Central Intelligence

First Hit:  Silly, irreverent, and definitely fun to watch.

Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, separately, have both shown their comedic skills in films. Together they are even better.

The physical size differences between them only adds to the dynamics of their dialogue. The story is rather silly and without a lot of merit, however it makes little difference because the film is enjoyable by their interaction and the palpable fun they had working together.

Basically, Calvin Joyner (Hart) was the high school star and most likely to succeed. Marrying his high school sweetheart Maggie (Danielle Nicolet), he settled into a life of being an accountant. He’s disappointed in that he failed to succeed the way he had envisioned.

Bob Stone (Johnson) was the fat kid whom everyone picked on in high school and when he’s embarrassed by kids at a school function, it is Calvin that has his back. Many years later Bob has lost the weight and has become, well, The Rock (Johnson’s WWE wrestling name). He also works for the CIA and enrolls Calvin to help him solve a case. They are hilarious together.

Johnson is fabulously funny. He’s got a great persona and knows how to leverage his size, personality, and the wink to make it all work incredibly well. Hart is his maniac hyper active self, spewing out comedic twists of dialogue. He’s fun to watch and its better when he’s paired up like this. Nicolet was good as Calvin’s strong supportive wife. Amy Ryan was very good as the CIA boss who was after Stone and Joyner. Ike Barinholtz, David Stassen, and Rawson Marshall Thurber wrote a strong comedic script. Thurber did a wonderful job directing these two dynamic characters.

Overall:  If you want to sit back and enjoy some irreverent humor, then see this film.

Love & Friendship

First Hit:  Definitely funny and well-acted, however a bit more telling than showing.

This was a clever take on life in the late 1700’s. Women of a certain societal stature were to be taken care of by their wealthy husbands or their families.

Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) has had a few dalliances in her life and is currently engage to Reginald DeCourcy (Xavier Samuel), while having an intimate affair with a married Lord Manwaring (Lochlann O’Mearain). She’s looking for a way to both secure her future income while also securing the future of her daughter Frederica Vernon (Morfydd Clark).

They are basically homeless and stay at the homes of friends and relations until marriages are arranged and settled. Assisting Lady Susan, by being a sounding board to her manipulative plans, is American Alicia Johnson (Chole Sevigny) who continues to be threatened to be sent back to Connecticut by her husband (Stephen Fry) for colluding with Lady Susan.

At first Lady Susan was attempting to marry Frederica to a Sir James Martin (Tom Bennett), who was rich, quite talkative, and very odd in his speaking and thought patterns. However, Frederica cannot stand him. From  here the story takes off.

The strongest aspects of this film were how they kept in the period, how it was shot and by clearly showing how manipulative people can be. However, this film did a lot of telling through the dialogue which got a bit monotonous at times.

Beckinsale was excellent as the intelligent manipulative Lady Susan. Clark was correspondingly strong as the daughter. Sevigny was great as Lady Susan’s confidant. Bennett was the hit of the film by stealing every scene he was in. Whit Stillman did a wonderful job of writing and directing this adaptation of the Jane Austen novella called “Lady Susan”.

Overall:  This film, especially Bennett, was very funny while also keeping a serious tone.

Maggie's Plan

First Hit:  Oddly interesting story about love, marriage and life through three very different personalities.

The three are Georgette (Julianne Moore), her husband John (Ethan Hawke) and Maggie (Greta Gerwig).

Georgette is a precise, egocentric professor that is focused on her career. She works at a prestigious university (Columbia) and her career path is to be well known and a department head. She has two children with John and abdicates most household care to him.

John works as a part time professor at a lesser college while also working on a novel. He’s famous for some of his anthropological work, but his heart is on writing a novel. On the campus he teaches, he meets fellow professor Maggie who believes she can only have relationships that last 6 months.

Because she wants children, she decides to get pregnant by asking a friend (mathematician) to give her his sperm that she can insert. However, she engages John in conversations and begins to give the attention he’s not getting at home. The relationship starts with John giving her sections of his book to review and ends in a marriage. However, things go array, the relationship changes and realizing that there needs to be a change she creates "Maggie’s Plan".

Moore is very solid as the precise, smart and career focused Georgette. Hawke is very good as the guy who continues to succumb to an illusion of what he wants and what love is. Gerwig is great as the main character who has a clear idea of what she wants and how to get it. Travis Fimmel and Maya Rudolph are very good as friends of Maggie. Rebecca Miller wrote and directed this quirky independent film in a sure handed way.

Overall:  I enjoyed the way this film played out.

Now You See Me 2

First Hit:  Very convoluted and moderately interesting story to show large scale illusions.

I would have settled on a film that had big magical illusions by tricking banks, Wall Street, a crooked company or something of that nature. In other words, more like the first film.

The story attempts to make a computer chip have the power to get past any security on any computer. Insurance tycoon Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine) wants this chip badly because anyone breaking into his computers will find out he’s committed fraud. He enlists Walter Maybry (Daniel Radcliffe) to do what it takes to get the chip that the four horsemen have stolen.

Just to get here, the horsemen J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) and new horseman Lula (Lizzy Caplan), are in hiding from the last film and being chased by the FBI including the horseman’s insider Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo).

The film spends too much time making as issue of Atlas’s wanting to be in charge of the horseman, trying to make a connection with the mysterious “Eye”, and how they got to China.

Then there is the questionably antagonist Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) who appears to be against the horseman but more specifically, Rhodes, but is he?

The film does come together in the end but the magic and illusion (the reason I wanted to see the film) of the last trick was telegraphed and I knew it was coming. In other words, it didn’t work on me.

Caine was appropriately stoic and arrogant. Radcliffe didn’t help his resume any. I didn’t think he was powerful enough to make his role work. Eisenberg was OK but not his best stuff. Harrelson had two roles, his twin and Merritt. I enjoyed their (his) interplay from time to time. Franco had a more minimal role in this film and I’m not sure that was the best move. Caplan as the new horseman was good and brought a more positive energy to the cast. Freeman was his ever present steady self. Ed Solomon wrote a convoluted uninteresting screenplay from his own story. Jon M. Chu probably did his best with this film but the story was weak.

Overall:  My guess there will be another film but if it is based on a story like this one, it will be a not be very good.

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

First Hit:  This very funny musical parody gives a glimpse of how young pop stars (like the Beastie Boys or One Direction) might respond to immediate fame.

The Style Boyz are three lifelong friends who are musically talented separately but together they are great. Their first album sells like hotcakes and they even have their own dance; “The Donkey Roll.”

Enough people single out Conner (Andy Samberg), the lead singer, to do something on his own which he decides to do leaving his band mates Owen (Jorma Taccone) and Lawrence (Akiva Schaffer) to fend for themselves.

Owen joins Connor’s touring support team as a DJ and eventually gets masked during performances. Lawrence is put out to pasture, literally, by becoming a farmer and also dong wood carvings. Conner’s first album is a success and he becomes a big star.

The film uses real music stars to validate Conner’s success by giving them the opportunity to sing their praises of Conner’s work. They even have Justin Timberlake as Conner’s chef. There is also a parody of the television program TMZ with CMZ and how they cover famous artists.

Conner sets out to do his second album and when it drops, it fails miserably and Conner scrambles to put his career back together. This film is about putting his career back together. The songs that truly stand out are:  I’m Not Gay and F#^$ Bin Laden.

Samberg is excellent as Conner the leader of Style Boyz and as Conner4Real, the single act. Taccone and Schaffer are wonderful as his bandmates. They show a level of reverence and their own strength in appropriate levels. Tim Meadows as their manager Harry was wonderful. Samberg, Taccone, and Schaffer wrote a wonderful inventive funny script. Schaffer and Taccone did a great job of directing by creating wonderfully funny musical scenes.

Overall:  It was a good laugh and enjoyable.