The Reel World

Growing up I was obsessed with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series; it was the Saturday morning cartoon I just couldn’t get enough of.  When I couldn’t watch the cartoon, I’d be playing with the toys and eventually the video game back in the original Nintendo console days.  So when the movies came out, my parents had no choice but to take me to see them.  Back in those days we had the turtles in rubber suits; as a kid the experience was fun but still just not as good as the cartoon.  As I got older, well, those original films seem to hold up less and less, and when the news came that an updated version of the film would be coming out I got a little excited, that is till I saw the trailer for the 2014 film.  Sure, it had elements from the cartoon, but it just didn’t look inspired; it just looked like a generic kids’ film with passable CGI. The result was simply a blunder, and I would have thought the days of seeing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie were numbered.  But here we are in 2016 with the new film Out of the Shadows ready to hit the big screen, and, folks, it’s been nearly 30 years in the making, but FINALLY we get the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie we’ve been waiting for.

Stepping in to fill the shoes as director is Dave Green. He’s relatively a newcomer in Hollywood, but it’s his vision I believe is responsible for the success of the film.  His previous film Earth to Echo is simply a wonderful kids’ adventure film that captures the energy of the 80’s Spielberg films, most notably ET.  Well, he carries that love for the 80’s into this new installment of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle franchise and injects so much life into it, my inner ten-year-old was cheering with glee over this film.  This is just about the closest I’ve seen an animated series come to life on the big screen and manage to retain what made the animated series so much fun.  This isn’t a film for grownups; instead this is a film that targets the ten-year-old in all of us, the one who doesn’t question logistics of flying manhole covers, talking brains, or humans transforming into hulking beasts.

The Lobster could easily be in contention for one of the weirdest movies you’ll ever see. It’s certain to be the weirdest movie of this year. It isn’t weird in a pointless or flashy way. It isn’t weird just for the sake of being weird. It is low-key and tastefully filmed. It seems to fit comfortably in the tradition of absurdist or surrealistic comedy/drama. If you are familiar with the works of Kafka or Bunuel or Beckett or Pirandello or Ionesco or, more recently, Charlie Kaufman, you’ll understand the nature of absurdist cinema. Of course, Rhinoceros by Ionesco, Metamorphosis by Kafka, or Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs are examples of people who transform into animals or insects. The Lobster does not attempt to portray these transformations very literally, although we do see animals representing people throughout the movie. The comedy is gentle, but insane and relentless in its constant twisting of logic. You won’t always laugh out loud, but your mouth is likely to be agape half the time. The film is built on a long collection of purposeful inanities drolly presented. It creates an alternate reality which is gentle in presenting its bizarreness and violence.

David (Colin Farrell) has been dumped by his wife, which forces him to go to a resort hotel with his brother, who is now a dog. David has 45 days to find a mate from the inhabitants of the hotel who are also without partners. If he doesn’t complete the task of finding a mate, he will be turned into the animal of his choice. In David’s case, that would be a lobster, which he chose for various logical reasons. In fact, David almost seems resigned to the fact that that will be his fate, and that’s fine with him. David’s reasoning, along with everyone else’s in the hotel, is faulty. The main difference is that David seems content and resigned to his fate.

“Everything they've built will fall! And from the ashes of their world, we'll build a better one!”

Since Disney has taken over The Bullpen at Marvel, they have had an unprecedented run of successful comic book superhero films. During that same time DC/Warner has had trouble finding a direction for their cinematic universe. But the Marvel titles still in the hands of other studios haven’t shared in that run of good fortune. Sony finally had to relinquish control of Spider-Man, and Fox has followed disaster with disaster with The Fantastic Four. The single exception to that rule has been the Fox handling of The X-Men universe. Since Bryan Singer’s 2000 hit the series has had some ups and downs, but the box office verdict has generally been good. Since the series was revived with prequels in 2011, we’ve enjoyed two solid X-Men films sporting a younger cast. Spin-offs with Wolverine and Deadpool have added to the Fox/Marvel winning combination. But it seems the X-Men can fight end of the world events but can’t seem to quite get the hang of third movies in trilogies.

Alice Through The Looking Glass is the sequel to Alice In Wonderland. Alice In Wonderland is a proven blockbuster of all time. It is part of the billionaire club in total box office gross. It is number 23 on the all-time biggest films list with a total box office of $1,025,500,000. It is obvious then that a sequel would have to be made. Alice in Wonderland was a Tim Burton film, his biggest in fact. Needless to say, Lewis Carroll’s creation is a time-worn classic favorite, but neither movie is very faithful to the books. The fact that this isn’t a Tim Burton film is actually a big deal. There doesn’t seem to be anyone talking about why he didn’t include Burton. Burton is always very busy, and he is one of the producers of the film. The director this time is James Bobin. Nobody important. He directed some television and two Muppet movies. Sounds just like the kind of person the corporate heads at Disney can control to turn out product. I’m sure Tim Burton is someone who insists on total creative control, and that means Disney can’t have control. And Disney now is the biggest octopus in Hollywood with control of the Marvel universe and Star Wars. If a film makes over a billion dollars a sequel is required as soon as possible, but it has been six years since Alice In Wonderland came out. It sounds like the corporate hotshots got impatient to get some product out.

Alice Through The Looking Glass brings back all of the cast members from Alice In Wonderland, including the late Alan Rickman. Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, and Mia Wasikowska are the main stars, with Sasha Baron Cohen joining the cast. The scriptwriter Linda Woolverton has returned as well. But I think the film lacks the guiding finesse of Tim Burton. Tim Burton is not the strongest director in the world, but he does have a unique vision. It is obvious this film tried to graft Burton’s vision onto the director Bobin’s work. The CGI effects are stunning, of course. That isn’t enough to make a satisfying film. A film should be created with a clear and pure artistic vision. This film seems all sound and fury, signifying nothing. Johnny Deep’s Mad Hatter is front and center. The Hatter has descended into a life-threatening depression because he can’t get over the death of his family. Alice (Wasikowska) tries to wrest control of time from a character literally called Time (Cohen) in an attempt to bring the Hatter’s family back alive. It is not in any way something that resembles the original stories by Lewis Carroll.

Writer/director Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Iron Man 3) has a way of writing flawed characters who manage to leave more lasting impressions than the films they populate. But where he shines is when he can thrust these flawed individuals into the confines of a detective story. Most people grew their fondness for Black and his quick-wit dialogue when he first penned Lethal Weapon, but for me it goes back to The Monster Squad and The Last Boy Scout, where I found myself becoming a fan even in my early years of film watching. So is the fanboy in me excited to see what Black brings to the table this time around? You betcha!

In a summer popcorn season filled with comic book movies, sequels, and other films targeting the teenage demographic, it’s nice to have an action film that harkens back to the good old days (the '80s and early '90s) for a fun action/comedy romp that has a foul-mouthed edge.

Hollywood has a long-running reputation for doing films about the little man taking a stand against corporate greed.  Not only does everyone seem to like an underdog story, but when a story comes along where the everyday blue collar worker gets to go head to head against pharmaceutical companies, or Wall Street in general, it’s a no-brainer this could have commercial appeal.  Films like Mad City, John Q, and last years The Big Short are all films that seem to have an influence on Money Monster, but what would it bring to the table?  With Jodie Foster (Little Man Tate, The Beaver) at the helm and with George Clooney and Julia Roberts leading the cast, this was a film that grabbed my interest, but following the release of the trailer, I felt I already saw the entire film in a matter of three minutes. Or did the film have a few surprises hiding up its sleeve?

From the moment the film starts, it wastes no time getting the story rolling as we meet Lee Gates (Clooney), a flashy over-the-top host of a stock market show.  Lee is everything you’d expect him to be, living in the world of Wall Street trading; he’s a brash egomaniac who thrives on greed.  It’s easy to see that it’s his personality that is driving his director Patty Fenn (Roberts) into taking a job at another studio. Clooney and Roberts have a great onscreen presence together. We don’t get a lot of time where we get to see them share the same camera space, but nevertheless these two pull off their relationship as we see them interact in the hustle and bustle of working in live television.

Should you pursue your dreams at any cost? If your life seems bleak and hopeless, should you go for broke and bet everything on what you believe? These questions are even more relevant to people who are creative artists, because they will often be told that their dreams are hopeless and unattainable. The rewards can be great, but the odds of succeeding are easily a million to one. Sing Street takes place in 1985 and is about young kids writing songs and making music videos. The parents, Robert (Aiden Gillian, Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish from Game of Thrones) and Penny (Maria Doyle Kennedy, Siobhan Sadler from Orphan Black) are struggling like almost everyone in Dublin in those days. They have to send their younger son, Cosmo (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) to the free Catholic school run by the priests called Synge Street instead of the expensive fee-based school he had been going to. The older stoner brother, Brendan (Jack Reynor, Transformers: Age of Extinction) has already quit college, so that helps out with expenses as well. Before I go any further, I must say that this film strikes a brilliant balance early on between hard reality and dreams and fantasy. It is a funny, touching, and exhilarating entertainment above all else. It harkens back to all those movies over the years like Footloose and Fame that just want kids to have fun.

The 1980’s were when music videos and mainstream rock music really picked up steam. Hall and Oates, Duran Duran, and The Cure are all musical reference points in this movie. Cosmo is struggling to cope with problems at home and problems at the new school. His one bright spot is the beautiful teenage girl who lives across the street from the school. Raphina (Lucy Boynton) is sophisticated and stylish and says she’s leaving soon to be a model in London, but she lives in a home for orphaned girls. Cosmo gets her to believe that he’s in a band and that he’d like her to be in a video. It’s all a lie, but Cosmo soon gets to making it a reality. That’s why most kids want to become musicians, isn’t it? To get the girl.

"Suit Up!"

When I was a kid we had something called a toy box. Do kids even have such things anymore? Inside we were supposed to keep our toys when we weren't playing with them. Inside mine there were dinosaurs, cars with track, army men, spaceships ... and yes, superheroes. To open the toy box meant to prepare yourself for imagination and fun. Sure, the box got crowded after a while, but I was always filled with some kind of anticipation when I looked inside. Today going to see a Marvel movie is very much like lifting the lid on a toy box. There are so many cool things inside that it kind of staggers the imagination these days. It's a delicate clockwork with an ever-growing number of moving parts. So many, in fact, that it appears impossible that any of them can be given enough attention so that they can develop and grow. That's usually what kills most comic book film franchises in the end. Filmmakers try so hard to outdo the one before that the only way they believe it can be done is to add more pieces until it all topples from its own weight. Captain America: Civil War has more moving parts than ever before, but just when you think it can't possibly get any better...it does.

"Let's go find you a fish."

I've been told enough times that it is often not a good idea to meet your heroes. It's too often impossible for anyone to live up to expectations, particularly when they are already up on a pedestal in our minds. All humans have their flaws, and Ernest Hemingway was no exception. I never met him. He killed himself around the time I was busy being born. I often joked to my writing professors that he feared my arrival. The truth is that he had so many demons. It isn't a secret today, and it wasn't then, at least not for anyone familiar with his work. But Denne Bart Petitclerc did meet Hemingway after writing him a bit of a fan letter in 1957. The result was that Petitclerc was invited into Hemingway's inner circle at a time in Hemingway's life where his demons were beginning to catch up with him. Place that encounter in the larger environment of Castro's rebel uprising in Cuba at the time, and you might have an interesting story. Petitclerc certainly thought that he did. He wrote a screenplay and shopped it around for decades even up to his own death in 2006. Unlike the many fish on Hemingway's line and tackle, no one bit. It's possible that Papa Hemingway In Cuba is the reason.

Ever since writer/director Jeremy Saulnier came out with his gripping revenge film Blue Ruin, fans have been patiently waiting to see what he’d do next.  If you have not had the chance to see Blue Ruin and you are a fan of the revenge genre, it’s a film that is certainly a must-see and is one of the few films that lives up to the hype that surrounds it.  The problem with doing such a strong and powerful film so early in your career is that expectations seem to just skyrocket, and it seems there is just no way you can make everyone happy.  As a fan first and critic second, I know I’ve been guilty of doing this in the past. It’s almost impossible to not get excited, and at the screening for this film I know I was not the only one with high expectations.

On top of the high expectations, the group I viewed the film with was restless after having the film delayed as well, so this only seems to be another strike against the film before it’s even had a chance to play.  I mention all this for the simple reason that this film reminded me of the importance of shutting out all expectations and simply letting the film stand on its own merit.  This is important because I feel Saulnier knew the expectations he had, and instead of playing it safe he did something that very few filmmakers are willing to do any;ore, he simply made a movie that is not just gripping and intense, but most importantly, it was fun.