Top Five

First Hit:  Although there were some funny bits, this film was disappointing.

I’ve been a Chris Rock fan for as long as I can recall. I, unfortunately, came to this film with hopes of seeing something interesting and good.

What I felt was bored about 1/8 of the way in until the last ¼ of the film when it got interesting and with some traction. That is not to say that there weren’t parts in between those two points that I didn’t laugh or enjoy – it is just that they were few and far between. To point out one of those segments was when he was with family or the people he grew up with – they had some funny riffs.

Here “Top Five” refers to the top five rappers each character is asked to state. The film is about Andre Allen (Rock) who is trying to promote what he thinks is a serious film about a black slave uprising in Honduras. The small clips the audience sees of the film shows that it is horrible. He’s also marrying Erica Long (Gabrielle Union) a reality TV star with no discernible talent.

To use a vehicle to discover where Allen is in his life the film uses a reporter Chelsea Brown (Rosario Dawson) who also masquerades as a male New York Times critic by another name who always bashes Allen’s “Hammy” films. Her interviewing him gives context to discover Allen's state of mind. We know what is going to happen at the beginning of the film and the path to the end is predictable and lacks imagination. What is worse the whole “Top Five” bit isn’t strong enough to create a touchstone or transition touchstone.

Rock only stands out when he does a brief standup routine. It is also where he discovers what he’s good at doing. Else Rock is monotone and appears bored. Union is fine as the reality star that wants to marry Allen because she has nothing else going for her. Dawson is the best thing about this film and there are scenes where she shines. J.B. Smoove is strong as Silk, Allen’s bodyguard. Rock both wrote and directed this film and although he had good intentions, it fell flat.

Overall:  This was a poorly constructed film although the intention might have been good.

Exodus: Gods and Kings

First Hit:  I couldn’t help but compare Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” with this film and in many ways this film is more touching and it was also very slow at times.

This is a long and grandiose type film.

It does its best to create characters we can either like or dislike. Ramses (Joel Edgerton) has the look and feel of the antagonist but there is something missing and I couldn’t put my finger on it. Christian Bale plays Moses the adopted brother (of sorts) of Ramses both of whom are guided by Ramses father Seti (John Turturro).

Viceroy Hegep (Ben Mendelsohn) overhears that Moses is really a Hebrew and tells Ramses. Moses is ousted from the Egyptian royal family and finds his roots. He comes back to Egypt to free his people (600,000 Hebrews) and lead them home. Guided by a young boy, who represents the almighty, he witnesses the plagues and then leads the slaves through the Red Sea and to their ancestral home. This film was slow most of the time.

The 3-D version of the plagues was very good and it surpasses the previous film in realistic spectacle. Funny that I still liked the previous version of the parting of the Red Sea because the way the walls of the water jumped up. However, this film’s version is far more realistic and was very good as well. I don't think this film will do very well at the box office because the story telling here just isn’t very compelling.

Edgerton as Ramses is effective but doesn't carry the energy to make us want to find him the villain he's suppose to be. Bale does his best in this role and at times is really good, but the material slows him down. Turturro is really good as Seti because he carries the air of supremacy and intelligence perfectly. Mendelson in a smallish role is fabulous. He makes the most of this part. There were other big name actors in the film but their minor roles are not worth mentioning. Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, Jeffrey Caine, and Steven Zaillian wrote this over full script. Ridley Scott directed this overly full script. The best part was the effectiveness of creating great plagues.

Overall:  This was a long film that only begins to pick up during the plagues.

The Imitation Game

First Hit:  The amazing acting tells a truly amazing story about belief and perseverance.

This is the amazing story of how Germany’s Enigma machine was decoded and used to assist the allies in winning World War II.

Alan Turing is featured here as the father of machines that think (the way machines think/process information – today we call them computers). As a young boy Turing (young Alex play by Alex Lawther) is a smallish, nerd who is picked upon by his fellow classmates. He’s smart and begins to discover his homosexuality through caring about, of, and for his one true school friend – Christopher.

During the war he’s asked to participate in decoding the German Enigma machine. He’s grouped with Hugh (Matthew Goode), John (Allen Leech), Peter (Matthew Beard), Jack (James Northcote) and then Alan finds and adds Joan (Keira Knightley) to the team. Each of them are good puzzle solvers, chess players and/or mathematicians.

Problem with this team is that Turing (adult Turning played by Benedict Cumberbatch) doesn’t work well with others. He believes that he can build a machine that will solve the problem and thinks trying to decode Enigma manually is a useless endeavor. He thinks working with a team will slow him down.

This is an amazing story and the acting is top shelf. However, the problem I found with the film is that it tells this story in three different time frames and juggles them in a way that didn’t work for me. I was fascinated by the young Turing, and as I begin to fully drop into this child’s experience, bang we’re in the 1950’s and he’s being arrested for homosexuality, then bang we’re back into the story of him building a machine to decode Enigma.

All three stories are great and the acting in them is great – it is the jostling of my emotions that I didn’t like by the way it moved from one story to another. However, all told it was an amazingly acted film that told a wonderful and powerful story.

Lawther is absolutely mesmerizing as the young Turing. His expressions and soulful eyes told a huge story. Cumberbatch as the adult Turing is stunning and embodied a man who understood problems and math far more than people. I loved the scene where he stated that he was always decoding because people never said what the meant. Knightly is, again, sublime. She’s perfect as the only bright light in Turing’s relationships with people. Goode is very strong as the chess master who learns to respect what Turing can do. Leech, Beard and Northcote are great in their supporting roles as code solvers. Mark Strong as the MI6 manager of this team is cunningly strong. Charles Dance is perfect as Commander Denniston the man who wanted to run a tight ship. Graham Moore wrote a strong script but he and director Morten Tyldum could have, in my opinion, made a better film if it was more chronological in nature.

Overall:  This was an excellent film sharing an amazing story about how World War II was shortened.

Horrible Bosses 2

First Hit:  Although there were some funny bits, it lacked being a full on comedy.

The three main characters Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis), and Dale (Charlie Day) are opening their own business with a product for the shower.

The whole storyline around this and their interaction is, for the most part, not funny. They try funny bits; like demonstrating their product on TV, breaking into a house and stealing some nitrous oxide; but they aren’t funny at all. There is very little that's funny about the bits these three do together. However the funny parts is when they bring other characters into the fold.

Chris Pine as Rex the son of the owner of a large distribution company. Christoph Waltz as Bert the successful owner of the distribution company. Kevin Spacey as Dave the old imprisoned boss they wanted to kill. Jamie Foxx as Dean “MF” Jones, their criminal friend who gives them guidance.

And last but not least, Jennifer Aniston as Dr. Julie Harris and sex addicted dentist. Each of these other characters bring in dialogue and aliveness that make the audience laugh-out-loud. However in the end, the film is dead on arrival.

Bateman looks bored in the role. He’s supposed to be the smart steady one and he's this character to the detriment of the film. Sudeikis tries to be lively  and funny as the sex starved guy, but again the role and dialogue is old before it comes out of his mouth. Day as Dale the family man, is dull and unintelligent and ads little to the film. However, Pine is dynamic, over the top, and great as the son who wants more from his dad than he has. Waltz is oddly funny as the guy who puts his business and money over the welfare of his son (Pine). Foxx is intensely funny as the bad-ass friend of the crew. Spacey is intimidatingly intense as the imprisoned scruple-less boss. Aniston is great as the sex starved dentist. Watching her spit out her desires of what she wants to do with the men is precious. Sean Anders and John Morris wrote an unfunny story for the main characters while livening up the dialogue for the other characters. Anders didn’t do a very good job of writing and directing this comedy.

Overall:  This has to be the last of this series – it would only get worse if they try.

Wild

First Hit:  The story is compelling and I’m not sure it was reflected in its full glory here. Reese Witherspoon plays Cheryl Strayed, a woman who was lost in her life and found herself again by hiking the Pacific Coast Trail (PCT).

The opening scene is great as it shows Cheryl tossing a boot over a cliff after the other one gets clumsily shoved off the cliff edge while she is pulling off a toenail. It shows her naivety in this hiking endeavor along with her quick tempered anger and easily accessed frustration.

This scene fully represents who she is at that moment. It is a great scene. It is unfortunate that not all the following scenes measure up as well. This isn’t to say there aren’t good to great scenes in the film, there are and they just don’t stand up to this opening scene.

Having hiked a lot when I was younger as part of our family backpacking vacations into the high sierras, I enjoyed the scenes of the mountains, meadows, and trails. We learn why she is on the trail through flashbacks which are like thought bubbles, brought up by music, conversation, or situations.

These flashbacks are OK, however they didn’t give me enough context as to why she became a drug addict, slept with everyone in sight, and tried to destroy her life. There was more to the story and it wasn’t here.

Witherspoon was very strong as Cheryl however I think the way the story was told and directed was the weak point of this film. Laura Dern was really engaging and full as Cheryl’s mom. Gabby Hoffman as Cheryl’s friend Aimee was very good. I liked her repulsion of Cheryl’s lifestyle when they were having dinner at the diner. Thomas Sadoski as Cheryl’s ex-husband Paul was also very strong as the man who loved Cheryl through thick and thin. Nick Hornby wrote the script which was very reflective of Cheryl’s book. Jean-Marc Vallee directed this film and this is where I think that this film falters a bit. There is a lot to digest from this book/script and it's a good attempt – not great.

Overall:  I did enjoy the film but I wasn’t satisfied that it told the story deeply enough.