Movie of the Day: "National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983)

Our next summer vacation classic is National Lampoon's Vacation, from 1983, where the dopey and clueless Clark Griswold hauls his family on a cross-country drive to visit the famed Wally World in California. This is Chevy Chase in peak form, as his earnest and naive all american guy persona gradually shifts to desperate and crazed as the disastrous vacation takes its toll on him. Everything that could go wrong, does go wrong, from dead grandmas to creepy Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) and because they didn't have to cater to the bland and destructive PG-13 rating in the 80's, there's no problem shifting tones from slapstick hijinks to subversive black comedy, which makes it even funnier and gives it an edge the later ones didn't have. Like with yesterday's pick Jaws, the sequels destroyed this franchise quickly (although Christmas Vacation has its moments), but the original still cracks me up. It's Chevy Chase at his best (also directed by the late, great Harold Ramis).

Original 1983 Trailer:

Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Pickpocket" (1959)

After a couple of sorry weeks with virtually no good options released on blu-ray, our weekly feature is finally back with a great pick from the always reliable guys at Criterion Collection. French director Robert Bresson was the master of minimalism, and he's normally something of an acquired taste. Pickpocket though, is one of his most accessible movies, the slick and quietly moving story of how an expert thief goes about his work. It feels very modern in style and acting (as Bresson's movies usually do) and the crook's redemption at the end is enough to bring a tear to your eye. Definitely seek this one out if you can.

Original 1959 Trailer:

TRAILER: "Big Hero 6"

Disney's full trailer for their November 7th release, Big Hero 6, is a little weird, as it spend more than a full minute on just one scene, emphasizing the comedy of the kid's man-made, robot superhero. But it looks like it might be kind of fun. It's Disney's first film based on a newly acquired Marvel property and it's going to be set it the fictional San Fransokyo (a combination of San Francisco and Tokyo) so at least that's something different.

Movie of the Day: "Jaws" (1975)

Since we're right in the middle of this long hot summer, our Movie of the Day series is back this week to celebrate the best summer vacation movies. We'll start with this one, the movie most responsible (along with the original Star Wars) for creating the term "blockbuster" in the first place. And it was for exactly that reason- in the summer of 1975 people were lining up around the block to see this thrilling adventure-horror flick about a killer shark feeding on the tourists of the vacation spot known as Amity Island. Sadly, I really believe that short attention spans would leave people cold to this film if it came out today, because it's mostly character driven and you don't even get to see the shark until late in the movie. That was the result of how difficult it was to film at the time (the hassles of the shooting on the water with the robot and all), but it led to greatness and the movie remains one of Steven Spielberg's very best (maybe even his best). Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss make an unforgettable shark hunting trio, whom you care about just as much as seeing the great white itself. Watch Jaws again and remember just how fresh and original blockbuster movies used to feel, before everything followed a formula.

Original 1975 Trailer:

REVIEW: "Begin Again" (2014) Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo. Dir. John Carney

If one of the primary reasons for going to the movies is to enjoy yourself, I could not possibly recommend Begin Again enough. A sweet, wonderful, character-driven and ultimately uplifting story with a lovely soundtrack filled with original songs by former New Radicals frontman Gregg Alexander...what more could you ask for on a weekend matinee, especially as a delightful alternative to all those explosions and action filled spectacles filling theaters this summer. I smiled all the way through it, from beginning to end.

John Carney famously caught lightning in a bottle with 2007's Once, the low budget independent film about two people finding each other and themselves through their connection with music, and the film went on to win the Oscar for Best Original Song and was eventually turned into a Broadway musical. So here we are, seven years later and Carney has returned to play around in those same waters with Begin Again, another original story about two people connecting through song. If it sounds like a bigger budget, more polished, Hollywood version of Once with some big name actors, that in no way proceeds to make it feel less lovely and warm, and that's due to the human characters and sincerity of the emotions.

A big help to that is in the casting, as here we have Mark Ruffalo as a down on his luck, alcoholic, washed out music producer named Dan who was once at the top of the industry but hasn't signed anyone in over seven years. Ruffalo has this unabashed, scruffy charm that you just can't scrub off of him, and he excels at these kinds of characters because that natural, ragged authenticity just can't help but shine through. He's also got an estranged wife and teenage daughter (Catherine Keener and Hailee Steinfeld) and even though he's a total screw-up we're immediately drawn to him simply because he's Mark Ruffalo, and he is a talented producer who's just been unlucky lately. His luck's about to change though, because in the movie's first scene he comes across a mild singer-songwriter in a club one night, performing a soft folk song in front of a crowd of distracted patrons, and his producer's mind immediately starts working overtime as he catches on to her style and imagines the song in his head, arranged with the background instruments playing themselves to accompany and bolster her sound. It's a magical musical moment, one that sets the tone for the optimistic arc the story will take.

Keira Knightley is Greta, the singer (yes, she did her own singing!), and she's also at a down moment in her life, having come to New York City with her boyfriend Dave (Adam Levine), with whom she worked as his songwriting partner, but who's now made it big from having his own music featured in a film, and quickly falls in love with the rock world that opens up for him from becoming successful. As a result of that, Dave reveals himself to be kind of a tool (most obviously represented by his growing a beard "as big as neck," as one character notes) and dumps Greta for a floozy, leaving her stranded in New York, sleeping on the couch of her pal from back home (James Corden). When Corden talks her into performing that fateful night, she gives a quiet, un-showy performance but of course it's a showstopper for Dan, who accosts her with his personality and offers her a chance to record a demo. The chemistry between Ruffalo and Knightley is wonderful and the rapport that develops between them over their shared love of music makes this film into an old-fashioned semi-romantic comedy of the kind Hollywood really doesn't make anymore. The two set out on their goal of recording an album on the streets of the city with no studio behind them in order to get the authenticity of the real life hustle and bustle. The shooting on location in and around the various clubs and corners of New York make it a summer love letter to the city in the best possible way- one of my favorite scenes is when Dan and Greta share a headphone splitter as they stroll through the streets at night and share each other's playlists.

All of this of course needs the actual music that Greta writes to be at least somewhat good to justify Dan's discovery and faith in her talent, and I'm happy to say that for me the songs were great. I hesitate to give an opinion on original music in any film (the quality of songs is intensely subjective, much more so than movies even), but I really think "Lost Stars" in particular, that Adam Levine performs near the end of the movie on stage, is a gem and will likely be remembered at the Oscars next year (I also really like Keira's rendition of "Tell Me If You Wanna Go Home," performed on a rooftop in another great scene).

John Carney has a major talent for taking an old-fashioned story (two people meet, form a connection, bring each other happiness) and fashioning it into a crowd pleasing charmer of a film. In this one the characters are likable, the acting is great from all involved (even the bit parts from Keener to Steinfeld, and most surprisingly, Levine in his film debut) and the music works fabulously. That he can do this without making the audience feel awash in sentiment is genuinely impressive (I especially appreciated the refreshingly unromantic ending, which shows you how those can be happy ones too). This is no guilty pleasure, it's just a pleasure period, and that makes it a terrific companion piece to Once.

* * * 1/2

BOX OFFICE 7/11-7/13: 'Apes' Takes the Box Office With $73 Million

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes got off to a very strong start this weekend, pulling in $73 million, which was above expectations, and earning an "A-" Cinemascore to go along with the terrific reviews. It should do very well in the coming weeks, with no direct competition until Guardians of the Galaxy comes out on the 1st, but legs overall have been very hard to predict this summer, with no movie managing to get above $250 million total, despite several opening to over $90 million dollar weekends.

In second place, Transformers raked in $16 million for a new total of over $200 million, but this movie will easily be the lowest grossing Transformers movie in the series (domestically, of course), while 22 Jump Street climbed back into the top five, showing off the staying power it's had since it came out, and Tammy actually held pretty well despite its terrible Cinemascore rating last week, pulling in $12 million for a $57 million total. The Weinstein Co.'s Begin Again also made it into the top ten (#9) this week after a big expansion, pulling in $2.9 million from 939 screens.

Top 5:

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes- $73 million
Transformers: Age of Extinction- $16.5 million
Tammy- $12.9 million
22 Jump Street- $6.7 million
How to Train Your Dragon 2- $5.8 million

In limited release, Boyhood took in $353,000 from 5 screens, for an amazing $73k per theater average. The movie will continue to expand slowly, so be sure to look for it in your area as it makes its way across the country. Next week it's Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel's comedy Sex Tape, which will probably kick Tammy out of the top five as the new comedy in the marketplace, so stay tuned.

In Theaters This Weekend: 'Boyhood' and 'Apes' Wow the Critics

There are two excellent options at the movies this weekend, one a wide release blockbuster and one a specialty opening that, based on all accounts, is going to be sticking around for a very long time and probably headed to the Oscar stage next year, even at this early date. But Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the first showing, which got pretty great reviews this week, scoring a 91% Fresh rating and a 79 on Metacritic (which is actually pretty high for them, especially for a franchise release). The first movie, Rise of the Planet of the Apes in 2011, was no slouch, but most are saying this one is better, darker and sets the stage perfectly for the next entry in the series:

"It's a satisfying movie and an example- a dispiritingly rare one these days- of what mainstream Hollywood filmmaking can still achieve." (New York TImes)

"Dawn's vision of masses of intelligent apes swarming the screen as masters of all they survey is even more impressive than it was the last time around and reason enough to see the film all by itself." (Los Angeles Times)

"Within the fertile area between promise and execution, Dawn is dynamite entertainment, especially in the rousing first hour." (Rolling Stone)

If Dawn got great reviews all around though, it's nothing compared to the absolutely astonishing reception that Richard Linklater's Boyhood is getting in limited release. The movie was highly praised at Sundance, but that now turns out to be something of an understatement, as it still maintains a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes (with 95 reviews in no less) and an unbelievable 99 on Metacritic, which makes it, and I'm not kidding, one of the best reviewed movies of all time (comparable with only classics on those sites). The praise isn't just high- words like "masterpiece" and "American classic" are being thrown around, which means this movie is very likely headed for the Oscars, even though summer releases rarely do that well. But I can't imagine any other movie this year getting this kind of reaction. You're going to want to check this one out (if only just to see if the reviews are overrating it):

"There isn't anything else quite like 'Boyhood' in the history of cinema, although that wouldn't matter one-fifth as much if it weren't a moving and memorable viewing experience in the end." (Salon)

"'Boyhood' is an epic masterpiece that seems wholly unconcerned with trying to be one." (USA Today)

"I can think of few feature films in the history of the medium that have explored the power, and the melancholy, of film's intimate enmeshment with time in the way Richard Linklater's 'Boyhood' does." (Slate)

"Richard Linklater's coming-of-age tale is the best movie of the year, a four-star game-changer that earns its place in the cultural landscape." (Rolling Stone)

"There's a rough-edged, organic quality to 'Boyhood' that recalls the work of those European helmers Linklater so admires: Fassbinder, Bergman, Bresson." (Variety)

TEASER: "Exodus: Gods and Kings"

Gotta say, the first trailer for Exodus doesn't really make it look all that special. Seems like just your typical Ridley Scott, Kingdom of Heaven-esque bible epic to me. But I guess we'll find out when it's released on December 12th. For now though? Unimpressed.

TRAILER: "Unbroken"

The Christmas release Unbroken, from Angelina Jolie, finally has a full length trailer. Based on the book by Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand about the life of Olympic athlete and WWII hero Louis Zamperini (who just died a couple weeks ago), and starring Jack O'Connell in the lead role, but it looks like pretty standard Oscar bait to me. This trailer pushes hard on the oh-so-inspirational theme of the story, but I guess Seabiscuit did the same thing. I don't know- the buzz (sight unseen of course) is that this was supposed to be one of the big movies of the year, but I'm guessing it'll turn out similar to movies like War Horse and The Butler. Too middlebrow and corny to garner serious Oscar attention (aside from Roger Deakins' visuals, which look great as always). Even Wild looks less heavy-handed.

TRAILER + POSTER: "Wild"

The trailer for Wild, the next movie from Dallas Buyers Club director Jean-Marc Vallee, looks like it exists to be an acting showcase for Reese Witherspoon, kind of like Dallas was for McConaughey. With a release date of December 5th, that can only be a good thing because frankly, Reese hasn't been in a decent movie since Walk the Line nine years ago. This is based on the memoir by Cheryl Strayed, who hiked 1000 miles along the Pacific Coast after the breakup of her marriage and death of her mother. With a screenplay by Nick Hornby (author of High Fidelity and About a Boy), it has all the right ingredients to be a heavy awards player, so I'm guessing that she bags her second Oscar nomination for this.

Poster:

TEASER #2: "Mockingjay, Part I"

The second teaser for the Hunger Games sequel arrived today, again playing up the realness of the Panem universe. This one's called "Unity" and contains an appearance from Jeffery Wright. I can only presume that Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss will eventually show up in one of these teasers herself, right?

TRAILER: "The Zero Theorem"

Terry Gilliam is very much an acquired taste. The director of Brazil, The Fisher King, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and 12 Monkeys has a devoted cult fanbase, but he's so particular in his appeal that his latest film (which premiered at Venice almost a year ago) couldn't even secure a wide theatrical release and is instead coming out on VOD August 19th. I like him some of the time (my favorites are Fear and Loathing and 12 Monkeys, but I kind of hated The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus), and all I can say about this one is that it certainly looks like a Terry Gilliam movie. What do you think?