The Reel World

I’ll say this for Vin Diesel, he always returns to a franchise. It doesn’t matter how long has passed between his introduction and his exit; you can always count on him returning and stepping back into a role regardless of how many years it’s been, like nothing has ever changed. Doesn’t matter what it is; Fast and Furious, Riddick, and now XXX: the Return of Xander Cage. For those not familiar with the franchise (though I’m sure there few people who don’t already know about the original), XXX was an action film that was released in 2002 featuring Diesel as Xander Cage, an extreme sports enthusiast who is recruited by the NSA to foil a terrorist plot, which he accomplishes with such flair that an idea is born: create a program for a group of rebels who can get close to the criminals that the government can only dream of. Thus a franchise was born. Sadly, Diesel’s involvement appeared to end with the killing off of his character in the 2005 sequel (thus making way for Ice Cube’s involvement with the franchise). However, Xander Cage has apparently returned from the grave. Now going into this film there was only one burning question plaguing me: how did Cage survive his own assassination attempt?

Though I don’t feel like my question was completely answered, I will say that that stopped mattering so much once Diesel appeared on the screen. Following the attempt on his life, Xander Cage has assumed a nomadic life, moving from place to place in order to avoid being found. Although I wouldn’t necessarily say he is keeping a low profile; I mean, he’s still Xander Cage. He has to chase the rush. He is eventually found by Marke (Toni Collette), a high-ranking government official in need of his services after a group of operatives (Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Tony Jaa, and Michael Bisping) who, like him, live life on the edge, steal a cutting-edge technology capable of turning satellites into warheads. Tasked with retrieving the technology, Xander realizes he can’t accomplish this alone and refuses help from the suits, with the exception of his new technical support liaison, Becky (Nina Dobrev), Xander recruits some young blood (Ruby Rose, Kris Wu, Rory McCann) to help him with his mission. Before long, Xander finds himself embroiled in a situation that he doesn’t fully understand but is likely to lead him down a rabbit hole that he is gonna have to use every trick in his arsenal in order to survive, and he’s loving every second of it.

Too soon? That’s a question filmmakers looking to tackle a real-life tragedy from the recent past must ask themselves. The past several months have nevertheless brought us a mini-run of movies based on true calamities. Clint Eastwood’s Sully used the “Miracle on the Hudson” to explore the nature (and context) of heroism. Peter Berg’s Deepwater Horizon painstakingly chronicled the events that led to the famous oil rig disaster on the Gulf of Mexico. But the best movie of that bunch is Patriots Day, Berg’s visceral, all-encompassing, and thrilling account of the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.

Patriots’ Day is a state holiday that commemorates the first battles of the American Revolution, and it is most closely associated with Massachusetts. The Boston Red Sox play a morning game at home, and (more famously) the city hosts the Boston Marathon, the world’s oldest annual event of its kind. The film’s surprisingly humorous opening scene takes place on the eve of the big day and introduces us to Boston P.D. Sgt. Tommy Saunders (Mark Wahlberg), who is stuck in the department’s doghouse for some unspecified reason. Part of Tommy’s punishment is being forced to work near the marathon’s finish line the following day.

When the closing credits rolled the first time I saw this, I was stuck in my seat paying some attention to members of the cast and crew, but mostly I was sitting there in awe.  I’m honestly struggling to think of a film that has affected me on the screen so deeply, and the closest I can get is The Shawshank Redemption. While I’ve certainly seen many good films over the years, and I’ve seen some I would even call great, La La Land is something more, something special that came along that achieved what few would even dare to believe.  It is an achievement that writer and director Damien Chazelle deserves the many accolades that he will soon be showered with as we enter into the award season as 2016 comes to a close.  Just what is it that he managed to capture?  In my most humble opinion, he captured all that was and is great from the Golden Age of Hollywood.  This is a film that opens the door to the past, to when greats like Humphrey Bogart, Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers, and Fred Astaire were the giants of the silver screen, a time that it seems Hollywood has all but turned its back on and become an industry of making CGI cash-making franchises and neglecting what brought us to the theaters to begin with: to show us how to dream, and to not be afraid to dream big.

Our introduction into the film (proudly boasts to be shot in Cinemascope), brings us into gridlock Los Angeles traffic and without warning passengers exit their cars to perform the film’s opening number, “Another Day of Sun”.  It’s a big number filled with dozens of performers singing and jumping from car to car as the camera moves beautifully between the performers.  The color in all the costumes simply pops across the screen, and this is simply a taste of what’s to come.

With talks going on about setting up colonies on Mars, long distance space travel is quickly moving away from the pages of science fiction to the next step in space exploration. Passengers is a film that taps into the possibilities of what this could mean for us as a species but also takes a look at the great risk that we would be facing. At a glance it would seem like a surefire Hollywood blockbuster to end the year, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say that is a sure thing.  Despite the great effects and set designs, two bankable stars, and a more than capable director, Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game and Headhunters), what you still need is a story that will not only fill those seats but keep people wanting to come back for more.  Sadly, what we have here is so much potential that caves into telling a safe and unfortunately predictable story that we have seen time and time again.  Strap in, folks, you’re in for a bit of a bumpy ride.

Welcome aboard starship Avalon, a ship filled with 5000 passengers and a crew of 258.  The ship is on its way to Homestead 2, a planet that the people of Earth are planning to colonize.  The trouble is, to get to Homestead 2 it’s going to take 120 years, so the passengers and crew need to use sleep chambers to keep them in a cryogenic state until they arrive.  Unfortunately for Jim Preston (Pratt), his chamber malfunctions and he wakes up 90 years too soon without any way to fix his chamber and get back to sleep.

"You have to start somewhere."

I could sense a great disturbance in the Force. I could not quite put my finger on the reason, but there appeared to be much to worry about with the debut of the first ever Star Wars film that was not one of the driving episodes in the epic story of the Skywalker family and friends. There was worry that Disney might have been pushing their luck with these sidetrack stories. The Force Awakens was very good, but should the Mouse House really be tempting fate with such "filler" material? Then there were the disturbing reports that the film required so many rewrites that as much as $5 million had been spent on the services of Tony Gilroy to provide those touch-ups. There were reports of extensive reshoots, and all of this was enough to have Star Wars fans worried. We needn't have wasted the stress or time. Not only is Rogue One: A Star Wars Story just fine. it's better than fine. It's actually a very good movie.

In 2009 Tom Ford, the famed fashion designer, came into the Hollywood scene with his stunning first-time writing/directing effort, A Single Man.  It was a somber film that garnered numerous accolades and left many of us wondering what he would be doing next.  It’s been seven years, but we finally get the follow-up film we’ve been waiting for.  Nocturnal Animals is clearly a film that cries out for award attention with its December release and a cast that for better or worse could make a dramatic reading of a telephone book an engaging experience.  When the trailer dropped for the film, I was sold on its stunning visuals and its ambiguity that had me hooked and curious about what Ford would have in store for us. Unfortunately, I exited the theater feeling I had just witnessed the most passive-aggressive revenge film I had ever seen, and to be clear, I don’t view this as a good thing.

Nocturnal Animals without a doubt makes its impression in its opening moments that if I’m being honest, it has to be one of the most memorable opening sequences I’ve seen this year.  I wouldn’t dare spoil this for any filmgoer, but I have to admit it left me scratching my head as to how it all connected to the rest of the film.  I have my own theories, but that is something to be shelved for another day.

"Santa ain't no arms dealer?"

OK, maybe he's not selling arms to the Middle East, but when Billy Bob Thornton puts on the Santa suit, there's no telling what kind of dirty dealing might be going on. Bad Santa was a kind of surprise hit back in 2003. It made a respectable $60 million at the box office and pretty much disappeared from most people's holiday film radar. Let's be honest here. Bad Santa wasn't going to make the list for traditional family gatherings in quite the same way as It's A Wonderful Life, Miracle On 34th Street, or even among the irreverent favorites like A Christmas Story. I just can't see the grandkids on granddad's knee watching Santa tell some kid to go f#%@ himself. The whole Spirit of Christmas thing, and all. But it was a rather funny movie. Still, I never expected there would be a sequel. But someone's Christmas list must have been begging for some naughty, and Billy Bob is back, older if not any wiser. If you can handle some rough language and a rather raunchy good time, Bad Santa 2 might just be on your Christmas list, too.

Brad Pitt appears to be making this World War II thing a bit of a niche. In recent years he went from Inglourious Basterds to the superior Fury and now to Allied. I wish I could say that he's getting better, but Allied marks a step backwards for the actor in more ways than just the performance. It's an unfortunate aspect of Hollywood that sexy rumors and scandals sell more theater tickets than a good movie. Hollywood power couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have called it quits, and the scuttlebutt is that it was Pitt's fling with Allied co-star Marion Cotillard that caused the split. I don't know if any of that is true and honestly wouldn't care a hill of beans if it were. I only bring it up because if Pitt was having some kind of on-set torrid romance, it's a shame that none of that passion ever made it to the screen. These two have about as much romantic chemistry as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. (Too soon?) If only that were all there was to sink this period drama.

Max Vatan (Pitt) is a member of military intelligence during World War II. He's dropped into French Morocco to take down a high-priority target. The inside contact for the mission is the famous French liberation legend Marianne Beausejour (Cotillard), who poses as his wife. Together they complete their mission and return to England where their fake romance has blossomed into a real one. They are soon married with a child. Both are enjoying a break from the spy world as the war continues to rage about them. It's wedded bliss until Vatan is told that his wife might not be who she says she is. She might be a plant and a German spy. Needless to say his world tumbles down around him as he tries to stay one step ahead of his superiors to discover the truth.

In the summer of 1974 The Paper Lace released a song called Billy Don't Be A Hero. It has the distinction of being the first and perhaps only hit record to top the charts twice in a year by different bands. The second release in 1974 was by Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods. For some reason the song was playing over in my head as I watched Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. I'm not sure if it was because the title characters share the same name or because both deal with war. The song was written about the Civil War but was thought by most to be about Vietnam, likely because of the release dates. Vietnam was an unpopular war, and the same can be said for the war in Iraq. The similarities continue. The song ended up fading as summer candy pop music, and the same is likely to be the fate of this film.

Billy Lynn (Alwyn) became an unexpected hero during a firefight in Iraq. The enemy had shot and was attempting to take away his commanding officer. He ended up killing an enemy combatant in hand-to-hand combat. Washington, sensing a growing impatience with the war among the American people, decides to parade Lynn and his company on a two-week goodwill tour. The final stop was a half-time show at a Cowboys game with Destiny's Child. During that few hours Lynn has flashbacks of not only that moment in the war but his family. His sister, played horribly by Kristen Stewart, is trying to get him to go AWOL and to a psychiatrist so that they can make a point about the war. Lynn's torn between his duty and his sister. Throw in a fling with a Cowboys cheerleader just for giggles, and you have the makings of a rather disappointing film.

“I'm writing a book about magical creatures.”

The wizarding world J.K. Rowling conjured for her “Harry Potter” series captured the imaginations of children (and many, many adults) throughout the globe because it was precisely that...a fully realized, living and breathing world with its own lingo and lore. So while spinning off a corner of that universe might seem like a blatant cash grab, Rowling's imagination has provided particularly fertile ground for new franchise opportunities. (OK, OK...the part where Warner Bros. agreed to make five of these before the first one even came out *does* feel like a cash grab.) For example, this latest crowd-pleasing stab at a billion-dollar series is based on...a fictional textbook mentioned in Rowling's “Potter” saga.