I was all ready to completely write off Riot Love as yet another terrible romantic movie. Then something happened. The film makes a huge shift going into the third act. All of a sudden the film was no longer about some boring first date between two super annoying cardboard cut-outs. The film finally had some urgency and excitement, taking the boring characters out of the boring date setting and into the middle of a violet, mindless riot.
2. Triple Identity
I really dug this one. Sure, it covers a lot of the same ground as Mr. Big, but it has a far different vibe. It's a more rough and tumble film with a shadier cast of characters. And like last season's Bad Education, it features some of the most outside-the-box casting in a while. There's something about the lovable comedian Drew Carey as the leader of a violet white supremacist organization that not only just works, but also completely rings true. The leaders of these kinds of groups rarely look like the frightening brute films usually depict. They are more likely to look like someone like Carey, who while highly personable, does have a secret bit of edge to him (no doubt from his real-life US Marine Corps background).
1. Mr. Big
Did I feel like I was experiencing deja vu for most of the movie? Absolutely. Did I have a problem with that? Not this time. Mr. Big may not tell a very original story, but man, does it deliver what I wanted out of it. These films live or die by their leading man, and this one featured one of Bradley Cooper's better performances. And after mentioning the weak Best Actress race for the Golden Reel Awards, Jessica Chastain has become one of the lead contenders (alongside Christina Hendricks' performance in The Question: The End).
As much as I loved the last third of Riot Love, I hated the first two-thirds even more. I was very bored and annoyed. Both lead characters, played by Charlie Cox and Alison Brie, were immediately unlikable. Having he two almost immediately start bickering about politics on their date made both characters incredibly grating. And boy was Anthony Hopkins completely wasted here. I'm surprised he even accepted such a small role. I sure hope he made a nice paycheck from it.
2. Round 8 Box Office
This is one of the rare rounds in Last Resort Films' box office history where the studio lost money between the three films released. As usual, I have no hard facts to back up this claim, just a hunch and a vague recollection. It just seems like such a rare occasion. Usually there's at least one film that saves the round, but while Mr. Big did make a profit, it didn't make enough to offset the losses from the round's other two releases.
1. Charlie Cox & Brandon Routh
I really don't understand Jack Ryder's love for these two actors. Don't get me wrong, Charlie Cox is talented, but he's no big screen leading man. He simply lacks the necessary charm and charisma to pull it all off in the lead role. He's been fine in supporting roles (I thought he was good on "Boardwalk Empire"), but not so much in the lead role. And now for Brandon Routh.... Yes, he's handsome, but that's about it. His entire career is based on the fact that he looked kind of like Christopher Reeve's Superman (and that Bryan Singer probably wanted to have sex with him). That's it. Before that he was on the fast track to nowhere. He was terrible in that terrible Superman movie. Seriously, Superman Returns is a piece of shit... What kind of Superman movie has the Big Blue Boy Scout not throw a single punch or have a single villain to fight? All of the film's action scenes simply involved Superman lifting heavy objects. Talk about exciting stuff...... Routh was part of the problem there with his wooden performance, and he still appears to made out of mahogany. He's so wooden in all of his performances, it's ridiculous at this point. Hopefully Routh's failure up the Hollywood ladder doesn't get any higher...
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