1. Will Smith Playing Nasty-But-Redeemable Will Smith For The Umpteenth Time
"I think Im going to start moving out of and finding more danger in my artistic choices," Will Smith commented recently regarding his self-assumed change in career direction following the absolute bomb of After Earth. Well clearly he's not really grasped the concept of danger, because while Focus is Smith's first R-rated movie in over a decade (the previous one was Ali in 2001), featuring him in a sex scene where there's even brief nudity (what will Jaden think?), Nicky is very much your usual Will Smith avatar. The film doesn't feel like it's been repurposed to accommodate its star quite the same level as I, Robot or I Am Legend, but, for all his misdeeds, Nicky is that confused grey-area hero with a heart of gold, as seen in... oh, every Will Smith movie since he decided he was going to make himself look like a more nuanced actor. It's all a skew on his charismatic real-life persona, with enough self-affability to deflect criticisms of self-involvement. It's embarrassing to see Smith think that playing something so close to type is a risky artistic choice, and for the film, which let's not forget is trying to be smart, it means there's really nothing here that you haven't seen before. And in a movie that sees Smith con people out of millions of dollars, that's the biggest crime of all. Have you seen Focus? What did you think of it? Have your say down in the comments.