directed by J.J. Abrams
written by J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt
A bit of personal tragedy kept me from watching (and reviewing) this film immediately upon its release, but even though just about everyone I know has most likley seen the film by now I still want to write how I feel about it.
It's been several decades after the fall of the Galactic Empire. Out of the ashes of the old Empire, a new threat has emerged, the First Order, which has been cutting a swath of destruction across the galaxy in an effort to destroy the newly-reinstated Republic and restore the Empire. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi knight and one of the architects of the demise of the Empire, has vanished. The First Order, headed by the mysterious Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is in search of Skywalker, as is the Republic-supported Resistance, who have dispatched their best pilot, Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) to find Skywalker as well. Their searching brings them to the planet Jakku, where Dameron finds out crucial information before the First Order does, but thanks to ensuing chaos he is forced to store it in his trusty robot, BB-8, who then wanders the planet in search of someone who can help get him back to the Resistance. He finds scavenger Rey (Daisy Ridley). Meanwhile, a First Order stormtrooper named FN-2187 (John Boyega), horrified by what he sees during his very first combat mission, becomes the very first stormtrooper to break ranks, a decision that puts him on the path towards meeting Dameron, and later, Rey, but which, more importantly, puts him on a collision course with his former bosses, who are none too pleased with his decision. Amidst all of this, the question of where Skywalker has gone lingers and the threat posed by the First Order and their mysterious boss Snoke (Andy Serkis) looms large.
Given all that's been written about this movie I think it's fair to say that I won't really have anything new to say, especially since the criticism that this movie is basically a rehash of Episodes IV and V has been pretty much done to death by now. Like most people I still enjoyed the movie despite its almost slavish attempt to recapture the magic of the original series that George Lucas squandered with his widely-ridiculed prequels. Like Jurassic World, which played more like a remake of the original Jurassic Park than the direct sequel it actually was, this film borrows so liberally from the original trilogy of films it feels more like a retelling of the old story than its continuation, but the good news is that Abrams does it a lot better than Colin Trevorrow did (which is a little worrying considering that Trevorrow will be taking the director's reins for the third film). At least Abrams and his writers didn't commit some glaring narrative and logical gaffes to drive their movie forward (How did they get DNA from a water dinosaur from amber-encased mosquitoes? How is it so easy to start up a jeep that hasn't been used for two decades? And the list goes on and on...).
For me, what highlighted the shortcomings of this film was the movie that basically got Abrams the job of making it, or his 2009 reboot of the other wildly popular science fiction franchise Star Trek. That movie basically knocked my socks off when I saw it, because I had grown up with the Shatner movies and later, the ones featuring the Next Generation cast, and if I may be honest, Abrams' treatment of the property was a much-need shot in the arm. He basically reinvented the wheel, and the franchise was much the better for it, creative missteps of the follow-up, Star Trek: Into Darkness notwithstanding.
Here, whether it's due to the dictates of Disney or his own self-professed reverence for the Star Wars Universe, Abrams seems deathly afraid of introducing anything fresh to the franchise, though I do give him full marks for making Rey a full-blown action heroine instead of a supporting character. Sure, Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher, who appears here as a general) was a tough cookie in the day, but she always played second fiddle to Luke Skywalker (Mark Hammill, who also makes an appearance) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford, who likewise shows up). Abrams turns that on its head, even though he's effectively just gender-swapping Luke Skywalker with this film.
Apart from Ridley's Rey, though, Abrams has introduced some memorable if not necessarily compelling characters in Boyega's stormtrooper-turned-good-guy Finn and Isaac's Dameron. Finn being the only stormtrooper in the history of the movies to actually turn his back on what is effectively the Empire, to my mind at least, has the potential for being the most interesting new character of the bunch, provided the writers know what to do with him. Dameron is more of a traditional hero complete with wisecracks and a great aim, but Isaac plays him with such charisma I honestly think he could merit his own spinoff film. A minor quibble I have with Isaac is how strange he looks in his X-Wing pilot's helmet. Maybe I just don't like the design in general, though I am a fan of the tweaked design of the X-Wing fighters themselves.
Finally, my biggest beef with this movie has to be Kylo Ren, who was massively hyped in the marketing materials as some kind of Darth-Vader-level menace, but who, all exaggeration aside, turns out to be nothing more than a Darth Vader wannabe. I can say this without spoiling any significant plot developments here, and I have to say that the filmmakers taking over the franchise from Abrams, namely Rian Johnson and the aforementioned Colin Trevorrow, had better give this character some serious tweaking or he will be very difficult to take seriously as the trilogy progresses to its conclusion.
The good news is that this film hits all the notes that Lucas' ill-advised prequel trilogy missed. The bad news, as many have observed, is that it's still very much the same song. Still, as a kickoff to a brand new trilogy, Abrams and his writers could have done a lot worse. What's interesting now is if their successors can take the story into new directions, and I remain cautiously optimistic that they can and will.
8/10
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Sunday, December 20, 2015
A New Take on a Modern Classic: A Review of The Little Prince
directed by Mark Osborne
written by Irena Brignull and Bob Persichetti
based on the novel by Antoine de St. Exupery
While the entire world is captivated by Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, I have finally found the time to review a brand-new adaptation of a somewhat different cultural icon, Antoine de St. Exupery's The Little Prince.
Directed by Kung Fu Panda director Mark Osborne, this film is the first ever animated adaptation of the classic novel, and faithfully reproduces the narrative, right down to de St. Exupery's wonderful, whimsical illustrations.
Given that the rather brief novel is inherently difficult to stretch out to a feature-length film, however, the screenwirters Irena Brignull and Bob Persichetti add another layer to the narrative.
In this film, the aviator/narrator of the book is a strange, lonely old man (voiced by Jeff Bridges) whose antics make him a difficult neighbor to live with, as a result the immediately adjacent house to his plummets in value and becomes the perfect residence for an upwardly mobile mother (Rachel McAdams) and her daughter (Mackenzie Foy), especially since it is near the exclusive prep school in which the mother wishes to enroll her daughter. The daughter lives a highly-regimented life with a very strict schedule designed to get her into the prep school, and at first, the old man and his eccentricities, such as an incident in which a propeller from his airplane smashes clear through the house wall, are an unwelcome distraction, but as the old man, in a peace gesture, begins to send the little girl paper airplanes which are folded up pages of a story with whimsical illustrations about a strange little prince, she changes her mind about him and, while her mother is off at work, befriends him. In the course of this friendship, she hears the aviator's extraordinary story about the time he was stranded in the Sahara desert, and met a strange little boy (Riley Osborne) who lived on an asteroid. It's a very interesting a story, to be sure, and before it's over the little girl discovers the importance of being a child.
For me, the tragedy of this movie (not the story) in this particular market is twofold: first, The Little Prince is not a particularly popular book in the Philippines, and second this film was destined to be overshadowed by the two tentpole films between which it was released: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part II and Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. The American distributor of this film, Paramount Pictures, was somewhat cannier as they have scheduled its release for a relatively uncrowded March of next year. My children and I were among ten people in the movie theater at the time we watched it.
Whatever its eventual fate at the global box office, this is a masterfully-realized film, which is almost on par with some of Disney/Pixar's best output.
While the "modern day" framing device helps keep the story moving, it's the Prince's otherworldly adventures, and his interaction with the youthful pilot and his other colorful supporting cast like the Rose (Marion Cotillard), the Fox (James Franco), the Snake (Benicio del Toro), and the inhabitants of the various asteroids he visits (Albert Brooks, Ricky Gervais among others), that matter most, and Osborne's use of stop-motion to depict these scenes is wonderfully innovative and reminiscent of craft paper and contrasts wonderfully with the more "traditional" computer-generated imagery. The all-star cast of supporting actors disappear into their roles, and it was only at the end credits that I realized who they were, and it was equally impressive that Riley Osborne was able to hold his own. The director's choice of his son to dub the title-character raised my eyebrow at first, but to be fair the younger Osborne proved a very capable voice actor who captured the spirit of this timeless character. Mackenzie Foy, the actress behind the nameless "hero girl" is more talented than Osborne and has both more "voice time" and the arguably greater challenge of making her scenes, which are rendered with very little color and which are meant to depict a bland world in which what is "non-essential" is discarded, more engaging.
Notably, the movie challenges the ending of the book, which I'm sure many readers over the years have found anticlimactic, in the form of an interesting sequence that may or may not be a dream. Osborne the elder cleverly leaves it up to the audience to decide, though the actual ending of the film leaves no room for doubt that this is an thoroughly satisfying movie.
I don't claim to know St. Exupery, but I like to think he would love this adaptation of his wonderful novel.
9/10
written by Irena Brignull and Bob Persichetti
based on the novel by Antoine de St. Exupery
While the entire world is captivated by Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, I have finally found the time to review a brand-new adaptation of a somewhat different cultural icon, Antoine de St. Exupery's The Little Prince.
Directed by Kung Fu Panda director Mark Osborne, this film is the first ever animated adaptation of the classic novel, and faithfully reproduces the narrative, right down to de St. Exupery's wonderful, whimsical illustrations.
Given that the rather brief novel is inherently difficult to stretch out to a feature-length film, however, the screenwirters Irena Brignull and Bob Persichetti add another layer to the narrative.
In this film, the aviator/narrator of the book is a strange, lonely old man (voiced by Jeff Bridges) whose antics make him a difficult neighbor to live with, as a result the immediately adjacent house to his plummets in value and becomes the perfect residence for an upwardly mobile mother (Rachel McAdams) and her daughter (Mackenzie Foy), especially since it is near the exclusive prep school in which the mother wishes to enroll her daughter. The daughter lives a highly-regimented life with a very strict schedule designed to get her into the prep school, and at first, the old man and his eccentricities, such as an incident in which a propeller from his airplane smashes clear through the house wall, are an unwelcome distraction, but as the old man, in a peace gesture, begins to send the little girl paper airplanes which are folded up pages of a story with whimsical illustrations about a strange little prince, she changes her mind about him and, while her mother is off at work, befriends him. In the course of this friendship, she hears the aviator's extraordinary story about the time he was stranded in the Sahara desert, and met a strange little boy (Riley Osborne) who lived on an asteroid. It's a very interesting a story, to be sure, and before it's over the little girl discovers the importance of being a child.
For me, the tragedy of this movie (not the story) in this particular market is twofold: first, The Little Prince is not a particularly popular book in the Philippines, and second this film was destined to be overshadowed by the two tentpole films between which it was released: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part II and Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. The American distributor of this film, Paramount Pictures, was somewhat cannier as they have scheduled its release for a relatively uncrowded March of next year. My children and I were among ten people in the movie theater at the time we watched it.
Whatever its eventual fate at the global box office, this is a masterfully-realized film, which is almost on par with some of Disney/Pixar's best output.
While the "modern day" framing device helps keep the story moving, it's the Prince's otherworldly adventures, and his interaction with the youthful pilot and his other colorful supporting cast like the Rose (Marion Cotillard), the Fox (James Franco), the Snake (Benicio del Toro), and the inhabitants of the various asteroids he visits (Albert Brooks, Ricky Gervais among others), that matter most, and Osborne's use of stop-motion to depict these scenes is wonderfully innovative and reminiscent of craft paper and contrasts wonderfully with the more "traditional" computer-generated imagery. The all-star cast of supporting actors disappear into their roles, and it was only at the end credits that I realized who they were, and it was equally impressive that Riley Osborne was able to hold his own. The director's choice of his son to dub the title-character raised my eyebrow at first, but to be fair the younger Osborne proved a very capable voice actor who captured the spirit of this timeless character. Mackenzie Foy, the actress behind the nameless "hero girl" is more talented than Osborne and has both more "voice time" and the arguably greater challenge of making her scenes, which are rendered with very little color and which are meant to depict a bland world in which what is "non-essential" is discarded, more engaging.
Notably, the movie challenges the ending of the book, which I'm sure many readers over the years have found anticlimactic, in the form of an interesting sequence that may or may not be a dream. Osborne the elder cleverly leaves it up to the audience to decide, though the actual ending of the film leaves no room for doubt that this is an thoroughly satisfying movie.
I don't claim to know St. Exupery, but I like to think he would love this adaptation of his wonderful novel.
9/10
Monday, November 30, 2015
A Dinosaur...Western?!? A Review of A Good Dinosaur
directed by Peter Sohn
written by Meg LeFauve, Peter Sohn, Erik Benson, Kelsey Mann and Bob Peterson
When Pixar started marketing its new film The Good Dinosaur a few months ago, the trailer called a lot of attention to the "what if" premise of the extinction of dinosaurs never actually taking place, paving the way for a world where humans and dinosaurs could co-exist. Unfortunately, apparently the only thing Pixar really wanted to do with that heady premise was turn dinosaurs into cowboys and humans into dogs. No, really.
As unlikely as this may sound, The Good Dinosaur while being a coming-of-age film about a young apatosaur, actually plays out, in terms of atmosphere, script and even music, like a Western.
It is the story of Arlo (voiced by Raymond Ochoa), the smallest of three dinosaur siblings born to a loving couple of dinosaur farmers (Jeffrey Wright and Frances McDormand). As Arlo and his siblings Buck (Marcus Scribner) and Libby (Maleah Padilla) grow, the two of them prove very capable around the farm, while he struggles with his chore of feeding the chickens largely because he is afraid of them. Both Buck and Libby are able to "make their mark" on the family's grain silo or put their footprints in mud alongside the marks of their parents, but Arlo, at the beginning of the film, has apparently not yet earned the right to do so.
Wanting to help his son, the father dinosaur comes up with a task for him: kill the creature that has been stealing grain from the silo. The task goes awry, and tragedy ensues as a rainstorm and flash flood hit. Arlo finds himself separated from his family and far from home. What follows is a journey of discovery, peril, courage and unexpected friendship.
Following their finest original film in years, Inside Out, perhaps there was some inevitability that their next film would disappoint, but even careful management of expectations could not dispel the distinct impression that Pixar made The Good Dinosaur more as a way of sharpening their technical skills than as the celebration of the art of storytelling that their very best movies are.
On a technical level, this film is utterly beyond reproach and I could swear that, time and time again, I was sure I was looking at an actual, filmed environment rather than an animated one.
In terms of story and character development, though, the film comes conspicuously short of the kind of excellence viewers have come to expect from Pixar, especially after their last, pitch-perfect movie. It leans on one narrative cliche after another, and while it effectively turns the premise of anthropomorphism on its head, there's nothing else about it that's particularly remarkable.
It really is a technical marvel, even though I wasn't particularly fond of the cartoony design of the dinosaurs. I realize that a more realistic look for them could have alienated children, who were quite clearly the target audience here, but the hyper-realistic environments, which even included meticulously rendered storm clouds and flood waters, seemed distinctly incongruous with the stylized characters. Pixar has done this before, of course; its characters have inhabited meticulously-rendered worlds like the retro-futuristic environs of The Incredibles or even the fantastic, Monte Carlo-inspired, European coastal city depicted in the narrative disaster Cars 2. The thing about this movie, though is that it takes realistic animated environments to the next level, and yet is content to tell a very ordinary story using some truly extraordinary techniques. Another technical achievement worth mentioning is Mychael and Jeff Danna's striking music score which, while reminiscent of some pretty conventional "western" themes, still manages to be emotionally resonant.
The movie trots out so many story tropes in succession that it gets rather tedious after awhile, though I'll readily admit I got a good laugh out of the "drug trip" scene in which the two main characters hallucinate after eating rotten fruit.
The "cowboy dinosaur" element was pretty novel, though, especially the scene where three tyrannosaurus rexes, who are this world's cowboys to the apatosaurus' farmers, ran; they basically galloped and it was pretty amusing to watch. Sam Elliott is always a treat, even when he's just lending his vocals, and he was quite well cast here as the patriarch of a family of t-rex cowboys.
This film takes the visual aspect of animated storytelling to another level, but unfortunately, this time at least, the more important elements of storytelling were left by the wayside, which is odd, considering how much doctoring the script underwent.
For my part, I hope that in Pixar's future movies featuring their patented brilliant storytelling, the environs are given this much detail. The viewing experience is much richer for it.
Incidentally, the short film that opened for this film, Sanjay's Super Team, which featured Indian deities as superheroes, was a lot more interesting than the main feature, and considering its distinctly Asian storytelling flavor it makes me wonder if Pixar isn't ready to take a significant step in a new creative direction. It was also given a sublime music score by Mychael Danna (sans brother Jeff) which hearkened back to his Academy-Award winning work on Life of Pi.
6.5/10
9/10 for Sanjay's Super Team
written by Meg LeFauve, Peter Sohn, Erik Benson, Kelsey Mann and Bob Peterson
When Pixar started marketing its new film The Good Dinosaur a few months ago, the trailer called a lot of attention to the "what if" premise of the extinction of dinosaurs never actually taking place, paving the way for a world where humans and dinosaurs could co-exist. Unfortunately, apparently the only thing Pixar really wanted to do with that heady premise was turn dinosaurs into cowboys and humans into dogs. No, really.
As unlikely as this may sound, The Good Dinosaur while being a coming-of-age film about a young apatosaur, actually plays out, in terms of atmosphere, script and even music, like a Western.
It is the story of Arlo (voiced by Raymond Ochoa), the smallest of three dinosaur siblings born to a loving couple of dinosaur farmers (Jeffrey Wright and Frances McDormand). As Arlo and his siblings Buck (Marcus Scribner) and Libby (Maleah Padilla) grow, the two of them prove very capable around the farm, while he struggles with his chore of feeding the chickens largely because he is afraid of them. Both Buck and Libby are able to "make their mark" on the family's grain silo or put their footprints in mud alongside the marks of their parents, but Arlo, at the beginning of the film, has apparently not yet earned the right to do so.
Wanting to help his son, the father dinosaur comes up with a task for him: kill the creature that has been stealing grain from the silo. The task goes awry, and tragedy ensues as a rainstorm and flash flood hit. Arlo finds himself separated from his family and far from home. What follows is a journey of discovery, peril, courage and unexpected friendship.
Following their finest original film in years, Inside Out, perhaps there was some inevitability that their next film would disappoint, but even careful management of expectations could not dispel the distinct impression that Pixar made The Good Dinosaur more as a way of sharpening their technical skills than as the celebration of the art of storytelling that their very best movies are.
On a technical level, this film is utterly beyond reproach and I could swear that, time and time again, I was sure I was looking at an actual, filmed environment rather than an animated one.
In terms of story and character development, though, the film comes conspicuously short of the kind of excellence viewers have come to expect from Pixar, especially after their last, pitch-perfect movie. It leans on one narrative cliche after another, and while it effectively turns the premise of anthropomorphism on its head, there's nothing else about it that's particularly remarkable.
It really is a technical marvel, even though I wasn't particularly fond of the cartoony design of the dinosaurs. I realize that a more realistic look for them could have alienated children, who were quite clearly the target audience here, but the hyper-realistic environments, which even included meticulously rendered storm clouds and flood waters, seemed distinctly incongruous with the stylized characters. Pixar has done this before, of course; its characters have inhabited meticulously-rendered worlds like the retro-futuristic environs of The Incredibles or even the fantastic, Monte Carlo-inspired, European coastal city depicted in the narrative disaster Cars 2. The thing about this movie, though is that it takes realistic animated environments to the next level, and yet is content to tell a very ordinary story using some truly extraordinary techniques. Another technical achievement worth mentioning is Mychael and Jeff Danna's striking music score which, while reminiscent of some pretty conventional "western" themes, still manages to be emotionally resonant.
The movie trots out so many story tropes in succession that it gets rather tedious after awhile, though I'll readily admit I got a good laugh out of the "drug trip" scene in which the two main characters hallucinate after eating rotten fruit.
The "cowboy dinosaur" element was pretty novel, though, especially the scene where three tyrannosaurus rexes, who are this world's cowboys to the apatosaurus' farmers, ran; they basically galloped and it was pretty amusing to watch. Sam Elliott is always a treat, even when he's just lending his vocals, and he was quite well cast here as the patriarch of a family of t-rex cowboys.
This film takes the visual aspect of animated storytelling to another level, but unfortunately, this time at least, the more important elements of storytelling were left by the wayside, which is odd, considering how much doctoring the script underwent.
For my part, I hope that in Pixar's future movies featuring their patented brilliant storytelling, the environs are given this much detail. The viewing experience is much richer for it.
Incidentally, the short film that opened for this film, Sanjay's Super Team, which featured Indian deities as superheroes, was a lot more interesting than the main feature, and considering its distinctly Asian storytelling flavor it makes me wonder if Pixar isn't ready to take a significant step in a new creative direction. It was also given a sublime music score by Mychael Danna (sans brother Jeff) which hearkened back to his Academy-Award winning work on Life of Pi.
6.5/10
9/10 for Sanjay's Super Team
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Turning Back the Clock: A Review of Spectre
directed by Sam Mendes
written by John Logan, Robert Wade, Neil Purvis and Jez Butterworth
After three movies in which Daniel Craig channeled Jason Bourne when playing cinematic superspy James Bond, in Spectre, the latest (reportedly Craig's last) outing, he trades in the brass-knuckle brutality of Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and even Skyfall for a decidedly more traditional take on the character.
Following the events of Skyfall, Bond tracks down an Italian assassin to Mexico City, where he prevents a mass murder but causes an international incident in the process. This, however, is only the beginning, as the assassin, as Bond soon discovers after observing his funeral and meeting his widow (Monica Bellucci), is part of a much larger and more sinister organization than Bond could have ever imagined, one that has direct links to the villains he has faced since the very beginning of his career. As Bond investigates, he eavesdrops on a meeting presided over by Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz), a man with direct ties to Bond's past. In the meantime, MI6, which was physically destroyed in Skyfall, now faces complete annihilation with the arrival of C (Andrew Scott), a bureaucrat determined to replace the 00 program with electronic surveillance and drones, much to the irritation of M (Ralph Fiennes). These threats converge quite swiftly, and Bond soon learns from an old adversary of his, Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) the foe he faces is bigger than he could imagine, especially after they sic a larger-than-life henchman, Mr. Hinx (Dave Bautista) on him. It will take all of Bond's skill, with a helping hand from M, Q (Ben Winshaw) and Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and even Mr. White's daughter, Dr.Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux), to defeat Spectre, but will it be enough?
There are a couple of things clear from this particular film, probably the foremost being director Sam Mendes' fondness for the franchise and in particular the kitsch that characterized the earliest films. I suppose one could say he's earned the right to take the franchise in whatever direction he sees fit; whether or not one loved or hated Skyfall (and I happened to like it quite a bit) it was, hands down, the most globally successful James Bond movie ever. Also, the gritty approach doesn't always work out for the best, as the creative misstep Quantum of Solace showed. The thing is, I'm not sure "retro" was the way to go, especially since this appears to be Craig's swansong to the franchise.
The old Bond touches abound, like the tricked out Omega watch, the Aston Martin with an ejector seat and the indestructible henchman, to name a few. I was a little disappointed with the much-hyped Aston Martin vs. Jaguar duel; it lacked the intensity that a really good car chase should have. The thing is, considering that there was quite a bit of humor involved in the sequence I get the impression that it wasn't really played so much for thrills as it was for laughs. Maybe they had a deal with Aston Martin to show Bond's car drifting in slow motion so that audiences (and potential AM buyers) could get a good look at the product, even though the DB10 depicted here will never be sold in stores.
The good news, though, is that there are still generous helpings of well-executed action elsewhere in the film, like the incredible opening action sequence in Mexico City which was ushered in by one of the most extraordinary single, uncut shots I've seen in recent years as well as some pretty intense fighting sequences in Austria and on-board a train trundling across Africa. While James Bond films, especially the more recent ones, are cultural events of a sort, Mendes remembers that this is still, first and foremost, an action film, and in that respect, Spectre delivers.
The thing that disappoints a bit, though is that Bond films have, since Craig came on board, tended to be smarter than this, and this film feels like a bit of a step back, though I did appreciate the elegant Monica Bellucci in her glorified cameo, and even Seydoux as the feisty, sexy Swann. Fiennes, Winshaw and Harris all play their supporting roles quite well, and get their own action sequence, something unheard of in the Connery days, but Scott disappoints as C, and even more shockingly, Waltz fails to bring Oberhauser to the level of Javier Bardem's batshit-crazy ex-spy Silva, due in no small part to some rather weak scripting.
For example, I loved Silva's opening soliloquy in the scene in which he was introduced in Skyfall, telling Bond an anecdote about rats eating coconut, and quite honestly, Oberhauser doesn't have anything like that; rather, he spouts some generic spiel about conquering the world through information technology, with parts of his shtick even lifted from Silva's technobabble from the last film. It was all right, but I honestly would have expected more from Waltz, whose work I have enjoyed, even when he was just lending his voice to a cartoon character in 2013's Epic.
This isn't the strongest of the Craig bonds, but if nothing else, at least it wasn't the hot narrative mess that Quantum of Solace fell into after that stellar pre-credits car chase. If this indeed proves to be Daniel Craig's last outing as James Bond, it isn't the worst way he could have gone, but in my opinion he could have gone out so much better.
6.5/10
written by John Logan, Robert Wade, Neil Purvis and Jez Butterworth
After three movies in which Daniel Craig channeled Jason Bourne when playing cinematic superspy James Bond, in Spectre, the latest (reportedly Craig's last) outing, he trades in the brass-knuckle brutality of Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and even Skyfall for a decidedly more traditional take on the character.
Following the events of Skyfall, Bond tracks down an Italian assassin to Mexico City, where he prevents a mass murder but causes an international incident in the process. This, however, is only the beginning, as the assassin, as Bond soon discovers after observing his funeral and meeting his widow (Monica Bellucci), is part of a much larger and more sinister organization than Bond could have ever imagined, one that has direct links to the villains he has faced since the very beginning of his career. As Bond investigates, he eavesdrops on a meeting presided over by Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz), a man with direct ties to Bond's past. In the meantime, MI6, which was physically destroyed in Skyfall, now faces complete annihilation with the arrival of C (Andrew Scott), a bureaucrat determined to replace the 00 program with electronic surveillance and drones, much to the irritation of M (Ralph Fiennes). These threats converge quite swiftly, and Bond soon learns from an old adversary of his, Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) the foe he faces is bigger than he could imagine, especially after they sic a larger-than-life henchman, Mr. Hinx (Dave Bautista) on him. It will take all of Bond's skill, with a helping hand from M, Q (Ben Winshaw) and Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and even Mr. White's daughter, Dr.Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux), to defeat Spectre, but will it be enough?
There are a couple of things clear from this particular film, probably the foremost being director Sam Mendes' fondness for the franchise and in particular the kitsch that characterized the earliest films. I suppose one could say he's earned the right to take the franchise in whatever direction he sees fit; whether or not one loved or hated Skyfall (and I happened to like it quite a bit) it was, hands down, the most globally successful James Bond movie ever. Also, the gritty approach doesn't always work out for the best, as the creative misstep Quantum of Solace showed. The thing is, I'm not sure "retro" was the way to go, especially since this appears to be Craig's swansong to the franchise.
The old Bond touches abound, like the tricked out Omega watch, the Aston Martin with an ejector seat and the indestructible henchman, to name a few. I was a little disappointed with the much-hyped Aston Martin vs. Jaguar duel; it lacked the intensity that a really good car chase should have. The thing is, considering that there was quite a bit of humor involved in the sequence I get the impression that it wasn't really played so much for thrills as it was for laughs. Maybe they had a deal with Aston Martin to show Bond's car drifting in slow motion so that audiences (and potential AM buyers) could get a good look at the product, even though the DB10 depicted here will never be sold in stores.
The good news, though, is that there are still generous helpings of well-executed action elsewhere in the film, like the incredible opening action sequence in Mexico City which was ushered in by one of the most extraordinary single, uncut shots I've seen in recent years as well as some pretty intense fighting sequences in Austria and on-board a train trundling across Africa. While James Bond films, especially the more recent ones, are cultural events of a sort, Mendes remembers that this is still, first and foremost, an action film, and in that respect, Spectre delivers.
The thing that disappoints a bit, though is that Bond films have, since Craig came on board, tended to be smarter than this, and this film feels like a bit of a step back, though I did appreciate the elegant Monica Bellucci in her glorified cameo, and even Seydoux as the feisty, sexy Swann. Fiennes, Winshaw and Harris all play their supporting roles quite well, and get their own action sequence, something unheard of in the Connery days, but Scott disappoints as C, and even more shockingly, Waltz fails to bring Oberhauser to the level of Javier Bardem's batshit-crazy ex-spy Silva, due in no small part to some rather weak scripting.
For example, I loved Silva's opening soliloquy in the scene in which he was introduced in Skyfall, telling Bond an anecdote about rats eating coconut, and quite honestly, Oberhauser doesn't have anything like that; rather, he spouts some generic spiel about conquering the world through information technology, with parts of his shtick even lifted from Silva's technobabble from the last film. It was all right, but I honestly would have expected more from Waltz, whose work I have enjoyed, even when he was just lending his voice to a cartoon character in 2013's Epic.
This isn't the strongest of the Craig bonds, but if nothing else, at least it wasn't the hot narrative mess that Quantum of Solace fell into after that stellar pre-credits car chase. If this indeed proves to be Daniel Craig's last outing as James Bond, it isn't the worst way he could have gone, but in my opinion he could have gone out so much better.
6.5/10
Sunday, November 8, 2015
Jack Black in Glasses: A Review of Goosebumps
directed by Rob Letterman
written by Darren Lemke, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski
I was never an avid follower of R.L. Stine's popular Goosebumps series of young adult horror books, so I had very little invested in this movie going in, apart from rather expensive ticket which promised unlimited popcorn (and, to be fair, delivered). The movie actually doesn't adapt any of his books but follows the unusual (but not unheard of) narrative strategy of being set in a world in which people have read the books, with the author himself (played by Black) being a character in the story.
Black's Stine, though, is more of a supporting character in the story of Zach (Dylan Minette) a high school age youth who moves to a new town with his mother (Amy Ryan) following the death of his father. His only friends are Champ (Ryan Lee) and his mysterious neighbor Hannah (Odeya Rush), who turns out to be the daughter of the reclusive Stine. After seeing Stine shout at his daughter through their window on a number of occasions, Zach suspects domestic abuse is going on and calls the police. When Stine convinces the small town police that nothing is amiss, Zach takes matters into his own hands, tricks Stine into leaving, breaks into his house with Champ's help, and finds something he doesn't quite expect, and, without knowing it, unleashes something terrifying on the town from the very pages of Stine's books. He'll need the help of Hannah, Champ and Stine himself to stop the monstrous rampage that follows.
This film really doesn't have a whole lot going for it, from its Logan-Lerman-clone of a lead to its treasure trove of cliche characters to its bargain-basement, barely-better-than-TV-movie computer-generated imagery, but it does have something that I really got into: Jack Black acting completely against type. With a few tweaks and outright exceptions (like his family friendly turns in Dreamworks cartoons, and his Mexican wrestler in Nacho Libre), Jack Black has basically played the same guy since the year 2000, namely Barry from High Fidelity, so to see him change gears like this is a real treat. He doesn't play Stine with condescension or caricature but, surprisingly, gives him some genuine emotional resonance, even amidst the comedy that drives the film. It's nice to see Black star in a comedy without delivering the loudest performance. That distinction goes to Lee, though barring any star-making turns after this I don't really see him breaking out.
Also, the movie has a few worthwhile things to say about the importance of human relationships, though ironically enough it betrays it premise slightly as far as the obligatory love story is concerned.
I would not recommend for anyone to go out of their way to see this movie, but it is a decent enough time-killer.
6/10
written by Darren Lemke, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski
I was never an avid follower of R.L. Stine's popular Goosebumps series of young adult horror books, so I had very little invested in this movie going in, apart from rather expensive ticket which promised unlimited popcorn (and, to be fair, delivered). The movie actually doesn't adapt any of his books but follows the unusual (but not unheard of) narrative strategy of being set in a world in which people have read the books, with the author himself (played by Black) being a character in the story.
Black's Stine, though, is more of a supporting character in the story of Zach (Dylan Minette) a high school age youth who moves to a new town with his mother (Amy Ryan) following the death of his father. His only friends are Champ (Ryan Lee) and his mysterious neighbor Hannah (Odeya Rush), who turns out to be the daughter of the reclusive Stine. After seeing Stine shout at his daughter through their window on a number of occasions, Zach suspects domestic abuse is going on and calls the police. When Stine convinces the small town police that nothing is amiss, Zach takes matters into his own hands, tricks Stine into leaving, breaks into his house with Champ's help, and finds something he doesn't quite expect, and, without knowing it, unleashes something terrifying on the town from the very pages of Stine's books. He'll need the help of Hannah, Champ and Stine himself to stop the monstrous rampage that follows.
This film really doesn't have a whole lot going for it, from its Logan-Lerman-clone of a lead to its treasure trove of cliche characters to its bargain-basement, barely-better-than-TV-movie computer-generated imagery, but it does have something that I really got into: Jack Black acting completely against type. With a few tweaks and outright exceptions (like his family friendly turns in Dreamworks cartoons, and his Mexican wrestler in Nacho Libre), Jack Black has basically played the same guy since the year 2000, namely Barry from High Fidelity, so to see him change gears like this is a real treat. He doesn't play Stine with condescension or caricature but, surprisingly, gives him some genuine emotional resonance, even amidst the comedy that drives the film. It's nice to see Black star in a comedy without delivering the loudest performance. That distinction goes to Lee, though barring any star-making turns after this I don't really see him breaking out.
Also, the movie has a few worthwhile things to say about the importance of human relationships, though ironically enough it betrays it premise slightly as far as the obligatory love story is concerned.
I would not recommend for anyone to go out of their way to see this movie, but it is a decent enough time-killer.
6/10
Monday, October 12, 2015
Top of His Game: A Review of The Martian (Mild Spoilers)
directed by Ridley Scott
written by Drew Goddard
While Ridley Scott has been a bit of a geek icon since 1979, when he rocked the world with Alien, I confessed I had not "discovered" him until I watched the multiple-Oscar-winning epic Gladiator, a film that basically blew me away. I enjoyed a couple of his movies after that, like 2001's gritty Black Hawk Down, and 2007's American Gangster, but by and large I did not really consider myself a fan, especially after I watched the underwhelming, yet much ballyhooed Prometheus.
With The Martian, however, he's pretty much won me over all over again.
Mark Watney (Matt Damon), a botanist, is part of Aries III, a manned mission to Mars led by Commander Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain). When a storm threatens the safety of their mission, the team which includes astronauts Beck (Sebastian Stan), Martinez (Michael Pena), Vogel (Askell Hennie) and Johannson retreat to their shuttle, but Watney is struck by flying equipment and lost in the storm, forcing Lewis and the rest of the team to leave him for dead. Watney does survive, and sets about the process of staying alive by maximizing his resources, particularly food and water at the Mars "Hab" or habitat, even growing his own food using existing potatoes and his own feces in order to buy him as much time as possible while he figures out his next move, the most sensible of which, of course, is to try and contact NASA. As it turns out, NASA, after a very public ceremony declaring Watney dead and burying him, is in the process of planning the next mission, when one of their technicians in mission control Mindy Park (Mackenzie Davis), looks at satellite photos directly above the Hab, and calls her boss, mission director Vincent Kapoor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to have a look. Kapoor concludes that Watney is alive, and he and several other high-level NASA officers, including fellow mission director Mitch Henderson (Sean Bean), Jet Propulsion Labs director Bruce Ng (Benedict Wong), NASA spokesperson Annie Montrose (Kristen Wiig) and NASA director Teddy Sanders (Jeff Daniels), who broke the erroneous news of Watney's death to the world, start putting their heads together as to what can be done to save him. Meanwhile, the crew of Aries III continue their forlorn trip home, unaware of their teammate's survival and unaware that they may yet be able to save his life. Watney's ingenuity and skills as a botanist count for quite a lot in helping keep him alive, but the clock is ticking.
This movie is the third astronauts-in-peril movie churned out by Hollywood in as many years, and while I missed last year's Interstellar, I can quite happily say that this film holds up quite well against the first film in this bunch, the very popular, award-winning Gravity. There isn't quite the sense of urgency about this film that characterized Gravity considering that Watney isn't plummeting to earth as Sandra Bullock's character was, but there is a genuine sense of the peril Watney faces, and because there he isn't plunging down to earth a large part of that is down to Scott's direction and his actors' ability to build tension. Compared to Gravity, a substantial portion of this film is basically a bunch of talking heads, or in the case of Watney, one guy talking to a camera, and it is therefore the actors' job to sell to the audience the notion that this man is in mortal peril, and to the full credit of Scott, his cast and his crew, they do a bang-up job, especially Damon.
Now, Mark Watney isn't the Fed Ex guy that Tom Hanks played in Cast Away, and Damon smartly steers clear of a performance that could really spill into schmaltz, and it was really a pleasant surprise to see how much humor both Damon and screenwriter Drew Goddard (a bit of a burgeoning geek god himself) were able to inject into the role. Anyone who's seen Matt Damon on talk shows would know he's a pretty funny guy, so he's no stranger to humor onscreen, but for him to convince the audience of Watney's dire straits while at the same time elicit some genuine laughs is a considerable challenge,and kudos to Mr. Damon for hurdling it. Speaking of Goddard and his geek credentials, geeks should flip at one particular metafictional (I hope I'm using the term correctly) reference in the film. Also, the fact that Sebastian Stan and Michael Pena are veterans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe makes it particularly amusing when a Marvel character is explicitly mentioned.
The Martian certainly isn't the technical tour de force that Gravity was, but perhaps that's a good thing as the minimalist visual effects really give the performers the opportunity to shine here. I would also consider it high praise for the VFX technicians that the effects shots that do feature in the film are quite unobtrusive and propel the story forward rather than call any attention to themselves. That, after all, is what effects shots are supposed to do. On a technical level, this film was, for me, beyond reproach.
This movie is one of those life-affirming affairs that feels like such a rare thing in a pop-culture environment in which a seemingly increasing number of people insist that movies cannot be good unless they're "dark." It feels somewhat ironic that this movie was given to audiences by a man who kicked off his career with some unrelentingly dark films like Alien and Blade Runner, but I think it's a pretty welcome change of pace for Scott and I quite honestly wouldn't mind seeing more movies like this from him.
9/10
written by Drew Goddard
While Ridley Scott has been a bit of a geek icon since 1979, when he rocked the world with Alien, I confessed I had not "discovered" him until I watched the multiple-Oscar-winning epic Gladiator, a film that basically blew me away. I enjoyed a couple of his movies after that, like 2001's gritty Black Hawk Down, and 2007's American Gangster, but by and large I did not really consider myself a fan, especially after I watched the underwhelming, yet much ballyhooed Prometheus.
With The Martian, however, he's pretty much won me over all over again.
Mark Watney (Matt Damon), a botanist, is part of Aries III, a manned mission to Mars led by Commander Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain). When a storm threatens the safety of their mission, the team which includes astronauts Beck (Sebastian Stan), Martinez (Michael Pena), Vogel (Askell Hennie) and Johannson retreat to their shuttle, but Watney is struck by flying equipment and lost in the storm, forcing Lewis and the rest of the team to leave him for dead. Watney does survive, and sets about the process of staying alive by maximizing his resources, particularly food and water at the Mars "Hab" or habitat, even growing his own food using existing potatoes and his own feces in order to buy him as much time as possible while he figures out his next move, the most sensible of which, of course, is to try and contact NASA. As it turns out, NASA, after a very public ceremony declaring Watney dead and burying him, is in the process of planning the next mission, when one of their technicians in mission control Mindy Park (Mackenzie Davis), looks at satellite photos directly above the Hab, and calls her boss, mission director Vincent Kapoor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to have a look. Kapoor concludes that Watney is alive, and he and several other high-level NASA officers, including fellow mission director Mitch Henderson (Sean Bean), Jet Propulsion Labs director Bruce Ng (Benedict Wong), NASA spokesperson Annie Montrose (Kristen Wiig) and NASA director Teddy Sanders (Jeff Daniels), who broke the erroneous news of Watney's death to the world, start putting their heads together as to what can be done to save him. Meanwhile, the crew of Aries III continue their forlorn trip home, unaware of their teammate's survival and unaware that they may yet be able to save his life. Watney's ingenuity and skills as a botanist count for quite a lot in helping keep him alive, but the clock is ticking.
This movie is the third astronauts-in-peril movie churned out by Hollywood in as many years, and while I missed last year's Interstellar, I can quite happily say that this film holds up quite well against the first film in this bunch, the very popular, award-winning Gravity. There isn't quite the sense of urgency about this film that characterized Gravity considering that Watney isn't plummeting to earth as Sandra Bullock's character was, but there is a genuine sense of the peril Watney faces, and because there he isn't plunging down to earth a large part of that is down to Scott's direction and his actors' ability to build tension. Compared to Gravity, a substantial portion of this film is basically a bunch of talking heads, or in the case of Watney, one guy talking to a camera, and it is therefore the actors' job to sell to the audience the notion that this man is in mortal peril, and to the full credit of Scott, his cast and his crew, they do a bang-up job, especially Damon.
Now, Mark Watney isn't the Fed Ex guy that Tom Hanks played in Cast Away, and Damon smartly steers clear of a performance that could really spill into schmaltz, and it was really a pleasant surprise to see how much humor both Damon and screenwriter Drew Goddard (a bit of a burgeoning geek god himself) were able to inject into the role. Anyone who's seen Matt Damon on talk shows would know he's a pretty funny guy, so he's no stranger to humor onscreen, but for him to convince the audience of Watney's dire straits while at the same time elicit some genuine laughs is a considerable challenge,and kudos to Mr. Damon for hurdling it. Speaking of Goddard and his geek credentials, geeks should flip at one particular metafictional (I hope I'm using the term correctly) reference in the film. Also, the fact that Sebastian Stan and Michael Pena are veterans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe makes it particularly amusing when a Marvel character is explicitly mentioned.
The Martian certainly isn't the technical tour de force that Gravity was, but perhaps that's a good thing as the minimalist visual effects really give the performers the opportunity to shine here. I would also consider it high praise for the VFX technicians that the effects shots that do feature in the film are quite unobtrusive and propel the story forward rather than call any attention to themselves. That, after all, is what effects shots are supposed to do. On a technical level, this film was, for me, beyond reproach.
This movie is one of those life-affirming affairs that feels like such a rare thing in a pop-culture environment in which a seemingly increasing number of people insist that movies cannot be good unless they're "dark." It feels somewhat ironic that this movie was given to audiences by a man who kicked off his career with some unrelentingly dark films like Alien and Blade Runner, but I think it's a pretty welcome change of pace for Scott and I quite honestly wouldn't mind seeing more movies like this from him.
9/10
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Sandler Reinvented (Sort of): A Review of Hotel Transylvania 2
directed by Genndy Tartakovsky
written by Adam Sandler and Robert Smigel
While I would have loved to have spent last weekend watching the resurgent historical epic Heneral Luna, I found myself in a mall with three little girls too young to watch the R-13 rated movie and a lot of time to kill. In any event, I had been wanting to take my kids to see the film since the initial trailers, so this was as good an opportunity as any to go see it.
The Transylvania gang, including Dracula (Adam Sandler), Frankenstein (Kevin James), the Werewolf (Steve Buscemi), the Invisible Man (David Spade), and the Mummy (Keegan-Michael Key) are back, and Hotel Transylvania remains very much in business. Drac's daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) and her boyfriend since the end of the last movie Johnny (Andy Samberg) finally get married and make Drac a grandfather. Drac's joy soon turns to anxiety, however, as it becomes unclear whether or not little Dennis (Asher Blinkoff) has actually inherited any of his mother's and grandfather's vampiric powers. It also becomes an object of concern when Mavis, worried about her "non-monster" son, begins to think that living in a monster-free California, where Johnny is from, might be better for Dennis than living in Transylvania. Thus begins Drac's quest to coax his grandson's vampirism out of him as Mavis and Johnny leave for the U.S. to visit Johnny's parents, leaving Dennis with Drac and his friends, who have their work cut out for them.
I found the first movie reasonably entertaining with its combination of fun, if not particularly innovative designs on classic movie monsters and to anyone who enjoyed the first movie I am pleased to report that this is pretty much more of the same unpretentious silliness. It's pretty much trademark Sandler, but with less rude jokes (though the word "boobies" actually makes it into the script) and with a broader canvas, considering the things that cartoons can do which real people cannot, even when abetted by computer graphics. Sandler used to play a man-child who refused to grow up, here he plays (through voice acting) an old man trying to relive his youth vicariously through his grandson. In any case, the broad humor connected with me. I also liked little touches in the film like the vampire summer camp and the extensive use of youtube, though I found it kind of idiotic that the filmmakers could not decide whether or not vampires could be captured on camera, as they were in some instances and were not in others.
The sequel does have a kind of by-the-numbers feel to it, as can be expected from most sequels, but most importantly, they kept the fun, even if the movie really dipped into the nonsensical time and again. I'd be a complete hypocrite if I didn't admit I had a good laugh time and again. It's some pretty decent, if altogether silly fun.
6.5/10
written by Adam Sandler and Robert Smigel
While I would have loved to have spent last weekend watching the resurgent historical epic Heneral Luna, I found myself in a mall with three little girls too young to watch the R-13 rated movie and a lot of time to kill. In any event, I had been wanting to take my kids to see the film since the initial trailers, so this was as good an opportunity as any to go see it.
The Transylvania gang, including Dracula (Adam Sandler), Frankenstein (Kevin James), the Werewolf (Steve Buscemi), the Invisible Man (David Spade), and the Mummy (Keegan-Michael Key) are back, and Hotel Transylvania remains very much in business. Drac's daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) and her boyfriend since the end of the last movie Johnny (Andy Samberg) finally get married and make Drac a grandfather. Drac's joy soon turns to anxiety, however, as it becomes unclear whether or not little Dennis (Asher Blinkoff) has actually inherited any of his mother's and grandfather's vampiric powers. It also becomes an object of concern when Mavis, worried about her "non-monster" son, begins to think that living in a monster-free California, where Johnny is from, might be better for Dennis than living in Transylvania. Thus begins Drac's quest to coax his grandson's vampirism out of him as Mavis and Johnny leave for the U.S. to visit Johnny's parents, leaving Dennis with Drac and his friends, who have their work cut out for them.
I found the first movie reasonably entertaining with its combination of fun, if not particularly innovative designs on classic movie monsters and to anyone who enjoyed the first movie I am pleased to report that this is pretty much more of the same unpretentious silliness. It's pretty much trademark Sandler, but with less rude jokes (though the word "boobies" actually makes it into the script) and with a broader canvas, considering the things that cartoons can do which real people cannot, even when abetted by computer graphics. Sandler used to play a man-child who refused to grow up, here he plays (through voice acting) an old man trying to relive his youth vicariously through his grandson. In any case, the broad humor connected with me. I also liked little touches in the film like the vampire summer camp and the extensive use of youtube, though I found it kind of idiotic that the filmmakers could not decide whether or not vampires could be captured on camera, as they were in some instances and were not in others.
The sequel does have a kind of by-the-numbers feel to it, as can be expected from most sequels, but most importantly, they kept the fun, even if the movie really dipped into the nonsensical time and again. I'd be a complete hypocrite if I didn't admit I had a good laugh time and again. It's some pretty decent, if altogether silly fun.
6.5/10
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