Autumn Movies Catch Up: These 4 films I saw in theaters in the last month or so and haven't reviewed yet.

Here's just a quick little look at some films which I didn't feel strongly enough about to fill a major review, but which I did see and want to comment on.

Snowden: Good lead performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and some nice supporting parts by Shailene Woodley, Nicolas Cage, Timothy Olyphant, Zachary Quinto, Joely Richardson, Tom Wilkinson, Melissa Leo, Scott Eastwood, and Rhys Ifans. This is a very well-executed suspense film, with tons of moments of tension and is quite paranoia-inducing, something Oliver Stone has always been great at capturing. Gordon-Levitt captured Snowden's voice and mannerisms to a tee, and the only complaints is that the final act is kind of rushed because the film is already fairly long, but I felt the suspense could've been milked during the leaking/espionage moments just a bit longer. There is one major surprise towards the end which I won't spoil but which floored me and made my jaw drop a bit. Better than the average biopic/historical thriller. 7/10 stars.

 

Blair Witch: As both a fan of the original and of Adam Wingard's work, I was crushed by how disappointing, insulting, bland, boring, and hollow this film was. It was so empty and had such a lack of characters it felt like it breezed by in 40 mins, and the visuals of the cabin may have been nice, but unlike the original, this feels like a run-of-the-mill, direct-to-video throwaway found footage film, not a taut and slowly creeping horror phenomenon. I expected more humor, ingenuity and genuine chills from Wingard but this was just trash. I recommend the oft-forgotten and surreally bad Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows over this any day. There was talks of making the 3rd film in this series an origin/period piece of the witch, which would've made a unique trilogy where each film is drastically different in style and execution but alas, this is a watered-down, nonsensical sequel with no real point. It would've been better to just ket the franchise die than to get this. 2/10 stars.




Jack Reacher: Never Go Back: The original Jack Reacher was a surprise audience favorite in December 2012, as it had a lot of exciting action mixed with lighthearted humor and poked fun at its own tropes. The sequel follows suit and manages to deliver another fun, harmless little spy thriller with a ridiculously skilled main hero as well as some new cast additions such as Cobie Smudlers, Aldis Hodge, Patrick Heusinger, Danika Yarosh, Holt McCallany, and Robert Knepper. The plot isn't quite as intriguing or twisty as the original's, but it is a solid follow-up with some Halloween sequences to hammer home the season. Edward Zwick brings his experience directing action to this film, and it's nice to see him and Tom Cruise work together again, though now it's becoming clear Cruise's age is beginning to make his roles as unstoppable super-killers less believable. 7/10 stars.

The Accountant: This unique thriller film sees Ben Affleck fully inhabit a character again, playing a man with some form of autism that makes him a genius mathematician and who is also trained to be an unstoppable murder machine by his ex-military father. The cast is fantastic, featuring J.K. Simmons, Jeffrey Tambor, John Lithgow, Jon Bernthal (a lot of TV bad guys here), Anna Kendrick, and Cynthia Addai-Robinson, and the plot is structured kind of strangely, with many plots not really coming full circle until the very end, but it is almost like a well-written suspense novel in that way, and I was sure it was based on some source material, but no, it's all from the screenplay of Bill Dubuque. Some of the twists may land differently for some people, but I felt they were all executed satisfyingly and probably can provide a lot of enjoyment on second viewings. Overall, a very solid thriller film with a great lead character. 7/10 stars.

                                                  (Images: Wikipedia)

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)

September Movies: The Visit and Black Mass

Today, I look at two movies I've seen recently.

The Visit:
Two young kids, a pretentious teenaged girl who likes making movies, and an idiotic boy who thinks he's a rapper, go for a week to visit their estranged grandparents and reconnect with them. However, spending more time with them, they realize something is very wrong with their grandparents...
    M. Night Shyamalan has been the laughingstock of Hollywood for the past ten years. A pariah, who is despised by critics, and whose fans have even grown tired of his constant churning out of garbage. Suddenly, this film, which looked ridiculous and stupid, was getting good reviews. People were saying he was turning his career around at last. I went in knowing this movie would be bad. No matter what people said, I knew it, deep down. And it was gloriously bad. It's supposed to be this found footage horror comedy, but the parts that I could tell were supposed to be scary were hilarious, and the parts that were supposed to be funny just cringey and awkward.
    The found footage angle doesn't work at all because it's essentially unnecessary except for budgetary reasons. There's still opening credits despite the "real" style, and the equipment being used by the main character is way too good for a teenage girl to have. The camerawork is so crisp and clear, it's like a professional camera. And the webcams being pretty much perfect, with no delay or bad audio is another pet peeve of mine as of late.
    Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould are the two annoying main characters. The girl spouts movie equipment explanations and terms to the audience like we're stupid and talks in an incredibly condescending voice. The boy is just plain irritating. I do admire the two actors, who are Australian, putting on such convincing American accents, but the material they were given is just awkward. Peter McRobbie and Deanna Dunagan play their grandparents, who are some great scenery-chewing villains. They are without a doubt the best part of the whole movie. Kathryn Hahn appears as the kids' mother, who is fine, but for a found footage movie, it's distracting to see such a recognizable face.
   The Visit is packed with jump-scares and unintentionally hilarious moments (grandpa's poop is used as a plot point and a scare), and is just painfully awkward at times in a way only Shyamalan can do. While I was thoroughly entertained, I feel it was still a failure as a horror-comedy, and should be seen as an all-around comedy. The only remotely suspenseful scene is the final confrontations with the grandparents, which are ruined by a poop scare and with a callback to football earlier in the movie that is absurdly forced. Overall, see it if you want a good laugh, or put it on at a Halloween party. This movie is a prime example that these day, Blumhouse will produce anything to make a quick buck. 5/10 stars.




Black Mass:
Telling the story of infamous Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger (a criminal whose exploits have inspired many other films), this movie follows his rise to power, family struggles, and the controversial alliance between Bulger and the FBI.
    Johnny Depp has been in a bit of a career rut lately. Being typecast as the eccentric oddball for the past twenty-or-so years hasn't helped. In this movie, he gets to actually be an actor again by portraying a character who is different than is others, who has a semblance of depth to him. His portrayal of Bulger is the crowning achievement of the film. He's empathetic at times, but is mostly cold, intimidating, and other times, disgusting and skeevy. The makeup job on him was excellent, with some subtle touches like a bad tooth and pock marks, and more noticeable ones like his receding hairline and icy blue eyes. Johnny still looks a little too handsome to be the real life Whitey (who had big teeth and looked much older), but his performance makes up for it.
    The rest of the cast do a fine job. It's too lengthy to list all here, but I will say Joel Edgerton was a good tragic hero character, who had moments of idiocy.
    My main problem with the movie was its' often repetitive nature (if Bulger is alone with someone or with just him and his guys and someone else, it's a guarantee that he's going to either kill them or do something creepy, it's like a formula). There's also no suspense in certain scenes after awhile because you can predict how it's going to end based on the information above, plus obvious music cues, so it's not great a suspense thriller. Even as Bulger story, it's a lot more boring than most. The Departed has more leeway because it was a fictional story, so they could do more with the story to make it more investing, but here, it's all facts, so after awhile it gets quite dry. The first act definitely felt more intriguing and fast-paced than the second, which dragged its' feet too much.
    Some of the camera angle choices were cool (in one death scene, they pan away to leave it kind of unclear what exactly was done, which was somewhat unique.
    I know it's the title of the book this was based on, but I don't know exactly why they decided to call this film "Black Mass". I mean, it's an eye-catching title, but it really has nothing to do with the film's content.
    Regardless, Black Mass is a decent gangster biopic, but nothing to write home about. It's essentially a straightforward telling, with little visual flair. I was disappointed, because director Scott Cooper has had a fairly good track record. Depp's performance may be enough to save this movie from pure mediocrity, but it's nothing compared to the other films based on Bulger's life. It's also a  bummer when the dinner scene from the first trailer was done better in that trailer than in the actual film. 6/10 stars.

                                                                (Images: Wikipedia)

Straight Outta Compton: The rise and fall of the World's Most Dangerous Group

Today, I look at the new biopic about rap group N.W.A.

Straight Outta Compton:
Retelling real-life events from the group members' origins to the inception of the group itself, to their quick breakup and solo careers and feuding, the film focuses in on key members Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E.
    First of all, let me compliment this film for exceeding my expectations immensely. I was expecting yet another bland music biopic along the lines of Jersey Boys and Notorious. This is not that film. The main cast of O'Shea Jackson, Jr. (playing his father Ice Cube), Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Aldis Hodge (brother of Edwin Hodge), and Neil Brown, Jr. are fantastic, not only resembling most of the band members remarkably, but making me believe they are those characters. Paul Giamatti has an entertaining supporting role as manager Jerry Heller, who is a surprisingly nuanced character. R. Marcus Taylor plays the notorious producer Suge Knight, an imposing figure who is the closest thing the film has to an antagonist. There are numerous cameos by actors portraying every major West Coast rap figure, from Snoop Dogg, to The DOC, to Warren G, to Tupac. Almost every one of them (with the exception of maybe Snoop Dogg) looks and sounds exactly like their real-life counterparts (Tupac was so convincing I thought for sure they had used some sort of previously recorded footage, but no, it's an actor named Marcc Rose coupled with a convincing voice-over actor named Darris Love). One of the better decisions was the choice to show all of the characters, even Heller and Knight, as mostly nuanced, showing the good and bad of each member. I have yet to confirm this, but it seemed from the way the audio sounded that during the rap scenes, they dubbed the main actors over with the original rap tracks, a move I considered unique and probably the best choice the filmmakers could have made.
    The director of this film is F. Gary Gray, known for his work on Friday, The Negotiator, and The Italian Job among other films, does a great job here. He reportedly left work on Captain America: The Winter Soldier to work on this film, and I'm glad he did. I feel in the hands of a lesser director, this could have been a bland mess.
    This film is mostly accurate to true events, with only some altered or removed for time's sake. And, because Ice Cube and Dr. Dre are producers, some incidents involving them were probably left out because they want to leave that stuff in the past. MC Ren was critical of the film due to his character being more of a supporting one than a main star, though this was his reaction to the initial trailer, and he has yet to comment on the actual movie.
    The film was actually very engaging, and parts of the movie made me feel like I might have been at a concert, as whenever the music was played on screen, I got this sense that the entire audience wanted to join in singing along the lyrics.
    Despite the film being a little lengthy, and definitely feeling its' length (two and a half hours), I can't really say I was ever bored. Straight Outta Compton is an entertaining, fun, and occasionally gripping biopic, even if some of the cheesy name-drops and references (like to the film Friday) get a little grating. 7/10 stars.

                                                (Image: Wikipedia)