian slackers like John and Ted. The plot peters along swiftly enough and with the exception of a self-indulgent and totally unnecessary scene staged at the Green Monstah, the story connects on most of its punchlines and pivot points. (Presumably, Macfarlane flexed his Family Guy clout to get to shoot at Fenway, but why bother? Ben Affleck already knocked that one out of the park.)
The remarkable achievement of TED is that Macfarlane was able to cram all of his scathing showbiz jabs, envelope-pushing set-pieces and uncanny impressions into a long-form narrative that actually works. He gives you some yucks and a few belly laughs but also manages to thread the needle.
Bottom line: Macfarlane is one of the few people in Hollywood who basically gets to do whatever he wants, and judging from his first movie, that's a good thing.
3.5 SPKs
Box office as of 7/23: $180,421,425
MAGIC MIKE
Written by: Reid Carolin
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Other than being a "volume shooter," it's hard to find a flaw in Steven Soderbergh's game. He doesn't always connect, in fact he frequently misses badly, but he's never afraid to shoot, or play with digital media, or challenge the conventionality of content delivery. He'll cast porn stars and MMA vixens in lead roles, he'll take you on an odd excursion with a hand-held camera, and the stories he tells range from sprawling Oscar fodder like Traffic to off-beat micro-budget experiments like Bubble.
With MAGIC MIKE, Soderbergh found a script in his wheelhouse and churned out his best film since Ocean's Eleven. What began as Channing Tatum's autobiographical passion-project, meta-morphed into a topical narrative about the trending emasculation of the American man. Tatum's Mike is "good with his hands," which is actually not a sexual innuendo. He builds custom furniture. "Quality, unique designs at an affordable price." He also runs an auto detailing business and occasionally works non-union roofing jobs during the waking hours. Unlike his 19 year-old, molly-popping protege Adam, aka "The Kid," Mike is 30 and has long-sobered on the thrill of whipping his clothes off and gyrating his pelvis to an onslaught of screaming sorority girls. But, like so many men of his generation, he's caught in a vortex of doing what he can to pay the bills, while simultaneously attempting to overcome a discernible lack of opportunity. He has the ambition and work ethic of an entrepreneur, and yet, by night, he is literally reduced to his bare-bones pathos, which will ultimately (hopefully) fund his greater purpose. (Countless women who take to pole-dancing to pay for law school, for example, can certainly relate.) Nevertheless, Mike is a consummate professional, an industry veteran who is both humorously self-deprecating and confidently self-aware. The depth and likability of this character speaks to seamless collaboration between Tatum, Soderbergh and screenwriter Reid Carlton.
The true magic of MIKE is the way Soderbergh stages his scenes. The wide-angle, full-length burlesque performances give the film an almost musical quality, while the tightly shot improvisational banter feels reminiscent of a reality show. And the uniqueness of this movie is that he uses his lens to portray things so earnestly it never once feels like he's preaching.
Bottom line: Come for the abs, stay for a sub-textual tale about the state of the American dream.
4 SPKs
Box office as of 7/23: $101,496,886
**Editors note** The analysis of pop culture is a subjective discipline. Often times, culturally relevant entertainment is not all popular and conversely, things that become wildly popular often have no cultural relevance. The goal here is balancing the two.
