Earth to Echo

When I was watching Earth to Echo, I was jealous. For two reasons: 1) because I didn't have a childhood adventure that the three friends in this movie had, and 2) because millions of kids will be able to grow up with Earth to Echo possibly being one of their favorite movies, and I'm too old to be one of them. Now, I'm not that old, but watching this movie made me feel old, but in a happy, reminiscent sort of way, and it made me want to go back to one of those lucky days after school when we had no homework where the mystery of possibilities was endless.

Of course, stumbling upon a lost alien was never in the realm of possibilities for me. But it was for friends Alex, Tuck, and Munch. Each of the boys, convincingly portrayed by a trio of newcomers, represent one of our childhood needs. The awkward but goodhearted Reginald (aka Munch) embodies our need for order, sanity, and a clear idea for the future. Tuck represents our desire for popularity and to be seen as a leader. The foster kid Alex, delivering his sarcastic one-liners, acts as the necessary balance between being transparent and being loved and accepted. Voiceovers and archive footage of the boys' lives assure us that they're all good kids, simultaneously establishing a bond that after just two or three minutes, we as an audience don't ever want to see broken.

On their last night together before a freeway is built over their town, the three decide to investigate what's been causing their phones to act strangely (or in their terms, their phones to "barf"). Biking 17 miles away from home, the boys pinpoint a capsule that houses a small robotic alien that they name Echo, due to its audible repetition of whatever sound effect it hears.

After two hours of communicating with the extraterrestrial, Tuck, Much, and Alex discover that Echo's ship was shot down by government officials. Echo was sent by his home planet to repair and return a damaged spaceship hidden in the boys' town. Alex and Tuck insist to the hesitant Munch that they see this mission through on their final night together, and the trio venture around the state to make sure Echo can get home safely.

While surprisingly original given its heavily derivative plot details, Earth to Echo does fall victim to a few cliches, like adding in a female character halfway through the movie that two of the boys happen to be fighting over. Poorly conceived, executed, and acted, the character of Emma was an unwise decision on the filmmakers' part. The idea of the government officials was also a bit half-assed. Granted, it was a found footage film, but give them a legitimate purpose in the film or leave them out.

At just a brisk 89 minutes, Earth to Echo manages to be not only one of 2014's best movies, but one of the best family adventure movies in years. Although it resorted to the dreaded show-random-clips-of-the-characters-having-fun-in-the-movie-that-I-just-saw ending sequence, the rest of the movie more than makes up for it. I'd be blind not to recognize the blatant borrowing from Chronicle, Super 8, E.T., Stand By Me, Transformers, and The Goonies, but it's important to note that every single one of those movies has its merits, and Earth to Echo manages to take the best of each of them and still bring something new, exciting, and fun to the table with witty dialogue, smart cinematography, sincere performances and a nostalgic score and cinematic tone. I wish Hollywood made more movies like this.

Rating: 4.5/5

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Monkeys. With Guns. (ScreenRant) 

In this Rise of the Planet of the Apes sequel, the humans take a backseat as the primates take the screen. Nearly a decade following the events of the first film in this reboot of the Apes series, Caesar and his comrades are residing in the area once known as San Francisco. Signs are tilted and covered in vines, leaves and dirt cover where there roads existed, and the apes haven’t seen a sign of humans in years, assuming they all destroyed each other during the chaos surrounding the Simian flu.

Living with Caesar are his son, Blue Eyes, his wife, Cornelia, and his friend Rocket. Along with them are a clony of various species of primate, including Koba, an unstable ape who still holds resentment towards the humans for the treatment and experiments they subjected him to before the downfall of humanity. To the surprise of the entire ape community, a group of presumed dead humans stumbles upon the assembly in search of a new power supply. Hoping to restore a dam located near the apes’ home, Caesar gives the humans a few days to work in hopes that it will bring peace among the two groups.

Leading the humans into the apes’ territory is Malcolm (Jason Clarke). Accompanying him is his second wife Ellie (Keri Russell), his son Alexander (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and others. Back at their desolate survival camp, run by ape-hating Dreyfus (played here by an underused Gary Oldman), the ape Koba shows up to sabotage the humans’ attempts to regain a power source and establish peace with the other species, leading to a violent feud rife jaw-dropping moments until the credits start to roll.

We’ve still got a few more years to go, but Dawn of the Planet of the Apes could end up bing revered as one of the best films of the decade. The movie takes risks, is action-packed, and gives us a new breed of protagonists to root for. The movie could have been better, mainly in the area of holding back on some of the human characters to give us these apes to the extent that we got them.

We knew which apes characters we were supposed to be hoping would make it to the end, but what about the film’s human characters? Was there a specific reason or incident that caused Gary Oldman’s character to be so bitter towards the apes? Could we have gotten to better understand Malcolm’s relationship with his new wife and his son, and perhaps know the details of his first marriage? Again, I realize why these human characters were the secondary focus of the film, but it’s still important to know who we’re dealing with in the realm of characters. I also commend the decision to give Andy Serkis top billing in the film. Caesar was the main character, and it’s nice to see that Hollywood is finally starting to give recognition to motion capture performers, and Serkis is the perfect poster child for this movement.

Dawn is a very good film, but I believe it would have worked better as a third entry in the rebooted franchise. The time jump takes us past the worldwide exposure to the Simian flu, and right into the depths of human disparity during the war’s aftermath. Seeing some human vs. ape or human vs. human battles immediately following the events of the first movie might have created a smoother bridge for this entry, and possibly given us a chance to know the human players in Dawn. Pending on the future success of this franchise (it might be hard to top chimpanzees riding into battle on horses with machine guns), I’d like to see filmmakers revisit this in-between time. But let’s see what follows the events of Dawn first.

Rating: 4/5

22 Jump Street

21 Jump Street was the kind of movie that seemed flawless during the first watch, especially when you’re in a group. Every joke seemed ten times funnier and every silly gag seemed all the more original. But when I rewatched 21 Jump Street by myself, I noticed I wasn’t laughing as much. Don’t get me wrong, 21 Jump Street  was still a good, funny movie. I just think it was a bit overhyped at the time of its release, which made me skeptical about 22 Jump Street.

22 Jump Street delivers on the promise of its predecessor’s last line, and puts our favorite bumbling young cops Schmidt and Jenko (the unexpected comedically gold pair of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum) in college. Everyone in the audience and on the set know it’s the same deal as before: find the dealer, infiltrate the supplier. But there’s a certain self-awareness about 22 Jump Street that brings different approach to comedy than we’re used to, similar to that of This is The End. And that’s what makes this sequel stand out as more original and more effectively comedic than the original.

Just like in the last one, Jenko and Schmidt find themselves getting involved with the social scene in their school. While Jenko shines as the college’s new football star and fits right in as a recruit for a fraternity, Schmidt tries his luck at spoken word in one of the film’s best scenes.

I mentioned it before, but what really makes the comedic style of this movie stand out is the self-awareness of the characters. Walking up to the captain’s office and hearing Schmidt say it looks like a “giant cube of ice,” Jenko saying “something cool” as he blows up a helicopter, and the end credits scene showing all the future sequels that are most definitely (but rather unfortunately) not on their way made it clear that everyone involved in 22 Jump Street knew they wanted to make a great movie and have a blast doing it. 

Sometimes there are a few humorless moments, but they’re scarce and easy to gloss over. The majority of the movie is filled with breathtakingly funny moments. As I write this review one month later, I can’t remember many parts I disliked, but I have a slew of memories of the film’s better parts, like forced sexual tension during the final shootout and driving a car through the school’s sculpture garden. So although 22 Jump Street advertises itself as just being the same movie in a new light (the characters make this clear several times with their dialogues), it conveniently left out the part that this follow-up, which could have gone so wrong, was so much better.

Rating: 4/5