Entourage

Vince (Adrian Grenier) and his entourage are back and, if you were a fan of the HBO show, then it’s more of what made Entourage a hit show.  It’s a male fantasy of fame, fortune, and excess while bringing your friends along for the ride.  I would compare this to Sex in the City for men in that it gives an insight into the male psyche even if it isn’t a realistic attainment for most.  The story picks up right where it left off with super-agent Ari (Jeremy Piven) becoming the head of a major studio and Vince deciding to make the jump form major movie star to his director debut.  If I have one complaint is that this movie just felt like another episode of Entourage.  No stakes were raised nor was anything new brought to the big screen. Other than upping the amount of celebrity cameos and exotic locales, nothing new was brought to the table. However; that doesn’t mean it’s not a lot of fun and if you enjoy living out a male fantasy then, well I would call it a nostalgic ride, but it just went off the air a few years ago.  How long does something have to be off the air before you get nostalgic.

Each of the members of Vince’s Entourage have their own sub-plots in this film, which play out in sit-com formulaic gags, but the true fun in this film revolves around Ari’s attempt to live a calmer and more normal life (no one plays manic intensity better than Jeremy Piven).  His ability to do that is tested when Vince goes over his production budget and the film’s Texan financier (Billy Bob Thorton) sends his buffoonish son Travis (played by dramatically changed Haley Joel Osment).   Travis takes an instant jealous dislike to Vince and starts threatening to shut the production down unless changes he demands are implemented.  Namely, cutting Drama (Kevin Dillon) from the film in an effort to cause a rift among Vince’s life long friends.  

It’s a fun plot, but not enough to fill up an entire film, so as I stated, sit-comesque sub-plots are introduced.  The weakest of which (but that doesn’t mean it’s not funny) is Drama getting caught in a sex tape scandal.  Turtle (a slimmed down Jerry Ferrara) also had a weak sub-plot which was basically a showcase for Ronda Rousey to try to make her cross over from mixed martial arts.  I think if the two had better chemistry it would have been more interesting, but Ronda didn’t embarrass herself and might have a future action career.  E (Kevin Connolly) oddly had the most engaging sub-plot where he wrestles with the birth of his child with his ex-wife Sloane (Emmanuelle Chriqui) and becoming what he always denied he would become; a shallow Hollywood player.  

The reason Entourage works is the same reason Sex in the City worked.  It’s not that the stories are that complex, but it’s characters we come to care about living a life we all wish we could.  What male hasn’t wished for enough fame and fortune to bring his friends along for the ride and to have them watch his back no matter what happens.  Ari, despite all his rants and berating, loves this crew and the star he discovered.  Piven does a great job at showing his reluctant affection and in turn, the Entourage is there when Ari needs them most. Sure the nudity is gratuitous and the excess and parties are a juvenile fantasy at best, but it’s a fun indulgence if you don’t mind watching a movie that does not try to have any redeeming social value.  

This could have very well have been shown last Sunday on HBO and I wouldn’t have known this was a movie.  That is my primary complaint.  If you feel like paying $10 for something that used to come as part of your HBO package then have at it.  It’s a fun time filled with lots of Hollywood life and cameos.  Go ahead and live the fantasy, but be prepared to come back to reality afterwards.

I give this film ** stars

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1674771/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Mad Max :Fury Road

       The eighties were the era of the cult indy films.  There were many classics that became instant guilty pleasures and lasted longer in our collective psyche than they should have.  Pulp movies like the Highlander and Robocop still are discussed and remembered fondly to this day and have spawned their own franchises beyond the movies.  However, the one that started it all (and Mel Gibson’s career pre-Lethal Weapon) was George Miller’s  ‘The Road Warrior’ (actually a sequel to 1979’s ‘Mad Max’, but that did not have the mainstream success of ‘The Road Warrior’).  When I heard that they were going to reboot Mad Max after almost 30 years, I felt an almost collective shoulder shrugging across the internet.  Reboots are the norm now and the various reboots of nostalgic movies have met with limited success (the respectable, yet forgettable Robocop reboot being a prime example).  However; then I saw the first trailer and the names attached to the project and my interest was piqued.  ‘Mad Max:Fury Road’ breaks the typical blockbuster formula and delivers an unapologetic R-rated orgy of destruction and mayhem while offering a confusingly beautiful visual opera of a post-apocalyptic future that continues the story of Max, the Road Warrior.

Believe it or not, an argument could be made that Max (played this time around by the flawless Tom Hardy) wasn’t even the main character of this film, rather he was just along for the ride.  The film focuses on Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), a high ranking warrior in one of the last surviving despotic enclaves of humanity, who seeks to smuggle the harem of a ruthless dictator named Immortan Joe to freedom. I doubt too many other actresses could make a ragged, crippled, head shaven character appear seductive, but Chalize pulls it off.  Her gaze is hypnotic with steely determination to deliver oppressed women from the masculine evil, embodied in Immortan Joe, that she feels destroyed the world.  She seeks to transport the harem to the ‘Green Place’ she was taken from as a child.  Immortan Joe marshals his force of white men (literally white colored men, not a political race statement) to track down Furiosa and bring back his harem.  That’s the plot in a nutshell.  Nothing complex.

What is complex is the incredible visual feast that George Miller creates. The dialogue is minimalist almost to the point where speech surprises us when it is heard.  Miller also destroys the cinematic myth of the lone wolf hero.  In life, lone wolves are quickly squashed by the collectives and Max is dispatched early in the film.  As Max himself states, he has been reduced to a single instinct; Survival. His escape from Immortan Joe and teaming up with Furiosa’s band is an act of self preservation rather than any heroic act of nobility.  As Immortan Joe sets out in pursuit, a 2 hour opera of death and destruction commences with only minor interludes.  It does have moments of tedium in the non-stop carnage, but the visuals are so stunning at times, the monotony of violence is forgiven.

One could also make an argument that this is a feminist film.  Chalize’s Furiosa is the central character.  She is a woman and while that is embraced by her, it is not her overriding defining characteristic.  I haven’t seen a character this strongly explored since Ripley from the ‘Aliens’ franchise. Furiosa is strong and determined to deliver innocents from the evil of male oppression, but she takes the world as it is and pushes no other agenda than the freeing of innocents.  Her gaze and resolve are unwavering and she is the true hero of the film while Max struggles to keep up in order to find his own ride to freedom.

Nicholas Hoult plays Nux, one of Immortan Joe’s warriors who seeks to prove himself worthy before death.  He provides welcome insight into the seemingly generic white warriors in pursuit of Furiosa.  Nux and his fellow warriors have been convinced by the megalomaniacal Immortan Joe that the key to happiness is in dying for their leader and waking up in Valhalla (warrior heaven).  How else can one explain the absurd lengths in which these warriors flail themselves to almost certain destruction in their attacks?  Having grown jaded by a lifetime of action movies, I still found myself breathless by the scope of the action sequences.  Far outpacing anything seen in the previous Mad Max movies, the action rises to a level of abstraction and, as I stated earlier, confusingly beautiful.  

This film is something we see less and less in the modern blockbusters.  Studios these days try to appeal to the largest audience possible in order to maximize the box office dollar.  They strive for some edge, but nothing that would alienate the family’s 8 or 80 yr olds. ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ is action and mayhem  in undiluted hard ‘R’ rated scope and glory.  Characters as odd as anything found in a Fellini or Burton film and with no agenda to appeal to Puritan mass audience sensibilities.  Dialogue takes a backseat to the stunningly beautiful and grotesque vision of a post apocalyptic landscape.  A worthy compliment to the Mad Max franchise even if Max is merely along for the ride.  A film not for everyone, but definitely an impressive piece of artistic achievement. This trailer gives an accurate insight into the flavor of the film.

*** 1/2 stars

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392190/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Avengers: Age of Ultron

       I always try to be up front about my biases when it comes to film.  Given the role that comic books in my childhood played, I have a particular excitement when it comes to super hero movies and I have been a great admirer of the Marvel machine that has not only produced quality work, but has also revolutionized the movie franchise system.  I find it hard to separate my excitement for seeing my childhood heroes come to life with honest and hopefully objective assessments of the films and how they stand on their own merit.  I will attempt to convey both viewpoints here.

For those who follow such things, ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ is the culmination of Phase 2 of the Marvel plan to role out their comic book Universe onto the big screen.  The first phase introduced us to various characters through their own films then brought them all together in the epic ‘The Avengers’.  This was one of the highest grossing films of all times and a whole lot of fun for everyone. Now, at the end of the current Phase 2, we are at a crossroads where we visit our old friends from the past films, but are also introduced to new characters and plot lines that will be instrumental in the Phase 3 portion.  As a result, there is a lot of super hero goodness stuffed into a finite amount of time.  This could have ended up a colossal and convoluted mess, but Joss Whedon’s talent of orchestrating multiple characters and storylines is put to the test here and he produces an action packed storyline that does all that it sets out to do. He entertains with blockbuster action while at the same time developing characters which has been the hallmark of Marvel heroes up until now.  I won’t say that this film didn’t try to tackle too many things, but given what it tried to do, I doubt anyone could have done it much better

The film starts off with a bang with all the old familiar Avengers attacking a Hydra base in the fictional Eastern European country of Sokovia to retrieve Loki’s scepter from the first Avengers.  The action starts off fast and furious as we are immediately introduced to two new Marvel Characters; Wanda and Pietro Maximoff (aka Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver).  They were a very faithful adaptation despite having to avoid mentioning that Magneto is their father due to studio licensing agreements.  Quicksilver was a much more faithful interpretation than his character in ‘X-men: Days of Future Past’.  Despite the glaring omissions and altering of their history they were central to the story and well introduced.

         Of course this is an action film, however; even though there is action (and a lot of it), some of the films best moments are the interplay between characters.  The interplay of personalities from entirely different worlds (in some cases literally) is what makes these movies a step above mindless popcorn fare.  These are characters we care about and want to know more about.  The unlikely attraction of Black Widow to Bruce Banner has it’s humorous moments but is moving at the same time.  We discover more about the mysterious Black Widow, but not nearly enough. The underutilized Hawkeye from the first film takes center stage this time around as we learn about his life.  All welcome respites from the immense action scenes.

And then there is Ultron, the titular villain of this film, voiced by the wonderfully evil James Spader.  He is a creation of Tony Stark’s attempt to save the world.  While this has super hero purists up in arms because Ultron was created by Hank Pym in the comics, it fits nicely into the film’s narrative of humans being the creators of our own destruction.  Tony is becoming more and more obsessed with protecting the world (fueled in part by the Scarlet Witch induced hallucination).  His drive blinds him to the possible consequences of his actions and thus Ultron is born with the epiphany that the only way to save the world is to rid it of the human race.  While this story unfolds, Marvel attempts to set up plot lines for its’ Phase 3 series of films with seeds planted for the Black Panther movie as well as the next Avengers sequels featuring the Infinity Gauntlet.   All of which the layman will be unaware of as they watch the spectacle unfold.

From an avid critical film goer’s point of view, this film felt overwhelming with the mass of characters it tried to introduce and old ones it tried to wedge into the storyline.  None of which were developed to the extent they should have been.  The quiet moments were drowned out by the extravaganza of frequent and epic battle scenes.  However; as a former comic geek, the excitement was continuous as we were introduced to new characters that we never imagined we would see on the big screen.  The introduction of Paul Bettany’s The Vision was one of the highlights of the film and as perfectly done as I could have hoped for in a film.  Supremely powerful and intelligent, yet naive and pure.  This character is unheard of in the general population, but has been a fixture in the Avengers comic world since 1967.  

As the contracts of all the actors who portrayed the original Avengers are coming to an end, Marvel needs to bring in new characters who are equally engaging.  Ultimately, I believe this is a good thing to keep the franchise fresh as seeing the same actors play the same characters over and over again will begin to wear thin.  This way there is a constant influx of fresh blood to keep the viewers engaged.  My fear is that the Marvel cinematic universe will become so large and so complex that newcomers will begin to shy away due to the overwhelming magnitude.  Still, Marvel has been very adept at having each film stand on its’ own while being part of a larger narrative.  I hope so, as I eagerly await each installment.

I give this film *** 1/2 stars

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2395427/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Ex Machina

        Some movies I see, just because there aren't others out.  ‘Ex Machina' is a small indie film that is in limited release, so I thought I would give it a try.  Fantastic!  So glad I did. This is a very low key film that takes its’ time evolving, yet I was riveted from start to finish. These are the type of surprises at the movies that makes me enjoy going so much.  My thanks to Alex Garland, the Writer and Director, for creating this piece of Science Fiction that doesn’t feel like a Science Fiction movie.  It’s more a study of what it means to be human and the consequences of both mankind’s genius and hubris. For years, great minds from Stephen Hawkings to Bill Gates to Elon Musk have warned that the greatest threat to the survival of mankind is not nuclear war or religious fanaticism, rather it is the rise of Artificial Intelligence.  We are within a generation of creating computers so advanced that they will replace humans as the dominant intelligent lifeforms on the planet.  It’s a familiar concept in recent years, but Ex Machina is one of the freshest and most intelligent explorations of this topic in recent memory

Domhnall Gleeson plays Caleb, a young programmer for the world’s largest internet company, who wins a company contest to spend a week with the company’s reclusive founder, Nathan (played exceptionally by Oscar Issac) .  Caleb is flown to a remote lush wooded area nestled in the arctic where Nathan lives alone with his work.  Caleb discovers that the true purpose of his visit was to be part of an experiment to test Nathan’s latest creation; an Artificial Intelligence device placed into a seductive robot body named Ava.  This sounds like it could be a lame sexploitation plot along the lines of ‘Barbarella’, but it is quite the opposite.  This is an in depth look at the nature of consciousness and what it means to be sentient.  

Nathan explains that he wants Caleb to conduct the ‘Turing Test’ (based on the works of famed Allan Turing) with Ava.  Basically, the ultimate test to determine if an A.I. construct is indistinguishable from being human or merely a series of programmed responses.  When does the complexity of responses achieve a level that is completely human and where in that process is consciousness achieved in the construct?  When does an artificial construct become sentient.  Nathan respects Caleb’s opinion (for hidden reasons revealed later on) and sets up a series of interactive sessions between Ava and Caleb which he closely monitors.  The special effects in this film are few, but the robot body of Ava is one and it’s breathtaking.  Not for it’s sexuality (which it has), but for the flawlessness of the robot illusion.  She truly is like a Macbook come to life and one that you are instantly attracted to. 

Despite the state-of-the-art facility Nathan has constructed, frequent power outages occur where all systems go down.  When this happens during Caleb and Ava’s sessions, the banter turns from flirtatious to ominous.  Ava warns that Nathan is not to be trusted and he is not being truthful with Caleb.  When the power comes back on Ava returns to her previous flirtatious self.

Despite the warnings and distrust Caleb develops for Nathan, he is also drawn in by Nathan’s megalomania and mind stretching conversations.  Both agree that Artificial Intelligence is a freight train that cannot be stopped.  Humans are planting the seeds for their own extinction as their creations are becoming greater and more intelligent than themselves.  It’s not a matter of if rather a matter of when A.I. will exceed humans in capacity.  It can’t be stopped.  Caleb becomes torn between his loyalty to his employer and idol, Nathan, and to Ava, for whom he has begun to develop feelings, attraction, and sympathy for her plight of feeling prisoner.  He knows he can trust neither of them or even his own feelings to guide him as he finds himself in the middle of a power struggle between creator and construct.

There are so many things I love about this movie I don’t know where to begin.  This is an intellectual, intimate, and low key exploration of the topic, but the Director is able to achieve a level of tension and suspense that keeps the audience riveted to the point of exhaustion. The achievement of Ava as a sexual and intellectual construct without going over the top is an achievement in itself.  The film achieves the perfect balance so that the audience does not lose its’ suspension of disbelief.  I thoroughly enjoyed this film and was completely taken in by the storyline and interaction.  High marks.

I give this film *** 1/2 stars

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3832131865?ref_=ttvi_vi_imdb_1

Danny Collins

         I can’t help but have a soft spot for a film that starts with: “This is sorta based on a true story, a little bit”.  I am often hesitant about a film that contains this much talent, but not much is known about it. Not usually a recipe for movie gold.  While I won’t say ‘Danny Collins’ is movie gold, I will say it is an immensely watchable and just an enjoyable movie experience. If you are a Pacino fan, it is probably one of his best roles in years, where he gets to be over-the-top Pacino (whoo-ah), while at the same time exploring some very human and subtle issues.  I can see why Pacino was attracted to this film and I’m glad he didn’t just phone it in.

Danny Collins (Al Pacino) was an immensely popular Rock star in the 70’s who is approaching the end of his career.  He feels he is a hollow joke as he hasn’t performed a new song in 30 years and the one that made him famous, he didn’t even write.  He feels he has become a parody of himself and not the artist he wanted to be.  While still able to afford the lavish lifestyle of a Rock legend, his birthday causes him to reflect on his career and that he has nothing he is proud of.  Danny is stunned when his manager Frank, his only true friend (played by the legendary Christopher Plummer) gives him a present that could have changed his life years ago.  It turns out, that at the beginning of Danny’s career, John Lennon sent him a letter admiring his early work and urging him to stay true to his art.  While elated, Danny does feel that had he received this back then, he would have been inspired to pursue his art instead of taking the easy road of rock stardom.  Danny examines his life and decides to take one last stab at making his life mean something

Danny travels to New Jersey and checks into a local Hilton hotel with two goals in mind.  One; to hole up in a room with a Steinway piano and try to write again.  Two; to connect with the only son he is aware of having.  An offspring from a one night stand with a groupie years ago.  Trying to connect with his son proves to be the more challenging as his now grown son Tom  (played outstandingly by Bobby Cannivale) is living a very normal life with a wife (Jennifer Garner) and daughter in the suburbs.  Tom is aware that his father is Danny Collins, but has spent his whole life trying to disassociate himself from him and tries to lead a normal life.  Despite his claims that he is ‘over it’, you can tell Tom is angry and resentful for not having a father growing up and is not interested in reconnecting just because Danny is having an end of life crisis of conscience  

Despite his depression, Danny displays his learned charm and charisma with everyone he runs into as only Pacino can play.  It’s a great showcase that allows Pacino to be Pacino, yet dig deep into some great emotional areas.  Along the way, he tries to work his aging charms on the manager of the Hilton, Mary (played straight laced by Annette Benning).  Despite her professional distance, they have a ‘patter’ that is fun to watch and Mary proves to be both inspirational and grounding to Danny who is used to a life and people of excess.  Mary is cordial and professionally distant, but continually encouraging as the two become more comfortable with each other. Mary guides Danny emotionally through the uncharted waters of normalcy that the family connections he is pursuing.

If I have one critique of this film is that some of the scenes and plot lines felt emotionally manipulative.  Truly great scripts and writing takes you on emotional journeys without the audience realizing it.  Usually, there is nothing I dislike more than a script trying to gratuitously play on your emotions.  That being said, I did travel the emotional gambit the film intended despite being aware of what it was trying to do, so that has to say something about the quality of the writing.

There is nothing ground breaking in this film.  This isn’t even Pacino’s best work (but probably his best in a decade), but sometimes a small low budget film can be a nice story and a pleasant experience.  I would call this a guilty pleasure, but there is nothing guilty about it.  It’s a great cast working well in an ensemble.  The story is fun, while pulling at the heart strings.  Like I said at the beginning, if you are looking for a nice time at the movies, this is probably a good way to spend an afternoon.

I give this film **1/2 stars. 

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi343846681/

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

      The original ‘Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ never got its’ full box office due.  It was released the same weekend as ‘The Avengers’ and, as a result, was widely overlooked. I had such a high opinion of this hidden gem that the idea of a sequel made me nervous as a bad sequel can often detract from the memory of one’s idealized version of the original.  Fortunately, my fears were unfounded as, while not superior to the original, it definitely is a worthy compliment.  It’s a pleasure to see these legends of British cinema come together in an ensemble cast and deliver an entertaining time at the movies (and let’s throw in Richard Gere too, why not?)

This time around, the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has become so successful that Sonny Kapoor (played by the kinetic Dev Patel), decides he is  ready to open a chain of hotels dedicated to providing a beautiful place for seniors to live out their twilight years.  Seeking the financial backing of an American company, Sonny juggles preparing the hotel for their inspectors and trying to arrange his wedding with his beautiful fiancee, Sunaina (Tina Desai). The film takes us deeper into the lives of the tenants as they adapt to their new lives in India and, even at this late stage in life, struggle to make sense of the meaning of it all.  The comedic is deftly balanced with the profound and, if I have any complaint, some of the storylines seemed on par with a sitcom rather than a feature length film.

Richard Gere’s Guy Chambers is introduced as geriatric eye-candy and provides a foil for Sonny who is torn between trying to ensure the greatest stay ever for a possible hotel inspector and protecting his mother from a potential love interest.  Sonny knows that Guy must be the undercover hotel inspector as he remembered that their potential financial backers said they would send on of their ‘guys’ to check the hotel out. Dev Patel is at his comedic best when trying to frantically balance multiple chaotic situations and always managing to say and do the wrong thing.  Another great performance 

I am always grateful to see films made that fall outside the normal targeted box office range of 18 to 45 yr olds.  I am even more impressed when those films can appeal to people of all ages.  The ‘Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ contains  plenty of comedy and situations that deal with universal questions of finding one’s way in the world and discovering meaning even in the most ludicrous of situations.  The film pokes fun at, but never ridicules or demeans,  people’s struggles as they age.  The idea that life goes on, grows, and changes, even as it enters its’ final stages resonates throughout the film and while it invokes our sympathy and sometimes sorrow, it rarely causes us to pity.

One of the things I found most profound is that at a stage of life where we hope we have most of the important things figured out, people still struggle with even the most basic of relationships.  How we connect remains just as complicated, if not more so, due to all the life  baggage that has been acquired along the way.  One steps cautiously given the awareness of the pitfalls that lie ahead even though time is the one thing not in abundance.  The problems of their love lives could have appeared in films featuring characters of all age ranges.

The sights and sounds of India are on full display. The beauty and colors permeate throughout even when exploring areas not necessarily the most scenic.  The wedding of Sonny and Sunaina is as colorful a festival as any travel show could possibly hope to portray.  It was an interesting balance of showing the beginning of their lives amongst the twilight of the others.  It’s difficult to show life as a celebration and adventure as one’s life begins to wind down, but that what these two films are all about.  ‘It ain’t over till it’s over’ and one can begin and reinvent one’s life as often as one is able. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this film and found it a worthwhile sequel to a great film about aging with dignity.  

I give this film *** stars

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3254693401?ref_=ttvi_vi_imdb_1

50 Shades of Grey

It’s important to label the genre that ’50 Shades of Grey’ is:  Soft-core porn targeted for the female market edited down to achieve an ‘R’ rating.  In principle, I have nothing against this.  In fact, in higher principle, I highly encourage it, but this is so badly written, even for a full fledged pornographic film.  In fairness, I thought the film was better than the book, but I found the book to be low even by Harlequin Romance standards.  The sheer level of cheesiness and eye-rolling that permeates throughout this movie subtracts from any erotica it was trying to achieve. It doesn’t succeed as a thriller, a love story, or even as an introduction to bondage.  This film fails at all levels. Even the groups of women who went to see this for a ‘ladies night out’, could be heard muttering “That was horrible” as they left the theatre.  This is one of the worst movies I have seen in a long time.

I don’t want to spend an entire review berating a film, but I am having a hard time finding some redeeming value.  At its’ core, the leads were completely miscast.  Dakota Johnson (daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith), plays the virginal Anastasia Steele (yes that is the character’s name)who is led down the path of S&M and bondage by the mysterious young self-made billionaire (they aren’t all as nerdy as Mark Zuckerberg), Christian Grey (played by Irish model Jamie Dornan).  The chemistry and acting were as wooden as you would expect from a Calvin Klein model and a new actress.  Jamie Dornan was putting on his best American accent, but his Irish brogue slipped through often. 

The entire time I was watching this, I felt this film was trying to replicate the classic ‘9 1/2 Weeks’ starring Mickey Rourke and Kim Bassinger.  ‘9 1/2 Weeks’ was truly a film that pushed sexual boundaries and challenged sexual mores while being beautifully acted and well written. If only ’50 Shades of Grey’ was even a shadow of that (there is a pun there with ‘shadow’ and ’50 Shades’, but it escapes me at the moment).  It demonstrates that this genre can be done and be done effectively and artistically in the right hands.  ’50 Shades’ achieved none of that.

I know there was supposed to be a storyline, but it was lost on me as one ‘shocking’ scene leads to another.  I could tell when dialogue or scenes were meant to be shocking and provocative, but I found the execution rather dull.  Much like ‘9 1/2 Weeks’, the story follows the protagonist as she descends into a darkly sexual world until she realizes the harm that it is causing her.  I found Anastasia’s realization of her peril to come almost out of nowhere and her dismay at what she was participating in to be rather contrived.  There was no true exploration of the characters or what motivated them.

I realize the popularity of this book and the global phenomenon that it has become.  I’ll be the first to say, having tried to read the book,  that I don’t get it, so I am probably not the best qualified to critique this movie.  That being said, I am an avid movie fan and there are infinitely better ways to spend your movie dollar.  If you are just looking for porn, then try the internet. If you are looking for a great movie, then most of the Oscar movies are still out there.  I recommend any one of them.  Or better yet, stay home and catch up on something else you’ve been meaning to do.

I give this movie 1/2* 

(I think the lowest I’ve ever given, but my next review is ‘Jupiter Ascending’, so just wait)

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2636688921?ref_=ttvi_vi_imdb_1