THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Review

In the first scene of writer/director Martin McDonagh's (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths) new film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Mildred Pierce (Frances McDormand) drives past three billboards that are falling apart on an old road outside the titular small town she lives in that no one has used since the freeway opened. Hell, the last time a company even utilized the billboards for actual advertising was Huggies in the mid-eighties. Due to the contemplative look on Mildred's face we know the inciting incident is set to occur at any moment, but more important is the fact we take in the appearance of Mildred. Her hair is down, her clothes rather casual, and while Mildred never seems like she was ever the kid of woman to get too made-up, she looks to be in a certain place in her life that, while not peaceful, is one where she's come to terms with the reality of her situation. You see, Mildred's daughter was murdered a year or so prior to the beginning of the film and the investigation by her local police department seems to have waned over time-Mildred stating she hadn't heard a peep from them in at least seven months-prompting her to take matters into her own hands, but not in the manner of a revenge fantasy a la The Punisher or a recent Quentin Tarantino flick, but more in the vein of calling out those responsible for seeking her daughter's killer and rapist and holding them accountable for failing at their civil responsibilities. If you've seen the trailers you know Mildred does this by renting the three aforementioned billboards to send a very clear message to the Ebbing police department, calling out Police Chief George Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) in particular. Once Mildred goes through with this though, her look changes and, in turn, so must her mentality. No more does Mildred ever look as casual as she does in that first scene. No more does it feel as if Mildred might ever be at peace with what has occurred in her life. Rather, from the end of this scene on through to the end of the movie Mildred pulls her hair up into a tight ponytail, the back of her neck now shaved as if to say she has no frills about what she's doing. Never again do we see her in public with her hair down or her wearing anything resembling khaki or flannel, but rather Mildred only wears her industrial work uniform and bandana. This outward exterior that takes no crap from no one is key to her surviving the ramifications that come from her actions and the complexities she didn't expect as a result of those actions. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri takes on this exterior as well, but don't be fooled as this is one of the most brutal, funny, dark, sad, and best movies of the year.

New Trailer for GEOSTORM Starring Gerard Butler

Geostorm looks terrible. I don't think anyone is going to necessarily debate that, but it's also good to know that with the newest trailer for the film the film itself also seems to know exactly what it is. After seeing the debut teaser it was pretty obvious this thing was going to be as close to actual dog shit as a movie could be, but upon further inspection i.e. this second official trailer for the film, it would seem the studio and creative team behind this offering are comfortable with basing their legacy on pure schlock so it could be more fun than initially expected. Coming to us via Warner Bros. and Skydance Productions as written by Dean Devlin (Independence Day, Stargate) and TV Writer Paul Guyot and as directed by Devlin as well as Danny Cannon (largely a TV director as well, but who is also responsible for 1995's Judge Dredd and 1998's I Still Know What You Did Last Summer) Geostorm will mark the first feature of Devlin's that will seemingly get a theatrical release despite the fact he also directed another feature intended to be released this year. With this disaster flick it seems the writer/director is working in his comfort zone though as not only has he penned both Independence Day screenplays (and apparently working on a third?), but also served as a producer on other Roland Emmerich productions including 1998's Godzilla. What it is about this genre that keeps him coming back is a mystery to someone such as myself that never got off on seeing cities wiped out or antagonists interacting on such broad scales, but here we are with Devlin seemingly taking notes from Emmerich's 2004 hit The Day After Tomorrow, but upping the ante by adding in the more ridiculous aspect of the world's governments coming together to create a network of satellites that surround the planet and are armed with geoengineering technologies designed to stave off the natural disasters. Of course, after successfully protecting earth for two years, something begins to go wrong and two estranged brothers are tasked with solving the program's malfunction before a world wide Geostorm engulfs the planet. Want to know the only thing that makes this synopsis better or worse depending on how you look at it? The couldn't be more different Gerard Butler and Jim Sturgess are the actors portraying those estranged brother. Geostorm also, somehow, stars the likes of Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris, Andy Garcia, and will likely be a solid hit when it opens on October 20th, 2017.

ROBOCOP Review

Sometimes it seems critics are so intent on seeing themselves as more intelligent than popular entertainment, above it in many regards, that they cannot help but look for what might be implausible in those big action movies that, the majority of the time, do in fact place explosions over intelligence. At this point though, that is an age old argument and I think studios have come to realize that audiences know better than to accept big, expensive action flicks for what they are, but that we have come to expect a little more from our movies. It doesn't necessarily have to be biting satire, social commentary or even a story that breaks any new ground, but what we do expect is something that someone somewhere seems to have put a good amount of thought and effort into creating that, preferably, comes from a single point of vision as to why this feature should exist. Those last stipulations are especially true when we come to something like a re-make of a classic film that many people will brush off from the moment its greenlit or will immediately dismiss as never being able to live up to the original. With Robocop, one did have to wonder what more could there be to the idea of re-making the 1987 Paul Verhoeven classic other than to rip-off the well-known brand-name that would hopefully assure butts in the seats opening weekend? It would naturally be taken as nothing more than a cash grab initially, something that, like Robocop himself, was put together by a committee of studio execs looking through old properties that could turn a profit in todays market and hey, science fiction has been hot lately so why not go for it? While I never had much affection for the original film (it came out the year I was born) and because I couldn't really watch it given the R-rating and gratuitous violence until many years later I came to view it more as a fun, little 80's flick with a guy in a cool suit rather than appreciate it as many seem to that were old enough to enjoy it in its heyday. That being said, I didn't walk in with horribly low expectations, but I knew the story, knew the likelihood of why this was produced and therefore knew not to expect much, but after the great introduction to this new world we get from Pat Novak aka Samuel L. Jackson I began to slip comfortably into enjoyment and let those critical inhibitions go to where the implausibilities and plot hang-ups disappeared and I was simply having fun.

First Trailer for ROBOCOP Remake

I'll be honest, I've never seen Paul Verhoeven's original Robocop but likely only because I am the oldest child and I was born the year it arrived in theaters. There has never been any incentive for me to check it out, until now. Much like with his other futuristic sci-fi flick Total Recall, Robocop has received the remake treatment and so I will rent the original a few days before seeing the remake just so I know what to expect and what the internet will most likely be complaining about. Is it bad that we now have to refer to the internet as if it is a living, breathing thing? Are these the first signs we are entering the world Verhoeven's films always predicted?!? Anyway, my point is, I didn't know what to expect from this trailer or what the final product might offer as I have no precedent for what they should be. What I do see is a rather slickly made, if not generic looking, sci-fi flick that takes the fun/cool premise of putting a police officer in a machine and letting him run wild on the bad guys. The film seems to have plenty of sturdy support in the supporting cast members and a more than acceptable unknown lead for them to rally around. I haven't seen the TV series The Killing for which star Joel Kinnaman is most likely most known, but he seems to have a fair amount of charisma in the early scenes here which means it might be too bad when he turns all Mr. Roboto on us. And once again this first trailer seemingly goes through every beat of the film giving plenty away while there will surely be at least two more trailers that give even more away before February of 2014 even arrives. I hope I'm wrong and that the studio is holding a few plot lines and money shots back, but can't help but feel like they're selling this one as hard as they can. The film also stars Michael Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman, Abbie Cornish, Jay Baruchel, and Jackie Earle Haley. RoboCop opens February 7, 2014.

SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS Review

Seven Psychopaths is a specific type of film. It is a special kind of movie yet it is one those outside the realm of devoted cinephiles might not fully comprehend. For this reason, and many many others I absolutely loved the movie. What is fascinating, yes fascinating, about the film is how despite the idea that an audience member who doesn't see many movies would still get everything out of this film they likely interpreted as being promised in the trailer (guns, sex, violence, humor) there is also a completely different layer provided for those expecting a little more from the outstanding cast and if you know a little more, the brilliant writer and fine director Martin McDonagh who was behind one of my favorite films of 2008, In Bruges. What this separate layer provides is a very self-aware, meta-style story within a story that provides all the cliches and archetypes of a Hollywood production while at the same time deconstructing and analyzing each of them. Telling us why they are needed in order for us to feel fulfilled when walking out of the theater and why some of it seems so ridiculous when put through McDonagh's unique looking glass. On another level, what is even more satisfying about the film is its ability to be the film that its main character is writing, and be the best version of what he could likely imagine. We are easily taken in by the tricks of the hilarity and the profane violence, but despite all of that it is a really nice, peaceful film about love and friendship. There is a lot to go through, but these inherent features are what shine through after we allow the film to really settle in.

Angela (Olga Kurylenko) and Bill (Sam Rockwell) find
themselves in a bit of a pickle...

Within the first few minutes it is easy to tell how much of a good time this movie intends to be. And as typical as it might sound, I don't know that I've had a more flat-out fun or a more strictly entertaining experience at the movies this year. It all begins with a seemingly unrelated couple of murders (that feature the great talent of Michael Stuhlbarg nonetheless) introducing us to our first psychopath which then rollicks into our introduction to Marty (Colin Farrell) who is a screenwriter looking for inspiration for his new script aptly titled "Seven Psychopaths". Marty just happens to have a best friend that possesses a good amount of applicable qualities himself to the screenplay in Bill (Sam Rockwell). Bill is kind of a bum, the guy doesn't have a steady job, is a wannabe actor and is always a bit on the uneasy side. Lacking in confidence would be a fair way to describe our early impressions of Bill. To make a little money Bill teams up with Hans (Christopher Walken) who is an older gentleman with a dying wife who suffers from cancer. To make this money though involves the scam that is the central focus of the trailer but is simply a way to set up all of the cross-overs and complications that the movie actually entails. Hans and Bill kidnap dogs only to return them once their has been a reward placed on the canines for their return. It is a fun, quirky little set-up that goes awry when Bill kidnaps the shih tzu of a psychotic gangster Charlie (Woody Harrelson). This is clearly more than enough for Marty to draw on as Hans has an interestingly violent past for such a religious man as well as McDonagh also throwing in a character for Tom Waits and a metaphor of a Vietnamese man that brings a certain weight to the violent slapstick that presides over most of the film.

The experience of watching the film lies both within the script where McDonagh is both adept at pacing and weaving several storylines so intricately while keeping up with what were no doubt countless thoughts and intentions about making specific statements. The writer/director has so many things going on here it is a wonder how he kept it all straight, but he does so good at making his point clear about the predictability of B-movies and the way in which they are mass produced to include as big a demographic as possible. It is one thing to sort out such statements and characters to represent these points of view but it is another to also have the right actors in place to convey that material correctly, with just the right timing so that subtle sarcasm may be easily picked up on by those who are completely engrossed by the term paper that McDonagh is writing on the state of Hollywood action films.

Marty (Colin Farrell), Hans (Christopher Walken), and Bill decide to escape their issues by taking to the desert

While it is nice to see Farrell re-teaming with his In Bruges director, and he certainly does fine as the leading man, he is also playing the most sensible person in the film which immediately makes him the least interesting. While the throughline story contains his character Marty it is also fully focused in on Rockwell and Walken's characters and in them lies the real magic of the movie. Rockwell has always played unhinged well (be sure and checkout Moon and Choke if you've never seen them) and here he applies it to such a degree that we know we are in for a treat every time he appears on the screen. His scenes with Walken and Farrell in the desert are some of the smartest written and best delivered scenes I've seen on film this year. His characters description of a final shootout around the campfire will likely become a point of cult reference in the near future. Walken has not been this good in a while. He has, as of late, resigned to bit parts that have made more a caricature than an actual person, but leave it to McDonagh's wonderful characterization to pull something out of the actor that feels truly genuine in a way that anchors the entire movie with more gravitas than it would have possessed otherwise.

Marty is at the mercy of Charles (Woody Harrelson)
because of Bill's actions. 

I walked into Seven Psychopaths expecting a lot, but not necessarily something great. Whether it was the level of expectation or the low profile way in which the film had dropped itself into theaters this past weekend I was more than pleasantly surprised by how much I came out loving the film. It turned out to be one of those movies you could immediately turn around and watch again and receive just as much enjoyment out of it the second time, probably even more. There is such a fine line for me between a film that is better than most of what we see and something great. I understand that some people will very much disagree with me about this film when I say I absolutely loved it and can't think of a bad thing to say about it. To a certain point, I like to think I could understand where they are coming from, but that would contradict my previous statement about my thinking. I loved it, no way around it, and I certainly hope McDonagh is allowed the opportunity to keep rolling out these bleak, black comedies that feature not only intelligent dialogue and razor sharp, very funny jabs at anyone and everyone. He has a knack for it and seems to know very well how to tell the story he so desires and more importantly get it across in the way he so intended.

It would be a crime not to mention Woody Harrelson in my review as well. The guy isn't in the film so much as you may expect with him being who he is, but he has proved himself again and again over the past few years with countless great performances that this almost feels like the cherry on the top of the icing as he could have seriously uttered not a single word throughout and he would have been just as entertaining as he is when he is allowed to let his psycho-side fly. Let's be serious though, we could gather this core group of actors in a room and have them read the telephone book and they would no doubt find a way to make it funnier and more original than half of the things we've seen at the movies this year. The fact they have a script providing such great material and the director who wrote it and understands that material well enough to weld every element together makes us lucky enough to witness such a brilliant product.

 

SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS Review

Seven Psychopaths is a specific type of film. It is a special kind of movie yet it is one those outside the realm of devoted cinephiles might not fully comprehend. For this reason, and many many others I absolutely loved the movie. What is fascinating, yes fascinating, about the film is how despite the idea that an audience member who doesn't see many movies would still get everything out of this film they likely interpreted as being promised in the trailer (guns, sex, violence, humor) there is also a completely different layer provided for those expecting a little more from the outstanding cast and if you know a little more, the brilliant writer and fine director Martin McDonagh who was behind one of my favorite films of 2008, In Bruges. What this separate layer provides is a very self-aware, meta-style story within a story that provides all the cliches and archetypes of a Hollywood production while at the same time deconstructing and analyzing each of them. Telling us why they are needed in order for us to feel fulfilled when walking out of the theater and why some of it seems so ridiculous when put through McDonagh's unique looking glass. On another level, what is even more satisfying about the film is its ability to be the film that its main character is writing, and be the best version of what he could likely imagine. We are easily taken in by the tricks of the hilarity and the profane violence, but despite all of that it is a really nice, peaceful film about love and friendship. There is a lot to go through, but these inherent features are what shine through after we allow the film to really settle in.