KINGSMAN: A Good Popcorn Picture Until The Popcorn Runs Out

Now playing at a multiplex near you:

KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE

(Dir. Matthew Vaughn, 2014) 

In Matthew Vaughn�s fifth film, an adaptation of a graphic novel series by Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar, the writer/director outfits the world of James Bond in the cartoonish formula of his KICK ASS films. That is to say, there�s a lot of stylized violence with a high body count, a ton of glib one-liners, and constant attempts at meta-commentary.

A suave, dapper Colin Firth (when is he not suave and dapper?) stars as gentleman spy Harry Hart (codename: Galahad), a member of �an independent, international, international intelligence agency operating at the highest level of discretion.� Firth is well cast as the mannered British badass, and at first, especially in a scene where he lays out a bunch of brutal youths in a pub, it's a blast to see him in the part.

The slick scenario concerns Firth�s Hart recruiting Taron Egerton as Eggsy, the son of one of his late colleagues, for the elite squad, but first the young London street-tough has to compete with a bunch of smug, better-bred candidates, and, of course, one friendly female (Sophie Cookson), for the same position.

A lisping Samuel L. Jackson plays the super villain they�re training to defeat, an internet billionaire named Richmond Valentine who�s planning on wiping out most of the world�s population through a mind-controlling cellphone app.

For roughly half of this film�s running time I was going along with its poppy charm, but a scene in which Firth, affected by the villain�s violence-inducing app, goes on a murderous rampage and slaughters a church full of hate-spewing, redneck fundamentalist Christians in Kentucky (clearly modeled on the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas) set to the four-minute guitar solo in Lynyrd Skynyrd's �Free Bird,� really lost me.

The in-your-face unfunniness there sadly set the tone for the rest of the film, which involves the customary infiltration of the enemy�s secret lair (located inside a snow-covered mountain), and much more gratuitous murder in the form of hundreds of heads exploding in the form of rainbow-colored fireworks.

None of this is as witty, clever, or exciting as it wants to be. James Bond satires, homages, or imitations have been around as long as the iconic series itself, and after the likes of Maxwell Smart, Derek Flint, Matt Helm, Johnny English, Austin Powers, and dozens of others have done it to death, KINGSMAN brings nothing new to the table.

Even CARS 2�s secret agent subplot that had Michael Caine voicing an Aston Martin had more Bondian bite than this. Caine is also on hand here as the head of the Kingsman, bringing a little gravitas to the proceedings but not much else. Also along for the ride is Sofia Boutella as Jackson�s henchwoman Gazelle who has CGI-ed bionic blades for legs (one of the few entertaining elements on display), Mark Strong as the Kingman�s gadget and weapons specialist (you know, like Bond�s Q?), and Mark Hamill (yes, that Mark Hamill) as a British climate scientist that Jackson kidnaps early on.

It�s a fine cast, but Vaughn and frequent collaborator Jane Goldman�s screenplay isn�t equipped with enough flashy fun for a whole film. What starts out as a tongue-in-cheek spy comedy romp ends up resembling a rowdy kid just sticking its tongue out at these well worn conventions. And that's about as funny as Jackson's lisp, which sure didn't make me laugh.

KINGSMAN is only a good popcorn picture until the popcorn runs out - the cringe-worthy church scene being where that happened for me.

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INTERSTELLAR: The Film Babble Blog Review

Opening Friday, November 7th, at multiplexes from here to beyond the stars...

INTERSTELLAR (Dir. Christopher Nolan, 2014)

Despite some spectacular set-pieces, Christopher Nolan�s highly anticipated outer space epic INTERSTELLAR is a massive misfire. 

It so wants to be for our times the profound experience that 2001: A SPACE ODDYSEY was to the late �60s, but with its problematic plotting, pretentious dialogue, and cringe-worthy convolutions of the cosmic variety, it�s more M. Night Shyamalan than Stanley Kubrick.

Set in the near future on a dying, dust stormed-out Earth, an intense Matthew McConaughey, acting like he rehearsed his lofty line readings while being filmed driving his Lincoln to the set every day, stars as a former NASA test pilot, a widowed farmer raising two kids (Mackenzie Foy and Timoth�e Chalamet).

With some cajoling by a ghost who apparently lives in the bookcase in Foy�s bedroom, McConaughey leaves his kids behind to travel on a spacecraft with a small crew (including a short-haired Anne Hathaway as a head strong scientist) to another galaxy to find a new habitable planet for the human race.

Michael Caine, who must really get along with the filmmaker as it�s his sixth role in a Nolan film, again brings his fading yet still stirring gravitas to his part as Professor Brand, the physicist who�s in charge of the secret mission, and is also Hathaway�s father.

By way of a wormhole near Saturn, which is pretty cool if you can rid your mind of the extremely similar scene in STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, McConaughey, Hathaway, and fellow explorers David Gyasi and Wes Bentley (and a robot named TARS voiced by Bill Irwin) find a possible candidate planet but there�s a mighty catch in order to check it out. You see, because of it�s a proximity to a black hole, every hour on the planet�s surface will equate to seven years back on Earth.

So while McConaughey and crew battle the ginormous tidal waves of that inhospitable world, his daughter and grow up to be Jessica Chastain and Casey Affleck, both bitter at their departed dad in different albeit not very impactful ways.

To go any farther plot-wise would be Spoiler City, and the exposition-filled (and fueled) turns of Nolan�s screenplay (co-written with brother, Jonathan, a frequent collaborator) are too messy and strained to describe. This is especially true pertaining to what I guess is a surprise cameo that McConaughey and Hathaway encounter on a bleak, ice planet in the film�s second half (Nolan really must liked shooting in the snow, see INCEPTION).

Dutch-Swedish cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema captures Nolan�s imagery sweepingly - a large portion of the film was shot with IMAX cameras - and there are moments in which the movie�s ambitious vision comes close to exhilaration, but what should�ve been a spiritual successor to CONTACT unfortunately brings to mind the title of another McConaughey movie: FAILURE TO LAUNCH.

Movie fans can expect to be reminded of many, many other movies while watching INTERSTELLAR, from the aforementioned 2001 to Phillip Kaufman�s THE RIGHT STUFF (a 1983 historical drama about pioneering astronauts, for you young folks) to such sci-fi staples as ALIEN, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, FORBIDDEN PLANET, and everything that�s ever had the word �Star� in its name. However, Nolan�s overwrought opus amore often recalls scores of sci-fi failures such as THE BLACK HOLE, MISSION TO MARS, SIGNS, and, uh, lots of movies that have had �Star� in their titles.

Also, GRAVITY did the �let�s see A-list actors struggling for survival in outer space� scenario way better. On top of that, its colossal lack of emotional pull really hinders its climax which never comes close to making anything near satisfying sense.

I take no pleasure in saying that while INTERSTELLAR is Nolan�s most audacious and certainly his most personal film, it�s easily his worst work, and the biggest cinematic letdown of 2014. Because it�s not without visual power, and some invested acting, many critics will praise it, and it will definitely get some award season action, but me, I�ll be over there, on the side, standing behind BIRDMAN.

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More Michael Caine Impressions Over Dinner

Now playing at an indie art house near you...

THE TRIP TO ITALY

(Dir. Michael Winterbottom, 2014)

This sequel to the 2010 art house comedy sleeper, THE TRIP, which re-unites Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as fictionalized versions of themselves is definitely a case of more of the same.

It�s more fine dining � this time in exquisite Italian restaurants with spectacular ocean-views. It�s more neurotic bickering about stardom, or lack of stardom.

It�s more driving down winding roads through the scenic countryside � this time to the accompaniment of an Alanis Morissette CD.

But most importantly it�s more Michael Caine impressions, with a healthy side of Al Pacino as Brydon affects the famous actor�s gruff persona for an audition for an American mafia movie.

Just like in the first one, Coogan and Brydon are on a restaurant tour which they will write about for The Observer. Also like its predecessor, the film is edited together from 6 episodes of a BBC program, which accounts for its overlong length.

Though we see a lot of food � there are many cuts to inside the kitchens of each of the six restaurants they visit from Tuscany and Rome to the Amalfi coast while the duo converse at their tables � the meals aren�t really discussed except to say how heavenly they taste. Again, the meat of the matter is who can do the better impersonation.

At one point, Coogan and Brydon even act out an entire sketch involving the stars of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES � Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, and Caine (of course) arguing on set. This bit is hilarious but the mimicry does get tiresome, especially when they trod on material they well covered the first time around � i.e. the same Sean Connery lines.

The bare bones of the plot involve Brydon getting a part in the aforementioned film, a fictitious Michael Mann, and having an affair with a British tour guide (Rosie Fellner). Coogan�s only dilemma appears to be that his most recent series, an American TV drama named Pathology (also fictitious) has been canceled.

Otherwise we just basically hang with these guys through their travels as they follow in the footsteps of the great Romantic poets Byron and Shelley, consume copious amounts of food and wine, and make references to many movies including ROMAN HOLIDAY, LA DOLCE VITA, NOTTING HILL (always an excuse for Brydon to do his spot on Hugh Grant impression), and CONTEMPT.

It�s an unruly formless experience that wears out its welcome halfway through. Only hardcore fans of the original or of these guys will find it funny or at least entertaining from start to finish. There's also the case that the more they do some of these impressions - particularly Brydon's Pacino - the less effective they are. 

It does help that it looks great. Cinematographer James Clarke, who shot the first one, captures immaculate imagery of Italy in scene after scene. So I'll file THE TRIP TO ITALY with MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT under �Slight films of 2014 that have gorgeous scenery.�

While in THE TRIP, Coogan remarked that �behind every little pithy vaguely amusing joke is a cry for help,� here the cries seem to be more for attention. With their aching through their posh lifestyles and showbiz entitlements, the only help these guys will really need will be at the box office if they try to pull off a third one of these.

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