Super (2010): written and directed by James Gunn; starring Rainn Wilson (Frank Darbo), Ellen Page (Libby), Liv Tyler (Sarah), and Kevin Bacon (Jacques): Super pretty much asks and answers the question, 'What if Travis Bickle had wanted to be a superhero?'
The answer is a bleak, bloody satire that does everything well except stick the landing. Frustrated, mentally ill fry cook Rainn Wilson loses his recovering addict wife (Liv Tyler, way too good-looking for the movie, especially when she's supposed to be in the throes of drug use) to drug kingpin Kevin Bacon. Inspired by a Christian TV show superhero (Nathan Fillion under a hilarious Jesus wig), Wilson sets out to fight crime as the pipe-wrench wielding Crimson Bolt!
Let me tell you, writer-director James Gunn (in his pre-Guardians of the Galaxy days) is on to something here -- a massive pipe-wrench really is a good weapon!
Gunn maintains a certain tone for much of the movie -- violent, satiric, but weirdly weightless -- that only collapses in the coda. One could interpret that coda as yet another delusion by Wilson's character, though there aren't really any cues that is meant to be a delusion and not a curiously sentimental summation.
A similar problem occurred with the unearned (and anomalous) treacle at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy 2, meaning that I'd say that the very similar Defendor is a better version of almost the same movie, by a smidgen, because its ending supports more ambiguous interpretations as to the worth (or lack thereof) of superheroes. Actually, Hobo With a Shotgun might be the best version of this story in recent years.
Ant-Man (2015): based on the character created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby; written by Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, Adam McKay, and Paul Rudd; directed by Peyton Reed; starring Paul Rudd (Scott Lang), Michael Douglas (Hank Pym), Evangeline Lilly (Hope van Dyne), Corey Stoll (Darren Cross), Bobby Cannavale (Paxton), Anthony Mackie (The Falcon), and Michael Pena (Luis) (2015): Still the greatest pilot ever for a superhero TV show that was never intended to be made and never will be made. If only Edgar Wright had been allowed to stay onboard as writer and director, this might have been an all-time great superhero movie. As is, still refreshingly zippy and fun, with a cast up to the hijinks. Recommended.
Crazy, Stupid, Love: written by Dan Fogelman; directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa; starring Steve Carell (Cal Weaver), Ryan Gosling (Jacob Palmer), Julianne Moore (Emily Weaver), Emma Stone (Hannah), Analeigh Tipton (Jessica Riley), Jonah Bobo (Robbie Weaver), Marisa Tomei (Kate Taffety), Josh Groban (Richard), and Kevin Bacon (David Lindhagen) (2011): Enjoyable, simplistic trifle that seems even better than it probably is when compared to the dire state of the modern cinematic romantic comedy. Also, neither Katherine Heigl nor Jennifer Aniston are anywhere to be found.
What we get is a group of interlocking love stories. Steve Carell's character becomes estranged from wife Julianne Moore; Carell's 13-year-old son obsesses over the 17-year-old babysitter; the 17-year-old babysitter obsesses over Steve Carell; scoundrel Ryan Gosling takes the separated Carell under his wing to teach him how to pick up women; Julianne Moore tries to continue the fling she had with Kevin Bacon; Gosling finds himself falling in love with Emma Stone's recent law-school graduate. Whew!
If you believe in soulmates, you'll probably like this movie a lot. Thankfully, there's also a lot of unforced, generally believeable humour stemming from romantic success and heartbreak, including some nice slapstick at a backyard party -- several scenes take the film unflinchingly into screwball comedy territory, and Carell is good at that sort of thing.
The rest of the cast is game -- Stone and Gosling especially -- and the whole thing goes down pretty smoothly. You may get creeped out a bit by the babysitter/son plot thread. It really walks the line between funny and creepy. Or clever and stupid. Recommended.
