‘Dope’ worth a watch, a couple of others should send you outside
“Dope”
Essentially, what we have here is a remix or a mashup. At its core, it’s virtually an updated version of “Risky Business.” Only instead of a spoiled Tom Cruise turning the suburbs into a brothel, the gang-infested streets of Los Angeles transform a good kid into a drug dealer. It may seem like this story has been told before, but writer/director Rick Famuyiwa (“The Wood” and “Our Family Wedding”) comes at it with pizzazz and fills the script with quick turns and abrupt stops. Shameik Moore plays the good kid. Kiersey Clemons and Tony Revolori play his two geeky friends, and all three make this a fun romp. Even though it’s set in the present, ’90’s hip-hop culture permeate the soundtrack and this film’s characters. As with most coming of age movies, there are moments of heavy-handedness, but mostly, this film is pretty dope – worth a watch.
“San Andreas”
The Rock shakes. He shudders. He flexes a lot. He sputters atrocious dialogue. Stuff happens to other people too, like impossible tsunamis and whole cities crumbling into devastating floods, but we don’t care about those people, because they’re not Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson or related to him in any way. We care about Carla Gugino because she plays his ex-wife. We care about Alexandra Daddario because she plays his daughter. Paul Giamatti plays a scientist integral to the plot, but when the fissure cracks, we could care less, because he has nothing to do with the big beautiful boulder. Storylines go unresolved. Characters get forgotten. The special effects take over after awhile. What else do you expect from director Brad Peyton? He’s the same guy who brought you “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore” and “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” for Rock’s sake. Let this one fall through the cracks – pass.
“Tomorrowland”
Filmmaker Brad Bird started making quality movies 15 years ago with his surprise hit “The Iron Giant” and continued with his Pixar duet, “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille.” He even managed to nail a top-tier action flick in “Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol.” Now, he’s taking Disney back to its classic roots, in search of a world where imagination, invention and discovery are still a work of motion and progress, instead of an application waiting to be installed on your phone. Bird and writer Damon Lindelof incorporate all the elements of sci-fi, from clunky steampunk to the sleek sheen of the future. It’s a beautiful film. George Clooney and the young and talented Britt Robertson are a nice one-two punch of cross-generational grit and personality. The supporting cast holds its own. The problems are the two P’s – predictability and preachy. The film has so many right turns it becomes pretty square, and they make sure to preach about each one. Its scope is grandiose, and that makes it barely worth a watch.
This story was originally published October 13, 2015 at 12:39 PM with the headline "‘Dope’ worth a watch, a couple of others should send you outside."