Date: Sunday December 29 2019
Time: 10:35am*
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)
Director: J.J. Abrams
Composer: John Williams
Cast:
Rey- Daisy Ridley
Rylo Ren/Ben Solo- Adam Driver
Poe Dameron- Oscar Isaac
Finn- John Boyeda
General Leia- Carrie Fischer (RIP 2016)
General Hux- Domnhall Gleeson
General Pryde- Richard E. Grant
Lando Calarissan- Billy Dee Williams
Emperor Palpatine- Ian McDiarmid
Duration: 142 minutes (+10 trailers)
Opening Remarks
Going to be doing things a little bit differently... because I'm probably going to spend many paragraphs fuming about how many commercials and trailers we had to sit through... I decided to move the movie discussion to the front of the post and the other stuff to the back.
It'll all be there for anyone who cares to hear some strong opinions.
Why include it at all? This blog is about being a "movie-goer"... that includes the entire experience.
But here's the Star Wars part of the post...
The Star Wars Part of the Post
I'm not going to give anything major away, other than what was in the cast list..
It's kinda unfortunate, really... they spent all this time and effort bringing down the Emperor Sith in "Return of the Jedi"... Darth Vader gave his life to defeat him and save Luke from obliteration. And it was for nothing... unless you want to get into the psychological conversation about how they felt fulfilled for doing what they thought was right...
It also makes for an interesting final battle involving this guy. But what I find strange... there's talk about ending the Jedi so the Sith can prevail... aren't they all Jedi anyway? They all can manipulate The Force and use lightsabers. Am I missing something?
But this battle is just one of many moments where it was great culmination of everything in the series. Well, everything except for maybe the prequel trilogy... it seems like the powers that be want to pretend they didn't exist.
This movie is easily the best of this last trilogy... it's just too bad it's the final installment. When they finally get everything right and all the pieces are together.
Of course, I'm sure there are people that will complain... there always are... that there weren't enough casualties on the good side or how much of this movie was fan service to the fanboys (and fangirls) of this franchise.
So what? Many of us hardcore Star Wars fans will be very happy with this movie and how everything went down.
Anyone curious about how Carrie Fischer was used in the movie, considering much of it was filmed after she'd passed away (she and her mother, Debbie Reynolds, were the final casualties of the horrific year that was 2016-- I'm speaking about celebrity deaths specifically)... they had enough footage of her where she was given the tribute she deserved.
One part I really liked about this movie was how much of the new core trio was together. One thing that really annoys me about ensemble casts in movie and TV is where they are constantly split apart and worrying about each other and having to find a way to reunite while trying to complete their main objective.
Rey, Poe and Finn spent a lot of time together and if they were split apart, it was temporary. More often than not, it was Rey who separated from the others, but she had her reasons. I was waiting for her to do what Luke did in "Return of the Jedi"- he left the camp of rebels because he thought his presence was putting everyone in danger.
There were some light moments scattered throughout with bits of humor. Unlike the previous film, they didn't feel too forced. The exchange between Poe and General Hux in the previous movie... yeah, it was kinda lame and cheesy and not quite in line with the humor the series typically has. Some jokes, they tried a little too hard, but others were well played.
C3PO has some comical moments that didn't lean on the Abbott/Costello routine he and R2D2 typically have. There's one part where the trio needs him to translate something in a Sith language and he says something in his programming forbids it. I don't know what it was, but his dialogue sounded a lot like something Sheldon from "Big Bang Theory" would say. The similarity between them was SCARY.
What's funny is that he got compared to C3PO once by Leonard and Sheldon shakes his head and says "...I'm flattered, but I just don't see it."
The amount of screentime Oscar Isaac had between this and the previous movie... more than made up for the fact he was M.I.A. for much of "The Force Awakens"... we also get to find out more of his past and how that comes about is a nice touch. In their travels, Finn also meets fellow former Storm Troopers and they contribute to the Resistance in the final battle. Particularly the lead female of the group.
There's a lot of great strong female characters in this movie. I'm glad they brought back Rose, who was a scene-stealer in the previous movie. But it feels like her role in the Resistance got vastly reduced. I'm just saying they could have given her more to do.
Probably the one thing I can't go into is what happens with Kylo Ren's character because that's a huge part of the movie. His connection with Rey only intensifies... how they use it may be a bit of a stretch for some people... but it gets used in a lot of creative ways, accomplishing things that couldn't have been otherwise.
The writing from start to finish was really good and there wasn't a moment where things were too slow moving or boring. Some of it, I found myself predicting... some of it was "I don't think this person is actually dead." But others were just inklings that a certain situation would play out a certain way. Maybe that makes the movie a little too predictable, but it kinda helps to be a Star Wars fan and to pay attention.
The events of the film are kicked off by getting intel from a spy in the First Order. I had my suspicions of who it would be... it's kinda hilarious when their identity is revealed and how that's handled.
Grade: A+
(I really can't take too much away from this movie. It's practically perfect... if you're a Star Wars fan who likes everything tied up in a nice bow)
Theater Commentary
Now for some bits about the movies... we decided not to Fandango it because the movie had been out for at least a week. Maybe we should have. We were close to the front of the screen, row C in fact... so we had our heads kinked back to try to get the whole picture. There were a couple of warnings abound about there being strobe lighting that could cause seizures from this movie... there was nothing that intense. Possibly the lightning that comes from the Emperor's lair, but I can't think of much else.
There was barely anyone in the theater, but come 10 minutes to "movie time"-- it was nearly filled. Pretty impressive. There was one hilarious moment where the movie was finally starting and a guy nearby was like "oh, holy sh**", as if completely surprised the movie was finally starting. He had a good point.
Ok... so let me break it down...
the movie time we signed in for was 10:35... the trailers didn't start until 10:41... the movie itself didn't start until 11:07...
I mean, WHAT THE HELL? Granted, a movie like this was worth the wait... but considering that it takes half an hour to get to the theater, we sit through 100's of commercials in the meantime and most movies run over 2 hours... you use up an entire day just for a trip to the movies. It's ridiculous and it isn't necessary.
Also- 10 trailers?! That's insane. Were any of the movies good? ...yeah, there were some that I'll definitely need to see.
But that's not the point...
Coming Attractions
Free Guy
Geesh... Ryan Reynolds has been freaking everywhere since he became Deadpool. I mean, we just saw him yesterday doing the voiceover for Pikachu in "Detective Pikachu" (yeah, I've got some thoughts for that too- just as a Pokémon fan going on 20 years).
I don't know if this movie is supposed to be Grand Theft Auto or an ode to video games... it starts with everyone doing what they're supposed to be doing, but then he decides to play hero and he enters another world. Not sure where it's going to lead, though
Dolittle
Yeah, this will be my first movie of next year. Anything to shake off the funk leftover from Endgame... I have not seen anything with RDJ since that movie... but it looks interesting. I'm just glad it's not going to be a remake of the Rex Harrision musical. They're taking the idea of a person who talks to animals to new heights.
I gotta say that they're doing a bang-up job on Twitter promoting this. There was a 2 minute promo where they were auditioning the animals portraying iconic movie scenes with RDJ (without the British accent) giving feedback. It's hilarous!
Tenet
The star of this movie is John David Washington, Denzel's son. I'd gotten to know him as Ricky Jared from "Ballers"... maybe it's that Denzel swag, but no matter how rotten his character could be at points, I could never bring myself to write him off. All this time later, I can't remember much about this trailer, but supposedly he gets ushered into another realm called "The Afterlife" and it's an action movie. It's also directed by Christopher Nolan, so it might have some similarites to Inception.
Top Gun: Maverick
During "Noovie," they had a brief moment where they were talking about the new air-based technology they were going to use for the pilot sequences in this movie. So it makes sense that it was going to be part of this brigade of trailers. And it lookes IMPRESSIVE. I mean, it'll probably conjure up a lot of nostalgia for the fans of the original (and yeah I'm one of them), but it should be interesting to see how Maverick does as a Top Gun instructor. The fact Miles Teller will be part of it as Goose's son, that's going to make things very interesting. Unfortunately, the trailer doesn't give us a lot to go on as far what happens in the story.
Wonder Woman 84
Wonder Woman is back... and she's going to be kicking butt in the 80's... that and the fact her love interest, Steve, is mysteriously back from the dead... I don't have much more to go on. But cuz I love anything 80's, I'm game for anything!
Barb And Star Go To Vista Del Mar
I honestly don't know what the hell this is supposed to be... it's a teaser trailer that's oddly self-depracating. There's one line where they joke about sitting through 45 minutes of movie trailers and how they sometimes do that and leave right after... makes me wonder how many people are tempted to do that...
But I feel like these are characters we should be aware of, but I'd never heard of them before. It could be completely hilarious, but I don't have a lot to go on.
1917
I guess they're really pushing this movie. Cuz it's R-rated and they're showing a trailer for it in a theater that might include children. Granted, there's nothing R-rated in the trailer or anything over the top. But it's kinda nuts how much they're pushing this movie. On the other hand, people are saying it's supposed to be one of the best WWI movies ever made and how there aren't many about The Great War... WWII steals its thunder about as much as Vietnam does from Korea
Black Widow
FINALLY this movie is happening... and it looks like it's gonna be AMAZING. Natasha is going back to face her past and we get to meet her family. I just hope we got more flashbacks like we did during Age of Ultron to go more into her backstory because I don't know a lot. Her sister seems like she's as much a bad-ass as she is... but I just hope she doesn't wind up being her enemy the way they did with "The Girl In the Spider's Web"... I still feel ripped off that Lisbeth was nothing like "Black Widow" cuz I thought that's what I was signing up for. (That's the first and last time I'm ever watching a Dragon Tattoo movie. That and I can't stand it when a character has to constantly fight back in constraining situations)
Onward
I went into this Pixar movie before... I have no interest in seeing it, so I won't go any futher.
Mulan
Dang, this looks impressive... at the same time, I have problems... Shun Yu has a female assassin assisting him? Mulan has a younger sister? This movie is already about female empowerment, they don't need to overdo it. I mean, wasn't China back in those days about the 1 child policy? It also looks like Shun Yu's cohort shapeshifts into his falcon- if so, that wouldn't be so bad.
But it looks like Mulan isn't going to be a klutz and there's no sign of Mushu... the movie has some light comedic moments amid the drama... are they just taking that out completely?
I'm still going to go see it cuz I gotta, but still... It's one thing to try to be more historically accurate, but it's another to shove an agenda down our throats because that's what is "in" right now.
...speaking of that, they did have a moment in Star Wars where there was a kiss between two females after the end of the final battle that got edited out in some foreign countries... first of all, shame of them for still being in the Dark Ages about these things. And second, to me, it wasn't too over the top. It was just one small part of the whole picture.
Showing posts with label Oscar Isaac. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oscar Isaac. Show all posts
Sunday, December 29, 2019
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Theatrical Review: The Addams Family
Date: Sunday October 20 2019
Time: 11:30am
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)
Directors: Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon
Writers: Matt Lieberman and Charles Addams (based on his characters)
Composers: Jeff and Mychael Danna (not often we see 2 composers in one movie... although Frozen had husband/wife songwriters)
Cast:
Gomez- Oscar Isaac
Morticia- Charlize Theron
Wednesday- Chloe Grace Moretz
Pugsley- Finn Wolfhard
Lurch- Conrad Vernon
Uncle Fester- Nick Kroll
Margaux Needler -Allison Janney
Parker Needler- Elsie Fisher
Duration: minutes (96 minutes +7 trailers)
Coming Attractions
Arctic Dogs
Jeremy Renner plays the lead character, a fox who wants to deliver packages like the dogs (or was it wolves?) that deliver the mail. It's kinda cool that he's doing the lead and it's animated. Something a little different from the Avengers movies where he's rarely in the lead role.
Playing with Fire
Yeah, this movie again... John Cena and a few firefighters look after some kids and things happen. There was one comment someone made in the movie about kids being kids or whatever... and I'm thinking "most kids aren't this precocious or crazy" so it's not exactly realistic. They're just over the top for this movie becaue that's what these movies are like.
Playmobil the movie
Somebody is after the Lego movie money... there's something about a secret agent that uses 2 civillians to help him. The secret agent is Daniel Radcliffe... like seriously? That's crazy :P But that's not gonna make me see this movie.
Spies in Disguise
Will Smith is the spy, Tom Holland (Spider-Man) is his geeky assistant. And the spy turns into a pigeon to go incognito... yeah, okay...
Trolls: World Tour
I didn't see the first Trolls movie, so I don't really care too much about this one. (That Justin Timberlake song still annoys me... actually all of his songs since he went solo... I really don't care for him). The idea is that the world is full of different music and someone wants to collect the guitar strings so they can destroy them and only rock music prevails. It's an interesting concept that I almost bought into... then they introduced a hip-hop troll... I don't consider hip-hop music (I only support real music by real musicians... but I do disgree on that from time to time... I'm a sucker for a good pop song, assuming it's not played to death on the radio), so I'm immediately thinking "ok, that movie's ruined for me"
Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway
OMG... why does this movie need a sequel? The first one wasn't even reviewed that well. Heck, some parents wanted it pulled from theaters because there's a scene where an aggressive food allergy is used for comedy and they were afraid of it giving children bad ideas.
Peter Rabbit is part of my childhood, but as much as I like James Corden, I hate what he's done to this character. Or the writers really... making him like this pompous celebrity...
Frozen 2
Of all the trailers, this is the only movie I really want to see. But even though this was the first proper trailer we've gotten, it has me a little nervous. I loved the original movie and the dynamic with Anna and Elsa. But it looks like it's a little darker than the original. There's an enchanted forest that doesn't let anyone in or out and there's a plot point where Anna is told that magic comes with temptation and she might lose Elsa to it. Then again, the Snow Queen was originally a villain, so maybe that's what they're going for.
Once Upon a Time did a REALLY good follow-up to this story when they brought these characters into the show. The actresses were so good. Especially the one who played Elsa. And they talked about how their parents found the gloves to conceal her powers and that her aunt had the ice powers as well.
Opening Comments
I usually start writing these with a time/place/people plus the cast and trailers, but I actually wrote this part first. I spend so much time on the other things that it's ages before I get to the movie.
The theater was mostly full and it was the good audience. Not just for a couple laughs, but when the finger snaps came in (you'll know when ;) ), it's such a cool effect hearing everyone doing it. Except I didn't because I liked to sit back and marvel at the phenomenon.
One negative that kinda tarnished overall experience a bit was that some parents brought little kids that were either crying or couldn't sit still. Oddly enough, it kinda worked in this movie because it added to the spooky atmosphere of the castle, but after a while, it got annoying. No kids should go to the movies until they can sit still for 90 minutes. I didn't go to my first movie until I was 6 because my dad knew I was mature enough to handle it.
I'm not super familiar with this series myself other than some character names and how a bunch of people have said Morticia and Gomez are the best couple because they love each other so much. The other day, I actually watched Nostalgia Critic (man I haven't seen his videos in ages... now I'm getting old cuz that was only 10 years ago and I was in college when I watched his stuff a lot) and he did top 11 best strange couples and they were at the top. I didn't recognize many of the couples, but that really made sense as #1.
Overall, the translation of the characters to screen and animation was great. It really suited them well and the new actors did a good job bringing them to life. Gotta say how nice it was for Oscar Isaac to do Gomez cuz he doesn't get a lot of these family-friendly accessible roles. Charlize Theron as Morticia and Chloe Grace Moretz as Wednesday, they were spot on (as Gordon Ramsey would say). In the end, the movie is about family and how strong their bond is and even though things aren't always perfect, they somehow make it work.
The premise is that the couple moves to New Jersey (omg, the cheers in the audience are awesome, haha) to get away from the torches and pitchforks. And they live on a house on a hill away from the nearest town. And they've stayed there for 13 years without being noticed.
You know what happens after that... eventually someone notices and the plot starts moving.
It seems like all animated movies now are a bit smarter because they're trying to teach something as well as entertain. The kids watching might not pick it up, but surely the adults will. The "villain" is played by Allison Janney (again, great casting choice, you can't picture anyone else doing this once you've seen this movie). Margaux Needler is the host of a home makeover show where she's helped create this town. I think it's called Assimilation... yeah, real subtle. And unbeknownest to the people in town, she'd rigged all of their homes with hidden cameras. Social media also plays a huge role and it's a lot scarier than everyone thinks that Addams family is. As great a platform as it is in reality, it has the propensity to create a mob mentality if a post is shared hitting all the right pressure points and it upsets enough people. It's to the point you can't state an opinion without fear of being jumped on because so many people with louder voices disagree with. That's why I stick to the topics I do on Twitter and avoid everything else best I can.
So this woman finds out about the Addams and she spouts lies about them that everyone instantly believes and metaphoric torches and pitchforks get involved.
At the same time, the Addams children are having some growing pains. Wednesday finds about the outside world and wants to be part of it despite Morticia being protective. And Pugsley needs to do a traditional sword ceremony as a rite of passage to manhood and he kinda lacks the talent for it. But he does have talents in other areas and when that acceptence finally arrives, it's the best thing. Especially because it comes into play in the final action scene of the movie.
Seeing Wednesday integrate into the local junior high is kinda crazy, but she earns some friends with her sheningians. One of them is Parker, whose mom is the crazy home makeover lady. Parker is kinda into the social media thing too, but she wants to be an Instagram influencer or something. She even gets a goth makeover and tries to make that her new persona.
But again, we learn something. Being yourself is more important than trying to fit in and be like everyone else. And nothing beats family, which is the biggest part of this movie. All of us to a degree can relate to that, I think. All of our families have their quirks. Not as kooky as the Addams family, of course, but as much as they embarass us or they might not get our hobbies, they still love us.
The set designs were also great with the great contrast between the castle and Assimilation. After spending so much time in the castle, it kinda burns your eyes to see anything with color. I had a similiar thing happen with Sweeny Todd where we get to "By the Sea" where there's so much color popping up. It's crazy when it initially happens, but it's crazy to think how much we get accustomed to one set of stimuli and the different is staggering.
Some of my favorite little bits of the movie was some of the unorthodox kooky things about the Addams. Wednesday creeping on her parents. One scene where Morticia wanted to do tea and a seance in the garden with Wednesday and she gets her parents to come in on the crystal ball by dialing them on a Ouija board... omg, I loved that so much. It wasn't even that long of a scene, but I just found that fascinating. The Ouija board has been fuel for so many jokes and horror movies that it's nice to see it in a tamer capacity.
Lurch is great because we see his softer side. He loves this organ and among the books he has hanging around, I noticed one that mentioned 80's organ songs.
And Fester is the quirkiest of them all... but also the victim of some sheninigans, but he's so used to it that he doesn't seem to care.
So overall a really good adaptation... but maybe a little too much emphasis on social media. There aren't many scenes, but as much as I appreciate how it was used, I don't like the aspect of mob mentality... especially when the people involved don't have all the facts. I'd say lemmings would be a perfect way to describe them, but someone in the movie beat me to it ;)
Grade: B+
Time: 11:30am
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)
Directors: Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon
Writers: Matt Lieberman and Charles Addams (based on his characters)
Composers: Jeff and Mychael Danna (not often we see 2 composers in one movie... although Frozen had husband/wife songwriters)
Cast:
Gomez- Oscar Isaac
Morticia- Charlize Theron
Wednesday- Chloe Grace Moretz
Pugsley- Finn Wolfhard
Lurch- Conrad Vernon
Uncle Fester- Nick Kroll
Margaux Needler -Allison Janney
Parker Needler- Elsie Fisher
Duration: minutes (96 minutes +7 trailers)
Coming Attractions
Arctic Dogs
Jeremy Renner plays the lead character, a fox who wants to deliver packages like the dogs (or was it wolves?) that deliver the mail. It's kinda cool that he's doing the lead and it's animated. Something a little different from the Avengers movies where he's rarely in the lead role.
Playing with Fire
Yeah, this movie again... John Cena and a few firefighters look after some kids and things happen. There was one comment someone made in the movie about kids being kids or whatever... and I'm thinking "most kids aren't this precocious or crazy" so it's not exactly realistic. They're just over the top for this movie becaue that's what these movies are like.
Playmobil the movie
Somebody is after the Lego movie money... there's something about a secret agent that uses 2 civillians to help him. The secret agent is Daniel Radcliffe... like seriously? That's crazy :P But that's not gonna make me see this movie.
Spies in Disguise
Will Smith is the spy, Tom Holland (Spider-Man) is his geeky assistant. And the spy turns into a pigeon to go incognito... yeah, okay...
Trolls: World Tour
I didn't see the first Trolls movie, so I don't really care too much about this one. (That Justin Timberlake song still annoys me... actually all of his songs since he went solo... I really don't care for him). The idea is that the world is full of different music and someone wants to collect the guitar strings so they can destroy them and only rock music prevails. It's an interesting concept that I almost bought into... then they introduced a hip-hop troll... I don't consider hip-hop music (I only support real music by real musicians... but I do disgree on that from time to time... I'm a sucker for a good pop song, assuming it's not played to death on the radio), so I'm immediately thinking "ok, that movie's ruined for me"
Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway
OMG... why does this movie need a sequel? The first one wasn't even reviewed that well. Heck, some parents wanted it pulled from theaters because there's a scene where an aggressive food allergy is used for comedy and they were afraid of it giving children bad ideas.
Peter Rabbit is part of my childhood, but as much as I like James Corden, I hate what he's done to this character. Or the writers really... making him like this pompous celebrity...
Frozen 2
Of all the trailers, this is the only movie I really want to see. But even though this was the first proper trailer we've gotten, it has me a little nervous. I loved the original movie and the dynamic with Anna and Elsa. But it looks like it's a little darker than the original. There's an enchanted forest that doesn't let anyone in or out and there's a plot point where Anna is told that magic comes with temptation and she might lose Elsa to it. Then again, the Snow Queen was originally a villain, so maybe that's what they're going for.
Once Upon a Time did a REALLY good follow-up to this story when they brought these characters into the show. The actresses were so good. Especially the one who played Elsa. And they talked about how their parents found the gloves to conceal her powers and that her aunt had the ice powers as well.
Opening Comments
I usually start writing these with a time/place/people plus the cast and trailers, but I actually wrote this part first. I spend so much time on the other things that it's ages before I get to the movie.
The theater was mostly full and it was the good audience. Not just for a couple laughs, but when the finger snaps came in (you'll know when ;) ), it's such a cool effect hearing everyone doing it. Except I didn't because I liked to sit back and marvel at the phenomenon.
One negative that kinda tarnished overall experience a bit was that some parents brought little kids that were either crying or couldn't sit still. Oddly enough, it kinda worked in this movie because it added to the spooky atmosphere of the castle, but after a while, it got annoying. No kids should go to the movies until they can sit still for 90 minutes. I didn't go to my first movie until I was 6 because my dad knew I was mature enough to handle it.
I'm not super familiar with this series myself other than some character names and how a bunch of people have said Morticia and Gomez are the best couple because they love each other so much. The other day, I actually watched Nostalgia Critic (man I haven't seen his videos in ages... now I'm getting old cuz that was only 10 years ago and I was in college when I watched his stuff a lot) and he did top 11 best strange couples and they were at the top. I didn't recognize many of the couples, but that really made sense as #1.
Overall, the translation of the characters to screen and animation was great. It really suited them well and the new actors did a good job bringing them to life. Gotta say how nice it was for Oscar Isaac to do Gomez cuz he doesn't get a lot of these family-friendly accessible roles. Charlize Theron as Morticia and Chloe Grace Moretz as Wednesday, they were spot on (as Gordon Ramsey would say). In the end, the movie is about family and how strong their bond is and even though things aren't always perfect, they somehow make it work.
The premise is that the couple moves to New Jersey (omg, the cheers in the audience are awesome, haha) to get away from the torches and pitchforks. And they live on a house on a hill away from the nearest town. And they've stayed there for 13 years without being noticed.
You know what happens after that... eventually someone notices and the plot starts moving.
It seems like all animated movies now are a bit smarter because they're trying to teach something as well as entertain. The kids watching might not pick it up, but surely the adults will. The "villain" is played by Allison Janney (again, great casting choice, you can't picture anyone else doing this once you've seen this movie). Margaux Needler is the host of a home makeover show where she's helped create this town. I think it's called Assimilation... yeah, real subtle. And unbeknownest to the people in town, she'd rigged all of their homes with hidden cameras. Social media also plays a huge role and it's a lot scarier than everyone thinks that Addams family is. As great a platform as it is in reality, it has the propensity to create a mob mentality if a post is shared hitting all the right pressure points and it upsets enough people. It's to the point you can't state an opinion without fear of being jumped on because so many people with louder voices disagree with. That's why I stick to the topics I do on Twitter and avoid everything else best I can.
So this woman finds out about the Addams and she spouts lies about them that everyone instantly believes and metaphoric torches and pitchforks get involved.
At the same time, the Addams children are having some growing pains. Wednesday finds about the outside world and wants to be part of it despite Morticia being protective. And Pugsley needs to do a traditional sword ceremony as a rite of passage to manhood and he kinda lacks the talent for it. But he does have talents in other areas and when that acceptence finally arrives, it's the best thing. Especially because it comes into play in the final action scene of the movie.
Seeing Wednesday integrate into the local junior high is kinda crazy, but she earns some friends with her sheningians. One of them is Parker, whose mom is the crazy home makeover lady. Parker is kinda into the social media thing too, but she wants to be an Instagram influencer or something. She even gets a goth makeover and tries to make that her new persona.
But again, we learn something. Being yourself is more important than trying to fit in and be like everyone else. And nothing beats family, which is the biggest part of this movie. All of us to a degree can relate to that, I think. All of our families have their quirks. Not as kooky as the Addams family, of course, but as much as they embarass us or they might not get our hobbies, they still love us.
The set designs were also great with the great contrast between the castle and Assimilation. After spending so much time in the castle, it kinda burns your eyes to see anything with color. I had a similiar thing happen with Sweeny Todd where we get to "By the Sea" where there's so much color popping up. It's crazy when it initially happens, but it's crazy to think how much we get accustomed to one set of stimuli and the different is staggering.
Some of my favorite little bits of the movie was some of the unorthodox kooky things about the Addams. Wednesday creeping on her parents. One scene where Morticia wanted to do tea and a seance in the garden with Wednesday and she gets her parents to come in on the crystal ball by dialing them on a Ouija board... omg, I loved that so much. It wasn't even that long of a scene, but I just found that fascinating. The Ouija board has been fuel for so many jokes and horror movies that it's nice to see it in a tamer capacity.
Lurch is great because we see his softer side. He loves this organ and among the books he has hanging around, I noticed one that mentioned 80's organ songs.
And Fester is the quirkiest of them all... but also the victim of some sheninigans, but he's so used to it that he doesn't seem to care.
So overall a really good adaptation... but maybe a little too much emphasis on social media. There aren't many scenes, but as much as I appreciate how it was used, I don't like the aspect of mob mentality... especially when the people involved don't have all the facts. I'd say lemmings would be a perfect way to describe them, but someone in the movie beat me to it ;)
Grade: B+
Saturday, December 16, 2017
[Spoiler-Free] Theatrical Review: Star Wars Episode VIII- The Last Jedi
Date: Saturday December 16 2017
Time: 10am
Location: Cinemark Theater in Stroud Mall
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)
Writer/Director: Rian Johnson
Composer: John Williams
Cast:
Luke Skywalker- Mark Hamill
Princess/General Leia Organa- Carrie Fisher (RIP 2016)
Rey- Daisy Ridley
Kylo Ren- Adam Driver
Poe Dameron- Oscar Isaac
Finn- John Boyega
Rose- Kelly Marie Tran
General Hux- Domhall Gleeson
DJ- Benicio Del Toro
Vice Admiral Holdo- Laura Dern
Duration: 151 minute (+ many trailers... 8)
Opening Remarks
Only a movie like this could get me to downtown Stroudsburg this early on a Saturday. Especially when I was up a little late the night before and I had a harrowing drive home from work cuz people were going 20 miles an hour because of 2 measly inches of snow. :sigh:
Anyway, totally worth it. I definitely didn't want to wait too long because I didn't want to hear any spoilers about this one.
I think the only time I caught any spoilers for a movie was accidentally walking in to see the end of Sherlock 2... almost a year of anticipation ruined cuz I got to the theater too early and I've never gotten over it.
The theater had a few open patches throughout the main stadium seating section, but not many for three people, so we took the back row of the "orchestra" section. Roughly the same area where my mom and I saw The Judge back in 2014.
So yeah, those are two rather blatant RDJ references, but the coincidences just kept popping up. I actually had a dream about him last night where we were talking stuff and we had a nice chat. But when I asked Robert when he was going to do any non-Avenger movies, he was evasive about it. Pretty much said that being in the Marvel movies still feels like the best Halloween ever.
And coincidence again... I saw the trailer for the new Avengers movie for the first time today. Among many others... so many dang trailers! and commercials! This 10am movie wound up becoming an 10:20 movie.
Trailers
Spiderman- Into the Spider-verse
I have no idea what the hell is going on with this one. It's animated. We're following a young black teen Spider-man and we see him talking to who appears to be an older Peter Parker, asking how many there are. Dude, what the hell? Why does there have to be multiple Spider-men? It makes the whole storyline of Peter Parker randomly being bitten by a radioactive spider totally pointless. Because it makes him less special.
Early Man
I saw the movie poster for this by the ladies' room and I was saying how we'll see the trailer in the next couple months. Nope! More like the next couple minutes... it's by the same people behind Wallace & Gromit so we have an all British cast. The Stone Age meets the Bronze age, cavemen vs. Vikings (I think??). And how this tribe of cavemen had this thing of hunting rabbits. But with people like Eddie Redmayne, Timothy Spall and so on in this, how can it not be good?
Every Day
Man, after seeing this trailer, I said "I have to read this book"... I somehow get the feeling that movie won't be quite as good as the book, but it's a really cool idea. And I'm sure that the LGBT crowd will love it too because all kinds of relationships come into place. Basically, it's about a girl and another person who wakes up as a different person every day- and each person happens to be someone that this girl knows. Sometimes they're a guy and sometimes they're a girl and the main girl falls in love with this person's soul. So many possibilities, but one thing is clear- it's going to be a tearjerker at the end and it's going to probably suck, but I'm willing to take that risk.
Jurassic World- Fallen Kingdom
I'm afraid the movie is going to get so hyped that by the time it comes out, it's going to be kinda disappointing. I just know my dad is super excited about it and there are very few movies he gets THIS excited about. The two of us had seen every one of these movies in the theater, so that tradition will for sure continue.
The story here seems to be that the island is going to be destroyed by a volcano eruption and Owen and Claire have to try to save all the dinosaurs. Lots of crap happens and we have an Ian Malcolm cameo where he says his most famous line from the original movie "Life will find a way." Well, we shall see, won't we?
Rampage
Yikes, they're hyping up this Dwayne Johnson movie as much as San Andreas and it's probably just as doomed to fail. It's kinda like Mighty Joe Young meets King Kong meets genetic engineering and we have to save a city from being taken over by mutant animals.
Samson
It takes place in 1170 BC in Israel and it's about the Biblical figure infamous for his hair. No idea how this is going to turn out, but at quick glance (and it was a very short quick trailer), they may finally do a Biblical movie where people can't complain about it being whitewashed. If anything, the next movie demonstrates that movies are more diverse than they've ever been
A Wrinkle in Time
I'd heard this movie was coming because Oprah Winfrey and Mindy Kaling are among the cast members. I know it's based on the Madeline L'Engle children's book (which I've never read). It looks a lot more epic than the book entails. It's about this girl whose dad is with NASA and he supposedly disappears and she may discover where he's really been this whole time. The visual effects look amazing and I have no idea what is going on. Maybe with more time and more promotion from the large cast of characters, it'll become more clear
Avengers: The Infinity War
This really was the last trailer they showed- I'm not slotting it last for any special emphasis. But yeah, I think Thanos is coming to Earth looking for the other infinity stones to put on his gauntlets. The Vision has a stone on his forehead and it may be taken away from him. I see Loki, I see Doctor Strange, Black Widow is blonde for some stupid reason (dude, this character is a redhead, you can't bloody change that!)... and maybe Captain America has been off the radar for a while because they seem to be welcoming him back kinda how Superman was welcomed back in the Justice League movie, except Steve Rogers grew his hair out a bit.
Seriously, it looks like EVERYONE in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to be here and lots of crap is going to happen. There isn't much dialogue, more narration, so I don't know what's going on. I just know there were only a couple of Tony Stark/Iron-Man screenshots and when he's out of his armor, Tony just looks lost and confused like his PTSD from Iron-Man 3 is coming back and he can't handle it.
I mean, I'd almost welcome him being killed off because I'm dying for Robert to do some other projects... even though I'm kinda over Tony Stark, it would still be sad to lose him.
Ok, I'm done. Now for...
The Main Event
In a nutshell- Episode VII was about finding Luke Skywalker and the Resistance rebels destroying yet another version of the Death Star.
This movie, Episode VIII is about the aftermath of the former and the Resistance fighting to survive to fight another day while being actively pursued by the First Order.
The way this movie was put together, it almost felt like the subsequent Star Wars movies after the original. The crew is split apart and we're following 3 different groups of characters.
We have Rey on that far-off planet trying to convince Luke Skywalker to rejoin the Rebellion (or in this case, The Resistance) and she's also having several via-the-Force conversations with Kylo Ren.
We have Finn and his new comrade Rose, who are going to another planet to find a code-breaker to help disengage the tracking device that's allowing the First Order to pursue Resistance ships.
And we have Poe Dameron trying by all means necessary to buy them the time to do so.
Of course, we also have a few scenes where we're following the bad guys. General Hux and Supreme Ruler Snoke (who we get to see "in the flesh" in this movie... opposed to a hologram in the previous installment)... but we really care more about the good guys, right?
So, I had one wish for this movie after seeing the previous one... GIVE OSCAR ISAAC MORE SCREEN TIME... the previous movie had him either in the cock pilot or simply M.I.A. after his ship crashed on Jakku (good on him lobbying with J.J. Abrams to not kill off his character and they basically rewrote the movie because of him... after seeing him play a couple of not-so-nice roles, I was really glad what they gave him here).
And boy was my wish granted... couldn't be happier.
The guy is pretty reckless as a pilot, but damn, he's so good at what he does. Of course, that does land him in hot water with authority, but characters like him are always great when they're done by charismatic actors like him. Some pretty hilarious moments. But the best part was where Leia and her Vice Admiral mutually agree about him in their last scene together.. I wish I remembered the exact dialogue, but it was pretty much saying how much of a rebel he is, but despite that, they like him.
Kylo Ren still has a bit of a temper on him and that does come into play. (Particularly in the last battle scene- one of the best scenes in the movie by far and I'm sure people are already talking heaps about it). But we also get to see more of that vulnerable side of him that's conflicted. He and Rey have these odd conversations that randomly start happening, where she learns what happened to him and Luke's Jedi Temple and there seems to be a chance they'll be allies. How things go down, though, it's hard to predict. Even going into the final movie, I don't know how it's going to go and that's kinda exciting.
Some people who saw the last movie complained about him not being threatening because we see him without the mask. Supreme Ruler Snook actually has a bit of dialogue a lot of those people could agree with... don't bother with the helmet because he comes off as (again, I can't remember the exact dialogue) a child wearing a mask.
Domhall Gleeson (son of British acting great Brenden Gleeson) returns as the First Order general, so full of snark, but it's kinda funny how his authority gets undermined throughout this movie. Each person gives him their unique dose of that.
Former Storm Trooper Finn finds a new partner in Rose, whose sister was involved in the big battle scene at the beginning of the movie. She's a new character and in some ways, the heart of the movie. She and her sister came from the very same planet the two of them are visiting to find the code-breaker and we learn how they came from some sad circumstances where they were basically weapons test subjects as children. She's a prime example of why things need to change in the world, why the Resistance exists in the first place. The code-breaker they wind up meeting is played by Benicio Del Toro and like with many of the characters he plays (although I only have his Bond villain to go by personally), you never really know what to expect. Either way, it makes things interesting.
Going by the Empire Strikes Back, I was sure this movie would have a cliff-hanger ending. Throughout the final battle scene (where the Resistance evacuates to another planet with an abandoned rebel base), there were at least 3 moments where I thought the movie would end and I was oddly ok with that. But the way it does, it's not a cliff-hanger, but we are still left wondering how the hell the good guys are going to completely defeat the bad guys.
But in the same fashion as Once Upon a Time (a show I'd been meaning to do a write-up on because I decided last season was my final season. I want nothing to do with it without Emma Swan and certainly not after the previous season finale broke my heart a million times), you always have to have hope...
I'm not giving anything major away, but Luke Skywalker does get involved (with everything that's happened, why wouldn't he?) and it is absolutely epic.
The movie is extremely character-driven and you kinda need to care about these characters to be invested. While it stays true to the mythology of the original trilogy, there are moments of humor that have a modern feel to them. Meaning that they are a little over the top and obvious and sometimes they're self-deprecating.
But this audience really enjoyed this movie. There were laughs at the right times. A couple moments had some cheering because a character got what they deserved. There was even a moment where the movie went dead silent and I heard people making some random comments throughout it, so into it. And of course, we all clapped at the end, because, why wouldn't we? Ultimately, it's movies like this that are the reason why the theater experience exists and why it will never go. Nor should it.
Grade: A
(You can't beat the original and never will... but this was better put than the previous one, which I enjoyed, but there were areas where I thought it could be better. With this one, I have a feeling I'm just going to be finding new things every time I watch it. And sometimes, that's the best part of revisiting movies, other than seeing old friends again)
Time: 10am
Location: Cinemark Theater in Stroud Mall
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)
Writer/Director: Rian Johnson
Composer: John Williams
Cast:
Luke Skywalker- Mark Hamill
Princess/General Leia Organa- Carrie Fisher (RIP 2016)
Rey- Daisy Ridley
Kylo Ren- Adam Driver
Poe Dameron- Oscar Isaac
Finn- John Boyega
Rose- Kelly Marie Tran
General Hux- Domhall Gleeson
DJ- Benicio Del Toro
Vice Admiral Holdo- Laura Dern
Duration: 151 minute (+ many trailers... 8)
Opening Remarks
Only a movie like this could get me to downtown Stroudsburg this early on a Saturday. Especially when I was up a little late the night before and I had a harrowing drive home from work cuz people were going 20 miles an hour because of 2 measly inches of snow. :sigh:
Anyway, totally worth it. I definitely didn't want to wait too long because I didn't want to hear any spoilers about this one.
I think the only time I caught any spoilers for a movie was accidentally walking in to see the end of Sherlock 2... almost a year of anticipation ruined cuz I got to the theater too early and I've never gotten over it.
The theater had a few open patches throughout the main stadium seating section, but not many for three people, so we took the back row of the "orchestra" section. Roughly the same area where my mom and I saw The Judge back in 2014.
So yeah, those are two rather blatant RDJ references, but the coincidences just kept popping up. I actually had a dream about him last night where we were talking stuff and we had a nice chat. But when I asked Robert when he was going to do any non-Avenger movies, he was evasive about it. Pretty much said that being in the Marvel movies still feels like the best Halloween ever.
And coincidence again... I saw the trailer for the new Avengers movie for the first time today. Among many others... so many dang trailers! and commercials! This 10am movie wound up becoming an 10:20 movie.
Trailers
Spiderman- Into the Spider-verse
I have no idea what the hell is going on with this one. It's animated. We're following a young black teen Spider-man and we see him talking to who appears to be an older Peter Parker, asking how many there are. Dude, what the hell? Why does there have to be multiple Spider-men? It makes the whole storyline of Peter Parker randomly being bitten by a radioactive spider totally pointless. Because it makes him less special.
Early Man
I saw the movie poster for this by the ladies' room and I was saying how we'll see the trailer in the next couple months. Nope! More like the next couple minutes... it's by the same people behind Wallace & Gromit so we have an all British cast. The Stone Age meets the Bronze age, cavemen vs. Vikings (I think??). And how this tribe of cavemen had this thing of hunting rabbits. But with people like Eddie Redmayne, Timothy Spall and so on in this, how can it not be good?
Every Day
Man, after seeing this trailer, I said "I have to read this book"... I somehow get the feeling that movie won't be quite as good as the book, but it's a really cool idea. And I'm sure that the LGBT crowd will love it too because all kinds of relationships come into place. Basically, it's about a girl and another person who wakes up as a different person every day- and each person happens to be someone that this girl knows. Sometimes they're a guy and sometimes they're a girl and the main girl falls in love with this person's soul. So many possibilities, but one thing is clear- it's going to be a tearjerker at the end and it's going to probably suck, but I'm willing to take that risk.
Jurassic World- Fallen Kingdom
I'm afraid the movie is going to get so hyped that by the time it comes out, it's going to be kinda disappointing. I just know my dad is super excited about it and there are very few movies he gets THIS excited about. The two of us had seen every one of these movies in the theater, so that tradition will for sure continue.
The story here seems to be that the island is going to be destroyed by a volcano eruption and Owen and Claire have to try to save all the dinosaurs. Lots of crap happens and we have an Ian Malcolm cameo where he says his most famous line from the original movie "Life will find a way." Well, we shall see, won't we?
Rampage
Yikes, they're hyping up this Dwayne Johnson movie as much as San Andreas and it's probably just as doomed to fail. It's kinda like Mighty Joe Young meets King Kong meets genetic engineering and we have to save a city from being taken over by mutant animals.
Samson
It takes place in 1170 BC in Israel and it's about the Biblical figure infamous for his hair. No idea how this is going to turn out, but at quick glance (and it was a very short quick trailer), they may finally do a Biblical movie where people can't complain about it being whitewashed. If anything, the next movie demonstrates that movies are more diverse than they've ever been
A Wrinkle in Time
I'd heard this movie was coming because Oprah Winfrey and Mindy Kaling are among the cast members. I know it's based on the Madeline L'Engle children's book (which I've never read). It looks a lot more epic than the book entails. It's about this girl whose dad is with NASA and he supposedly disappears and she may discover where he's really been this whole time. The visual effects look amazing and I have no idea what is going on. Maybe with more time and more promotion from the large cast of characters, it'll become more clear
Avengers: The Infinity War
This really was the last trailer they showed- I'm not slotting it last for any special emphasis. But yeah, I think Thanos is coming to Earth looking for the other infinity stones to put on his gauntlets. The Vision has a stone on his forehead and it may be taken away from him. I see Loki, I see Doctor Strange, Black Widow is blonde for some stupid reason (dude, this character is a redhead, you can't bloody change that!)... and maybe Captain America has been off the radar for a while because they seem to be welcoming him back kinda how Superman was welcomed back in the Justice League movie, except Steve Rogers grew his hair out a bit.
Seriously, it looks like EVERYONE in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to be here and lots of crap is going to happen. There isn't much dialogue, more narration, so I don't know what's going on. I just know there were only a couple of Tony Stark/Iron-Man screenshots and when he's out of his armor, Tony just looks lost and confused like his PTSD from Iron-Man 3 is coming back and he can't handle it.
I mean, I'd almost welcome him being killed off because I'm dying for Robert to do some other projects... even though I'm kinda over Tony Stark, it would still be sad to lose him.
Ok, I'm done. Now for...
The Main Event
In a nutshell- Episode VII was about finding Luke Skywalker and the Resistance rebels destroying yet another version of the Death Star.
This movie, Episode VIII is about the aftermath of the former and the Resistance fighting to survive to fight another day while being actively pursued by the First Order.
The way this movie was put together, it almost felt like the subsequent Star Wars movies after the original. The crew is split apart and we're following 3 different groups of characters.
We have Rey on that far-off planet trying to convince Luke Skywalker to rejoin the Rebellion (or in this case, The Resistance) and she's also having several via-the-Force conversations with Kylo Ren.
We have Finn and his new comrade Rose, who are going to another planet to find a code-breaker to help disengage the tracking device that's allowing the First Order to pursue Resistance ships.
And we have Poe Dameron trying by all means necessary to buy them the time to do so.
Of course, we also have a few scenes where we're following the bad guys. General Hux and Supreme Ruler Snoke (who we get to see "in the flesh" in this movie... opposed to a hologram in the previous installment)... but we really care more about the good guys, right?
So, I had one wish for this movie after seeing the previous one... GIVE OSCAR ISAAC MORE SCREEN TIME... the previous movie had him either in the cock pilot or simply M.I.A. after his ship crashed on Jakku (good on him lobbying with J.J. Abrams to not kill off his character and they basically rewrote the movie because of him... after seeing him play a couple of not-so-nice roles, I was really glad what they gave him here).
And boy was my wish granted... couldn't be happier.
The guy is pretty reckless as a pilot, but damn, he's so good at what he does. Of course, that does land him in hot water with authority, but characters like him are always great when they're done by charismatic actors like him. Some pretty hilarious moments. But the best part was where Leia and her Vice Admiral mutually agree about him in their last scene together.. I wish I remembered the exact dialogue, but it was pretty much saying how much of a rebel he is, but despite that, they like him.
Kylo Ren still has a bit of a temper on him and that does come into play. (Particularly in the last battle scene- one of the best scenes in the movie by far and I'm sure people are already talking heaps about it). But we also get to see more of that vulnerable side of him that's conflicted. He and Rey have these odd conversations that randomly start happening, where she learns what happened to him and Luke's Jedi Temple and there seems to be a chance they'll be allies. How things go down, though, it's hard to predict. Even going into the final movie, I don't know how it's going to go and that's kinda exciting.
Some people who saw the last movie complained about him not being threatening because we see him without the mask. Supreme Ruler Snook actually has a bit of dialogue a lot of those people could agree with... don't bother with the helmet because he comes off as (again, I can't remember the exact dialogue) a child wearing a mask.
Domhall Gleeson (son of British acting great Brenden Gleeson) returns as the First Order general, so full of snark, but it's kinda funny how his authority gets undermined throughout this movie. Each person gives him their unique dose of that.
Former Storm Trooper Finn finds a new partner in Rose, whose sister was involved in the big battle scene at the beginning of the movie. She's a new character and in some ways, the heart of the movie. She and her sister came from the very same planet the two of them are visiting to find the code-breaker and we learn how they came from some sad circumstances where they were basically weapons test subjects as children. She's a prime example of why things need to change in the world, why the Resistance exists in the first place. The code-breaker they wind up meeting is played by Benicio Del Toro and like with many of the characters he plays (although I only have his Bond villain to go by personally), you never really know what to expect. Either way, it makes things interesting.
Going by the Empire Strikes Back, I was sure this movie would have a cliff-hanger ending. Throughout the final battle scene (where the Resistance evacuates to another planet with an abandoned rebel base), there were at least 3 moments where I thought the movie would end and I was oddly ok with that. But the way it does, it's not a cliff-hanger, but we are still left wondering how the hell the good guys are going to completely defeat the bad guys.
But in the same fashion as Once Upon a Time (a show I'd been meaning to do a write-up on because I decided last season was my final season. I want nothing to do with it without Emma Swan and certainly not after the previous season finale broke my heart a million times), you always have to have hope...
I'm not giving anything major away, but Luke Skywalker does get involved (with everything that's happened, why wouldn't he?) and it is absolutely epic.
The movie is extremely character-driven and you kinda need to care about these characters to be invested. While it stays true to the mythology of the original trilogy, there are moments of humor that have a modern feel to them. Meaning that they are a little over the top and obvious and sometimes they're self-deprecating.
But this audience really enjoyed this movie. There were laughs at the right times. A couple moments had some cheering because a character got what they deserved. There was even a moment where the movie went dead silent and I heard people making some random comments throughout it, so into it. And of course, we all clapped at the end, because, why wouldn't we? Ultimately, it's movies like this that are the reason why the theater experience exists and why it will never go. Nor should it.
Grade: A
(You can't beat the original and never will... but this was better put than the previous one, which I enjoyed, but there were areas where I thought it could be better. With this one, I have a feeling I'm just going to be finding new things every time I watch it. And sometimes, that's the best part of revisiting movies, other than seeing old friends again)
Sunday, December 27, 2015
[Spoiler Free] Theatrical Review: Star Wars Episode VII- The Force Awakens
Date: Friday December 18 2015
Time: 11am
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Party: 3 (my sister, mom and I)
Duration: 136 minutes (+ 6 trailers)
Director: J.J. Abrams
Writers: J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, Michael Arndt
Composer: John Williams
Cast:
Rey- Daisy Ridley
Finn- John Boyega
Poe Dameron- Oscar Isaac
Kylo Ren- Adam Driver
Han Solo- Harrison Ford
Maz Kanata- Lupita Nyong'o
Former Princess, now General Leia- Carrie Fisher
Luke Skywalker- Mark Hamill
Opening Remarks and Trailers:
It wasn't my intention to see the movie the day it came out... but I also didn't want to wait too long. God forbid there are a couple nerds that plaster social media with spoilers and break the non-verbal contract of non-posting for a couple weeks after its release...
There was a small line in front of the box office, namely because it didn't open until 15 minutes before the start time. The theater was half-full, not super crowded by the time the movie started. Most arrived during the previews.
And leave it to the BIG movies where they have multiple previews.
1) we walked in at the end of "Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass"- we saw it a couple movies ago for the first time
2) "Allegiant"- I'm going to keep asking until I see it- why do we need two movies for this final book?
3) "Captain America: Civil War"- oy, the tension in the room [in the trailer itself] on this one... right now, I can see this from both sides. it's also a good thing that RDJ is booked for two more Avengers movies because it wasn't looking good for Iron-Man with that Captain America/Winter Soldier tag team.
4) "X-Men: Apocalypse"- this is the final X-men movie in this franchise, I think, and they're pulling out all the stops. Oscar Isaac is in this one as well, but other than his voice [not iconic yet], there was no sign of him. It definitely looks like an end-game type of story that explains how Professor Xavier went bald, but like the way he became paralyzed in this franchise, I'm not completely on board.
5) Another "Batman v Superman" trailer, but different than the same damn one I'd been complaining about these last several reviews. Disappointed because Ben Affleck seems to be doing that stupid Bat-voice Christian Bale ruined the character with... Excited to see Wonder Woman get in the action and about the possibility all three can come together to defeat a common enemy
The final preview- for Disney's "Zootopia" elicited a groan from me. But there was a scene that so hilariously fit how I was feeling at the time that all was forgiven :P It involves sloths at the DMV...
Review:
The subtitle really should be "reawakens" but that would be a little too pretentious and self-aware...
I had a literal "Fan Boys" moment when the words "a long time ago in a galaxy far far away..." appeared on the screen... then the movie and the text crawl...
Basically, it brought us up to speed on what we can expect from the state of the galaxy, which, appeasing the nervous Luke Skywalker fangirls, includes him.
Going in, I didn't go through the trouble of dissecting all of the interviews and trailers. But thanks to one particular picture, I actually guessed one plot point involving Poe Dameron (new hot-shot X-wing pilot played by Oscar Isaac) and Finn (John Boyega) a storm-trooper who's gone rouge.
An unlikely collaboration with some great action-packed results.
Right away, I really liked all of the new characters and the actors who portrayed them. Unless he gets saddled with a traitorous storyline in a future sequel that's of Lando Calarissan proportions, Oscar Isaac doesn't need to worry about people not liking Poe Dameron.
The only real downside is that he has the least screentime of the three new core cast members. And the majority of his scenes are in the X-wing cockpit. For me, that's about as satisfying as having RDJ in the Iron-Man suit-- occasionally, you see his face, but he's not the one doing all the acting.
But that's just me personal nit-picking...
Daisy Ridley plays Rey, a scavenger who lives on the planet Jakku (think desert planet Tatooine, but with one less sun). You thought Princess Leia was a strong female character. You thought Luke Skywalker was a reluctant hero. She's the combination of these two archetypes and does it amazingly. Assuming she does more in her acting career than this franchise, she's going to be the biggest new star to come out of it.
Finn gives us a perspective that we probably didn't think to explore until he presented us with the opportunity. How does one come a storm trooper? What makes them tick? Do they have any free will? And is it possible one to stop being a storm trooper?
His greatest highlights come from how he interacts with the other characters. Also finding out whether he will be able to rise to the occasion when he's in the trenches- either on the ground or manning the guns on a spacecraft. For anyone who hasn't seen a Star Wars movie before, he's the one that can be identified with the most because they're discovering their way through this crazy fictional world together, basically.
In one trailer, which was basically cast interviews on set, there was a lot of talk about doing these trilogy right. It would have real sets and rely much less on CGI.
There are also a lot of elements in the storyline, dialogue and otherwise that harken back to the original franchise. Particularly the notion Rey and Finn wind up with the task integral to fulfilling the plot. And along the way they do run into Han Solo and Chewbecca, which of course is awesome itself.
As for the First Order, which is the new wave of storm troopers and enemy forces, we find our new mega villain known as the Snoke- who is particularly this giant ugly CGI character being played by Andy Serkis, a new general (Domnhall Gleeson is kinda like Peter Cushing's character in the first Star Wars movie except he has ginger hair), a female storm trooper platoon leader (never see her face, but we hear her- she's Finn's former commander). And of course we have our main villain Kylo Ren, who probably carries the most spoilers of anybody so I can't say all that much. But there's one aspect of his personality that generates one of the movie's funniest moments-- probably the closest the theater came to breaking out in full hilarity.
Another character I hope to see more in the future sequels is played by Lupita Nyong'o. She's another motion-capture role, so we see her expressions and her voice in a different body. I wouldn't exactly say she's like another Yoda, but she is wise and helpful to our protagonists.
Beyond that- the movie plays out really well from start to finish. There's a lot of great laughs and gripping action sequences- some where we were holding our breath. There are plenty of twists as well as room for sequels. There's a lot of potential with these new characters the way they're written. As a big fan of the series in general, all the hype leading up to this was met and I can't wait for more.
Heck, my mom wants to see it in 3D- which I probably won't be up for unless we can bring in someone else who hadn't seen it with us the first time.
One day later, she had a talk with my sister because she gave away a big spoiler from the movie at a workplace Christmas party... yeah, unfortunately, it's probably not the kind of movie you can talk about in full for awhile.
But it seriously should have been considered one of the best movies of the year.
I hadn't seen the Mad Max movie from this year. One of my aunts saw it and said it was great. But the reviews overall are uneven, so I cannot trust it be given "best movie of the year"- certainly not by IMDB. They're great with trivia, but their ratings system isn't idiot proof...
But yeah, this Star Wars movie has to be one of the best movies this year. Definitely the best movie I saw this year... which probably suggests that it was a sucky year for movies... more on that in a future entry.
Grade: A+
Time: 11am
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Party: 3 (my sister, mom and I)
Duration: 136 minutes (+ 6 trailers)
Director: J.J. Abrams
Writers: J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, Michael Arndt
Composer: John Williams
Cast:
Rey- Daisy Ridley
Finn- John Boyega
Poe Dameron- Oscar Isaac
Kylo Ren- Adam Driver
Han Solo- Harrison Ford
Maz Kanata- Lupita Nyong'o
Former Princess, now General Leia- Carrie Fisher
Luke Skywalker- Mark Hamill
Opening Remarks and Trailers:
It wasn't my intention to see the movie the day it came out... but I also didn't want to wait too long. God forbid there are a couple nerds that plaster social media with spoilers and break the non-verbal contract of non-posting for a couple weeks after its release...
There was a small line in front of the box office, namely because it didn't open until 15 minutes before the start time. The theater was half-full, not super crowded by the time the movie started. Most arrived during the previews.
And leave it to the BIG movies where they have multiple previews.
1) we walked in at the end of "Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass"- we saw it a couple movies ago for the first time
2) "Allegiant"- I'm going to keep asking until I see it- why do we need two movies for this final book?
3) "Captain America: Civil War"- oy, the tension in the room [in the trailer itself] on this one... right now, I can see this from both sides. it's also a good thing that RDJ is booked for two more Avengers movies because it wasn't looking good for Iron-Man with that Captain America/Winter Soldier tag team.
4) "X-Men: Apocalypse"- this is the final X-men movie in this franchise, I think, and they're pulling out all the stops. Oscar Isaac is in this one as well, but other than his voice [not iconic yet], there was no sign of him. It definitely looks like an end-game type of story that explains how Professor Xavier went bald, but like the way he became paralyzed in this franchise, I'm not completely on board.
5) Another "Batman v Superman" trailer, but different than the same damn one I'd been complaining about these last several reviews. Disappointed because Ben Affleck seems to be doing that stupid Bat-voice Christian Bale ruined the character with... Excited to see Wonder Woman get in the action and about the possibility all three can come together to defeat a common enemy
The final preview- for Disney's "Zootopia" elicited a groan from me. But there was a scene that so hilariously fit how I was feeling at the time that all was forgiven :P It involves sloths at the DMV...
Review:
The subtitle really should be "reawakens" but that would be a little too pretentious and self-aware...
I had a literal "Fan Boys" moment when the words "a long time ago in a galaxy far far away..." appeared on the screen... then the movie and the text crawl...
Basically, it brought us up to speed on what we can expect from the state of the galaxy, which, appeasing the nervous Luke Skywalker fangirls, includes him.
Going in, I didn't go through the trouble of dissecting all of the interviews and trailers. But thanks to one particular picture, I actually guessed one plot point involving Poe Dameron (new hot-shot X-wing pilot played by Oscar Isaac) and Finn (John Boyega) a storm-trooper who's gone rouge.
An unlikely collaboration with some great action-packed results.
Right away, I really liked all of the new characters and the actors who portrayed them. Unless he gets saddled with a traitorous storyline in a future sequel that's of Lando Calarissan proportions, Oscar Isaac doesn't need to worry about people not liking Poe Dameron.
The only real downside is that he has the least screentime of the three new core cast members. And the majority of his scenes are in the X-wing cockpit. For me, that's about as satisfying as having RDJ in the Iron-Man suit-- occasionally, you see his face, but he's not the one doing all the acting.
But that's just me personal nit-picking...
Daisy Ridley plays Rey, a scavenger who lives on the planet Jakku (think desert planet Tatooine, but with one less sun). You thought Princess Leia was a strong female character. You thought Luke Skywalker was a reluctant hero. She's the combination of these two archetypes and does it amazingly. Assuming she does more in her acting career than this franchise, she's going to be the biggest new star to come out of it.
Finn gives us a perspective that we probably didn't think to explore until he presented us with the opportunity. How does one come a storm trooper? What makes them tick? Do they have any free will? And is it possible one to stop being a storm trooper?
His greatest highlights come from how he interacts with the other characters. Also finding out whether he will be able to rise to the occasion when he's in the trenches- either on the ground or manning the guns on a spacecraft. For anyone who hasn't seen a Star Wars movie before, he's the one that can be identified with the most because they're discovering their way through this crazy fictional world together, basically.
In one trailer, which was basically cast interviews on set, there was a lot of talk about doing these trilogy right. It would have real sets and rely much less on CGI.
There are also a lot of elements in the storyline, dialogue and otherwise that harken back to the original franchise. Particularly the notion Rey and Finn wind up with the task integral to fulfilling the plot. And along the way they do run into Han Solo and Chewbecca, which of course is awesome itself.
As for the First Order, which is the new wave of storm troopers and enemy forces, we find our new mega villain known as the Snoke- who is particularly this giant ugly CGI character being played by Andy Serkis, a new general (Domnhall Gleeson is kinda like Peter Cushing's character in the first Star Wars movie except he has ginger hair), a female storm trooper platoon leader (never see her face, but we hear her- she's Finn's former commander). And of course we have our main villain Kylo Ren, who probably carries the most spoilers of anybody so I can't say all that much. But there's one aspect of his personality that generates one of the movie's funniest moments-- probably the closest the theater came to breaking out in full hilarity.
Another character I hope to see more in the future sequels is played by Lupita Nyong'o. She's another motion-capture role, so we see her expressions and her voice in a different body. I wouldn't exactly say she's like another Yoda, but she is wise and helpful to our protagonists.
Beyond that- the movie plays out really well from start to finish. There's a lot of great laughs and gripping action sequences- some where we were holding our breath. There are plenty of twists as well as room for sequels. There's a lot of potential with these new characters the way they're written. As a big fan of the series in general, all the hype leading up to this was met and I can't wait for more.
Heck, my mom wants to see it in 3D- which I probably won't be up for unless we can bring in someone else who hadn't seen it with us the first time.
One day later, she had a talk with my sister because she gave away a big spoiler from the movie at a workplace Christmas party... yeah, unfortunately, it's probably not the kind of movie you can talk about in full for awhile.
But it seriously should have been considered one of the best movies of the year.
I hadn't seen the Mad Max movie from this year. One of my aunts saw it and said it was great. But the reviews overall are uneven, so I cannot trust it be given "best movie of the year"- certainly not by IMDB. They're great with trivia, but their ratings system isn't idiot proof...
But yeah, this Star Wars movie has to be one of the best movies this year. Definitely the best movie I saw this year... which probably suggests that it was a sucky year for movies... more on that in a future entry.
Grade: A+
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
http://moviegoerconfessions.blogspot.com/2015/09/show-me-hero-starring-oscar-isaac.html
["Show Me a Hero"- HBO mini-series]
As I kinda promised in my previous entry... here's another Oscar Isaac movie... I planned on seeing this at least another time so I could get something of an entry together.
A Word about the Filmmakers
The Coen brothers are among those stylistic filmmakers and directors. In 2011-2012, when I was getting to know different unique writer/director types, I got to know them as well as Oliver Stone [other than the "Wall Street" movies, I find his work numbing and/or depressing, not my type of movies] and David Fincher [Zodiac was decent, didn't care for Fight Club, loved The Social Network]. And of course Tarantino... loved Inglorious Basterds and Pulp Fiction, but not Reservoir Dogs or Django Unchained...
Ethan & Joel [Coen] bring their own style to the table and you either love it or hate. I didn't care much for their treatment of "True Grit"... but I'd only just seen the original and it was my first John Wayne movie. A lot of people say John Wayne is basically playing himself [or every other character he's played] in "True Grit"... but I'd never seen any of his movies, so I had no idea.
I also need to rewatch "The Big Lebowski" because I bought it for $10 without ever seeing it before... whenever I do, I'll try to get an entry together on that as well. Since it's another love/hate movie.
I oddly enjoyed "Fargo" and "Burn After Reading"... very strange movies, but I liked them. There was a death in "Burn After Reading" that came out so out of left field that I just laughed my ass off... kinda like the kill-shot scene in "Pulp Fiction."
I've found with certain directors that their movies either deal with the same subject matter, they have similarly paced dialogue or the color palettes are consistent.
So I guess you could say that their reliance on dim lighting and blues and grays help cast this movie in a dark depressing image. Although you can tell from the dialogue alone that not everything is sunshine and daisies.
The Story of Llewyn Davis
As far as I can tell from my research, Llewyn Davis wasn't a real person, but bits of him were based on the memoir of another Greenwich Village folk singer, Dave Van Ronk. The only similarities I saw was that he "bummed around" and was involved with the Merchant Marine.
There was a point in the movie where he was giving up on music and wanted to return to the Merchant Marine, but by some mistake, his pilot's license wound up in the trash and he couldn't afford to reapply for it after he'd paid his dues to his union.
Within the first 10-15 minutes of the movie, we gather that Llewyn Davis is a guitar-playing folk singer who sleeps on his friends' coaches and he isn't the most pleasant person in the world.
He was part of a duo who had a couple albums to their name, but after his partner, Mike, killed himself, he's trying to sell himself as a solo act. A venture that doesn't go quite as well as he'd like.
But that's basically what the movie is about. We get to know Llewyn Davis from his music and how he interacts with the people he meets.
The Notables
First things first, there's a lot of music and singing in this movie. A lot of folk music. A couple of Llewyn Davis songs are heard multiple times and they aren't bad. Mainly because Oscar Isaac has a really good voice. Unlike what a couple people tell him, I do find him engaging and pleasant to listen to.
It's when other people sing when my brain kinda switches off and I really could care less. Folk music isn't my thing... like with country music, you either love it or hate it. [Well, that's not entirely true: I enjoy Taylor Swift, Cassadee Pope and Carrie Underwood and a little Martina McBride, but the majority of the genre, I can't particularly care for as much as pop music].
There's one musical number "Please Mr. Kennedy," which is a three-way performance between Llewyn Davis, some dude in a black cowboy hat and Justin Timberlake... yeah, I don't blame Llewyn for wanting to go solo. It's hard to go back to doing harmonies after losing your long-time partner.
I'd read a few people theorize that the cat that Llewyn travels with for some of the movie is a metaphor for how he's carrying Mike's loss with him... I honestly don't know or care if the cat has that kind of significance or not.
What I do gather is that he stays one night at a friend's house, their cat gets out and the door locks behind him before he can bring it back. He keeps it in his apartment, opens the fire escape for some random reason and it escapes. Later he finds it again and brings it back... only it's not the same cat.
"This is not our cat... it's not even male. Where's its scrotum?"
[I'm sorry, I had to laugh at that... it's not as if he did something with it]
And I made a comment to myself about how well behaved it was... apparently it was a nightmare to work with and Oscar Isaac actually hates them and got an infection from a cat bite.
He should have gotten a Golden Globe just for convincing us that he was okay with this one cat :P because I couldn't tell that. But McConaughey was really good in "Dallas Buyers Club" that year...
I didn't bother with a cast list for this movie simply because I only recognize a handful of names and not many performances were particularly memorable.
There is Carey Mulligan (like Scarlet Johansson, she's very talented, but I often don't recognize her right away because she has a different look in everything I've seen her in) who plays his ex-girlfriend Jean.
But really, I remembered her because she was very hostile towards Llewyn. Supposedly she got knocked up and want to get an abortion because of the mere possibility that Llewyn could be the father... she cusses him out and comments that everything he touches turns to shit "like King Midas's idiot brother." He takes these punches as they come and even says he'll pay for it... then when he goes to pay, he finds that it's free because the last one he paid for never took place.
Yeah, he is kind of unpleasant. It'd make sense why his last girlfriend didn't tell him that she went through with the pregnancy.
Oddly enough, when he hitches a ride to Chicago to see what someone in the record business thought of his record, one of the fellow passengers (who happens to be played by John Goodman... I swear, it feels like this dude's in every movie... I liked it better when he did voiceovers) winds up being even more unpleasant than he is.
Like I said in a previous entry, he's a flawed protagonist in this movie... he's a good person who just wants to forge a career for himself... but isn't the greatest people-person in the world.
I'll also add... even though it's probably glaringly obvious... I probably wouldn't have seen this movie at all or stuck through it if Oscar Isaac wasn't playing the main role. The movie wouldn't be on my radar if not for him.
It does drag in places... a lot of places... but he has an intriguing enough presence on screen that I'm compelled to stay with it for the duration.
Other than the pacing and the folk music (outside of his solo numbers), the other gross negative... the ending is kind of abrupt and nothing is really resolved.
Except that the cat (whose name is Ulysses... go figure) does find its way back to his friends' house.
["Show Me a Hero"- HBO mini-series]
As I kinda promised in my previous entry... here's another Oscar Isaac movie... I planned on seeing this at least another time so I could get something of an entry together.
A Word about the Filmmakers
The Coen brothers are among those stylistic filmmakers and directors. In 2011-2012, when I was getting to know different unique writer/director types, I got to know them as well as Oliver Stone [other than the "Wall Street" movies, I find his work numbing and/or depressing, not my type of movies] and David Fincher [Zodiac was decent, didn't care for Fight Club, loved The Social Network]. And of course Tarantino... loved Inglorious Basterds and Pulp Fiction, but not Reservoir Dogs or Django Unchained...
Ethan & Joel [Coen] bring their own style to the table and you either love it or hate. I didn't care much for their treatment of "True Grit"... but I'd only just seen the original and it was my first John Wayne movie. A lot of people say John Wayne is basically playing himself [or every other character he's played] in "True Grit"... but I'd never seen any of his movies, so I had no idea.
I also need to rewatch "The Big Lebowski" because I bought it for $10 without ever seeing it before... whenever I do, I'll try to get an entry together on that as well. Since it's another love/hate movie.
I oddly enjoyed "Fargo" and "Burn After Reading"... very strange movies, but I liked them. There was a death in "Burn After Reading" that came out so out of left field that I just laughed my ass off... kinda like the kill-shot scene in "Pulp Fiction."
I've found with certain directors that their movies either deal with the same subject matter, they have similarly paced dialogue or the color palettes are consistent.
So I guess you could say that their reliance on dim lighting and blues and grays help cast this movie in a dark depressing image. Although you can tell from the dialogue alone that not everything is sunshine and daisies.
The Story of Llewyn Davis
As far as I can tell from my research, Llewyn Davis wasn't a real person, but bits of him were based on the memoir of another Greenwich Village folk singer, Dave Van Ronk. The only similarities I saw was that he "bummed around" and was involved with the Merchant Marine.
There was a point in the movie where he was giving up on music and wanted to return to the Merchant Marine, but by some mistake, his pilot's license wound up in the trash and he couldn't afford to reapply for it after he'd paid his dues to his union.
Within the first 10-15 minutes of the movie, we gather that Llewyn Davis is a guitar-playing folk singer who sleeps on his friends' coaches and he isn't the most pleasant person in the world.
He was part of a duo who had a couple albums to their name, but after his partner, Mike, killed himself, he's trying to sell himself as a solo act. A venture that doesn't go quite as well as he'd like.
But that's basically what the movie is about. We get to know Llewyn Davis from his music and how he interacts with the people he meets.
The Notables
First things first, there's a lot of music and singing in this movie. A lot of folk music. A couple of Llewyn Davis songs are heard multiple times and they aren't bad. Mainly because Oscar Isaac has a really good voice. Unlike what a couple people tell him, I do find him engaging and pleasant to listen to.
It's when other people sing when my brain kinda switches off and I really could care less. Folk music isn't my thing... like with country music, you either love it or hate it. [Well, that's not entirely true: I enjoy Taylor Swift, Cassadee Pope and Carrie Underwood and a little Martina McBride, but the majority of the genre, I can't particularly care for as much as pop music].
There's one musical number "Please Mr. Kennedy," which is a three-way performance between Llewyn Davis, some dude in a black cowboy hat and Justin Timberlake... yeah, I don't blame Llewyn for wanting to go solo. It's hard to go back to doing harmonies after losing your long-time partner.
I'd read a few people theorize that the cat that Llewyn travels with for some of the movie is a metaphor for how he's carrying Mike's loss with him... I honestly don't know or care if the cat has that kind of significance or not.
What I do gather is that he stays one night at a friend's house, their cat gets out and the door locks behind him before he can bring it back. He keeps it in his apartment, opens the fire escape for some random reason and it escapes. Later he finds it again and brings it back... only it's not the same cat.
"This is not our cat... it's not even male. Where's its scrotum?"
[I'm sorry, I had to laugh at that... it's not as if he did something with it]
And I made a comment to myself about how well behaved it was... apparently it was a nightmare to work with and Oscar Isaac actually hates them and got an infection from a cat bite.
He should have gotten a Golden Globe just for convincing us that he was okay with this one cat :P because I couldn't tell that. But McConaughey was really good in "Dallas Buyers Club" that year...
I didn't bother with a cast list for this movie simply because I only recognize a handful of names and not many performances were particularly memorable.
There is Carey Mulligan (like Scarlet Johansson, she's very talented, but I often don't recognize her right away because she has a different look in everything I've seen her in) who plays his ex-girlfriend Jean.
But really, I remembered her because she was very hostile towards Llewyn. Supposedly she got knocked up and want to get an abortion because of the mere possibility that Llewyn could be the father... she cusses him out and comments that everything he touches turns to shit "like King Midas's idiot brother." He takes these punches as they come and even says he'll pay for it... then when he goes to pay, he finds that it's free because the last one he paid for never took place.
Yeah, he is kind of unpleasant. It'd make sense why his last girlfriend didn't tell him that she went through with the pregnancy.
Oddly enough, when he hitches a ride to Chicago to see what someone in the record business thought of his record, one of the fellow passengers (who happens to be played by John Goodman... I swear, it feels like this dude's in every movie... I liked it better when he did voiceovers) winds up being even more unpleasant than he is.
Like I said in a previous entry, he's a flawed protagonist in this movie... he's a good person who just wants to forge a career for himself... but isn't the greatest people-person in the world.
I'll also add... even though it's probably glaringly obvious... I probably wouldn't have seen this movie at all or stuck through it if Oscar Isaac wasn't playing the main role. The movie wouldn't be on my radar if not for him.
It does drag in places... a lot of places... but he has an intriguing enough presence on screen that I'm compelled to stay with it for the duration.
Other than the pacing and the folk music (outside of his solo numbers), the other gross negative... the ending is kind of abrupt and nothing is really resolved.
Except that the cat (whose name is Ulysses... go figure) does find its way back to his friends' house.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
"Show Me a Hero" starring Oscar Isaac
http://nerdist.com/nerdist-podcast-oscar-isaac/
I'm finally getting around to writing this and this link contributed to that procrastination :P
I first came across Oscar Isaac in "SuckerPunch"
http://moviegoerconfessions.blogspot.com/2013/12/49-sucker-punch-2011.html
Oddly enough when I reread my discussion of this movie, I didn't discuss him at all. But I had a lot of other items to address that required more importance.
I don't know if it hit me right away or it slowly sunk in after I saw this movie a dozen times... but Oscar Isaac played such a good bad guy in this. I mean, there was a major ick factor with him with the way he exploits these girls for monetary gain and just being in control of his operation. When he posed a threat, he was terrifying and I mean TERRIFYING. I mean, if the role had called for his distinct look, he could have played a good Christian Grey. He certainly had that control freak thing down really well.
The next time I saw him was in "Inside Llewyn Davis," which I'll probably post a review for the next time I see it. It was an oddly fascinating performance for him. And not just because he was playing a good guy. A very flawed one, but he's not the villain.
Whether he has a very menacing presence on screen or not, I am drawn to him.
When I heard that he went to Juilliard for acting [and graduated], I wasn't surprised at all. I've heard "Ex Machina" was one of this year's better movies and because of him, I considered seeing it, but just didn't get to the theater within that small time frame.
His next big project is, of course, the new Star Wars film. And I cannot wait for that. Right now, I'm just hoping he's a rebel that stays a rebel... although, like I said, he's a really good villain.
I came across the trailer for "Show Me a Hero" somewhere on Twitter a couple weeks ago. Even though I had no background on the story and I'm not big on politics, I knew I'd be treated to another great Oscar Isaac performance.
First I'll lead in saying that this guy needs to win a Golden Globe for this performance. Never mind being nominated, he needs to WIN.
The 6-part HBO mini-series ended this week. I did a quick Wikipedia search on Nick Wasicsko to see at a glimpse how true it was and maybe get some answers about how it all ended as it did.
I can keep up with fast-paced dialogue pretty well, but when lots of political stuff gets thrown in, my brain tends to switch off so I thought a little got lost in translation. It turns out that I had a fair grasp of it, but it still didn't make complete sense to me how it all went down. Given how it was all represented.
The story takes place in Yonkers, New York in the late 80's and early 90's. The hot button issue is the building of low-income public housing. Yonkers had segregated all the minorities [mainly blacks and Hispanics] to one side of town and the housing would be built on the white side of town. Naturally, the townspeople were not happy about Judge Leonard Sands' plan because they fear the minorities would bring down property values along with drug and crime activity.
Nick Wasicsko ran for Mayor on the platform that he would oppose the housing, but ultimately changed his mind and would send the majority of his term getting the other politicians on the city council to change their minds. The housing either had to be approved or the already poor town would be fined into bankruptcy.
In more ways than one, this mini-series got the Hollywood treatment. The actors were better looking than the actual people the characters were based on. That much was expected. It was a little disappointing to read after the fact that the actual person didn't do this for the right thing, but rather he was forced into doing what became the right thing.
Sometimes it's easier just to believe the lie...
Half the time of the series was spent with Nick Wasicsko and the other was spent with a bunch of different stories within the minority community.
Another thing about this set-up I didn't get: why do they insist on allowing the public into these court proceedings if they're just going to yell and complain the entire time? It was amazing the city council got anything done... of course they didn't for a while.
Catherine Keener [who I didn't recognize at first] plays a woman maybe 20-30 years older than she is. She's one of the most vocal opposers of the public housing, but in the final two parts, she comes around. In true Hollywood fashion, I kinda saw that coming, but it was just a matter of when that would be.
There wasn't as much of Nick Wasicsko in the final two parts of the series. After he loses the re-election, it seems like he's only concerned about getting back into politics. I understand part of it was to see the housing plan through. But after that... I mean, it was just one failed political run after another. He got a city council seat, but wasn't able to do much with it. Wikipedia said he practiced and taught law and hosted a local radio talk show. But we didn't see any of that. We just skipped to the 90's where he went back to politics.
I don't pretend to understand politics. I get that the lifestyle can be addicting if you don't know what else you're really good for or you're used to having power.
This was around the point where a lot of it was going over my head and I just saw that he was just becoming unlikable. He was butting heads with people he used to be friends with just to get ahead... only to fail.
What helped turn it around for me was a scene where he goes to the pubic housing to ask how everyone likes it. A lot of doors get slammed in his face. The only one who didn't was, of course, the older blind woman. Not a lot was said in this exchange, but it was a nice moment. One of the few instances where we see him interact with any of the other characters.
Throughout the series, he'd visit his father's grave in Oakland Cemetary. Wasicsko Sr. died in 1985, a few years before his son became Mayor. These were always such poignant scenes where he takes a few moments to himself to get his head straight. There didn't even have to be dialogue for it to carry impact.
By the end of it, I did enjoy my time with it. I know a lot of people will come after it by saying it's bleeding heart liberal agenda trying to tell us to give minorities a chance and so on. It's a hot topic, even now.
In a lot of ways, it did remind me of "Freedom Writers." Of course because it dealt with the issue of the races integrating into one society and getting along. At least that story had some notable success to it that wasn't all staged to tell a good Hollywood underdog story.
According to the after credits, there were some success stories that came out of the Yonkers low-income public housing matter, which finally resolved in 2007.
I can understand both sides of the issue, but ultimately believe that both sides shouldn't be so quick to judge and assume the worst in each other.
I'm finally getting around to writing this and this link contributed to that procrastination :P
I first came across Oscar Isaac in "SuckerPunch"
http://moviegoerconfessions.blogspot.com/2013/12/49-sucker-punch-2011.html
Oddly enough when I reread my discussion of this movie, I didn't discuss him at all. But I had a lot of other items to address that required more importance.
I don't know if it hit me right away or it slowly sunk in after I saw this movie a dozen times... but Oscar Isaac played such a good bad guy in this. I mean, there was a major ick factor with him with the way he exploits these girls for monetary gain and just being in control of his operation. When he posed a threat, he was terrifying and I mean TERRIFYING. I mean, if the role had called for his distinct look, he could have played a good Christian Grey. He certainly had that control freak thing down really well.
The next time I saw him was in "Inside Llewyn Davis," which I'll probably post a review for the next time I see it. It was an oddly fascinating performance for him. And not just because he was playing a good guy. A very flawed one, but he's not the villain.
Whether he has a very menacing presence on screen or not, I am drawn to him.
When I heard that he went to Juilliard for acting [and graduated], I wasn't surprised at all. I've heard "Ex Machina" was one of this year's better movies and because of him, I considered seeing it, but just didn't get to the theater within that small time frame.
His next big project is, of course, the new Star Wars film. And I cannot wait for that. Right now, I'm just hoping he's a rebel that stays a rebel... although, like I said, he's a really good villain.
I came across the trailer for "Show Me a Hero" somewhere on Twitter a couple weeks ago. Even though I had no background on the story and I'm not big on politics, I knew I'd be treated to another great Oscar Isaac performance.
First I'll lead in saying that this guy needs to win a Golden Globe for this performance. Never mind being nominated, he needs to WIN.
The 6-part HBO mini-series ended this week. I did a quick Wikipedia search on Nick Wasicsko to see at a glimpse how true it was and maybe get some answers about how it all ended as it did.
I can keep up with fast-paced dialogue pretty well, but when lots of political stuff gets thrown in, my brain tends to switch off so I thought a little got lost in translation. It turns out that I had a fair grasp of it, but it still didn't make complete sense to me how it all went down. Given how it was all represented.
The story takes place in Yonkers, New York in the late 80's and early 90's. The hot button issue is the building of low-income public housing. Yonkers had segregated all the minorities [mainly blacks and Hispanics] to one side of town and the housing would be built on the white side of town. Naturally, the townspeople were not happy about Judge Leonard Sands' plan because they fear the minorities would bring down property values along with drug and crime activity.
Nick Wasicsko ran for Mayor on the platform that he would oppose the housing, but ultimately changed his mind and would send the majority of his term getting the other politicians on the city council to change their minds. The housing either had to be approved or the already poor town would be fined into bankruptcy.
In more ways than one, this mini-series got the Hollywood treatment. The actors were better looking than the actual people the characters were based on. That much was expected. It was a little disappointing to read after the fact that the actual person didn't do this for the right thing, but rather he was forced into doing what became the right thing.
Sometimes it's easier just to believe the lie...
Half the time of the series was spent with Nick Wasicsko and the other was spent with a bunch of different stories within the minority community.
- An older woman who becomes legally blind and has had issue getting a caretaker to look after her
- a young woman who has a baby, loses her husband in an accident, becomes addicted to drugs and ultimately turns her life around
- a divorced mother of 2 kids who she picks up at the airport a couple of times during the series and is initially put on the housing waiting list.
- a girl who meets a guy at a party, they have a one-night stand, she gets knocked up and he promises to stick by her so she doesn't get an abortion. He goes on to prove that he's a loser and a criminal... and they have two more kids together.
Another thing about this set-up I didn't get: why do they insist on allowing the public into these court proceedings if they're just going to yell and complain the entire time? It was amazing the city council got anything done... of course they didn't for a while.
Catherine Keener [who I didn't recognize at first] plays a woman maybe 20-30 years older than she is. She's one of the most vocal opposers of the public housing, but in the final two parts, she comes around. In true Hollywood fashion, I kinda saw that coming, but it was just a matter of when that would be.
There wasn't as much of Nick Wasicsko in the final two parts of the series. After he loses the re-election, it seems like he's only concerned about getting back into politics. I understand part of it was to see the housing plan through. But after that... I mean, it was just one failed political run after another. He got a city council seat, but wasn't able to do much with it. Wikipedia said he practiced and taught law and hosted a local radio talk show. But we didn't see any of that. We just skipped to the 90's where he went back to politics.
I don't pretend to understand politics. I get that the lifestyle can be addicting if you don't know what else you're really good for or you're used to having power.
This was around the point where a lot of it was going over my head and I just saw that he was just becoming unlikable. He was butting heads with people he used to be friends with just to get ahead... only to fail.
What helped turn it around for me was a scene where he goes to the pubic housing to ask how everyone likes it. A lot of doors get slammed in his face. The only one who didn't was, of course, the older blind woman. Not a lot was said in this exchange, but it was a nice moment. One of the few instances where we see him interact with any of the other characters.
Throughout the series, he'd visit his father's grave in Oakland Cemetary. Wasicsko Sr. died in 1985, a few years before his son became Mayor. These were always such poignant scenes where he takes a few moments to himself to get his head straight. There didn't even have to be dialogue for it to carry impact.
By the end of it, I did enjoy my time with it. I know a lot of people will come after it by saying it's bleeding heart liberal agenda trying to tell us to give minorities a chance and so on. It's a hot topic, even now.
In a lot of ways, it did remind me of "Freedom Writers." Of course because it dealt with the issue of the races integrating into one society and getting along. At least that story had some notable success to it that wasn't all staged to tell a good Hollywood underdog story.
According to the after credits, there were some success stories that came out of the Yonkers low-income public housing matter, which finally resolved in 2007.
I can understand both sides of the issue, but ultimately believe that both sides shouldn't be so quick to judge and assume the worst in each other.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
49. Sucker Punch (2011)
![Sucker Punch [Blu-ray]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tKJCJH0MkprftDLhFMg-_i0n_p3dZ4xPJDozrgbDfCN9gw0RqryEtlpj98YH1hCXytIYHr6bgRHo6-3TPU5jJougMTPLfzQNHctMr8fhIYRgz-BgCTNHSKRSp-BvjV=s0-d)
Code-name: Bjork
Writer/Director: Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen)
Type: sci-fi/fantasy, girl power, dream-within-a-dream
Cast:
Babydoll- Emily Browning
Sweet Pea- Abbie Cornish
Rocket- Jena Malone
Blondie- Vanessa Hudgens
Amber- Jamie Chung
Blue- Oscar Isaac
Dr. Vera Gorski- Carla Gugino
The High-Roller/Doctor- Jon Hamm
The Wise Man- Scott Glenn
Write-up:
*I tried to keep the spoilers to a minimum in hopes that people who read this entry will see this movie and how it plays out will take their breath away as much as it did mine*
First Impression
I saw this trailer a couple of times throughout 2010. It blew me away so much that I knew I had to keep an eye out for it. I saw it alone, was probably one of a dozen (likely less) people in the theater.
I didn't just love it, something about it really affected me, and it was hard to put into words exactly why. Still is, in fact.
The Plot (at minimum)
The opening sequence sets the stage (pun absolutely intended) for the main story. Babydoll (Emily Browning) and her sister's mother just died. It's *hinted* that their stepfather poisoned her to claim her fortune... until he reads the will and finds she left everything to the girls. In a scuffle, Babydoll accidentally shoots/kills her sister and her stepfather sends her away to the Lennox House for the Mentally Insane. He pays off Blue, one of the orderlies (Oscar Isaac) who arranges, in 5 days' time, for her to receive a lobotomy.
At first, it appears that the movie will be a short-lived one because, one montage later, Babydoll is about to have the procedure done. Then the scene transitions and we see another girl, Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish) facing down the needle. As it turns out, that was something she was acting out on stage until she changed her mind.
The recreational area Blue dubbed "the theater" during Babydoll's arrival and the rest of the institution now appear to be a brothel. Blue is a gangster who runs the place and the girls are sex slaves who "dance" for clients, both in stage productions and in private rooms. They also serve to soften these clients in order for Blue to incur favors. Babydoll starts out on cleaning duty, but when Dr. Gorski (Carla Gugino) asks her to dance to music, she escapes into another world entirely. There, she meets the Wise Man (Scott Glenn) who divulges what she needs on her journey to freedom: a map, fire, a knife, a key and a mystery item.
Throughout the movie, Babydoll and the other girls escape into a number of alternate realities to retrieve these items. Simultaneously, in the brothel, Babydoll is dancing and the other girls are getting the items.
In essence, the brothel is a metaphor for the oppression the girls experienced in the mental institution. and complete with the four alternate reality worlds, it's a dream-within-a-dream type of deal. Like "Inception," but instead of Leo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, we get girls decked out in leather wielding firearms.
The Girls
...considering that last sentence and the fact that Babydoll is wearing a Japanese schoolgirl uniform in these alternate realities, I really thought this would have been a huge hit :-P but more on that later.
Vanessa Hudgens was the only name I recognized going into this. I really identified with Gabriella in "High School Musical"... until the sequels where her character's shyness disappeared. But compared to the other girls, Blondie (Vanessa) and Amber (Jamie Chung, who I've gotten to know as Mulan in "Once Upon a Time") didn't get as much screen time.
I had seen Emily Browning in "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" (good, but not great) and I heard she was Stephenie Meyer's first pick to play Bella in "Twilight"... that would have been really interesting to see.
I saw a glimpse of her at the end of "The Host" earlier this year, but other than that, I probably will always remember her as Babydoll.
(such a cool look, so Japanese) 8-)
Other than her, the girls we get to know the best are Sweet Pea and her sister, Rocket (Jena Malone). I still find it hard to believe she was the same girl in "Step-Mom" because she looked so different. Then again, some poignant make-up, leather and lingerie will do that, not to mention the pixie haircut.
Yes, I am totally girl-crushing over here :-P
While it kinda sucks that Blondie and Amber weren't developed as well, the relationship between Rocket and Sweet Pea, and them with Babydoll is just as much as a part of this picture as Babydoll's own journey. Supposedly, Rocket didn't get along with their parents and run away from home. Sweet Pea followed, despite not having any issues with them. Either way, both ended up at the same place.
The Music and its Escapism
In football, fans who come to home games are often called "the 12th man" on the field. (The Seattle Seahawks are currently reaping those benefits).
In "Sucker Punch," the same could be said for the movie's soundtrack. By no means am I taking anything away from the art direction, costumes (super cool costumes!) and visual effects (in the alternate realities). They imprinted on my mind just as much, but as a music lover, when songs featured in a movie get my heart racing and their vibe commands my attention... I can't help but take notice.
It says a lot when I feel I have to OWN a movie soundtrack. Ironically, this one was reviewed a lot better than its correlating film (the same was said about "Graffiti Bridge," the sorta-sequel of "Purple Rain"). My only gripe is that the songs weren't in movie order, but that's what iTunes is for.
The opening sequence plays out to "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," sung by Emily Browning, which has a very subtle haunting quality to it. It took my breath away and I was in for the long haul.
She also sings "Asleep" (which I now know as a song by The Smiths loved by "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" protagonist Charlie) and duets in "Where is my mind?" with Israeli musician Yoav. Even though the latter first appears second in movie order, I position it last because the momentum shifts in its final minutes. Those final minutes also made a scene towards the end of the movie so much more powerful than it'd be without any music
"Love is the drug" sounded like something David Bowie would perform. In the movie (extended Blu-ray edition only), it's performed by Blue and Dr. Gorski on stage, which segues in and out of a montage of the girls' stage numbers, as well as the ending credits.
What is in order are the songs that Babydoll dances to and, by extension, play while she and the girls are in the alternate realities.
1) "Army of Me" by Bjork
- I was so enthralled by this song that it stayed with me quite some time after it ended. When I think of "Sucker Punch," this is the song that immediately jumps to mind.
- This also happens to be my favorite world in the movie because it was like something out of Japanese animé
- Alternate Reality #1: Feudal Japan in wintertime. The Mission: "Defend Yourself"-- Babydoll fights off three giant stone samurai dressed in armor with a samurai sword and a pistol.
- Unfortunately, on the soundtrack, as the song progresses, Bjork starts screaming, detracting somewhat from the escapism I wish to experience... [then after listening to the original cut, I changed my mind... the final verse doesn't have the same impact without the screaming :P at least not for me]
- Holds its own just as much as its predecessor, something I can't often say
- Alternate Reality #2: World War I but with undead Germans. The Mission: "Get the map from the courier before he can make it to the zeppelin en route to the kaizer"
- sci-fi nerds, specifically cosplayers, might consider the overall look of this level and its inhabitants as "steampunk" (google it, I don't know much about it, but it's kinda fascinating)
- in reality, Sweet Pea is photocopying the map from Blue's office
- Technically, this song plays leading up to Babydoll's next dance. The client is the mayor and he requested Amber to keep him company. She will come away with his lighter
- The critics didn't care for this particular number. I'm not crazy about rap in general, but it does help create the image they're trying to convey: the mayor's like a pimp
- My least favorite of the "alternate reality" songs... most of the time, I gravitated towards the music and paid little attention to the lyrics. In this case, neither stood out to me
- Alternate Reality #3: A castle in shambles overrun by creatures who look suspiciously like Orcs from Middle Earth. The Mission: "Kill a baby dragon and steals the stones out of its throat ("if struck together produce the most brilliant fire you'll ever see")"
- The dragons on this level were pretty cool, Amber and Blondie are in the getaway helicopter with Babydoll, Sweet Pea and Rocket on the ground
- Alternate Reality #4: bullet train en route to a metropolis. The Mission: "disarm the bomb before the train reaches the city" while fighting off android extras from "I, Robot"
- Simultaneously, Babydoll is dancing for the cook (from whom she saved Rocket earlier in the movie) while Rocket keeps him company, hoping to steal his knife without him noticing
Up until this film, I had a thing about unhappy endings, especially if a) I had such a good time and the ending ruined the movie or b) the sad ending made me feel like I wasted 3-4 hours of my life ("Gone with the wind" and "Titanic").
Sadly, "Sucker Punch" doesn't have a happy ending... but I actually decided that I had such a good time with all the above that I didn't care. In an odd sort of way, the ending did work and if desired, I could always revisit in the movie or by listening to its cool music
Why all the hate?
If the IMDB message boards are any indication, "Sucker Punch" has gotten some traction and may gain an underground following in the next couple years.
As a member of my college's animé club (most of which I enjoyed), I really got into the way it was presented. The action sequences reminded me of video games as well as some the series we watched in the club.
Most likely, the dream-within-a-dream motif threw a lot of critics off, feeling as if the pieces didn't quite add up. Others have also expressed displeasure at the way the girls were dressed, as if its only purpose was to turn people on... not quite helping with this movie's goal to empower them. The fact that it involves sex slavery and takes place in a brothel, both wrought with controversy, might also be the reason people had trouble taking it seriously.
Other than keeping an open mind, all I can really say to get people check this movie out is that it just might be geared to a specific audience. You either love it or you hate it. Personally, I think it's geared towards people who frequent Comic-Con and other nerd-infested conventions. :-P
Going Beyond...
Been brainstorming for the past year, but it's still too early for me to give any details... but in some form, this movie is inspiring my latest writing project... along with music from some of my favorite artists, most of which happen to be strong women. Girl Power!
"Oh... and One More Thing"
(the Wise-Man says this leading into his last piece of advice before each mission commences)
For "Mad Men" fans, Jon Hamm has a small role as the doctor Blue hires to do the lobotomy. In the theatrical version, he only had a couple lines, but in the extended Blu-ray edition, he has a 5 minute scene in the brothel setting as "the high roller" who's reportedly paying to take Babydoll's virginity... this is an unexpected gem of a scene, the way things play out...
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