Spy

First Hit:  It was pretty funny at times and walked a nice line between slapstick and heart.

Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) plays a desk-bound, behind the scenes CIA agent, who gets a chance to go out into the field. Because she is unknown by the person they are attempting to track, and her inexperience in the field, there are numerous opportunities for awkward comedic situations.

Her CIA counterparts Rick Ford (Jason Statham) and Bradley Fine (Jude Law) play their roles straight which adds to the situational and physical comedy.

McCarthy was the best I’ve seen her. Her comedy here wasn’t as pressed as it was in an earlier film, Bridesmaids, and showed more variability and vulnerability in her character. Jason Statham was like most all the roles he plays in other films – very intense and single-minded. Jude Law was fine in his James Bondish sort of way. Paul Feig wrote and directed this film and it worked.

Overall:  I liked this much better than I had thought I would because I hadn’t been much of a fan of the films McCarthy's been in.

I'll See You in My Dreams

First Hit:  Thoughtful and very well acted film about loss and growing older.

Carol (Blythe Danner) is alone, her husband died twenty years earlier.

She has a dog that dies early in the film which adds to the sorrow Carol carries. Her mood has a heaviness to it that is palpable. Her friends Georgina (June Squibb), Sally (Rhea Perlman), and Rona (Mary Kay Place) play bridge regularly. Sally and her play golf at a golf club and her life seems set, unexciting, and, at times, meaningless.

Her pool guy Lloyd (Martin Star) is a lost young man who has no direction, little purpose except to clean the pool he’s cleaning at that time. He’s philosophical with his predicament and shares his belief with Carol. Given his place and her place, it creates a bond of understanding and friendship.

When he sings the song he's written to Carol, the mood is so sweet, beautiful and heartfelt. It adds to his beauty as an understanding person. Carol tries speed dating, which has its own funny moments, but when she finds herself attracted to and giddy about Bill (Sam Elliot), the life in her begins to show. How she expresses it with her visiting daughter Katherine (Malin Akerman) was very touching and real.

Danner is exquisite. She really embodied the dullness and sadness of her life and the rise of hope when Bill arrives into her life. Squibb, Perlman, and Place are perfect as friends having strong personalities that support and care about Carol.  Star is amazing as the guy who sings off key, is lost in life, cleans pools and finds a friend in Carol. Akerman is very good as the daughter that knows her mom well enough to draw her out and support her next steps. Elliot is strong as the self-assured older man who has a hankering for Carol. Marc Basch and Brett Haley wrote a strong and insightful script. Haley did an excellent job of directing this cast as well as making the script feel full of heart.

Overall:  This was an amazing performance by Danner and the entire cast.

Jurassic World (3-D)

First Hit:  Although the CGI is great, the whole film felt staged like it was a sequence of scenes strung together to make a story.

I liked Jurassic Park enough to want to see this leap forward film. This story has us, the visitors to the park (world), always wanting something new and different or else we won’t spend the enormous amount of money required to visit the amusement park and make it profitable.

This is the “why” they genetically created this new dinosaur (Indominus – Rex) as an attraction. To bring more people to fund more generic engineering. Then there is the story about the Aunt Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) who works at the park but is being neglectful of her nephews Zack and Gray (Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins respectively) who come to visit her at the park.

Then there is Own (Chris Pratt) who works at the park and is “training” the Velociraptors to respond to his commands. We’ve got Claire running through the jungle and the film in high heels (although there is a scene where she has flats on). There are a number of misrepresentations during the film, but the fun factor makes it rise above mediocrity, but not by a whole lot.

Pratt is fun in his best interpretation of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. He’s good in this rough and tumble role. Howard is good as the female interest of Pratt’s as well as the key female character in the story – she’s the one from which the story binds. Vincent D’Onofrio as Hoskins the quasi-military oriented guy who wants to use the dinosaurs as a weapon was very formula driven. Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver wrote this overly ambitious script. Colin Trevorrow directed this film. Unfortunately, the bigness of the task at hand was beyond his ability to rein in the ideas into a single cohesive story.

Overall:  The ambitiousness of the concept and the multitude of stories ran further than the abilities to make this film work.

Entourage

First Hit:  Although billed as a comedy it was more like a drama that wasn’t that good nor was it very funny.

I’ve never seen the television series that this film was taken from – probably a good thing. I didn’t find it funny as it may be mimicking Hollywood studio decision making all too closely.

In this story, you never see anyone do any work on the film, so we’ve no idea how well it got made and if the team spent the money wisely, which is what the plot is all about – they need more money. The Entourage is made of Eric (Kevin Connolly), Vince (Adrian Grenier), Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon) and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara).

They are working with/for Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) who decides to take an offer to become studio head and his first film in his new role is one which he wants Eric to star. Eric is all in except he wants to direct the film as well. The plot takes a Hollywood and stupid turn when the movie almost doesn’t get released because of Travis McCredle’s (Haley Joel Osment) jealousness of Eric’s relationship with a girl he likes. Travis’s dad, Larson (Billy Bob Thornton) is the one putting up the cash for the film but listens to his son review of the initial showing. Sound like a stupid plot? Possibly, but it may have more base in Hollywood reality than we might think. There are lots of side stories that give credence to cameos by lots of famous people.

Connolly is OK as the main character. Nothing outstanding in his performance. Grenier, Dillon, and Ferrara are, at times, fun to watch as their own dramas' play out. Piven is the best part of this film as he fights his anger over Hollywood stupidity and his own ego. Osment was fun to see again and he made something of his character. Thornton slid through this small role. Doug Ellin and Rob Weiss wrote this rather predictable and uninteresting story. Ellin’s direction was better than the script and some of the cuts to the multiple stories being juggled were well done.

Overall:  A few laughs, the drama wasn’t dramatic enough, and in the end it didn’t have much to offer.

Love & Mercy

First Hit:  Acting and story was extremely heartfelt while riding the ups and downs of Brian Wilson’s life.

I fondly recall The Beach Boys because I was a beach oriented guy myself in the 1960's.

In 1964 when the Beatles came into the musical consciousness of my life, there was a conflict of who was better. By the Beatles "Revolver", I knew the Beatles had risen to the top. This was partially because of the type of music, but also because of the struggles The Beach Boys were having internally as a group. The focus of those struggles, Brian Wilson, the genius behind the music. He wanted to take the group in a different direction than what they had done in the past.

This film documents Brian of the early years (Paul Dano) and the Brian of the mid 1990’s (John Cusack). Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson (Brett Davern and Kenny Wormald respectively) where brought up by a very mean, aggressive and extremely abusive father, Murry (Bill Camp). It effected Brian the most because he was the songwriter and leader of the group.

In his later years after spending an infamous 2 years in bed, Brian he was then controlled and manipulated by a psychiatrist named Dr. Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti). The visual likeness of Landy and Murray was amazing and was telling how Brian fell into Landy’s fold. Then there was Melinda (Elizabeth Banks) a Cadillac selling girl who sees Brian as a sensitive honest human being. Her relationship helps Brian to free himself from Landy and his life begins again.

Paul Dano was absolutely amazing at being the young Wilson by giving us a Brian who was always on the edge of sanity. He even looked a lot like a young Brian. Cusack was very strong as the older Brian attempting to find his way back into usefulness. Camp was good as the oppressive and abusive father. Giamatti was almost over the top at the unhinged psychiatrist who controlled Brian for his own purposes. Banks was inspiring and really good as the woman who could see Brian for more than what Dr. Landy was presenting. Michael A. Lerner wrote a fantastic script. Oren Moverman did an amazing job of creating a biography film that was both interesting and compelling to watch.

The music was fantastic; the story even better.