Edging Towards Tomorrow - Groundhog vs. Aliens

For the second year in a row, Tom Cruise has headlined an interesting, one might even say offbeat Science fiction thriller - last year it was Oblivion and this Summer we were treated to "Edge of Tomorrow." Each movie came prepackaged with a core gimmick - in Oblivion, it was Tom Cruise clones, in Edge it is the Tom Cruise multi-verse.  One might say that Cruise has latched onto a moderately successful formula with these two films - one that seems a bit more interesting than the Jack Reacher or Mission Impossible type vehicles.

The Formula:
Place the affable and ultimately sympathetic Cruise in a solitary, soul-searching predicament - (and alone in this sense can be an actual lack of people around or a lack of people who are sharing the same experience as him - in both cases / movies that translates to basically one or two other characters). In both scenarios of the formula, Cruise is ultimately responsible for saving planet Earth. In both scenarios he hooks up with the girl that seems out of reach and in both films there's a fair bit of action - although much more so in Edge.

Recognize the slogan ? - remember the Mad Men episode where they discuss the invention
of the ad slogan; rinse, add, repeat?

Beside having this new Cruise Sci-Fi formula at its center, what else does this movie have going for it; here's the bullet point rundown:

• The Groundhog Day like transformation of Cruise from scoundrel to hero (we're explore this more in a moment).
• The very cool special effects (even better in IMAX of course).
• An excellent performance by Emily Blunt as tough babe extraordinaire (she is the hard to reach love interest from the formula).
• Lot's of funky, hard to kill aliens - sort of like Tasmanian Devils with an attitude.
• Mind-bending time looping plot twists - just complicated enough to keep it intriguing without becoming too confusing.
• A classic over the top drill sergeant performance by Bill Paxton - who seems to be channeling his old Aliens character in reverse.
• Great exoskeleton body armor combat suites. 
• Lot's of our favorite Sci-Fi cleashes - like the central alien hive mind command and control (won't these aliens ever learn how to decentralize!).

The official Trailer for Edge of Tomorrow

The film reminds me a lot of Groundhog Day and I think the connection here is deliberate. The comparison may seem like a stretch as Tom Cruise is no Bill Murray, but there is actually a fair bit of humor in this film and Cruise pulls it off rather nicely. And the repeating joke in Edge is Cruise getting killed - over and over again. This may appeal both to Cruise's fans and those who can't stand him equally well (thus potentially increasing the audience reach for this film). Although this wasn't enough to beat out some rather lame movies like the Godzilla reboot or 22 Jump Street. Cruise's transformation in Edge of Tomorrow is both entertaining and believable (well, for a sci-fi  premise anyway) and includes lot's of training and new skills (like Bill Murray's piano lessons in Groundhog Day but more violent).

Does he save the world and get the girl - well, what kind of formula would leave him alone as the world's biggest loser?

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Top 10 Movies of 2010 We Wish We Hadn't Seen

We're not sure if these are the absolute worst movies of the year, but they do represent the worst ones we had to suffer through personally. When it gets closer to Oscar time we will do some more research and provide a more accurate Worst of 2010 list. But for now - here's the losers from last year...

• The Book of Eli - We watched this on a flight, we can't be sure if it was the altitude or the awful airline food but we got nauseous during this one. The plot was as bizarre as it was simplistic (basically it all revolved around one punchline), the acting was post apocalyptic, the scenery was dreary and depressing. All in all this movie had little going for it. Denzel Washington also seemed hopelessly miscast and out of place in his lead role. This movie rated a big "Yuk" (and not a funny yuk either).

• Extraordinary Measures - Harrison Ford proved definitively with this movie that he can play a complete jerk with zero redeeming qualities. The story was supposed to inspire us we guess, but we're not quite sure because by the halfway mark we just wanted to throw Indiana Jones into the snakepit.

• Edge of Darkness - OK, we admit we didn't actually watch this one, but it was a movie about Mel Gibson acting crazy and mean and we already saw his antics on Youtube and other places so we figured how different can it be? Just say no to Mad Mel...

• Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief - We suppose there is some value seeing Pierce Brosnan CG'd on top of a horse's ass, but beyond that this movie was fairly tedious. Granted it was supposed to be a kid's film but it just didn't have any magic to it even with the over the top special effects.
  

• The City of Your Final Destination - One good rule of thumb about movies might be that if you find the title incomprehensible it is likely that the movie may follow suit - that certainly turned out to be the case with this ridiculous Merchant Ivory flick. Luckily we caught this on DirectTV instead of the theater and saved ourselves about twenty bucks. By the end of the movie we didn't know what had happened and we didn't really care either.

• Boogie Woogie - Another rule of thumb about movie prediction is if the movie title just sounds stupid, the movie is likely to be stupid. This movie conclusively proves the point - there basically is no plot and what does appear on the screen is disjointed and mainly unpleasant. We're treated to the worst English accent in the history of Cinema from Gillian Anderson (where's Mulder when you need him), the worst gift idea ever (we cannot even begin to describe it), and the worst whining, suicidal gay rant ever. Oh, let's not forget the many knowing glances and evil hearty laughter between the rich sinister art dealers and collectors. Film as modern art is a bit hard to take - but then again so is any modern art.
  

• Robin Hood - This was without a doubt our biggest disappointment of the year; Ridley Scott, Russell Crowe and the easiest story ever - and they blew it. Seriously, how can you screw up Robin Hood? Well, if you really want to know watch this version.

• Prince of Persia - For the second worst English accent ever, check out Jake Gyllenhaal's performance in the video game inspired, insipid and downright stupid PoP. Did we say we didn't like this movie? OK, first of all why the hell do people living in ancient Persia need to speak with pompous British accents (and doing it in such a way as to insult pompous Brits everywhere)? Second, didn't they know how to shave back then and if they did were they using the Don Johnson razor stubble specials that Jake seemed to have found? And what is with the hair? Did anyone in ancient Persia go around looking that stupid? You may think we're ignoring the plot here - well, guess what there wasn't one so we're justified in focusing on the parts of the movie which will scar us forever.
  

• Knight & Day - This one should have been titled, Botox & Facelift. Are we the only ones who have noticed that Tom Cruise & Cameron Diaz seem to be unable to accept how old they are? This movie was a sad attempt to recapture lost youth and like all such attempts ends up embarrassing the folks searching for their lost youth and making the audience feel unconformable. The script is preposterous and dull at the same time (a remarkable feat) and the action scenes were all off. It's time for these two to embrace middle age.
  

• The Expendables - If ever there were an award for accuracy in movie titles - this movie would win it hands down. The whole movie is expendable, the plot is expendable, the characters are both reprehensible and expendable, the action is expendable - it was truly awful on a scale that defies description. In a previous post we noted how mental ward escapee Dolph Lungreen nearly killed Stallone while filming this monstrosity - why oh why couldn't he have killed the whole movie? If criminal penalties could be assessed to people who produce bad cinema everyone involved with this movie would be behind bars.
  

Stallone assaults his on crew during the filming of the Expendables before assaulting the American Public with one of the worst films of the year...

Our next post will be dedicated a more serious topic, to the Worst Hollywood / Celebrity hairstyles of all time...


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Top Movies of 2010 that We Missed

The year isn't quite finished yet, so we have another list for you. The first of today's lists is the Top Movies of 2010 that we didn't see but wanted to. We conducted our analysis by going to movieweb.com and checking out the trailers of movies we didn't make it to this year. We like movieweb and all but having to listen to the plug for Oprah's new TV channel before every trailer clip nearly drove us insane - and where does she get off with an acronym like OWN (a bit pretentious if you ask us)?

Life's a bitch, then you get slapped

So our number 1 movie we missed that we wanted to see was "Bitch Slap." Here's the clip with the Oprah Channel plug to boot. BTW - this clip is rated R (for retarded) folks, no kids allowed!

OK, so we were kidding about this one - although this freak-fest
might make our worst movies of all time list next year (after we watch it).

Here's the real list (not presented in order or priority):

• Shutter Island - Leonardo Di Caprio had a banner year, although we didn't get to see all of it. This is a thriller, spooky, maybe sci-fi or horror and was made by Martin Scorsese. We can't wait to see and don't understand how we missed it.

Nothing could be scarier than a mental hospital, right?

• The Red Baron: Here's a guy who has had his story told a number of times, but this movie looks to be the one that did it right. The aerial combat / dogfights are almost fully computer animated but the cinematography looks spectacular. The cast looks good and as far as trailers go, this was the best one we've seen all year.

Knights of the Sky - the warring angels of WW1

• Entre Nos - This movie is based on the true story of an immigrant family that is left to fend for itself without a father in New York. It's an age old story yet made new again as each generation brings waves of immigrants to our shores seeking a better life.

A mother struggles to provide for her family and keep them together...

and now for something completely different...

• When You're Strange - Two weeks ago, Florida's governor decided to clear Jim Morrison's record (after 40 years). Who was Jim Morrison? This movie seems as though it may finally give us some insight into one of the most enigmatic figures of the 1960's.

This documentary appears to have incredible never before seen DOORs footage...

More of the movies we missed coming later today...


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