Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Dir. Matt Reeves
To even my surprise, Rise of the Planet of the Apes was my #2 movie of 2011. Despite being the prequel/second remake of the classic 1968 Heston film, it managed to live on its own terms and create this great new universe. The story that interweaved the beginning of Caesar's "rise" with a very human-centric alzheimers plot with John Lithgow and James Franco, along with Franco's heartfelt connection with Caesar, was brilliant, and the final setpiece on the Golden Gate Bridge, even after my fourth recent re-watch, gave me chills. And much of what makes it so good is Andy Serkis, whose motion-captured performance stole the show - and started a mini-campaign to get him an Oscar-nom. So with Dawn focusing more on Caesar and his ape comrades, I was eagerly anticipating this film, and Matt Reeves is not one to disappoint (I thought Cloverfield actually lived up to the hype). But, lo and behold, much like a handful of other sequels that have come out this year (namely How to Train Your Dragon 2 and 22 Jump Street), I'm just at a disconnect from most other critics: I found this to be a surprisingly uninspired, "simple" film more fitting with the likes of Avatar than the original Rise.
But I did find the story to be pretty lacking. Taking a cue from every other western-inspired sci-fi film of the past 30 years, the humans and the apes are on the verge of war solely because they're scared of each other (indians and cowboys), and there are one or two loose canons in each camp which incite all the chaos. The humans, on the verge of extinction, need the power of a hydroelectric dam located just on the other side of the chimp compound, which ultimately ends in misunderstandings and distrust. This whole theme has been overdone so many times in the recent past (perhaps the best in District 9), which I found extremely disappointing seeing as the first movie had a very unique story I felt I'd never seen before. Also, the apes only grunt in very primitive english and use sign language so the whole film becomes overly simplified (despite being an excuse for cutting-edge technology to be used). None of the humans have any sort of satisfying characters to cling onto either, and I felt this was much more of a "wide audience" film than Rise, because there weren't really any challenging questions being asked; "war is hell" is such an obvious message to send.
It's a basic, been-there-done-that story, with a waste of human talent (including Jason Clarke and Gary Oldman), but told with a beautiful vision and strong motion capture work. Some of the moments between the apes really work, especially between Caesar and Koba, but I couldn't help but be disappointed.
Rating: B-
Tammy
Dir. Ben Falcone
Melissa McCarthy's trajectory from little-known comic personality to box office darling happened seemingly overnight. After her first major role, in Paul Feig's Bridesmaids (landing her a rarely seen Academy Award nomination for a comedic part), it seems like studios have been clamoring over her before her audience goodwill starts to "dry up." Tammy is a big deciding factor in McCarthy's career going forward, because it's truly her first solo effort (without a Jason Bateman or Sandra Bullock to share the marquee). McCarthy writes, produces, and stars in the film, with her husband, Ben Falcone, directing and co-writing. With a lot riding on the movie, and not to mention its release date being in the middle of summer, this was McCarthy's chance to show her true chops; unfortunately Tammy is an absolute mess of a film, with Melissa doing a lesser version of the same loud, abrasive character we've always seen from her, and the laughs just aren't there.
Tammy, like the film she stars in, is a mess. She just got fired from her job at Topper Jacks, a fast food burger joint, her car was wrecked by running into a deer, and her husband is cheating on her with the neighbor. Having enough, she decides to "run away" and start fresh somewhere else, and takes her grandmother (Susan Sarandon) on a road trip to Niagara Falls to sort their lives out...I guess. The story here didn't really make sense, and with most road movies, like National Lampoon's Vacation for example, the most important thing in the film is to have a clear and set "destination" at the end (like Wally World), but in Tammy none of the characters had much motivation to do anything.
I consider myself a fan of McCarthy, but Tammy, like Seth Macfarlane's A Million Ways to Die in the West, shows that her talents only go so far. Without a Paul Feig to reign her in, she just seems like she's trying too hard to get the short-term "impov" laughs without managing to focus on any kind of over-arching story. But she failed at even getting those "small" moments right, and the entirety of the movie consisted of either really low-class humor (drinking and driving, old people having sex), an absolutely terrible and unearned romantic subplot between McCarthy and Mark Duplass, or just plain stupid "jokes" that dragged on and on (like the robbery scene from the trailers). This is probably the worst thing I've ever seen McCarthy in, TV or film, and it's a shame. I don't take an issue with McCarthy doing the same "character" over and over, but I just want to see her bring her brand of humor to a well-developed screenplay (take a look at Seth Rogen's career to see the milage you can get out of one type of character). It pains me to say this, but Tammy is just plain boring and unfunny.
Rating: D
Obvious Child
Dir. Gillian Robespierre
Watch Trailer
Warning: SPOILER in last sentence of review
The words 'abortion' and 'comedy' don't usually go together, but Jenny Slate and Gillian Robespierre are set to prove that wrong with Obvious Child, the first self-proclaimed "abortion comedy," based off of their 2009 short film. Slate first came onto my radar from seeing her bizarre internet character Marcel the Shell, and before this film was probably best known for her one-year stint on SNL. Here she plays Donna Stern, a young stand-up comedienne who gets dumped by her boyfriend one night, then proceeds to have a drunken one-night-stand with a naive, handsome dude she meets at the bar where she just bombed. You know what happens next: it's pretty much Knocked Up for the Girls (HBO) crowd, except without the actual birth and whatnot. It handles a tough subject with light humor, a difficult task that I commend, but when it comes down to it, this movie was just not my sense of humor.
Donna Stern, to me, is one of the most annoying screen characters I've seen this year. She's aggressively awkward, and is always playing the "cute-klutz" card to an obnoxious degree. I don't mind when a protagonist is unlikable, but her style of comedy was grating to me. I personally found the romance and characters in this film twee to a fault and at times cringe-worthy, but that being said I did really enjoy the stand-up sequences in the film. Similarly to Mike Birbiglia's Sleepwalk With Me, the film does a great job of re-enacting what it's like to perform on stage without the "fakeness" that usually comes from movie editing. I also liked how Donna used her personal problems as springboards for her act, even if it involves people close to her that may not want that info aired out. Although her actions don't make me side with her character (that really is a scumbag thing to do), it was an interesting way of using betrayal to forward the narrative in a fresh way.
I may sound like I'm being hard on the film, but I think it comes down to personal taste. Obvious Child is a very "hipster-y," New York, Girls-esque film that clearly isn't striving to reach my demographic nor should it. Even a rom-com as "edgy" as this one is still ultimately a victim to the same genre trappings as its predecessors: the boyfriend is unrealistically charming (and his Tom Brady looks don't gel with Donna's constant "disarrayed" look) and despite Donna not really showing her "good side" to him, still ends up with her head in his lap by the end.
Rating: C+
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