Around the World in Posters: Jurassic World, The Walk, Dil Dhadakne Do

It's been quite a while since we've gone around the world with posters, but with all the summer films gearing up for release, I found some posters that have caught my fancy. Let's have a look.

Jurassic World wants to scare the crap out of us with these enormous, and I mean, enormous dinosaurs inhabiting the park in the latest sequel.  

 This view from The Walk featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt takes us over the edge.

Channing Tatum is back to the grind in this poster from Magic Mike XXL.

Melissa McCarthy channels Goldfinger in this new Spy poster.

The Bella Bardens get up close and personal in the Russian poster for Pitch Perfect 2.

The Japanese poster of Tomorrowland shows the past and present coming together in the futuristic city.

And finally, on the heels of its first trailer, Dil Dhadakne Do revealed two new posters featuring the ensemble cast.

New Trailers: Tomorrowland, Foxcatcher and Focus!

Shortly after the first images were released from Disney's Tomorrowland (2015), the first teaser was unveiled too. Starring Britt Robertson as Casey as young girl who stumbles across a secret world (aka Tomorrowland) by possessing a very special pin. This first teaser shows us how Casey comes about that pin. Also making an appearance in the trailer is George Clooney as former boy-genius Frank Walker who promises "a secret place, where nothing is impossible. A miraculous place where you could actually change the world." I'm ready to go, Frank! Tomorrowland releases worldwide on May 22, 2015.

  

Director Bennett Miller's (Capote, Moneyball) next is based on the true story of millionaire Jon du Pont (played by an unrecognisable Steve Carell) and his involvement with the Schulz brothers, Mark (Channing Tatum) and Dave (Mark Ruffalo).  This longer trailer shows how du Pont's sponsorship of Mark for national and international competitions complicates relationships between them all.  And spoiler alert, things do not end well!! Miller has already won the Best Director award at Cannes this year and big things are expected from Foxcatcher this awards season.  Foxcatcher releases November 14, 2014.

There was a time when Will Smith dominated the box-office with his films. But since taking a four-year hiatus from films and coming back with less than stellar cinema (Men in Black 3, After Earth), Smith needs to bring back some of his old mojo. Focus, a romantic thriller, pairs him with Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street) as two con artists who were once romantically involved. Three years later, they meet again in Buenos Aires and throw a wrench in each other's con games. Directed by Glenn Ficarra & John Recqua (Crazy, Stupid, Love.), Focus releases next year on February 27, 2015. I've missed a good Will Smith movie and this one hopefully shows Smith back in form. Unfortunately, the release date (right after the Oscars) is maybe not the best opening for the film. Fingers crossed!

Movie Review: Side Effects

Side Effects is dark, twisty and completely mesmerizing.  There's never a dull moment in it.  Director Steven Soderbergh's last few films have been quite in form and it's hard to accept the fact that this film might very well be his last big screen movie.  He hasn't ruled out television (see Behind the Candelabra) so we still have hope.

As the film opens, we get closer and closer to a nondescript building as we enter the apartment of a young couple, Emily (Rooney Mara) and Martin (Channing Tatum), to immerse ourselves into their troubled lives.  We get information about their lives through them and well-meaning outsiders who just want the best for them.  Martin is recently released from prison for insider trading and trying to get his life together again.  His wife, we're told and shown, is depressed.

After a failed suicide attempt, Emily is advised by the hospital psychiatrist Dr. Banks (Jude Law) to come in for therapy and on some medication.  Still she remains melancholy and in a decision that comes back to haunt major characters later, gets prescribed to a new and powerful drug Ablixa.  And then Emily while sleepwalking, a side effect of the drug, kills Martin and goes back to sleep.

Here's where the story picks up as the case heads to trial and Dr. Banks gets his life thrown upside down and later does his best to regroup and get back together again.  Those closeup and random throwaway shots that we get a glimpse of early in the film gain greater meaning as more and more information is revealed. An early shot of Emily glancing at her distorted reflection in the mirror by the bar says so much on so many levels.

Soderbergh does well to reveal each piece of the puzzle to us.  The only time I felt he faltered was at the obligatory flashback at the end of the film.  He handles the actors deftly and draws a fascinating performance out of Rooney Mara. She never picks uninteresting roles.  But eventually Jude Law, as the bewildered doctor, Channing Tatum, as the clueless husband and Catherine Zeta-Jones are the former psychiatrist are basically in supporting players to Mara's Emily.

This film has many Hitchcockian elements, a man wrongly accused, a scary sequence with a knife and several moments where the characters withhold information again and again which might frustrate some.  But this is a good thing, trust me, it makes it far interesting for us, the audience.  It also works well as a dark commentary of the dangers of anti-depressants and the reliance on medication that we as a society now have.

Side Effects didn't do well in its theatrical run but I have a feeling it will do better in this word of mouth format as it makes the DVD rounds.  Do it give a chance, you'll definitely be rewarded with a layered, thrilling drama.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh; Screenplay by Scott Z. Burns, Cinematography by Peter Andrews (Steven Soderbergh); Editing by Mary Ann Bernard; Music by Thomas Newman

Additional cast: Vinessa Shaw, Ann Dowd

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Movie Review: 21 Jump Street

The best thing about 21 Jump Street is that is unlike other sequels and reboots, it doesn't take itself too seriously and is far away from being a clone of the TV series it is supposed to be based on.   In fact, as Deputy Chief Hardy (Nick Offerman) says early in the film, "We're reviving a canceled undercover project from the '80s and revamping it for modern times.  The people behind this lack creativity and they've run out of ideas, so what they do now is just recycle shit from the past and hope that nobody will notice".  That's stating the obvious.  The only thing that stays the same is the idea of police officers going to high school.

This film is surprisingly funny.  I had serious doubts about it initially but the film goes in with no expectations and doesn't stick to stereotypes and just makes fun of every character; it seems to do the trick.  Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) are two guys who were never friends in high school as they were polar opposites.  This leads them to become friends while they train to become cops.  One has the smarts and one has the brawn and they help each other out.  Eventually, after they graduate out the police academy, they are assigned to park duty on bikes.  It's not as glamorous as they expected.  'Where are the car chases and explosions?', moans Jenko.

Even when they do get their first arrest, they let the most of the culprits get away and forget to read the one they've caught his Miranda rights.  Out goes the case.  Schmidt and Jenko are sentenced to 21 Jump Street (which happens to be a Korean church), headquarters for the undercover school unit.  They have to join high school to find out who has been dealing drugs that left a young kid (Johnny Simmons) dead.  Their undercover assignment pairs them as brothers Doug and Brad who infiltrate the cool kids and the nerds to find out who's making and dealing the drugs on school grounds and get the supplier.

As they mess up everything else in their careers, they forget their identities and Schmidt becomes part of the popular kids who do drama and care about the environment.  Jenko becomes a science nerd and has AP Chemistry which he pronounces as "App Chemistry".  They both begin to experience a high school experience much different from the first time around.  I liked that many characters pointed out how they looked too old to be in high school, especially Jenko by referring to him as a 40 year old.

Of course, with the partying and extra-curricular activities that become a part of their lives, they have to pay attention to the reason why they are in high school in the first place: to find the suppliers of the drugs.  And it all goes down at the prom.  Where else?  Schmidt and Jenko finally get that car chases and explosions that they were waiting all throughout the film for.

21 Jump Street was a pleasant surprise and trust me, I didn't think I would like a Channing Tatum film this much.  He seems to be picking his roles more carefully now and comedy seems a good fit for him.  His character in the film is so taken aback when he realizes the social hierarchy in high school has changed and now the popular and cool kids are the ones he used to pick on and even blames Glee for changing perceptions.   His friendship with the science geeks was unexpected.  He shows actual growth from a dimwit to a cop who knows what he's doing.

 Jonah Hill, who literally dropped the weight of a whole another person before the film, is his usual funny persona that we've seen in previous films before.  But he's still adorably awkward in the action scenes which completely works for him.  Both Tatum and Hill were executive producers on the film.  The movie even includes cameos from a few of the original 21 Jump Street gang in Peter DeLuise, Holly Robinson Peete and Johnny Depp.  Yes, Johnny Depp!  His cameo is hilarious and unpredictable.  So, if you're looking for a foul-mouthed comedy that will make you laugh, look no further than 21 Jump Street.

Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Screenplay by Michael Bacall, Based on the TV series, '21 Jump Street' by Patrick Hasburgh and Stephen J. Cannell, Cinematography by Barry Peterson, Edited by Joel Negron, Music by Mark Mothersbaugh.

Additional cast: Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, DeRay Davis, Ice Cube, Chris Parnell, Ellie Kemper, Jake M. Johnson, Dakota Johnson.

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Movie Review: Haywire

Haywire is one of those movies that went by so fast when it was all over, it still felt like unfinished business.  I still wanted to hang out with Mallory Kane and see what else she gets up too.

Mallory Kane (Gina Carano), bruised and banged up, arrives at a diner and barely has time to sip her coffee when she realizes trouble comes knocking.  Her associate Aaron (Channing Tatum), who looks annoyed and barely awake, has come to take her with him to meet the boss.  Apparently things didn't turn out well at the last assignment.

What assignment you say?  Wait, Mallory will explain it all in a convenient flashback as she fights Aaron, breaks his arm, takes a young hostage Scott (Michael Angarano) and goes on the lam.  Driving the car belonging to Scott, she tells him the backstory on how she got there.  She aids the American government as a private contractor for covert operations.  There was a mission in Barcelona where she thought she was rescuing a Chinese dissident being held hostage.  And then Kenneth (Ewan McGregor), who she works for, sends her to Dublin for yet another "assignment".

Except it's a trap.  She's there to meet Paul (Michael Fassbender), a MI6 agent, and complete the mission together.  But Paul's really there to eliminate her as part of the master plan.  This movie has some ferocious fights which are actually performed by Carano herself as she's also been a professional mixed martial arts fighter.  Back in Dublin, Mallory figures out what's going on and decides to play them at their own game.

She comes back to the US and draws them out one by one once she gains her allies, Coblenz (Michael Douglas) a government agent working with Kenneth who suspects something shady is afoot and her supportive father (Bill Paxton) and works to complete her revenge and clear her name.  The film is entertaining and fast with quick twists and turns.  You won't be bored.  Actually, my main quibble with it was it too short, I would liked to some more of Mallory kicking butt and enacting revenge.  But I think Soderbergh was wise to cut it off where he did and leave us wanting more.

Haywire is all Carano, a fine showcase to her fighting abilities and is aided by an impressive cast of McGregor, Douglas, Fassbender, Antonio Banderas and they all put in a strong supporting performances.   If you're tuning in to the men of Haywire, I'm sorry to tell you that they all have limited screen time.  But the film works because it's Mallory's story and she doesn't panic and go frantic when framed and accused.  But instead devises a systematic plan of action to figure out who is behind this.  Fun stuff!  While Carano is ace in the fighting department, she does say all her lines in the same tone.  But ignore that and enjoy the action.


Directed, Edited and Filmed by Steven Soderbergh, Screenplay by Lem Dobbs, Music by David Holmes

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