REVIEW: Jesse Eisenberg Keeps 30 Minutes or Less Ticking, But Barely

Jesse Eisenberg’s performance in 30 Minutes or Less is like a mirror of something you’ve seen before in a movie you’ve seen before: As an unambiguously unambitious pizza-delivery guy who’s forced to rob a bank, is he riffling through the deck and pulling out the same old cards, perhaps in a slightly different order? Or is he adding subtle variations to a type of character he’s played many times previously, biding his time until he can get another role like the perfectly calibrated one he played in The Social Network? It’s hard to tell with Eisenberg, who may be one of the most underwhelming good actors working today: Even when he wows us, as he did in The Social Network, he’s wowing us with a shrug. The shrug is there in 30 Minutes or Less, Ruben Fleischer’s follow-up to his exhilarating, sure-footed 2009 debut, Zombieland, but it’s a shrug without a country. Zombieland was a picture with a strong sense of place, a metaphorical call for compatriots to band together in tough times. 30 Minutes or Less is a crime farce that’s clever and funny in places, but mostly just shambling and crude. Eisenberg can’t quite find his place in it, and it’s easy to see why. Eisenberg plays Nick, an alleged grown-up who hasn’t yet figured out how to make the grown-up thing work. His best friend, Chet (Aziz Ansari), pinpoints the problem succinctly: “You? An adult? You had a Lunchables for dinner last night.” Nick has some minor problems, including that dead-end pizza-delivery job, and the fact that he has a huge crush on Chet’s twin sister, Kate (Dilshad Vadsaria), a development that greatly displeases Chet for numerous reasons. (Some of it has to do with simple brotherly protectiveness, but Chet is also freaked out about the idea of his best friend having sex with his own twin.) But Nick’s problems combust off the charts when a couple of rec-room lowlifes — when we first meet them, they’re blowing watermelons to smithereens using both crossbows and explosives — kidnap him and strap him into a bomb vest, informing him that they’ll treat him like a human watermelon unless he agrees to rob a local bank. The Mutt-and-Jeff schemers are played by Danny McBride and Nick Swardson; they need the money to start a tanning salon/prostitution ring. And that’s just one of the ways in which 30 Minutes or Less works too hard to be fun and crazy. For every line or gag that works, there are three or four more that seem to belong in a different movie altogether, either a darker one or a breezier one. Fleischer, working from a script by Michael Diliberti (who conceived the story with Matthew Sullivan), doesn’t have firm control of the movie’s tone: A movie can, of course, be both a black comedy and a crime caper, as 30 Minutes or Less tries to be. But Fleischer can’t navigate the movie’s shifting moods fluidly enough. We see real terror on Nick’s face when he looks down and sees that kaboom vest he’s strapped into. Then he’s back into hapless goofball territory again, but the transition is rough and forced. What’s more, Fleischer doesn’t seem to know what to do with all the attendant clutter of the story. A subplot involving a stripper and a street gangsta (Bianca Kajlich and Michael Pea, respectively) is necessary to resolve the movie’s plot mechanics, but it only makes the workings more cumbersome. There’s also the nagging fact that the basic concept of 30 Minutes or Less bears a strong resemblance to a real-life 2003 incident, in which pizza-delivery guy Brian Wells was forced to rob a bank with a bomb locked to his neck; Wells died when the device detonated. His family has publicly reproached the filmmakers, although representatives from the movie’s studio, Sony, claim that the writers were only “vaguely familiar” with the real-life case. The writers’ familiarity with the incident, and even their intentions, are beside the point. While it’s true that truth is stranger than fiction, it would have been easier for me to enjoy 30 Minutes or Less if it hadn’t taken the depraved craziness of its premise from a real-life horror show. Maybe, deep in his gut, something didn’t set right with Fleischer, either. His Zombieland was not only beautifully made; its mood was freewheeling and openhearted — it was a picture in which camaraderie saves the day. 30 Minutes or Less, on the other hand, appears to have been made to please some invisible audience: It’s much raunchier than Zombieland was, and its crudeness feels patched-on rather than organic. When a character defines the acronym OTPF — “over-the-pants-fingered” — it’s as if the words had been plunked, at the last minute, into a little cartoon voice balloon hovering over her head. There are some enjoyable, if vaguely unsettling, sequences in 30 Minutes or Less: When Chet and Nick stumble into the bank in their balaclavas, their ineptitude sets off a Rube Goldberg contraption of dark slapstick; their haplessness conjures shades of Dog Day Afternoon. But Fleischer doesn’t seem to know, ultimately, what effect he’s after, and the actors suffer for it. Ansari, with his warbly monotone, works wonders with even some of the movie’s lamest one-liners. I’m not sure why I laughed, or if I should have laughed, at Chet’s assessment of Nick’s car — “It’s like you got a Mustang and the Mustang got AIDS” — but I did. And yet he and Eisenberg seem to inhabit the movie only half-heartedly. I find Eisenberg fascinating to watch, particularly for the way words motor out of his mouth at some 90 miles an hour, even as none of his other body parts — save, maybe, his ever-shifting blue eyes — appear to be moving. And in the movie’s crucial moment, when he looks down and sees the danger he’s been strapped into, the terror in his eyes is believable and affecting. For once, the words don’t tumble out nearly so fast; his fear slows him down, and that by itself is terrifying. Eisenberg may be giving one of his stock performances here, but he still finds ways to let his character’s soul shine through. He’s working harder than he should have to, as if he were an actor with a figurative bomb strapped to his chest. Maybe that’s what happens when you’re a talented guy who’s not sure which way to turn next.

'Circumstance' Takes Top Prize at Noor Iranian Film Festival

Sundance Film Festival Audience Award winner "Circumstance" was lauded again Sunday night as it won the Audience Award, Best Director and Best Actress at the Fourth Annual Noor Iranian Film Festival, held on the UCLA campus.Director Maryam Keshavarz left Iran after her film about star-crossed lovers was banned. It begins a U.S. theatrical run on Aug. 26 in Los Angeles and New York.David Negahban won Best Actor for his role in the short film "Liberation," by director Michael Younesi, with Nikohl Boosheri winning for "Circumstance." In all, 25 awards were given out at the ceremony at UCLA's James Bridges Theater.Jury members for this year's festival included Oscar-nominated sound editor Iranian-American Kami Asgar ("Apocalypto"), actor Corey Feldman ("The Lost Boys"), actress Frances Fisher ("Titanic"), actress Bai Ling ("Anna and the King") and actor Max Martini ("Saving Private Ryan"). The Hollywood Reporter

The Films Obama Should Watch to Celebrate His 50th Birthday

Folks, if there's anything we have learned in the latest debates about the debt ceiling crisis, it's that being the Leader ain't a simple gig. Obama's had his good and the bad through the years as Commander in Chief, however that he's switched the large 5- and it has the gray fur to prove it, we thought we'd suggest some movies for him to assist go ahead and take edge off and tell him that everything's destined to be A-okay. So proceed and find out what we should emerged with to ring within the large day for that Large Cheese. 'Lean on Me' Say what you should about former Nj school principal Joe Clark and also the benefits and drawbacks of running PTA conferences having a Louisville Slugger in hands, consider Capital Hill is searching awfully much like Eastside High nowadays, we believe Obama can relate. What we should wouldn't share with see him enter the senate chamber having a megaphone, break John Boehner's gavel/croquet mallet over his knee (after which Boehner would inevitably start crying), after which kick everybody out who's been giving him garbage for nearly 3 years now. 'Observe and Report' Preserving the theme of being careful of economic just by talking, there is something to become stated for that way mall cop Ronnie Barnhardt wins at existence by running train on exactly what will get in the way. Not saying that Obama should start doing lines and go pummelled some skater punks, but it's great for some dark laughs and it is oddly inspiring as well. 'Lawrence of Arabia' It's among Obama's favorite movies of-time, movies just do not get more inspiring than this, also it's an excellent excuse to relax within the Whitened House cinema for 216 minutes having a "Don't DISTURB" sign up the doorway. 'Casablanca' Rick's final line to Louie may be the bipartisan hope that Obama must hear. You never know, maybe which will be him and Boehner eventually. Also is actually another of Obama's faves. 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Nothing puts things into perspective such as the realization that no a person's designed a full-length documentary (yet) about how exactly much you drawn at the project for 4 years. 'All the President's Men' As they might be routinely outmaneuvered with a select few of anti-government zealots, things might be worse: he or she is instructed to resign for tugging dirty methods in your opponents, and Robert Redford might be really disappointed in him. 'The Lion King' He used the birth scene to amusing effect captured in the Whitened House Correspondents Dinner, there is however a central lesson elsewhere he might want to absorb. The economy is toast regardless of what he attempts to do between now and then November so, like, hakuna matata, guy. 'Justin Bieber: Never Say Never' However, miracles do happen. Hey, in the event that squirt Bieber may become a heartthrob, surely he is able to pull another term from the hat. What exactly movies do you consider Obama should watch on his 50th birthday? Photo thanks to The Whitened House.

Record digital sales for Activision Blizzard

Activision Blizzard reported record digital sales throughout the 2nd quarter being an growing quantity of players are glued for their consoles.The industry's biggest videogame writer published a 53% grow in net gain of $335 million from the 19% begin revenue of $1.1 billion, for that three several weeks that wrapped June 30.Of this, 37% originated from digital sales, including downloads and subscription revenue. Digital sales increased 27% within the same quarter ago period. "Today, you will find different options than ever before for gamers to gain access to entertainment on the internet and play games that have truly become probably the most compelling types of entertainment on the planet,Inch stated Robert Kotick, Boss of Activision Blizzard. Throughout the quarter, sales of "CodInch content packs elevated a lot more than 40% annually, but for the last thirty days, more have performed "Cod: Black Operations" online compared to three biggest Facebook games, including Zynga's "CityVille," "Empires & Allies" and "FarmVille," the organization stated when searching at daily and monthly customers."Cod: Black Operations" is producing 30% more plays from unique players online than individuals who performed "Cod: Mw2Inch eight several weeks after each game's release, with gamers logging a lot more than 2.2 billion hrs for "Black Operations."Activision also offers high desires its new online service "Skylanders Spyro's Adventure" and "Cod Elite," that will launch with "Modern Warfare 3" like a subscription-based service that provides up use of new maps, missions and weaponry.Move is a method to replicate Blizzard's "WowInch model, which boasts 11 million subs to experience the internet game for around $15 per month.And also the discharge of "Cod: Modern Warfare 3" on November. 8, can keep customers opening their purses for a long time, thinking about the prior installment, "Black Operations" was last year's best selling title, carrying in additional than $1 billion.Digital has turned into a bigger revenue source for gamemakers with time as customers take more time playing exactly the same game titles year-round, considering the fact that they are continuously up-to-date with new levels.Simultaneously, more leisure game titles on social networks like Facebook have broadened the crowd for games, producing more gold coin for his or her designers.And marketers are testing out much more online models that may hook new players. Electronic Arts this month stated it'll let customers download its new sporting activities 72 hours before they hit store shelves for $25 each year, included in a brand new offering known as "Season Ticket." After 72 hours, the overall game expires, forcing players who wish to stay in the hand to mind for their local store to get the entire disc.The share of digital sales "will simply increase,Inch Kotick stated as Activision targets delivering a more compact quantity of game titles "where we spend a longer period with this audience."Kotick also thinks that growth will even occur weight loss Internet enabled Televisions understand into houses -- products that will make casual games more desirable. "Facebook is a great platform about the television later on," helping producers like Zynga obtain games before more auds. That's not saying that Activision is leaving from traditional merchants.Actually, Activision, like other major marketers, is pairing track of chains to lock lower a bigger presence throughout stores, not juts within the videogame departments, and therefore are hosting night time launch occasions they are driving traffic into stores. Marketers will also be supplying merchants with exclusive versions of tentpole game titles to lure purchasers to their companies. Contact Marc Graser at marc.graser@variety.com

Rose lands role in 'Bag of Bones'

EXCLUSIVE: Anika Noni Rose has been cast in A&E's upcoming Stephen King miniseries "Bag of Bones."Rose will play Sara Tidwell, a blues singer who haunts a bestselling novelist (Pierce Brosnan) embroiled in a bitter custody battle.Four-hour mini is set to premiere on A&E in the fourth quarter.Actress is a Tony Award winner for her role in "Caroline, or Change," had a guest performance as a politician in the most recent season of CBS' "The Good Wife" and co-starred in the bigscreen version of "Dreamgirls." Contact Stuart Levine at stuart.levine@variety.com