Swords, Sandals and Snooze

Gods of Egypt (2016).

D: Alex Proyas. DP: Peter Mezies Jr. W: Matt Sazama & Burk Sharpless. Starring: Gerard Butler/Nikolaj Coster-Waldau/Brenton Thwaites/Courtney Eaton/Elodie Yung/Chadwick Boseman/Rufus Sewell/Geoffrey Rush.

Ever since the arrival of Zack Snyder’s 300 in 2006, studios have been chasing the next sword and sandal epic for modern audiences. Based on a graphic novel, 300‘s success lead to Snyder directing Watchmen in 2009 and most recently Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Despite a sequel and other efforts like Clash of the Titans, nothing has reached the scale of 300. The newest addition to these commercial and white washed epics is Gods of Egypt.

Here we find gorgeous Australia standing in for ancient Egypt, though landscapes have been heavily digitized. Ancient Egypt is ruled by peaceful gods who purport the idea that the afterlife is to be earned through acts of goodness and faith. We arrive on Horus’ (Game of Thrones‘ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) coronation day. A great warrior already with a goddess of his own, Hathor (Elodie Young), Horus plans to take the crown peacefully. His ceremony is interrupted by the arrival of his uncle, Set (Gerard Butler), who toils in the desert have led him to a different philosophy. Killing his brother the king and removing heir Horus’ eyes, his prized power, he takes the crown from his nephew. Thus begins Set’s military rules that enslaves mortals and promotes prizes as entrance into the afterlife.

Meanwhile a young mortal Bek (Maleficent‘s Brenton Thwaites) and his pious love Zaya (Courtney Eaton) are separated during the coronation battle. A skillful thief, Bek works his way to find Zaya who convinces him to steal back one of Horus’ eyes. Gods of Egypt then becomes a sort of Romeo & Juliet meets Aladdin crossing with an action film like Transformers meeting X-Men. While Bek encourages Horus to return to glory, Butler’s Set is stealing other gods powers to create a mega-God. Oh did I mention that when the gods battle they transform into golden plated fighting beings? Sorry, forgot to mention that in the middle of my snooze. Go-go-gadget God.

Gods of Egypt rides high on glossy digital scenery and finding excuses to put arm jewellery on as many gorgeous actresses as possible. A clear hefty paycheck for Butler, he just screams and stomps about using his Scottish accent. Clearly this Scotsmen is the rogue of the gods as everyone else, including the young lovers, uses a nice RP. I do not think you can get any less Egyptian than that. Underused Thoth, played by Chadwick Boseman (the new Black Panther of the Marvel world,) is only one of two actors of color in the film. It is safe to say the film is not going for anything realistic in this epic. It is pure swords and sandals fantasy, however such formulaic laziness is just inexcusable at this stage in the cinema game.

Coster-Waldau hails from Denmark and sadly has not come close to anything in English language cinema that comes close to his role as Jamie Lannister in HBO’s Game of Thrones. There is just not enough to any of these characters to really comment on choices or scenes. The outlines of the characters are so basic. The film asks you just to look and that is all. Even making the gods look physically larger in scale than the mortals in case we could not differentiate them. Maybe Egyptian born yet Australian based director Alex Proyas will do better next time. But let us be honest, aren’t we all tired of saying that?

Facets of a Financial Crisis

Money Monster (2016).

D: Jodie Foster. DP: Matthew Libatique. W: Jamie Linden. Starring: Julia Roberts/George Clooney/Jack O’Connell/Caitriona Balfe/Dominic West/Christopher Denham/Condola Rashad/Giancarlo Esposito.

Hot off the boat from its Cannes Film Festival premiere arrives the Jodie Foster directed thriller Money Monster. With star wattage in front and behind the camera the film works well to engross you in a topical story of financial loss.

Lee Gates (George Clooney) hosts a daily financial fluff show that features him gyrating to rap songs and hitting special effects buttons around the studio. The Money Monster show is produced by Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts) who sits with an all male crew in a booth directing her staff as well as Gates through a typical ear piece. It is a day like any other when begrudged Kyle Budwell (Jack O’Connell) poses as a delivery man and enters the studio. He interrupts the show to place a bomb triggered vest on Gates while the two hash out the recent stock crash of company Gates’ had recommended. Essentially a three handler the story navigates the threat of the bomb and coming face to face with the man responsible for the financial collapse of these stocks.

Foster seems confident in her actors to get the job done. These are faces we know well and their looks illustrate an old friendship that has already weathered a few tides. Clooney’s natural cheesy good looks fit well as a show host. He pulls off the more tender connective moments with O’Connell’s Kyle well, which helps you to ignore O’Connell’s thickly layered Queens accent attempt. It is refreshing to see Roberts take command of a narrative not capitalizing on her looks like say her new film Mother’s Day (that wig!). You believe their friendship, which keeps the investment in the action secure. Acting through screens and ear pieces the group produce a television segment that is more successful than the noisy attempts of law enforcement.

The three are supported by a nearly always great Dominic West whose Grinch like grin is a good choice for mogul Walt Bamby. His company’s communications head is newcomer Caitriona Balfe who has the hard narrative task of being the character trying to find all the answers. Christopher Denham as taskmaster producer Ron gives the film its humor as does Condola Rashad who plays an assistant. Give that gal a network show stat.

Jamie Linden keeps the pace up in his screenplay, a different kind of tempo for the writer who adapted Nicholas Sparks’ Dear John as well as writing football true story We Are Marshall. The pacing keeps you invested in this three handler of a story and helps hide some technical impossibilities along the way. Matthew Libatique (Straight Outta Compton, Ruby Sparks, Black Swan) plays around with screens and camera angles to get inside the studio and eventually with story as it literally moves.

Money Monster does not achieve anything exceptionally new, but it keeps your attention from start to finish. The film best belongs in a festival day that would also screen The Big Short and The Wolf of Wall Street. We could call it: Representations of the American Financial Crisis Onscreen! A whole other day could be spent on how these stories continue to be homogeneously white and male. Yet, I digress. Money Monster is an attentive commercial thriller at best and it makes me intrigued to see what Foster does next with her storytelling.

The Rights of Romance & Death

Me Before You (2016).

D: Thea Sharrock. DP: Remi Adefarasin. W: Jojo Moyes (based on her novel of the same name). Starring: Emilia Clarke/Sam Claflin/Janet McTeer/Charles Dance/Stephen Peacocke/Jenna Coleman/Samantha Spiro/Brendan Coyle/Matthew Lewis/Vanessa Kirby.

Usually obtaining the rights to a highly profitable bestselling novel is a coup. With the adaptation of Me Before You by the author herself, Jojo Moyes, the story has been opened to greater scrutiny. The film has received negative reactions from disability groups and has the filmmakers and author defending their project in the press.

Me Before You follows recently unemployed Louisa Clark (Emilia Clarke) who answers an ad for a carer of a disabled man. This man is Will Traynor (Sam Claflin), a young handsome former entrepreneur whom after an accident is a quadriplegic. Louisa’s small village life is shaken and changed through her friendship with Will who cannot fathom the life ahead bound to his wheelchair and routine infections. Me Before You certainly did not read as young adult fiction. Its leads were written as twenty-seven and thirty-five, but here Will is made a tad younger. But mainly the filmmaking clearly targets the YA crowd drawing comparisons to adaptations like The Fault in Our Stars (2014), which are misguided.

Many changes exist between novel and film. Most are for the better with plot and characters scooped out for time. An entire element of Louisa’s backstory is removed and was the right choice. However, it does represent a crucial intimate turning point in their friendship, which Moyes mistakenly does not replace in her film script. Lousia’s family situation, specifically how she financially supports her parents as well as her single mom sister is glossed over. In a piece of flimsy commercial fiction sadly its adaptation by its own author removed the edges that allowed its couple to feel a bit three dimensional.

This includes the elements of Will’s situation and care. In the novel Louisa does tremendous research into Will’s care and the specifics of his daily maintenance are an important element in the couple’s progression. In the film we get another spirited montage that trivializes the actual outreach her character does in the book. By removing the specifics the romance is put to the forefront surely, but also the realism of the able-bodied versus the disabled is quite weak. This is at the core of audience’s negative reactions to the film. The book was better able to handle the scope of information while also having more beats of protest from Louisa (she quits at one point early on) that spark a debate about quality of life, the right to ones own death, and Will’s wish to go to Dignitas in Switzerland.

I present these arguments because they are valid and in a cinematic climate like today these reactions will probably hurt the film’s profits. The ending is causing controversy, but I do not believe the film or the novel endorse any specific choice. Yet for me Me Before You panders to the audience not only in its content, but in its filmmaking. First time film director Thea Sharrock creates a picturesque English town whose postcard castle hides many secrets. Yet her film seems not in her hands. It is overproduced from the get go. Louisa’s gregarious wardrobe feels like a Zooey Deschanel like gimmick and is relied on too much for humor. The soundtrack alone is relentless. Under every scene is music with barely a moment of emotional transparency allowed. A pivotal scene on a beach finally feels organic and it still has crashing waves underneath it.

Me Before You has some gorgeous leads that help support its romance package. Clarke, best know for her Mother of Dragons role on HBO’s Game of Thrones, is a smiley perky warm presence that is not given enough of her own story. Her chemistry with Claflin (Hunger Games Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2) is good, but not infectious the way Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdmas were in the Nicholas Sparks’ tent-pole adaptation The Notebook. Most romance films have been chasing The Notebook‘s formula for the past decade. Yet chemistry like that cannot be cast and that story works because the couple are eventually together despite the sad context. Me Before You sports a British cast that does their best to be supportive. Australian Stephen Peacocke is the most memorable as Will’s nurse Nathan who does the tremendous daily physical and intimate part of Will’s care.

Ultimately, Me Before You had roves of women crying in the ladies room afterwards and that is exactly what it wants. Yet for me its motives are too obvious from the onset so no tears for me. Its clipping pace never really allows you to fall in love with the pair.  Maybe a bit with Clarke whose crinkly expressive face fills the frame for most of the first act. Yet by the end you just want her eyebrows to relax. This film is sure to wash out with this summer’s trends, but here’s hoping the next film tackling this subject handles is better. Maybe a film specifically using a disabled actor, which is surely limiting as there cannot be any narrative about the able bodied version of that character. Even disabled Christopher Reeve used able-bodied Lacey Chabert in his A&E television movie, The Brooke Ellison Story (2004), same with John Hawkes in The Sessions (2012). Yet neither dealt with suicide. Discussion for someone’s next production meeting. In the meantime you can miss Me Before You.

Ring Around the Rosy

Love & Friendship (2016).

D/W: Whit Stillman. DP: Richard Van Oosterhout. Starring: Kate Beckinsale/Xavier Samuel/Morfydd Clark/Emma Greenwell/Justin Edwards/Tom Bennett/Jemma Redgrave/James Fleet/Chloe Sevigny/Stephen Fry. (Based on Jane Austen’s epistolary novel Lady Susan)

Writer and Director Whit Stillman’s newest venture, Love & Friendship, is out in theaters just in time to save us from the comic book boredom of films like X-Men: Apocalypse. Even non-Austenites will enjoy such a scintillating tale for both the eyes and ears.

Love & Friendship is based on Jane Austen’s epistolary novel, Lady Susan, that was published posthumously. Although very familiar with the Austen canon I have not read this particular work as it mostly made up of letters. Yet Stillman’s film is a self-conscious work that is aware of the Austen film adaptation history as well has heritage cinema. Working with conceits aware to him and the assumed audience, Love & Friendship introduces its cast of characters more like a play than a film, presenting each in vignette with a snarky description beneath their face. Immediately wit wins all in this palpable play of society chess.

At the center of the story is Lady Susan whose new widow status leaves her hopping houses, relying on family and friends hospitality for herself and her daughter. Kate Beckinsale stars as Lady Susan and looks the part which is not surprising since she played the lead role in Emma in a boring 1996 version for A&E on US television. Normally wooden this part suits a now older Beckinsale and her delivery of the script is a testament to Stillman. She helps to center the world around herself and covers her wickedness in a heavy head of curls. Xavier Samuel is a fine young suitor not unlike his fleshier role in 2013’s Adore. His earnestness is a bit Bingley-esq, but he eventually has enough Darcy to find his way. Morfydd Clark is an excellent Federica, Lady Susan’s daughter, and gives youth a frantic rage rather than a demure submissive role.

Stillman resists the urge to show off every home and make his film one centered on English heritage. Instead he hints at the tedious nature of rich country life in this time and focuses on the intricate verbal play of his characters and Lady Susan’s maneuvering between homes. Stirring up little pools of melodrama, her check ins with American friend Alicia Johnson (Chloe Sevingny) allows scheming to be the name of the game. Love & Friendship provides all the sleuthing of Emma, but uses a character we are never asked to like. Lady Susan is manipulative, clever, and ultimately treacherous yet Stillman thankfully never berates the audience into liking her. Rather he presents his film as fun and clever mischief to be enjoyed.

Ancient Grudge Brings New Mutiny

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016).

D: Bryan Singer. DP: Newton Thomas Sigel. W: Simon Kinberg. Starring: James McAvoy/Michael Fassbender/Jennifer Lawrence/Oscar Isaac/Nicholas Hoult/Evan Peters/Rose Byrne/Sophie Turner/Tye Sheridan/Kodi Smit-McPhee/Lucas Till/Olivia Munn/Ben Hardy/Alexandra Shipp/Josh Helman.

Where does one begin? X-Men: Apocalypse is the sixth installment in 20th Century Fox’s ownership of the Marvel comic book rights to the characters of X-Men. It is also the third film in the re-vamped group of films that follow the younger selves of characters like Professor Xavier and Magneto first played by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan. This move back in time was further complicated with the previous film, X-Men: Days of Future Past, where younger and older selves meet. The timeline is difficult to follow at best now and even with Hugh Jackman’s ageless Logan/Wolverine popping up you will still be rubbing your head in confusion.

X-Men: Apocalypse enlists Bryan Singer again who directed X-Men (2000), X-Men 2 (2003), and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014). Singer stepped away from the franchise to direct the abysmal Superman Returns (2006), but remained involved in the world. The first of this group, X-Men: First Class, was directed by Matthew Vaughn of Kick-Ass fame. Singer’s return in Days of Future Past was helped by a more direct objective within a timeline structure that allowed the older group to interact with their younger selves. Unfortunately, here in a more messy structured story the direction loses its way and cannot create any emotional resonance to compete with its suspense-less action.

The film explores the original mutant back in ancient Egypt who accumulated powers from other mutants over the years, transferring his consciousness and powers into new human bodies. This finally goes array and he is buried for thousands of years only to be awoken Indiana Jones style by radical followers witnessed by CIA Agent Mactaggert (Rose Byrne). Apocalypse / En Sabah Nur is played here by a heavily made up and blue Oscar Isaac. His first mutant begins to explore his new world and recruit four mutants as his disciples. His awakening earthquake causes Magento’s (Michael Fassbender) isolation to be disrupted. Magneto’s resurfacing brings the x-men back together.

Frustratingly, Isaac is lost within his costume and make-up. His magnetic face mostly looks like its melting under a blue shine and head coils that make him look more Predator-esq than anything. Fassbender must continue to deliver the plight of sad Magneto’s personal life which has been dredged up so much it feels like a melodramatic crutch for the film. Lawrence’s Mystique has far less to do here than in 70s set Days of Future Past and she clearly limited her time in her blue suit out of disdain for it. Time has supposed to have past, nearly a decade, but the film cannot pull it off. Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones) is a good addition as a young Jean Grey, but she is just lost amid noise and destruction that lacks punch. Her kinship with James McAvoy’s Professor X is sweet and McAvoy remains the emotional center of the newer half of the franchise. The film is all seriousness which makes me crave Jackman’s Wolverine. Yet Evan Peters returns as Quicksilver and is given another slowed down sequence set to ‘Sweet Dreams’ by Eurythmics. This might be the only time I have enjoyed this tune.

Peters appearance as Quicksilver is complicated as the character Quicksilver also appears in the Avengers franchise. The rights to the character are thus owned by 20th Century Fox and Disney was only allowed to use Quicksilver in the second Avengers film if he was played by a different actor. So in fact Quicksilver’s fate has played out there, but he lives on here. Tricky stuff. Peters is the superior actor for the character, but his quirk also helps dissipate the drama of this film like he did in Days of Future Past. He gets a bit of help from Kodi Smitt-McPhee as a young Nightcrawler, sweetly played by Alan Cummings in the first group of films. Olivia Munn wasted her time on silly scantily clad Psylocke, but the ending of the film alludes to her potential importance. Scene stealer Tómas Lemarquis as underworlder Caliban was more memorable that her few lines.

X-Men: Apocalypse cannot bear the weight of its confusing timeline. The film wants to reunite the X-men originally created in First Class, but is not able to do so without literally burning down the school in the process. It looks and feels more comic-booky than its predecessors and I blame the boots Isaac is forced to wear. His ancient being moves less like a Jedi and more like a spray painted 1960s era astronaut. The fate of the X-men has yet to be announced and we shall see if its poor box office performance will deter its stars from signing on for more. The next Wolverine film is Jackman’s last so it might be time for a rest.

Party at the Baseball House

Everybody Wants Some!! (2016).

D/W: Richard Linklater. DP: Shane F. Kelly. Starring: Blake Jenner/Glen Powell/J. Quinton Johnson/Temple Baker/Wyatt Russell/Ryan Guzman/Tyler Hoechlin/Juston Street/Will Brittain/Zoey Deutch.

The summer movies are here and the next one on the list is Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!! (please note the irritating exclamation points). This is Linklater’s follow up to 2014’s Boyhood, which earned critical acclaim and awe for its shooting schedule. Here he returns to his native Texas to chronicle the three days leading up to the start of class at the University of Texas in 1980.

Five years before the flash and videos of 1985 in Sing Street, this 1980 is still recovering from the 1970s. Handle bar mustaches and discos still thrive with plenty of man thigh to go round. Everybody Wants Some!! centers on the move in day of Jake (Blake Jenner), a freshman pitcher on the University of Texas baseball team. A National Champion team, the boys have been gifted two off-campus houses that essentially function as their own athletic fraternity nests. Jake joins his fellow freshman in hazing rituals, nights out, and must learn the dynamic of a team all before classes begin.

Linklater is best when working with his own material which is evident in the longstanding popularity of his 1993 film Dazed and Confused. Even if you have not seen the film you know of Matthew McConaughey’s famous line, ‘Alright, alright, alright.’ The Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight trilogy is a gorgeous work of long takes and you can see his interest in story construction that would lead to Boyhood. Here he cuts the three day story into logged time so you can follow how much just happens in three days. Once Blake moves in he attends a disco, a country bar, his own baseball house party, a drama party and his first practice. This pacing helps a film without much dramatic conflict work to engage its audience in characters and dynamics rather than twists.

Frankly, Everybody Wants Some!! is pure testosterone driven fun. The players chase girls, tease each other, and compete in everything. Jenner’s tall and lanky frame supports his big eyes that allow his innocence to feel age appropriate and genuine rather than put on. Mostly having been on Glee, he’s an ample freshman lead. The best performance is Texas native Glenn Powell whose logically instructive Finnegan is able to dilute the machismo of other characters and be a humorous voice of reason. Wyatt Russell is also a hoot as a pot smoking Californian. The team’s chemistry is what keeps the film going, as Jenner’s Jake pursue a girl Beverly (Zoey Deutch), you know the true love is the team.

America’s favorite pastime is a perfect sport for a movie as it does not require one specific physique in all its players. The team spirit is intrinsic to the sport and Linklater taps into that easily. He also manages to balance a nostalgic film that does not overcook its references. An early scene of the team singing along to a song sets the tone perfectly. Sure the title alone is a bit cocky, but that’s the story isn’t it? This is sex, love and baseball and it is just a good time. I would have liked just one player to have a girlfriend that was not long distance, but I still enjoyed it. Right down to the cunnilingus joke.

Drive It Like You Stole It

Sing Street (2016).

D/W: John Carney. D: Yaron Orbach. Starring: Ferdia Walsh-Peelo/Lucy Boyton/Jack Reynor/Maria Doyle Kennedy/Aidan Gillen/Mark McKenna/Conor Hamilton/Karl Rice/Ian Kenny/Percy Chamburuka/Ben Carolan/Don Wycherley/Kelly Thornton.

A Sundance Film Festival hit, John Carney’s new film Sing Street is here at last courtesy of the heavy hitters of the Weinstein Company. Carney writes and directs again and this time he might be at his best.

The 2007 film Once stole film goers hearts and took the Oscar for best original song. Carney’s Irish busker/hoover-fixer-sucker guy played by Glen Hansard wrote most of the songs and continue to make music with Marketa Irglova. This was followed by 2013’s Begin Again, which sported more star wattage with Keira Knightley as the songwriter girlfriend of a singer (Adam Levine) whose gotten his break. Her reluctant friendship with messy music producer Dan (Mark Ruffalo) leads her to make her own album all recorded in the outdoors of New York City. Sense a pattern yet?

With Sing Street Carney returns to his native Ireland in 1985 in certain tough economic times when young people were emigrating to London for a new start. As the poster claims the basic log-line is boy meets girl, girl is unimpressed, boy makes band. Our boy is new face Ferdia Walsh-Peelo whose parents are forced to switch him to a cheaper school to cut costs. Terrorized at this Christian Brothers academy he notices Raphina (Lucy Boynton) who hangs out across the street. He gets her digits when he asks her to appear in his music video for his band. Now he is tasked with building a band with his school mates and learning from his wiser stoner brother (Jack Reynor) how to write songs and win the girl.

Sing Street succeeds in contextualizing the band in a fun and varied music time period. The 1980s and the dawn of the music video are necessary influences on the look of the film. The homemade footage cut in not only encourages nostalgia and laughter, but is a strategic precursor to the more polished videos later. At first imitation grips the boys, but Walsh-Peelo’s Connor slowly brings his songwriting forward. Carney balances the band’s genesis with Connor’s school hazing and parents’ imminent to divorce. Their fighting is heard through walls so we only see the brilliant Maria Doyle Kennedy a few times as Connor’s mother, but the couple remain uninterested in their kids lives.

Like his previous films, Carney is clever to hide his musical numbers in realism for modern audiences. Unlike musical adaptations like Into the Woods, Sing Street works more like a  musical biopic. Connor’s songwriting sessions and band rehearsals blend to create numbers that appear to move the plot along, when in fact they merely allow you to enjoy the music. The specific use of a dream sequence to illustrate Connor’s ideas for a music video is a clever excuse to play an entire song under a disguise. This song ‘Drive It Like You Stole It’ is the clear tent pole original song and is a clever catchy riff on one of Reynor’s lines. In modern musicals the stage continues to be a site for character expression that could not be said otherwise. Music allows Connor to share his feelings for Raphina, even in cassette tape form, and this works.

Sing Street is ultimate fun and it will be hard for anyone not to laugh or jam along. Carney hand picked his group of young band mates with rosy-cheeked Walsh-Peelo looking every bit the man-child he is. His awe struck looks at Boynton’s Raphina build a chemistry that is awkward yet deliciously believable. There is a whole kissing sequence that will make your heart burst and cringe at the same time. Each kid brings a fresh innocence to the story and builds such hope in the music and story it is absolutely infectious. Even Reynor, who I have only seen in a forgettable Transformers film, is effective. A common phrase heard about writing is to ‘write what you know.’ Well as an Irish child of the 1980s John Carney certainly does just that and I am ready to watch it again!

A New Golden Duo

The Nice Guys (2016).

D: Shane Black. DP: Phillippe Rousselot. W: Shane Black & Anthony Bagarozzi. Starring: Ryan Gosling/Russell Crowe/Angourie Rice/Margaret Qualley/Yaya DaCosta/Keith David/Matt Bomer/Lois Smith/Jack Kilmer/Kim Basinger.

This summer a new duo has joined the streets in an original story by action genre wiz kid and Lethal Weapon creator Shane Black. Also a co-writer and the director of Iron Man 3, Black returns to his roots so to speak with a witty film that has just the right amount of homage to 1970s action films to be fresh, but not overcooked.

Black finds his duo in Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe. Not the most likely pairing, but believe me it works. Gosling plays Holland March, a weasel of a former detective who squeezes the most money out of every job he can. A single father to a 13 year old girl, Holly (Angourie Rice), his business is certainly paycheck to paycheck in more ways than one. During his investigation into the disappearance and death of a pornography actress he crosses hairs with Crowe’s Jackson Healy whose been charged with keeping men clear of Amelia Kuttner (Margaret Qualley). In the name of justice Healy throws his weight around for a living with plenty of middle aged machismo. Thrown together they soon realize the puzzle they are dealing with is a lot bigger than they knew.

Set in 1970s Los Angeles, The Nice Guys has a vigorous vintage feel in its construction as well as its trimmings. The credits and music grafts the 70s onto the Los Angeles skyline with its blinking yet homogeneous skyline that draws all sorts of characters into its bowels. The setting works to keep the investigation tools simple and humor brings lightness to a genre overlaid with one-liners and serious courage. Costume designer Kym Barrett (Jupiter Ascending, The Amazing Spider-Man) does not over do the period with Amelia’s flashy yellow gown a particular favorite along with Tally (Yaya Dacosta’s) jumpsuits and Afros. The production gets all its 70s weird out with one go at a Hollywood party that houses mermaids and contortionists.

This duo suffer from March’s excessive drinking and Healy’s inability to deduce anything from clues. The pairs chemistry drives the story rather than the other way around and each time Gosling appears with his caste arm ripped through another suit you have to chuckle. Crowe is a love-able brute here and keeps up with Gosling’s quieter mumbling. Neither actor brings shtick and perhaps this is because they both, for the most part, play serious roles. The script brings in the daughter Holly just enough to break the action and build protective tension between the men. Rice’s Holly is a clever and sassy kid who is a good sounding board for the duo and whose good instincts actually help the case. Maybe it’s time to bring back Harriet the Spy? Happy to see the female voice was not ignored in this film.

Black paces The Nice Guys exceptionally so that by the time you are ready it is over. He seems in command of the material and does not pull gags. Gosling in particular does well with his surprise delivery as he keeps surviving falls and mayhem. Now working on a revival of The Predator with the same producer, Joel Silver, it should be fun to see what Black brings up next. Here’s hoping another The Nice Guys comes our way as I sure hope to see Gosling saying ‘no’ like a child does when you take his toy. Granted he was about to get his arm broken, but it is still comedy gold.

Have not seen the trailer yet? Catch it here: The Nice Guys trailer

All Sparkle and No Heart

Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016).

D: James Bobin. DP: Stuart Dryburgh. W: Linda Woolverton. Starring: Johnny Depp/Mia Wasikowska/Helena Bonham Carter/Anne Hathaway/Sacha Baron Cohen/Rhys Ifans/Matt Lucas/Andrew Scott. Voice talents of: Alan Rickman/Martin Sheen/Stephen Fry/Toby Jones. (Based on characters created by Lewis Carroll)

Here lies the long to come forward sequel to Tim Burton’s 2010 live action version of Alice in Wonderland. With Burton passing the directorial mantel to Muppets helmer James Bobin, the special effects heavy film appears nearly six years after the first. Unfortunately, this film is more visual tricks than story and once again underwhelms in Underland.

Screenwriter Linda Woolverton again works her Disney resume onto this script. However, where I thought Maleficent was fresh, this script lacks anything really new to say about this world. The film is primarily focused on the Hatter’s (Johnny Depp) past and rescuing his family. Alice (Mia Wasikowska) arrives again in her imagination to insert herself into the action, or lack of, in Wonderland. Alice takes on the Hatter’s mission guided by the Hatters friends. She tricks Time, here literally personified by Sacha Baron Cohen, and steals the cronosphere which allows her to travel back in time. Yet, annoyingly, Alice simply says not once, but twice what the plot-line/action of the film will be. Despite its younger audience this is just lazy writing.

Most if not all the humor lies in the character of Time portrayed by Cohen. He brings his signature deadpan and wit to a film that feels mostly decorative. Colleen Atwood again designs an intricate piece of costuming for the film. Half of Cohen’s head seems to be made of gears and other watch parts and his over accentuated Soviet looking armor makes Cohen even taller than he is. Wasikowska’s older adult Alice is no match for him and she seems to blend into the scenery no matter what Atwood dresses her in. Anne Hathaway returns with her poor British accent as the White Queen whose airiness seems sillier here. Of course, in Wonderland there is nothing wrong with silly, but there is just not enough story to back up these performances.

Of course Depp returns as the Hatter, but he is sick for most of the film and seen in the past. Depp has revved him up since Alice in Wonderland and he is more cartoonish than weird. Maybe without Burton he is left to his own devices and that might not be a good thing. Same with Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen. It is difficult to care about characters who create the same conflicts across films. Rhys Ifans does a nice turn as the Hatter’s father and it is heartwarming to hear dear departed Alan Rickman’s voice again as the blue caterpillar.  Ultimately, Alice Through the Looking Glass tries to age Alice up and create a space that Carroll’s second book did not. I applaud the effort, but special effects cannot be everything. You must have a heart.

 

The Twinkling of Tinseltown

Knight of Cups (2016).

D/W: Terrence Malick. DP: Emmanuel Lubezki. Starring: Christian Bale/Cate Blanchett/Natalie Portman/Wes Bentley/Teresa Palmer/Freida Pinto/Brian Dennehy/Imogen Poots/Cherry Jones.

I imagine filmmaker Terrence Malick as that charming yet introverted kid in the playground. So immersed in his imaginative world he mostly plays on his own. Every now and then letting another kid break into his barriers and run to keep up with the rules of creation in his mind. Malick’s last two films 2012’s To The Wonder and 2011’s The Tree of Life were released somewhat close to one another. Having worked on Knight of Cups for a few years now as well as another upcoming project supposedly titled Weightless, the reclusive director finally brings his signature beauty to Los Angeles.

Knight of Cups meanders along with Rick (Christian Bale) as he contemplates his failed relationships, apathy, family and existence in the city of Los Angeles. Cut up into chapters the film is almost a group of novellas mostly revolving around the introduction of different women. Pixie punk darling Bella (Imogen Poots), Rick’s ex-wife Nancy (Cate Blanchett), new ‘friend’ Helen (Freida Pinto), Australian stripper Karen (Teresa Palmer), and new married lover Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) are this collection of characters that move in and out of Rick’s life. All do well, but this is not a film with acting turns. Knight of Cups is movement and space, actors as bodies within Malick’s frame.

You hardly remember Bale’s characters name as the film has voice-over from multiple characters, very little dialogue, but tremendous amounts of sound. Characters address each other through voice-over in a story like manner. This might seem dream like in description, but it is rather more like a hazy state of in-between. Bale’s Rick seems to stand in rooms and absorb–lost in trails of thought. Knight of Cups is thus not a film concerned with story or acting or conflict, but rather about being.

Here Malick works again with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revenant, Birdman, Gravity). There are plenty of gorgeous nature porn shots as well as souring landscapes of Los Angeles. The film is seduction in itself set in a city that circles many down the drain of money, sex, power and disastrous disengagement. Knight of Cups is more cohesive than say Tree of Life whose family melodrama felt out of sync with the scale of Malick’s concepts. Here the streamline is more focused. To say Malick is a visual storyteller is an understatement. He does not simply use images in service of a story, rather he builds the story out of images and sequences.

In other words, Knight of Cups is the visual equivalent to a Cormac McCarthy novel. Where McCarthy abandons quotation marks Malick rejects linear storytelling and standard narrative structure. The film forces you to enter into Rick’s state of mind. Like his previous work, you must bend, be patient and surrender. As a former Los Angeles resident Knight of Cups is a beautiful wander through the delusions of a high priced lifestyle sitting atop a gruesome underbelly. Most likely one will get out of the film what you bring to it. I certainty fell into Rick’s pangs, but as usual Malick is not for the non-believer.

Freedom in the age of Feminism

Mustang (2016).

D: Deniz Gamze Ergüven. DP: David Chizallet and Ersin Gok. W: Deniz Gamze Ergüven and Alice Winocour. Starring: Günes Sensoy/Doga Zeynep Doguslu/Tugba Sunguroglu/Elit Iscan/Ilayda Akdogan/Nihal G. Koldas/Ayberk Pekcan/Bahar Kerimoglu/Burak Yigit

Finally releasing here in the UK this week, Mustang will break your heart. Premiering at the Cannes festival last year the film was France’s submission and eventual nominee for Best Foreign Language film at the this year’s Oscars. Already winning a slew of other awards, Mustang is as beautiful as it is relevant in a world still struggling with active feminism and an industry denying opportunities to women.

The project blossomed out of a writing partnership between director Deniz Gamze Ergüven and fellow director Alice Winocour at a  Cannes program. The two would go on to develop Ergüven‘s idea into a feature. Mustang follows five orphaned Turkish sisters who live with their uncle and grandmother in a remote village. After school one day the group meanders with some boy classmates on the beach, playing and being young. Their play is viewed differently by the adults in their village and measures are taken to ensure the girls chasteness and eventual marriageability. Essentially as one sister says, “the house turned into a wife factory.”

Ergüven has described the five sisters like one character with fives heads. Each piece of action one girl takes is in reaction to their sister. An excellent analogy it sums up how the siblings’ dynamic is so beautiful and so painful when it is wretched apart. The girls are long haired elfin creatures that are natural onscreen and with each other. Günes Sensoy as Lale gives the group its voice and fight as the youngest member. Surrounded by images of shrouded female bodies and direct and indirect messages demanding female chastity and sublimation, Lale’s tomboy girlhood is easy to love.

Like another French film Girlhood, Mustang illustrates a community that prides itself on conservative and traditional gender roles. Virginity is currency and marriage the only place for a woman. Like the spectacular Girlhood, the film does not interfere and force an emotional hand. Longer shots allow the prison-like home to shrink as the freedom of the girls movement is drastically reduced. A simple and elegant score adds just the right amount of magic to certain scenes.

Surely a lot has been written already about the importance of Mustang as a film written and directed by women starring women. Cross culturally it is also a fascinating text with the relationship between France and Turkey. Yet what I want to say here is that yes Mustang is beautiful and spellbinding, but also a reminder of the repulsive treatment of women clearly outside of current feminism/wage gap discussions. It is not only the categorization of women as either Madonnas or whores, but that generations of women are still being taught that their role in life is and can only be marriage and motherhood. Mustang safely stays away from directly referencing religion and thus remains anchored with the sisters’ restricted freedom as each story breaks our hearts. An brilliant and significant watch that hopefully you won’t miss.

Marvel Melodrama not for the Uninitiated

Captain America: Civil War (2016).

D: Anthony Russo & Joe Russo. DP: Trent Opaloch. W: Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely. Starring: Chris Evans/Robert Downey Jr./Anthony Mackie/Scarlett Johansson/Sebastian Stan/Don Cheadle/Paul Bettany/Elizabeth Olsen/Chadwick Boseman/Emily VanCamp/Tom Holland/Daniel Bruhl/William Hurt/Martin Freeman/Marisa Tomei.

I know you probably feel like you just sat down to watch a Marvel movie only a month ago because, well, you did. Deadpool can still be heard laughing at the X-Men who incidentally have another theatrical installment of their tale in theaters this weekend. Yet this month we return to the world of Captain America in Chris Evan’s third stand alone film as the flashiest boy scout there ever was.

2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger laid most of the groundwork of who Steve Rogers was before and after the creation of his war-time costumed hero. Moving the timeline forward 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier sees the return of Steve’s friend Bucky (Sebastian Stan) whose ampted assassin status has him become a fugitive from justice. Now in Captain America: Civil War we find Steve and his Avengers friends grappling with consequences of their well meaning interventions in world catastrophes. Given the chance to sign over their duties to the government, Steve’s stance on this becomes more complicated when Bucky resurfaces. Will vigilante behavior ensue?

Is that a lot to follow? Maybe. At this point if you have not seen an Avengers or Captain America film I would not start with this one. However, if you are not into Marvel then you probably will not bother, right? In essence though Civil War is more like Avengers 2.5 and less like a Captain America stand alone film, which actually makes it stronger. Steve’s goody-two-shoe quality is best when balanced with other characters, especially the complexity of Bucky. Addressing the same issues Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice attempted to discuss, as a group Steve and more Avengers cope with the personal and public fallout of violence. Who can make the call to step in and whose agenda does this powerful group adhere to. Rather than be clunky about it the film splits the group keeping the internal threat to friendship and loyalty the focus of the drama and action.

Bucky’s reappearance luckily means more Stan onscreen. His Winter Soldier is greasy and sullen, the thankful opposite of clean-cut Evans. The distaste he has for Falcon (Anthony Mackie) injects humor into their not so bromance friendship triangle. Mackie takes on a larger role as does Scarlett Johannson as Black Widow. Clearly the Marvel heads heard the shouts about her needing her own film as one of the few female Avengers. Here she has some great fight sequences–twisting the necks of most of the men she fights. Other Avengers do appear, but I have left them out to not spoil the make up of the competing parties. Civil War does its diligence in introducing not one, but two additions to the Avengers world. Tom Holland is a rightfully youthful Peter Parker aka Spider-Man. He brings new energy and has a nice dynamic with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). But don’t forget that Columbia Pictures owns the rights to Spider-Man, hence why there will be another set of films so they can retain those rights. Chadwick Boseman also appears for the first time as Black Panther. Boseman’s own Black Panther film will not hit theaters until 2018 and has Creed director Ryan Coogler on board.

Civil War is directed and shot by the same team behind Winter Soldier and it clearly shows. Lightness and humor are not lost amidst a plot that grapples with serious ideas. The Avengers team essentially works as an extended family for its characters whose abilities isolate them from the general population. It is the perfect recipe for melodrama and the familial showdown and closer hand-to-hand fights are woven well into the personal conflicts. There are surely weaknesses like Emily VanCamp’s silly appearance or Elizabeth Olsen’s inconsistent accent as Wanda aka Scarlett Witch. Yet, ultimately the film is a solid addition to the Marvel world for those already indoctrinated.

Leave the Bare Necessities Alone

The Jungle Book (2016).

D: Jon Favreau. DP: Bill Pope. W: John Marks. Starring: Neel Sethi. Voice talents of: Idris Elba/Ben Kingsley/Bill Murray/Scarlett Johansson/Giancarlo Esposito/Lupita Nyong’o/Christopher Walken. (Based on Rudyard Kipling’s novel)

It is simply hard to forget the 1967 Disney animated version of The Jungle Book. ‘The Bare Necessities’ tune has become synonymous with our favorite lackadaisical bear Baloo who helps shepherd man cub Mowgli through the forest. Phil Harris who voiced Baloo would go on to work with Disney on The Aristocats (1970) and Robin Hood (1973). His jovial bellow was only matched by George Saunders’ velvety Shere Khan. When I saw his Oscar winning performance in All About Eve (1950) all I kept thinking was, he’s the tiger. Safe to say much of my generation grew up on Disney animation, even films as old as this one.

This live adaptation of The Jungle Book also follows a forgettable 1994 live action with Mowgli as an adult man, which was released by Buena Vista Pictures. Taking on the mantle is director Jon Favreau (Chef, Cowboys & Aliens, Iron Man 2) who tends to produce and direct on a large scale. Executive producing for Marvel, Favreau also continues to act and dip his fingers in many pools. In his version he blends Kipling’s novel and the animated feature with film influences that give the The Jungle Book a fantastic look if nothing else.

Mowgli (played by newcomer Neel Sethi) finds himself once again rescued by Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) and adopted by the jungle’s wolf pack. With the rains gone the jungle animals create a peace treaty that allows them to all co-habit a certain watering hole without threat. However, this cannot last for long with the return of Shere Khan (Idris Elba) whose hatred of man threatens the pack and forces Mowgli to be chaperoned by Bagheera to the man village. Thus begins Mowgli’s journey to find his new home and meet new friends along the way.

Regrettably Sethi is not much to watch. He lacks charm and wonder, instead his Mowgli is petulant without tenderness which does not allow you to invest in the emotions of such a familiar tale. Kingsley’s Bagheera is rightfully regal, but is not a voice to match Elba’s Shere Khan. The tiger’s mangled appearance gives him a ruthlessness that is new. Along the road movie timeline Mowgli also meets famous Baloo voiced by Bill Murray. The pair’s friendship gets the most laughs and eventually the shtick of Murray wears away to create a palpable connection between the two. The ‘Bare Necessities’ tune comes up organically, unlike King Louie’s (Christopher Walken) song ‘I Wanna Be Like You.’ Much too much like a musical number, the segment seems part of a different movie and merely acts as a gimmick to get Walken’s signature delivery set to music.

Like the animated feature Favreau uses Disney’s traditional image of an open and closing book to illustrate the story book quality of the film. The ending credits are gorgeous as the book opens to 3D pop-ups of certain scenes. Cinematographer Bill Pope creates a mystical and lush jungle and The Jungle Book at least moves at a good pace. Even with certain changes like making the snake Kaa into a female character, voiced by Scarlett Johansson, I do not that think the film brings anything staggeringly new or different to the tale. Disney and Favreau were perhaps too conflicted in wanting to include the musical songs while also lending a more realistic sheen to the sort material. Details like the fact that the monkeys seem to have no language when they are the closest animal to man get lost in the action sequences that create the beats of the film. Better than the literal Cinderella, the movie cannot compete with its original.

After seeing this version I am intrigued and excited for The Imaginarium’s (Andy Serkis’ motion capture company) take on the Kipling classic that will not release until October 2018. With another all star cast that includes Christian Bale, Benedict Cumberbatch, Cate Blanchett, Naomie Harris and Andy Serkis, the film is being released by Warner Bros. Serkis has already claimed in interviews it will be darker than this version. Even with the Disney owned songs safe to say this The Jungle Book is certainly not light so we shall see where how far this one takes us into the shadows.

Straight to the Vein

Green Room (2016).

D/W: Jeremy Saulnier. DP: Sean Porter. Starring: Patrick Stewart/Anton Yelchin/Imogen Poots/Alia Shawkat/Joe Cole/Callum Turner/Mark Webber/Eric Edelstein/Macon Blair.

Unlike The Witch‘s subtle historical horror, the new film Green Room plugs you into an amp and drags you along for a wild ride. After doing a festival circuit the film was bought by A24 prior to its Toronto and Sundance appearances. A good piece of horror fun, Green Room is perfect antidote to the big studio tent-poles who are slowly removing personal horror from violence.

Green Room centers on a heavy rock band that flies under the radar, shirking social media in the name of true music. Stealing gas and living literally hand to mouth they reluctantly take a gig to make some extra cash to finish up their tour. Off the group then goes and arrives at a Neo-Natzi esq type club. After their set they discover a stabbing victim in the green room and become embroiled in a cat/mouse trap with the owner as they attempt to wait for the police to arrive.

Cinematographer by trade, director/writer Jeremy Saulnier handles Green Room with confidence. His 2013 film, Blue Ruin, garnered festival buzz premiering at Cannes. Here the trick is clearly keeping his characters and his audience in the dark. The film keeps a good pace and the cat/mouse story line works because there is never an attempt to explain (other than basics) why the events must occur. The unexplained breeds the panic of the group. The few reasons given are not the most inventive, but the core of Green Room is certainly the wrong place/wrong time of the group and it works.

The club owner/head honcho Darcy is played by veteran Patrick Stewart. With his eerily calm delivery of most lines he seems like a cat ready to pounce whose temper every now and then betrays him. Stewart’s general good aura gives the cult/Neo-Natzi group a weight that helps the film. The band has good chemistry with each other with Anton Yelchin’s Pat inadvertently becoming the lead. His simpering boyishness is a good contrast to the bullies in the club yet echoes cult side kick Gabe (Macon Blair) ineptitude at the physical. Imogen Poots hair and non showering look seems to have finally found its place with her performance as Amber. Her exasperation translates well.

Ultimately Green Room gives the gratuitous violence of the horror genre some shape and form. There is some inventive use of duck tape that is quite nauseating. The film is full of turns so will keep your heartbeat going and has a great final countdown sequence that is not without humor. It does not have the style of The Witch or even the performances of 10 Cloverfield Lane, but it has a fresh energy that allows its characters to keep fighting. A solid horror flick probably best watched at night, take it from someone who saw it at 11 AM!

The Unofficial James Bond Audition

Bastille Day (2016).

D: James Watkins. DP: Tim Maurice-Jones. W: Andrew Baldwin. Starring: Idris Elba/Richard Madden/Kelly Reilly/Charlotte Le Bon/José Garcia/Anatol Yusef/Thierry Godard.

Last weekend the Paris set Bastille Day from the European house of Studio Canal hit theaters. An action film that could easily fit the likes of Liam Neeson, Bastille Day is a rapid fire adrenaline rush that is as compact and direct as the bullets from a gun.

Literally hitting close to home with the recent Paris attack, Bastille Day (which was shot long before the attack) plops us down in the middle of the city of light right before its holiday. American CIA agent Sean Briar (Idris Elba) arrives to be briefed for his new duties. Meanwhile expert pickpocket Michael Mason (Richard Madden) nicks the wrong bag inadvertently sending a terrorist attack into motion with a bombing. Agent Briar is sent to find and interrogate Michael before the French get to him, a little international agency chess if you will. Of course there is more at play as the conspiracy behind the lines reveals itself, not too many surprises there.

Elba brings his Luther strut to Agent Briar and believably pounds the pavement. A brilliantly crafted and executed chase sequence atop buildings in the first act will have you squirming in your seat. Madden, the former Rob Stark of Game of Thrones and boring Prince Charming of Cinderella, holds his own with charm and anxiety as Elba’s main screen partner. Both sport believable American accents, Madden’s sounds a lot like another actor whom I still am working to place. It might have been fun for a Brit and Scot to have led this charge, but then the film would have been too obviously Elba’s audition for the next James Bond. Just the way he nearly towers over everyone is gorgeous humor in itself.

The film is deftly paced and at only ninety-two minutes you get everything you need swiftly. The chase is afoot as one would say as the unlikely pair must work together to weasel out the corruption they find. Thankfully the cheese is layered on thinly and the reality of death, with point black agent shootings, gives the story the powerful edge it needs for squirmy realism. Alex Heffes music is a bit much, leaning on the volume button and queuing things so obviously. Bastille Day is clearly better than most, but mostly acts to remind us why Elba is destined for even greater stardom.

Sisterly Secrets

The Huntsman: Winter’s War (2016).

D: Cedric Nicolas-Troyan. DP: Phedon Papamichael. W: Evan Spiliotopoulos and Craig Mazin. Starring: Charlize Theron/Chris Hemsworth/Emily Blunt/Jessica Chastain/Nick Frost/Rob Brydon/Sheridan Smith/Alexandra Roach/Sam Claflin/Sope Disiru.

Spring may be a time of renewal, a chance for the resurrection of the beauty of spring. Yet it can also be a time to clean out lives or ideas and see what else can still work together. In an effort to continue to capitalize on the fairy tale explosion of this decade, Universal brings us the new film The Huntsman: Winter’s War. It is as boring as its title suggests and should have been more amply titled: The Queens’ War.

Director Cedric Nicolas-Troyan hails from a visual effects background and was the second unit director on both Snow White and The Huntsman and Maleficent. An in house Universal project from start to finish, the film was (despite reports) clearly commissioned to work around the exclusion of Snow White, played by Kristen Stewart in the previous film. The Huntsman: Winter’s War is thus both a prequel and a sequel. It is constructed to introduce Freya (Emily Blunt) as Ravenna’s (Charlize Theron) sister before the first film’s events. Out of grief from the loss of her child Freya then creates her Huntsman army that includes Eric (Chris Hemsworth) and his lady huntsman equivalent Sarah (Jessica Chastain). The film then jumps seven years later to a point after Ravenna’s defeat at the hands of Snow White and Eric.

The central drama of the film surely lies with Ravenna and Freya. Blunt does well to make Freya fragile yet hard hearted. It is a testament to Blunt’s likability that I excuse her blind trustfulness of her sister, the story is far too simple anyway. Hemsworth physical presence still pounds through the screen, but he is not convincing as an emotional romantic lead. Chastain’s Scottish brogue is decent, but the pair don’t have memorable chemistry. They are all a bit too Hansel & Gretal: Witch Hunters for me. The film’s production values are probably more interesting that its actors; the visual effects get you through a flimsy script.

Oscar laden costume designer Colleen Atwood continues to do stunning work. In fact the most exquisite part of the production is her work. Ravenna’s gold dipped feather coat or Freya’s crystal heavy gown are simply breathtaking. Both women wear finger length rings that tap against the ice and stone fortresses they build. The concept of Freya’s icy power unfortunately seems a bit Elsa from Frozen, but Ravenna’s birth from the gold mirror and black tar oozing violence is fit for the dominating presence of Theron.

The Huntsman: Winter’s War has come under scrutiny for attempting to be a kind of feminist vehicle toting developed female characters but failing. Sadly each character is defined by a lack of love of a man or a child. Ravenna speaks of being destined for something else, but not without recognizing her initial desire for motherhood. Her quest for power comes from vanity she sees reflected in her beloved mirror. Her vanity pushes her to build an empire, nothing more. The film ultimately becomes a love drenched cheese fest that falls short of the more beguiling Maleficent.

Jeepers Creepers

The Witch (2016).

D/W: Robert Eggers. DP: Jarin Blaschke. Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy/Ralph Ineson/Kate Dickie/Harvey Scrimshaw/Ellie Grainger/Jonas Dawson.

Much chatted about The Witch has finally hit theatres after its premiere back in 2015 at the Sundance Film Festival. Picked up by Universal for release here in the UK and by A24 in the US, the film has become the horror film of the year. Let’s get one thing straight first. As someone who avoids what is normally lumped into the genre label of horror, this film barely cuts it. Modern notions of horror lend me to think of slashers, which has created franchises like the Saw films. Rather The Witch is old fashioned suspense, nail bites, and the right dose of fright that makes it memorable.

The Witch is written and directed by newcomer Robert Eggers who hails from a costume and production design background. This is immediately clear from the color palette and textures that Eggers knows how to build mood. His film centers on a family of banished Puritans who are forced to build a new farm outside of the safety of their New World plantation settlement after the father’s, William (Ralph Ineson), religious teachings are deemed too much. Working his children in God’s name his eldest daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy) turns the family into turmoil when her baby brother is snatched on her watch. The mother Katherine (Kate Dickie), stricken with grief, begins a slow unraveling that pits religion against the supernatural.

Cloaked in a reliance and service to God, the family also speaks in an Old English tongue that evidently was taken or adapted from primary source texts prior to the famed Salem Witch Trials. Immediately this lends the film a storybook quality, but one of nightmares rather than fairy tales. The woods next to the farm are seen mostly in long shot or close up and deemed forbidden to the children. This is not the land of Harry Potter’s Forbidden Forest rather its one that warps the senses and brings original sin into the light.

Young English actress Taylor-Joy is a captivating center for the film. At moments her modernness cracks to the surface, but overall she handles the Old English well. Dickie and Ineson, both graduates of the world of HBO’s Game of Thrones, are balanced well in the script. Neither faith seems too disturbing when placed in relief to the other and the family’s imminent survival.

The unilateral belief of original sin is the crux of The Witch. Thomasin, with her ‘appearances of womanhood,’ appears to somehow invite the witch of the woods into being or is certainly blamed for it. The congruence of womanhood/sin/Satan/temptation is at play, but the film roots in unnervingly realistic and ritualistic ways that allow the imagination to see more than the eye. Its why the original Halloween still works. For the first half an hour the audience experience a stalking. It is all in the pacing and The Witch creeps along without revealing much. Trust me, we would not like it if it did.

The Little Guy is Still Everyone’s Favorite

Zootopia (2016).

D: Byron Howard & Rich Moore. W: Phil Johnston & Jared Bush. Starring the voice talents of: Ginnifer Goodwin/Jason Bateman/Idris Elba/Jenny Slate/Nate Torrance/J.K. Simmons/Octavia Spencer/Alan Tudyk/Shakira/Bonnie Hunt/Don Lake.

Disney’s latest feature quietly shines with a universal story about going after your dreams despite the obstacles. The film was released here in the UK under the title, Zootropolis, a title in fact more fitting than Zootopia. Zootropolis speaks to a multicultural creation that recognizes its melting pot complexities while Zootopia seems to speak to an unrealistic ideal. Regardless, within the film the city is referred to as Zootropolis and that’s all that will matter to its audience.

The film follows Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin of ABC’s Once Upon a Time) who becomes the first rabbit cop in the big city. A typical ‘fish out of water against all odds’ story is the main arc of the narrative. However, the Disney team is able to speak to the part of that generic narrative we love while injecting humor and charm through animation. Judy heads to the big city for her break plugging in music as she arrives to her tiny apartment and nosy neighbors. She is quickly judged by her size and non predator status and relegated to meter maid duty. Even her slog through sad radio songs taps into our favorite movie moments and gives the adults in the room a laugh, as do later direct film references that I won’t spoil here.

Embracing the contrasting size of animals and habitats the city of Zootropolis is an animators dream. With a rain forest canopy world to a city built entirely for small rodents, Judy explores the creation of a place where prey and predator co-habitat on two legs instead of four. Judy soon meets trixy sly fox Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman) and their begrudged teamwork allows Judy to help solve a case. Goodwin and Bateman are excellent here, their voices not too recognizable to overshadow their characters. The most recognizable voice is probably Idris Elba as Police Chief Bogo. Yet his husky English blends well with his routine dismissal of anything sentimental. Like Inside Out, Zootopia gives us complex leads who must navigate the grey areas of life that are not that easy. And unlike The Good Dinosaur, it does not rely on visual splendor to carry a story. Its cleverness is subtle and detail orientated.

Zootopia will surely prove to be a timely piece about acceptance of others as well as a thing we all learn back in kindergarten. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Fear will always be the easy route to change, but not the right kind of change. Its themes and script, written years ago as the production time in animation is very long, are extremely timely with the events of today. Once again Disney proves sometimes what is good for kids to learn is also right for adults to re-learn.

A Commercial Inflation

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).

D: Zack Snyder. DP: Larry Fong. W: Chris Terrio & David S. Goyer. Starring: Henry Cavill/Ben Affleck/Jeremy Irons/Gal Gadot/Amy Adams/Jesse Eisenberg/Holly Hunter/Scoot McNairy/Laurence Fishburne/Diane Lane. (Based on the Batman character created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger and the Superman character created by Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster.)

As Marvel’s Avengers continue to assemble and reek havoc at the box office it was only a matter of time and rights before DC Comics would attempt to put together their Justice League. Without spending endless time explaining which studios have the rights to which characters, safe it to say it is a complex mess. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice attempts to pit the caped crusader against the batman in order to contextualize events that can lead to the justice league and the philosophical frictions of these two characters.

Batman v Superman picks up where 2013’s Man of Steel ends with a very svelte Ben Affleck as the new Batman witnessing the final destructive fight between Superman (Henry Cavill) and General Zod (Michael Shannon). As a Wayne Enterprises building goes down in Metropolis Affleck’s Bruce Wayne begins his grudge match with alien Superman. We move to eighteen months later where both men continue to hunt the other and furrow their brows at their competitors moral choices. Superman is treated like a god, but yet is easily framed. Batman pounds the flesh of criminals for information, but misses what is under his nose.

Cavill continues to look the part of Superman, but he still cannot save a dated and one-dimensional character. No one believes this glass wearing alias anymore. He mostly stares and recites, forcing poor Amy Adams to keep trying to give Lois Lane some purpose other than the love interest. Affleck’s Batman is a heavy jawed bully that lacks the sparkle and edge Christian Bale gave us in his Dark Knight films. Alfred gets his sexy back here with a dry and spry Jeremy Irons lending a more casual approach to the Wayne family which now lives in a floor to ceiling glass house perched next to some sort of moor. Don’t worry Batman will drive by the burnt down mansion in case we had forgotten. There is also a tremendously silly work out montage for Affleck, Warner Brothers clearly wanted every bang for their buck.

Director Zack Snyder returns to comics after directing Man of Steel. A movie too loud and violent for its own good, something this new film picks up on. Thematically the film wants to address the questions of violence and hope in both figures. Yet Batman v Superman instead uses Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luther as a scapegoat, excusing the violence as retribution for his actions. Overall Eisenberg is not actually given much to do, but safe to say the creation of his villainous status is sure to come up again.

Cinematographer Larry Fong who shot the excellent Super 8, as well as Watchmen and 300 with Snyder, is working in over drive here. The opening sequence is high resolution glossy commercial art tenuously trying to build a dramatic mood the film cannot maintain. Nearly every zooming close up is accompanied by a blaring bore of a soundtrack that announces every moment with pounding drums. The best bit of music is Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman theme all a bit rock n roll cowgirl. Her own film will be released next summer so she is also introduced here to build interest in that.

Ultimately Batman v Superman is an overstimulated and over inflated bed partner for The Avengers. There is not a moment of humor in nearly two and a half hours of film. Rather the humor comes from laughing at a film that takes itself entirely too seriously. Do Batman and Superman mothers have to be named the same name? After the somewhat realistic Nolan Batman series, which I loved, this group needs some light into it. Here’s hoping Wonder Woman, which is being directed by Patty Jenkins, will be a bit better.

View From the Top

High-Rise (2016).

D: Ben Wheatley. DP: Laurie Rose. W: Amy Jump (adapted from J.G. Ballard’s novel). Starring: Tom Hiddleston/Jeremy Irons/Luke Evans/Sienna Miller/Elisabeth Moss/James Purefoy/Keeley Hawes/Dan Renton Skinner/Louis Suc.

High-Rise is true to its name as the film explores the life and destructive times of residents of a new residential complex in 1970s era London presumably. The film focuses on the newest resident, Dr. Robert Laing (Tom Hiddleston), whose boxes are left mostly unopened and whose past is never revealed. Laing soon meets fellow lower floor couple Richard and Helen Wilder (Luke Evans and Elisabeth Moss) along with sociably sexy Charlotte (Sienna Miller). Soon invited up a mirrored elevator to meet the grand architect of the building, Mr. Royal (Jeremy Irons), Laing finds himself in a microcosm of capital classism.

At the center of High-Rise is Hiddleston’s performance, one where his eel-like charm and sinuous figure lend a statuesque quality to the anti-hero. His complex yet at times vacant take on Laing is a clean counter balance to the ruthless messy energy of Evans’ performance as Wilder. Sandwiched between them at times is Miller who continues to be a pretty face with little to do. She is dragged across the floor at some point in a menacingly real act of terror. Moss is better here as the heavily pregnant wife of Wilder who is trapped in a concrete created suburban nightmare. Louis Suc as Charlotte/Miller’s son Toby is charming and unaffected.

As a novel before the film devotee I am shamed I did not have the time to read this before seeing it. J.G. Ballard’s work is unfamiliar to me, however, that being said the film inspires me to still pick up the book. The imagery alone of the towers as analogous to an open hand makes me curious what part of the novel were deemed by some as un-filmable or impossible. As life in the high-rise breaks down and groups of floors depreciate into debauchery style becomes the focus.

Cinematographer Laurie Rose worked with Wheatley on his previous films and along with Mark Tildesley creates a world of angular walls and beige for Laing. Such that when he steps out onto the penthouse garden of the Royals you feel almost flushed. His obsession with a can of paint then seems a tad over the top amidst a grocery store looting. The editing is well balanced between stylized moments and narrative propulsion and the use of a cover of ABBA’s ‘S.O.S’ is quite startling. An adult Lord of the Flies trapped within concrete hell, High-Rise is worth a watch. It’s the sort of film I would imagine Patrick Bateman would be fascinated by.