I watch movies every week and then write down my thoughts. Read my previous reviews!
My rating is simple, Watch It, It Depends, Skip it.
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| Hail, Caesar! - Good, but doesn't quite come together. |
Buy Hail, Caesar!
Written by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Directed by: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Starring: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, Frances McDormand, Jonah Hill
Rated: PG-13
Plot:
In 1950's Hollywood, a producer keeps the studio's stars out of trouble.
Verdict:
It's a fun romp but feels hollow. It's a collection of interesting stories that aren't explored enough to feel complete. It's well made and the cast and production values are great. That and the Hollywood satire make it worth watching. Obviously with the Coen's, the writing is sharp.
Watch it.
Review:
A great cast and a fun movie, it's just missing something. We see very little of Clooney, and thus his story feels incomplete. The "bad guy" of the film is only seen a couple of times. While Mannix (Josh Brolin) is the main character, he never seems as interesting as the supporting characters.
The voice over during the beginning, while channeling '50s era Hollywood is annoying but subsides quickly. It does reappear, but it's not as intrusive.
The imagery and framing is impressive. The studio and sets look authentic to the time period. Through Mannix, the Coen brothers pull back the curtain on this studio, showcasing all levels of dysfunctional actors. There's a lot going on and Mannix never stops moving, drifting in and out of sound stages, filmings, and meetings. It's a satire of Hollywood, and you know that even now studios are doing the same thing today to create stars and coverup mishaps. It's all about the money.
The movie has an underlying comedy to it. What you see on screen isn't the truth. These actors aren't as divine or as impressive as they seem. Mannix has to find a missing star, Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) while covering for a pregnant actress, placating a director, and trying to make Hobie (Alden Ehrenreich) a star. Ehrenreich is impressive in a cast that is absolutely stacked.
The conclusion is surprising because there was no way to predict it. A character of which we had seen very little orchestrated everything. Whitlock's arc is the most absurd, and I wish there was more to it. It's just as farcical as the rest of the movie, which is glib and fun.
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| 10 Cloverfield Lane - Plenty of thrills and surprises. |
Buy 10 Cloverfield Lane
Written by: Josh Campbell & Matthew Stuecken (story), Josh Campbell & Matthew Stuecken and Damien Chazelle (screenplay)
Directed by: Dan Trachtenberg
Starring: John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr.
Rated: PG-13
Plot:
A woman wakes up in an underground bunker with two men who claim a chemical attack has made the world uninhabitable.
Verdict:
A thriller that keeps you guessing, though it has a potentially divisive ending. The writing is solid as your suspicions see-saw back and forth. The writing and acting are great at developing tension.
Watch it.
Review:
This was originally going to be directed by Chazelle before his amazing movie Whiplash (2014) went into production and he dropped out to direct that. During production this was called Valencia, before it was put in the Cloverfield (2008) world. It doesn't feel like a cash-in because Cloverfield wasn't a big hit. It's just a strange nod.
I really like the first scene. Over music we see Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) packing and we surmise there was an argument with a significant other. The title card is also introduced well. To say more would spoil it.
This develops great tension while building a mystery. You're never quite sure about Howard (John Goodman), and you teeter back and forth on whether he's good or bad. The script and acting are great, as you can often guess where Michelle is trying to lead the conversation. You know her motivations and root for her.
She's scared, yet Howard doesn't notice or doesn't care. He seems like a grumpy old man, yet Michelle often feels, and he treats her, like a prisoner. He holds saving her life over her head, while telling her there is no escape, and the outside world is dead. Is he a sociopath?
Even if she is safe in this bunker, she doesn't know Howard and that's frightening. Why is Michelle there? Is it that Howard saved her or that he has a sinister purpose? You sway back and forth. His intentions are validated by his actions, then later undermined.
Goodman does a fantastic job, supported by the writing. There is a catch phrase type game sequence that causes you to wonder how Howard sees Michelle with the guesses he provides. Is he living out some kind of fantasy? The same scene gets incredibly tense when he's giving her clues.
There is a scene where Michelle stitches Howard's head. While I was grimacing, it really doesn't show much.
Movies or shows that show someone crawling through ducting always annoy me. Look at the ducting in your house. It isn't large enough to crawl through. The larger the ducting the larger the motor to push that air. It's an easy crutch the entertainment industry uses, but I'd prefer something realistic.
The ending changes tone slightly. I wouldn't have minded it ending sooner and being ambiguous. I don't have a problem with what Michelle encounters at the end, but ending on the frustration of her last spoken line fits the movie better. She's frustrated about what happened, that things may be worse now, that Howard may beright, or that she made a mistake.
This was an understated thriller, and the final sequence throws that to the wind. The final scene is Michelle at a crossroads in a car having to turn left or right. It's a scene we've seen too many times before.
Zootopia (2016) - Read my review
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| To Be or Not To Be - Everything a comedy should be. |
Written by: Melchior Lengyel (original story), Edwin Justus Mayer (screenplay)
Directed by: Ernst Lubitsch
Starring: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack
Rated: --/PG
Plot:
A group of actors in Poland get mixed up in a Polish soldiers search for a German spy.
Verdict:
This is an older black and white movie, but it's witty, combining subtle comedy and smart banter. It's a lot of fun as an acting troupe uses their German costumes to great effect. The troupe is always on the edge of being discovered, and that makes for a fun plot.
Watch it.
Review:
I rarely see modern movies with such distinct wit. Subtle comedy is my favorite style, and this nearly perfects both. We also get to see Robert Stack from Unsolved Mysteries (1987). Jack Benny as Josef Tura does a great job, playing multiple roles in this as he attempts to trick the Germans into thinking he's a spy and then an officer.
Benny's banter is quick and smart. One of my favorite exchanges involves a patron who stood up during his famous To Be or Not to Be speech.
Josef Tura: But he walked out on me.
Maria Tura: Maybe he didn't feel well. Maybe he had to leave. Maybe he had a sudden heart attack.
Josef Tura: I hope so.
Maria Tura: If he stayed he might have died.
Josef Tura: Maybe he's dead already! Oh, darling, you're so comforting.
The writing is great, mixing spies and double agents into a twisting plot that's a lot of fun. A spy dupes the Polish, and then an acting troupe dupes the spy. The charade continues to become more complicated when the Germans arrive.
I can't help but think of Dr. Strangelove (1964) due to the clever dialog, but Dr. Strangelove is much more over the top.
This is solid subtle comedy. It's incredibly quotable. Unless you've seen it, "So, they call me Concentration Camp Ehrhardt." won't mean much, but this movie manages to make mundane dialog funny.
Surprisingly it was set just three years after the war it depicts. This led to some controversy due to the genre of the film.
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| Yi Yi - The struggles of a family. |
Buy Yi Yi
Written by: Edward Yang
Directed by: Edward Yang
Starring: Nien-Jen Wu, Elaine Jin, Issey Ogata
Rated: --/R
Plot:
Each member of a middle class Taepei family struggles with life and relationships.
Verdict:
This is a slowed paced movie that looks at the family dynamic. While I like the plot, the movie didn't connect. Is it the subtitles, pacing, or the length. I don't know. It's strength is in developing the characters.
It depends.
Review:
This is highly acclaimed, positioned on many "best of" lists. The matriarch of the family is the grandmother, who is in a coma throughout the movie. The family members at times talk to her.
Each of them deals with their own battles. The father deals with work, the mother a mid-life crisis, the daughter a love triangle, and the son with teachers who insult his creativity.
Each of the characters face their own setbacks. A teacher skewers the picture the boy captured and even takes a jab at his father. All of the boys photographs are from odd angles, but he describes it as a fresh perspective. You only see one side of things, and he wants to capture the other side. That's the goal of this movie. To capture something different, the small moments in life rarely depicted in film.
When the father has a chance to rewrite the past after meeting an old girlfriend, he realizes that he doesn't need a second chance.
I can see why this would be popular. It's different from the typical movie. The characters have depth and it takes time in exploring their issues. There are instances where you feel bad for, mad at, or afraid for the characters. Despite how much I want to like this, I wouldn't watch it again, and I can't recommend it. The pacing combined with the subtitles was a bit too tedious.
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