21 Jump Street

Laugh all you want: life never stops being like high school. Never. is an action comedy that holds that truth to be self-evident. It stars Jonah Hill, 28, and Channing Tatum, 31, as cops who go undercover in high school to bust a drug ring and wind up futilely trying to correct everything they screwed up in their teens. How old are you 40? asks a fellow student as Tatum (in a revelatory, bust-out comic performance) tries to squeeze into a dainty classroom seat.

Hey, wait. Wasnt there a Fox TV series with Johnny Depp that did the same shtick back in the 1980s? Yeah. But 21 Jump Street is no cheeseball reboot. Producer Hill, who came up with the story with screenwriter Michael Bacall (Project X), has too much affection for the TV series to reduce it to a spoof. A priceless cameo from Depp, in the role he created and about which my lips are sealed, confirms it. This bracing new take on 21 Jump Street has a playful spark all its own. Its a blast.

Oscar nominee Hill (I love saying that about the Moneyball star) is terrific as Schmidt, the brains of the duo, since Tatums Jenko barely mustered out of the police academy without his coaching. These dudes hated each other in high school. Check out the hilarious opening flashback with jock Jenko and supernerd Schmidt, in braces and dyed-yellow curls like a not-so-Slim Shady, emerging as natural-born enemies.

Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, known for the animated Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, have an instinct to go for giggly farce, but Hill and Tatum stay admirably rooted to character. Assigned to the Jump Street unit thats been dead since the 1980s, the team takes R-rated orders from hardass Captain Dickson (Ice Cube), who has scant use for the Justin Bieber/Miley Cyrus muthafuckas under his command. Schmidt and Jenko pose as brothers at the same high school to finger a student pusher. That hes clean-cut vegan Eric (Dave Franco, brother of James, with a distinctly wicked comic gift) is part of the joke. I blame Glee, says Jenko, who cant cut it with the cool crowd. They prefer Schmidt, the anti-bully who fearlessly dons tights to star in a musical of Peter Pan and actually has a shot at nailing his Wendy (Brie Larson).

21 Jump Street throws way more balls in the air than it can comfortably juggle. The car chases have a frantic Michael Bay whoosh, but the kick comes in watching Schmidt and Jenko steal weed from a police evidence locker to throw a stoner house party and then, to prove theyre not narcs, get high on a drug that could literally blow their minds. Are we always still in high school in our heads? 21 Jump Street thinks so. And Hill and Tatum are just the crazy-ass comedy team to prove it.

Columbus Review: Boy Meets Girl, Modern Architecture in Poetic Indie Debut

How do you make a ravishing romance about architecture? Youll find the answer with Kogonada, the video essayist and critic whose debut feature, Columbus, is a spellbinder. An immigrant from South Korea, the director sets his first film in Columbus, Indiana, a seemingly ordinary Midwestern town except for its exceptional modernist architecture, designed by such masters as Eero Saarinen and Harry Weese. Many townsfolk pass by these wonders without noticing. This mood-piece indie, however pays close attention, providing viewers with pristine images that brim with emotions the sort of agony and ecstasy that his flesh-and-blood characters like to keep hidden.

Jin (John Cho) has come to Columbus from Korea to visit his father, a professor who was scheduled to deliver a lecture on architecture until he fell into a coma. His dads partner (Parker Posey) has called the son home for one last attempt at a connection. Kogonada, who wrote the script and edited his film with an eye to the classic film symmetry of Yasujiro Ozus Tokyo Story, also follows another character. Shes Casey (the sublime Haley Lu Richardson, whos the soul of the film), a lover of architecture who works at the local library and cares for her recovering-addict mother (Michelle Forbes). The caregiving, however, means that her relationship with a coworker (Rory Culkin) and her own deferred education in building design have been put on the backburner. These parallel lines meet when Casey offers to show the stranger her town. Meth and modernism are really big here, she tells Jin, as he becomes increasingly intrigued by this girl who sees the art and the humanity in buildings.

It sounds overly arty, even a tad precious and during a few rare moments, it is. But for most of the running time, were held in thrall thanks to the poets eye its creator brings to a tale too delicate to trade in cheesy sentiment. In this short time, Jin and Casey take only baby steps toward a relationship, in a manner that recalls Richard Linklaters Before Sunrise. Delicate business is being transacted in Columbus, a whisper-soft debut from Kogonada that nonetheless results in something unique and unforgettable. Its pure cinema.

Beyonce Concert Series Coming to HBO

HBO will air 10 live clips taped duringBeyoncs Mrs. Carter World Tour ahead of each episode of the seventh and final season of True Blood starting June 29th at 9 p.m. ET, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Titled Beyonc: X10, the series will comprise 10 four-minute live videos, primarily of songs off the pop stars last album, Beyonc:Blow/Cherry, Drunk in Love, Ghost/Haunted, Flawless/Yonc, Heaven, Partition and XO. Other live clips includethe medley Get Me Bodied/Baby Boy/Diva (off BDay, Dangerously in Love and I Am Sasha Fierce, respectively), Girls (4), and Why Dont You Love Me? (Sasha Fierce).

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The four-minute clips were shot in different cities throughout Beyoncs sprawling Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, which began in April 2013 and wrapped up in March 2014. Beyonc: X10 marks the singers second project with HBO, following her self-directed documentaryLife Is But a Dream, which aired last February.

Just a few days after X10 debuts, Beyonc and husband Jay Z will embark on their 16-city On the Run summer tour, starting June 25th at the Sun Life Stadium in Miami. The pairteased the tour with theover-the-top trailer for Run, a fake movie featuring an all-star cast of Sean Penn, Jake Gyllenhaal, Don Cheadle and Rashida Jones. And while the movie may be nonexistent, its probably a pretty good indication of the extravagance Bey and Jay will bring to the stage. For further evidence, watch the couples steamy performance of Drunk in Love that opened this years Grammys.

Box Office Report: Despicable Me 2 Defeats Grown Ups 2 and Pacific Rim

WINNER OF THE WEEK: Despicable Me 2: Despite the entry of two high-profile newcomers into the multiplex sweepstakes, the family-friendly cartoon held the top spot in its second week, earning another estimated $44.8 million, for a 12-day total of $229.2 million. Its already the sixth-highest grossing movie of 2013, and within days, itll be challengingMonsters Universityfor third place.

LOSERS OF THE WEEK: Adam Sandler and Guillermo del Toro. Granted, both are losers whose movies made about $40 million each this weekend. Sandler, whose usual surefire formula for man-child comedy has been slipping lately, seems to have found a hit again with his first-ever sequel,Grown Ups2. The movie debuted in second place with an estimated $42.5 million, about what was expected. Once again, hes proved critic-proof, as the films horrible reviews did not seem to dent the films box office impact in the least.

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As for del Toro,Pacific Rimwas a big gamble that would either prove that the fantasy filmmaker is a big brand name who can create compelling stories that reach even beyond his hardcore geek fanbase or else prove that he shouldnt be directing big-budget pictures unless theyre sequels likeBlade 2. An original giant-monsters-vs.-robots epic,Pacific Rimearned about what pundits expected, opening in third place with an estimated $38.3 million. Also as expected, it did much better abroad, with an estimated $53.0 million, where it has a much better chance of recouping its estimated $190 million cost. So, even with stellar word-of-mouth, it couldnt beat a week-old cartoon or a poorly reviewed Adam Sandler comedy (no doubtGrown UpsandPacific Rimwere competing for much of the same young male audience). So jurys still out on whether to call this expensive movie a flop for living up to its modest expectations.

Rounding out the top five:The Heat earned another estimated $14.0 million, a good number considering it was competing against Sandler for the raunchy-comedy audience. In three weeks, the female buddy-cop comedy has earned an $112.4 million. After its disastrous debut last week,The Lone Rangerfell three slots and finished fifth with an estimated $11.1 million, attracting an older audience of the sort that doesnt rush out to see what the hype is about the first weekend.

SHOOTING SCHEDULE:Fruitvale Station, a drama based on the real-life shooting of an unarmed black man in an Oakland, California public transit station, had the bad fortune or good fortune, perhaps to open on the same weekend that George Zimmerman was acquitted in the shooting death of unarmed Trayvon Martin in Florida. The movie opened on just seven screens but earned a solid $377,285, averaging a commanding $53,898 per screen. (Grown Ups 2, which had the highest per-screen average among wide releases, earned $12,174 per screen.) The Weinstein Company is an organization that seldom lets a good controversy go to waste, so expectFruitvaleto beef up its expansion plans over the next couple of weekends.

Billy Bob Thornton Dusting Off Fake Beard for Bad Santa 2

Billy Bob Thornton is dusting off his awkwardly fitting fake beard for Bad Santa 2, a sequel to the filthy 2003 Christmas comedy. Geyer Kosinski (The Bad News Bears, the TV adaptation of Fargo) will produce; Miramax and Broad Green Pictures will co-finance and co-produce, with American distribution from Broad Green during the 2016 holiday season.

The original Bad Santa starred Thornton as foul-mouthed, alcoholic sex addict Willie T. Stokes, who works as a shopping mall Santa Claus beside elf assistant Marcus (Tony Cox) as a front for robbing the businesses at night. The film was directed by Terry Zwigoff and co-written by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (with script alterations by executive producers Joel and Ethan Coen).

Produced on a $23 million budget, Bad Santa grossed over $76 million worldwide, earning mostly favorable reviews. It could become a Christmas perennial for Scrooges of all ages, wrote Peter Travers in his Rolling Stone review.

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A sequel has been in development for several years, with an initial deal announced in 2010. Its been very hard trying to get the script right, Thornton told The Observer in 2013 (via The Telegraph). Weve been through three or four drafts but were getting real close. Then theres the business dealings to sort out, all the stuff I dont understand. But one way or another, the sequel will happen and the idea is to shoot it next year. We know well never beat the first film, but well get as close as we can.

Weve been waiting far too long to see Billy Bobs Willie Soke mess with the holiday season in his own unique way, Zanne Devine, Miramaxs EVP of Film & TV, said in a statement announcing the sequel. We couldnt be more excited to partner with Billy Bob, the entire creative and producing team, and Broad Green and Sierra/Affinity to bring back the outrageous humor and characters that made this movie brand iconic in the first place.

Principal photography will begin in January 2016 in Montral.

Enough Said

James Gandolfini, in one of his final roles before his death in June, is so sweetly funny in this rueful comedy that you wish he had been given more chances to tap his talent for the lighter side. As Albert, a divorced dad about to send his only daughter off to college, Gandolfini connects strongly with Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Eva, a masseuse whos also divorced and also shipping off a daughter to higher education. Its a strange affair. She worries that hes a bit of a slob. He worries that his weight might be too much on her when they have sex. Of course, theyre made for each other. The catch comes when Eva finds her new BFF in Marianne (Catherine Keener), a poet with the kind of exquisite taste that Eva aspires to. Of course, Marianne turns out to be Alberts ex-wife.

It sounds like rom-com hell. And it would be if Gandolfini and Louis-Dreyfus werent such an appealing pair of misfits. Its a pleasure just to watch them spar. An equal pleasure is the writing and directing of Nicole Holofcener, whose four previous films (Walking and Talking, Lovely and Amazing, Friends With Money and Please Give) are models of how a gifted talent can make magic out of small moments. And Gandolfini and Louis-Dreyfus really are lovely and amazing.

Girls Recap: Sorry Doesnt Cut It

Toward the end of this weeks episode, Hannah stands trembling on Adams doorstep, ready to break things off after he texts her a photo of his wiener wrapped in a squirrel skin a photo meant for another girl (a thing she finds out about after his flippant SRY that wasnt for you follow-up text). I really care about you, and I dont want to anymore because it feels to shitty for me, Hannah sobs. Unfortunately, Adam has way stronger emotions about her new drawn-on eyebrows than their so-called relationship. You look like a Mexican teenager, he marvels. It rules. Might as well be telling him to put on a shirt, girl, because your gorgeous emotional rant has fallen on deaf, hot ears. Everyones early twenties is made of these kinds of beautiful speeches that you crowd-source from your girlfriends and tell to horrible guys. But not guys this horrible, right? These guys these guys are no good. No good at all.

Now, using that scene as an example, I do feel that last nights episode felt intriguingly true to a hyper-specific moment in time, when a woman is young and a transplant and has no guy friends as of yet. In that window, every interaction with men is so profoundly loaded and important and (usually) awful. As in real life, however, just because its a genuinely felt experience doesnt make it true. These men of Girls lord, it might be a clich, but these girls need a gay friend up in here, stat. A male who isnt a total goober to balance out the pure dumb-assness of every male character (save Jessas employer) weve met so far. Maybe Hannahs ex-boyfriend could come back? Ugh, but he was horrible, too! Horatio Sanz, dont let me down now!

Lets start with Hannahs new coworker, shall we? Oh, did I mention Hannah found a job? And thus, the central dilemma of the series neatly resolved itself! Hannah now works in an office characterized by a palpable beige-ness and an alien operating system. I am more of a Mac girl, Hannah explains as she frantically reviews a Windows manual. She works with Rich, an amiable beardo who without warning presses his hand between Hannahs breasts for a bit of Reiki healing straight from the training grounds of Club Med. Hannah is perturbed but not horrified, as she quickly learns that her amazing, sassy female coworkers have come to employ bemusement when dealing with Richs massages. He touch you?, they quiz her, before filling in Hannahs sparse eyebrows with some amazing chola Count Chocula numbers as a gesture of camaraderie. All I want is more of these awesome new ladies, but instead we are offered the craziest rationalization possible for Richs bizarre lack of boundaries. Youll tell me if the touching ever bothers you, right?, he smiles, explaining that hes just a touchy guy. Rich, did you get brain damage down at Club Med, too? You cant know youre a creep and still be applying pressure to peoples skeletons without asking! Words cannot express how exhausted with rage I am just thinking about this plotline. Oh no, here it is: rage-zhausted.

Then there was Shoshannas momentary love interest, Matt. Oh, Shosh! As soon as you saw her hopeful face light up at the sight of her former camp counselor, you knew something humiliating was about to happen. So, of course, she decides to watch a movie with him that night watch a movie being code for something humiliating is about to happen. In our pants. When presented with Matts boner, Shoshanna declares, I dont want to touch it if we havent kissed. Reasonable! Once their clothes come off, Matt boasts, I like to eat pussy too. I know it seems weird, but I frigging love it. Ive never heard anything weirder, Matthew. Please do go on. After suggesting they have sex, Shoshanna blurts out that she is still a virgin. So, of course, Matt slams the breaks on the whole boning idea because EW and NO and GROSS. Virgins get attached. Or they bleed, he sniffs. Im a totally unattached bleeder, Shoshanna promises to no avail. Sometimes I wonder if this show is too real to my life experience for me to give a balanced recap, if you guys catch my drift. On the other hand, I rage because I care. I hope Shoshanna loses her virginity surrounded by a million tea candles, following a loving massage from a former camp counselor who really cares, but boy, I do not think thats in the cards.

Across town, Jessa manages to lose her tiny charges, later hinting at her own mothers less-than-stellar parenting skills. After her abortion plotline ended, the show is giving Jessa short shift in the storyline department, but more importantly is Horatio Sanzs Uncle Terry (who leered over Jessas Bridget Bardot face and ass like Rihanna) going to try to sleep with her? I might need to be put in an iron lung if that happens. Or a sanitarium.

And then there was Charlie. I genuinely felt bad for Marnies man last week as she barked at him about his shaved head. Theirs is clearly a dying relationship in need of a gentle shove into the grave. Enter Hannahs diary. Oh, and Charlies gross friend. Someone should just tie her up to a post and fuck her, he says of Marnie, his friends girlfriend, before moping about his chances of ever sleeping with someone to whom he bears familial resemblance: My sister is a fucking fatty, my parents are dead, so I got nothing. Cool story, barf. After snooping around the ladies apartment, the two discover the aforementioned diary, which discusses Marnies true feelings for Charlies kind of smothering love. So, of course the two use their gig later that night to perform a song based on Hannahs personal musings as a horrified Marnie and Co. look on. Wow, man, that is a pretty deep cut, except what kind of person lets his gross friend smell his girlfriends vibrator? In front of him? This actually happened, mind you. WHAT KIND OF HUMAN WOULD DO SUCH A THING? Bye, Charlie! Dont let the geyser of my vomit hit you on the way out! Despite the fact that everything Hannah wrote was true (and, duh, because of it), Marnie hurls a drink in her face and snarls Bitch! before storming out of the bar. A fight between two characters that actually care about each other and act like humans? Humina humina humina! Next week cant come soon enough!

Which brings us back to Hannah trying to break things off with Adam. I made you think you didnt have to explain, she gulps about the errant text, struggling to hold back tears. OH, GIRL, NO. NO. Despite the advice of her closest friends and kick-ass coworkers (This picture wasnt for you? That is fucked up, they collectively gasp), Hannah tries to talk it out. Because thats the only power you have in those situations, right? A desperate, hand-flailing diatribe in the face of handsome, slack-jawed reality? Like Shoshannas strict no-boner-grabbing-before-kissing rule, it is depressing to have to blurt out the BASIC RULES of human interaction to some guy. But thats how it feels, when youre young. Or thats how actually it is? I dont know; these recaps are breaking me down, son. Unfortunately, since this is TV instead of real life, Adam embraces Hannah rather than make up some lame excuse and then slowly stop texting her over the course of a month. Adam isnt required to apologize or explain himself or put on a shirt for one goddamn second because Hannah just wanted to say her piece. She has no expectation that hell change. I love it when you talk to me that way, he tells Hannah as they kiss. Man, do we have to like this guy now? Jesus, give me strength. Fill my little hot rod bod with your holy will and deliver unto me a male character that is not the biggest chode of all time. Or at least more of Jessas boss; he doesnt seem too bad. Yet.

Previously: What Would Robyn Do?