31: The Rock's 'San Andreas' Crushes the Competition

The old school disaster flick San Andreas pretty much destroyed the box office this weekend, coming in well above expectations with $53 million, making it Dwayne Johnson's biggest solo opening ever. Meanwhile the other opener this weekend, Cameron Crowe's Aloha, didn't even make the top five, earning just $10 million to go along with the absolutely scathing reviews it received from critics. It's been a long downhill ride for Crowe over the last 15 years- after the four great films he started out with (Say Anything, Singles, Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous), it's been nothing but disappointment ever since. Which is too bad, because Say Anything and Almost Famous in particular are two of my favorite movies, and it's sad to think some directors just flatline after showing so much promise.

Last week's opener Tomorrowland fell a harsh 60% from its so-so opening weekend, pulling in just $13 million for the three days, coming behind Pitch Perfect 2, so that will turn out to be a bust, while Mad Max: Fury Road and Avengers rounded out the top five, bringing their own respective domestic totals to over $100 million and $427 million. But San Andreas is the champ for the week, as The Rock continues to show himself a reliable box office draw after his other success with Furious 7 in April.

Top 5:

San Andreas- $53 million
Pitch Perfect 2- $14.3 million
Tomorrowland- $13.8 million
Mad Max: Fury Road- $13.6 million
Avengers: Age of Ultron- $11 million

Some limited release successes continue to be Far From the Madding Crowd (now over $8 million) and Ex Machina (at $23 million), while next week Melissa McCarthy's well received Spy is set to hit theaters and will no doubt be another hit for the comedy star. Also coming out in limited is the Brian Wilson biopic Love & Mercy.

Keanu Reeves Stars in Horror Movie 'Knock Knock'

For those who want to be reminded of the unintentional amusements of Keanu Reeves' bad acting, here's what looks like the campiest horror flick of all time. Two young girls seduce and then terrorize Reeves' innocent victim- yup, sounds like an Eli Roth joint. This will probably be terrible, but it looks almost laughably so.

Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart Star in 'American Ultra'

Apparently the key to my wanting to check out a movie that has Kristen Stewart in it is to pair her with Jesse Eisenberg. It's an Adventureland reunion (I could almost see this as a spiritual sequel), and it looks pretty wacky, but in a Pineapple Express kind of way. Perfect casting of course for Eisenberg, who obviously fits this role like a glove. It's coming out August 15th.

REVIEW: "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015) Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans. Dir. Joss Whedon

It's hard to know what to say about a movie like Avengers: Age of Ultron. At this point, Marvel Studios has perfected a formula for the kind of movie that will give anyone who has any desire to see this exactly what they're looking for and what they think they want. Nothing more, nothing less, and they'll probably leave the theater thinking they got the appropriate amount of bang for their buck, with a couple of humorous moments along the way- but the best of these kinds of action movies usually end up giving you something you didn't even know you wanted.

Which is not to say that this is a bad film. It's not- it's put together well, action scenes kick in at the right moments, the actors all showed up in the right costumes and are on hand to deliver their designated wisecracks at the allotted time, but there's nothing especially memorable at hand here, nothing that feels of a creative vision or specific point of view. This is fine for people who just want to see their heroes on screen, but I require a little something extra for my own personal satisfaction. This is exactly on par with the first Avengers, so much so that it could well be the same movie. There are some new characters (too many), some new villains, a new battle to save the world, and a romance sprung from nothing which also adds nothing, and yet it flies by in a mostly entertaining fashion, and is seamless enough that it can't really be called a misfire in any way. It's a pile of big studio product professionally molded within an inch of its life, so much so that it can't fail as basic entertainment, but it also can't really inspire as anything artful either.

The story this time around is of course a new supervillain for the Avengers to face, this one intent on world domination like all the rest of them, but played by James Spader in a motion capture performance that makes use of his signature fantastically slimy voice. He's Ultron, the ultimate artificial intelligence robot, a creation sprung from the mind of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) who wants to use him as a force for good, with the idea of a world peacekeeping mission in mind. But things get out of hand and Ultron quickly turns evil- I'm not sure exactly how that happened, except that all robots in movies must eventually become smarter than their inventors and desire to take control- this one wastes no time in getting to that point (it takes about ten seconds actually). So after an opening sequence that sets the Avengers on some kind of avenging mission that makes them look like video game characters bouncing around a forest, they celebrate their victory at an after party where various heroes mingle and wisecrack and flirt (this is where we find out that Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow apparently has a thing for Mark Ruffalo's Hulk- not sure why or when that started, but it's bound to never be important or brought up again, so don't bother to invest in it too hard). Scenes like this are always the best part of these ensemble movies, simply because watching the guys hang out is kind of a basic pleasure we don't get enough of, due to the constant barrage of action slated to occur after no less than 12 minutes of lagtime has passed (chalk that up to studio notes I'm sure- me, I'd prefer an entire movie of the Avengers hanging out and partying).

Ultron crashes the festivities soon enough though and goes about his quest to take over the world, bringing in a couple of new guys, Russian twins Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch to assist him in his dastardly deeds. The twins (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen) aren't inherently uninteresting, but the movie is so crowded with characters that their backstory is glossed over, and just as soon as they're set to bring down the Avengers, they've suddenly changed their minds and are teaming up with them instead. No sooner does that happen than the movie introduces yet another hero, the Vision, who's the enhanced version of Paul Bettany's Jarvis, and by that point the movie becomes overstuffed with the sheer amount of costumed heroes on the screen and it's overwhelming to keep up with all of them. Yet Joss Whedon does what he can, deftly balancing sequences that veer from chit-chat to action and back again, handling it all in as swift a manner as possible without ever getting too bogged down in the weeds with technical jargon or know how. The movie tosses out plenty of Easter eggs to comics fans about events coming in future films (at one point Thor simply disappears to go off and find the "infinity stones," which won't be in play until at least the next Avengers movie), but ultimately everything happens exactly how you're expecting it to- heroes save the world, bad guy is defeated, the gang splits up and we're on to the next thing. It's spectacle that many people love, and that I myself kind of passively enjoyed- I just can't bother to care very much.

On television, this genre has the enormous benefit of being able to provide action with genuine character development and relationship building that you can become invested in over time. The movies have to play to the effects and the spectacle above all else, but with comic lover Joss Whedon there to maintain just enough downtime and the absolute bare minimum of character interaction for it to qualify as a movie and not an amusement park ride. We'll see what happens when he's no longer at the helm of the franchise. As of now, Age of Ultron is what it is- a tolerable entry in the assembly line of Marvel Studios products, but not a whole lot more than that.

* * 1/2

Two Trailers for Studio Ghibli's Final Film 'When Marnie Was There'

A movie playing in limited release right now that's likely to show up in the animated film Oscar race next year is When Marnie Was There, the supposed last film from Studio Ghibli, which got The Tale of the Princess Kaguya in last year. I've got two trailers for it here- the Japanese one with english subtitles and the U.S. release (the dubbed version with celebrity voices). I'm anti-dubbing with almost no exceptions- but I suppose the case for it could be made for a movie aimed at kids who obviously can't read fast enough (or not at all). I'm not so sure this particular film is actually aimed at kids though, at least not very young ones.

U.S. Trailer:

Japanese trailer:

Jason Segel Stars as David Foster Wallace in 'The End of the Tour'

Yet another Sundance hit has a trailer out now, and this is a different kind of role for Apatow regular and funnyman Jason Segel, here going for a definite dramatic performance as the famous writer Wallace. It looks like character study more than anything else, with Jesse Eisenberg as the journalist interviewing him, but it got very good notices at the festival in January, with some even wondering if Segel could wind up in the Oscar conversation (my guess is no, since this is an indie coming out in the summer- it'd have to be a huge hit to stick around 'til the end of the year). Might be worth looking out for though.

New Look at 'Me and Earl and the Dying Girl'

I thought the first trailer for this movie made it look really sappy, but I have to admit this new one sells it as being a little more appealing (at least to me, since I'm not the target audience for weepy teen melodramas). I can at least maybe see the Sundance appeal it apparently had from this new glance at it. Maybe it could be an indie success when it comes out next month, since Paper Towns has the teen crowd taken care of in July.

'Point Break' Remake Coming in December

So apparently somebody remade Point Break while no one was looking. Edgar Ramirez takes over the Patrick Swayze role in this new version, which looks a little more intense than Kathryn Bigelow's cult Keanu Reeves classic. I don't know- I normally hate remakes (especially of movies that are less than 30 years old), but I guess this probably doesn't look too bad for what it is. What do you guys think?

Trailer for Sundance Hit 'Diary of a Teenage Girl'

This movie got rave reviews from Sundance, along with a quite a few raised eyebrows over its sexually explicit subject matter involving a teenage girl. But it looks to have handled the content quite sensitively, and my guess is that any controversy simply sprung from the fact that you rarely see this kind of material shown from the direct point of view of a young girl (I mean seriously, how many movies are there about boys obsessed with sex and nobody bats an eye?). It's coming out in the fall.

Movie of the Day: "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957)

In honor of Memorial Day, I direct you over to the May movie page, where we celebrated with war movies all month long, but for the day itself, I'm singling out another great one that I haven't mentioned yet- and that's David Lean's 1957 Best Picture winner The Bridge on the River Kwai. This is the slow burn story of British prisoners at a Japanese prison camp during WWII, and specifically the character study of Alec Guinness's Lt. Colonel and the Japanese commander Saito (Sessue Hayakawa). Great acting by the two leads carries the film, and William Holden also stars as an escaped American POW, but the bulk of the film centers on Guinness's seemingly inexplicable dedication to finishing the bridge he and his officers are instructed to build. It's hard to believe this is the kind of movie that could once rule both the box office and the awards season (I can't imagine audiences sitting still for this thing today), but it's one of the great war movies of all time, and Oscar winner Guinness really earned the accolades for his iconic Colonel Nicholson.

Original 1957 Trailer:

Documentary 'Amy' Gets Great Reviews from Cannes

This year's Cannes film festival turned out to be a pretty big snoozefest, by many accounts one of the weakest in years, but the new Amy Winehouse documentary Amy was screened and received very positively by critics, even reported to be one of the highlights of the festival. Said to be both heartbreaking and haunting, which of course the music always helps with, Amy comes out in wide release in July.

John Cusack and Paul Dano Take on Brian Wilson in 'Love and Mercy'

This new full trailer for the Brian Wilson biopic shows off both Paul Dano and John Cusack as pre and post-breakdown versions of the musical genius, but that kind of stunt is almost always distracting, not least of all because they don't resemble each other, and that makes it hard to believe either of them are playing the person in question. Still, this movie got some pretty ecstatic reviews from early film festivals, so I'll be checking it out when it comes out in June. Although I have a theory that any trailer that kicks off with the opening notes of "Good Vibrations" automatically makes you want to see it, no matter what's actually happening on the screen.