Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker
January 2, 2020 at 4:49 pm | Posted in 2019 | Leave a commentTags: Action Film, Adam Driver, Alec Guinness, Andy Serkis, Anthony Daniels, Billie Lourd, Billy Dee Williams, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley, Domhnall Gleeson, Ewan McGregor, Frank Oz, Harrison Ford, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, J.J. Abrams, James Earl Jones, John Boyega, John Williams, Joonas Suotamo, Kelly Marie Tran, Keri Russell, Liam Neeson, Lupita Nyong'o, Mark Hamill, Movie Review, Naomi Ackie, Oscar Grant, Richard E. Grant, Samuel L. Jackson, Sci-Fi, Star Wars, Warwick Davis
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
Here we are at what has been promised to be the last film in the 9-movie arc George Lucas started in 1977. What a gargantuan task this is, ending what is arguably the most popular series of all time in a way that makes everyone (anyone?) happy. Not surprisingly, many have not been happy. On Metacritic, almost 1/3 of critics gave it a perfectly middling score of 50, and fans also break almost exactly down the middle whether they liked it or not (1608 to 1654). Even Lucas has repeatedly griped about this new series. The original “Star Wars” series has become such a sacred cow that apparently nobody (including Lucas) can do it justice. Well, all of those caveats said, I really liked this film. Not as a stand alone film, but as the final in a venerated series. I saw it with someone who has not watched most of the other films. He was lost right from the first scene and felt like the film just jumped from one action scene to the next. He isn’t wrong. The film starts with a fast-moving set of scenes involving Kylo Ren that feel like a manic montage; they are meaningless without context. In fact, the first third of the film was where it was weakest for me. However, things got better as the story progressed. As with many of the films, the plot sometimes felt unnecessarily convoluted, but as the story focused toward a core story line, it also got more engaging. There was some terrific CGI on display. The battle on the ocean planet was particularly engaging. I was also amazed by the CGI around Leia. Had I not known she had passed away prior to filming, I would have thought Carrie Fischer had been in the film. I would love to know how they used archival footage to give Leia as large a part as she had. Writer/director JJ Abrams is a highly sentimental director. You can see this footprint in many of his films (including “The Force Awakens“). Where Rian Johnson (whose work I love) was more interested in breaking sacred idols in “The Last Jedi,” Abrams wants to revere them. And that is exactly the right approach here. Now is not the time to reinvent the series; now is the time for closure. Closure is closely married to sentiment, and Abrams has loaded this film with sentiment. He brings back every critical character from the first three films (even those who are dead or should be). The audience either sees or hears from Luke, Han, Darth Vader, Anakin, Yoda, Obi Wan (young & old), Mace Windu, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Snoke, along with those who are more central to the plot. Abrams also takes us back to classic locations and gives us glimpses, however brief, of classic alien races. This may feel manipulative or cloying to some, but it felt exactly right to me. I was especially pleased (and, dare I say, even moved) by the final moments of the film. It ends where it all started 42 years earlier in a scene that was as close to perfect as any Star Wars scene has ever been. I hope we continue to see other films and tv shows taking place in this universe, but I hope I never see another Skywalker film again. This one brought closure to an incredible journey.
The Report
December 10, 2019 at 4:49 pm | Posted in 2019 | Leave a commentTags: Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Corey Stall, Drama, Joanne Tucker, Jon Hamm, Matthew Rhys, Maura Tierney, Michael C. Hall, Movie Review, Tim Blake Nelson
◊ ◊ ◊
“It’s never a good sign when the most dramatic scene in a movie owes its power to C-SPAN footage.” So said Mark Feeney in his Boston Globe review of this film. Never a truer word… The contents of “The Report” are incredibly important; what our democracy is or is not hangs on how we feel about the contents of that 7,000 page report, or it’s 500 page “summary.” The problem is that this film is about as exciting and reading that report sounds. Slowly, methodically, it follows Daniel Jones’s (Adam Driver) painstaking efforts to find out what the U.S. did in its black sites around the world, and then to make sure that information made the light of day. Driver takes a fairly cool, understated approach here. He’s a dedicated policy wonk slowly combing through thousands of documents in a windowless room for five years. But he is also the moral backbone of this movie. He is the person the audience relates to and roots for. He certainly has his rousing speeches and indignation, but it is all so coolly displayed and tightly contained within the hallowed halls of Washington’s inner circles. The film is a fascinating (and disturbing) look at how government works and the ways bureaucracy is used as a weapon. It was illuminating. And a full, detailed picture of what our government sanctioned in the name of the War on Terror is crucial for all of us to know. These terrible things were done in our names and ostensibly to keep us safe. We should know what they knew and when they knew it and why they did nothing about it for so long. This is how the sausage gets made and, in a democracy, we have an obligation to be informed. But, this all does feel a bit like homework. I’m not sure how you could make it more entertaining without also being disingenuous or outright fraudulent. I was just keenly aware while watch this film that few others ever will. That’s a crime.
Marriage Story
November 20, 2019 at 2:53 pm | Posted in 2019 | Leave a commentTags: Adam Driver, Alan Alda, Drama, Julie Hagerty, Laura Dern, Merritt Wever, Movie Review, Noah Baumbach, Ray Liotta, Scarlett Johansson, Wallace Shawn
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver play a couple going through divorce in this lovely movie by director Noah Baumbach (“The Squid and The Wale,” “Margot at the Wedding,” “Frances Ha”). With none of the 80s melodrama of a film like “Kramer vs Kramer,” “Marriage Story” unfolds in an accumulation of small moments that are sometimes tense, sometimes heart-wrenching, sometimes surprisingly funny, and that always feel absolutely believable. Along the way, we are treated to some wonderful performances by Laura Dern, Alan Alda, and Ray Liotta. In fact, Dern has the one monologue of the film with her funny rant about God as the ultimate deadbeat father. But, that said, the film belongs entirely to Johansson and Driver. Hot off of two larger-than-life franchises (“The Avengers” and “Star Wars,” respectively), we can almost see their collective desperation to do something that requires real acting from them. Both take every opportunity to emote with subtle moves of the body, glances of the eyes, micro-expressions, and yes even crying. These are both gifted actors, capable of great performances (e.g. “Lost in Translation,” “Paterson”), and these are close to great performances. I know, that is sort of a weird, backhanded compliment, and I don’t mean it to be. I found both of their performances charming and I really loved the way the humor played between them. And their climatic argument was powerful, raw, and required both actors to be really vulnerable. But, I guess I never really felt the connection between the two characters. Perhaps if we had seen more of their happy time, or if they had shown us the love for each other that still existed under the anger and hurt, I might have connected more with and cared more about the relationship. But, I felt just slightly distanced from it, because I just never saw these two characters as in-love. That said, I did love this film and was moved by parts of it. I cared about both characters and wanted them to be happy. And the ending was perfect; it felt genuine and real to me. The script was written by Baumbach. And, given that it is about an actor and a director, I think it must have been based on somebody’s real experience. It just felt very true. In the end, I think that’s really what I want from a film like this.
BlacKkKlansman
August 13, 2018 at 9:49 am | Posted in 2018 | 2 CommentsTags: Adam Driver, Ashlie Atkinson, Comedy, Corey Hawkins, Drama, John David Washington, Laura Harrier, Movie Review, Paul Walter Hauser, Period Piece, Ryan Eggold, Spike Lee, Topher Grace
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ½
What an amazing 30 days in cinema we have just had. One month ago today, on July 13th, we had the release of “Sorry to Bother You.” Two weeks later, we got “Blindspotting.” And now, we have this film. Three powerful Black films by Black directors, writers, actors that are all trying to confront the moment we live in, using comedy as their medium. Of the three, Spike Lee’s speaks most directly to this exact moment in time. There is a greater sense of urgency in this film, and the anger here is even more explosive than the end of “Blindspotting.” The film starts as an easy situational comedy, based very closely on an unbelievable true story. A young Ron Stallworth becomes the first Black officer in the Colorado Springs Police Department. It’s 1974. Shortly after joining, he is promoted to undercover detective (in real life, it took 4 years), and promptly joins the Klan. Stallworth is played by John David Washington. The son of Denzel, Washington has largely stayed out of film until last year. After this, you can expect that you’ll be seeing a lot more of him. His low key performance matched the easy going 70s vibe that this film had for much of its run time. As absolutely ridiculous as the events of this story are, in reading interviews with the real Stallworth, I have found that, if anything, the truth is even stranger. Some pieces of the story have been changed for the sake of the narrative arc (like the timeline, the addition of a girlfriend, the explosive ending), but all the weirdest stuff (right down to the Polaroid incident) is very real. These Klansman, David Duke included, were apparently even dumber in real life than in the film. Lee had to make them smarter, just to create some narrative tension. All of this makes for a very funny film that can, at times, feel light, almost like a fun little caper movie. Yet, be prepared. You will be assaulted by racist invective throughout. And “assault” is the right word and the experience is very intentional on Lee’s part. Even while laughing, you will find yourself squirming with discomfort. And, if you think that is the only discomfort you have to endure, wait until the end. In the last minutes, Lee does what he has done very successfully before in “Malcolm X” (which, incidentally, also had John David Washington, in a small cameo). Throughout this film, Lee makes it clear (through some clever laugh lines) that this story is about today; it’s 1976, but it could just as easily been 2018. And, in case you didn’t catch on, he drives it home in those final moments. They are powerful and disturbing and necessary. One person in my theater broke into open sobs. This is an important film. These are important films. Every American should see these 3 movies. Do not look away.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
December 18, 2017 at 5:22 pm | Posted in 2017 | Leave a commentTags: Action Film, Adam Driver, Andy Serkis, Anthony Daniels, Benicio Del Toro, Billie Lourd, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley, Domhnall Gleeson, Frank Oz, Gwendoline Christie, John Boyega, Joonas Suotamo, Kelly Marie Tran, Laura Dern, Luke Hamill, Lupita Nyong'o, Movie Review, Oscar Isaac, Rian Johnson, Sci-Fi, Star Wars
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
Expectations are always high when it comes to “Star Wars,” and that certainly was the case here. There was a giddy eagerness in the theater the night I was there. My audience applauded the opening credits, whooped and clapped throughout. They were looking for a good time and, fortunately, they were not disappointed. This, the 9th “Star Wars” film and the 8th in the Skywalker series, is the best one in years. Darker and far more brooding than most of the films, it also shows a level of character development that the series has sorely missed until now. In Lucas’s world, there were good guys and bad guys, but little in-between. Director Rian Johnson had directed three feature-length films before this: “Brick,” “The Brothers Bloom,” and “Looper.” Anyone who has seen any of his films knows he loves complicated, morally ambivalent characters. In Lucas’s hands, a character like Luke always felt a bit one-dimensional to me. Yet, in “The Last Jedi,” we get a window into a more complex character filled with guilt, self-doubt, a bit morally simplistic and even a bit arrogant. It was great to see Hamill again, playing the only character I have ever seen him play. He has become a comfortable actor, capable of playing a far more interesting Luke than he could 35 years ago. I really liked this new version of an old character and I hope to see more of him. I also really like how the two core characters are being played. I realize one might debate that there are core characters in this rich ensemble cast. But, using the first films as a guide, it seems to me the backbone of these stories is the relationship between Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), much as it had been the relationship between Luke and Darth Vader. I find this relationship more interesting than the Luke/Vader one. It has more uncertainty in it, with Kylo Ren as a far more conflicted villain than Vader ever was. I am very interested to see his character arc. I was also really pleased with the screen time General Leia was given. This final role was a fitting tribute to Carrie Fisher. Johnson also filled the film with all the things one would expect: beautiful planets, interesting aliens, a few battles and chase scenes, all the good stuff. He also had the requisite cute/funny aliens but, mercifully, kept them tightly contained. From start to finish, this was an entertaining ride and, more than that, it intrigued me. I genuinely want to see where these characters end up and that’s something I haven’t felt in a “Star Wars” film in a long while.
Logan Lucky
August 20, 2017 at 8:10 pm | Posted in 2017 | Leave a commentTags: Adam Driver, Channing Tatum, Comedy, Daniel Craig, Dwight Yoakam, Heist Movie, Katie Holmes, Movie Review, Riley Keough, Seth MacFarlane, Steven Soderbergh
◊ ◊
This film could serve as a good lesson on how to use Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic in conjunction with each other. It got a sterling 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and a middling 78% on Metacritic. Given that the former is a straight up-or-down vote, whereas the latter is a graded score, the takeaway is that virtually every single critic liked “Logan Lucky,” but only moderately. And guess what? I liked “Logan Lucky.” I really did. But only moderately. Steven Soderbergh has always had a penchant for odd little films (“The Limey,” “Bubble,” “The Informant!”) that he mixes in with his massive successes (“Erin Brockovich,” all the “Ocean’s” movies). Here we get a blend of the “Ocean’s” type heist film mixed with the sort of mockery of its lead characters that you saw in “The Informant!” This is a heist movie for the current era, where NASCAR-loving, blue collar workers replace the slick cultural elites of the “Ocean’s” films. But Soderbergh doesn’t quite love these characters like he loved the originals. The “Ocean’s” films were all slick gloss and romanticism. This film is asking us to laugh at these characters, rather than with them. The humor is never cruel but it is poking fun, none-the-less. The caper they set about to commit is as ridiculous and unrealistic as one might expect, but that’s okay. A heist movie requires a suspension of disbelief. Though this film does talk out of both sides of its mouth; we are expected to believe these characters are both brilliant enough to come up with their plan and dumb enough for us to laugh at. The story starts very slowly and I found the begining dragged a lot. Channing Tatum did a passable job as the lead character, though he has never been a standout actor for me. Adam Driver, who I normally like, was odd here. I could not figure out where he was trying to go with his character; some of his acting and speech choices just felt a bit confusing for me. And we had to suffer through a painfully miscast Seth MacFarlane. The film really lit up when Daniel Craig’s character arrived. Whenever he was on screen, the film had energy and direction and had moments of genuine humor. In fact, the film could be very funny in parts. At other times, the film was clearly trying so hard to make us laugh that it fell flat. Overall, this was a fun, lighthearted ride. But it felt like there could have been more there. If the characters had just been a bit more developed, there might have been a real opportunity for some understanding, instead of just parody. And, frankly, we could all use a bit more understanding these days.
Silence
January 15, 2017 at 6:50 pm | Posted in 2016 | Leave a commentTags: Adam Driver, Andrew Garfield, Ciarán Hinds, Issei Ogata, Liam Neeson, Martin Scorsese, Tadanobu Asano, Yôsuke Kubozuka
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
Scorsese’s newest film is a profoundly ponderous work that digs deep into the heart to what faith is. Scorsese, who is Catholic himself, is certainly no stranger to religious themes in his work. In fact, though I went in expecting something similar to 1986’s “The Mission,” I found this film to be much more like Scorsese’s own “The Last Temptation of Christ,” in it’s desire to deeply explore the interplay between faith and doubt and the way that suffering can bring these two supposedly opposing states of being into alignment. “Silence” would almost seem to argue that faith is, at least in part, the full acceptance of one’s doubt. Based on a 1966 novel by Shûsaku Endô, a Japanese Catholic himself, the story is based heavily in Japanese history and, apparently, the fundamentals of the story are accurate. Taking place in the late 17th Century, it tells of the persecution Catholics experienced in Japan under Emperor Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Fathers Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Garrpe (Adam Driver) sneak into Japan to try and find Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson), who it is rumored has gone apostate. Their journeys take them through some harrowing experiences. This is not an easy film to watch; though not gory or particularly violent, it is a constant parade of emotional suffering. Against a truly stunning backdrop, the film uses anguish to explore what faith is, how one expresses it and what type of expression is truly acceptable to God. If I have one, rather large, criticism of the film it is that I think the final answers it reaches feel a bit pat. These are incredibly complex issues and the film seems to stay agnostic about the answers right up until its final moments. In the film’s last image, Scorsese seems to be telling us where he lands on the issue. I think I would have found it a much more compelling message without that commentary.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
December 31, 2015 at 2:17 pm | Posted in 2015 | 1 CommentTags: Action Film, Adam Driver, Andy Serkis, Anthony Daniels, Carrie Fisher, Chewbacca, Daisy Ridley, Domhnall Gleeson, George Lucas, Gwendoline Christie, Han Solo, Harrison Ford, John Boyega, Kenny Baker, Luke Skywalker, Lupita Nyong'o, Mark Hamill, Movie Review, Oscar Isaac, Peter Mayhew, Sci-Fi, Star Wars
◊ ◊ ◊ ½
Whoever it was who said, “you can’t go home again,” it wasn’t JJ Abrams. His recent career seems to be all about nostalgia. With his two “Star Trek” movies, he simultaneously recreated and reinvented the series he had grown up on as a kid. Now, he has done the same with “Star Wars.” With “The Force Awakens,” Abrams has done everything in his power to recreate the mood and feel of that first film, for better and for worse. This movie has sweeping action, beautiful images, a rich and fully realized universe, an panoply of aliens, courageous heroes and menacing villains. It is, in other words, every bit as epic as those first films. Where the series of the late 90s stumbled with an overly convoluted plot that robbed the central story arch (Anakin’s rise and fall) by diluting it, this story feels much tighter and more focused. Also, the stilted and silly dialogue (which even occasionally plagues the original films) is missing here, as is the awkward, emotionally flat acting. All of which is to say that there is much to recommend in this film, except much originality. It is such a slave to the original formula that it lacks any real nerve. Say what you will about any of Lucas’s films, they pushed boundaries and were daring, even if it didn’t always work. This film is like Abrams went through a check list of the “Star Wars” greatest hits. Desert planets, cute robots, seedy bars, reluctant heroes who get swayed by a beautiful girl, and daddy issues galore. Just because you make a character orange and a woman, doesn’t mean she isn’t still obviously a Yoda substitute. As interesting as she is, I can still see the outline of the original. In fact, the themes were all so derivative that I had already guessed the shocker near the film’s end. What a shame because it’s a great moment, it’s just also the reflection of one I have seen before. I don’t want to sound too harsh. It is, in some ways, an impossible task to follow Lucas (even Lucas couldn’t follow Lucas). At least, Abrams’s film is fun and exciting and left me wanting more. He did a good job, maybe even a very good job, just not a great one. For that, he needs to find his own voice within the Star Wars universe. The young padawan needs to become the master.
Inside Llewyn Davis
January 2, 2014 at 11:49 am | Posted in 2013 | Leave a commentTags: Adam Driver, Carey Mulligan, Comedy, Ethan Coen, Ethan Phillips, F. Murray Abraham, Inside Llewyn Davis, Joel Coen, John Goodman, Justin Timberlake, Max Casella, Movie Review, Oscar Isaac, Period Piece, The Coen Brothers
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ½
When discussing the Brothers Coen, expectations are understandably high. With an impressive list of almost impossibly good films (“Fargo,” “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” “No Country for Old Men,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Miller’s Crossing,”: and on and on…), I would be hard pressed to call this one of their best works, yet it still remains one of the best films this year. The Coens have a jaundiced view of human nature and most of their films portray hapless sad-sacks struggling (and usually failing) in the face of the universe’s utter disinterest. Here, we follow the eponymous folk singer through a meandering journey that ends right where it starts. In this sense, this film most closely resembles “O Brother” and even has a cat named Ulysses to drive home the point: Llewyn Davis is on an epic Odyssian journey. Like “O Brother” (and “The Odyssey”), we meet various characters along the way; in this case, they all appear to represent various forms of the apathy and cynicism that Davis struggles with internally. Also, like “O Brother,” the music of an era is at the soul of this film and we are treated to some stunning, doleful and haunting folks song, arranged for us by T-Bone Burnett. Oscar Isaac’s fantastic performance manages to wring as much sympathy as possible out of the audience for the morose, hang-dogged and completely self-involved Davis. Isaac has been building his career over the past 5 years doing mostly background work but proves his mettle as a lead actor here. The rest of the crew bring in strong performances as well. Carey Mulligen is bitingly funny as the snide Jean and Justin Timberlake nails the wide-eyed naivety and oh-gosh silliness at the heart of some early 60s folk singers. John Goodman shines, as he always does for the Coens, during his too brief time on screen. I will also mention (with some degree of bragging) that I was able to recognize Max Casella, who long ago played best friend Vinny on “Doogie Howser;” it was nice to see that he has kept very busy over the years. Moody, haunting, silly, touching, biting, inexplicable… sounds like the Coens to me.
Pete
Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.
Entries and comments feeds.
Clear Blue Eye 