November Man

I had a vision while watching this movie: a bunch of people getting together to make a mediocre, run-of-the-mill spy thriller. The first day of shooting, Pierce Brosnan inexplicably wanders on set and decides to be in the movie. "I say," Mr. Brosnan says in a cultured English accent. "Why don't I just play the lead?" And he does. Because he's awesome.

Sin City 2

Almost immediately after watching this movie I had to revisit the first Sin City to get back into the characters and their intertwining stories. I like the fact that the timeline isn't exactly clear from one movie to the next, or even from story to story. This movie had the same look, feel, and hard-boiled dialogue of the first, but it seemed to lack the same excitement and nuance. It almost felt like one of those animated Disney sequels released to DVD. They want to give you a little extra, without the same commitment they had the first time around. 

100 Foot Journey

I don't think you can necessarily use the term "food porn" if you're not crazy about the food. When it comes to Indian cuisine, for me, it's more like food dating. I'm interested in some of your sexier dishes, but I'm not sure about an uninhibited evening of curry-sutra. Let's get to know each other first; I can't be slutting it up like I do with French food. Ultimately, Journey depicts this balance: French & Indian cuisine, culture, and storytelling. You know there will be a clash from the onset, but this will lead to a delicious blend of feelgoodiness.

Get On Up

You gotta have a list of things to check off for a biopic of a musical legend:

Aged performer reflects before a show.
Troubled childhood haunts career.
Performer alienates loved ones.
Musical montages depict rise/fall.
Performer makes amends with loved ones.

This movie has all of that. But it also opens with a heavy set woman sitting on a toilet, prompting James Brown to fire a shotgun at the ceiling. It's his toilet, so he's edgy. Plus he's high. Then he looks into the camera. The audience becomes complicit to everything he does: good, bad, and worse. Sold.

Hercules

We're starting out with the 12 Labors of Hercules? Sweet! Wait, what? We're bypassing the hydras and impenetrable lions and grounding Hercules in reality? Awwwwww.....raspberries. Why does every fantasy movie have to get real and just a little dark? Can't they just be big, dumb fun anymore?

Wish I Was Here

I liken this movie to a sketch or rough draft: it's not completely fleshed out, but it has some interesting ideas. There was an abundance of Scrubsy zaniness--Rabbi watching YouTube, kids duct tapped to chairs, supermarket fistfight, cosplay, Turk. It didn't always contribute to the flow of the story, so at times I wanted Zach Braff to tilt his head and look up...imagining these odd tangents. You have to paint the broad strokes yourself: failed actor home-schools kids, reconnects with family, makes peace with dying father. That's where I would start, but what the fork do I know?

Snowpiercer

This is a film Terry Gilliam would make, go over budget on, have taken away by a studio, throw a tantrum over, then release independently. In short: it's weird. The good weird. People are riding on a train in a dystopian ice age. The train represents society and (literally) the passage of time, as the passengers live on the train. People are separated by rail cars: poorest in the back, richest in the front, and everything in between--schools, foliage, water, sushi, dance clubs. But, with any good revolution, the downtrodden must revolt, disrupt the status quo, and derail the train.