Ten to See

Summer is in full swing, with multiple movies opening every weekend, trying (and managing) to appeal to every age group under the sun.  This weekend's box office numbers are a great example of what a lucrative season this is for movies, with Ted and Magic Mike exceeding industry expectations, and hold-overs like Brave holding up extremely well.  These three movies, and many others, are worth a trip to the theater, not only to escape the extreme heat sweeping some of the nation, but also because they're great movies.

In Theaters
Brave - Early word on Brave was mixed, with some asserting that it was another bump in Pixar's prestigious pedigree, a continuation of the downward spiral started by last year's Cars 2 (which was much better than critics let on).  While Brave is a different animal than many of Pixar's other offerings, it's still a wonderful movie.

More Disney than Pixar, Brave tells a story that's more conventional that the more creative turns in movies like WALL-E and Up: a Scottish princess defies tradition and seeks to change her fate as she butts heads with her prim and proper mother.  It's a familiar tale, and everything wraps up so neatly it's a bit eye-rolling, but my, Brave is magical.

It's easily one of the most beautiful animated films ever made, with lush foliage, wonderful character animation, and a truly wild 'do atop Merida's head.  The feisty ginger heroine is one of Pixar's best characters, thanks in large part to perfect voicework by Kelly Macdonald. Patrick Doyle's score is gorgeous (if not as evocative as John Powell's work on the similarly set How to Train Your Dragon) and bolstered by some great songs that accompany the action in the vein of Toy Story or Tarzan, including a song from Mumford and Sons.

Even if it comes to a tidy conclusion, Brave still boasts a lovely story populated with memorable characters and genuine emotion, mostly stemming from the relationship between Merida and her mother.  Throw in the young triplets as comic relief and a demon bear as the villain, and Brave is a masterful fairy tale, and an interesting addition to the Pixar oeuvre.

Magic Mike - When word broke that Steven Soderbergh was making a movie based on Channing Tatum's days as a male stripper, starring Tatum, I thought that the eccentric director had finally gone off the deep end.  Soderbergh is known for his wild resume, populated by films as diverse as Contagion, The Good German, and this year's actioner Haywire.  I'm surprised that I can say that Magic Mike is one of the director's most enjoyable movies to date.

Magic Mike starts off as a sort of female-targeted popcorn movie.  It's pretty silly, lots of fun, and is full of eye candy.  This is, obviously, the role Tatum was born to play.  The actor has never been as natural on screen, with his impressive dancing, easy charm, and surprising depth.  He gets solid support from the other dancers, such as Alex Pettyfer and True Blood's Joe Manganiello, but Matthew McConaughey steals most every scene he's in as club owner Dallas.  He has charisma to burn and even takes the stage himself late in the movie.

The dance scenes manage to achieve a strange sort of balance between comedy, camp, and creativity.  This is a talented group of guys, and their moves consistently impress, as do the various bits the characters perform on different nights.  When the line-up hits the stage, the audience is rightfully screaming (both in the movie and in the theater; if you can see this movie in a theater full of women, do).

The most surprising part of Magic Mike, though, is what a gorgeous movie it is, regardless of the chiseled bodies.  The film is beautifully photographed, and many scenes take on stunning hues that are reminiscent of the dreamiest beer commercials you've ever seen, but in a good way.  Color is often used to heighten the drama, which the film unfortunately becomes preoccupied with in its third act.  When the film turns to the darker side of stripping (drugs, infidelity, etc.), the film feels tired and loses the spark that makes its first two-thirds just a strange joy to watch.  Even so, Magic Mike is a solid movie that mines subject matter that rarely finds its way to the screen.

Safety Not Guaranteed - Based on an actual want ad seeking a partner to travel back in time, Safety Not Guaranteed is one of the best movies of the year.  Original, funny, sweet, and insightful, the film delves into our preoccupation with the past, whether it's rekindling an old romance or fixing a fatal mistake.  It's a theme that's been well-explored in film before (last year's Midnight in Paris is one of the finest examples), but no film has ever done it quite like Safety Not Guaranteed.

Parks and Rec's Aubrey Plaza stars, and carries the film admirably.  She still utilizes her well-established slacker hipster persona, but she also gives her character depth and empathy, something that she's only recently started to explore on Parks and Rec.  Plaza has great chemistry with Mark Duplass, who is marvelous as the aspiring time traveler who has apparently managed the feat once before.  Duplass walks a fine line, never making his character a punchline, but also avoiding the too-sentimental wise man sort of archetype his character could've easily become.

There are many ways Safety Not Guaranteed could've gone, and many of them are brought up in the film and discarded.  The film manages to remain firmly grounded in reality while also making you wonder if Duplass's character is actually going to construct a working time machine.  It's impressive stuff, and the conclusion is both surprising and deeply satisfying, and capped with a moving kicker.

Safety Not Guaranteed will likely not see a wide release, but it's worth making a special trip to an out-of-the-way art house theater. 

Ted - Seth MacFarlane brings his schtick to the big screen for the first time with Ted, the well-marketed comedy that did gangbusters business at the box office this weekend.  It's not surprising, as MacFarlane has taken his Family Guy formula, trimmed some of the excess, and injected a little more sweetness into the final package to make one of the year's funniest, most original comedies.

Ted seems like it would be a one-trick pony, but MacFarlane manages to flesh out his central conceit with great results.  The usual concerns of a friend-or-girl scenario take on new life when the friend is a teddy bear given brought to life by a childhood wish.  MacFarlane voices Ted, who sounds a lot like Peter Griffin (despite his protestations), and gives a great performance.  Mark Wahlberg gives one of his rare great performances of late; between this and The Other Guys (and The Happening, but let's not go there), it's clear that Wahlberg is well-suited to comedy.

As for the comedy itself, Ted represents a lot of what MacFarlane does best: lots of pop culture references, sex jokes, some toilet humor, memorable one liners, and a healthy dose of non sequiturs.  Unlike Family Guy, however, all the humor builds into a more coherent storyline with fewer distractions, and the film also has a healthy dollop of sweetness, but doesn't push too much in that department.  The result is a perfect summer comedy cocktail starring an extremely unlikely leading man.  It's only a matter of time before MacFarlane's next big-screen project is announced.

Your Sister's Sister - Lynn Shelton follows up the wonderful Humpday with Your Sister's Sister, an affecting character-driven drama starring Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Mark Duplass (yup, I'm Duplass double-dipping).  Shelton lets her characters drive the story, finding the narrative in their relationships and allowing scenes to unfold at a natural pace, building to a lovely, if frustratingly sudden, ending.

The film chronicles a few days at a cabin on a barely-populated island, where Duplass's Jack goes to find peace and quiet, only to run into DeWitt's Hannah, whose sister Iris (Blunt) is Jack's best friend and secret admirer.  Each relationship is given ample screentime, and the dynamics are honest and fascinating.  When all three are in the same room, things get complicated, as secrets are buried, come out, and break bonds.  Not a moment rings false, and the performers are all at the top of their game.  DeWitt deserves special mention as a recently-single lesbian who wants to have a baby.  She makes Hannah messy, vulnerable, and likable, and gives one of my favorite performances of the year so far.

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted - I wasn't a fan of the first Madagascar, and I skipped the second, but something drew me into the third entry.  I'm glad for whatever that something was, because Europe's Most Wanted is full of memorable characters, jokes that hit their mark, and, unfortunately, the smorgasbord of pop culture references that defined Dreamworks' animated flicks of yore.

The plot is threadbare, but it serves its purpose: getting the cast of characters across Europe to perform their routine in various famous locales.  The new characters are lots of fun, and wonderfully voiced.  Bryan Cranston is unrecognizable as Russian tiger Vitaly, the circus's former star who doubts Alex (Ben Stiller) and friends' designs on rebuilding the circus.  Frances McDormand is also great as Captain Chantel DuBois, a fierce woman whose goal in life is to add a lion's head to her trophy collection, and has a penchant for singing Edith Piaf songs (yes, it's great).

It's clear where the movie is heading from before it even starts, but that doesn't make the journey any less satisfying.  There's still something joyous, something triumphant about seeing the circus come together, and seeing these beloved (by others at least) characters find a new home.  It does make one wonder where the inevitable fourth chapter will go, but in the meantime, I'll bask in the goofy fun of the third.

The Avengers - Chances are, if you're reading this, you've already seen The Avengers, possibly multiple times, but on the off-chance that you haven't, you simply must.  The Avengers is one of those rare event movies, a must-see that is the perfection of the pre-Dark Knight superhero genre: colorful, loud, exciting, and always entertaining.  And thanks to writer-director Joss Whedon, your hero and mine, it's also got a lot of heart and wit to spare.

Whedon has long been a hero of comic book geeks everywhere, and now there's another reason.  Whedon took on a herculean effort in bringing Marvel's superteam to the big screen, and he manages to keep all the plates spinning to the point where they're all levitating in mid-air, looking both effortless and awesome every step of the way.  Each character gets a chance to shine, in their respective introductory scenes and throughout the rest of the film.

The action scenes are beautifully choreographed, whether the heroes are facing off with each other or teaming up to battle Loki's forces.  All of the great performances established in the previous films are carried on here, and Mark Ruffalo is an appropriately incredible addition to the cast as the new Hulk.  Whedon took special care with the character, who can easily feel flat, and the Hulk emerges as the film's scene stealer, for his fighting prowess but even more for his comic relief.

As expected, the film leaves the door wide open for sequels (there are new Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and Avengers movies on the horizon), but the post-credits scene goes for one final, big laugh instead.  It's a fitting conclusion for a Whedon joint.

Moonrise Kingdom - I've already written about Wes Anderson's latest at length in my review, but the praise bears repeating.  Anderson's tale of childhood love is one of the best movies of the year, full of humor, darkness, discovery, and Anderson's trademark style.

On Blu-ray/DVD
21 Jump Street - No one was asking for this reboot of the 1980s TV show, but everyone ended up happy it got made.  21 Jump Street is surprisingly funny, with great performances from (and chemistry between) Jonah Hill, who is growing into one of the funniest actors in Hollywood, and Channing Tatum, who is having a banner year.  Their characters take very different routes through their return to high school, and the results are at times surprising, at other times more obvious, but always funny.  The way the movie ties in the original series is also quite clever, even for non-fans like me.

The Artist - This year's Best Picture winner may not have deserved to take the trophy home, but it is a wonderful movie that hearkens back to the days of silent cinema.  The film is beautifully made, with great costumes, art direction, and music.  Jean Dujardins gives an impossibly charming performance as a silent actor struggling with the emergence of sound cinema, and he has electric chemistry with Berenice Bejo, whose husband Michel Hazanavicius wrote and directed the film.  Uggie, the dog who made the rounds during awards season and recently announced his retirement from film, is a darling scene stealer, and the film successfully pays homage to a bygone era while not feeling like a relic itself.