Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping Review

Ever since the group’s inception as viral superstars back in 2009, The Lonely Island has always existed as both deconstruction and celebration of pop and rap music. While I’m On A Boat, I Just Had Sex, and YOLO may just seem like a silly exercise in shock humor at first glance, they are actually rather robust in both production and lyricism. They’re genuinely well-assembled songs that ring just as well on a breezy car ride as the music that they hold a mirror up to. As such, Popstar is nothing if not a natural progression for the Island boys. It opts to parody the fluffy, substance-free “documentaries” that often accompany the latest crooner who spends more money on fireworks and costumes than singing lessons. A Spinal Tap for the Snapchat generation.

The film chronicles the life, music, and career of Conner Friel (Andy Samberg), a former member of a 3 piece boy band called The Style Boys who has gone solo under the name Conner4Real. Achieving wild, Timberlake like success with his initial album, Conner manages to keep one of his bandmates, Owen (Jorma Taccone), on as a DJ while losing Lawrence (Akiva Shaffer) after a dispute over lyrics. It’s a life of sold out shows, crazy parties, and Snapchat videos galore until Conner drops his disastrous second album. Desperate to win back his quickly dwindling fanbase, Conner embarks on a new tour while looking for a new gimmick that will take him back to the top.

Under the direction of Taccone and Shaffer, Popstar takes no prisoners in its all-out assault on the pop music landscape. At the center of it all is Samberg, who gives an endlessly earnest leading man turn here. It would have been very easy to make Conner as annoying to the audience as he seems to be to the film’s general public, but Samberg keeps him grounded in his own ridiculous logic. He’s not arrogant so much as he is just brainwashed by his success and admiration, having been told that as a mega-star, everything he does is worth sharing. As expected, he’s also excellent in the musical numbers. In fact, he busts out these ridiculous bars with such conviction that if they weren’t so funny, you might just forget that they weren’t real pop songs. Samberg has had a bit of a hard time transitioning to a Hollywood leading man over the years, but here he has finally found his groove. In addition, a series of hysterical celebrity cameos help sell the fake interviews. Not many of them get a great deal of screen time, and perhaps they’re not the best actors, but if anything that just sells the film’s satire all the more.

If anything, it’s the actual supporting cast that rings a bit false. Perhaps holding their focus on directing Taccone and Shaffer’s roles are extremely limited and not especially dynamic. In fact, the movie is so completely in love with Samberg that it’s rather hard to invest in either of their characters at all. This proves especially disappointing when the three do eventually come together, as their wonderful chemistry immediately pops, begging the question of if a movie about The Style Boys would have hit stronger. Meanwhile, Imogen Poots, Bill Hader, and Joan Cusack only occasionally hit in supporting roles, with Tim Meadows being the only truly consistent laugh ringer as Conner’s exasperated manager.

Fortunately, the film constantly falls back on its ace in the hole, the music. Every single one of these songs score huge laughs, and while a few of them have been thrown out early, there are still plenty of surprises left in store. In fact, an early-on onslaught on Macklemore’s Same Love rings so brutally true that it is worth the price of admission alone. It would not be surprising to see the soundtrack see greater success than the film itself, and perhaps even score a best original song nomination or two. It’s easy to wonder what  could have been done if the film had gone full ham and had some ridiculous 3D concert sequences to push these numbers into overdrive, which may have been the final touch needed to guarantee the film’s success.

Much like the music it satirizes, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is short, bubbly, and highly entertaining. It’s sharp and funny without being mean-spirited, which is best expressed in Samberg’s performance which holds the whole thing together. The only disappointment comes from it never quite reaching the zany comedic heights that it occasionally hints at being in reach of. One more punch up draft for the supporting characters and perhaps a bit more commitment to the absurdity of its’ premise and this could have been a comedy classic that acts as a perfect time capsule for the time it was made. However, it gets the job done as it stands, with several big laughs and hilarious songs that it’ll be hard to not hum walking out of the theater. Hopefully, it stays in the top forty long enough for people to discover it in this crowded summer season.

Rating: B

Second Trailer For ‘Whiplash’ Gives the Viewer Just That

 

Wow. I’ve already seen footage of it, and I’m still blindsided by how good this movie looks. For those who do not know, ‘Whiplash’ is a drama following a dedicated drummer (Miles Teller) who is trying to become one of the greats. As he studies in a musical conservatory, he finds more than he bargained for in his teacher (JK Simmons), a physically and verbally abusive man who has an almost sociopathic belief against positive reenforcement. The film was highly praised at both the Sundance and Cannes film festivals, the later being the reason why the subtitles and critic quotes in this trailer are in French.

When I first caught wind of this movie, I didn’t buy into the hype it was generating. Sure, I love both Miles Teller, and JK Simmons, but how could what seemed like a simple music drama be as ‘intense’ as seemingly every review made it out to be. As soon as I watched the first trailer, I realized how dead wrong I was, and this one only further reenforces that. This dosen’t look like just a simple little indie drama, but a thriller with Teller’s mental stability being the stakes. The exchanges between him and Simmons look simply magnificent, with Simmons brilliantly playing up and slightly subverting the comically angry persona many of us know him by. Also, I love how this trailer uses the music to convey just how much of a toll this is all taking on Teller, starting out smooth and Jazzy, and then ultimately sounding frantic and bombastic. It’s definitely one of my most anticipated films for the rest of this year.

Get On Up Review

60s soul is one of my absolute favorite genres of music. It feels utterly genuine, which each blaring trumpet riff and towering scream seeming to explode from the artists. Obviously, James Brown is at the forefront of that era, so at the outset, the prospect of a film based on his life would be a very exciting prospect for me. However, it was always going to be an uphill battle for Get On Up. Entering the theater, I did not have positive feelings for either of it’s main creative forces. I found Chadwick Boseman to be utterly underwhelming in 42, in which he starred as Jackie Robinson, and thought that director Tate Taylor’s previous film ‘The Help’ to be obscenely overrated. Riddled with cliches, sanitized storytelling, and over the top performances, I could not have been more baffled by it’s success. Even so, I decided to give this a chance, and hope for the best. For the sake of a little suspense I’ll just say this, somebody has definitely redeemed themselves here.

Get On Up nonlinearly chronicles the life story of James Brown (Chadwick Boseman) from his childhood, until late into his career. We watch as he suffers a troubled childhood due to the abandonment of his mother (Viola Davis) and father (Lennie James), forms a bond with fellow musician Bobby Byrd (Nelsan Ellis), and creates an entirely new musical sound ultimately rising to meteoric fame.  While Brown has everything he could ever need, his arrogance is his greatest hindrance, creating rifts with everyone who may have supported him on his journey.

Starting off on a positive note, I could not have been more impressed with Chadwick Boseman’s performance here. Essentially, he spends two and a half hours making me feel like a complete idiot for talking so much smack about him before. His portrayal of Brown is so accurate and committed that it’s a little scary. In static scenes, he vocally channels Brown to a tee, while managing to not making him into a simple caricature. Sure, he has a persona that he puts on around others, but there are plenty of moments we get to see him for the scared, vulnerable man he really is. He’s a man fueled by a never ending ego of his own fabrication. The musical moments are almost more impressive. While we don’t hear Boseman’s voice (Brown’s original recordings are used), it still feels almost seamless, as his endless physicality fills the stage with energy. Every drop of sweat on his face feels earned as he throws himself into these dance routines. It’s an absolutely remarkable piece of acting.

The other performers are also fairly solid. Ellis in particular is very good as Byrd, Brown’s borderline unhealthily loyal supporter. While the two really have a poisonous friendship, he makes it easy to see how much Byrd truly cares for Brown.  Dan Aykroyd is typically fun as Ben Bart, Brown’s manager, and Viola Davis also has a couple very powerful moments as Brown’s mother. Nobody really holds a candle to Boseman, but that’s partially because the supporting characters are not as well written as they could be.

 

Unfortunately, what ultimately derails the film is Tate Taylor’s direction. While this is certainly an improvement from The Help in some aspects, there are brand new problems that unfold. For starters, the nonlinear story structure feels downright unnecessary. There’s no rhyme of reason to the order of the scenes, so the film just feels like a series of disjointed sequences that slowly tell the story of this man’s life. I emphasize the word slowly, because like The Help, this film is twenty to thirty minutes too long, with plenty of repetitive moments that could have been lost. After a while, we get it, James Brown was arrogant, just end already.  This becomes especially problematic when the movie gets heavy handed, which is often. Several times, things just devolve into la la land, as Brown reflects on his life with random audio clips, and dreamlike flashbacks needlessly fill time. Also, for some reason, James Brown breaks the fourth wall from time to time, a technique that never really goes anywhere other to just clear up a detail here and there.

On the positive end, there certainly is some energy in the scenes themselves. In fact, I would go as far as to say that Taylor masterfully shoots all of the concert scenes here. While the effect of replacing Boseman’s voice with Brown’s feels jarring at first, the way Taylor precisely photographs Boseman’s movements makes it become almost unnoticeable by the film’s end. The interactions between the characters are also filled with snappy dialogue, and the production design is impeccable.

Overall, Get On Up is an average film with a great movie hiding in there somewhere. Boseman gives it everything he has, giving the best music biopic performance since Jamie Foxx in Ray, but the plodding structure, and needless length ultimately lets him down. Taylor feels too self conscious here, trying too hard to make a great film, instead of just trusting the material to form a great story. It’s not a total loss, but the godfather of soul definitely deserved a little better.

Rating: C+

Begin Again Review

Now this my friends, is a musical. Clint Eastwood, please take notes while reading this review.

Begin Again is a New York set story of two people as down on their luck as they could possibly get. Greta (Keira Knightley) is a singer/songwriter who has recently had her heart torn open by her partner/lover Dave (Adam Levine) who has cheated on her and stole one of her songs for his own use. Dan (Mark Ruffalo) is a disgraced music producer who hasn’t created anything of note in years, especially after his marriage to his cheating wife Miriam (Catherine Keener) fell apart, and he’s all but completely lost touch with his teenage daughter Violet (Hailee Stienfeld), only seeing her once or twice a month. By complete chance, a drunken Dan stumbles into a bar and hears Greta sing one of her songs, and like magic, his mind almost instantly has a vision. He can bring the best out of this young artist. Together, the two form a bond as they create an album for Greta using the city of New York as their studio.

 

I went into this movie completely blind. I had not seen one trailer, or really even heard anything about it other then that it was directed by John Carney, who’s previous effort Once is a cult classic that I have not yet seen. As such, I really didn’t know what I was expecting, but what I got is one of my favorite films of 2014 so far. Sound too good to be true? That’s because it is. While I loved this movie, it was not an easy journey getting there.

The first twenty five minutes or so of this movie are pretty rough. I don’t know if I was just adjusting to Carney’s style, or if it was genuinely bad just yet, but I’m pretty sure it was the latter. The characters begin this movie in a very stereotypical place, and the performances reflect that in a very over the top fashion. Knightley puts on just about every sad face she can without actually being very convincing,  Ruffalo comically overplays the drunken, easily angered Dan to maddening effect, and Stienfeld, who at one time seemed so promising in True Grit, is completely barren and flat. Also, the dialogue in this movie is very play-like, especially at first, and the movie spends no time easing you into it. While Carney shoots this like a down and dirty New York tale, what these characters are saying to each other is straight out of a 1950’s movie musical. It just does not jive at first.

But then, Ruffalo and Knightley meet, and everything that was wrong with the movie before quickly evaporates, and one of the most genuinely charming and touching films I’ve seen in a long time begins.

This is one of the only movies I’ve ever seen about music where the characters actually seem to love music. This is exemplified in the first scene where the movie really turns on, where Ruffalo visualizes an incredible arrangement behind Knightly’s seemingly anemic track, and carries through the rest of the film. There are so many electric conversations about the sheer creative process that ultimately goes into this album, and it’s so much fun to watch that all come together. It also helps that Knightly and Ruffalo have electric chemistry together. All of a sudden, what sounded stagey and fake when only one of them was on screen starts to flourish when the two are together. There’s moments of such euphoric happiness between them, especially when Carney is letting them act more visually. My favorite scene in this film, and one of the best scenes of any film this year is a simple sequence where our two leads are walking through the city listing to music together. Hardly any dialogue, just the natural dynamics doing their work, and it’s beautiful. As such, the movie finally starts to ground itself in it’s own slightly heightened but still very potent version of real life, and it’s absolutely entrancing.

Another pleasant surprise is the performance of Adam Levine. I think that a lot of the time, people really want to root against musicians trying something different, but I think he’s going to win a lot of fans here. His character isn’t written like the stereotypical jerk that populates these kind of movies, but a three dimensional man who’s struggling with balancing all of the different things he wants. Levine navigates all of this very nicely with some surprisingly subtle and grounded acting. Also, out of all the actors, he by far excels the most in the music category. The few songs he gets here sound like the music Maroon 5 used to make before they were eaten by the pop monster, and Levine’s vocals sound better than ever.

Speaking of music, the songs here are really solid. They strike that perfect, loving balance between rock and folk. Some work better than others. Most of them, especially the ones sung by Levine absolutely sour, but some definitely blend together. Knightly’s singing leaves a little to be desired, with all of her numbers having very similar arrangements that make it feel like one expanded song. With that said, it is still perfectly serviceable and she has one song towards the end of the film that is absolutely fantastic.

What really carries this thing over the top for me is how everything ultimately resolves. No spoilers here, but I was very impressed with how organically the characters come to their conclusion It’s not the typical ending you see in so many of these type of films, spitting in the face of cliche and providing a resolution that is a perfect blend of optimism and cynicism. It’s how this situation would realistically resolve itself, and it feels completely earned given everything we’ve seen.

It’s simply amazing how much this film rebounded in my eyes. After such a wonky start, it managed to become not only a wonderfully charming musical, but a really touching and authentic look at creative relationships. There are so many moments peppered throughout that are just masterclasses in directing and acting, and the screenplay is up to the task, keeping it’s characters and the audience on their toes. If you want to see a musical this summer, don’t settle for Jersey Boys just because it’s closer. Drive that extra 20 minutes to see a film that will make you fall in love with the idea of the musical all over again.

Rating: A-