Two Great Box-Office Films

"X-Men: Days of Future Past"
starring: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Nicholas Hoult, Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage, Shawn Ashmore, Omar Sy, Anna Paquin, Evan Peters, Josh Helman, Daniel Cudmore
directed by: Bryan Singer

Perhaps it's because Bryan Singer is back at the helm, after starting up the millions-dollar franchise that is the "X-Men" (even though he has flown under the radar for press because of an allegation of sexual misconduct with a male minor), but this film is everything a close-to-summer blockbuster should be. I'm thinking back to "Star Trek Into Darkness" for excellent sequels in May. This film does not disappoint, even with the bizarre plot of time-shifting between the past and the future, along with the present, in a comic book world.
Comic books have always been great fodder for cultural parallels and with X-Men, they writers know exactly what kind of stories they want you to get out of it. There is definitely some parallels to the Holocaust what with the introduction of robotic/mutant Sentinels that have been created and sent to wipe out the mutants. Then, there's always been the subplot of anti-bullying and the gay lifestyle kept underwraps for fear of shaming analogies.

The script (by Simon Kinberg) positions the series’ constant, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), as a potential savior of a future terrorized by Sentinels. He’s sent back to the past to dissuade the blue-skinned shapeshifter Mystique, née Raven (Lawrence), from an assassination that will set off a ruinous ripple effect. Send the stone skimming in another direction, the theory goes, and war may be averted. Awaking in the early Seventies, Wolverine swiftly rallies a gang: young Charles Xavier (McAvoy), driven to drink after Raven, his surrogate sister, abandoned him in First Class; the nerdy Beast (Hoult), who still nurses a crush on her; and Magneto (Fassbender), the revolutionist godhead to her disciple. The writing is definitely well done, interweaving story-lines from the original trilogy as well as the "First Class" reboot-sort of a couple of years ago. The film seemed like a vehicle for Singer to bring back some original characters, like Wolverine (Jackman, may he be forever known and typecast as this comic book hero) and some brief cameos. 

By the end of the film, with the way the story wraps itself up, nicely, you can't help but feel like you were slapped in the face and it makes you wonder if you should have even bothered with the original films, since it kind of erases those whole stories. That being said, it's a great summer flick, with a wonderful cast of actors sort of made for these roles, except for Jennifer Lawrence, who seems better than the blue make-up she's forced to hide behind.
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"Grand Budapest Hotel"
starring: Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Lea Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson
written and directed by: Wes Anderson

All right, right out of the gate I will admit to being a huge fan of Wes Anderson's films, like his whole entire catalogue. I just don't think he can do much wrong. Look at his filmography:

Bottle Rocket
Rushmore
The Royal Tennebaums
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
The Darjeeling Limited
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Moonrise Kingdom

That being said, you either get him and his sense of filmmaking, not to mention his sense of humor, or you just don't. If you don't, you will not enjoy his films. I happen to think the man is a filmmaking genius. His sense of timing, in dialogue and actors ability to deliver his quips, is near perfect. The ways in which his stories play out, when you almost think you are not getting it or understanding the story, it works. The aesthetic of his scenes is almost beautiful, like works of art brought to life on video, especially with the color schemes in this film, it's all so beautiful, you cannot help but admire it.

I love how he surrounds his film with the perfect setting and story. Here, the film takes place in Eastern Europe, in a made-up country, that only Anderson would make us believe actually exists, in 1932.

The narration in this Thirties stretch is supplied by the adult Zero Moustafa (Abraham), who describes the events of his first days as a teenaged lobby boy-in-training (played by Tony Revolori) at the Grand Budapest. Zero’s boss and mentor is the imperturbable concierge M. Gustave (Fiennes), a nattily mustached, one-man monument to, paradoxically, decorum and earthly delights. When asked about his relationship with Madame D., an octogenarian hotel regular (played by Tilda Swinton, deliciously rheumy-eyed and old-lady over-lipsticked), Gustave casually shrugs, so continental-like: “I go to bed with all my friends.” But when the moneyed Madame D. suddenly turns up dead, the police suspect Gustave of foul play, especially when her last will and testament bequeathes a priceless painting to him. A chase ensues – the first of many – and Anderson’s capering whodunit hardly stops for breath again.

"The Grand Budapest Hotel" is slick and sly. It's also Anderson-style absurdist to a tee. It seems like Anderson has perfected the art of the absurdist storytelling. This is a truly spectacular film, the kind that almost begs the viewer to watch it again, almost immediately. Each character is wonderful, as they are written and as they are portrayed by the great actors that live up to all their potential, perhaps because they've all seemed to work with Anderson on a few of his films already, there seems to be a comfort level with everyone involved in his latest project, like they all know how to pull the best out of each other. This is not going to disappoint you, at all. It's a masterpiece in every sense of the word.

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"Lost and Delirious"
starring: Mischa Barton, Piper Perabo, Emily VanCamp, Jessica Pare

Maybe it's because I'm now an almost-middle-aged guy (33 years old), but I just did not understand this film, other than an homage to teenage girls obsession with the concept of being in love and idealism that takes over during our teenage years. These girls have hormones and are not afraid to show it, especially with each other. Perhaps it's because the setting for the film is at an all-girls boarding school, but it seems like these things happen often. It almost seemed like this film was trying hard to be an all-female, lesbian-like version of "Dead Poets Society," especially with the girls reciting some poetry at random times throughout the film, during crucial periods. Maybe it's because I really liked and related to "Dead Poets Society" because I was once an adolescent boy, but I couldn't feel the connection to these girls.

 The movie would be dishonest if it didn't provide us with visuals to match the libidos of its two young lovers--the heedless rebel girl Paulie (Piper Perabo) and the cautious rich kid Victoria (Jessica Pare), who is excited by her schoolgirl affair, but not brave enough to risk discovery; after all, her parents may not take her to Europe if they find out.

Paulie and Victoria represent two types familiar from everyone's high school--the type who acts out, and the type who wants to get all the right entries under her photo in the yearbook. At reunions years from now, Paulie will be the one they tell the stories about. Piper Perabo plays her with wonderful abandon and conviction, and Jessica Pare's Tory is sweet in her timidity. Perabo has scenes that would merely seem silly if she weren't able to invest them with such sincerity.

I wish I could've liked this film, but it just felt like a rip off to me.