Big Eyes Is Tim Burton's Best Since Big Fish

Funny that Tim Burton should make two Big movies a little over ten years apart, and that they should so easily outrank the rest of his films within that ten year period.

Big Eyes is yet another true story... this film season is packed full of em. But this one is particularly interesting. It's not a war film. Not a civil rights film... well not directly. This is the story of Margaret and Walter Keane (Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz) the famous "artists". Quotes apply because only one of them is actually an artist. However, the story of how that realization comes to be is so gosh darn interesting. And it's an excellent discussion piece... because even though this incident is perhaps a product of its time, there's nothing to say it couldn't happen again today. It's not exactly a women's rights issue, though one particular scene in a church brings that subject and even more so the subject of public perception of sexism as classism into question.

No, Tim Burton's latest flick is mostly a bizarrely true period piece. This movie is very much about the late 1950s through the 1960s and the way people behaved and accepted without proof. There's a naivety to peoples' perceptions that is mind boggling in todays standards, but somehow could make even more sense in todays world... now that we can practically invent new identities at a whim online. People's identities can be stolen... property taken. But never in such a personal manner. Never with such bluntness. And never quite so in your face as Walter was able to do to Margaret.

I will go see Amy Adams in anything. She's been doing incredible work since Drop Dead Gorgeous, and she powerhouses this movie. Of course, Christoph Waltz is an excellent companion. Every performance he's ever given has garnered some form of praise... and he brings to this film a level of honesty that should be absurd given how full of lies his character is. But that's what's so blatantly fun about this performance. I also enjoyed Krysten Ritter, though her character was mostly one note. She just fit the time period so concisely.

At times I have just wanted Tim Burton to stop making films. But if he puts out something as semi-charming as this every few years... and we don't have to wait ten agonizing years between all the while watching bad adaptations of previously loved properties... well I wouldn't go yelling that Tim Burton is back or anything, but Big Eyes is a wonderful first step to me perhaps getting back on the Burton train in the near future. Yet, given the two films he's apparently planning on making in the near future, those hopes may never come to fruition. Oh well. At least I had a good time with this one movie.

Horrible Bosses 2 Can't Escape Its Predecessor's Mistakes

You know, it's amazing to me that Horrible Bosses got a sequel at all. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy aspects of that original movie, I was just always under the impression that everybody thought of it as just so-so. But they made a sequel anyway.

Horrible Bosses 2 picks up a little while after the first flick. The guys (Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day) are actively trying to start their own business and really do have a shot with an appearance on a morning show looming. When the son (Chris Pine) of an owner (Christoph Waltz) of a prestigious catalog calls them up offering to buy them out, the guys take a moral stand.. as they say, never wanting to have to work for a horrible boss ever again. But that seems to back fire when the catalog pulls out of the deal at the last second intent on buying up the foreclosed property for pennies. So the guys decide to do something drastic.

I don't hate this setup. There's something really charming about it... timely as well. And honestly I don't feel like this flick tries as hard as other comedy sequels do to rehash the same jokes from the original... with the exception of MF Jones (Jamie Foxx). However, that doesn't fix the core of what Horrible Bosses wants to be (and thinks it is) as a franchise. It's got three capable actors in Bateman, Day, and Sudeikis... though the latter's films usually tend to disappoint leaving him blowing in the wind for another crappy gross comedy (ie. Hall Pass, We're The Millers). And far too often the filmmakers have to rely on these guys to just have a good time in front of the camera because it seems there's not enough "funny" inherent in the script. This really does go for both flicks even though they had completely different creative teams behind them.

Based on the lack of audience interest in the property, I can only imagine New Line doesn't bring us a Horrible Bosses 3. Though, studios do have a tendency these days of beating a dead horse in the hopes it'll get up and carry them the rest of the way through the desert that has been the creative market since superhero movies really took off.

Horrible Bosses 2 wasn't bad. There were moments when I actively laughed with the rest of the very small audience. But in the end, it feels like more filler. Better than Dumb and Dumber To, but that's not saying much of anything. If you just want to giggle, but don't care much how you get there, this'd be an alright choice.