Quick (Not) Review - Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (SPOILERS)

It's been a week, but SPOILER ALERT anyway.

The 2013 reboot of Supeman on film, "Man of Steel," was financially successful enough to earn a sequel. But  that sequel was turned into much more: a hoped-for, full-fledged DC Comics movie universe, taking its place alongside the Marvel Movieverse. But many people had misgivings, seeing as how director Zack Snyder handled "Man of Steel." 

To jump-start the Justice League, in the quest for Avengers-sized box office, the decision was made to pair DC's two biggest icons for the first time. And have them fight. (Cliche alert.) And then throw in Wonder Woman, never before on the big screen. And add cameos of other heroes.  Thus, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was born. After seeing it twice in three days and digesting various opinions and reviews, as well as my own feelings on what Superman represents, here are some observations, in no particular order:

Warning: SPOILERS from here on out!

Quick Reviews: Straight Outta Paper Towns Ultra!

You may find this funny...or disturbing. A week ago I hopped on a bus that leaves from Frankford Ave and Knights Rd (just down the street from the house). The route heads along Bristol Pike (which is Frankford Ave once you cross into the suburbs), and, after you pass the shopping center that includes the AMC Woodhaven multiplex (more than halfway through a major renovation -- the new theaters now have recliners!) the bus turns onto Woodhaven Rd and stops at Franklin Philadelphia Mills before continuing along the route. I was planning to see American Ultra and had decided on the 3:00 show at the AMC Franklin Philadelphia Mills, instead of the 4:00 show at the AMC Woodhaven.

Except I had a brain cramp. I got off the bus at the Woodhaven theater stop, only to realize my error when I saw the list of showtimes.

Not having any time to get to the other theater, and not wanting to wait for over an hour, I ended up seeing the 3:15 showing of Straight Outta Compton, which I was planning to see the following week.

And Straight Outta Compton, thanks to America's continuing inability to deal honestly with racism, poverty and injustice, turns out to be a timely tale. It's the story of N.W.A., the hip-hop group whose controversial lyrics (particularly on "F--k tha Police") angered many but spoke truth to power for many others. As it was co-produced by N.W.A.'s Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, as well as Eazy-E's widow, it's an authorized tale, to be sure. It shows some of the flaws of the protagonists, but the misogny and homophobia that mars so much hip-hop is glossed over or ignored. In addition, I did not need to see Paul Giamatti as their sleazy manager so soon after seeing Paul Giamatti as Brian Wilson's sleazy psychotherapist in Love and Mercy. But O'Shea Jackson, Jr., playing Ice Cube, his father...amazing. (And he has a line at the end of one scene that is either an in-joke or a possible origin for one of today's most-quoted lines from a certain film whose title is a day of the week.) The music is a huge plus, and the stage performances are on point, but the film becomes a standard music biopic as it gets bogged down with business dealings (see Giamatti above) and the decline and death of Eazy-E from AIDS. My grade: B.

As for American Ultra, when I did finally see it, I was shocked at how much I enjoyed it. The story of a stoner convenience store clerk (Jesse Eisenberg) in a small West Virginia town who suddenly finds he has mad killing skills, It seemed like it would be nothing special, from reviews and box office reception, but not only did it make me laugh, it has a few surprising twists and gave me a new appreciation for Kristen Stewart. She plays the girlfriend here (as in the Twilight films) but she's more than that, as it turns out. It's not perfect, as some of the plot doesn't quite connect and Topher Grace, as a CIA agent running an operation, seriously overacts. But don't let that deter you. My grade: B-plus.

Paper Towns was a little too lightweight. Like a paper town. They kept hammering that theme. A "paper town" is a made-up town that mapmakers use to catch copyright infringement. Orlando, where the high school seniors whose final weeks of school are central to the plot, is a paper town, says Margo Roth Spiegelman (Cara Delevingne) to childhood-friend-who-still-has-feelings-for-her-but-they've-drifted-apart Quentin "Q" Jacobsen (Nat Wolff), after she takes him on her mission of revenge one night. The next day she disappears, and while her parents just assume she's run away again, Q feels there's something more to it and sets out to find her. It's interesting to a point but everything sort of fits together too neatly, and there's just something that bothers me about a high school girl being played by a supermodel I've only heard of because of my time watching TMZ. And if Margo Roth Spiegelman isn't a paper name, well... My grade: C-plus.

Quick Review: The Social Network

For a film that has no chase scenes or buildings blowing up, "The Social Network" is surprisingly energetic. If you're looking for it to be the completely true story of the creation of Facebook, you're out of luck. It's structured around depositions in two different lawsuits against co-creator and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg). In one, Harvard rowers and identical twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss claim that Zuckerberg stole their idea for a website to allow Harvard students to connect with each other. (One twin is played by Armie Hammer, and the other by Josh Pence's body with Hammer's face and voice digitally added -- weird! And impossible to notice, at least for me.) The other suit was filed by his best friend, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), whose algorithm was used by Zuckerberg in the creation of "The Facebook," which started with Harvard and then moved to other schools (and eventually to all of us, of course, losing the "The" in the process). His shares in the company were reduced from one-third ownership to less than one percent after Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), creator of Napster, was brought into the company by Zuckerberg. None of the principals were involved with the movie, whose screenplay (by Aaron Sorkin of "West Wing" fame) was based on the book "The Accidental Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich. It tries not to take sides so it's up to the viewer to decide, for example, if Zuckerberg is an insensitive jerk and a lying thief or merely a misunderstood genius. (Although it pretty much paints "the Winklevi," as Zuckerberg refers to the twins, as entitled snobs, and Parker as a party animal whose new friendship with Zuckerberg ends up destroying Zuckerberg's friendship with Saverin.) In a movie that's well-acted throughout, Eisenberg is the biggest revelation here. He is extremely successful in breaking out of that sensitive-soft-voiced Michael Cera mold. Cera himself made a start, but only a start, in breaking his own mold in playing Scott Pilgrim. He should take on a more challenging role, as Eisenberg has done here. My grade: A-minus.

Quick Review: Zombieland

So, Jesse Eisenberg and Michael Cera: if they ever appeared in the same movie, would that cause a rift in the space-time continuum? Are they not the same person? Skinny, pale, sensitive, etc.? In "Zombieland" Eisenberg plays a college student in Austin, Texas who has managed to survive the collapse of society (caused by an outbreak that led to most people turning into zombies). He's trying to get to Columbus, Ohio to find his parents and meets up with Woody Harrelson, who's on his way to Tallahassee, Florida. Harrelson's character insists that no real names be used, so they refer to each other by their destinations.

Columbus and Tallahassee run into two girls, Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), at a grocery store. After various plot twists, they're on their way to an amusement park in California because the girls heard there are no zombies there. There's lots of zombie violence and some good lines; Columbus narrates throughout, highlighting his list of rules for surviving in Zombieland (number 1, for obvious reasons: cardio!). On the way to the amusement park they hit Hollywood, and decide to sleep at the home of a major star. This segment, featuring a cameo by said star, is easily the best part of the movie. I will not spoil it by revealing the star's name, but the whole thing is utterly brilliant. My grade: B-plus.

Reminder: there's a link on the home page that leads to a list of my grades for every movie I've seen in 2009.