We love small movies. Well made small movies, we should say. There’s a tremendous satisfaction in watching something compact, devoid of unnecessary effects, and even stripped down to the bare essentials. These types of movies typically rely heavily on acting, directing, and writing. Just the basics. Movies like David Lynch’s The Straight Story (1999) and The Man from Earth (2007) are riveting because every small detail is made to count.
So, we were anxious to see Safety Not Guaranteed (2012). The cast is tiny. There are four primary players, a couple of minor ones, and just a handful of others. The film is set in Seattle and other than a small amount of special effects, it’s hard to see where much money was spent on anything. It’s not surprising, therefore, that the budget was under $1 million. The length of the movie is also austere at only 86 minutes. But that’s plenty to cover the small amount of ground the story-tellers need to go over.
Synopsis: A reporter for a Seattle-based magazine sees a classified ad that states: “Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. P.O. Box 91 Ocean View, WA 99393. You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.” It’s just too weird to let go so he figures there’s a story there and enlists the help of two interns to go find out what the scoop is.
The reporter, Jeff (Jake Johnson), isn’t really that interested in the story. He sees the investigation as more of a road trip to catch up with a love interest from years ago. One intern, Arnau (Karan Soni), is actually studying biology, but given his awkward introversion feels that an internship with the magazine might round him out for future prospects. The other intern, Darius (Aubrey Plaza) is an unhappy person that has no ambition. She ends up in an internship essentially “just because.” The story centers around her.
We find out that Darius lost her mother to a senseless murder when she was 14. At first we thought that would play into the story in some significant way … but it doesn’t. That would make things too big. She’s simply dead and Darius regrets that she was unkind to her mother just before her death. She’s never forgiven herself even though everyone tells her it’s not her fault. Like many of us, she would like to go back in time to change things, but she knows that’s not possible. Still, she’s intrigued.
So, the intrepid team heads up to the small town of Ocean View to find the mystery person that posted the ad. It turns out to be a single man in his 30s named Kenneth who works as a grocery store clerk. Jeff approaches Kenneth (Mark Duplass) first but is rebuffed when Kenneth realizes that Jeff doesn’t take him seriously. So, Darius is enlisted. Sensing his lone-wolf paranoia (“they’re after me!”) she approaches him in a clandestine and weird manner … just the right hook to get Kenneth on the line. They begin to meet and Darius gains Kenneth’s trust. Little by little, the pieces start to fit together to show that both are hoping for some sort of redemption — a second chance. Kenneth’s quirky, nerdy demeanor shows he is totally committed to the plan. It’s difficult at first to tell what Darius is thinking. It seems like she’s amused at Kenneth’s weirdness, but as the movie progresses, one senses that Darius is actually hoping that Kenneth really can take her back through time.
Paranoia + an old yellow Datsun = chick magnet
We won’t insert any spoilers at this point. The side stories are interesting. Jeff is a shallow guy but he finds himself in a position that exposes his dissatisfaction with that condition when he finally does meet up with his former fling. Arnau is faced with his own growing up moment when Jeff encourages him to step outside his anti-social comfort zone.
This movie is basically about regrets … having them and avoiding them. Missing opportunities and taking chances. It’s thought provoking, it’s odd, and it’s funny. It was a fantastic way to spend an evening (well, 86 minutes of it).
The Good. The main actors were very well cast. Aubrey Plaza’s character is a sullen girl that denies herself the opportunity to connect with someone and be happy. She doesn’t believe she deserves it. As Darius gets to know Kenneth, her amusement at Mark Duplass’ character seems like it might have an unkind bent to it (and maybe it does at first), but it evolves to a genuine happiness in being with him. Darius is a very pretty woman but she’s the kind of girl that nerds probably think they have a shot at because she’s not ostentatious. Jeff is a sarcastic, insensitive dick — but the kind that you actually sorta like being around. Arnau takes on the mantle of the obligatory nerd, but he’s more than just there to fill a role. Finally, Kenneth is not an overblown character. He’s like that urgent and dramatic geek you probably knew in high school that never really grew up and that spends too much time worrying about the government. But he’s sweet. Yes, he’s weird, but he cares about people in his own awkward way. Whereas he could easily have overplayed the role, Mark Duplass makes him a believable character .
The Bad. OK, we admit it. We like closure. The film won’t give you that. In fact, closure is actually opposite of the intent. So, remembering that may be hard, but it’s the right way the film should end. So, really, the bad is us. D’oh!
The Ugly. The ear! Ew.
4.5 out of 5 stars
The Plan
The Approach
The Training
The Look
The Smooth Operator
The Shades
The Possibility
The End
Boy Wonder (written and directed by Michael Morrissey) is set in New York City and centers around a small cast of family members, cops, and thugs. The film’s lead, Sean Donovan, is severely traumatized after watching his mother be brutally murdered. The film spends most of it’s time in Sean’s present day last year in high school with flashbacks occurring periodically as he continues to hunt for his mother’s killer. Perhaps to satiate his anger a little bit, he starts to take out some other thugs for their misdeeds, primarily criminals that have attacked women and children that are escaping justice.
The film Iron Sky was pitched pretty heavily at Comic-Con 2012 to coincide with its U.S. launch. It was first released in Europe in April 2012. We wanted to go by the booth for details but forgot about it until the last few minutes of the Con on Sunday and by then the staff had vacated it. Too bad since we were really curious. So, we were glad it made its way to Netflix last week. Wondering if you should take the plunge and watch it yourselves? Pull up a chair and listen to a story.
In the movie, Batman becomes the greatest hero he could possibly be and he does just like the title says. He rises. In my opinion and in many others opinions this is the greatest Batman ever and its because of Bane. Bane (Tom Hardy) is a criminal mastermind with the idea of anarchy but he knows how simple anarchy can be, if Bane wanted to set the world on fire he could. If he wanted to end it he could. He is more powerful than any previous villain and he doesn’t run from Batman because Batman doesn’t stand a chance on winning a fight with him Bane is a wall of pure muscle and none of it slows him down. 
Bane is the greatest part of the movie but there are several others that make it even more amazing. Catwoman is one of them. Catwoman is a hot, heartless, high class thief that gets whatever she wants and will deceive anyone to get it. But the thing that makes The Dark Knight Rises the best is like I said he does indeed rise. By that I mean he becomes a true superhero there is no more Bruce Wayne. Batman knows what he needs to do to save Gotham and he is willing to sacrifice his life, all of his power, and all of his money if he has to. Batman no longer makes mistakes. He is fully matured and throws his life at Bane hoping to stop him in order to save Gotham.
We asked Jordan, a 17-year-old misanthrope and movie buff to write a post for us. Comics A-Go-Go! is pleased to bring you one of his reviews. 
Weird Science (1985) popped back onto Netflix and since we haven’t seen it since it first came out, we thought we’d amuse ourselves with a trip down memory lane. What sucks is that usually stuff that seemed hilarious in high school isn’t quite as funny in middle age. Cynicism borne of life-wearying, soul-sapping experience? You bet your sweet ass.
So, this John Hughes vehicle turns out just enough silliness to be a lot of fun. It probably doesn’t deserve 3 out of 4 stars, but we’ll give them to it anyways. Oh, and it has an Oingo Boingo theme song, so that’s an extra touch of 80s nostalgic goodness.
The Tintin movie has been out for a while now and doesn’t seem to be doing as well with American audiences ($64m domestic) as it has with those from the rest of the globe ($269m foreign), but we think it’s still fair to say that The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is a success, both financially (combining global income) and cinematically (storytelling, direction, animation). However, although it was reviewed quite favorably, we still held quite a bit of skepticism prior to seeing it. You’ve read how much we love the Asterix series and how disappointed we’ve been with the movies that have been spawned by that series. As a 21st century, technology heavy adaptation of a storyline that’s 75 years old, there was no question that the presentation of the Tintin movie was going to be very different than the books. But Tintin was essentially as good as we hoped, given what it is.
Rather than doing a faithful retelling of the stories, Spielberg changed things up a bit. He made Sakharine, the creepy bit player from the Tintin and the Secret of the Unicorn comic, the antagonist and he added his own spin on the sinister motivations of the guy. We actually really liked that new element. It created an opportunity for Spielberg to take the film in a direction that varied from the comics and we think he pulled it off nicely.
So, after discovering that M. Night Shamalama-ding-dong was at the helm of a new project for a story we love, our hearts sank. Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of our favorite animated series and when we heard it was going to be made into a movie, we felt like it would be a very difficult venture for anyone to convert it. Even if the film had been split into three parts (following the three seasons of the series), so much would have to be left out to create a movie-length production that any director would have had their work cut out for them. But even though we feared that The Last Airbender was not going to be any good, we thought that given its source material there was a slight chance it would still be passable even with a poor director. Nope. M. figured out a way to suck all of the life out of the story. It was easy to sense his arrogance and contempt for the creators’ stories and characters. Jerk.
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