The Reel World

"When someone is shooting at you, you know their intentions."

Submarines have had their own fascinations since Leonardo da Vinci first designed one. Jules Verne took us 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and used a fantastical submarine to inspire and dazzle readers for centuries. Even television has gotten into the act as Irwin Allen took us on a Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea. But it's the cinema that truly captured the idea of submarine warfare, from the German classic Das Boot to the equally classic Run Silent Run Deep. Modern films like Crimson Tide and The Hunt For Red October took advantage of modern f/x technologies to bring us even closer to the perilous depths. But things have improved significantly since then. Now with computer-generated images able to show us anything the mind can imagine, submarines are positioned to go to the next level. It's all of that that I took with me when I went to see Hunter Killer. I got some of it before. But I can't quite escape the feeling that I've seen all of this many times.

By John Delia, Jr

In Johnny English Strikes Again, English brings back his hilarious antics. The world’s security is threatened by an internet thief, and there is only one person who can save us all. This clumsy, blundering character who always manages to get the job done, even though it may not be with the intentions he set out to perform, is back in action. The greatest British agent of all time, Johnny English, is back, and he brings us more slapstick comedy than ever.

When Robert Redford first announced that The Old Man and the Gun was going to be the last film he was going to be acting in, it became a film that shot to the top of my must-see list.  Since that announcement he’s backed off on his comment, but if this were his last film, this would be one heck of a way to close out an amazing career. What writer and director David Lowery has delivered here is sort of a love letter to all of Redford’s greatest hits, and by the time the credits end, well, you simply know you’ve watched something special.  It’s a film from another era, when special FX didn’t come out of a camera, and cinema just was different.  Most of all this film reminded me why Redford will always remain a cinematic icon, but what was missing here is the void Paul Newman left behind.  This would have been a perfect film for them to both be in and ride off into the sunset together, and it’s a reminder of how many greats we have lost and those other greats who may not have passed, but it seems Hollywood just doesn’t seem to have a place for anymore.

The film is mostly a true story based on the criminal Forrest Tucker (Redford), who has spent his life in and out of prison. He’s been incarcerated 18 times, and each of those times he’s managed to find a way to escape.  The film isn’t about his entire life, but instead about when his criminal life may be coming to an end.  When he meets Jewel (Sissy Spacek), he’s actually on the run after a bank heist, and he pulls over on the highway to help her when he sees her car is broken down.  Of course, it seems this is just a tactic to throw the cops off his tail, but the more he talks with Jewel, you can’t be sure if that twinkle in his eye is part of the con, or if he is sweet on the woman.

"I always knew he'd come back. In this town, Michael Myers is a myth. He's the Boogeyman. A ghost story to scare kids. But this Boogeyman is real. An evil like his never stops, it just grows older. Darker. More determined. Forty years ago, he came to my home to kill. He killed my friends, and now he's back to finish what he started, with me. The one person who's ready to stop him."

I was 17 years old when John Carpenter released The Shape, aka Michael Myers, on the world in 1978. It was a milestone film. Of course we didn't know we were watching something that would become so culturally huge. We were the target audience. Teens who were looking for some extra thrill in our films. These so-called slasher films became great escapes of fantasy to bring a date along. For a late-teen, there's no better way to spend an evening with a date than a film that might have her jump right into your lap. Great times. But the reason Halloween stands out from the crowded genre is because John Carpenter knew something about anticipation. He knew how to build towards a scare. And he understood how to use music, shadow, and pacing to truly immerse his audience into a film. I didn't watch Halloween in 1978. I experienced Halloween in 1978.

I was quite reluctant to attend the screening for The Oath. My reluctance wasn't based on my willingness to see the film. People like us will go to any kind of a movie. I love films. My issue was the impression I received from the trailer. The film appears to be ripped from today's political climate and quite possibly to be a close parody of the actual present political situation. No matter on what side of that issue I might personally happen to fall, we here at Upcomingdiscs try our best to keep our politics out of our work. It's not fair to fellow writers for them to be brushed with any other writer's ideals, and it's simply unnecessary to create a hostile environment here for any of our readers or staff. So I approached the screening with the caveat that I might not actually review the film. When the studio agreed to those terms, I set out to experience The Oath. I'll give you a little "inside baseball" into the movie review business. When a critic is invited to a press screening of a film, there is a bit of a contract strongly implied in that invitation. Attendance is an agreement to write and publish a review of the film that is reported back to the studio. No studio has ever even commented on the review's content. Rest assured we are completely free to write whatever we want with the exception of revealing important spoiler information and agreeing to a specific embargo date (as sometimes we see a film weeks before they street). So that freedom to decide not to review was an important and rather unusual agreement to have, because I was not sure I was going to be willing to follow through. Fortunately, the trailer is a bit revealing, and The Oath isn't a one-sided spoof at all. It can easily be enjoyed no matter what your individual politics happen to be.

This film certainly touches on the political divide; however, it quite smartly removes itself a full step away from the current participants or personalities. The story pretty much focuses on one family that has gathered together for a holiday meal. Like most families, there are the usual tensions, and that includes differing ideas about the political situation. That landscape was impossible for them to avoid, because the President of the United States had just announced that he was issuing a "voluntary" Loyalty Oath, and the deadline for people to sign was fast approaching. And so our family naturally begins to discuss what they plan to do about it. Writer and director Ike Barinholtz stars as Chris. He has refused to sign the oath of loyalty to the President and has a pretty hostile opinion of anyone who has signed or is planning to sign it. Unfortunately for Chris, his parents and siblings who have all gathered at his home for the Thanksgiving dinner are more inclined to sign the oath, and some family members already have. The promise is that the oath is completely on a volunteer basis, but we soon learns what happens when you don't sign and someone rats you out.

"That's one small step for (a) man. One giant leap for mankind."

July 20th, 1969. If you were alive and even somewhat old enough to be aware of your surroundings, you likely still remember that date. There are many such dates in history; unfortunately so many of them revolve around tragic events like 9-ll or the attack on Pearl Harbor. But on that night I was eight years old, and I know exactly where I was. I was watching Walter Cronkite on television as he brought us the first landing on the surface of the moon. Today that's a bittersweet memory. For an 8-year old boy it was a promise that has remained unfulfilled. If you had told that 8-year old who just saw humans walking on the moon that 50 years later we would have gone no further, he would have been dumbfounded. If you told him that not only would we go no further, but that we would stop going to the moon in just a few short years, he would have been devastated. I can only imagine what that first man on the moon thought about it all so many years later. The truth is that Neil Armstrong never traded on his celebrity. He kept mostly to himself for the rest of his life, and perhaps the only tragedy larger than our abandonment of the pursuit he risked his life for is that we know so little about the man whose name lives with the likes of Columbus. He's almost a forgotten hero. That's why First Man is such an important film that almost lives up to that legacy.

These days when the studios are cutting together trailers to promote their upcoming films, I feel one of the number one complaints people have is that the trailer gives too much away, so why bother shelling out the cash to see it on the big screen?  When it comes to the trailer for Bad times at the El Royale, it gives you a glimpse at what is to come, but the result is something clever and ambitious, but unfortunately feels a bit too familiar.  This is the second feature film from writer and director Drew Goddard, who first made a splash onto the screen with his hit film Cabin in the Woods.  While I enjoyed his first romp that played with many of horror’s stereotypes, I still felt the film fell a bit flat.  Unfortunately, though I enjoyed this fun little noir film he’s put together, I feel it too falls a bit flat, but mostly this is due to its 140 minute runtime.

The film opens up with a great sequence, where we get to watch as a man comes into a motel room and goes through the process of burying a bag beneath the floorboards.  It’s a long static shot that nicely sets the tone for the film we’re about to watch, and with the nice little twist at the end of the scene, we’re ready to jump into this film.  Sadly, as we are introduced to visitors at the El Royale motel, things get a bit long-winded, as it seems the sequence of just having the characters checking into their rooms will never end.  It works as setting a tone and introducing us to characters, but the problem is we spent all this time with character development just to discover no one seems to be who they claim to be.  I’m all for having twists, but this sequence just goes on for too long, and unfortunately that’s pretty much how each sequence plays out, each clever sequence stretching on for a bit too long.  This is where I understand where people draw their comparisons to Quentin Tarantino, only Tarantino can make long talkie sequences crackle with humor, dread, and cool all at once, and Goddard just can’t pull it off.

When I was in elementary school, R..L. Stine was the author all the kids were reading.  For me Goosebumps was sort of a gateway that opened me up to horror, and I’ve been a bit obsessed with the genre ever since.  If you were a kid of the 80’s, I don’t think it’s possible for you to not know who R..L. Stine is. Even if you somehow never managed to read one of his books, there was also the successful TV series that came out in the early 90’s.  For years I would have said Stine would always be the most successful writer for kids. Well, that all changed once a certain wizard hit the scene and changed pop culture.  So when they announced that there would be a live action Goosebumps film, I was surprised, but I was curious what it would be like. Could his stories still entertain the masses?  I had fun with the first film, and when it was done, it struck me how these kinds of films simply just are not made any more, films the whole family can enjoy but are targeted at younger kids.  Sure, there are the superhero films, but those are more for the teens, and let’s face it, the millions of adults who grew up reading comics.  But what happened to the kids-in-peril films that were huge in the 80’s and just seemed to vanish with time?  Goosebumps seems to be the franchise that has jumped on the 80’s throwback bandwagon, but has wisely targeted not just those looking for a little nostalgic flashback, but also younger kids. I’m talking the 11-and-under crowd, and I think this is a great thing.

The sequel welcomes us to the town of Wardenclyffe, where the town’s biggest claim to fame is being the home of one of Nikola Tesla’s inventions.  As it goes with most horror tales, this is a quiet and quaint little town, but we all know that it won’t be for much longer.  Sarah (Madison Iseman) is a bit overwhelmed, working on an essay she needs to complete to send in to Columbia University, and in a way this is kind of a strange setup, because though she’s the first character we meet, I wouldn’t say she’s the star of the film.  The real stars of this film would be her younger brother, Sonny (Jeremy Ray Taylor) and his best friend, Sam (Caleel Harris).  The two are setting up their own company, “Junk Brothers”, where their hope is to make money and find some cool stuff along the way.  It just so happens their first customer takes them to the former home of R..L. Stine, and the house has missed more than its fair share of spring cleanings.  It’s while they are cleaning Sonny stumbles across a book that has been hidden away for decades, one that has a lock on it (for those who saw the first film, you already know about the kind of trouble this book will bring), and once the boys open it, they are surprised by a ventriloquist dummy, the infamous Slappy.

"Eyes. Lungs. Pancreas. So many snacks. So little time."

The Marvel Venom character started simply enough with a desire to change the look of Spider-Man's costume in the 1980's. Spider-Man along with a collection of Marvel's heroes were abducted by a character called The Beyonder to fight on a battle planet. It's much like the iconic Planet Hulk story, which was used for the recent Thor film. When Spider-Man returns to Earth, he has a new black and white suit that he found in space. For quite a while the new look for the Web Crawler caused a debate in Marveldom about the hero’s new look. Eventually Peter Parker discovered the suit gave him new abilities and was self-healing. He was also finding himself more and more fatigued. It turned out he wasn't getting rest at night because the suit would take him out for its own adventures. Reed Richards of The Fantastic Four discovers that the suit wasn't a suit at all, but an alien life-form that had bonded to Spider-Man. When Parker rejects the symbiote, it attaches to rival Daily Bugle reporter Eddie Brock, and together they become the sometimes hero/sometimes villain Venom.

When I first heard that Bradley Cooper would be making his directing debut with A Star is Born, honestly, I kind of groaned.  It’s not because I didn’t believe he’d have the chops; after all, he’s worked with many successful directors over the span of his career. I groaned because I believed the world didn’t need yet another remake of the film.   This will be the fourth incarnation of the film, and while many can debate on which version is their favorite, the film was pretty much a relic I felt should have stayed in the past.  I mention this and want to also put out there even after some of the trailers I had caught for the film; my excitement level was pretty low going into this.  Well, this turned out to be the sleeper hit of the year for me.  Sure, many could have told me this would be a hit, and because of the cast I wouldn’t dispute it, but when I walked out of the auditorium I felt like I had experienced something special (even if it had been made three times before).

The film opens up with Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) taking the stage and performing for a large crowd.  After his show he’s looking to get a drink and stops off at the closest bar; as it turns out it is one that caters to drag-queens.  Jackson doesn’t care about the location; all he’s interested in is getting some drinks, but that all changes when he sees Ally (Lady Gaga) perform on stage.  As the night stretches on and the two continue to get to know one another, one thing is undeniable; the chemistry between Cooper and Gaga is phenomenal.  The flow of the first act of this film is perfect, and by the time Maine has Ally convinced to go on tour with him, I was convinced this movie will be a box office smash.