The Reel World

So the director had my undivided attention until he went completely sideways. I mean, I was engaged; I was feeling the message behind the film. I found the characters to be original and the things that they had to say were unlike anything I had seen in recent years. Not to mention that opening scene was the perfect way to bring the audience into this world; and then it all came crashing down. Despite this disappointment, Sorry to Bother You remains among one of the most creative cinematic experiences that I had this year. I wanted very much to love the film, but sadly I can’t say that. I liked it a lot, especially the first half. It is the kind of film that was likely the gem of the film festival circuit. The number one slot of box office will be out of reach for it, though.

The movie is centered around Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield, Straight Outta Compton), a directionless young man who has yet to find something that matters to him. He lives in his uncle’s garage, and he is struggling to find work.  Needless to say, he does not have a lot of hope, with the exception of his girlfriend, Detroit (Tessa Thompson, Creed), a talented artist and revolutionary who brings sunshine into our lead’s otherwise dreary world.  Eventually he finds work as a telemarketer, but he has trouble keeping his customers on the line. You all should understand; what is your number-one response when someone tries to sell you something? It is only when he receives a tip from a co-worker to use his “white voice” that things begin to turn around for him. Suddenly, he begins to rack up sells left and right, causing him to quickly rise through the hierarchy of the company.

Earlier this summer, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was turned upside down in a snap. Avengers: Infinity War was the culmination of 10 years worth of origin stories and world-building. That blockbuster featured (almost) every MCU hero in the galaxy, universe-spanning stakes, and an unforgettable cliffhanger. So you can excuse Marvel for scaling things back (waaaaay back) with its next entry. Of course, any superhero flick that came immediately after Infinity War was going to feel small by comparison, so who better to take on that task than the tiniest hero of them all?

“So...how long have you been Ant-Man again?”

“This is the greatest s--- show on Earth!”

The First Purge arrives in theaters a little more than five years after the (lowercase) first Purge rampaged into moviegoers’ consciousness as a nasty bit of R-rated, summer blockbuster counterprogramming. The movies are obviously quite popular, but I’ve never felt that any of them fully lived up to the killer concept at the center of this franchise. Unfortunately, that still holds true for The First Purge, which had a chance to deviate from the established formula in a variety of interesting ways, but ends up playing a lot like The First Three Purges.

"Do you remember the first time you saw a dinosaur?"

By the time you get to the fourth sequel of a film the results are usually not very good. Even a groundbreaking film like Jurassic Park has been followed by at least one terrible sequel. The problem with these kinds of things is pretty easy to figure out. You can't please all of any film's diehard fans, and it's hard to continue to deliver on the formula's expectations, all the while breaking new ground without the result feeling more contrived than original. That's certainly all been true of this franchise. When Jurassic World set all kinds of box office records three years ago, it appeared that those entrusted with this franchise had found a way to turn it around. Now the expectations have jumped even higher. There appears no place to go but down, and for the first hour of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom that's exactly what appeared was going to happen. But then somewhere around the third act, the film took a turn that suddenly sent the franchise into an entirely new genre. The last third of Fallen Kingdom accomplishes something that should have always been where this whole ride headed. Fallen Kingdom is a rehash of the previous films in many ways. There are the iconic poses and the regurgitated scenes. But before the credits start to roll on this one, it becomes something terribly wonderful. It is genuinely scary. Now certainly the previous films had some scary moments. There was some of it in the first film's kitchen chase. But for all of its scares, it was really just more dinosaurs chasing people. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm really cool with that, but been there, seen that. You see, Fallen Kingdom takes that fright to an entirely new level. Science fiction and horror haven't combined this well since Alien.

“You’re not good...you’re super.”

For a while, it honestly felt like Disney/Pixar was messing with us. When The Incredibles swooped into theaters in 2004, it was simultaneously one of the best animated/action/superhero movies I’d ever seen. Plenty of people shared that opinion, so a sequel seemed like a no-brainer. That’s why it seemed like a cruel joke when we got not one but two forgettable Cars sequels before The Incredibles got a chance to suit up again. Guess what…the wait is officially over!

"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. A beautiful day for a neighbor. Could you be mine?
Would you be mine?"

Anyone who was a kid from the 1960's to the 1990's and beyond recognizes Mr. Rogers and his Neighbor Song. The man defined children’s programming for television, and he did so from a small studio tucked away in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania for almost 40 years. Now Fred Rogers is the subject of a documentary by Morgan Neville, who has previously tackled such musical personalities as Keith Richards, Charlie Pride, and Johnny Cash. But Fred Rogers is such a different kind of subject that this would appear an almost impossible kind of documentary to pull off, or at least make interesting. I attended more out of curiosity and fond memories of the man and his show. I guess I was expecting something to speak more to the memories of my inner child than my outward adult. The surprise here is that Won't You Be My Neighbor successfully makes contact with both, and I found this impossible documentary to be one of the most compelling films I've seen in a while.

"It's not just for profit. It's for revenge. It's a twofer."

Hollywood has been making a greater effort these days to add some diversity to their film casts. From minorities to women, this has been a year of unprecedented changes in the makeup of so many films. One of the new trends in this effort is to remake/re-imagine/reboot an already established franchise with a gender-switched cast. The results have been somewhat mixed. The female Ghostbusters film was a complete disappointment. And while it might be easy to blame the female cast, the issues go much deeper than that. Now the Ocean's franchise has decided to play in that territory with better results. Ocean's 8 delivers the familiar formula of the Steven Soderbergh remake trilogy of the original Rat-Pack film but with an all-girl heist crew. The film is still a bit of a disappointment in some ways, but it's a much better ride than Ghostbusters by a long mile, and again the flaws have little to do with the cast or the gender-swapped model.

There has been so much hype around Hereditary since its debut at Sundance that by the time I got to watch it, I didn’t believe it was possible to live up to this hype. For months I’ve followed this film, hearing it being compared to The Exorcist and being proclaimed the scariest film of all time. I read these things and all I can think is they are simply setting this film up for disaster at the box office, because it’s hard to believe a film could ever be this good.  Personally, The Exorcist is my favorite horror film. It’s stood the test of time, and while for audiences of today the film may not seem so scary, for me it was the notion of how it could all really happen that got under my skin.  As I came out of the screening of Hereditary and was scribbling some notes down about the film, I realized how desperately I wanted to rewatch this film to get a better grip on it. As more time as passed, I’ve found this movie has stuck with me for the past week for a variety of reasons, and while I’m not ready to call this film a masterpiece, I can say that it is a film that has made an impact on me that I haven’t experienced for some time.

While Hereditary is being embraced as a horror film, the strength of this film comes from the very real family dynamic we see at the start of the film as we watch them as they deal with the loss of Ellen, the family matriarch.  Ellen’s daughter Annie (Toni Collette) Graham is doing her best to keep her emotions in check as she goes through the motions from the funeral service to their return home where Ellen had stayed with them.  Steve (Gabriel Byrne) plays the part of the dutiful husband who does what he can to support his wife while also looking out for the kids. Then there is their eldest son, Peter (Alex Wolff), who is your typical teen who enjoys smoking pot, and then there is Charlie (Milly Shapiro), their daughter, who had a close relationship with Ellen, though it’s a bit difficult at times to see how she is struggling with the loss of her grandmother.  While there are other characters who come in and out over the course of the film, the focus is on the core family unit, which was a smart play.

“Plenty of people out there to patch up the good guys…”

We’ve definitely gotten more than our fair share of movies and TV shows focusing on the lives of heroic doctors who heal common folk. Heck, even superheroes have someone like Night Nurse to tend to their more serious nicks and bruises. But what about less savory fictional characters…aren’t big screen bad guys entitled to quality health care too?! Hotel Artemis, the star-studded directorial debut of screenwriter Drew Pearce, answers that question with flair and the appropriate playfulness.

When it comes to Paul Schrader, I feel the argument can be made that he is the greatest American screenwriter.  I know it’s a bold statement, but when you look over his credits that include Taxi Driver, Rolling Thunder, Hardcore, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ and so many others, I feel there just isn’t anyone out there who can compete.  Lately, though, he’s seemed to have had a difficult time recapturing that greatness. There has even been a part of me that has felt that perhaps I should give up on hoping he’ll crank out one more great film and simply appreciate the filmography he’s delivered us cinema fans over the years. Paul Schrader, despite having some classic titles to his name is still a writer and a director that isn’t for everyone.  His films typically are dark in tone and typically shine a light onto the underbelly of society that most would prefer not to know about.  It’s his fearlessness in tackling these subjects that has made me a fan of his for years, so when the opportunity to see First Reformed came along, I didn’t hesitate; this was a screening I couldn’t miss.

As the film opens, we get a long shot that pushes in to an old church; we quickly find out the church is named First Reformed.  Inside we meet Reverend Toller (Ethan Hawke) as he is delivering a sermon to a very sparse crowd of parishioners.  It doesn’t take long to realize that Toller is a damaged man, physically, emotionally and spiritually.  We get insight into the Reverend’s thoughts through his journal entries that he writes and are narrated for us.  Things get moving when Mary (Amanda Seyfried) approaches Toller after a service and requests he speak with her husband Michael (Philip Ettinger), who she fears wants her to have an abortion.