Catching Up On Early 2010

This has been a weak summer for blockbusters. Nothing even remotely memorable that wasn't drawn by the folks at Pixar. The Tom Cruise vehicle crashed and burned. The Last Airbender suffocated at the box office. Come on "Inception"! It may be the last hope for the summer. So I caught up on a couple of films from earlier in the year that you can catch on pay-per-view.

HOT TUB TIME MACHINE
Three in a row. Three white-male-angst comedies that I should be deriding for immature narcissism, rampant misogyny and unfunny toilet humor and here I am extolling their virtues. First "The Hangover", then "Get Him to the Greek" and now "Hot Tub Time Machine". What is the world coming to.
"Hot Tub Time Machine" is the lesser of these three comedies. It's more aggressively angry, less nimble in it's execution and not as smart but it has some key factors going for it. It's characters aren't completely implausible, it's funny and sweet, and it's is chocked full of 1980's nostalgia. Now I'm a child of the 70's but I did go to college in the 80's so it's just a short leap for me.
Part of the problem with these films (apart from the three mentioned above) is that actors are allowed to range far off the reservation when it comes to character choice and behavior. You know who you are, Will Farrell. In the three films mentioned, the characters may be loopy and eccentric but they are grounded in reality. Well, somewhat.
HTTM may have a premise that is lunatic (after all, it's a Hot Tub AND a Time Machine) but it doesn't dwell on it. In fact it doesn't dwell much on the logic of time travel at all. The convolutions of time travel have driven great Sci-fi authors batty. It concentrates on themes more easily handled like mid-life crisis, friendship and second chances. Craig Robinson and John Cusack are terrific and there's a rendition of "Jesse's Girl" that'll split your side stitches. Oh and the running gag with Crispin Glover and a prosthetic arm is brilliant. Now if that doesn't get you to the video store for "Hot Tub Time Machine", nothing will.

SHUTTER ISLAND
Right from the very beginning of "Shutter Island" you are aware that you are being manipulated. There is a feeling that you aren't watching the truth. The dialogue is awkward the characters just a little too on the nose. And that sense of foreboding isn't a sense at all. It more like being hit with a sledge hammer. So when that much talked about third act twist finally arrives, there's no surprise. You know something is coming, it's just a matter of which lie will become the truth. And as it turns out the twist isn't even all that twisty.
This film needed the subtlety of "The Sixth Sense" to make the payoff work. What we got is a heavy handed knock off of "The Island of Dr. Moreau". Martin Scorcese has never been a particularly subtle director. "Goodfellas" or "Raging Bull" or "Taxi Driver" aren't exactly exercises in the art of foreshadowing. This whole film feels like a long, stilted set up for a punch line you've heard before. And just a warning. If you listen to the heavy handed score long enough and loud enough, you yourself will end up an inmate on "Shutter Island".