Hotel Artemis

First Hit: Who says Hollywood cannot create a unique and well-acted film.

It’s the future, 2028, and L.A. is caught in a huge riot. However, inside the Hotel Artemis, on the top floor, there is a place of chaotic serenity – a place held together by rules – a place run by The Nurse (Jodie Foster).

Rule 1, you must have a valid membership to enter The Nurse’s establishment. The establishment is a few rooms in the Penthouse at the top of the Hotel Artemis where she fixes up members, mainly criminals, who have been injured.

Helping her is an orderly; Everest (Dave Bautista). I was entranced in his character the moment he points out that as a health professional he has the right to do certain things.

Together they manage the calls that come in for a room or medical assistance. When someone calls, she checks to see if she has a room and if she does, they can be admitted if their membership is valid by scanning their arm next to a scanner in the barred off lobby of the Penthouse floor. If the wound is serious, Everest may be called to help escort the patient to the Penthouse floor.

Each person who’s admitted is called by the name of the room they occupy. In Waikiki is actor Sterling K. Brown who is there because his brother in room Honolulu (Brian Tyree Henry) was shot, bleeding badly, and also happens to have a heroin addiction. Staying in the room Nice, pronounced like the city in France, is an assassin (Sofia Boutella). In Acapulco (Charlie Day) is a healing local thug who thinks he’s above everyone.

The story begins with Waikiki and Honolulu being admitted to Hotel Artemis because Honolulu has been badly wounded. Their running mate Buke was not admitted because his membership has lapsed and the scene where Everest escorts him out of the hotel is excellent.

We watch with fascination as The Nurse goes to work as she fastidiously works her healing magic on patients using a fine marriage of skill and technology. Also we see the intense interactions between Nice, Acapulco and Waikiki in the bar that also set up part of the plot.

We learn that “The Wolf” (Jeff Goldblum) runs L.A. and is the one who set The Nurse up at the top of this hotel for this purpose and to be there when he needs her.

As the story unfolds and The Nurse learns that The Wolf is on his way, all the players have their part in this story of revenge, redemption and freedom.

Foster is sublime in this role. She’s perfect as the fastidious nurse who wants to play by the rules, has a past sadness, and is afraid to go outside of the hotel. Bautista is profoundly excellent as The Nurse’s bodyguard, fixit man, and orderly. I loved his character. Brown is excellent as the guy who’s upended his life for his brother and continues to support him, no matter what. Henry is good as the shot junkie brother. Boutella is outstanding as the assassin. Her intensity and clarity of movement during her scenes were wonderful. Day was great as the kind of person you don’t want to like. His ability to portray arrogance and racist leanings were perfect for his role. Goldblum was wonderful as The Wolf. His supreme attitude towards his stature in L.A. worked perfectly. Drew Pearce wrote and directed this unique story. Kudos for trying something different when all Hollywood can seem to do this throw up retreads of past stories.

Overall: I fully enjoyed this unique story and the excellent acting by all the actors.

Fist Fight

First Hit:  Had an interesting start, faded quickly, and tried to redeem itself at the end.

I admit that I like Ice Cube’s intensity and he shows this part off in this film, however I must also admit that I’m so far away from what it might be like in a high school these days that I was taken aback by the way the kids interacted and the lack of respect they had toward school. Granted this was the last day of school and seniors tend to act poorly believing they are justified by acting stupid. But jeez, making the school out to be this way actually made the film worse.

The plot is that Andy Campbell (Charlie Day) and Strickland (Ice Cube) work at Roosevelt High School which we assume is the worst school in this LA suburb. Strickland barks at his students and is oppressive while Campbell tries to coax his students into learning. There is something wrong with a VHS machine in Strickland’s room and he asks Campbell to help him fix it. When Campbell figures out that it’s a student who is causing the issue, Strickland goes ballistic and takes an axe to the student’s desk.

Called into the Principal’s office, they are supposed to uphold the teachers code and vow to have each other’s back by not telling the truth about the classroom event. However, Campbell falters on the teacher’s code to keep his job and tells the Principal the truth about the axe incident. Strickland gets fired and vows to beat Campbell up after school. The proposed fight has the entire school body in a twitter with excitement.

There are other subplots in this film, including Campbell singing a song with his daughter Ally (Alexa Nisenson), the school being in a financial crisis has to fire a lot of teachers, the guidance counselor Holly (Jillian Bell) uses meth, is oversexed and wants to have sex with students, and Coach Crawford (Tracy Morgan) has a losing team and is sort of a joke in the school.

The only subplot that is interesting is the one with Campbell and his daughter Ally although her song in the end is a little over the top for grade school but was done for a point.

The middle of the film is a bunch of wasted motion of trying to have Campbell find a way to get out of the fist fight. Unfortunately, little of this film seems plausible and in the end when the fight does come to fruition the film pulls back together just a bit, but not enough to make sitting through the whole film interesting.

Day is OK. His voice grated on me because it seemed overdone. It was so wimpy and whiny that it didn’t work. Ice Cube is intense through most of the film but shows some humanity in the end. He does a good job of staying himself and somewhat unattached to this poor film. Bell’s character was an unneeded distraction and not needed. Morgan was more of the same, unneeded distraction. Both were in roles that does nothing to assist them in their careers except financially. Nisenson was the best of the lot. I liked her ability to be afraid of being seen as a wimp and a nobody and then powerfully doing her inappropriate song. Van Robichaux and Evan Susser wrote a very weak screenplay. It’s use of distracting characters to keep the film moving compounded its weakness. Although Director Richie Keen had a poor screenplay to work with, he did, from time to time, make a few scenes work.

Overall:  This film was poorly conceived and the execution did nothing to make it any better.

Horrible Bosses 2

First Hit:  Although there were some funny bits, it lacked being a full on comedy.

The three main characters Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis), and Dale (Charlie Day) are opening their own business with a product for the shower.

The whole storyline around this and their interaction is, for the most part, not funny. They try funny bits; like demonstrating their product on TV, breaking into a house and stealing some nitrous oxide; but they aren’t funny at all. There is very little that's funny about the bits these three do together. However the funny parts is when they bring other characters into the fold.

Chris Pine as Rex the son of the owner of a large distribution company. Christoph Waltz as Bert the successful owner of the distribution company. Kevin Spacey as Dave the old imprisoned boss they wanted to kill. Jamie Foxx as Dean “MF” Jones, their criminal friend who gives them guidance.

And last but not least, Jennifer Aniston as Dr. Julie Harris and sex addicted dentist. Each of these other characters bring in dialogue and aliveness that make the audience laugh-out-loud. However in the end, the film is dead on arrival.

Bateman looks bored in the role. He’s supposed to be the smart steady one and he's this character to the detriment of the film. Sudeikis tries to be lively  and funny as the sex starved guy, but again the role and dialogue is old before it comes out of his mouth. Day as Dale the family man, is dull and unintelligent and ads little to the film. However, Pine is dynamic, over the top, and great as the son who wants more from his dad than he has. Waltz is oddly funny as the guy who puts his business and money over the welfare of his son (Pine). Foxx is intensely funny as the bad-ass friend of the crew. Spacey is intimidatingly intense as the imprisoned scruple-less boss. Aniston is great as the sex starved dentist. Watching her spit out her desires of what she wants to do with the men is precious. Sean Anders and John Morris wrote an unfunny story for the main characters while livening up the dialogue for the other characters. Anders didn’t do a very good job of writing and directing this comedy.

Overall:  This has to be the last of this series – it would only get worse if they try.

Horrible Bosses

First Hit:  Uneven film from the beginning but in the end it came together enough to be enjoyable.

Nick Hendricks (played by Jason Bateman) works in a large corporation for Dave Harkin (played by Kevin Spacey) who is the perfect ultimate jerk of a boss.

He lies about Nick, takes advantage of his work ethic, and is vindictive. Dale Arbus (played by Charlie Day) who only wants to be married to his fiancé works as a dental assistant for Dr. Julia Harris D.D.S. (played by Jennifer Aniston) who is a very horny dentist and spends most of her time trying to persuade Dale to screw her at work while the patients are under anesthesia. Kurt Buckman (played by Jason Sudeikis) is a top account manager for a local company. He works for Jack Pellit (played by Donald Sutherland) who admires Kurt, but Jack dies and his son Bobby (played by Colin Farrell) is anointed to run the company.

Bobby is self-obsessive and a cocaine and sex addict. He begins to make Kurt’s life miserable. The three are friends and during one of their nights out they hatch a plan to kill their bosses. Of course they know nothing about it and end up seeking advice from Dean “MF” Jones (played by Jamie Foxx).

After the introduction of these characters and their reasons why they want their bosses dead, the film falls into series of bits, some funny some not.

Eventually the film finds its story and legs and comes home in a reasonably satisfying way.

Bateman is the settling energy and most reasonable person in this film. He’s also funny. Spacy is, for me, the scene stealer. When he’s on the screen he’s definitely worth watching. Day is at his best when he accidentally inhales a bunch of cocaine he’s cleaning up. Aniston is playing a role very unlike her normal roles and she is a hoot to watch. Sudeikis is suave as a guy who is not necessarily handsome but smooth enough to get almost anyone to have sex with him. Farrell is almost non-recognizable but his abilities to express are all Farrell. Fox is wonderfully intense and funny to watch as the professional murder consultant. Michael Markowitz, John Francis Daley, and Jonathan M. Goldstein wrote this script and for the most part it felt like a bunch of un-integrated bits. Seth Gordon directed the film but seemed lost after the strong beginning, but was able to bring it home well enough.

Overall: Although this film was lost much of the time, it did come together at the end to make the sit worthwhile.

Going the Distance

First Hit: Drew Barrymore and Justin Long make this film work in many ways.

Barrymore plays Erin, who is a writing graduate student at Stanford University doing a summer internship at a New York City newspaper called The Sentinel. While there, she happens upon Garrett (played by Justin Long) who is sitting and moping to his friends about the girl who just walked out on him.

His friends, Dan and Box (played by Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis respectively) listen to his bemoaning all the time because he never really commits to a girl and they often end up in a bar having some beer lamenting his misfortune.

He and Erin find they have things in common and end up having a few drinks, then spend the night together. She tells him the next day she only has 6 weeks left in town and therefore doesn’t want to do anything serious. She also explains that she has already once followed a man around the US only to lose sight of her life and she won’t do this again.

As you would expect, they fall in love, have a long distance relationship and spend the rest of the film finding out a way to be together.

What worked about this film was the dialogue. It was crisp, open and very much built on today’s ideas and ideals. I also thought that, as a couple, they were well matched and seemed to fit both physically and emotionally.

The other characters, Dan, Box, and Erin’s sister Corrine (played by Christina Applegate) were extremely useful to the plot, dialogue and movement of the film.

Barrymore was great, open, fully charged and engaging as Erin. She seems to gaining more maturity and strength personally which results in deeper characters. Long was in one of his better roles. He usually is the calm, cool and collected guy, who is clearly in-charge of his feelings, but here there is a movement to expose himself more and with Barrymore there was a connection which he didn’t hide. Day and Sudeikis were perfect amusing foils to Long and gave the film some of its funniest moments while also making sure there was some truth to the whole story. Applegate was a joy to see as the Barrymore’s older sister. She was vulnerable, possessive, controlling and supportive at all the right times. Geoff LaTulippe wrote a strong script while Nanette Burstein did a great job with both the story and the characters.

Overall: This was a well done romantic funny film and even though we all know the ending long before it arrives, it was a fun ride.