BLEED FOR THIS Review

Though the national stage for boxing has only seemed to grow smaller and smaller over the years Hollywood's infatuation with the sport has only grown stronger. Between Southpaw and the generally terrific Creed last year to Hands of Stone and now Bleed for This the question around the story of Vinny Pazienza was always going to be not what made it worth telling-we know what the hook is-but more what makes this film in particular worth watching as the options for such sports dramas are continually growing. One could go on to discuss the committed and rather spectacular performance that Miles Teller gives in the role Pazienza, or the cool aesthetic that matches the time period in small, effective ways, but despite the casts best efforts and writer/director Ben Younger's endeavor to paint more a portrait of a man determined to overcome the odds rather than going through the motions of another redemptive sports tale, Bleed for This unfortunately ends up reducing itself to just that. It's a difficult place to be in as the genre trappings of such a film are so familiar and so easily relied on at this point that it is difficult to conjure up any such alternate as to how to go about telling such a story. Younger clearly has a knack for visual storytelling and each of the performances on display here, with the supporting turns from Aaron Eckhart, Ciarán Hinds, and Katey Sagal standing strongly next to Teller's lead performance, are far more than competent and in fact add heavily to the overall arc these characters experience allowing them to not just remain stock characters. This is key as it's always the characters who are going to allow pieces like this to stand out. Younger and his cast are able to create fully realized human beings who come across not as functions for the purpose of this movie or who are only present to further certain plot strands, but instead as individuals who have found themselves in the circumstances of this dour situation who are each trying to figure out how best to deal with it. Sounds rousing, right? Maybe even inspiring? It certainly could be as Bleed for This has all the right moves to make it a cornerstone boxing movie, but pacing issues and a lack of any heavy emotional impact leave this one stranded in the middle of the ring.   

SULLY Review

Sully is a slim 95-minutes. It swoops in with a harrowing opening sequence and then only lets its foot off the throttle just long enough to place viewers back at the beginning of 2009 and familiar with Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger once again before thrusting them into the throws of the reasons this movie exists. The toughest challenge a movie about the "Miracle on the Hudson" was always going to face was going to be finding a new angle in which to present the story to audiences who were witness to an onslaught of media coverage around the actual event; what was there to the story we didn't already know? Turns out director Clint Eastwood and screenwriter Todd Komarnicki (who has only written three feature screenplays the last of which was the 2007 thriller Perfect Stranger starring Bruce Willis and Halle Berry) had plenty of material as the not so well documented aspect of the aforementioned "Miracle on the Hudson" was the fact the NTSB conducted an investigation as to whether or not Captain Sully could have in fact made it back to a runway instead of landing a pricey plane in the middle of a river. And so, what Eastwood has is a David and Goliath story of sorts where the line between good and bad is drawn early and distinctly with the script simultaneously evaluating the psyche of a man who happened to be in the right place during a bad situation that would result in him having to separate reality from the strange swirl of whatever kind of life was happening immediately following his unprecedented landing. And on many different levels, no less. This not so well publicized aspect of Sully's story combined with the revelatory state of mind Tom Hanks brings to his performance, some critical editing by Blu Murray (a frequent collaborator of Eastwood's, but someone who's never taken lead on one of his films) that lends these familiar events a whole new level of tension all packed into that slim running time make Sully a consistently perceptive interpretation of the events of January 15, 2009 that stands to be largely effective and appropriately affecting.

Movies I Wanna See Most: Fall 2016

So far, 2016 has felt like something of a lackluster year for film when compared to what felt like a rather stellar 2015. Maybe it is the hurt of summer '16 and the many disappointments it carried that is still making me feel worse about the year than it actually has been, but if the summer of '16 was a let down the latter half of the year certainly seems like it has a shot of righting the ship and offering plenty of interesting films that could fill the majority of my year end list that I'm beginning to get concerned about. In fact, the rest of the year is so jam-packed with highly anticipated stuff I think I could make a top twenty and be legitimately excited for each and every one of the movies on that list. As I did last year, I'm basically including a top fifteen with more of a focus on why my top ten are indeed my top ten, but hard choices had to be made.

I'm interested to see what Clint Eastwood and Tom Hanks have to offer with Sully and the fact it was shot 100% on IMAX cameras. I'm equally as intrigued by what Oliver Stone and Joseph Gordon-Levitt have up their sleeves in Snowden, but while interested I can't say I'm necessarily excited for the possibilities these features hold. I kind of feel I know what to expect and if they fulfill those expectations, great-if they surpass them-even better. This could very much describe the way I feel about the likes of The Girl on the Train and The Accountant as well. I'm very much interested to see if either of these can rise above their genre trappings to be more than what their trailers promise or if they'll simply be solid exercises in those genres-which isn't a bad thing either. I expect Birth of a Nation may be a great film, but am I excited to watch another harsh account concerning slavery? Not really. If I knew or had seen a little more about Denzel Washington's Fences adaptation or Miss Sloane starring Jessica Chastain I might be more inclined to include them on my list. Speaking of Washington, I'm certainly eager to see such mainstream films as Magnificent Seven, When a Monster Calls, Deepwater Horizon, Moana, and Assassins Creed, but not more than what is currently on my list. Monster and Moana would definitely make that top twenty though.

I've excluded Martin Scorsese's Silence from this list as I've put it on the last four or five lists I've made of this nature and it seems and it still doesn't have a firm release date. If we were to get some kind of confirmation it would certainly be near the top, but as of right now I'm treating this thing as if it won't come out until 2017. Same for the Will Smith/Kate Winslet/Keira Knightley/Helen Mirren/ Edward Norton/Naomie Harris/Michael Peña starrer Collateral Beauty. We could get a trailer any day now given the December 16th release date, but as we haven't seen so much as a still yet there is nothing to go on. The one landing just outside this top fifteen is Ewan McGregor's directorial debut in American Pastoral which I unfortunately feel will take a while to get to my neck of the woods. And so, without further adieu, let's dig in...

First Trailer for Clint Eastwood's SULLY Starring Tom Hanks

Since hearing there was going to be a film made about the story of Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger that would be directed by Clint Eastwood and star Tom Hanks there has been the preconception this would be a film made solely for the purpose of winning awards while getting as close as one can to guaranteeing a hit out of a year-end drama. After seeing the first footage from the film in today's trailer premiere all those things still seem to be true, but there is now an added element of intrigue. For one reason or another there is clearly more substance behind the movie than what I expected to be little more than obvious studio awards bait. While it is probably hard for people such as Eastwood and Hanks to work on a project without really digging their creative juices into it there just seemed something about that project that felt as if it would get by on, and excuse the pun, autopilot. There are certainly many comparisons one could draw between the narrative Sully seems to be following and the Denzel Washington film, Flight, from a few years back, but given Eastwood's film is steeped in true events I can't imagine much of those comparisons not being excused. While I, personally, didn't follow the story of the "Miracle on the Hudson" past more than the initial reports that Sully and his crew had performed something of an unheard of landing on the water after both engines failed all the while rescuing every person on board there was apparently a fairly tense and lengthy investigation that took place afterward. This investigation looks to serve as the meat of the story here more so than the act of the rescue though I'm sure the landing will serve as a genuine set piece. All of that said, this trailer certainly did its job as I'm much more interested in the film than I was even yesterday. Sully also stars Aaron Eckhart, Laura Linney, Anna Gunn, Sam Huntington, Jerry Ferrara, Autumn Reeser, Holt McCallany, Mike O'Malley, and opens on September 9th, 2016.  

LONDON HAS FALLEN Review

There is nothing more pleasing than a product (or an individual for that matter) that is completely self-aware. It just makes everything less awkward when the fated time comes where one must be honest and up front about things. This is what makes both London Has Fallen and its predecessor, Olympus Has Fallen, so easy to like and enjoy. Both films know exactly what they are and strive to be nothing more (or so I thought given the idea of a sequel to such a film would presumably follow the same pattern). As a blatant Die Hard rip-off that means to entertain a certain type of audience primed for a certain type of entertainment London Has Fallen mostly fulfills that quota. Are either of these films necessarily good? No, not really. The dialogue is cheesy, the CGI is cheap, and the plot is almost completely nonsensical, but to say they're not at least a good bit of fun would be a lie. Gerard Butler (bouncing back somewhat from last week's truly terrible Gods of Egypt) is charismatic enough to lead the charge in this kind of film while the four-man screenwriting team has upped Aaron Eckhart's presidential role considerably so that there is something of a buddy cop dynamic to the proceedings. Oddly enough, while Olympus made $161 million worldwide on $70m the budget for this sequel apparently went up by $35m, but looks a fair amount cheaper. Iranian director Babak Najafi takes over for original helmer Antoine Fuqua and despite having more money, but a broader canvas on which to paint this inevitable, but costly sequel ends up feeling like more of a laborious effort than its rather elementary predecessor. In short, there are times when London Has Fallen does unfortunately forget what it needs to be (a wall to wall actioner) and instead gets too wrapped up in the politics of the plot resulting in a film that's all the more ludicrous while also slowing what should be a breakneck pace. It is when Najafi sticks to what this franchise is known for rather than attempting to broaden its horizons that audiences get what they paid to see. There's a line in the film, some words of wisdom, that go, "never criticize, only encourage," and while this may not apply to film criticism given "critic" is the root word of the job title if I were to have encouraged London Has Fallen to do anything it would have been to stay more true to itself and not try to be more than what it was always destined to be: a painless cash grab.

Full Trailer for LONDON HAS FALLEN Starring Gerard Butler

Olympus Has Fallen was a numbingly entertaining action movie, but it feels like it was light years ago at this point. Has Gerard Butler even done anything else in the three year interim between these films you might ask? No, unless you count his voice work in How To Train Your Dragon 2 which was substantial, but otherwise we haven't seen the Scotsman's mug on the big screen since saving the President in March of 2013. We will see him in Gods of Egypt come February, but the month after will see his delayed return to Mike Banning, Secret Service man extraordinaire, who this time around will discover a plot to assassinate all the world leaders attending the Prime Minister's funeral in London. While original director Antoine Fuqua used his resurgence in popularity after Olympus to go on to bigger and better things this second round of mayhem was helmed by something of a novice feature director in Iran-born Babak Najafi (only two features to his credit over a sixteen year career). Still, I'm sure his instructions were clear in that Focus Features (yes, focus Features is distributing this) wanted more of the same in order to get butts back in the seat during the doldrums of March with hopes everyone might need a bit of escapism after the typical depression and drama involved with awards season fodder. Also starring Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Alon Moni Aboutboul, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Jackie Earle Haley, Melissa Leo, Radha Mitchell, Sean O’Bryan, Charlotte Riley and Waleed Zuaiter, London Has Fallen opens on March 4, 2016.

I, FRANKENSTEIN Review

There is little to say about a film or anything really when it feels the "artists" behind it didn't care enough to invest their own interests in it. There is little vision to be held with something like I, Frankenstein as it is nothing more than a typical January release, an ugly step-sister to the summer blockbusters that have equally silly stories or premises, but real vision and money behind them. With something like I, Frankenstein what we have is the writer of such blockbusters as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and the first G.I. Joe, but who also has more credible fare like Australia (c'mon you know you liked it) and Collateral to his name and has now apparently earned the right to direct his own feature and so Lakeshore Entertainment, for some unknown reason, entrusted him with a rather large budget and gave him free reign to pen a script that concerned Victor Frankenstein's monster living on into the modern world and being caught in the middle of a war that has been raging between demons and gargoyles. Sound ridiculous? It is. Its essentially another attempt to capitalize on bringing well known, well respected properties back to the big screen in more gritty fashion. It seems Stuart Beattie, the aforementioned writer turned director, decided he'd go just outside the realm of fairy tales and instead chose to pick from the iconic roster of horror figures and give them an all CGI environment with dark and brooding attitudes that would be fine if this were a substantial take on the gothic romanticism of Mary Shelley's source material, but instead it seems to want to achieve little more than box office success and disregards any sense of deeper storytelling in order to fit squarely into this pre-ordained January genre. It is an ugly genre, one where we get movies year in and year out like any one of the Underworld films (which this so proudly touts as being produced by the same people) or last years Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters or even Season of the Witch from two years ago (see a trend?). It is one of those films, set in a period where set designs call for grotesque statues and worn out castles, where CGI baddies look ridiculous and we forget about character and story the moment we walk out of the theater. You'd think, given Beattie's track record in writing he would jump at the chance to make his own film and be keen on leaving a good impression so as to earn another turn behind the camera, but if I, Frankenstein is any indication he should never be allowed to direct or pen a script again.

First Trailer for I, FRANKENSTEIN

How movies like I, Frankenstein continue to get made is something that baffles me. They all have this cheap fantasy element to them and none of it comes off as particularly original, but rather and mixed bag of references to better, more established material and archetypes taken from other genres of film and applied to these age old stories and myths that hopefully turn out to be something truly original, yet the majority of the time are nothing more than half-baked ideas set into typical action film beats where our hero must save the world from some unknown threat he helped create or unleashed from his realm, world, galaxy, story...you get the picture. A movie like this is below Aaron Eckhart who, after The Dark Knight, I believed would have a prolific career that would produce several good films and performances, but his mix of direct-to-video movies combined with big action fare that has been more or less forgettable has made him that exact thing. This kind of role and film seems destined for the $5 bin at Wal-Mart and along the lines of every Underworld, Resident Evil, or Priest and Legion that studios decide to release in the doldrums of September or the early months of the year (in this case, January). I'm slightly engaged by the trailer only because the visual element at least seems to be going for something and as this is director Stuart Beattie's first major film there might be some real inventiveness and energy here that the whole vibe I'm getting from the film is covering up. We'll just have to wait and see as I, Frankenstein opens January 24, 2014 and also stars Bill Nighy, Yvonne Strahovski, Miranda Otto and Jai Courtney.

OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN Review

It is about time Gerard Butler went back to doing what he does best. After his breakout role in 2006's 300 the charismatic Scotsman resorted to taking every major script he was handed that unfortunately ended in a string of bad romantic comedies (The Bounty Hunter, The Ugly Truth) while venturing back into the action game with results that ranged from horrible (Gamer) to entertaining but empty (Law Abiding Citizen). It has been a good six years since Butler has made an entertaining and successful mainstream film (RocknRolla and Coriolanus serve as indie cred, but were never afforded the chances to reach as wide an audience). These thoughts come to mind after realizing just how numbingly entertaining his latest effort, Olympus Has Fallen turns out to be. It doesn't help that Chasing Mavericks and Playing for Keeps both of which opened late in 2012 and both of which flopped massively (the latter being absolutely trashed by critics) are still fresh on most avid movie-goers minds and that this was some kind of shot at redemption. Even with his track record against him and the current box office climate that has not seen early 2013 be too kind to R-rated action flicks, this new film from Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) has managed to capture that charm, that silliness, and that zeal present in so many action flicks of old that is as cliche-riddled as it is a solid, tense thriller with a plot only the movies could see fit to pull off. I like Butler and I liked his character of Mike Banning, but it didn't hurt the star has a good director and an outstanding supporting cast behind him helping make Olympus Has Fallen the best action flick of 2013 thus far.

THE DARK KNIGHT Review

If any film in recent memory has approached, if not in many a fans eyes reached, perfection it would be the second entry in Chris Nolan's Batman series, The Dark Knight. Everything about the film contributes to building the tension and every performance is spot on, but what will forever be remembered about the film, what will stand out no matter how great everything else was is the performance of Heath Ledger as the Joker. When it was announced the actor would be playing the manic and insane criminal there was no shortage of doubt in his abilities but then the teaser trailer premiered and we got our first taste of Ledger's interpretation and how different it would be from Jack Nicholson's. Ledger's Joker was a deranged lunatic of a man who only wanted to watch the world burn and does more than his part to see that ambition become a truth in the city of Gotham. No matter how many times I watch the film I find myself amazed at how much this transcends the super hero/comic book genre to become something entirely different, something more-a crime drama, a mystery, a story of love, loss, and chaos. I become more impressed with how complex the story actually is, the layers with which the Nolan brothers and David Goyer took to make sure every aspect of the story had its motivations set to serve the ultimate theories and themes that Nolan is trying to explore with his films. There was no greater experience than seeing the massive action set pieces, the swelling music, the mastery of the performances come together on the IMAX screen like they did the first time you watched The Dark Knight. There hasn't been one since and likely never will be again, but I'm hoping things come pretty close this week.

Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) contemplates what it
means to be Batman.

At the end of Batman Begins when Gordon handed over the joker card to Batman we knew what was coming but not necessarily what to expect. Never did I imagine the film that would follow would be the defining moment of my movie going experiences. I literally felt privileged to be alive during the theatrical release of such a film and have the opportunity to see it as many times as I wanted to in the format it was meant to be seen in. For two and a half hours I was on the edge of seat in pure escapism and overtaken by the scope with which the film was operating. Nearly every scene has am iconic shot, or moment, or piece of dialogue to it. The opening bank heist scene, the "hockey pants" fight scene where a director finally acknowledged issues with the batsuit and made the change to best one yet for the most practical of reasons. There is the introduction of the "white knight" Harvey Dent and how he has come to the aid of Batman yet Bruce Wayne can't help but to dislike him because he takes the affections of Rachel away. Aaron Eckhart likely had one of the more difficult arcs to pull off but it was always destined to be overshadowed by Ledger's insane villain. Still, the Harvey Dent/Two-face transition for me is what helped the story match the visuals and the music in scope. The sequence where Batman kidnaps Lau from his secure office building in Hong Kong by plane or the one where the Joker crashes the fundraiser or when he blows up a hospital. The car chase where the batpod is first revealed and that moment when the 18-wheeler flipped. It was astonishing, mesmerizing, it had a power over you as a viewer. The freakish and disturbing antics of the Joker keeping us guessing as the plot thickens and comes to an unconventional climax that left your mind lingering with thoughts and questions that were a chilling surprise to how much a man in a bat suit could resonate with you.

The Joker was Heath Ledger's finest performance.

I saw the film no less than six times in its theatrical run and though I try my hardest not to allow my excitement and anticipation blind me from seeing any issues the film might have, it was truly hard for me to find any kind of major fault with the movie. Sure, it had a few issues in the second act, it might have drug a time or two, but it picked itself back up and Nolan understood his project so well that he never allowed the bleakness of the whole thing to outweigh the fact that it was entertainment or the fact that it was entertainment to outweigh what he wanted to explore in the Batman mythology. What he set out to make with the first film carries over in that every aspect was grounded in reality. This is a completely plausible story where a man makes himself more than a human being in the eyes of his enemies to scare them into seclusion. Christian Bale dug even deeper into his role the second time around, he became Bruce Wayne and in doing that was able to become the true identity of the man in Batman. Maggie Gyllenhaal took over duties for Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes in a move I usually don't like at all, but Gyllenhaal left me wishing she had played the role in the first place. I look back, trying to imagine Holmes delivering the dialogue and the performance needed to make Rachel as great of an emotional pull as Gyllenhaal did in The Dark Knight and it just isn't possible. Then you have the trio of support for Wayne/Batman in the form of Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman. Oldman truly inhabits the skin of Gordon in this film and Caine, in his somewhat limited screen time, delivered a nuanced and emotional performance that is strong when it needs to be and light only when necessary. Freeman does his thing, but adds an extra bit of charm in a few key scenes early on that allow us to look past his persona and buy into him in this world. Regardless of how good anyone else was in the film though it all comes back around to Ledger. That first real introduction to the Joker where he crashes the mob boss meeting and makes a real impression on everyone by inserting a pencil into a mans head is one of the greatest introductions to a character ever put to film.

Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and Harvey Dent
(Aaron Eckhart) attend a fundraiser for Harvey. 

What would the film have been had Ledger not died months before its release? Did his death make the Joker he portrayed on screen all the more scary? Likely, a bit, yes. Still, four years later his performance sends chills down my spine. I don't know that the film would have been as massively successful money-wise and that will be a debate that goes on forever, but regardless of the loss of Ledger, the film is and would have been considered the pinnacle of comic book adaptations and left its audience anxiously awaiting what would come next. We have almost reached the point of seeing what that follow up will be and despite Nolan's efforts nothing he could have done would have been able to top what he made here. It is clear he put everything he had into The Dark Knight and with his third and final installment he will no doubt bring what will no doubt go down in history as one of the greatest trilogies of all time to a fitting close. There is something to be said for a film that did what The Dark Knight did but it is hard to put into words what a huge impression this movie left on me. I love the film to the point I could watch it with my eyes closed and still find it beautiful due to the soaring and grim soundtrack that evolved from the first film. It is a gorgeous movie in every demented sense of the word. It is an emotional rollercoaster, an exquisite film that demonstrates the kind of chaos and terrorism a truly disturbed individual can bring to the forefront of society. It is a mirror to society, a political commentary with hints of understanding to public perceptions and terrorism that gave it a more urgent cover to the psycho crime drama that its presented as. It is a masterpiece.

THE DARK KNIGHT Review

If any film in recent memory has approached, if not in many a fans eyes reached, perfection it would be the second entry in Chris Nolan's Batman series, The Dark Knight. Everything about the film contributes to building the tension and every performance is spot on, but what will forever be remembered about the film, what will stand out no matter how great everything else was is the performance of Heath Ledger as the Joker. When it was announced the actor would be playing the manic and insane criminal there was no shortage of doubt in his abilities but then the teaser trailer premiered and we got our first taste of Ledger's interpretation and how different it would be from Jack Nicholson's. Ledger's Joker was a deranged lunatic of a man who only wanted to watch the world burn and does more than his part to see that ambition become a truth in the city of Gotham. No matter how many times I watch the film I find myself amazed at how much this transcends the super hero/comic book genre to become something entirely different, something more-a crime drama, a mystery, a story of love, loss, and chaos. I become more impressed with how complex the story actually is, the layers with which the Nolan brothers and David Goyer took to make sure every aspect of the story had its motivations set to serve the ultimate theories and themes that Nolan is trying to explore with his films. There was no greater experience than seeing the massive action set pieces, the swelling music, the mastery of the performances come together on the IMAX screen like they did the first time you watched The Dark Knight. There hasn't been one since and likely never will be again, but I'm hoping things come pretty close this week.