True confession: I’m not a big fan of chase scenes. If there was an expression that was the opposite of “cut to the chase” (“cut to the nuanced character development”?) it would be my motto.
What’s more, I’ve gotten a little jaded about car chases. I no longer ask myself, “Whoa. How’d they pull that off?” I just kind yawn and think: Closed set, stuntmen, CGI. . . Next!

Which is why it’s all the more surprising—and impressive—that the chase scenes in Premium Rush (dumb title, smart film) were my favorite parts of the movie.

Actually, not just the chase scenes—all the scenes involving our hero Wiley (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) on his trusty bicycle. As Wiley bobbed and weaved through traffic, narrowly avoiding collisions, I was mesmerized—and yes, numerous times I asked myself, “How’d they do that?”

Wiley, if you haven’t already guessed, is a bike messenger in Manhattan—in other words, he’s nuts. But even among the gonzos of the NYC bike messenger ranks, Wiley is the craziest. His bike is stripped bare, he tore off his brakes years ago. He has a need for speed, as a certain movie maverick once said—and he thinks braking is the most dangerous thing a bike messenger can do....

Based on the trailers, you probably think you already know what Hope Springs is going to be like: A glossy rom-com about an aging married couple who go to couple’s therapy in a quaint town and slowly—and hilariously—fall back in love.

That’s not completely inaccurate, but the film could also be described thusly: A Bergman-esque meditation on aging, death, and sexuality focusing on the giant chasm that has developed between a joyless married couple.
That second film seems like less of a good time at the ol' multiplex, huh?

Split the difference and you have Hope Springs, which ends up being much smarter and deeper than the trailers would suggest, while still being pretty darn entertaining.

I admit I was on high cliché alert at first: Kay (Meryl Streep) and Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones) have been married for 35 years—she’s sunny and nurturing; he’s the kind of grouch who is always complaining about being ripped off. They sleep in separate rooms and she wordlessly feeds him the same breakfast (fried egg and bacon) every morning and rouses him from his easy chair after he falls asleep in front of the Golf Channel at night.

Those little bits of character development...

When I first heard they were rebooting the Spider Man franchise with Andrew Garfield in the lead role, I was puzzled. After all, the most recent Spider Man film was just in 2007. So was Garfield going to play Peter Parker’s. . .son? A distractingly young-looking version of the Tobey Maguire character? Or were the new filmmakers going to employ the same strategy as the upcoming Jeremy-Renner-headed Bourne film (“there was never just one”)?

Then I found out the dismaying truth: The Amazing Spider-Man is yet another origin story. A remake. In other words, they’re starting from the beginning again.

Now, this sort of thing isn’t completely unprecedented. Edward Norton famously  attempted to improve upon Ang Lee’s moribund Hulk with his The Incredible Hulk just four years later (with mixed results, as it turned out). But everyone loved Sam Raimi’s Spidey! Sure, there’s a general consensus that Spider Man 1 and 2 were a lot better than the aggressively loopy 3, but still. . . all in all, a good time was had by all.

So why are they remaking this film now? To extort money from us, of course. Which, yes, I realize, is pretty much why Hollywood...

There are two movies competing for the heart and soul of Seeking a Friend For the End of the World and, unfortunately, the crappy one won out.

It’s a shame, because the other movie—the one that launches the film and is hinted at around its edges—is pretty awesome.

An asteroid is heading for earth, and we’re all doomed. Life as we know it has two months to go: So how do we all react?
Do we still work out? Do we go to our jobs? Does the cleaning lady show up?

“The End of Time is here,” says a DJ as the film starts. “Now back to all your soft rock hits.”

Sad sack insurance agent Dodge (Steve Carrell), seems to have nothing to live for. His wife has just left him, in an apocalyptic panic—so he decides to go to work. His boss holds a staff meeting. “We have several openings in the company. Does anybody want to be CFO?”
Then, in the movie’s best scene, he goes to a suburban party with his close friends. I won’t give it all away, but suffice it to say, parties are a lot more fun when the world’s about to end.

But nothing excites or turns on Dodge, who believes he will die alone. With so little time left, he can’t possibly fall in love, can he?
Dramatic music...