December 2012

Ted

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Ted
  • IMDB: link

ted-blu-raySeth MacFarlane‘s Ted is an interesting idea that runs out of steam well before the final credits start to roll. Mark Wahlberg stars as manchild John Bennett. As a lonely child John wished his teddy bear would come to life and be his best friend. After his wish was granted and the notoriety and celebrity of a talking child’s toy has worn down Mark continues to live with Ted (MacFarlane) almost 30 years later, much to the displeasure of John’s current girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis).

For all the uniqueness of crafting a story centered around a walking, talking teddy bear, Ted is fairly pedestrian in what the script sets out to do. Ted is nothing more than the average bad influence the girlfriend wants to get her boyfriend away from to start a legitimate life together. The story doesn’t quite work because John is wholly responsible for Ted’s existence, something Kunis’ character should, but never quite does, understand.

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Winter Soldier #13

/ / Comics

winter-soldier-13-coverIt takes the combined efforts of Daredevil, Captain America, Hawkeye, and Wolverine to take down down the Winter Soldier who has been brainwashed by the Soviet sleep agent Novokov to kill Daredevil.

If you didn’t know writer Ed Brubaker’s near insane love for the character of the Winter Soldier you’ll certainly get the message loud and clear here as the combined efforts of three pretty damn formidable Avengers (and Hawkeye) struggle to prevent the brainwashed Bucky from carrying out his mission.

The fight has its moments, and it’s certainly well told, but by the end of the issue we’re right back to where we were an issue-and-a-half ago with no movement on the search for the brainwashed Black Widow or the ultimate goal of Novokov. Even if Brubaker seems to be milking a story that doesn’t make any sense with what’s going on with the rest of the Marvel Universe (as Black Widow isn’t reprogrammed in The Avengers or other titles in which she’s also appearing), it’s still worth a look.

[Marvel, $2.99]

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Jack Reacher

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Jack Reacher
  • IMDB: link

jack-reacher-posterI prefer my Tom Cruise action films a little crazy and more than slightly ridiculous. (Hell, I even kinda like Knight and Day.) Jack Reacher delivers on both counts. Based on the character created by Lee Child, Cruise stars as former Military Police officer turned professional nomad who shows up in Pittsburgh when a former Army sniper (Joseph Sikora) is accused of killing five people.

As Reacher tells the man’s attorney (Rosamund Pike), he doesn’t show up to save Barr (Sikora) but to bury him. With Barr in a coma after a prison beat down, the only way Reacher can get the proof he needs to make sure Barr gets the needle is to agree to work with his lawyer. However, the more Reacher digs into the case the more, to his increasing frustration, it appears Barr was framed for the crime. Reacher also discovers the killings weren’t as random as everyone believes.

I’ve never read a Jack Reacher novel, and I’m not sure this film sells me on the character quite enough to pick one up anytime soon. However, as a fun B-movie action flick Jack Reacher succeeds.

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This is 40

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: This is 40
  • IMDB: link

this-is-40-posterThe latest from Judd Apatow is a very personal tale, and thinly-veiled comedic look at the writer/director’s own life (which casts his real-life family and is shot in their home). The film returns Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann (Apatow’s real-life wife) in this sort of, but not really, sequel to Knocked Up. Set in between the weeks where both intrinsically selfish characters turn 40 years-old, the humor of This is 40 often rings true but doesn’t necessarily always produce big laughs.

Much like Apatow’s last film, Funny People, This is 40 meanders its way through its more than two-hour running time (nearly always a bad sign for a comedy) by exploring the everyday lives of its characters with, at times, the barest structure of a plot.

What Apatow does deliver is a frank (and at times amusing) slice of life snapshot, with moments of hilarity, between a couple both going through their own mid-life crises while dealing with the demands of their children (Iris Apatow, Maude Apatow) and parents (Albert Brooks, John Lithgow).

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