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Star Wars: The Force Awakens is good but still disappoints (12/22/15)
When you think of Star Wars, which movie comes to mind? For many out there, I wager that the answer to that question depends on your age. If you were, say, 12
or younger in 1999 when Phantom Menace came out that, to you, is probably Star Wars. If you were older, you probably think Empire Strikes Back. The reason I bring it up because what you consider Star Wars in your mind, is exactly what you judge
future installments against. I was 16 in 1999 so I’m in the Empire Strikes Back camp. Overall I would say I got a better deal than younger viewers because to me, Star Wars is quality that the prequels momentarily disrupted.
The bar, therefore, is high and it was with that mindset that that I watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I was disappointed. Before you say I’m the Debbie Downer at the “JJ is awesome” party, let me explain. I didn’t hate
the movie. In fact, I liked a lot of it. Let’s start with the positive CHARACTERS In the span of two
hours + JJ Abrams and company managed to introduce several fascinating, provocative and interesting characters I want to spend time with. That’s something Lucas couldn’t do in the entire prequel trilogy. Bb8, Poe Dameron, Finn, Rey
and , my favorite, the mysterious Maz Kanta, are wonderful additions to the Universe and I hope to follow them on their respective journeys in the movies to come. I also have to credit the casting here. Everyone does a wonderful job with Daisey
Ridley as Rey getting the most credit simply because she has the most screen time. LAUGHS The movie is very funny.
There’s a nice mix of callback and new jokes that had me laughing at the right points. Now let’s move on to the negative: PLOT Admit it, it makes little sense. It’s a mash up of all original trilogy and the greatest hits approach does not work. I was confused and disappointed.
Another ‘death star’? Another all powerful bad guy who we know nothing about? Another mission to blow something up at the end? It’s not just repetition that I don’t like either, it’s how opaque everyone’s
motives are. Because we never really get to understand the structure of the Star Wars Universe, we don’t understand why anyone is doing what they are doing. For example, how exactly are the New Republic and First Order related?
Why does the First Order want to crush the Republic? If there is a New Republic why are the rebels now the Resistance? Shouldn’t they be part of the Republic? The answers to these questions are crucial and without them, I was a bit
lost. It’s like if you didn’t know anything about the Civil War and the only thing you saw for 2 hours is Blue and Gray guys fighting each other. You would know how wins but nothing more than that. I’m sure there are
perfectly logical answers to my questions and I’m sure they will pop up exactly where Disney wants them to : in the sequels. The fact they are holding it back really is a detriment to the movie. IT’S ALL SET UP I think JJ Abrams thought if they blow something up, it will seem like an ending. That worked in New Hope because, while Empire fleshed
out the Universe, New Hope felt like a complete story. Force Awakens doesn’t even feel like half of a story. It feels like ‘mission one’ in a video game where you accomplish a minor objective, the bad guy gets away but you’re
okay with it because you know that they’re saving the cool stuff for later. ACTION JJ did a great job with action
in Star Trek. Here, he abandons the lens flare, which I actually don’t mind as much as others, and replaces it with fast moving flying and crashing. Unfortunately, all of it seems chaotic. There isn’t any rhythm to it. The confusion
finds its way into the end, so much so that I didn’t even realize they hit their target until after everything started to blow up. This leads to a lack of satisfaction. The same thing goes with the light saber scenes. Say what you want
about the prequels but the fighting was beautifully staged and exciting to watch. ADAM DRIVER I don’t
understand why people like him as an actor. I simply don’t respond to him and the fact that he is a lead character here really took me out of the movie. Maybe he will get better but he’s a weak link here. A NEW HOPE Like I said at the beginning, I didn’t hate the movie. I actually enjoyed it for what it was. My frustration
comes from the fact that there’s so much good stuff in the movie, I wish it were great. For the moment, I rank it right beneath Revenge of the Sith but I’m not losing hope. Once the new trilogy finishes maybe the movie will
go up in my estimation as crucial plot and character points are fleshed out and we have (hopefully) a satisfying conclusion. FINAL GRADE: B
The Good Dinosaur is Brave and that's not a good thing (12/15/15)
The Good Dinosaur joint 2012’s Brave as a well-intentioned but ultimately uninspired misfire from a company with an excellent track record. That company of course is Pixar and beyond Cars 2, they’ve never made a truly terrible film. In fact, the bar is so high, it makes the sting of a mediocre outing like ‘Dinosaur’ a bit more pronounced. The problem with the movie is the story, or the lack of one. The best Pixar films have big, bold ideas that leverage the computer generated graphics to tell a tale that no live action film could. Think Toy Story or this year’s Inside Out. There’s no such creativity here. In fact, The Good Dinosaur could very well have been live action save for the main characters being dinosaurs and that really doesn’t end up mattering. Also, the animation is quite beautiful but scenes of wilderness and animal life are, ironically, too life-like and contrast against the cartoony design of the main characters. But back to the story: Arlo, the runt of the brontosaurs litter, must face his fears after his family suffers a tragedy and he gets separated from everything he knows. To borrow the Kevin Smith line about the LOTR trilogy, it’s literally a movie about walking (and in this case also running… lots of running against beautiful backdrops that looks nice but ultimately becomes repetitive and boring ). Artoo has to get back home and along the way meets a human boy who he befriends. And…that’s really it. Oh there's more that happens, but nothing too exciting and the lessons taught by the film are unoriginal and perfunctory. It makes the film feel like an old fashioned movie that could’ve been made in the 80s. If you are forced to watch this anyway count how many times Artoo gets knocked on the head. That happens a lot and was how I entertained myself through this boring experience. FINAL GRADE: C
The Ridiculous Six proves that Sandler isn't even trying anymore (12/15/15)
I like about 1 in 3 of Adam Sandler’s movies. That’s not a great percentage, but still higher than Woody Allen films. He seems to make about 3 movies a year and 90% of them are terrible. So I never not want to see one of Sandler’s movies. This summer’s Pixels actually had a clever premise and I had a few chuckles. Lately, however, even with Pixels which looked like it cost approximately a bijillion dollars, I feel like he’s going through the motions. In the early 2000’s he would release bad movies but I could tell he was really trying to do something different and cared about the quality of the final product. I respected that. The Ridiculous Six I do not respect but I don’t think that matters because I suspect Sandler doesn’t care at this point. First a little background: Last year, he signed a 4 picture deal to exclusively release his films with Netflix because their analytics concluded people who stream really, really like fart jokes. He was given carte blanche to do whatever he wants and now, a year later, he releases this unfunny, slightly offensive, lazy comedy directly to your living room, and it's as a surefire way of losing your Netflix-choosing privileges with your significant other (luckily I took this journey solo which I’m glad I did because I never would've heard the end of it). I don’t even want to go over the story because it’s dumb, but I do want to make two points. #1 : the length of the movie. It’s almost 2 hours. There is no way in hell or the 5 Kingdoms that Sandler would've kept the movie this long had he released this theatrically so instead of a ‘thank you’ to his loyal audience which allows him the freedom to choose Netflix, he gives them a big ‘eff you’ with this sloppily edited mess. #2: Sandler seems comatose during the whole movie. Seriously, watch his performance with its limited facial movement, flat line deliveries and general “I’m so over this-ness” and tell me that’s a man who is giving it his all. I just don’t believe it. If giving him creative freedom doesn’t ignite something within him, I don’t know what will. I’m not giving up on Sandler, I’m suggesting he get someone else to write and direct his movies who has the same level of passion that he had when he released "Happy Gilmore" (still my favorite), "50 First Dates," or hell, even 2011’s “Just Go with it.” I don’t know what’s happened to him but he needs to get his groove back like Stella, or else ….well, let’s face it, he’s loaded so nothing much will happen, but I think his fan base will start to vote with their Netflix remotes, and won’t show up as they have in the past. FINAL GRADE: D+
Creed is worth your time (11/30/2015)
What struck me most about the trailers leading up to the release of "Creed," the new Rocky spin-off starring Michael Johnson and Sylvester Stallone (natch), was the utter lack of nostalgia. There was no "eye of the tiger" "gonna fly now" playing in the background, no footage of past movies or voiceovers about the victories of past films...just a hip hop soundtrack set against an intriguing story about an up-and-coming-boxer who seeks out a mentor to win the big bout. At first I thought this was dumb. Why miss out on the Rocky fans who still want to see Stallone mumble his way through another movie that is better than you think it will be? I slowly realized, however, that the move is pretty brilliant. Creed isn't Rocky's story. We've seen that played out in 1-6 and rather beautifully. It's the story of Adonis Johnson (then Creed), a wholly new character and that fresh perspective reinvigorates the franchise. The filmmakers, therefore, have created an entertaining drama that appeals to people who love Rocky (me) and people who've never heard of Rocky (anyone under 30). That's a pretty amazing feat so I implore you to give Creed a chance. It's a nicely paid drama bout growth, legacy, and fighting for what's important in life and while it may not miss a beat touching on cliches (I predicted, correctly, there would be at least 3 montages), it does so in ways that may surprise you and feel utterly authentic. I wish the villain was stronger and the final fight more epic, but overall this is a solid flick. FINAL GRADE: B
Spectre is French New Wave cinema (11/30/2015)
Bond films shouldn't be open to interpretation. That is to say, you shouldn't walk out feeling like you've just watched Paul Thomas Anderson's new movie, or some Slamdance semi finalist drama that provokes thoughtful discussion with a group of friends. But I swear to you this is how I walked out of this latest Bond entry. If you're surprised, so was I. Not only because I expected to see nothing but killing and fu*****g but because, up until the last 25 minutes, that's exactly what I saw. Yet, somewhere around when the villain straps Bond to a chair and tortures him, what should be a straightforward spy thriller suddenly becomes French new wave cinema, complete with a "wait, what just happened?" denouement. I blame this on the fact that the movie becomes so over-the-top and so unlike the 100 minutes or so that proceeded it, that my brain couldn't reconcile the ending. Now, I could take it on face value and say it's just Bond so it's always stupid, but part of me refuses to. That part of my brain thinks there has to (HAS TO) be another explanation for the disaster of the last 20 minutes. Is it like Total Recall, all in Bond's head? Is it a dream? Was it all part of Bond's plan all along and I'm just not seeing the brilliance of it? Or, are there just a bazillion screenwriters and the result is a movie that doesn't know what it is, which means it doesn't know how to end? It's probably the last and that's too bad because most of Spectre is entertaining . The action and characters are all fun and hey, I even liked the main song. But that ending...it's just garbage. I'm giving this a mild recommendation because it's at least interesting. FINAL GRADE: B-
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