Merry Christmas! This year, I've been watching a lot more untraditional holiday specials and movies, or rediscovering ones I don't watch as much anymore, trying to find new annual favorites, and to break the mundanity of forcing myself to sit down and watch the same holiday films every year. So here's a list of my personal favorite non-traditional holiday watches:
Film:
Joyeux Noel
Die Hard
Lethal Weapon
Black Christmas
Krampus
Silent Night, Deadly Night
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Batman Returns
Edward Scissorhands
TV Episodes/Specials:
"Kegel the Elf" from The League
The Snowman
"Night of the Meek" from The Twilight Zone
"And All Through the House" from Tales from the Crypt
"A Krampus Carol" from The League
"Confrontation" from Wilfred
A Claymation Christmas Celebration
"A Very Venture Christmas" from The Venture Bros.
"Mr. Grumpy-Pants" from Superjail!
Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol
The Cricket on the Hearth
The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold
Ernest Saves Christmas (if you hate yourself)
"A Very Sunny Christmas" from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
"Silent Night" from American Horror Story: Asylum
"Birth" and "Afterbirth" from American Horror Story
"O Holy Moly Night" from F is for Family
Arthur's Perfect Christmas
The Town that Santa Forgot
"Christmas Special" from The League of Gentlemen
The Star Wars Holiday Special (only if you enjoy so-bad-it's-funny specials)
"A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas" from Family Guy
"Road to the North Pole" from Family Guy
"Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" from The Simpsons
"The Fight Before Christmas" from The Simpsons
"Tis the Fifteenth Season" from The Simpsons
"Woodland Critter Christmas" from South Park
"Sabrina's Christmas Wish" from BoJack Horseman
"It's Christmas in Canada!" from South Park
"A Very Crappy Christmas" from South Park
"Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson!" from South Park
"Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" from South Park
"Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics" from South Park
"Red Sleigh Down" from South Park
"HappyHolograms" from South Park
"Black Friday" trilogy from South Park
"A History Channel Thanksgiving" from South Park
"Helen Keller! The Musical" from South Park
"Merry Christmas, Mister Bean" from Mister Bean
"The Draft Dodger" from All in the Family
"Blackadder Christmas Carol" from Blackadder
Friday, December 25, 2015
Saturday, December 19, 2015
Star Wars: The Force Awakens- Perfect example of when hype kills a film
Yesterday, I got to see highly anticipated seventh installment in the revolutionary Star Wars franchise.
Star Wars Episode VII, The Force Awakens:
Since the fall of the Galactic Empire in the original trilogy, Luke Skywalker has retired from his Jedi teaching and gone into hiding. The main heroes have scattered and from the ruins of the Empire has risen the smaller but still mighty First Order, the last remnants of Empire loyalists. To fight this, the Rebel Alliance has evolved into The Resistance to fend off the growing influence of this Order. On the desert planet of Jakku, a scavenger named Rey meets a defective stormtrooper named Finn, who together embark on a journey to join the Resistance to find Luke and defeat the First Order.
In all honesty, I wasn't all that excited when I saw the first teaser trailer last year, as I knew it was coming and it was too far away to be pumped about. But by the time the final trailer rolled out two months ago, I was aboard the hype train like everyone else, eager to see what new breath of fresh air J.J. Abrams could bring to the franchise, perhaps restoring the tarnished reputation left by the prequels. When I saw the film last night, surrounding by drooling fans, I found myself suddenly worried about the film, as anyone would be. When the opening crawl appeared, with John Williams' iconic symphony score rousing at full volume, it was surreal. I was seeing a new Star Wars film-- in a movie theater-- on opening night. Then the opening crawl started. Sure, it seemed like Star Wars type text, but the font seemed a bit off, and the crawl assumed the audience knew about the planets already, but I tried to remind myself that the opening crawl of the originals was kind of basic, too, so I just tried to settle down.
I won't delve into the plot at all (obviously, at least not in this post), but I will say that the story of this was an extreme disappointment. There were at least three major points where I instantly predicted exactly what was about to happen. This was mostly due to the fact that the film was a good 80% fan service. My particular audience ate this up, clapping and cheering blindly merely because they recognize characters from previous films. They even left pauses in the film for the applause. The audience I had seemed to have drunken the collective Disney Kool-Aid before entering because during the previews, which at my theater were all for other Disney-licensed films, they ate everything up, even cheering for The Jungle Book trailer and howling with laughter at the Zootopia trailer, which featured nothing but one joke about how sloths are notoriously slow. I felt like the last sane person in the place, "Am I the only person who can watch things objectively anymore?" The row ahead of my group was full of these fanboys who wouldn't stop rubbing their hands together, eagerly awaiting the next big applause moment when they see something they recognize from previous films.
There was one key character reveal I felt happened far too early in the film and would've been better saved for later. The humor in the film was very grating, Joss Whedon-style humor. I feel like for some reason, people think summer blockbusters need to be either very dark or very funny, no matter how inappropriate either of those things seem for the film. So now Star Wars is packed in with Marvel movie-style jokes in nearly every minute. But that just doesn't feel at all Star Wars to me and I feel it is the thing that will date the movie, as that is just a hip cinema trend right now. If they had restricted themselves to a select few jokes and fan service bits (because some definitely worked better than others), then the film would be better for it by far.
The film lacks a personality of its' own, being a near carbon copy of the basic structure of the original Star Wars, with all of the chemistry and uniqueness sucked away. The main cast were fine actors, but the new actors definitely didn't mesh with the old all that well, especially when the old were so busy delivering fan service it was hard for them to just be invested in the action. A lot of the character relationships feel forced, and while Star Wars wasn't the most depthful film in terms of character arcs, the relationships still felt pretty organic and natural, where here they feel like "Oh, we need the old characters to like these new characters because that's the way it needs to be." There seemed like too many main heroes, to the point where, like in the prequels, it's hard to pinpoint who exactly is our main character, whose is the journey we are following. There are too many character being juggled for a film of this length and scope and too many cameos and too many people cast on name recognition or because they are in popular films and television shows who wind up barely being in the film at all.
The storyline takes far too many hints from the original film, including the main base of the villains, and the three antagonists of this film: General Hux, Kylo Ren, and Supreme Leader Snoke all feel a little too close to Grand Moff Tarkin, Darth Vader, and Emperor Palpatine to really be seen as new characters, though they have minimal changes. Kylo Ren is the villain we spend the most time with, and he is also the least threatening. The trailer smartly left in little footage of him, making him feel mysterious and imposing. In the finished film, his intimidation factor quickly diminishes after the first act, and his entire character motivation actually makes you empathize with him more than fear him, and see him as a tragic villain. Remember, it took three films for Darth Vader to reach the status of tragic villain. We're on film number one and already Ren has had an entire fucking character arc. Where does he even go from here? Look, it's perfectly fine for a main hero to have a shift in character by the end of a film, even if part of a larger story (Hell, Han Solo had that in the original film), but the antagonist, someone we should fear and distrust, should not become mostly empathetic by the end of the first part in a trilogy, especially in a simplistic adventure story like this. The planets featured in this film seem to just be renamed versions of planets we've visited in other films just for the sake of appearing original, when this is just as transparent as the plastic packaging of the toys this movie was created to sell (C-3PO literally is given a red arm so they can have a joke where 3PO mentions it and so they can sell new toys of it). The story also lacks a clear goal. Every film in the original trilogy has a clear and concise goal for our heroes, even if they got sidetracked by other things along the way. These motivations were always clearly explained in the crawl. Star Wars: rescue Princess Leia and blow up Death Star, The Empire Strikes Back: Luke complete Jedi training and Rebels escape Empire, Return of the Jedi: rescue Han Solo and defeat Empire. Even the prequels has fairly clear goals for the heroes, The Phantom Menace: stop Trade Federation from blockading Naboo, Attack of the Clones: investigate Clone Army and stop Separatists, Revenge of the Sith: stop remaining Separatists and investigate Palpatine. In this film, the goal seems to be to find Luke, but then new plotlines appear and suddenly they become the main goal, and then it goes back to finding Luke, leaving the film feeling very unfocused.
The Galactic Empire always had the Nazi imagery prevalent in its' depiction, but here, the imagery feels ridiculously overt. Much like everything else in this film, the charming simplicity of the originals is confused by the writers for excusing beating people over the head with expositions and blatant dialogue. The First Order's symbol also looks oddly reminiscent of the Red Hot Chili Peppers logo.
The mere existence of this film also kind of denotes the happy ending of the original films, and therefore sort of destroys the whole point of the original films. By presenting this idea that the Empire/Sith will always exist in some form kind of makes the Rebellion/Jedi's triumph over them seem pyrrhic and tragically unimportant. Even the title "The Force Awakens" kind of belittles the entire idea of the Force. Now instead of an ever-present force of spiritual energy that anyone can tap into at any time, it is this weird force that comes and goes in intensity depending on the time period. It has to "awaken" when the time is right.
The entire Expanded Universe was scrapped because of this film, something that make me angry considering all the great source material in that EU. They did keep some basic plot elements from later books and comics, but overall retcon that entire line of stories, which creates this odd sort of alternate timeline deal in the Star Wars Universe.
The special effects were excellent, particularly in the choice to have mostly practical effects. The only problem is this oftentime clashes with the more obviously CGI effects. The action sequences were a mixed bag. Rather than building to a large battle at the climax like the original trilogy films always did, with minimal action placed carefully throughout, this film has a lot of smaller action set-pieces, with no big finish that leaves the climax feeling a bit empty. The X-wing battle against Starkiller base (which you see in the trailer, so that's not a spoiler) felt all too familiar and just felt lazy, with no emotional impact whatsoever. The lightsaber duel ditched the flashy and unbelievable acrobatics of the prequels for the more down-to-earth, blunt force approach of the originals, which feels more raw and powerful, so there's a big positive. However, the lightsaber duel lacks the emotional backing that the original duels had. Every lightsaber duel, no matter how brief or awkwardly choreographed, meant something big in the originals. Obi-Wan vs. Darth Vader in the original film signified the end of their entire relationship together, and further cemented Vader's place as a ruthless bad-ass who cuts down his own former friend and master in cold blood. Luke vs. Darth in the second film again cemented Vader as a force to be reckoned with, and showed Luke was not nearly prepared enough to take on a Sith master, and culminated in the biggest and probably most famous twist ending in modern pop culture. Luke vs. Darth in the third and final film shows Luke has grown and mastered his skills, but is still challenged by temptations towards using anger and hatred to win fights, and showed Luke's strength in prevailing over the Dark Side, both in physically defeating Darth, and refusing the Emperor's offer to kill Vader and take his place. Here, it is just bland heroes fight bland villain at end of bland movie for slight resolution.
There is a completely bullshit cliffhanger ending that will disappoint viewers, leaving you wanting more. While some (reviewer Chris Stuckmann, for example) might see this as a positive, I can't say I do. When you leave the theater unsatisfied with the film you got because of a TV show-esque cliffhanger, that's not good filmmaking, that's sacrificing the strength of your story to franchise build (something Disney has gotten really good at with Marvel, and is trying to poison Star Wars with now as well). But, in the same token, there's very little mystery left for the next two films. In trying to satisfy all the abundant fan theories and get those out of the way, the writers and producers seem to have played most of their cards at once, leaving themselves written into a corner for the next two film.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a fine blockbuster film. But that's just it. It feels all too similar to other blockbusters (particularly Guardians of the Galaxy, whose tone should not be that of this film), and lacks the creative magic that made the originals so profound. J.J. Abrams seemed to be caught up in being a fan directing a movie franchise he loves and trying to satisfy other fans like him that he forgot to just a make a good movie, instead trying to pander to fanboys and the Marvel and Pixar-loving masses. It is now oversaturated in the new Disney style, and is just a cash-cow of a film with mild entertainment value. It is almost worse than the prequels in a way, as at least those were so bad they were funny; this is just kind of vanilla. The intense hype is having a similar effect to The Phantom Menace: people are going into denial and saying its' one of the best of the Star Wars movies, but in a few years they'll realize it's not all that great and it will be a fun movie for everyone to rip on. I guess my greatest problem is that it just doesn't feel like a Star Wars movie, even less so than the prequels. After only one film, with all its' fanservice and insane amount of ad tie-ins, I'm kind of over this franchise, just like I'm over all Disney licensed products. I don't wish to see two more of these films from equally under-qualified fan directors (not to knock them for being bad or anything, just not for this type of film). Don't believe the hype. Go in with lowered expectations and you'll probably enjoy it more. Try to avoid crowded theaters with fanboys, as their incessant cheering and clapping at every event in the film became unbearable and frustrating. 6.5/10 stars.
(Image: Wikipedia)
Note: I miss the Drew Struzan posters.
Star Wars Episode VII, The Force Awakens:
Since the fall of the Galactic Empire in the original trilogy, Luke Skywalker has retired from his Jedi teaching and gone into hiding. The main heroes have scattered and from the ruins of the Empire has risen the smaller but still mighty First Order, the last remnants of Empire loyalists. To fight this, the Rebel Alliance has evolved into The Resistance to fend off the growing influence of this Order. On the desert planet of Jakku, a scavenger named Rey meets a defective stormtrooper named Finn, who together embark on a journey to join the Resistance to find Luke and defeat the First Order.
In all honesty, I wasn't all that excited when I saw the first teaser trailer last year, as I knew it was coming and it was too far away to be pumped about. But by the time the final trailer rolled out two months ago, I was aboard the hype train like everyone else, eager to see what new breath of fresh air J.J. Abrams could bring to the franchise, perhaps restoring the tarnished reputation left by the prequels. When I saw the film last night, surrounding by drooling fans, I found myself suddenly worried about the film, as anyone would be. When the opening crawl appeared, with John Williams' iconic symphony score rousing at full volume, it was surreal. I was seeing a new Star Wars film-- in a movie theater-- on opening night. Then the opening crawl started. Sure, it seemed like Star Wars type text, but the font seemed a bit off, and the crawl assumed the audience knew about the planets already, but I tried to remind myself that the opening crawl of the originals was kind of basic, too, so I just tried to settle down.
I won't delve into the plot at all (obviously, at least not in this post), but I will say that the story of this was an extreme disappointment. There were at least three major points where I instantly predicted exactly what was about to happen. This was mostly due to the fact that the film was a good 80% fan service. My particular audience ate this up, clapping and cheering blindly merely because they recognize characters from previous films. They even left pauses in the film for the applause. The audience I had seemed to have drunken the collective Disney Kool-Aid before entering because during the previews, which at my theater were all for other Disney-licensed films, they ate everything up, even cheering for The Jungle Book trailer and howling with laughter at the Zootopia trailer, which featured nothing but one joke about how sloths are notoriously slow. I felt like the last sane person in the place, "Am I the only person who can watch things objectively anymore?" The row ahead of my group was full of these fanboys who wouldn't stop rubbing their hands together, eagerly awaiting the next big applause moment when they see something they recognize from previous films.
There was one key character reveal I felt happened far too early in the film and would've been better saved for later. The humor in the film was very grating, Joss Whedon-style humor. I feel like for some reason, people think summer blockbusters need to be either very dark or very funny, no matter how inappropriate either of those things seem for the film. So now Star Wars is packed in with Marvel movie-style jokes in nearly every minute. But that just doesn't feel at all Star Wars to me and I feel it is the thing that will date the movie, as that is just a hip cinema trend right now. If they had restricted themselves to a select few jokes and fan service bits (because some definitely worked better than others), then the film would be better for it by far.
The film lacks a personality of its' own, being a near carbon copy of the basic structure of the original Star Wars, with all of the chemistry and uniqueness sucked away. The main cast were fine actors, but the new actors definitely didn't mesh with the old all that well, especially when the old were so busy delivering fan service it was hard for them to just be invested in the action. A lot of the character relationships feel forced, and while Star Wars wasn't the most depthful film in terms of character arcs, the relationships still felt pretty organic and natural, where here they feel like "Oh, we need the old characters to like these new characters because that's the way it needs to be." There seemed like too many main heroes, to the point where, like in the prequels, it's hard to pinpoint who exactly is our main character, whose is the journey we are following. There are too many character being juggled for a film of this length and scope and too many cameos and too many people cast on name recognition or because they are in popular films and television shows who wind up barely being in the film at all.
The storyline takes far too many hints from the original film, including the main base of the villains, and the three antagonists of this film: General Hux, Kylo Ren, and Supreme Leader Snoke all feel a little too close to Grand Moff Tarkin, Darth Vader, and Emperor Palpatine to really be seen as new characters, though they have minimal changes. Kylo Ren is the villain we spend the most time with, and he is also the least threatening. The trailer smartly left in little footage of him, making him feel mysterious and imposing. In the finished film, his intimidation factor quickly diminishes after the first act, and his entire character motivation actually makes you empathize with him more than fear him, and see him as a tragic villain. Remember, it took three films for Darth Vader to reach the status of tragic villain. We're on film number one and already Ren has had an entire fucking character arc. Where does he even go from here? Look, it's perfectly fine for a main hero to have a shift in character by the end of a film, even if part of a larger story (Hell, Han Solo had that in the original film), but the antagonist, someone we should fear and distrust, should not become mostly empathetic by the end of the first part in a trilogy, especially in a simplistic adventure story like this. The planets featured in this film seem to just be renamed versions of planets we've visited in other films just for the sake of appearing original, when this is just as transparent as the plastic packaging of the toys this movie was created to sell (C-3PO literally is given a red arm so they can have a joke where 3PO mentions it and so they can sell new toys of it). The story also lacks a clear goal. Every film in the original trilogy has a clear and concise goal for our heroes, even if they got sidetracked by other things along the way. These motivations were always clearly explained in the crawl. Star Wars: rescue Princess Leia and blow up Death Star, The Empire Strikes Back: Luke complete Jedi training and Rebels escape Empire, Return of the Jedi: rescue Han Solo and defeat Empire. Even the prequels has fairly clear goals for the heroes, The Phantom Menace: stop Trade Federation from blockading Naboo, Attack of the Clones: investigate Clone Army and stop Separatists, Revenge of the Sith: stop remaining Separatists and investigate Palpatine. In this film, the goal seems to be to find Luke, but then new plotlines appear and suddenly they become the main goal, and then it goes back to finding Luke, leaving the film feeling very unfocused.
The Galactic Empire always had the Nazi imagery prevalent in its' depiction, but here, the imagery feels ridiculously overt. Much like everything else in this film, the charming simplicity of the originals is confused by the writers for excusing beating people over the head with expositions and blatant dialogue. The First Order's symbol also looks oddly reminiscent of the Red Hot Chili Peppers logo.
The mere existence of this film also kind of denotes the happy ending of the original films, and therefore sort of destroys the whole point of the original films. By presenting this idea that the Empire/Sith will always exist in some form kind of makes the Rebellion/Jedi's triumph over them seem pyrrhic and tragically unimportant. Even the title "The Force Awakens" kind of belittles the entire idea of the Force. Now instead of an ever-present force of spiritual energy that anyone can tap into at any time, it is this weird force that comes and goes in intensity depending on the time period. It has to "awaken" when the time is right.
The entire Expanded Universe was scrapped because of this film, something that make me angry considering all the great source material in that EU. They did keep some basic plot elements from later books and comics, but overall retcon that entire line of stories, which creates this odd sort of alternate timeline deal in the Star Wars Universe.
The special effects were excellent, particularly in the choice to have mostly practical effects. The only problem is this oftentime clashes with the more obviously CGI effects. The action sequences were a mixed bag. Rather than building to a large battle at the climax like the original trilogy films always did, with minimal action placed carefully throughout, this film has a lot of smaller action set-pieces, with no big finish that leaves the climax feeling a bit empty. The X-wing battle against Starkiller base (which you see in the trailer, so that's not a spoiler) felt all too familiar and just felt lazy, with no emotional impact whatsoever. The lightsaber duel ditched the flashy and unbelievable acrobatics of the prequels for the more down-to-earth, blunt force approach of the originals, which feels more raw and powerful, so there's a big positive. However, the lightsaber duel lacks the emotional backing that the original duels had. Every lightsaber duel, no matter how brief or awkwardly choreographed, meant something big in the originals. Obi-Wan vs. Darth Vader in the original film signified the end of their entire relationship together, and further cemented Vader's place as a ruthless bad-ass who cuts down his own former friend and master in cold blood. Luke vs. Darth in the second film again cemented Vader as a force to be reckoned with, and showed Luke was not nearly prepared enough to take on a Sith master, and culminated in the biggest and probably most famous twist ending in modern pop culture. Luke vs. Darth in the third and final film shows Luke has grown and mastered his skills, but is still challenged by temptations towards using anger and hatred to win fights, and showed Luke's strength in prevailing over the Dark Side, both in physically defeating Darth, and refusing the Emperor's offer to kill Vader and take his place. Here, it is just bland heroes fight bland villain at end of bland movie for slight resolution.
There is a completely bullshit cliffhanger ending that will disappoint viewers, leaving you wanting more. While some (reviewer Chris Stuckmann, for example) might see this as a positive, I can't say I do. When you leave the theater unsatisfied with the film you got because of a TV show-esque cliffhanger, that's not good filmmaking, that's sacrificing the strength of your story to franchise build (something Disney has gotten really good at with Marvel, and is trying to poison Star Wars with now as well). But, in the same token, there's very little mystery left for the next two films. In trying to satisfy all the abundant fan theories and get those out of the way, the writers and producers seem to have played most of their cards at once, leaving themselves written into a corner for the next two film.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a fine blockbuster film. But that's just it. It feels all too similar to other blockbusters (particularly Guardians of the Galaxy, whose tone should not be that of this film), and lacks the creative magic that made the originals so profound. J.J. Abrams seemed to be caught up in being a fan directing a movie franchise he loves and trying to satisfy other fans like him that he forgot to just a make a good movie, instead trying to pander to fanboys and the Marvel and Pixar-loving masses. It is now oversaturated in the new Disney style, and is just a cash-cow of a film with mild entertainment value. It is almost worse than the prequels in a way, as at least those were so bad they were funny; this is just kind of vanilla. The intense hype is having a similar effect to The Phantom Menace: people are going into denial and saying its' one of the best of the Star Wars movies, but in a few years they'll realize it's not all that great and it will be a fun movie for everyone to rip on. I guess my greatest problem is that it just doesn't feel like a Star Wars movie, even less so than the prequels. After only one film, with all its' fanservice and insane amount of ad tie-ins, I'm kind of over this franchise, just like I'm over all Disney licensed products. I don't wish to see two more of these films from equally under-qualified fan directors (not to knock them for being bad or anything, just not for this type of film). Don't believe the hype. Go in with lowered expectations and you'll probably enjoy it more. Try to avoid crowded theaters with fanboys, as their incessant cheering and clapping at every event in the film became unbearable and frustrating. 6.5/10 stars.
(Image: Wikipedia)Note: I miss the Drew Struzan posters.
Friday, December 18, 2015
Selma and Chappie: Two films I wanted to see in theaters and didn't get the chance
Today, I quickly recap two films I saw a while back on a plane ride home from Ireland in July.
Chappie:
Neil Blomkamp's follow-up to Elysium continues his trend of trying to recapture the spirit of his freshman effort District 9 but continuing to disappoint. While I didn't hate it like most people, many scenes that are obviously supposed to be taken seriously come off as laughable. And there are characters the film wants us to sympathize with that are entirely unsympathetic. Hugh Jackman's villainous character feels the most human and relatable out of anyone, and we're supposed to hate him. He only goes full villain at the climax, and it feels out of character and weird. The end reveal is one of the worst I've ever seen, and the only great performance is Sharlto Copley as Chappie. He's always great in these projects, no matter how underwhelming. His lead hero in District 9 was likable and tragic, his villain in Elysium was despicable and vicious, and here, he's vulnerable, funny, and sweet. If one good thing can be said of Blomkamp's filmography, it's that they showcase Copley's range as an actor. Some of the actors were good, but their accents were so thick that even when speaking English they had to be subtitled. The rap duo characters weren't as annoying as I'd heard, but they weren't great, either. The male one is especially unlikable up until the end, and even then I was on the fence. Dev Patel is wasted here. The end song was oddly out of place. Overall, I enjoyed Chappie more than Elysium, but I feel Blomkamp needs to escape these somewhat pretentious sci-fi projects and really advance as a filmmaker. 6/10 stars.
Selma:
This project had a lot of hype, and while the performances are great and the subject matter obviously historically important, I felt this was a kind of boring movie that was obvious Oscar bait. 12 Years a Slave this is not. Sure, there's moments of shocking racism, but nothing about it feels particularly raw, biting, or poignant. It's all just above-average. It feels a little bit like Lee Daniels' The Butler in its' length and lack of attention to detail or character, instead just cramming in as much history as it can. The end song "Glory" by John Legend and Common was excellent and very bold. David Oyelowo fits the bill of MLK Jr. perfectly, and the cast is filled out with great character actors, from Wendell Pierce to Tom Wilkinson to Dylan Baker and Tim Roth and Stephen Root, Michael Papajohn, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Andre Holland, and Carmen Ejogo. This cast is filled with so much talent, but a lot of it is constricted to bland minor roles so prevalent in these recent biopics. Where's the great biopics of the past, like Malcolm X or Lawrence of Arabia? Is the epic biography film a dead art? It appears so. Selma is entertaining for the most part, though a bit dry, and is ultimately disappointing. 6/10 stars.
(Images: Wikipedia)
Chappie:
Neil Blomkamp's follow-up to Elysium continues his trend of trying to recapture the spirit of his freshman effort District 9 but continuing to disappoint. While I didn't hate it like most people, many scenes that are obviously supposed to be taken seriously come off as laughable. And there are characters the film wants us to sympathize with that are entirely unsympathetic. Hugh Jackman's villainous character feels the most human and relatable out of anyone, and we're supposed to hate him. He only goes full villain at the climax, and it feels out of character and weird. The end reveal is one of the worst I've ever seen, and the only great performance is Sharlto Copley as Chappie. He's always great in these projects, no matter how underwhelming. His lead hero in District 9 was likable and tragic, his villain in Elysium was despicable and vicious, and here, he's vulnerable, funny, and sweet. If one good thing can be said of Blomkamp's filmography, it's that they showcase Copley's range as an actor. Some of the actors were good, but their accents were so thick that even when speaking English they had to be subtitled. The rap duo characters weren't as annoying as I'd heard, but they weren't great, either. The male one is especially unlikable up until the end, and even then I was on the fence. Dev Patel is wasted here. The end song was oddly out of place. Overall, I enjoyed Chappie more than Elysium, but I feel Blomkamp needs to escape these somewhat pretentious sci-fi projects and really advance as a filmmaker. 6/10 stars.
Selma:
This project had a lot of hype, and while the performances are great and the subject matter obviously historically important, I felt this was a kind of boring movie that was obvious Oscar bait. 12 Years a Slave this is not. Sure, there's moments of shocking racism, but nothing about it feels particularly raw, biting, or poignant. It's all just above-average. It feels a little bit like Lee Daniels' The Butler in its' length and lack of attention to detail or character, instead just cramming in as much history as it can. The end song "Glory" by John Legend and Common was excellent and very bold. David Oyelowo fits the bill of MLK Jr. perfectly, and the cast is filled out with great character actors, from Wendell Pierce to Tom Wilkinson to Dylan Baker and Tim Roth and Stephen Root, Michael Papajohn, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Andre Holland, and Carmen Ejogo. This cast is filled with so much talent, but a lot of it is constricted to bland minor roles so prevalent in these recent biopics. Where's the great biopics of the past, like Malcolm X or Lawrence of Arabia? Is the epic biography film a dead art? It appears so. Selma is entertaining for the most part, though a bit dry, and is ultimately disappointing. 6/10 stars.
(Images: Wikipedia)
Sunday, December 6, 2015
Krampus: The latest holiday horror film from the director of "Trick r Treat"
Krampus:
(Images: Wikipedia, comingsoon.net)
It's the modern holiday seasons: an upper middle-class family is reluctantly having their obnoxious redneck in-laws over for Christmas. Hijinks ensue, resulting in the youngest son taking back his Christmas wish for his family to better themselves. Suddenly, an intense blizzard knocks out the neighborhood's power and prevents road travel. Very quickly, the family begins to realize that a supernatural force is tampering with their lives: the Krampus, the ancient German demon who comes to punish those who do not embrace the Christmas spirit.
I've found the legend of the Krampus fascinating for a while now. The irony of this dark and morbid story being told to children around the happiest season of the year was intriguing to me. So when I heard Michael Dougherty (director of the Halloween horror film Trick r Treat) was doing a film about a family who encounters this creature, I was hyped. Initially the trailers were very dumb, but I was confident it would be a fun little movie. And it was. Slightly disappointing, considering how great Dougherty's first effort was, but still enjoyable.
The humor of the film blends with the horror surprisingly well, and Adam Scott, Toni Collette, Allison Tolman, David Koechner, and Conchata Ferrell were great comic relief in the film, and while initially seeming very unlikable, slowly start to grow on you as the survival portion of the film sets in. Krista Stadler, Emjay Anthony, and Stefania LaVie Owen were good supporting characters, playing the grandmother and two kids, respectively. Some reviewers complained the family was unlikable for the most part, but I found myself sympathizing them more and more as the film went on, and I believe that was Dougherty's intention. However, characters often make dumb, horror movie mistakes, but the tongue-in-cheek nature of the film makes this more understandable.
Krampus himself takes a backseat most of this movie, which was slightly disappointing, but also built suspense to his eventual arrival. His design was pretty great in this movie, paying homage to traditional portrayals, while trying its' own thing. The special effects of the monsters in this film were fantastic, mostly practical effects, though at times the effect of the Jack-in-the-Box creature looked like a Power Rangers monster suit, and one key scene of a character falling was laughable looking and almost ruins the climax. There is, however, a short clay-mation/CG sequence that looks amazing and shows Dougherty hasn't forgotten his background in animation.
The story at times had holes (how much of the town Krampus' snowstorm has enveloped is unclear), and the ending (as Chris Stuckmann pointed out in his review) felt a little too similar to the ending of Jeepers Creepers. The jump scares felt a little cheap, and I know from watching Trick r Treat that Dougherty can do better, and overall you can tell he wasn't having as much fun with the Christmas horror concept as with the Halloween one. In fact, the PG-13 rating seems to drag down this project with its' obviously censored dialogue ("Get away from my kids, you fudger!") and lack of blood. I'm all for "what you see is less scary that what you don't", but with a big, dumb, in-your-face monster movie like this, some gore would be a good payoff but I never got that. Trick r Treat was rated R, and therefore went all-out with the gore and was better for it.
The film felt longer than it was, but that's a good thing. It felt like a solid length for this type of movie. Krampus is an entertaining movie, albeit a slight let-down. Best case scenario: it encourages more viewers to check out Dougherty's Trick r Treat, which, unlike this film, was given a criminally limited theatrical run and then went straight to video and on demand for vague reasons, despite having a good budget and cast. Worst case scenario: it disappoints people and discourages them from watching ore of Dougherty's horror films, which would be a shame, as Dougherty is a talented filmmaker who should branch out and do more work outside of just writing. Give this one a watch, and then go out and buy Trick r Treat for next Halloween (or just watch it now, it doesn't matter). 7/10 stars.
(Images: Wikipedia, comingsoon.net)
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