The Watch: Tower Heist has made me wary of Ben Stiller movies, but the recent New Yorker article about his attention to script detail and his desire to make more movies like Greenberg and The Cable Guy make me want to see this. Sure, it’s another alien-invasion film, but at least it wasn’t released during the Great Invasion-Film Epidemic of 2011. And sure, we get another dose of the all-too-familiar Vince Vaughn-as de-sublimated perpetual adolescent along with Jonah Hill’s nervous / aggressive / older-than-a-young-adult typecasting and a sublimated Indian character who joins the neighborhood watch in hopes of indulging in desperate-housewife-laden fantasies. But, I still have hope for this film. Stiller is funny when his character tries to maintain authority, and – despite the familiarity – Vaughn’s timing is solid. For a brief example, see the scene in the trailer in which the four men stand over a lifeless alien body, filling it with bullets while lamenting that they are hard to kill. Will it be an instant classic? Probably not, but it’ll offer some entertainment if you’ve already seen The Dark Knight Rises.
Killer Joe: Perhaps Magic Mike has made me a believer in Matthew McConaughey. Or, perhaps William Friedken’s connection to Killer Joe piques my interest in this years first NC-17 entry. If we’ve learned anything from Shame, it’s that no one will see this film because of its rating, but if you venture to the theater and brave yourself for the younger-than-eighteen ushers who will demand to see your driver’s license upon entry, we might just be sitting in the same theater.
Step Up: Revolution: Another one? I dealt with the first one with Channing Tatum. I laughed at the sequel, scoffed at the third, and can’t believe they’re making a fourth. I suppose my quandary is why someone would pay money to see this movie when So You Think You Can Dance airs for free on basic television. Or, you could go highbrow and watch Dancing With the Stars. What’s doubly disappointing about this recent installment to the franchise is that all of the dance numbers looks CGI’d. Perhaps this isn’t one-hundred-percent true, but the pleasure found in watching people dance is the difficulty that they demonstrate with ease. There’s no difficulty in CGI – unless you’re trying to make it look good.
Klown: For the random pick of the week, I suggest Klown, a movie about a man who kidnaps his twelve-year old nephew to prove to his pregnant girlfriend that he’s ready for fatherhood. The premise makes me chuckle, and I can’t help but wonder what hijinks these folks in Denmark with venture through. Plus, I dig the K.
