Author: Kristofer Jenson

Get On Up is the best possible film of an inherently mediocre genre: the biopic. Most biopics render themselves obsolete by failing to admit that when a person is famous, we almost always know the most interesting thing about them because that thing is the reason they’re famous in the first place. Whether the subject is an actor, politician, artist, etc., there’s not that much for audiences to learn from biopics, and so they have a tendency to lean on great lead performances in an attempt to smooth over the awkwardness of stagy, melodramatic reenactments with all the insight of a book report.

The James Brown biopic Get On Up, meanwhile, admits that you probably already know everything there is to know about “The Godfather of Soul,” so it has a different set of goals in mind: context. Motivation. What it was like to be around this man. Reminding you why this guy was a big fucking deal in the first place, even — no, especially — if all you can think of is Rocky IV, “Living in America,” and being “high on God.” Brown was a forceful personality and a true genius with an insane work ethic and DIY philosophy, who truly believed in creating his own destiny and stepping up to every challenge. Just because he was consciously ostentatious didn’t mean he wasn’t genuine.

The film opens by addressing head-on the tainted image of His Bad Self’s later years. A tired-looking, elderly Brown (Chadwick Boseman) visits his stale corporate office located in a strip mall in the late 1980s, following the series of events that led to his infamous drug-fueled police chase and humiliating arrest. Brown then breaks the fourth wall, and the appropriately out-of-order narrative of his life begins.

Told out of order to better portray the many sides of Brown’s personality while avoiding a linear, chapter-by-chapter story, Get On Up dedicates almost as much attention to the experience of being around James Brown as it does to Brown himself. While Chadwick Boseman’s phenomenal performance as the lead is clearly the star of the show, the supporting cast is given more to do than just soak in his glory and marvel at how right Brown is all the time, like the supporting casts in Ray or The Buddy Holly Story. Noted Brown affiliates Bobby Byrd (Nelsan Ellis) and Maceo Parker (Craig Robinson) share one of the film’s best moments, a quiet conversation about choosing to not take the lead role in your own story and suffering indignity to remain close to greatness.

Another biopic convention that is pleasantly absent is the forced, magical inevitability or pseudo-divine guidance of Brown’s ascent. We see Brown making mistakes that are the result of his upbringing: Southern, poor, abandoned by his parents, facing the possibility of a life in and out of prison for petty crimes. We see his early influences in Southern churches and gospel, but none of them are presented as the single reason for his drive. He was an active participant in his own success through a combination of natural talent, hard work, and uncompromising drive, but he was never a passive conduit for some mystical force that made him destined for fame. At the same time, musical perfection is accurately shown as incredibly hard and emotionally taxing work, and at no point do any of Brown’s signature songs just come together in a moment of collective inspiration.

Most biopics suffer from not knowing whether to humanize or deify their subjects. Get On Up’s greatest strength is that it does neither. It doesn’t explain away Brown’s flaws, it simply asks you to embrace them as part of the whole. Though its runtime is a tad long and it could have done more to distinguish itself from other musical biopics, Get On Up is the best film of its kind, and Boseman’s performance alone is worth the price of admission.

Playing this week

A Most Wanted Man
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

And So It Goes
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Begin Again
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

The Big Lebowski (Wed.)
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Chef
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

The Grand Budapest Hotel
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Guardians of the Galaxy
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

How to Train Your Dragon 2
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Hercules
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Jersey Boys
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Lucy
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Planes: Fire & Rescue
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

The Purge: Anarchy
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Sex Tape
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Transformers: Age of Extinction
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Wish I Was Here
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Movie houses

Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6
979-7669

Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
244-3213

It may seem nitpicky in this era of movies about radioactive spider bites and ancient alien stud-gods to take issue with a premise that is basically an excuse for inventive set pieces, but there’s something so incredibly lazy and pointless about the way Luc Besson plays with the old (and false) “Did you know that humans use only 10% of their brain?” routine in Lucy. The techno-babble and pop philosophy exchanges between Morgan Freeman and Scarlett Johansson may impress the Ted “Theodore” Logans of America who will “whoa” at how it’s much smarter than the average blockbuster. It’s not smarter. It’s just French, so its bullshit only sounds prettier.

Lucy follows a typical American student (Johansson) who is on a vacation bender in Taipei, when she is taken hostage by a Taiwanese cartel and becomes an unwitting mule for their experimental drug. The bag ruptures inside her, and the drug allows her to access more of her brain and establish a closer connection to space, time, energy, and the mysteries of the universe, not to mention superpowers.

Meanwhile, Morgan Freeman (who ought to know better with his show “Through the Wormhole”) plays Professor Norman, an American researcher visiting Paris whose (incorrect) lectures about “cerebral capacity” are intercut with Lucy’s story and the occasional clip of CG early humans and actual rhino sex. Once Lucy realizes what is happening to her, she reaches out to Professor Norman to seek help, and attempts to reach Paris with both the Taiwanese cartel and French police on her tail as her condition becomes increasingly unstable, and her powers more superhuman.

The problem with Lucy isn’t the plot itself. Other movies have taken more preposterous scientific shortcuts to terrific effect. The issue is that Besson decided to use a plot device that would allow him to do absolutely anything, to really let loose in a flurry of stylish, inspired insanity like we know he can, only to go nowhere in particular. We get neither a heady sci-fi parable nor a ridiculous-but-entertaining adventure. The tension is sucked out of a beautifully shot car chase because Besson is so focused on Lucy’s calmness that the crashes and chaos become background noise. Watching Lucy levitate her opponents instead of fighting them is neither badass nor exciting. It feels like walking through a room with two T.V.s, one playing Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Cosmos” on your left and The Matrix on your right, but you commit to neither hoping to absorb both. You’ve been robbed of two viewing experiences in one go, either of which would have been satisfying on its own.

Luc Besson works best when he either has one solid concept, or a completely idiotic one that he just doesn’t care is idiotic. Not every critic will say this, but he truly does have something to offer when he plays to his strengths. Subway, his 1986 breakthrough, was so stylish and energetic that it didn’t matter if the characters themselves were paper thin, and the same is true of The Fifth Element. Meanwhile, the characters and motivations were so heartfelt in Léon: The Professional that the action sequences didn’t need to be as well choreographed as they were to be exciting, because their consequences carried real weight. But the bigger and more all-encompassing the idea Besson attempts to tackle, the more confused he seems to be about where to direct the viewer’s attention, as with his Joan of Arc film The Messenger and now Lucy.

With a handful of inspired sequences and a cast that is clearly having fun, Lucy is not bad. It just demands the audience to surrender too much logic for not enough payoff, being neither cerebral enough to be effective sci-fi nor exciting enough to be solid action. It will not destroy your brain, so long as you only use 10% of it going in.

Playing this week

22 Jump Street
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

A Most Wanted Man
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

And So It Goes
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Begin Again
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Chef
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Earth to Echo
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

The Grand Budapest Hotel
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

How to Train Your Dragon 2
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Hercules
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Jersey Boys
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Wed.)
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Planes: Fire & Rescue
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

The Purge: Anarchy
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Sex Tape
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Tammy
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Transformers: Age of Extinction
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Wish I Was Here
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Movie houses

Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6
979-7669

Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
244-3213

Anyone who has been to an underground or independent film festival is no doubt familiar with a very specific genre of DIY “woods” movies where dudes with guns creep through a forest, talk an awful lot for people trying to remain undetected, and get into strangely choreographed shoot-outs at odd intervals. These movies are made this way out of necessity, due to a lack of resources and funds; the work ethic is commendable, but they are notoriously hit-or-miss in quality. The only thing that separates The Purge: Anarchy from these movies is a budget for location permits (and Michael K. Williams).

If you weren’t expecting a sequel to last year’s critically reviled but financially successful The Purge so quickly, you’re not alone. Apparently, neither was writer-director of both films James DeMonaco, who delivers a story that is equal parts half-finished (sometimes inspired) ideas and tedious filler (and Michael K. Williams).

One year after the events of the first film, we are introduced to a new cast of characters for whom the annual purge has become shockingly routine. Five people—a mother and daughter, a couple on the verge of a breakup, and a mysteriously skillful survivalist with a mission—find themselves stuck in the open together and must cooperate in order to find safe haven for the night. Along the way, we get glimpses of how class and race factor into the purge. The wealthy pay to do it safely while the poor do whatever it takes to survive, whether it’s hunker down or go on the offensive. Meanwhile, a Black Panther-style revolutionary has been telling the truth online and hints at a brewing rebellion. 

Sounds like a hell of a ride, right? It definitely could have been. Before you see it based on this description, please understand that this is only the first 20 minutes, which are full of promise and effective tension (and Michael K. Williams). The rest of the long-feeling 103 minutes is filled with too-distant atmosphere and a series of embarrassingly predictable, tonally inconsistent setups. If someone is walking slowly and the music goes quiet, you’ll learn to count the beats before something attempts to startle you. All of the gunshots and screaming in the background are just that: background. Every time the action cuts away to someone not in the central cast getting shot or abducted, it feels like another story that’s more interesting than the one we’re following. Escalation to absurdly gratuitous heights would have suited this story perfectly, but it’s nowhere to be found.

The saving grace of The Purge: Anarchy may be three or four moments of effective campiness (and Michael K. Williams). As you watch this movie, you will laugh. As you leave, you will wonder whether you were meant to. As a devotee of 1980s Schwarzenegger flicks who still cherishes his VHS copy of Demolition Man, I’m totally on board with seemingly stupid action flicks that surprise you with their level of self-awareness. The scenes near the end that echo these films work and may be worth the price of admission for some, but The Purge: Anarchy doesn’t set the stage enough for them to pay off.

If you’re confused or frustrated by the teasing use of Michael K. Williams’ name in this review, get ready to feel the same way about his presence in the movie. Playing the leader of the freaking badass black anti-purge militia, his scenes are far and away the best, but total about six minutes and happen at least an hour apart. This is just one of many ideas casually tossed into The Purge: Anarchy that deserve their own movies, not to be offhandedly referenced in a movie about five uninteresting people whose only collective talent is being exceptionally bad at sneaking.

~Kristofer Jensen

Playing this week

America
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Begin Again
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

The Breakfast Club (Wed.)
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Chef
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Deliver Us From Evil
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Earth to Echo
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

The Grand Budapest Hotel
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

How to Train Your Dragon 2
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Ida
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Jersey Boys
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Maleficent
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Obvious Child
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Planes: Fire & Rescue
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Sex Tape
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Tammy
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Transformers: Age of Extinction
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Movie houses

Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6
979-7669

Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
244-3213

A lack of new ideas and a surplus of sincerity are not typically good qualities in a comedy. Just think of how forced and unearned the last 20 minutes of any Happy Madison movie are: “I know I’m a slob who screwed everything up while being distractingly racist and homophobic along the way. But I mean well, kinda.”

But while Adam Sandler uses sincerity as a cheap out from his lousy movies, Tammy means well, acts well, feels good, and packs in a decent amount of genuine laughs along the way. Granted, it’s not the funniest comedy of the summer—McCarthy is playing into type for at least the second time this year. But similar to the film’s own romantic subplot, an initial lack of personal investment in these characters gradually turns into sympathy for their good intentions, eventually becoming full-on affection for having gone through this experience with them.

Due to a string of unfortunate events—a (probably-funnier-on-paper) encounter with a deer that totals her car, the ensuing lateness getting her fired, and coming home to her husband with another woman—Tammy is determined to leave her small town behind. She takes off with her stir crazy, impulsive, hard-drinking grandmother (Susan Sarandon in top comedic form) to Niagara Falls, figuring out where everything went wrong in their lives along the way. 

This may come as a surprise if you’ve seen the incredibly misleading ads and posters, showing a disheveled McCarthy doing a lousy job of robbing a fast food restaurant. This scene does indeed happen, but its tonally different from those ads, and for as little of the plot as it occupies, one has to wonder if the folks behind the campaign even saw the movie.

This discrepancy between marketing and reality may explain why it is that the lovable Tammy is getting worse advance reviews than the painfully unfunny The Heat, which promised us a dirty, angry Melissa McCarthy and delivered on that promise…and only that one. I haven’t laughed that little at a movie since Mystic River.

Tammy, meanwhile, builds off of that image of McCarthy and goes in an unexpected direction to greater effect and with a richer sense of humor, perhaps losing the people who wanted to see a different kind of movie. Where some may see a bait and switch, I see a pleasant surprise.

Tammy is also full of unexpected social victories. Weight jokes are virtually nonexistent. Female sexuality—at any age, with any orientation—is never apologized for. There is a romantic side to Tammy’s story, but her problems aren’t solved by just sleeping with the right guy instead of the wrong one. When Tammy finally does realize what she needs to do, there’s no running through the rain to give a drippy, overwritten speech or profane, cathartic screed at the villain.

The zany, gross-out moments may make the trailer, but those are generally the worst parts. And for a movie this sentimental, it is surprisingly short on manipulative, tear-jerking setups. Tammy isn’t great by any means, but it is way, way better than it should have been.

Playing this week

22 Jump Street
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

America
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Belle
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Chef
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Deliver Us From Evil
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Earth to Echo
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Edge of Tomorrow
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

The Fault in Our Stars
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

The Grand Budapest Hotel
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

The Grand Seduction
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

How to Train Your Dragon 2
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Ida
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Jersey Boys
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Maleficent
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Obvious Child
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Transformers: Age of Extinction
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Think Like A Man Too
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX

Willy Wonka and the
Chocolate Factory (Wed.)
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6

Movie houses

Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6
979-7669

Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
244-3213