Film

Our First

2014

We’ll be accepting entries noW through February 28

once more into the breach, my friends. the reno news & review is hosting a poetry contest.

Only a single submission per person will be accepted, and entrants must live within 50 miles of the Reno News & Review’s office. While there will be panel of judges from both inside and outside the newspaper, we won’t be announcing who they are until publication of the winners to prevent lobbying. We’ll only accept emailed entries, and the poem must be in the body of the email; we’ll not be opening attachments. email to renopoetry@newsreview.com and put poetry 2014 in the subject line. all entries must be received by 5p.m. on February 28. Winners will be published on april 3. Include contact information, including name, address and telephone number in the body of the same email as the poem. Nom de plumes will not be accepted. The individual who strips the names from the submissions will not be a member of the judging team. Other than the guidelines for submission, there are only two rules: Poems must be less than 500 words long, and poems must be submitted in a publishable form (for example, no one-line, 499-word submissions). While we’ll be mindful of intentional line breaks and word placement, we reserve the right to change if needed, so stay away from unusual fonts or formatting. We will presume all spellings and punctuation are intentional, and we won’t copy-edit. While we’ve tried to think of every contingency, we’re sure someone will attempt to game the system, so we reserve the right to reject any submission at the editors’ discretion.

A good build

The Lego Movie

The Lego Movie stands as 2014’s biggest and most welcomed surprise thus far. Fast paced, frequently hilarious and visually fun, it’s the sort of movie we’ve come to expect from Pixar every time, one that appeals to both kids and adults on many levels. It’s also notable that it isn’t a Pixar film, but a product of the still formidable but inconsistent Warner Brothers animation wing. Sure, it’s a big commercial for Lego toys, but the Lego product placement is more of a sly wink than a hammer over the head. I’m more offended by a frequently placed Subway sandwich in an Adam Sandler movie than the constant presence of Legos in this one. Lego has developed its own universe over the years, especially with its video games, so I never felt like I was watching a commercial, even though it is a commercial, in a way, if that makes any sense. Here’s a movie that isn’t content to throw a joke here and there with hopes of intermittent laughter. Nope, Lego hurls jokes at you with breakneck speed to go with its super kinetic visuals. Sure, it stops to take a breath every now and then, but much of this movie is at light speed. The voice talent is a who’s who of subversive humor, including Will Ferrell, Chris Pratt, Will Forte, Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Jonah Hill and Charlie Day. It also has Morgan Freeman as a God-like character, one who is given some of the movie’s greatest lines. It’s co-written and directed by Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, the guys who did Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and the decidedly nonkid-friendly 21 Jump Street.

The plot follows Emmet (Pratt), a “generic” builder as he goes about his homogenized life, building structures under strict deadlines, listening to the same song (Tegan and Sara’s terrific “Everything is Awesome”) every minute of the day, and following the rules of the powerful President Business (Ferrell). President Business demands conformity in a by Bob Grimm decidedly socialistic way, but he keeps everybody at bay by promising Taco Tuesdays. bgrimm@ Things change instantly when Emmet newsreview.com meets Wyldstyle (Banks), who reveals to Emmet that he’s living in a pre-programmed 4 world, and there’s the possibility for real life beyond its walls (echoes of The Matrix and Terry Gilliam’s Brazil). Emmet joins forces with Wildstyle and her extremely cool boyfriend, Batman (Arnett), to take down the establishment and restore freewill. I confess to being totally blindsided by the ending, which warmed my heart in a way on a level with Pixar’s Up and Toy Story. Without giving anything away, it’s brilliant, ingenious, and wholly satisfying. It also manages to tie the whole movie together in a way that’s beautifully mindboggling. There are terrific cameos along the way, including members of the Star Wars universe, other heroes from the Justice League, Gandalf and more. Liam Neeson is killer funny as Bad Cop/Good Cop and even his father, Pa Cop, constantly breaking and kicking things. He’s this movie’s Darth Vader to Ferrell’s Emperor. The film relishes random humor. At one point, a cowboy in a saloon asks quite earnestly, “Are zeppelins a good investment?” I laughed out loud to an extent that was a little embarrassing. Arnett’s Batman is arguably a screen Batman on par with Christian Bale and Michael Keaton. Stick around for the credits, and Arnett’s Batman theme, “Untitled Self Portrait,” which repeatedly touches upon Batman’s dead parents and penchant for dark things. The Lego Movie is a bit exhausting at times, but at least the constant stream of activity is laced with super intelligence rather than bombastic, vapid visuals. It’s a cliché, but I’ll say it: “Fun for the whole family!” OK, sorry to be so cookie-cutter here, but it’s totally true. Ω

“He wanted to interlock with me!”

1

POOR

2

FAIR

3

GOOD

4

VERY GOOD 5

EXCELLENT

4American Hustle David O. Russell continues his impressive directorial roll with this semicomedic look at the notorious ’70s Abscam scandal. This is basically Russell shooting for Scorsese glory here, and while the style of the movie seems copied at times, there’s no denying the power of the ensemble cast. Bradley Cooper scores laughs as a pathetic FBI agent looking to make a name for himself, and Christian Bale looks great in a comb-over as the conman forced into an alliance with the law. Amy Adams gets one of the strangest roles of the year as a con artist pretending to be British, and she pulls it off quite nicely, while Jennifer Lawrence steals her every scene as a seemingly dim Long Island housewife. You also get stand up comic Louis C.K. as Cooper’s field boss. The film falls a little short of greatness due to its sometimes carbon copy feel, but the cast pulls it out of the fire. It also has the best use of Robert De Niro as a bad guy in many years.

3Frozen I have to admit I was more into the strange Mickey Mouse short that precedes this musical adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Snow Queen” than the actual feature. It features retro Mickey busting out of a black and white film and becoming 3-D as he battles a bad guy kidnapping Minnie. It’s worth the price of admission. As for the actual feature movie, Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel have wonderful voices, and the visuals are fun to behold in this middle-ofthe-road Disney fare. It has a lot of music— some of it quite good, some of it, well, not— and a beautiful look to it. For recent Disney animation, my vote goes to Tangled for best, but that’s not to say this one is a letdown. It’s OK. Just OK. It’s about on par with Pixar’s latest, Monster’s University. It’s fun to watch, but not altogether memorable.

1I, Frankenstein Aaron Eckhart, in a career move as fatal as the time Halle Berry said, “Sure, I’ll play Catwoman. What’s the worst that could happen?” plays Adam Frankenstein, a.k.a. Frankenstein’s Monster. Adam (I’m going to just call him Adam has led a lonely undead life for the hundreds of years since he was stitched together and brought to life by crazy science involving electric eels. He’s spent those years scowling a lot, and hitting demons with sticks like some sort of super ninja. His look has progressed from gothic longhaired badass to clean cut (but probably stinky) metrosexual, replete with a hoodie/ trench coat that is just to die for. Really, Adam’s coat is the best thing about the movie, and I confess to wanting one. The film takes place in modern day England, where some sort of demon prince (Bill Nighy … of course!) is looking to create an army of Frankenstein Monsters so that he may defeat some sort of gargoyle army that equates to the good guys in this movie. I’m not making this up … demons vs. gargoyles aided by a semi-reluctant Adam Frankenstein in a kickass jacket. That’s the plot. Stay away … dear God, at all costs, just stay away.

4Lone Survivor This is an explosive passion project from writer-director Peter Berg that takes an unrelentingly gruesome look at Operation Red Wings, the failed 2005 Afghanistan mission that claimed the lives of 19 American soldiers. Most of the movie centers on the four Navy SEALs dropped into hostile territory, and how an unfortunate civilian encounter and communications problems led to a massive gun battle of insurmountable odds. Mark Wahlberg plays Marcus Luttrell, the Navy SEAL who co-wrote the book this movie is based upon. Luttrell, along with Navy SEALs Michael Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch) and Matt Axelson (Ben Foster), were performing reconnaissance for a mission meant to capture or kill a notorious Taliban leader when a trio of goat herders stumbled upon their camp. The resultant ambush is filmed with many gory details, and will be a hard watch for some. The stuntmen who worked on this movie did an incredible job, and the cast is one of 2013’s strongest ensembles. This is a nice comeback for Berg after Battleship. 3 The Monuments Men Director George Clooney’s war epic about historians racing to save art from the Nazis looks and feels like it was just taken out of a time capsule buried in 1958. It’s quite breezy for a war movie, peppered with laughs provided by a strong cast including Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban and John Goodman as men trying to thwart Hitler’s plan for a giant museum. It has one of those whistleinfused soundtracks, and it doesn’t hurt that Clooney and Dujardin look like Errol Flynn and Gene Kelly. The movie moves briskly, and is perhaps a bit too weightless for a movie of such heavy subject matter. It also has a useless subplot involving Damon and Cate Blanchett that’s deserving of the cutting room floor. Still, Clooney has great command of the camera here, the ensemble (especially Murray and Goodman) shines, and it’s fun to watch. This is an interesting piece of World War II history, and it’s good that somebody has made a decent movie to cover this chapter of Hitler insanity.

3Nebraska I can’t deny the wonderful acting work from the likes of Bruce Dern, Will Forte, Bob Odenkirk and especially June Squibb. They are all wonderful in this movie. What I can bemoan is the stupid, stupid story propelling that acting. Dern plays an old codger who becomes convinced that he’s won a million dollars because of a magazine subscription letter saying he’s a winner. So he starts walking from Montana to Nebraska, and his son (Forte) eventually helps him on his quest with an automobile. It’s a dumb idea to start, and the premise is too improbable for a serious comedy movie. Still, it does lay the groundwork for some decent father-son dynamic between Dern and Forte, and Odenkirk shows up as another son and knocks his part out of the park. Of the six Oscar nominations this film earned, I would call Squibb the most deserving for her work as Dern’s droll wife. The black and white cinematography is also quite nice. As for Best Screenplay, Best Picture and Best Actor, I wouldn’t go there. The movie is good in a peculiar way, but far from great. The premise annoyed me a bit the whole time I watched it.

1That Awkward Moment This romantic comedy starring Zac Efron, Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan has a promising start. It actually plays like a cool throwback to the romantic/sex comedies of the ’80s for its opening, until somewhere around the mid point of the movie. Then it takes a drastic downward turn towards comedic Hades and becomes a total garbage party. This ensemble of decent-to-great actors play Jason, Daniel and Mikey (Efron, Teller and Jordan respectively) as some New York Citydwelling 20-somethings dealing with modern day romance in a time of Facebook, texting and infidelity. When Mikey finds out his wife is cheating and he’s heading for divorce, the other two join him in a pact to avoid relationships and stay single. It’s dating and debauchery for the three, with no commitments allowed. Is there a distinct moment where this film goes tragically bad? I’m not exactly sure, but I’d wager a guess it would be the moment when Efron shows up dressed as “Rock Out with Your Cock Out!” for a cocktail party. This is a moment so jarringly stupid, so unrelentingly inane, that think the actors got whiplash from the violent tonal shift. To bad, because the actors have a hint of comic chemistry, and Imogen Poots is sweet as Efron’s love interest. The fatal flaw of this movie is that rather than sticking to a plan and being a true film about the perils of dating and relationships, it wants to be the new American Pie. Striving to be something that already sucked and falling short means you suck more.

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