Predictable & Stale, “Allegiant” Could Be The Year’s Worst Film.
I’ll start this review off by saying I am no means the target demographic for the Divergent franchise. I’m not a ‘young adult’ nor am I a fan of the film sub-genre as a whole. Since Harry Potter stormed the theaters in 2001, these teen books have made for box office success so Divergent’s newest film “Allegiant” was looking to bank off that. This led to a weak third entry that didn’t do its audience any favors by phoning it in. These problems like the laughably predictability or the horrendous CGI are not what we should be teaching young movie-goers.
Under different direction & marketed to an age group just slightly older, it would be a fairly decent ‘Summer Blockbuster’. But alas, we get yet another stale March release. The praises for the film are short but there is some. When the sets were not infused or completely covered in visual effects, the practical sets are wonderful. The entire art department did well with their wardrobe & tattoos as well as the weapons used in combat.
The plot centers around Tris, a divergent young women who is fighting for the freedom of the people in her post-apocalyptic city of Chicago. She helped lead a revolution against the status quo and in turn, Tris has opened up the city for a bigger problem…an all out war. With her rag-tag team of misfits, she finally crosses the wall that keeps Chicago from the rest of the world. What Tris finds beyond the wall is more lies from people she was hoping to trust.
Admittedly, I’ve never seen any of the films in the franchise before this but I instantly knew each character’s tropes and how they would play out later on. From Peter being the most obvious bad-guy to the mysterious David not being who Tris hoped he would be, you can call out what will happen as soon as a character appears on screen. This led to a lack of tension as I could predict what would come next; even down to what some of the characters would say in a certain situations.
My biggest gripe with “Allegiant” is the CGI. It was laughable; it felt like I was watching a Sy-Fy Network movie at times. No film with an estimated budget of 110-120 million should suffer that bad. The worst examples were the actors obviously standing in front of a blue-screen having to act off nothing or those horrid orange bubble blobs that made random appearances.
All in all, I can see this film ending up in the 5 Dollar Bin at Walmart or jumbled into a 4-pack of other failed young adult films. Unless you are a die-hard fan of the novels, skip “Allegiant” at all cost.
It seems Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Ready Player One is actually going to happen, as Simon Pegg is in talks to join the growing cast.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Pegg is in negotiations, though it isn’t certain who he might be playing in the film. There are a few options, but none that seem glaringly obvious. Pegg will join Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, and Ben Mendelsohn in Spielberg’s adaptation of the Ernest Cline geek-bible sci-fi adventure.
Here is the synopsis of the book, just to refresh your memory:
In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade’s devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world’s digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator’s obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.
But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade’s going to survive, he’ll have to win—and confront the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.
To that end, Simon Pegg seems like a perfect fit. He’s a nerd, he stars in nerd franchises, and he’s always a lot of fun. Ready Player One is hoping for a June production kickoff with a (tentative) release date of March 30, 2018.
There is a fear amonst fans that the DC Cinematic Universe is going to be dark and gritty, which may not work for all the characters involved. Zack Snyder spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the tone for future films.
“The mandate is that we try and make the best movies we can. If you’re making a Flash movie with Ezra Miller, it’s like millennial Flash. It’s going to be a little lighter than making a World War I epic with this feminist icon like Wonder Woman. The films do live in a united universe. I feel like the danger is — and I think that the studio would acknowledge this — when you start to mimic things like tone. Then, when you go to the movie, you pretty much know the experience you’re going to have,” said Snyder.
It sounds like Snyder went to the school of ‘Dan DiDio’s canned responses’ with ‘we try and make the best movies we can’ comment. But it’s nice to know that Snyder understands that not every character fits into a Batman film.
Producer Debra Snyder also gave encouraging words to the future directors of the DCU.
“Zack and Geoff Johns have outlined a timeline of where everybody is based off of, where our characters go in Justice League. So there’s a framework. But it’s filmmaker-driven, in that we want to hire directors who still have a point of view and that have latitude because we don’t want all the movies to feel the same. David Ayer has a certain tone and feel to what he brought to Suicide Squad, as does Patty [Jenkins] to Wonder Woman. They have freedom to tell their story in the way that it needs to be told,” said Debra Snyder.
The filmmaker-driven model is what makes the new Star Wars films so exciting. Rian Johnson will build off what J.J. Abrams established, but give the audience a different experience.
Warner Bros. has yet to announce a director for Flash yet. The Scarlet Speedster races into theaters on March 16, 2018.
DC Cinematic Universe
Suicide Squad
August 5, 2016
Director – David Ayer
Wonder Woman
June 23, 2017
Director – Patty Jenkins
Justice League Part One
November 17, 2017
Director – Zack Snyder
The Flash
March 16, 2018
Aquaman
July 27, 2018
Director – James Wan
Shazam
April 5, 2019
Justice League Part Two
June 14, 2019
Director – Zack Snyder
After the events of issue #50 where Optimus Prime announced the Earth was now under Cybertron’s protection, there was no doubt going to be a lot of fallout from his decision. This issue deals with the ramifications of Prime’s choice and starts to show where the series will go from here on.
The Autobots are doing everything they can to show humanity they come in peace and mean no harm. Their efforts include having the Aerialbots airdrop fast growing trees in the desert, Jazz stepping in to stop Police brutality in Detroit, and the Victorian team standing in the way of terrorists in the middle east. The group really is doing everything they can to make up for past mistakes. The art (through the whole issues but especially during these panels) is spot on to help to show how hard the Autobots are working to try and promote good will.
Unfortunately, humans have had enough Cybertronians on both sides being on Earth and are quick to question and be skeptical of their intentions. A task force attempts to raid where they think the Autobots are hiding but find it abandoned with a message of “We are here to help” on the wall. Don’t really think it will help but it was amusing to see.
Just when you think the President would consider giving them a break, new team member Aileron stops by the White House front lawn demanding terms of surrender. She is not taking the death of her friend Sterling (who died in the crossfire in the previous issue) lightly. It’s interesting to see her be so risky with her decisions as she was one to talk sense into Optimus in previous issues when he wasn’t sure what to do next. Anger does have a way of clouding a robot’s judgement.
The Autobots are quick to show up and pull her out but not before the humans get footage of the incident which will no doubt be used in future issues against the Autobot cause. The issue ends with Optimus calling the different leaders of several factions in an effort to get their opinions of what has transpired. Hopefully, this will go farther than simply ridiculing Optimus for his decision. Cut him some slack. He’s just trying to carry the universe on his shoulders.
Considering this was the follow up to a major turning point in the series, this could have just been a lot of dialog where everyone simply discussed the importance of what happened. Instead, they showcase how things are different but the moments where they do talk about it gives the issue an overarching theme of awkwardness as the Autobots try to prove they are good but keep getting repeatedly rebuffed for their efforts. It begs the question, “How long can they keep getting rebuffed before they finally call it quits?” For the readers though, they should not call it quits on this series any time soon.
The week we discuss the 20 Greatest ‘Batman The Animated Series’ Episodes, who should be cast as the next Iron Man, and we prepare for ‘Batman v Superman’ by rewatching ‘Man of Steel.’
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Never heard of Matt Sardo?
For starters, he made the Kessel Run in less than 11 parsecs. Prior to that, he gave Doc Brown the idea for the flux capacitor and led the Resistance to victory over SkyNet – all while sipping a finely crafted IPA. As a radio host, he’s interviewed celebrities, athletes and everyone in between. He’s covered everything from the Super Bowl to Comic-Con.
Superman Doomsday is a loose, animated adaptation of The Death of Supermanstory that came out in the 90s. If you haven’t read that story, Kal El, fights a Kryptonian monster named Doomsday to save the world, but in the process he dies, and much of the comic is what happens after he dies. This movie is specifically condensed to Clark Kent’s supporting cast, and is a different take on the story of the Man of Steel’s death. It has the similar beats, and a lot of the same emotional weight, but is it as good as the story that rocked the world in 1992?
The animation is just gorgeous, as with most Warner Bros. DC animated productions. Not only do all the characters have unique designs, but they all move in a fluid way. It’s a cartoon-like style, but detailed and unique. The fight scenes are epic and the scope of the production is massive, metropolis feels like a real place. It’s mainly 2D animation, which is refreshing to see in this CGI excessive market. The voice acting is also on point, a lot of fun actors playing great iconic roles. Adam Baldwin and Anne Heche play a great Clark Kent and Lois Lane. The only one that’s a little odd, is James Marsters playing Lex Luthor. Marsters chooses to be almost sexual in his delivery, and some of his lines are just weird. But, it’s a minor detail, and the film smartly doesn’t focus on him.
Too close. Too close!
The character that gets the most attention is Lois Lane, and the film follows her as she deals with the grief of her lover’s death. It also focuses on how Lex Luthor feels cheated, Jimmy Olsen feels abandoned, and the slow decent into crime happening in Metropolis. The film’s focus on grief is handled well, and there are some genuinely touching moments that might jerk a tear or two out. The dialogue can be stilted, but when it works, it really works. However, there are some scriptual issues that just can’t be ignored.
“Can’t one of you guys start marching around Gotham before you get here? We just fixed the city from the last monster that came in.”
The movie is so condensed that it feels like it’s rushing through the story beats, and this wouldn’t be too much of a problem if the movie knew when to slow down. But, it doesn’t it just keeps moving when it should allow the audience to be in the moment and comprehend the idea of Superman’s death. There’s also the story element of the clone of Superman who comes in halfway toward the movie, and his character arc is also sped up with poor results. He starts trying to create a more totalitarian viewpoint, but it just feels out of left field. We know he’s supposed to be messed up, but it could have had some more time dedicated to it. Also, for a movie called Superman Doomsday, we see very little of the Kryptonian monster that kills the Man of Tomorrow. But, then again, he’s not the focus of the film, Lois Lane and loss in general.
However, since Doomsday is going to be in Batman v Superman it feels necessary to talk about his role here, and be forewarned because I’m about to commit some superhero heresy. I don’t think Doomsday is that interesting a character, and this movie reinforces that idea for me. Doomsday is just a mindless killing machine in every story he’s in, and in this movie all he does is destroy. This makes him an exciting physical threat for Superman, but that’s it. And in the comics his only real merit is that he managed to kill Clark Kent; he’s just a walking natural disaster, sure it’s fun to see heroes figure out how to stop him, but in the end he’s not what makes a story interesting. He is just a plot device to show us a world without Superman. Doomsday himself doesn’t have anything worth talking about, it’s what he does that’s worth discussion. But, in this movie, and in all the other adaptations he is just a mindless beast.
Admittedly, he does look like the result of Michelangelo having sex with the cave troll from Lord of the Rings.
It baffles me that people think the new movie is ruining the character Doomsday, there wasn’t much of a character to ruin. I completely understand the criticism that they revealed him way too early in the trailers, but don’t complain that it’s sacrilege to change-up the origin story of a mindless monster, or use him as the mindless monster for the Trinity’s first meeting. There have been other interpretations of Doomsday that are much different from the comics, and it seems that people were just upset about the Batman v Superman one, because people like to complain. And if you really feel that Doomsday is being ruined then watch Superman Doomsday and ask yourself, what does he offer in the grand scheme of things that no other classic comic book villain can’t?
If you disagree with me, let me know in the comments, and feel free to send me all your hate mail to tell me how much I suck.
Back to the movie at hand, this is a fun movie, but not DC animated’s best work. It’s worth a watch though just for the stellar voice casting and excellent animation. There are some great scenes worth talking about, and some fun moments that make it worth the rental. Let us know what you think about this movie in the comments below, and next time we look at one of the greatest adaptations ever made, The Dark Knight Returns.
Be warned, we will delve into spoilers in this piece.
Victor Frankenstein was a failure at the box office and critically lambasted. I would say that unfairly so to an extent. It’s an entertaining movie with great production design and solid cinematography. James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe are great together. Yet, it does fall short. It seems to promise a great twist on the Frankenstein mythos, but we hardly get any of that. It’s a short breeze of a movie. It comes and goes, and we are left thinking: That’s it?
Writer Max Landis had touted this script as the one he was the most proud of. It has been available on the internet for some time, so how is it that the film ruined a good script? Both the film and the script are quite similar in a lot of aspects. But while the movie starts with Victor meeting Igor at a circus, the script gives us a bit more time to get to know him. We see more of his mistreatment at the circus and get a bigger idea of his relationship between him and Lorelei. She gives him books and looks after him , in contrast to the rest of the troupe who only bully him.
After that, things stay quite the same. But Landis writes in a tone of grandeur and exaggeration that the movie doesn’t capture. It would’ve helped to have included some of the funnier bits of dialogue, such as one funny bit where Victor and Igor drunkenly imagine the sort of creatures they could create together. In both the film and the script, a subplot follows inspector Turpin on the trail of Victor’s corpse robberies. In the film, Turpin comes across as near-superhuman with his ability to connect the dots on instinct. The script allows more moments with him where he collects hard evidence and interviews witnesses. It makes much more logical and dramatic sense.
There is also the question of the ending which is very different from the final film. In the script, Victor builds the creature and it goes berserk. In the process, the creature kills Turpin and Victor resurrects him. This causes Turpin to do a complete turn-around; he no longer views Victor as a heretic, instead, he sees his value and lets him go. This is a far more interesting ending than the one in the final film where Turpin just dies, followed by a fight with the monster. In addition, the final fight in the script allows for moments that bring it closer to the imagery of Frankenstein we’ve come to know.
But, both the film and the script suffer from a character development problem. Landis has gone on to say that his biggest inspiration for the script was the work of Aaron Sorkin. Two friends working on a revolutionary invention? Sounds a bit Social Network. But what Landis seems to have forgotten was that in that film, we saw a friendship fall apart on the basis of ambition and greed. The problem with Victor and Igor’s friendship in the script and the film is a lack of stakes. They have their differences, but they are quickly resolved. Their low-point comes in the transition into the third act where they come apart. But before that, seeing them get closer to each other doesn’t provide enough drama. How do they truly differ from each other? How do they complement each other? We get an idea about Igor’s plight if he loses Victor. But what kind of danger Victor is in without Igor, especially since Igor hardly keeps him in check? This needed to be a more conflicted friendship to build into something more dramatic.
Victor Frankenstein probably didn’t deserve the mauling it got, the movie has a lot of good qualities and it’s enjoyable, it almost works. But if it had followed the script it would’ve stood out more. The script however, at least in the drafts that are available to read, needed a bit more punch. As it is, maybe time will be kinder to Victor Frankenstein but it’s doubtful that we will see the film envisioned in the script. If you want to make up your own mind about the movie, you can get it here.
Marvel has been teasing the upcoming Civil War II all over social media lately, and today they finally revealed the teams.
Little is known about the event, scheduled to debut in June of this year. Writer Brian Michael Bendis and Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso gave only a brief synopsis to the New York Daily News back in January:
“A mysterious new Marvel character comes to the attention of the world, one who has the power to calculate the outcome of future events with a high degree of accuracy,”
“This predictive power divides the Marvel heroes on how best to capitalize on this aggregated information, with Captain Marvel leading the charge to profile future crimes and attacks before they occur, and Iron Man adopting the position that the punishment cannot come before the crime.”
Check out the new teasers below:
Team Iron Man
Team Captain Marvel
There are a couple of interesting things of note in these teasers:
Friends are broken apart in spades. Steve Rodgers and Sam Wilson are on opposing sides, as are Black Widow and Hawkeye, and War Machine and Iron Man.
Spider-Man looks to be siding with Captain Marvel right away, having learned his lesson from trusting Tony in the first Civil War series.
Black Panther is choosing a side from the start. During the first Civil War, T’Challa abstained for most of the fighting.
Deadpool is apparently political now.
Keep in mind that these may not be the complete teams. Marvel has shared other teaser images for Civil War II that also feature Jean Grey and Miles Morales, neither of whom appear on the teams above.
Stay tuned to Monkeys Fighting Robots as more news becomes available!
Manifold may be the new powered addition to Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD
A Recap of “The Inside Man”
This week’s episode of Agents of SHIELD, “The Inside Man,” introduced a couple of new elements to the show as it nears the end of its third season. One of these was the show’s re-introduction of a character who originally appeared in Marvel Comics, Carl Creel the Absorbing Man. Shrewd viewers may have also noticed the brief appearance of the name of another character who originally appeared in the comics, Eden Fesi also known as Manifold. And, we saw Zombie-Ward regain his full bodily strength by somehow absorbing the life force of five random folks. Interesting plot developments, let’s review how we got there.
Under the guise of an international meeting of minds over the Inhuman issue, Coulson and Talbot along with Agents May, Morse, and Hunter gather information on the delegates in order to determine if any of them are the “inside man” working with Gideon Malick, and by extension Hydra. Determining the double-crosser is especially important to Director Coulson who wants Malick to face charges for the assassination of Rosalind Price.
Unfortunately for Coulson, the inside man turns out to be General Talbot who sells Coulson out to protect his Inhuman son, trapped in a stasis pod that could have its life support system cut at any moment should Malick give the word.
While all this is going on, Simmons, Fitz, Daisy, and Lincoln determine that Creel’s blood can be used as a vaccine against terrigenesis, the process by which people become Inhumans. Anyone with even a passing interest in the X-Men is familiar with this kind of plot line: if there’s a cure, it’s going to be controversial. And it is! Lincoln and Daisy, who almost got coital in the workout room earlier in the episode, get in an overblown philosophical debate over the implications of a cure.
Back at the conference, Talbot’s double-cross isn’t going to plan. Malick has taken Coulson and Talbot captive and refuses to release Talbot’s son. Luckily for Talbot, May, Hunter, and Morse are able to rescue Talbot’s son. Malick escapes but as we find out later, Morse and Hunter are tailing him on a private jet to Russia. He shares the jet with Ivan Petrov, who previously in the episode suggested that an Inhuman sanctuary be built in Russia.
My Critique of “The Inside Man”
Namor and the original Human Torch were in the 1st-ever powered altercation between heroes
As far as Agents of SHIELD goes, this wasn’t a bad episode. I still can’t wrap my brain around why the show is taking so long to get going with its new incarnation of Grant Ward but at least the relatively boring period of his regaining strength is coming to an end. Although Malick is a good behind-the-scenes baddie, at the end of the day he’s an unpowered older dude. So, although Powers Boothe has great presence onscreen, there’s only so far his jowly bluster can go before one inevitably starts to wonder why Daisy doesn’t just vibrate him to death. Hopefully Zombie-Ward will fill the void and provide the audience with a powered villain now that Agents of SHIELD has started its superhuman arms race, both Hydra and SHIELD amassing Inhuman armies to fight for their interests. I’m hoping that having a few more powered characters around on the show will increase the likelihood of there being of powered altercations. And, although powered altercations increase the effects budget of a show, they also help to make a show like this more fun to watch.
John Cusack has, over his 30 plus year career, defined the lovable Rom-Com Good Guy. His soft features and just slightly geeky idiosyncrasies have made him the big screen spokesman for the “cool nerds” who find themselves pining after the girl and fighting their way out of the friend zone. But let’s not pigeonhole John Cusack, who has stepped away from his lovable pre-hipster persona over the years to tackle genre films, straight dark comedies, dramas, and one seriously captivating Charlie Kaufman film.
Whether he’s blasting Peter Gabriel, searching for the killer, skiing for the girl, or being dumped in a ditch on the New Jersey Turnpike, John Cusack has remained forever watchable, endlessly charming even in his more sinister turns. Here are his 15 greatest performances:
10. The Ice Harvest – One of a handful of John Cusack’s incredibly overlooked roles is this Harold Ramis whiz bang caper comedy. Cusack plays Charlie Arglist, a scummy lawyer who, with the help of his even scummier partner Vic (Billy Bob Thornton), have embezzled $2 million and are looking to skip town. Charlie wants his strip club owner girlfriend to take off with him, but an ice storm derails these best laid plans. The Ice Harvest is a somewhat standard, but charming, comedy of errors evolving into a high-energy escape film with a dozen plates in the air. And Cusack shows off one of his greatest strengths as an actor: his bottled-up frustration with the chaos surrounding him.
9. Identity – Cusack left all his Rom-com charm behind for Identity, a straightforward genre thriller with a narrative structure that is anything but straightforward. Don’t bother digging into the logic of the film, just enjoy the ride. Cusack is one member of an all-star cast of undercard stars, from Ray Liotta, to Amanda Peet, to Jake Busey, John Hawkes, John C. McGinley, Rebecca De Mornay, and Alfred Molina. A collection of travelers are stranded at a seedy motel in the middle of a serious storm, and before long they are picked off one-by-one. Something sinister is at play here, and again Cusack is playing the steady center of whirling madness.
8. Con Air – How can you leave a movie off John Cusack’s list where the guy had the balls to roll into a Jerry Bruckheimer film wearing sandals with socks? Sure, Con Air is Nicolas Cage’s movie, and John Malkovich’s movie, and on and on as we check off the impressive list of convicts aboard this doomed aircraft. But Cusack’s Vince Larkin is the Cusack persona from those 80s teen movies all grown up and given an honest gig. And without his snarky insight on the ground, nobody would have gotten anything done to help Cameron Poe land these prisoners. And he’s wearing sandals with socks!
7. Say Anything… – Cameron Crowe’s directorial debut is half a great film, half an okay film that gets lost in the weeds of a less interesting subplot. Cusack is Lloyd Dobler, and this is the role that cemented his status as the lovable “Other Guy.” Dobler is not the Most Popular, he isn’t The Most Likely to Succeed, he’s simply the guy everyone thinks is “kinda cool.” He has his beliefs, he marches to the beat of his own drum, and his uniqueness eventually makes its mark on Diane. His romance with Ione Skye’s Diane is honest, true, but eventually overloaded with saccharine charm in the film’s most iconic Peter-Gabriel’d boombox moment. If only Crowe hadn’t become so preoccupied with Diane’s father and his legal troubles…
6. The Grifters – Another criminally overlooked Cusack gem has him playing two sides of a con game, one involving his estranged mother (Angelica Huston), and the other his girlfriend, Myra (Annette Bening). Once again it is Cusack in the middle of a whirlwind, able to charm his way in and out of situations. Stephen Frears’ film is put together as efficiently as a Swiss Watch, and Cusack’s rapid-fire dialogue delivery is on full display. And, somehow, Cusack was left out of the Oscar nominations that year when both his female costars nabbed nominations.
5. Love & Mercy – Here was another time when John Cusack flirted on the edges of an Oscar nomination. Love & Mercy, the story of troubled Beach Boys frontman Brian Wilson, was arguably more Paul Dano’s film than Cusack’s, and Dano was given the meatier portion of Wilson’s extended nervous breakdown. Cusack plays the singer in the 80s, already broken and under constant supervision of an unsavory Doctor. It is a heartbreaking dual turn from Dano and Cusack, and Cusack’s version of Wilson shows him falling in love in his darkest days.
4. Better Off Dead – Here is where John Cusack became John Cusack. He is Lane Myer, who is dumped early on because his girlfriend thinks it would be in her best interest to date someone more popular, maybe better looking. Maybe someone who drives a better car. Somebody like the captain of the ski team. It’s the defining plight of the “Cusackian” character, being tossed aside for the jock. This drives Lane into thinking up creative ways to off himself. Better Off Dead spins out of control in gleefully 80s ways, from a mom with terrible cooking, to a wacky neighbor, to an annoying paperboy, to an eventual ski race where Lane sees a chance to win his woman back.
3. High Fidelity – The Cusack Brand is given an introspective makeover in High Fidelity, as Cusack’s Rob Gordon, a record store owner, speaks directly to the audience about his past loves and the nutcase who run his record store. Rob Gordon was a hipster before hipsters were a thing, pining over lost loves and holding them up agains the music that was prevalent in his life at the time. This is one of the most balanced films in Cusack’s career, funny and poignant and full of energy.
2. Being John Malkovich – Craig Schwartz is an out of work puppeteer with a homely wife (Cameron Diaz) – who has a pet monkey. Sure, that might be odd, but consider the rest of the story: Craig gets a job with a man who’s apparently well over 100-years old at an office that’s a half floor in a building. A half floor. At this job he pines over a sexy coworker (Catherine Keener) and finds a portal that takes you into the mind and POV of John Malkovich. Charlie Kaufman’s screenplay, directed by Spike Jonze, is one of the most unusually inventive movies ever made, and Cusack plays Craig as a scumbag we still can’t help but root for in the end.
1. Grosse Point Blank – George Armitage’s comedy thriller hybrid stars Cusack as an assassin who must travel to his hometown to wipe out a target. It just so happens that it’s his 10-year reunion. Cusack is pitch perfect as Martin Blank, and this is his best teaming with Jeremy Piven back when Piven was an ace sidekick before he turned into Ari Gold. And Minnie Driver as the love interest is another spot on casting choice. Grosse Point Blank subverts the 80s high school comedies that made Cusack so popular by having him infiltrate this homogenized universe as a cold-blooded killer. And Cusack plays a killer like you would expect: “Hi. I’m, uh, I’m a pet psychiatrist. I sell couch insurance. Mm-hmm, and I – and I test-market positive thinking. I lead a weekend men’s group, we specialize in ritual killings. Yeah, you look great! God, yeah! Hi, how are you? Hi, how are you? Hi, I’m Martin Blank, you remember me? I’m not married, I don’t have any kids, but I’d blow your head off if someone paid me enough.”
