directed by Justin Kurzel
written by Jacob Koskoff, Todd Louiso and Michael Lesslie
William Shakespeare's tale of treachery, murder and absolute power corrupting absolutely gets a fresh treatment in 2015 courtesy of director Justin Kurzel and stars Michael Fassbender as the title character and Marion Cotillard as his scheming wife. Paddy Considine plays Macbeth's faithful colleague Banquo, David Thewlis plays King Duncan and a very capable bunch of British actors including the bad guy from the latest Mission Impossible movie round up the cast of supporting characters.
Bringing Shakespeare's work to screen is always a challenge, and whoever does it, and at least attempts to do it well usually deserves kudos just for the effort, but Kurzel deserves a huge pat on the back here for getting one of the finest young actors of this generation to play one of literature's most infamous villains. The story of a lord who thirsts for power when his destiny is revealed to him by three mysterious old women is one that has been done several times over, but what Fassbender brings to the table is something very special.
Since taking the Magneto role in X-Men: First Class, which was more of a tortured anti-hero than anything else, Fassbender has gone full-on bad guy in films like 12 Years a Slave. Here, his malevolence is tempered by the madness and paranoia that overwhelms the murderous Scot when he realizes the people he has to kill to consolidate his hold on power. It's a nice, meaty role for Fassbender to sink his teeth into, and I daresay he makes the most out of the opportunity.
It's a rather spartan production; the colors are muted and just about everyone is dressed in black, white or gray; the sets are simple and unobtrusive, and at the end it's really down to the actors, mainly Fassbender and Cotillard, to carry the proceedings, which they do quite well.
I don't consider myself a Shakespeare buff or expert by any means, and perhaps it was this that makes me view this film as successful in telling the story, which is told in an English that is no longer spoken. It's worth noting that the distributors had the courtesy to put subtitles for all the dialogue. I doubt this will win over the blockbuster crowd, but as an exercise in effective storytelling this is a very good one.
8.7/10
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Friday, January 22, 2016
Good Grief! A Review of Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie
directed by Steve Martino
written by Brian Schulz, Craig Schulz and Cornelius Uliano
Fifteen years after the death of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, his beloved characters have come to the big screen in a film that is reverent, innovative and full of the heart that has made the original comic strip well-known the world over.
The Peanuts Movie is the story of Charlie Brown (voiced by Noah Schnapp), an insecure elementary school student and his quirky dog named Snoopy (voiced by Bill Melendez). Charlie Brown's life gets turned upside down when a pretty red headed girl (voiced by Francesca Capaldi) moves in next door to him, and enrolls at his school. The film follows his efforts to impress the girl, invariably with results that are both hilarious and cringe-inducing.
The film hews pretty closely to both the comic strip and the various hand-drawn animated features based on it that have come out over the years. Charlie Brown's entire supporting cast of Linus and Lucy, Schroeder, Peppermint Patty, Marcie are all in attendance, along with the indecipherable adults who dialogue consists of muffled audio. It's a very traditional take on the cartoon, and even though the dialogue has been updated, much of remains charmingly, almost defiantly old-fashioned, like the characters' clothes, hairstyles, and almost everything else (although in the end, the characters do play in an inflatable playground). It's safe and charming and that was, to be honest, pretty much the best way to go with characters and a world this well-loved. Innovations made possible by computer-generated imagery, like the amazing detail put into rendering the characters' hair, and other little touches, were most welcome.
The good news about this movie is that it's accessible even to people who've never read a "Peanuts" strip in their lives, which would probably characterize most of the young viewers who would watch it (like my younger daughter), but it is a much richer experience for longtime readers of the strip, and even moreso for kids who have read the strip and have seen the cartoons. As someone who's done both, I quite enjoyed the film, and was happy to see that both of my children who watched it with me did as well. The highlight, for me, was the realization of Snoopy's "World War I flying ace" fantasy.
It was really pleasant viewing, and I recommend it highly to lovers of the long-running Peanuts strip and people who have yet to discover it.
8.5/10
written by Brian Schulz, Craig Schulz and Cornelius Uliano
Fifteen years after the death of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, his beloved characters have come to the big screen in a film that is reverent, innovative and full of the heart that has made the original comic strip well-known the world over.
The Peanuts Movie is the story of Charlie Brown (voiced by Noah Schnapp), an insecure elementary school student and his quirky dog named Snoopy (voiced by Bill Melendez). Charlie Brown's life gets turned upside down when a pretty red headed girl (voiced by Francesca Capaldi) moves in next door to him, and enrolls at his school. The film follows his efforts to impress the girl, invariably with results that are both hilarious and cringe-inducing.
The film hews pretty closely to both the comic strip and the various hand-drawn animated features based on it that have come out over the years. Charlie Brown's entire supporting cast of Linus and Lucy, Schroeder, Peppermint Patty, Marcie are all in attendance, along with the indecipherable adults who dialogue consists of muffled audio. It's a very traditional take on the cartoon, and even though the dialogue has been updated, much of remains charmingly, almost defiantly old-fashioned, like the characters' clothes, hairstyles, and almost everything else (although in the end, the characters do play in an inflatable playground). It's safe and charming and that was, to be honest, pretty much the best way to go with characters and a world this well-loved. Innovations made possible by computer-generated imagery, like the amazing detail put into rendering the characters' hair, and other little touches, were most welcome.
The good news about this movie is that it's accessible even to people who've never read a "Peanuts" strip in their lives, which would probably characterize most of the young viewers who would watch it (like my younger daughter), but it is a much richer experience for longtime readers of the strip, and even moreso for kids who have read the strip and have seen the cartoons. As someone who's done both, I quite enjoyed the film, and was happy to see that both of my children who watched it with me did as well. The highlight, for me, was the realization of Snoopy's "World War I flying ace" fantasy.
It was really pleasant viewing, and I recommend it highly to lovers of the long-running Peanuts strip and people who have yet to discover it.
8.5/10
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