Let’s Be Cops
Let’s not. Toward the end of “Let’s Be Cops,” I heard a sound that I hadn’t heard in a while. It was me laughing. And even then, I think I was laughing out of pity. It’s the classic case of a movie wasting any and all of its entertaining material in the trailers. When you get to the movie, you get nothing new. Nothing funny. Nothing good at all. 5.5/10
R.I.P.D.
Ouch. This one got dumb quick. It’s a silly story about two dead cops in a police force to stop dead people who still remain on Earth. Not worth the time to explain why it’s so bad. 4.5/10
Admission
I thought that this 2012 comedy starring Tina Fey and Paul Rudd might be cute. Nope. Instead, it became one of the worst movies I have seen in a long, long time. Sorry, but it’s the truth. Bad chemistry killed this one. Chemistry between lovers, between friends, between family. It just wasn’t there. It was awkward to watch them all try to act. 4/10
Chaplin
Finally, something I don’t regret watching. This 1992 film by the now-late director Richard Attenborough (“Gandhi”) shares with us the tumultuous life story of Charlie Chaplin (played by Robert Downey Jr., who received Best Actor nominations on most major award circuits). RDJ is incredible, the script is as dramatic as it is informative, and a slew of supporting actors (Kevin Kline, Anthony Hopkins, Marisa Tomei, Diane Lane, Dan Akroyd, and Milla Jovovich to name a few) give tremendous support. 8/10
“True Detective: Season 1”
This slow-burning and suspenseful thriller is written by a novice psychology professor. You can tell. “True Detective” takes you on a wild ride as two Louisiana detectives (Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, both nominated for Primetime Emmys) investigate a complicated and twisted serial killer. If “Law & Order: SVU” had sophisticated and intelligent dialogue, it would look something like this. McConaughey deserved a Best Actor win in the TV Drama category. 8.5/10
“The Newsroom: Season 1”
I’m not sure who to praise first. Writer Aaron Sorkin (“The Social Network”) fills “The Newsroom” with incredible witty dialogue, dramatic tension, and sentimentality. But the cast (including Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, and Sam Waterston) takes his lines and works magic with them. Sorkin doesn’t let us off easy by giving us a foil character. No real antagonist. We see the good and the bad in every character, just like it should be. And the romances that would fall together in 2 episodes in a lesser series take their dear old time. Brilliance. 9.5/10
Cinema or Cine-meh 