Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) review

I wasn't a huge fan of the first Avengers film. It lacked a really menacing villain and it fell apart in the third act. Despite those criticisms, it did have some brilliant moments, particularly in its first half, when we just got to see the characters act like real people who just happen to have super abilities. The thrill of the first film was that we got to see the characters on screen in a way that felt so natural and was so entertaining that it was nearly irresistible. It was in those quieter moments that Whedon, the director, took what could have been an overblown Transformers movie and turned it into something enjoyable. I wish there had been more of this brilliance in the first film but the film managed the rest of the less alluring parts well enough that the thing flowed together. The same cannot really be said for the second film. While Age of Ultron has a better villain and some of the best individual moments in all of the Marvel film universe it fails to fit all of its moving parts together.

Age of Ultron feels like a brilliant superhero film squashed under the weight of bad editing. This doesn't mean that the individual cuts of the film are bad but rather that what we have in terms of a story feels like its missing something. While the story is missing some beats, it seems as though every bit of every action scene that was shot was left in the film. What results is a frustrating film with moments of Whedon brilliance marred by an even more action-heavy third act. Apparently the first cut of the film was 4 hours. I don't want to see four hours of this film, but I do wonder whether the disjointed nature of the plot comes from leaving some stuff out. It feels as though, for whatever reason, too much of the action was left in. It's not as drawn-out as the third Hobbit but it really hurts a film that's already seemingly missing some plot points. It feels as though in the last two acts the film never really had a good rhythm.

On the positive side, Ultron is a great villain and better than Loki. Spader's performance is menacing in a way Loki wasn't. Ultron poses a real threat, it's just a shame that the plot's disjointedness dulls his impact. As mentioned above, there are several sequences of character that could easily rank amongst the best stuff to come out of the Marvel studio. Whedon can write incredible dialog between these characters and that dialog is delivered by actors who embody their characters. Robert Downey Jr. is the stand-out. Never before has an actor and a superhero been more perfectly meshed.

Apparently this is Whedon's last stint in the directors chair for Marvel. This seems a shame since I feel we didn't ever see him sustain his brilliance for a whole film. Whether it be the moments when he shows us human carnage or the snappy and natural dialog found in the film, Whedon brings brilliance to the table but it is weighed down by the repetitive action. Age of Ultron is a frustrating film, but I believe that just enough brilliance shines through to make it worth watching. 3.5/5

Don Jon (2013) Review

There is no doubt that Joseph Gordon Levitt is one of the brightest of Hollywood's rising stars. With his performances in the Dark Knight Rises and Looper last year he really showed that he could have true star power. With his directional debut Don Jon he also shows the potential to succeed behind the camera. Don Jon is a far more marquee film than most directional debuts. It has an all star cast which includes Scarlett Johansson as well as Tony Danza. It also benefits from a large advertising budget which has allowed it to get real attention. Unfortunately, despite all of this, it is still quite obvious that this is a first film.

Don Jon tells the story of a title character who cares about "only a few things" in his life. Above all of these things is his obsession with internet pornography. While the film has been marketed as a rom com in a sense, the pornography addiction Jon faces is the center of the film. Jon lives a very repetitive lifestyle until he meets Scarlett Johansson's character Barbara. She is facing her own false images in the form of romantic films. The rest of the film shows how all of this plays out in a somewhat unexpected manner.

One way that it is clear Don Jon is a first film is that it really is quite excessive. I understand the temptation of Levitt to make sure that we really do understand Jon's character and addiction but after a while the film borders on becoming what it is actually against. That's not to say that the film is not multi layered, it certainly is, but sometimes the substance of the film is caught up in the director's attempt to be certain that we understand Jon's addiction. By the film's middle we're thinking "alright already" when another flashy quick cutting montage of his online exploits comes across the screen. I almost feel more time than is allotted should have been spent dissecting Barbara's false images. It seems as though Levitt got caught up in the idea of making a controversial movie instead of really fleshing out his ideas about today's culture.

To the movie's benefit Levitt's ideas about the cultural pressures people face in today's society are definitely relevant, and to a large extent true. The film is most effective when it really stops and takes a look at our misconceptions about the world which we get from the media. The only problem is that this never feels as fleshed out as it should have been. Scenes that have substance seemed rushed over to get to the next montage and for most of the movie the effect leaves a bad taste in the audiences mouth. There is substance here and it is more than one layer deep it just feels like it could have been given more time. The film runs 90 minutes and it wouldn't have been bad if there was just a little longer for the film's core ideas to really set in. Certain aspects of life are definitely simplified, including the Catholic sacrament of Reconciliation. These aspects of the film, if fleshed out, could have made it something even more affective.

Don Jon is technically a comedy and it is funny in places. Unfortunately I think that the subject matter is so risky and serious it isn't a real laugh out loud film in most places. This definitely isn't a date film! The performances by the cast are consistently strong and Danza in particular plays a role that is very different from his previous father figure roles. The direction by Levitt, aside from what is mentioned above, Is interesting and very modern. He has a unique touch which is great to see in a first time director. In the end the question to ask about Don Jon is whether the explicit, long, and outrageously raunchy journey is worth the worthy conclusion the film receives. For me this is a movie I won't plan on seeing again but it does show great directional promise and it ends on a note which almost makes the whole thing work entirely, almost. 3/5