The Reel World

After Robert Eggers received best director out of Sundance, The Witch became a film that went on my radar. Following the release of the trailer to the film, I was hooked; its startling yet beautiful imagery was enough to get my attention.  As buzz built around the film as it continued to awe audiences in various festivals, my anticipation for this film was getting out of control.  Could a film really be this great? Is it possible to make a film that still shocks and terrifies audiences?  By the time I found myself getting to this screening, The Witch now was a film that unfairly had something to prove to me; I poked the bear and dared this film to blow me away. As the lights dimmed and the film played out, I came away with more than I asked for.
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A Pew Research Poll in 2012 said that 84 percent of the world’s population believes in God. A Harris poll in 2013 said that 74 percent of Americans believed in God. I’m making some simple statements up front, because the subject is extremely complicated and confusing the more you dip into the well to try to understand. There are 2.3 billion Christians and 1.7 billion Muslims out of the over 7 billion people on the planet. There are 15 million Jews. Christianity, Islam, and Judaism have overlapping tenets of faith, but you would never know it if you look at the history of the world. Religion has become a big disappointment to many.
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“Hi…it’s been a long time.”

If Project Runway has taught us anything, it’s that “in fashion, one day you’re in and the next day you’re out.” To a lesser extent, that adage can also be applied to comedy stars, since audience’s tastes seem to shift almost as often as style trends. (There was a point in time when Pauly Shore was a movie star…that really happened!) As a result, any sequel to 2001’s Zoolander — Ben Stiller’s really, really, really, ridiculously good looking absurd fashion satire —had the odds stacked against it.
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Hail, Caesar is a typical example of a Coen brothers movie, which means it is completely atypical. The Coen brothers are revered for not only being different from everyone else but also making films that are different from each other. It would easy to say there is a Coen brothers style, but you would be reaching, because the two men are committed to exploring things differently each and every time they make a movie (or produce a television show like Fargo). The most characteristic identifying factor is quirkiness and individuality. They are among the few filmmakers working in Hollywood who do whatever the freaking heck they want. What I mean by that is that the movies they make would not be allowed if proposed or pitched by anyone else.
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“Never underestimate the impact of dramatic entrance!”

It’s hard to maintain the attention of the 21^st-century child. Animated movies have to combine enough elements of charm and action to keep their attention for a little under two hours. If you want to keep a franchise going, you have to rip out your sequels in reasonably tight schedules. It’s been over four years since Kung Fu Panda 2, and we waited nearly that long between the first and second entry. That’s a long time in a culture where we move from fad to fad almost by the hour.
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There are many films that depict the ferocity and cataclysmic power of the vast ocean. It is a fearsome display that cannot be imagined in any way that compares to the reality of the experience. The Perfect Storm, Life of Pi, The Guardian, and Titanic are just a few examples of disasters at sea. It is the United States Coast Guard’s job to rescue distressed people under severe emergencies at sea. The Finest Hours is a depiction of a true-life sea rescue under the most challenging and horrifying conditions. It is known as the most successful small boat rescue ever recorded. When I say small boat, it is the rescue boat I’m talking about, but the ship they were singlehandedly sent to rescue was a gigantic T2 tanker Pendleton, which had split in half on open seas.
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“Welcome to Benghazi.”

It shouldn’t matter what your politics might be. The events in Benghazi on September 11th, 2012 bring up some very important questions. Contrary to one 2016 presidential hopeful’s declaration, it does make a difference. It did to the people who were there. It does for the families of the four who lost their lives. And it should make a difference to you. With such a political hotbed issue, you’ll find that 13 Hours goes out of its way to avoid the political questions. Some might view this as an oversight, but I think it gives the film a greater sense of credibility and makes its impact on the audience to fill in their own political blanks.
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America was once a primitive expanse where only very small groups of hardy hopefuls ever tried to venture across. It was a vast and endless wilderness that was mostly a mystery. This was the land of roving Indian tribes and undiscovered species of animals. This was a land of all kinds of danger. Life was one long hunt and endless battle against every kind of predator and natural enemy. There are so many remarkable moments in The Revenant that I will start with the bear attack. It is an unbelievably harrowing event that cannot be described in words that will in any way convey what you see on the screen. That one sequence alone is worth the price of admission.
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“You know this story…”

At least you think that you do. Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is one of the best known novels of all time. But thanks in part to Hollywood, it is also one of the most misrepresented stories of all time. I’m a fan of both the novel and the series of Universal and Hammer films going all the way back to 1931 when Boris Karloff played The Monster and Colin Clive played the mad Dr. Frankenstein. Missing from both the original novel and the James Whale Universal film is any mention of a character named Igor. There isn’t even an assistant at all in the book, and in the 1931 film the hunchbacked lab assistant was named Fritz and was played by Dwight Frye.
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The name Quentin Tarantino carries the weight of legacy of such directors as Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, and more recently Christopher Nolan.  I’m not saying one is better than the other, but simply by name recognition alone Tarantino is in the company of directors that when you hear that his name is attached, there will be a loyal fan base flocking to the theaters to see what they have to dazzle us with.  This time around Tarantino returns to the cinema in his biggest release to date; in glorious 70mm we have The Hateful Eight. Tarantino returns to the Western genre, only this time he heads out west to Wyoming to thrust us into his most claustrophobic setting since Reservoir Dogs. Let me just come out of the gate and say, if you’re looking for the over-the-top fun you found in Django Unchained, you’re going to have to readjust those expectations; this time around we are given something much more intimate and all the more rich with dark humor.
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Football is extremely important to many (or most, or all) Americans. That would be an understatement, since football is a national obsession that can reach the level of mania at times. Football is close to a religion for some people. You don’t mess with football, but that is what Will Smith’s new film, Concussion, does. It tells the true story of a Nigerian doctor who has an extremely rigorous and conscientious approach to his work performing autopsies in the Pittsburgh coroner’s office. He supervised over the deaths of Mike Webster, Terry Long, Justin Strzelczyk, Andre Waters and Dave Duerson, who all died before the ages of 51. These autopsies were instrumental in uncovering the connection to a disease that had been associated with boxers, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).
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Joy is the name of a person, not a state of mind. Joy Mangano is apparently not an easy person to know, but she did submit to a long series of conversations with brilliant writer/director David O. Russell. I say David is brilliant because he is, to me, the single most indispensable artist working today. He is able to do things that no one else can do. He makes comedies, but only in the broadest sense of the word. He takes a subject that may seem insignificant and puts it through a mad process like Dr. Frankenstein until something magnificent comes out. The process seems like a whirlwind for whoever is caught up in it
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“I’m guessing most of you still don’t really know what happened.”

There is absolutely nothing funny about the financial crisis of 2008. Besides the fact that the bursting of the U.S. housing bubble led to the failure of countless businesses and a disastrous decline in consumer wealth, the crisis involved key phrases like “credit default swap” and “collateralized debt obligation.” Those terms are much more likely to make your eyes glaze over in boredom or confusion than they are to inspire laughs. The Big Short cannily recognizes this challenge and crafts a farcical, incisive narrative about a small group of outcasts who saw the whole thing coming.
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The last time we checked in on Rocky Balboa was 2006. It was a bittersweet coda to a franchise that provided 30 years and six films of the life and times of Rocky Balboa. Some were truly great films. I’d count the first and last as in that category. Some were near misses like the third and fourth films, while the fifth was pretty much a total disaster. In those years and films we watched Rocky go from a hungry Philadelphia wannabe boxer to the champion several times over. Like the franchise, the character had his own highs and lows. There’s no question that the Rocky franchise has gone the distance. And while it might have been a split-decision, the Rocky films still stand as the champion of the film genre.
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“You’ve gotta earn your mark by doing something big…bigger than yourself.”

It was actually 20 years ago this month that a certain animation studio made an indelible mark on cinema. When Pixar released Toy Story in November 1995, it was the very first computer-generated animated feature, and it made us believe that movies really could go to infinity…and beyond! In the ensuing years, the studio has produced an unprecedented and unparalleled run of films that mix breathtaking technical wizardry with inventive stories that touch moviegoers’ hearts along with their funny bones. The Good Dinosaur, Pixar’s latest effort, gets about half of that equation right.
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By The Sea is literally like a vacation. It is a beautiful time that is a little over two hours at a picturesque resort. It is an exquisite location with lovely views. By The Sea is a beautiful little movie. It is small and nice, but it has two very big stars, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Angelina Jolie Pitt has written and directed the film and has co-starred with her husband for the first time (because Jolie was not married to Pitt when they made Mr. and Mrs. Smith). It is clearly something that is very important to Jolie and is probably very personal to her. I will get back to speculation about Jolie and her intentions.
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The Secret In Their Eyes is a heavily plotted and intense police thriller, but there is much more to discuss about this film than that. The film has a lot of issues, both in the story and in the making of the film itself. One of the issues is the casting. We have two of the grand dames of cinema facing off for the first time, Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman (which is surprising, though Nicole did co-star with Sandra Bullock once, which is close enough). If you detect a tinge of sarcasm, you are correct. Not to be sexist or ageist, but what those two actresses always sold was vibrancy and excitability. Here they are toned down and depressive.
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It’s the one that fans have been waiting for. The conclusion of the only adaptation series to rival the star power of Twilight in my opinion (Divergent comes close, but the popularity is clearly with this Jennifer Lawrence-led series). Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2 is the culmination of all the action set up in the first film. It’s time to finally take the fight to President Snow, and this film delivers in every aspect. Action sequences are tier-one as well as being character-driven, all the while staying faithful to the source material. Accomplishing all these tasks is always difficult; however, this film appears to do it with ease.
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It is widely believed that the early 70’s was a great renaissance for American film. Part of the reason for this is that society was in upheaval, and the studios had lost their way trying to understand the American public. Young filmmakers were allowed to come in and do what ever they wanted. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn’t, but there was real freedom in the anarchy of the times. Then movies like Jaws and Star Wars changed the industry again, and the money managers were back in control. Today, the studios run things based on formulas and templates. There are still interesting independent films being made, but they are strictly treated as fringe dwellers.
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“You have got a tricky day ahead of you.”

And this is going to be one tricky film to review. It’s safe to say that Daniel Craig peaked as James Bond with Skyfall. Sam Mendes was the man who figured out how to make Craig work in the part. The secret wasn’t in the classic images of Bond’s past but in the future. Instead of trying to mold Craig into Bond, Mendes molded Bond into Craig. It was the right thing to do as long as Daniel Craig was going to continue in the role.
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“It’s like five minutes before every launch, everyone goes to a bar, gets drunk, and tells me what they really think of me.”

During the final act of Steve Jobs — which is less of a biopic and more of a three-act performance piece inspired by the visionary Apple co-founder — the movie winks at its own gimmicky premise. The cheeky reference to the film’s rigid, laser-focused structure is appropriate given that Jobs obsessively measured the design his own products down to the millimeter. The result is a movie that wonderfully mirrors its protagonist: Steve Jobs is enthralling, endlessly imaginative, and kind of exhausting.
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That’s Rock the Kasbah with a K. It was probably decided to do that spelling so as not to be confused with the hit song “Rock the Casbah” by the Clash when googling. The movie is about a down-on-his luck music manager who goes to Afghanistan on a U.S.O. Tour. There is a great scene early on when the aforementioned manager visits his daughter by sitting outside her window as she lectures him that there are no casbahs in Afghanistan. It’s a perfect metaphor for a character who has obviously screwed up his life so much that he can’t even go into his ex-wife’s house. The music manager, Richie Lanz, is played by Bill Murray and may be his best comedy performance in years.
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The best way to win a war is to use the element of surprise. Another way is to be brutally and remorselessly ruthless. Neither one of these tactics are something a law enforcement agency is naturally disposed to do. Criminals will always have the upper hand, because they know the law enforcement agencies of the United States are supposed to operate within the bounds of law and rules. That dilutes the potential pool of surprise tactics and also completely limits how ruthless you can be in fighting an enemy. Anyone who knows anything about the Mexican and South American drug cartels knows there is no limit to their barbaric ruthlessness.
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In 1979, Ridley Scott taught us that in space no one can hear you scream. More than 35 years after Alien established him as a top directorial talent, Scott has slightly amended that statement to read “in space no one can hear you…blast disco music and binge watch Happy Days.” These lighthearted coping mechanisms — used here to deal with a truly horrifying and hopeless situation — are strong indicators of what you’re in for with The Martian, which is both brainier and much funnier than your average space epic.
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