Weekend Movie Discussion: Kick-Ass 2, JOBS, Lee Daniels' The Butler, Paranoia

I think Thursday is the new Friday. Seems like an abnormal amount of movies this summer have opened a day early. Not just big movies either, little films; limited releases. Course if Thursday is the new Friday, that means either Sunday is the new Monday or else we're going with a four day work week now. Of course according to the Hebrew calendar Sunday is the first day of the week. But I'm not Hebrew. I don't think... I'd have to get a DNA test to be sure. I've eaten a lot of pork though so it's probably best not examine too closely.

Two weeks in a row with 4 wide releases. Can a talkie get some breathing room? 

With JOBS and Lee Daniels' The Butler, I think we can pretty much agree they're essentially the same film. Both are about men who worked their way to the top of their profession. Both would work with the most powerful men in the world. Both were Asian. Okay, so the films aren't the same at all.

A lot of people have voiced their dismay at the casting, but I actually thought Ashton Kutcher was a good choice and I don't even like him that much. I did like Jobs, well like is too strong. I respected Jobs, even if I've never owned anything Apple personally, other than a broken down, 15 year old desktop. It was a great paperweight so I'll give it that. Still what he did for the industry was revolutionary. Before him, you could only get two kinds of apples in the market, and Granny Smith wasn't one of them.

And that makes it somewhere in the neighborhood of 493,837,942 times an apple joke has been made. I know, you'd think it'd be higher.

Lot of controversy surrounding The Butler with regards to Jane Fonda portraying Nancy Reagan. Take one little photo of yourself laughing with the enemy next to an anti-aircraft battery after trashing our soldiers, and suddenly it's not cool to play the first lady. The film is inspired by the life of Eugene Allen who really worked his way up in the white house serving for decades and retiring on top. But inspired essentially means, we like the idea of you, we just want to make your life more interesting. I'd rather just watch a doc on the real guy. But that's neither here nor there as here there be this.

I liked parts of the first Kick-Ass, but not enough to feel the need to revisit it since my viewing. I am curious with the sequel about Jim Carrey's performance. Yes, he came out against the film with his anti-gun views, but that's got nothing to do with how he is in the film, and people have been raving about his performance since before they wrapped. I've always liked Carrey in a more serious role, and here he'll get to be both serious and insane. It's like the role he was born for (you know, with the exception of the whole anti-gun thing). Politics are politics, and I never let that get in the way of enjoying an actor. 

Finally there's the film that's going to get lost among the others. Paranoia is basically the same movie as JOBS. Corruption, greed, corporate espionage... White people. It stars Liam Hemsworth (or as I like to think of him, the lesser Hemsworth) alongside Gary Oldman, Richard Dreyfus and Harrison Ford. I thought Dreyfus retired (I know I say that every time he pops up in a movie. It's a perversion with me). If he's going to do another film, couldn't do a sequel to Mr. Holland's Opus? Something like, A Wish For Wings That Work...

Chances are good you'll only get that joke if you read Bloom County back in the 80's.

Guess That Movie

Last Week: Alex once again swooped in with the correct answer, Monkey Business, a classic Cary Grant film. 

This Week:

What's on your horizon for the weekend? A biopic or a sort of biopic? Bunch of crazy kids and their violent ways? Some movie that'll soon be relegated to basic cable hell? Settling the debate on just exactly how many bananas you can fit in your mouth at once?