11.22.63

By: Robert Murphy

One of the biggest conspiracies in American history has revolved around the John Kennedy assassination that shook the nation to it's core. It was an unbelievable tragedy, but years later there are still many different ideas about what actually happened on that day. People always question whether or not it was actually done by the shooter that they arrested, Lee Harvey Oswald, or whether there were bigger elements at play. Was the CIA somehow behind it? Was there a second shooter? Or was it even Oswald? And while I've never been one to get wrapped up in all of the crack pot theories, this new series from the mind of Stephen King peeked my interests. 

The story revolves around an interesting take on time travel when longtime diner owner Al Templeton (Chris Cooper) reveals to the recently divorced English teacher Jake Epping (James Franco) that he has discovered a portal to 1960. Simply by walking into the pantry closet of Al's diner will transport anyone back to this era and for years he has tried to stop the assassination of one our most famous presidents but with no success. His last passage through has left him a doddering old man with cancer and unable to try and continue his work in the past. So he hands the task on to Jake knowing that he doesn't have too much longer in this world and since Jake was eager for a fresh start, who better to continue on where he left off.

Events of the story though feel more centered around Jake than his overall goal to stop the Kennedy assassination from happening. Naturally so since it will be three years before the fated day when Kennedy gets shot and the show compensates for this quite well. Jake spends much of the first year getting the lay of the land and learning just why Al has failed so many times before him. Time itself wants to happen in this world, it has a set path that does not want to be tampered with. This becomes painfully clear when Jake goes through the worst case of diarrhea in his life, one of the high points of time travel humor to come out of the series. But, Jake's early attempts at altering time lead him to learn some harsh lessons and while he succeeds at altering one life in his future it still took an immense amount of effort to overcome. So what will it be like when he tries to alter a huge point in history like the one between Oswald and Kennedy?

As Jake slowly makes moves to get close to Kennedy and Oswald various dangers pop up for him such as vivid hallucinations and random events preventing him from trying to learn the truth about what is to come. Music in a room will get louder so he can't hear a conversation, a flaming drink will nearly burn his entire arm up, a car will come crashing through a phone booth he was using, these just to name a few. The most bizarre of these occurrences comes when a seemingly average homeless man appears wherever Jake ends up. Perhaps he is an agent of time itself or just another time traveler but it really is never fully explained why he focuses so much on Jake or how he possess the abilities he has despite a brief explanation to what he is after in a later episode. It comes off as the rantings of a mad man more or less and made the character feel less effective than I thought he would end up being. 

These time occurrences also effect those Jake becomes closest to in the 1960's. Despite the warnings left by Al before he left Jake becomes extremely close to a number of people during this era. Some were bit players who never got in on the grand scheme of things but they still played their parts wonderfully such as Deke Simmons and Mimi Corcoran. But even more exceptional were those who learned that Jake was a time traveler on a mission to save the future. Early on Jake reluctantly takes the help of Bill Turcotte (George MacKay) who is searching for something to believe in after losing his sister and having Jake come along with this mission to save the president was just the thing. Bill unfortunately suffers the most after Jake starts to lead double lives with another character Sadie (Sarah Gadon), leaving him to do most of the grunt work while he is away. But this also leads him to get increasingly close to our potential assassin Oswald (Daniel Webber) and his neglected wife Marina (Lucy Fry). It becomes a tangled web of mystery as Bill wanders dangerously close to Oswald without Jake ever realizing the two had become fast friends. Could he have been a second shooter? It cannot be risked.  

As for Oswald himself, the story never quite makes it all the mystery it is cracked up to be. Jake struggles to uncover the truth as to whether or not he is the real killer or not, simply because he does not want to harm an innocent man for no reason. However, the story doesn't give credence to any other potential killers out there. There is some speculation with the CIA and agents are constantly revolving around Oswald for some unknown reason. The story almost makes it seem like it's their fault in the first place that Oswald shoots JFK without ever really going into the "why" that is on everyone's minds. Oswald never really pops either and I feel the story had trouble shifting focus from Jake back onto Oswald especially in the final episode when all caution is thrown to the wind and the assassination needs to be stopped.

In any case, James Franco's commanding on screen performance sucked me in to the story as I learned of the many details surrounding the life of the man that killed a president. There is genuine intrigue throughout the entire story as to finding out what did or didn't happen during the months leading towards JFK's death, even though Oswald himself never quite stands out as a character you fear or want to get an understanding for. He talks about Marxism one minute and then his rights as an American the next and it makes him feel like a jumbled up mess of ideas. As for time traveling back to 1960's, it is handled in an engaging manner and the concepts of time "pushing back" make things even more difficult for Jake and those trying to help him. It gives those out there who would think time traveling back and changing one thing for the better would be so simple and have them think twice about the effects it may have on themselves and the future.

Good:

- James Franco was on top of his game

- Characters were all engaging no matter how short a time spent on them

- Concepts of time travel and time fighting back felt fresh

Bad:

- Oswald and the mystery around him didn't pan out

- The mystery man following Jake throughout the story was a bust in the end

Scully Rating: 7.8 out of 10

American Ultra

By: Robert Murphy

The years have been kind to stoner movies, they've become less of a looked down upon genre and have made their way into the main stream media in recent years as marijuana itself has become less of a hot button issue. Spy movies however have always been a part of the world and have their own messy history, the James Bond films being among my favorites where others have proven to just be nonsensical adrenaline pieces. But, what would happen if you tried to combine the high stakes action of a spy movie with the mellow humor of a stoner flick? Well, the results would be something like American Ultra.

I am in no way opposed to mash ups as I've learned that they can be quite funny but they can be a tricky thing to pull off when you're trying to find a good balance for both of the genres you're putting together. When it comes to a stoner/highly tuned killing machine there is no one better than Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) who was formerly a highly skilled agent for a secret CIA project. Sadly, this portion of his life was completely wiped from his memory when the project ultimately ended and he was moved to a small town in West Virginia to live out the rest of his life in peace. Or relative peace anyways as Mike isn't exactly what you would call well adjusted since he left the CIA and he seems to proceed to screw up in most every aspect of his life except for his ideas for a cartoon series and with his girlfriend.

Not many people have the same on screen chemistry that Mike and his girlfriend Phoebe (Kristen Stewart) had throughout the entirety of American Ultra. I was legitimately thrown off by this at first as it wasn't something I had expected to end up being so perfect but for some reason the two go great together. Phoebe and Mike have a rocky start at the beginning when one of his panic attacks prevents them from going on an exotic trip to Hawaii but for the rest of the movie they're a match made in heaven. The one particularly stoner moment in the movie where Mike goes on a drug addled rant about a car and a tree, ends up leading to a very romantic part for the story later on and furthered my wanting for the two to make it through to the end. 

Things go completely wrong though when the new boss of the program Mike was in decides that he is too big of a risk to be left alive. Adrian Yates (Topher Grace) proceeds to go off on an unapproved mission to take him out and prove that his new program is far superior to the one Mike was a part of at the same time. While this is somewhat understandable, the reasoning behind Yates going so entirely rogue doesn't make a lot of sense or the lengths he goes to in order to do it. Massive quarantine tents, spy drones and heavy amounts of man power are all used just to take out one man and in the end I don't think it would have gotten him too far in the CIA as he'd hoped. Topher Grace presents a sub par showing for a movie that shouldn't require too much to pull off. Half the time he's a sarcastic jerk and the other half he is a sleazy little worm trying to climb the corporate ladder but he never presents the back bone or the charm that the role required. 

This whole scenario does lead to one of the best parts of the film and that is the action scenes. Thanks to his former boss, Victoria Lasseter (Connie Britton), Mike ends up getting activated so he can defend himself against all that Yates throws at him. She also doesn't fit her role entirely too well and spends half the time as a rogue agent trying to take down Yates rather than just going to her superiors to put a stop to his madness. Whatever the case, the action is top notch for many reasons but the funniest or rather most epic parts were when Mike was using everything and anything to take down the bad guys. Mike wasn't a super genius throughout the film he was just high skilled and very deadly so anything and everything became a weapon to him. Dust pans, spoons, you name it and he used it to get the job done. The entire scene involving a grocery store was particularly excellent as Mike made his way through the store, grabbing this or that and killing everything in his path.

Now, the factor of ill fitted roles however prevented me from thoroughly enjoying my "high" from American Ultra. On top of Topher Grace and Connie Britton there were a few other odd ball roles that were filled by normally great actors and when I say odd ball I mean real odd balls. Laugher (Walton Goggins) is a deranged agent that is part of Yates' new team of trained killers and warrens most of the screen time but his character was an insanely bizarre one. One second he's a sociopath and the next he's all touchy feely, it made no sense but oddly enough Goggins portrayal made me love the character and wish that he were the main bad guy in place of Yates. Then there is Mike's drug dealer Rose (John Leguizamo) who is one part pumped up wanna be player and one part paranoid nut job which sounds perfect for this sort of movie but it's really not. Rose should be a fun character but Leguizamo never plays him in the right way to make him a lovable nut job as it should be.

In the end, American Ultra has a good first hit but then you remember that it's mostly just ditch weed. Getting tired of my stoner puns? Me too, they're almost done. The films attempt to mash together heavy based action with stoner after tones is mainly successful do to excellent acting on the part of the two main co-stars, Eisenberg and Stewart. Everything else just doesn't hold together unfortunately and that's a shame because you want that strong stuff to keep you satisfied. Last one, promise. 

Good:

- Eisenberg and Stewart's on screen chemistry

- Action scenes are both exhilarating and oddly funny

Bad:

- Topher Grace as Yates among other ill fitting roles

- Strong build up but ultimately falls apart by the end

Scully Rating: 4.5 out of 10

Wayward Pines

By: Robert Murphy

Do you ever feel the tiniest bit of paranoia when you’re casually walking along? You start to feel like something just isn’t right and that you’re being watched from somewhere and by someone. Well, for the citizens of Wayward Pines this feeling is constant as everyone and everything is carefully monitored by some unknown group of people and if you want to live a happy life you better do things their way. But, this isn’t how the brooding Ethan Burke (Matt Dillon) operates and when he finds himself mysteriously waking in this odd little town he immediately starts to look for answers as to where he is and what is going on. This is easier said than done though as the town is ruled by fear and everyone who comes to Wayward Pines knows there is no leaving it.

I suppose many people were already turned off to Wayward Pines as soon as they realized that M. Night Shyamalan was the one who picked up the ten episode miniseries. However, the director’s first entry into the television world starts off on a high note just as his entry into the world of film. The show is based off of a three part book series so many people I’m sure had expectations if they have read the series before hand but as it so often is, I had not read the series and had no idea what to expect. From my stand point things were handled quite well in most regards especially when it came to the world you are presented with. Wayward Pines is a plastic town with flaws all around that any well trained CIA agent like Ethan Burke could sniff out but most normal everyday citizens should realize some of the issues no problem. So why is it that he is the only one who seems to be bothered by it all? Well, once you meet some of the high ranking officials throughout the town and what happens to those who disobey even the simplest of rules, you will begin to understand.

Ethan faces more than a few challenges between a town full of people who are either too scared to fight or somehow on the side of those behind Wayward Pines but also the dangers that lay beyond the gigantic electric wall that surrounds the town. Either way, Matt Dillon’s portrayal of the brooding Ethan Burke was a constant relief throughout the entire series, he is always the one who acts the most like a human being when it comes to how people act in Wayward Pines. That and the fact that he was always at the forefront of all the action for the series, his character was the driving force behind solving the mysterious behind the bizarre world and it was great to watch him do so.

Other credit goes to the secret and not so secret forces behind the town. Sheriff Pope (Terrence Howard) garnishes most of the hate and frustration for viewers as he plays the devilish judge, jury and executioner for the town. The last part he enjoys particularly well as the town performs ceremonies called “reckonings” to kill all those who disobey the rules of Wayward Pines, publicly too I might add. Terrence Howard is just as delightful to have on screen as Matt Dillon and the two square off against each other countless times during the first half of the series, Terrence’s cold and cool demeanor making for an excellent bad guy. We also have the seemingly polite Nurse Pam (Melissa Leo) who goes from evil right hand worker one minute and becomes a surprisingly likeable hero the next. Her characters transformation is frankly quite believable though as it becomes very obvious that she believes in the town and does not want any lose of human life for the sake of a better future.

Not all the characters were as well defined as some of the show runners, especially when it comes to Ethan Burke’s family. Ethan’s son Ben (Charlie Tahan) receives far more attention than I would have expected but for good reason as he serves as a connection to the youth of the town and how important they’re. I would have loved some more time during the series to have been focused on the kids of Wayward Pines due to the lessons they’re taught and the way the mastermind behind the town, Dr. Jenkins (Toby Jones), works on brainwashing them all. Ben however never feels all that involved in what is going on, despite how important of a part he has to play and may have to pay in another season, his character is very flat and never lives up to the potential of what the show expects of him. Ethan’s wife Theresa (Shannyn Sossamon) also falls into this category, Shannyn’s performance is a rather stale one as she displays little emotion or driving force to her role. There should have been plenty of emotion to work with too consider she has a cheating husband and is now stuck in a town with the woman he cheated on her with.

So what else can I say about Wayward Pines except that I really want more of it. Matt Dillon and other cast members were brilliant as they walk through the serene and dangerous town of Wayward Pines. There were plenty of twists to the story that I had honestly not expected and they were presented in a quick and easy to digest fashion that made the series run at a smooth pace. I do wish that some of the content had a chance to evolve more such as the brainwashing of the town’s youth which became an integral to the shows finale. This is coupled with the fact that not all the characters received the time they needed to develop but what can you do, it was a miniseries after all and in that regard I believe it accomplished quite a bit with what time it had.

Good:

- Matt Dillon, Terrence Howard and other main cast members

- Smooth and easy to digest story

- Wayward Pines was an eerie and interesting place to explore

Bad:

- Some character development issues

- Certain storylines would have benefited from a longer run time

Scully Rating: 8.0 out of 10

Spy

By: Robert Murphy

The world of being a super spy with a license to kill would definitely draw in anyone but we often forget that there are plenty of people working behind the scenes that make these spies the lethal players that they’re out in the field. This fact is exceedingly true for one Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) who joined the CIA to go on crazy adventures and get some excitement in her life only to end up in a vermin infested basement staring at a computer screen all day. She does however get to act as eyes and ears for one of the agencies top operatives Bradley Fine (Jude Law) and mostly does the brunt of the work while he spots out James Bond era one liners. This is until he gets taken out by the daughter of a notorious arms dealer Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne) who knows the identities of all the CIA’s current agents working in the field. It is then up to Cooper to take up the task of taking out this new threat before she unleashes a small portable nuke and get revenge for her torrid romantic interest and former team member.

McCarthy is proving to be a comedic force to be reckoned in the past few years with movies and TV shows alike which happily continues forward in Spy. Her character Susan Cooper is a soft spoken woman who wishes more than anything for people to notice her especially Fine who treats her like a buddy/errand girl rather than someone he actually notices. This translates over well in a number of scenarios throughout the first half of the story where McCarthy’s not the standard spy appearance takes a bit of a hit. Her fellow agents in the field get glamorous cars and gadgets disguised as pens of regular items where Cooper gets a grab bag of items disguised as items a middle aged woman would have in her bag. Items like stool softeners and hemorrhoid wipes get thrown into the mix but what’s worse is probably her not so appealing alter egos who included an ageing cat mommy and a divorced mother of three from Iowa. There is definitely no fancy tuxedo suits here as Cooper suffers the indignity of a old lady wig and sweater with a cat on it but she takes it all in stride.   

The dynamic changes up for her though near the halfway mark for the film as she must improvise her way out of ridiculous situations that were mostly caused by the rogue Rick Ford (Jason Statham) but it helps her finally gain some back bone. Cooper’s new persona is more of the badass spy character that she always dreamed of and it was secretly locked away inside her all along. This is where the action scenes start to pick up and it is wonderfully balanced with the scripts many comedic aspects. Cooper gets involved in a high speed chase but it is less impressive on a scooter and also gets into an impressively choreographed scene in a kitchen where she wields a frying pan in a knife fight. She even gets her very own eyes and ears as her friend Nancy (Miranda Hart) tries to lend a hand through her spy situations but ends up acting like a giddy house wife over the glitz and glamour which leaves Cooper completely exasperated. It is however a nice twist to the situation and really adds to the rich comedy gold present throughout Spy.

McCarthy doesn’t take all the credit, while she truly brings to life all of the jokes at her expense and the ridiculous action scenes she is also accompanied by some great supporting characters. Statham who I mentioned earlier is a completely ridiculous character this time around. He would normally make the perfect spy and has certainly proven his worth as an action hero countless times before but now his character has more bark than bite. His character doesn’t think that Cooper is up to the task and will screw everything up but she ends up saving him on countless occasions as he makes a mess of every situation he is put in. We then have Aldo (Peter Serafinowicz) who is a fellow agent that is stationed in Europe to help Cooper out in her mission but ends up being a ridiculous womanizer. He is constantly going on about how attractive Cooper is, even in her old lady and divorced mother disguises. The two have hilarious go betweens including a scene where he attempts to free her from her hands from rope by biting at them and ending up in a bizarre position with Cooper.

Things do start to become a grind though with all the stunts and exploits for the film. There are countless action throwbacks at nods to the audience that make a point to show that this is a spy film. Events like a private plane shoot out that leads to the plane spiraling out of control or a big club scene that features 50 Cent which aren't bad moments for the story but after awhile it bogs things down and there are plenty of scenes like it. I appreciated all of the moments that make Spy feel like the classic spy movies that I’ve scene over the years but one or two moments like that will do the trick not four or five.

Melissa McCarthy takes everything that is thrown at her and keeps on going in Spy. Her character Cooper plays a shy pencil pusher one minute and then completely transforms into a tough CIA operative with a mouth the next. McCarthy also is accompanied by some incredible supporting actors and actresses that add to this spy comedy experience. In the end, espionage has never looked quite so ridiculous but that’s certainly a good thing.

Good:

- Melissa McCarthy continues her comedic hot streak

- A great supporting cast

- Fast paced action mixed perfectly with quick witted comedy

Bad:

- A bit bogged down with the amount of spy references

Scully Rating: 8.0 out of 10  

The Expendables 3

By: Robert Murphy

For a long time I would laugh and gruff at the idea behind The Expendables movies for the sheer fact that it is hard to combine so many big names on one picture but after the first movie I was pleasantly surprised and once again was proven wrong about big names in Hollywood not being able to share screen time. The latest addition to this film trilogy, The Expendables 3, seeks to add even more names to it's already full roster and returns for another go for the old dog  group of mercenaries. At this point though, Sylvester Stallone should change the title because we seem to see more people joining in on the film rather than being killed off.

Fresh out of prison, literally and fictionally, we see Doc (Wesley Snipes) come to rejoin Barney (Stallone) and his new team as they break him out of a prison transport after a 8 year lock up in God only knows where. But this isn't the only familiar face that comes out of the wood work oddly enough as the team gets a chance to meet another member of Barney's old team alongside Doc as a routine supply raid turns south. Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson) plays our resident bad guy who was allegedly killed by Barney a long time ago when he found out that Stonebanks was turning into the very people that they often were sent to kill. Needless to say this reunion is not only shocking but also devastating as Stonebanks proceeds to make things personal and unloads a rifle round into Caesar's (Terry Crews) behind to make Barney go on the war path. This though is just the tip of the iceberg now that Stonebanks is back, he has been making a lot of noise and frankly pissing off some important people, this include the United States government and cue Bruce Willis...oh wait, no that's not Bruce that's Max Drummer (Mel Gibson), our new CIA spook who wants to see Stonebanks six feet under, for good this time. This is something Barney is more than happy to accommodate, he would have done it even if he wasn't asked too but with Caesar in the hospital it leads Barney to set out and make a new team for a most likely suicide mission against Stonebanks. 

Stonebanks or rather Gibson was someone that I absolutely loved in the film, he may have had some stumbles over the years and taken some professional hits but God did he acts his heart out in this role. Gibson was meant to play a villain in my mind as he plays the cross and demented Stonebanks beautifully, you could just tell that he wanted to prove a little something since his name hasn't been on a major title in a long time and I'm grateful for the performance.  You could also probably tell by this point in The Expendables franchise that things are far less stern and serious than they were in the first movie, it seems that with every new addition things became lighter and more fun with all our big name actors making one liners from past movies and generally just being more humor based with action taking more of a backseat. This really shows in The Expendables 3 with the jokes about Wesley's previous jail time, they jokingly talk about it being for tax evasion or later when we once again see Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger) make a "Get to the chopper" reference. Mel Gibson's new and welcomed addition to the cast in replacement of Bruce Willis also allows for some humor which was nice because I never cared for the stern and effortless antics of Willis in The Expendables. 

My faults for the movie honestly came from the addition of Barney's new team that he forms after firing his old one. This team actually was meant to take the word "expendable" literally and were never expected to survive the assault against Stonebanks and neither was Barney. This group included two MMA fighters, Mars (Victor Ortiz) and Luna (Ronda Rousey) which works out fine, then there is our resident Twilight pretty boy Smilee (Kellan Lutz) which I guess is okay and then a lacrosse player....Krug (Ivan Kostadinov). This team was honestly idiotic in retrospect because it was just pointless to even have them in the film to begin with especially when we knew they wouldn't be left to die or be killed and Barney's old team were going to come back in the end to save the day. The script for the movie just was not harsh enough to let the group die in the end and Barney and the whole team would inevitable all team up in the end to save the day, so really you could have gone to the restroom for the entire part where the "new" team was established and wouldn't care. The one thing that the younger faces did do for The Expendables 3 was add some more snickering and jokes about just how old fashioned Stallone and the others are. For instance at one point the new group complete dismisses the "wild west" style plan that Barney comes up with and replaces it with a better/more technology driven plan filled with gadgets and devices rather than blowing in the doors and shooting wildly. 

When you get right down to it I think that what I said before rings true, things are getting to be less and less serious when it comes to The Expendables movies and you have to judge it less as an action movie and more of a comedy with a lot of action in it. Stallone has been realizing more and more that it's better to make jokes about the age factor that many of the cast suffer from as well as throwing in one liners and references to their combined careers. Because when you get down to it, Mel Gibson raises a good point in the film that I think rings true and that's "How hard is it to kill 10 men?!" and you know what it really shouldn't be that hard. It's simply crazy near the end where there are tanks, soliders and helicopters all trying to kill Barney's team and none of them even get remotely hurt, so you just can't take this seriously. I myself though enjoy laughing along especially in this installment for The Expendables but this should probably be the last call for the franchise or at least I hope. 

Good:

- The action is still here and was extremely awesome

- The wit and humor strewn throughout the film was top notch

- Gibson's Stonebanks was a stellar villain and a role I think Gibson was meant to play

Bad:

- The new/younger team were just plan pointless having around

- It may be curtain call time for The Expendables movies but they went out on a good one here

Scully Rating: 7.0 out of 10