DREW'S REVIEWS

JERSEY BOYS (R) Naturally, Jersey Boys is about the music. When four young men, including angel voiced Frankie Valli (Tony winner John Lloyd Young, who, with just a feathered do, would be a perfect Steve Perry for the Journey musical biopic of which I now dream), from the wrong side of the Jersey turnpike come together, the result is the melodic harmonies of the Four Seasons. The struggles that precede and are caused by the fame come with the musical biopic territory. Egos threaten the partnership; the road threatens the families; and the money makes it all worse. But oh the music! “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Working My Way Back to You,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” and more move the film through some of its denser, dramatic stretches. Like any film directed by Clint Eastwood, the pace is languid. The washed out photography imbues the film with a period authenticity but fails to liven up the sometimes dowdy proceedings. With so many unfamiliar actors upon whom to latch, Christopher Walken easily scores via his classic line delivery. Be sure to prepare for the post-film Four Seasons binge.

TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION (PG-13) Michael Bay’s fourth Transformers movie is too long, but it's less abrasive and offensive than its two immediate predecessors. A more appealing band of humans, led by Mark Wahlberg, certainly helps, as do the Dinobots that finally appear in the last 30 of the movie’s 165 minutes. Evil government, represented by Kelsey Grammer, and evil corporations, represented by Stanley Tucci, are working together with a bad Transformer named Lockdown to hunt down the remaining Autobots. When struggling inventor and single dad Cade Yeager (Wahlberg) finds an injured Optimus Prime (thankfully still voiced by Peter Cullen), he puts himself and his hot daughter (Nicola Peltz, “Bates Motel”) in the middle of the war between humanity and robotic aliens. No ambassador for cultural sensitivity, director Bay has jettisoned the overt racism and jingoism of previous adventures, leaving the franchise’s central flaw being how much time is wasted on people. Two human-only car chases is two too many. How about a prequel set on Cybertron? Ironically, a series that started as 30-minute commercials for children’s toys has transformed into near-three-hour commercials for adult toys like cars, beer and lingerie. Did I mention the Dinobots? See Edge of Tomorrow instead.

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THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (PG-13) Despite abundant reasons for applause, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 sabotages itself with the most dreadfully deadening second act unleashed in a major superhero movie. Andrew Garfield returns as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and has much more control of the role in his second appearance. He channels the comic’s wisecracking webslinger, especially in the smart, campy opening fight with a very Russian criminal inexplicably played by Paul Giamatti. In his second attempt, director Marc Webb supplies the franchise’s best action setpieces; both of Spidey’s fights with Jamie Foxx’s blue-headed Electro are kinetically exciting, if a bit too computer animated. But the fightless sequence after Spider-Man first defeats Electro, during which Peter reunites with old pal Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) and searches for the answer to his OsCorp scientist father’s (Campbell Scott) disappearance, absolutely kills the movie’s silly momentum, despite Martin Csokas’ German mad Dr. Kafka. Bookending the boring are two great acts. The first could be the most charmingly innocent cinematic superhero action since Superman ’78, even if it is more Lester than Donner; the action-packed finale jams three supervillains into what can’t be more than 20 minutes. Make sure you wake up for it.

BLENDED (PG-13) Ten years after 50 First Dates, Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore reunite as single parents who, after meeting on a bad blind date, fall for each other on an African safari with their kids. Sandler invited his Wedding Singer, Waterboy, and Click pal and director Frank Coraci for the sure-to-be critically reviled, financially successful family flick. The supporting cast is fairly expected (Kevin Nealon, Allen Covert, Shaq, Dan Patrick, etc.), but Terry Crews, Wendi McClendon-Covey and Joel McHale are reliably funny.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (PG-13) Cap (Chris Evans) returns in his second solo outing, and it’s a slight improvement over the first, a definitively middle-of-the-pack Marvel movie. As an agent of SHIELD, Captain America, aka Steve Rogers, must adjust to his new reality and save the world, regularly. When seeds of distrust are sewn amongst members of SHIELD, Cap has to figure out if he can trust anyone, including Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) or new pal Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie). Cap’s transition to the modern world gets even more complicated once a new enemy, the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), turns out to be an old acquaintance. Captain America: The Winter Soldier redefines the Marvel Universe more than any of the previous features. Its effects will be felt from Avengers: Age of Ultron to ABC’s “Agents of Shield.” Credit new directors Anthony and Joe Russo (“Community”) with a lighter, more action-oriented Cap, but this series will always lack the vivacious spark Robert Downey Jr. brings to Iron Man. Kicking off the summer season earlier than ever, a big, more-fun-than-not comic book movie is what we’ve been waiting all winter for, right?

CHEF (R) With Shane Black taking over last year’s Iron Man 3, Jon Favreau hasn’t helmed a feature since 2011’s Cowboys & Aliens. He also stars in his latest, a comedy about a chef, Carl Casper, who loses his restaurant job and starts a food truck. Plus, he’s got to reunite his separated family. Favreau wrote and directed this feature that also stars Sofia Vergara, John Leguizamo, Scarlett Johansson, Oliver Platt, Bobby Cannavale, Dustin Hoffman and Robert Downey Jr. (Ciné)

DELIVER US FROM EVIL (R) Despite being another of those horror flicks based on true events (e.g. The Amityville Horror, The Conjuring, etc.), Deliver Us from Evil can boast to be the newest chiller from Scott Derrickson, who directed the more-than-competent The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Sinister. Eric Bana stars as a New York cop, Ralph Sarchie, who teams up with a priest (Edgar Ramirez) to solve the demonic possessions plaguing the city. With Olivia Munn and Joel McHale.

DIVERGENT (PG-13) Hunger Games comparisons are inevitable. While Veronica Roth’s book loses the head-to-head against Suzanne Collins’ bestseller, Neil Burger’s filmed adaptation might best Gary Ross’ original Games. In a dystopian future Chicago, humanity is divided into five factions. Right before Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley) is to choose the faction in which she’ll spend the rest of her life, the teenager learns she is Divergent, whatever that means. Tris, as she chooses to be called, selects Dauntless, the faction most appealing to teens as they spend most of their time yelling and jumping from trains. Oh yeah, they’re civilization’s soldiers too. After a grueling initiation during which she makes a love connection with the studly instructor, Four (Theo James), Tris learns her perfect society and all Divergents are under attack. The movie distills 500 pages of plot into a pretty decent two-plus-hour flick as scripters Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor smartly eschew Tris’ inner monologues, save for her opening and closing thoughts. Burger excels at sci-fi (see Limitless) and the casting is spot on. Woodley’s the most believably unsure YA heroine seen on the big screen, and James increases Four’s appeal from the page. Bring on Insurgent.

EARTH TO ECHO (PG) Found footage is not the cinematic dead end many believe it to be, but the gambit needs a narrative purpose to be used. The trailers for Earth to Echo, an E.T.-looking wannabe that brings to mind 1988’s Mac and Me, betray no such narrative need for the found footage frame. A group of kids could help this alien named Echo return home without filming every second of it. The family-friendly sci-fi flick is the first feature from director Dave Green. 

EDGE OF TOMORROW (PG-13) Sadly, Edge of Tomorrow may be the worst advertised movie of the year; its less than evocative, unimaginative title does not help (the Japanese light novel on which it is based has the superior title, All You Need Is Kill). The trailer portrays a joyless action movie where an exo-suited Tom Cruise continuously kills the same generic aliens over and over. In reality, Cruise’s newest actioner is a charmingly funny, engagingly smart, sci-fi take on Groundhog Day. Cruise’s character, Major William Cage, is the Army’s PR guy, who winds up stripped of his rank when he balks at hyping humanity’s invasion of alien-held France. In the invasion, the untrained Cage dies but somehow wakes up to repeat the day. Fortunately, war hero Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) knows what’s going on and gives Cage some pointers on effective soldiering. Cage’s repeated forays into battle and subsequent improvements calls to mind the process of playing a videogame; Cage learns the enemy patterns and makes it a little farther each time. Fortunately, director Doug Liman and writers Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth briskly pace the repetitive scenes, giving Cruise ample material with which to charm.

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS (PG-13) Finally, it took long enough for another wide release feature to compete with The LEGO Movie; 2014’s "best of" list so far is dominated by VOD and indies. The adaptation of John Green’s story of cancer teens in love succeeds on numerous fronts. The script by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (they had similar success with the slightly superior The Spectacular Now) ably and completely translates Green from page to screen. Nothing of the book, neither its pain nor humor, is lost (even though a few things could have been). Ultimately, the source material is YA, meaning proclamations of endless love are de rigueur, but at least these kids might be right when they say they will never love anyone else as much. Hazel and Gus are dying, after all. Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort are matchingly resigned and hopeful. In her string of roles portraying YA protagonists, Woodley might have given her best performance. But the adults should not be forgotten. Laura Dern chisels Hazel’s mom out of some tough china, and Willem Dafoe entertains as expected (these two are a long way from David Lynch’s Wild at Heart). Come prepared to cry.

GODZILLA (PG-13) The biggest, baddest monster is back and ranks number one on my personal list of most anticipated 2014 summer movies. Trading in Matthew Broderick and Hank Azaria for Bryan Cranston, Kick-Ass’ Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen, the latest Hollywood attempt at a Godzilla-based franchise looks much more beholden to the original character than Roland Emmerich’s 1998 version. Hopefully, Monsters director Gareth Edwards can pull off his move to the blockbuster leagues. As good as Monsters was, the G-man requires a bit more explicit monster mayhem. 

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 (PG) How to Train Your Dragon 2 aspires to make a wonderful family film and turn it into an epic. Hiccup (v. Jay Baruchel) and his dragon, Toothless, spend their days flying across the world, discovering new locations and hopefully new dragons. On one of these flights, the duo runs into a dragon trapper, Eret (v. Kit Harington, “Game of Thrones”), working for the vile dragon hunter, Drago Bloodfist (v. Djimon Hounsou). Drago’s a newly monstrous villain looking to conquer fear, dragons and humanity. Fortunately, Hiccup’s mother, Valka (v. Cate Blanchett), returns from her 20-year absence rescuing dragons. Will the dragon riders of Berk be able to stop Drago or will he take their dragons as well? Writer-director Dean DeBlois fantastically ups the ante from the first film. Still, this cartoon is kid-friendly. The antics of the other young dragon riders, voiced by Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller and Kristen Wiig, will entertain the youngest, while the high-flying action will wow the oldest. Without a Pixar release to challenge it, How to Train Your Dragon 2 should be the family champion at the cinema. Good thing it deserves the title better than most.

THE LEGO MOVIE (PG) The LEGO Movie remains the year’s best wide release. The intricate, interconnected universes built by writing-directing duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street) has an age-defying Muppets-like appeal. When generic construction mini-figure Emmet (v. Chris Pratt, who is so devilishly appealing) gets up in the morning, he follows the day’s instructions as handed down by president/overlord Business (v. Will Ferrell). Soon, Emmet gets involved with a Matrix-ian rebel group that includes Batman (v. Will Arnett). The LEGO Movie uses its licenses (D.C., Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings) smartly as it argues for the salvation of creativity. This film reconstructs the best childhood movie memories from the building blocks that defined young and not-yet-so-old generations.

LIFE ITSELF (R) The well-received documentary about stalwart film critic Roger Ebert will probably find its summer release date to be tough but should find its audience once it hits DVD and streaming services. With Oscar nominee Steve James (Hoop Dreams, which you must see if you haven’t) at the helm, this doc should be better than your run of the mill cinematic biography. Nominated for the Special Jury Award at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival.

MALEFICENT (PG) Maleficent is clearly birthed from the Alice in Wonderland strain of family fantasy, and despite being more successful than either of 2012’s dueling Snow White retellings, overdoses on style while lacking the original cartoon’s charm. Actually, Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) was a super nice overgrown fairy until an evil human broke her heart and stole her wings. When that evil human grows up to be King Stefan (Sharlto Copley, as weird as ever), Maleficent curses his infant daughter, Aurora, to the sleep of death on her 16th birthday. But being truly nice, Maleficent moons over Aurora (Elle Fanning) as she grows into a beatific imbecile. No one benefits from this ultimately unrewarding retconning of Disney’s classic Sleeping Beauty, least of all the titular evil fairy. Here, the powerfully wicked Maleficent is relegated to a petty trickster in snakeskin head wraps. Sometimes a villain’s just a villain, a baddie just a baddie. (But Disney being Disney, prepare for a whole new line of Disney villain movies. I can’t wait until Cruella, where we find Ms. de Vil was attacked by a rabid dog as a youngster, thereby justifying her plan to make a coat out of 101 Dalmatian pups.)

MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (PG) Mr. Peabody and Sherman get much better feature film treatment than their cartoon pals Rocky and Bullwinkle. The super smart canine, Mr. Peabody (v. Ty Burrell, "Modern Family"), and his adopted son, Sherman (v. Max Charles, young Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man), travel back in time via Peabody's WABAC machine. The duo meet Marie Antoinette, King Tut, Leonardo da Vinci (v. Stanley Tucci), Mona Lisa (v. Lake Bell) and other historical luminaries as they try to right the wrongs  perpetrated against the space-time continuum. Burrell keeps Peabody as punny as ever, and kids will relate to Sherman's childish, lesson-teaching mistakes. The historical gags are a hit, though the dramatic narrative is structured too familiarly. And who is the target demo, kids who have never heard of these classic cartoons or the adults bound to be at least a little disappointed by the newfangled incarnations of their childhood faves? Trying to please both might not fully please either. Nonetheless, 2014 will see worse kids movies than Mr. Peabody & Sherman.

OBVIOUS CHILD (R) In writer-director Gillian Robespierre’s feature debut, Jenny Slate, best known as Tom Haverford’s icky girlfriend, Mona-Lisa, on NBC’s “Parks and Recreation,” stars as Donna Stern, a stand up comic facing an adult decision thanks to a sucky breakup that leads to an unexpected pregnancy from a one-night stand. The trailer looks more entertaining than the preceding description. With Gaby Hoffman, recently seen (all of her) on HBO’s “Girls,” David Cross, Richard Kind and Polly Draper. 

THE OTHER WOMAN (PG-13) It takes way too long for Kate Upton to pop up in this intermittently funny and shrill female buddy comedy. Powerful professional woman, Carly Whitten (Cameron Diaz), finds out her wonderful new boyfriend, Mark (Nicolaj Coster-Waldau, “Game of Thrones”), is married. Carly and the wronged wife, Kate (Leslie Mann), team up for revenge with Mark’s other other woman, Amber (Upton). Diaz and Mann are showcased, and the results are mixed. As many laughs as Mann generates, she spends equally as much time crying and whining. Diaz continues to age gracefully, though one of the movie’s best gags might be the comedienne’s reaction to being upstaged by Upton, whose initial bikini-clad appearance doesn’t occur until an hour into the movie. The Other Woman is neither a total disaster nor a riotous female comedy. We’re not achieving Bridesmaids heights here. The comedy does begin to answer the question, how much is too much Leslie Mann? I’m sad and a little disappointed by The Other Woman’s response. 

RIO 2 (G) Blu (v. Jesse Eisenberg), Jewel (v. Anne Hathaway) and the three kids leave the wilds of Rio de Janeiro for the real wilds of the Amazon, where Blu must battle his father-in-law (v. Andy Garcia). I don’t recall caring that much for the first trip to Rio, though it could have been worse. The voices of Will.i.am, Jamie Foxx, George Lopez, Tracy Morgan, Jemaine Clement, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro and Jake T. Austin return, while Garcia and Bruno Mars headline the newcomers.

SNOWPIERCER (R) Bong Joon-ho’s English language debut looks exciting. The world’s surviving humans now live on the globetrotting train, Snowpiercer, after a global warming experiment begins a new ice age that kills off nearly all life on the planet. The survivors include Chris “Captain America” Evans, Jamie Bell (the new Thing), John Hurt, Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer and Ed Harris. Despite rumors of Harvey Weinstein mucking with Bong’s vision, I am way more excited for this film than I am the new Transformers.

TAMMY (R) Melissa McCarthy headlines her hubby Ben Falcone’s directorial debut; the duo collaborated on the script. McCarthy’s Tammy hits the road with her grandmother, Pearl (Susan Sarandon), after losing her job and discovering that her husband, Greg (Nat Faxon), is a cheater. Tammy’s trailer looks more like Identity Theft 2; its description sounds much more charming. The cast includes fan favorites like Kathy Bates, Allison Janney, Dan Aykroyd, Mark Duplass, Gary Cole, Toni Collette and Sandra Oh.

THINK LIKE A MAN TOO (PG-13) Everyone returns to mine more gold from the sequel to the hit romantic comedy based on Steve Harvey’s bestseller, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. The gang reconvenes in Las Vegas for the wedding of Candace and Michael (Regina Hall and Terence Jenkins). What happens in Vegas shakes up everyone’s lives. With director Tim Story, original writers David A. Newman and Keith Merryman, and original cast members Michael Ealy, Jerry Ferrara, Meagan Good, Taraji P. Henson, Romany Malco, Gary Owen, Gabrielle Union and Kevin Hart all back, can this second marriage be as successful?

22 JUMP STREET (R) 22 Jump Street steps right into the criticisms of other high profile R-rated comedy sequels like The Hangover Part II. Hot off the success of The LEGO Movie (still 2014’s best wide release), writing and directing duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, constantly and self-referentially acknowledge that Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) just need to do the exact same thing again. Moving from high school to college, the undercover team must find the supplier of a dangerous new drug called WHYPHY. It’s not as easy the second time around, as Jenko finds fame on the football field and Schmidt feels left out. Lord and Miller lucratively tap into a major vein of cop satire for their buddy cop-medy. Tatum again shows he’s an underrated comedic actor, and though Hill gets his laughs, he has the sense of self to know when to play it straight. Though Ice Cube is used to much better effect as Captain Dickson becomes an integral part of the plot, supporting fun is harder to find in this sequel; “Workaholics” Jillian Bell and the Lucas Brothers are the only standouts. Stick around; the end credits contain the movie’s funniest gag

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (PG-13) Director Bryan Singer returns after a two-film hiatus for a successful X-venture combining the best of the first two X-Men (a heavy dose of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine) with Matthew Vaughn’s valedictory First Class. Wolverine takes center stage as his psyche is sent back to the 1970s (cue the fashion, the automobiles, the Nixon) to convince a young, feuding Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) to work together to stop the end of the human and mutantkind. If you’re a fan of any X-Men outside of Wolvie, Prof X, Magneto, Beast (Marcus Hoult) and Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), you’re out of luck. Quicksilver does get introduced (he’s also slated to appear in Avengers 2) with the film’s piece de resistance, a slow motion sequence set to Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle.” Quirky “American Horror Story” alum Evan Peters provides the perfect jittery teen version of the speedy mutant. Like previous Singer X-Men, the film gets a little logy in the middle, but somehow the wonky time-traveling narrative keeps traveling forward with little confusion. It only took five movies, but I am ready to give in to the Mystique agenda being pushed since the first X-movie in 2000.