In light of the commercial failure of Knight and Day, some analysis is needed. The movie, which cost some $125 million to produce, has thus far failed to recoup even half that amount at the box office. The question: did it deserve to flop?

The film’s plot, formulaic as it is, pushes the right buttons for a summer action movie. Cruise plays Roy Miller, a rogue secret agent with apparently noble ideals. Cameron Diaz is June Havens, a civilian who’s swept up into Miller’s world by chance. The formula is so well worn that a movie released just a few weeks prior to Knight and Day – the Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl bomb Killers – used it as well.

As is the case with such movies, Knight and Day leaves its identity in the hands of its stars. The leads, Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, are two Hollywood veterans who could once be counted on to rake in the ticket sales. Their performances are predictably solid, and their time on-screen together almost sells the idea that a super spy could fall for a girl next door type after meeting her in an airport.

Audiences long ago learned the appropriate amount of suspended disbelief necessary to accept the diminutive Tom Cruise as an action hero. He’s not doing anything here that’s more difficult to swallow than, say, any of the Mission: Impossible movies. Cameron Diaz, on the other hand, is out of her element in a way the film’s writers didn’t intend. No doubt, she’s perfectly cast as a fairly sheltered middle class woman who is unaccustomed to flying bullets and international espionage.

But the film expects us to believe she owns an auto garage and is completely restoring her father’s dilapidated 1966 Pontiac GTO to give as a wedding present to her sister. It isn’t that a woman as slight as Diaz couldn’t believably get her hands dirty tinkering with muscle cars. The problem is she doesn’t sell the idea, a problem that may well lie more with the script than Diaz. Whenever she talks about the car, it’s as if she has only a passing knowledge of auto restoration. It’s unfortunate, because it turns out that Diaz’s supposed profession plays a sizable role in the movie’s plot.

Other than these minor holes in the plot, Knight and Day makes a perfectly sturdy summer popcorn flick. It’s funny at times, particularly the interactions between Cruise and Diaz, and there’s no shortage of gunfire and explosions. Why, then, did no one really care when it was released?

The most likely culprit: star power, or lack thereof. The leads certainly haven’t lost their acting edge, but this is the age of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. In comparison, Cruise and Diaz are most likely in the twilight of their years of drawing the 18-35 demographic based on name recognition alone. Pair that with an essentially nameless summer paint-by-numbers flick and it’s a recipe for a big disappointment.

The bottom line: expect plenty of light entertainment from Knight and Day. Expect a similarly plentiful number of empty seats in the theater.

5 out of 10 Click to read full post

HBO – a time-honored vessel for innovation and truth in the modern-day television medium – treated Louis C.K. like trash. While comedies like "Bored to Death" and "Flight of the Conchords" were fresh but low-rent shows that shot on location, “Lucky Louie” had the production value of a cardboard box.

The network gave a multi-camera sitcom with a laugh track to one of the most subversive, brilliant stand-up comedians, and canned it after one season despite a gradual surge in viewership. He has yet to succeed in film or television for the reason that he never had the freedom to mouth off in the vein of his specials, “Shamed” and “Chewed Up.”

Thankfully, Louis C.K. is back on TV in “Louie.” From the looks of it, FX lent him some freedom. He writes, directs, stars, produced and edits the show, which follows Louis as middle-aged divorcee with two young daughters and fading ginger locks.

What ensues is a claustrophobic, caustic series of vignettes that are largely very funny. Some segments daringly venture into darkness through conversation, such as when Louie and his poker buddies interrogate a gay friend (Rick Crom), or fly off the handle with imaginary conclusions. Those fictionalized bits smugly suggests you’re in Louie’s head – his sad life, his twisted dreams, his perverse curiosity – and therefore at his disposal. He can lie to you, take you on detours and break the fourth wall to tell off Marshall McCluhan if he so chooses. Boy, if life were only like this!

More a sketch show than a sitcom, “Louie” features the comic’s stand-up act and leads into a semi-related skit. It’s sharply photographed but still gritty, especially the intimate club scenes privy to essentially to him, the viewer and the brick wall. In the opening credits sequence set to “Brother Louie,” the title character emerges from the Washington Square subway to the evening Manhattan streets, all the while detached from humanity and somewhat pissed off. He eats a slice of pizza, then heads to the Comedy Cellar – the shots playing like a more downtrodden version of Saturday Night Live opening.

In the first two episodes, Louie finds himself on a bus full of kids who are lost in Harlem and Facebook stalking an old classmate with whom he once shared a ‘moment.’ Meanwhile, an old woman flashes him in the hallway of an apartment hallway, and he explains his approval of bestiality. In the aforementioned poker sketch, fascinating truths come out of comedians arguing about elements of their respective acts that are considered taboo.

“Louie” perpetuates a ‘No hugging, no learning’ Larry David-style doctrine of self-loathing while avoiding the structural requirements of a series-long narrative. The format of a comedian using stand-up to lead into scripted scenes dates back to before “Seinfeld,” but the edgy Louis C.K.’s manner is modern, cruel and thoroughly hilarious. This is a huge leap for the comedian and, God help us, director of “Pootie Tang.”

Bottom line: By taking the lion’s share of executive creative control, Louis C.K. has finally found a highly promising vehicle. “Louie” deconstructs the TV comedy form and tailors it to his peculiarity. It replicates the animosity the world feels toward David on “Curb” and takes it even further thanks to a fearless asshole like Louis C.K.

"Pilot" and "Poker/Divorce" = 8.5 out of 10

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"Iron Man 2" is a vibrant but forgettable spectacle, a sharp light that momentarily blurs your vision and then fades into anonymity.

With superhero movies coming out every month for the past few years, the excitement is lesser, but the stakes are consistently higher. Either skewer the genre ("Kick-Ass") or make the best entry yet ("The Dark Knight"). “Iron Man 2” does not try to be the best; it tries to be the fastest.

At the onset, billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) has revealed his identity as Iron Man to the public and rejects the U.S. government’s commands to hand over his inventions.

Stark is slowly being poisoned by the palladium in his arc reactor, he acts irrationally and promotes his secretary Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) to CEO in what is already a severely understaffed corporation.

Stark admitting that he’s Iron Man causes such a media circus that, in the world of the movie’s first half, his life is practically broadcast on TV. From a live session with the Senate on C-SPAN to the car racetrack on a sports network

Director Jon Favreau - a chummier Brett Ratner - goes ahead with the ‘bigger is better’ philosophy in almost every way. He even gives himself a bigger cameo role in the sequel. He’s not just delivering Burger King happy meals this time.

“Swingers” fans, note the inclusion of “Picking up the Pieces” in one of the expo scenes.

More so than the first film, the sequel cobbles together the pedigree of several big-name actors: Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell (who might have the biggest part as a Queens-based weapons manufacturer Justin Hammer), Mickey Rourke, Samuel L. Jackson, Garry Shandling, not to mention, it’s penned by actor Justin Theroux. The machine appears not just to be onscreen but in backstage Hollywood.

In a film with this many major characters (and this many egomaniacs), backstory must be concise but essential. Russian physicist/ex-con Ivan Vanko, played by Rourke, may boast impressive credentials and a genius father, but from what the viewer sees, he’s no more than a criminal with a limited vocabulary and a distinct likeness to Randy "The Ram" Robinson.

The second act, while still propulsive, is wasteful. Stark acts like a belligerent drunk and sulks over daddy issues. Like the protagonist, the movie is running on a battery and has to re-up midway so as to deliver through to the end.

The party scene would have been entirely superfluous even if it didn’t give Col. James Rhodes a reason to sell the suit, feature Daft Punk’s “Robot Rock” and an allusion to Gallagher’s watermelon shtick.

The Avengers, the film series’ add-on subplot, has gone nowhere after two movies. Jackson as Nick Fury shows up post-credits in the first film to appease comic book nuts, yet in the sequel, he awkwardly appears in two scenes with Stark, which play like some out-of-context job interview. But Fury’s not a recruiter; he’s a cocky intruder in a boxed-in script.

The pacing on the whole still makes the film nonstop fun despite the aggressive commercialism and the lackluster snark that has since eroded from its peak form in the original. This speeding-bullet actioner doesn’t quite warrant a follow-up third film in spite of the thin Avengers hook. Yet considering the velocity of the visuals chewing up frame after frame of “Iron Man 2,” signs say no. 3 will be here soon enough.

6 out of 10


Frame of reference:
Iron Man 7/10
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 8/10
Sherlock Holmes 5/10
Superman 9/10
Watchmen 6/10
Swingers 8/10

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IF EACH ‘LOST’ CHARACTER WERE A GENRE
Sawyer – Western
Kate – feminist crime drama
Hurley – stoner comedy
Sayid – post-9/11 action drama
Juliet – romance that ends in tears
Sun and Jin – historical nonfiction
Desmond – existential noir involving time travel
Daniel Faraday – meta-science fiction
Jack – part-medical, part-domestic drama
John Locke – science fantasy
Ben – psychological thriller
Charlie – alternative music journalism (nonfiction)
Miles – black comedy
The Man in Black – horror
Jacob – propaganda
Claire – Australian docudrama
Mr. Eko – faith-based drama
Walt – Disney fantasy Click to read full post

Edge of Darkness is Mel Gibson’s first appearance in a leading role since 2002, and he uses it to remind audiences that he’s far from finished as an actor. The film itself doesn’t quite live up to that standard.

Edge of Darkness was originally a six-hour BBC mini-series that aired in 1985. The longer television format may have benefited the story in a few cases, particularly the character development of Emma Craven (Bojana Novakovic). The audience is barely introduced to Emma before she’s dead in Craven’s arms, which makes it more difficult to share in his desire to find her killer. That’s where Gibson’s performance takes over.



Though his recent media-baiting personal problems have obscured the fact, Gibson remains a powerful actor. His turn as the unfortunately named Tom Craven may not be the most original or challenging role – a police officer driven to work outside the law in order to avenge his daughter – but the pain he emotes, coupled with several “hallucination” scenes with a younger version of Emma, helps flesh out the relationship he had with his daughter that wasn’t initially apparent. Elsewhere, Danny Huston plays corporate fat cat Jack Bennett with skin-crawling efficiency.


The plot is intriguing enough to keep audiences engaged, and the initial questions are answered in a reasonably satisfying manner. There are, however, some murky points, the lingering one being Jedburgh’s (Ray Winstone) motives for sympathizing with Craven.

Though action movies fans will be happy to see Gibson’s several scenes of gunplay, the movie focuses more on conspiracy and less on violence. The story seems to take on an anti-government theme, and the fear over nuclear research that fueled the British mini-series has diminished over the time between the Cold War-era airing of the original and the present. The official types working against Craven tend toward the one-dimensional, demonstrating shady evil-for-the-sake-of-being-evil personalities that are all too familiar in conspiracy films.

Meanwhile, it takes a suspension of disbelief to follow Craven’s relatively linear search for the murderer, considering characters’ constant assertions that the perpetrators of such crimes are rarely captured. It doesn’t wrap up as neatly and happily as it could have, but the ending is pure Hollywood. For comparison, consider that the original series’ writer, Troy Kennedy Martin, wanted Craven to transform into a tree at the conclusion of the story.

As a conspiracy thriller, Edge of Darkness is above average, thanks to Gibson’s strong portrayal of Craven. The movie itself doesn’t quite live up to the legacy of its televised inspiration, but it’s a worthy diversion nonetheless.

[Apollo's] Hipness rating: 5 out of 10
[Apollo's] Actual rating: 6 out of 10

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Music

Top 10
1. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
The incomparable Neko Case returned in 2009 with the strongest album of her solo career. Her haunting voice is on display here, and her unconventional songwriting shines.

2. Doves – Kingdom of Rust
3. The Mountain Goats – The Life of the World to Come
4. The King Khan & BBQ Show – Invisible Girl
5. Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band – Outer South
6. Manic Street Preachers – Journal for Plague Lovers
7. Black Moth Super Rainbow – Eating Us
8. Collective Soul – Rabbit
9. Muse – The Resistance
10. Bruce Springsteen – Working on a Dream

Honorable Mentions
Chris Isaak – Mr. Lucky
Elvis Costello – Secret, Profane and Sugar Cane
Booker T. Jones – Potato Hole
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures

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FILM

CREAM O’ ‘09
01 A Serious Man
02 Up in the Air
03 Inglourious Basterds
04 Adventureland
05 The Hurt Locker
06 Sugar
07 500 Days of Summer
08 Funny People
09 Precious
10 District 9

RUNNERS
Moon
In the Loop
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Zombieland
The Men Who Stare at Goats
The Messenger
The Hangover

DUDS
Miss March
The International
Serious Moonlight
Taking Woodstock
Taken
Public Enemies
Away We Go

STILL NEED TO SEE
The White Ribbon
An Education
Avatar
The Road
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans


MUSIC and TV


MUSIC

CREAM O' '09
Bat for Lashes – Two Suns
Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs
Monsters of Folk – Monsters of Folk
Fever Ray – Fever Ray
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes – Up From Below
Bob Dylan – Together Through Life
Black Moth Super Rainbow – Eating Us
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Pains of Being Pure at Heart
The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You

RUNNERS
Sonic Youth – The Eternal
Passion Pit – Manners
The xx – XX
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

ROLLING STONE IS UNFAIRLY OBSESSED WITH
Bruce Springsteen – Working on a Dream
U2 – No Line on the Horizon

TV

CREAM O' '09
Mad Men
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Shark Tank
Modern Family
Bored to Death
Party Down

RUNNERS
Parks and Recreation
Hung
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

SORRY I DON’T WATCH
Battlestar Gallactica
Friday Night Lights

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