Greenberg (2010) - Baumbach's uniquely downbeat LA-romance depressant

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+ Best Los Angeles Movie of the Year

Ben Stiller gets a change of pace as Noah Baumbach's Greenberg

Roger Greenberg is in a curious phase in his life while house-sitting for his brother's family in Hollywood and looking after their dog Mahler: Following a nervous breakdown, he attempts to do nothing.

Greenberg is the 6th feature from great New Yorker writer-director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale (2005)). He developed the story for the film with Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Anniversary Party (2001)), who also stars in it.
The film inspires quite a few laughs; it has some neat scenes and good lines, but it is also incredibly depressing. And unromantic. It works out a space for itself of a kind of hideous realism that's quite rare, which is fascinating but may also be hard to really like.

Related posts:

Noah Baumbach: While We're Young (2014) - Baumbach offers another observant, clever downer
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Frances Ha (2012) or, Growing Older Ain't Easy
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Noah Baumbach directing Ben Stiller in his Greenberg

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 25 mil. $
Box office: 6.1 mil. $
= Mega-flop
[Greenberg premiered February 14 (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 107 minutes. It was shot in and around March 2009. Ben Stiller contracted Joaquin Phoenix to play the part of Ivan, the part ultimately played by Rhys Ifans, recorded in Casey Affleck and Phoenix's weird-awful documentary I'm Still Here. The film opened in just 3 theaters to a 118k $ opening weekend (a strong 39k $ screen average), but peaking in just 186 theaters in North America, where it grossed 4.2 mil. $ (68. % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Russia and the UK, both with 0.4 mil. $ (6.6 %). The film's terrible performance was made catastrophic by the fact that the film was made on an overly high budget. Roger Ebert awarded the film 3½ stars, equal to 5 hearts here. It was shown in competition in Berlin and was nominated for 4 Independent Spirit awards. Greenberg is certified fresh at 75 % with a 6.7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Greenberg?

Charlie St. Cloud (2010) - Steers and Efron's second collaboration is lukewarm

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Zac Efron looks hopefully upwards in the arms of Amanda Crew (The Age of Adaline (2015)) on the poster for Burr Steers' Charlie St. Cloud

Charlie's beloved little brother dies in a car accident, which prompts Charlie to postpone his otherwise promising future in lieu of an empty, cautious existence of denial.

Charlie St. Cloud is a polished, breezy, handsomely shot (by Enrique Chediak (RED 2 (2013))) and color-controlled teen romance melodrama. Zac Efron (Dirty Grandpa (2016)) plays well, and Ray Liotta (John Q (2002)) and Kim Basinger (Bless the Child (2000)) are fine in supporting roles, but the plot is too farfetched to score: SPOILER For 5 (!) years, Charlie throws ball with his dead brother in the forest (!), - but this still doesn't mean that he's gone even just a little cuckoo!?! SPOILER The boat talks in the romance, (Charlie falls for a girl who is a great sailor like himself), and the participation of several other otherworldly hunky young male stars (Dave Franco (The Lego Movie (2014)), Matt Ward (TRON: Legacy (2010)) and Augustus Prew (Kick-Ass 2 (2013))) also make the film too thick to really be taken seriously.
Charlie St. Cloud is written by Craig Pearce (The Great Gatsby (2013)) and Lewis Colick (Domestic Disturbance (2001)), based on the novel The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud (2004) by Ben Sherwood (The Man Who Ate the 747 (2000)), and directed by great American filmmaker Burr Steers (Igby Goes Down (2002)). It's a fairly entertaining film with some good values, but with a scenario that's too unlikely to really succeed.

Related review:

17 Again (2009) or, Teentainment Deluxe

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 44 mil. $
Box office: 48.1 mil. $
= Big flop
[Charlie St. Cloud was released July 30 and runs 99 minutes. 3 Hollywood studios were in a bidding war for Sherwood's book before it was even published. The rights were finally secured by Universal, reportedly for over 1 mil. $. Efron turned down the Footloose remake to star in this thought to be hot ticket. Filming took place from July - October 2009 in British Columbia and New York. The film opened #5 (behind Inception, Dinner for Schmucks, Salt and Despicable Me) to a 12.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 31.1 mil. $ (64.7 % of the total gross). The film's 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Germany and Australia with 2.1 mil. $ (4.4 %) each. Even though the over-budgeted film received generally poor reviews, its relatively small performance is something of a reality check for Efron's star power, who soon thereafter chose to abandon his clean teen idol persona. Charlie St. Cloud is rotten at 27 % with a 4.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Charlie St. Cloud?

21 Jump Street (2012) - Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill dish out some loud buddy cop fun

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The stars of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's 21 Jump Street look misplaced at a high school prom on this poster for the flick

QUICK REVIEW:

The nerd and the popular jock from the same high school meets some years hence in the police academy and later again as rookie cops, as they are sent on an undercover mission to search out the drug source that is supplying a high school.

On the corpse of the original, more or less straight-faced, youth-eschewed cop series (21 Jump Street (1987-91)), here gets erected a self-conscious, energetic raunch comedy with two enthusiastic stars and lots of fun comedians and actors in supporting parts: Talents like Rob Riggle (The Hangover (2009)), Ice Cube (Ride Along (2014)) and Dave Franco (Unfinished Business (2015)), who not only is a real dish, - he can act, too!
The film features prominent amounts of music and yelling, which can be a little intense, but if you're in the mood for it, 21 Jump Street is definitely a successful adaptation, (which I figure is the best word to describe its link to the original show.) It's festive, silly, wild, has a liberal view on drugs, (which won't fall in everyone's favor), plus a car chase with three limos(!). The funniest gag: SPOILER When big car accidents don't result in huge explosions, twice.
21 Jump Street is written by Michael Bacall (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)), with star Jonah Hill (The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005), actor) contributing some story, and directed by Phil Lord and Christoper Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009), both).

Related review:

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller: The Lego Movie (2014) - Glue and near-robotic square-mindedness gets a kick in the head in the year's surprise family favorite
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) - Hefty-paced fun in 3D food lunacy 

Watch the red band trailer for the film here

Cost: 42 mil. $
Box office: 201.6 mil. $
= Big hit
[21 Jump Street took most people by surprise, because it mostly didn't inspire great expectations and turned out to be pretty funny. It opened #1 in North America with a 35 mil. $ first weekend, kicking The Lorax (2012) out of the spot after two weeks there. It grossed 138.4 mil. $ in North America (69 % of the total gross), and a sequel, 22 Jump Street, also by Lord and Miller, was released in 2014. The third film, 23 Jump Street, is now in development.]

What do you think of 21 Jump Street?