OCEAN'S 8 Review

Very early in this spin-off of director Steven Soderbergh's trilogy of movies about George Clooney's ultra-smooth, ultra-smart thief we are introduced to what is and arguably always has been the most fascinating thing about these movies not to mention heist and/or crime dramas in general. This being the fact that the type of people who find themselves in such scenarios have enough self-confidence and charisma to be able to pull-off whatever facade they wish to carry. It's not about what you may or may not be hiding on the inside or what you know about yourself that you believe everyone who sees you immediately assumes as well, but more it is utilizing your appearance, age, and swagger (or lack thereof) to allow those who see you to make those first, quick assumptions only for you to then deliver upon them so as they don't think about you again. It is an awareness of sorts that Clooney's character never fully utilized, he was always the cool guy in the nice suit, but it is almost immediately that his sister, Debbie Ocean, as played by Sandra Bullock utilizes this tool. And then she uses it again. And again. Hell, if her character's tastes weren't so expensive she could make a fine enough living as a salesperson given the way she is able to adapt to and go with whatever environment she finds herself in and whatever people she finds herself in front of, but this is a movie that is meant to both continue the Ocean's legacy while expanding on the diversification of those gender and ethnic gaps that are being actively addressed in Hollywood as of late. Whether you are in support of this or moronically opposed for one reason or another this agenda doesn't really factor into the execution of the film save for one very pointed line of dialogue that is delivered in such a fashion so as to provide reasoning if not necessarily a justification for this movie's existence. Whether this was an Ocean's movie or not though, what gives the film its pulse is this throughline idea of knowing how to interact with people by scanning them upon meeting them and figuring out what type of person they want in their life and immediately becoming that person. Bullock and a few of her co-stars are able to explore this in a few different ways, but it is mostly Bullock who presents a surprisingly layered approach to this train of thought as we see her Debbie battle with how long such a lifestyle can remain exciting as masked by intentions of justice and vengeance. It's a shame the movie itself doesn't follow through on these instincts as the movie Bullock presents us with and allows us to assume Ocean's 8 might become is far more fascinating than the fun, but ultimately derivative one it ends up being.

First Trailer for OCEAN'S 8 Starring Sandra Bullock

I remember going to my local dollar theater at fourteen in what was probably early 2002 to see Ocean's 11 and more or less being taken with what was this star-studded affair where no one was taking themselves too seriously and having a total blast in this smooth and effortlessly cool remake of the 1960 Rat Pack movie. After two varied, but equally entertaining sequels in 2004 and 2007 it seemed as if the run was done for these crime caper comedies, but Warner Bros. has figured out a way to re-tool that franchise with Pleasantville and Hunger Games director as well as close friend of original trilogy helmer, Steven Soderbergh, Gary Ross to write and direct an all-female version of those movies. While it may feel like this is little more than a studio mining a brand for all it's worth, Ross and Soderbergh actually developed this idea together with Soderbergh serving as a producer on this new film. One even wonders if Soderbergh returned to feature directing this past year with a southern-fried version of an Ocean's movie in Logan Lucky to give Ross a tutorial on his process for making this type of film. Doubtful, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out Ross was on set more than a few times. All of that said, the idea seems to be to jump-start a new franchise with a new cast and this looks to be going swimmingly so far as the cast Ross has assembled is pretty stellar with a good mix of heavy hitters, unknowns, and diamonds in the rough that some know about, but are about to be exposed to a much broader audience. Also, Mindy Kaling seems like she's going to have a great 2018. And while this new movie is only tangentially related to Soderbergh’s Ocean’s trilogy, Ross certainly took aesthetic cues from his friend as the suave and stylish essence of Soderbergh's films is still intact, Sandra Bullock does star as Debbie Ocean, the sister of George Clooney’s Danny Ocean, who gets a nod in the trailer. In the film, Debbie is fresh out of prison and ready to assemble a team of her own to pull off a unique heist at the Met Gala. Ocean’s 8 also stars Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, the aforementioned Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Rihanna, Helena Bonham Carter, Richard Armitage, and opens on June 8, 2018.

ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS Review

For a movie wholly concentrated on time, time travel, and the essence of time it sure feels like this sequel to the 2010 Alice in Wonderland is a huge waste of it. Time that is. Of course, given that 2010 Tim Burton film made north of a billion dollars at the box office it was an inevitability that we'd be getting a sequel sooner or later, but it's still somewhat surprising it has come this late. Six years have passed, a handful of other live action adaptations of classic Disney animated films have been made and yet here we are, back in Wonderland. Having not read the Lewis Carroll stories on which these adventures of Alice have been based one has to imagine that to have made as big a cultural impact as they have they were more inventive and innovative than the film adaptations we're now receiving. To say that is to say that Alice Through the Looking Glass is no more interesting or compelling than its predecessor. It wasn't without hope that this viewer walked into this six year later sequel with optimism that new director James Bobin (The Muppets) might bring something fresh and exciting to what otherwise felt like the jaded side of Tim Burton that was incarnated in his predecessor. Transforming the widely known Wonderland as perceived by the naiveté of a child Alice, Burton turned the fantasy world into Underland and gave us a darker film than expected. That was all well and good until the movie didn't really work, but Bobin has now come along to bring to life a brighter, more enticing time in the realm of Wonderland as our heroine must travel through space and time to try and save the dying of depression Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp). This brings to mind the biggest undoing of Through the Looking Glass in that its narrative drive simply isn't compelling enough to sustain its nearly two hour runtime. It becomes repetitive and as if it is searching for disparate plot strands to try and pull together a complete story. Linda Woolverton, who has made a career out of writing Disney films (including The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast), adapted Carroll's story here and while there are certainly moments of inspired humor, a few nice character moments, and grand majestic visuals by way of Bobin and the special effects team, there is no substance to the product as a whole. It is a wonder how forgettable the film turns out to be.

SUFFRAGETTE Review

Suffragette is a movie that survives solely on the strength of it's true story. Beyond the compelling and often times unfathomable way that men treat women in this film, there isn't much to grab a hold of or really sink your teeth into. It's disheartening given all the film clearly has going for it, but thus is the way things seem to go when a writer makes interesting and even somewhat daring if not completely agreeable choices in their screenplay. For instance, our lead character is a fictional invention in order to convey a certain perspective on these historical events, but given the way the film comes to a swift and unexpected conclusion based on the actions of a different character whose actor didn't even make the poster the film as a whole can't help but feel slightly impromptu whereas the obvious, in my opinion, choice for the narrative direction would have been more straightforward. We are talking about an incident that concerned militant suffragette Emily Davison (played in the film by Natalie Press) that effectively serves as the climax of the film, but given we've seen Davison in less than a handful of scenes prior the impact of her actions is not nearly as gut-wrenching as they could've been. I realize that writer Abi Morgan (The Iron Lady, Shame) is giving audiences more of a relatable character arc by delivering the typically passive Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan) who is more or less pulled into her life of activism, but given that Davison was jailed on nine different occasions and had to be force fed no less than forty-nine times I'd say that not only does Davison deserve a movie about her life, but that it generally sounds more complimentary to the cinematic landscape than that of the everywoman Morgan has made with Maud. That isn't to say Mulligan or her character are ineffective as they work up to a certain point, but unfortunately that is as much as can be said about the film as well. With this subject matter and these events that clearly deserve to be recognized not to mention the talent on hand it's strange how uninspiring the film can sometimes feel. It has it's moments, sure, but for a fight that's unforgettable I likely won't remember much about the movie past next week.

First Trailer for ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

Disney has been releasing short clips of Alice Through the Looking Glass footage all week via their Twitter account, but today we get the first full trailer for the sequel to Tim Burton's 2010 billion dollar earner. While Burton did not return to direct the sequel, his replacement is the only thing giving me hope this new film might even be the slightest bit better than the previous Alice film. Everything was in place for Burton's interpretation of the Lewis Carroll classic to be a rewarding experience at the movies, if not mainly for the involvement of Burton alone, given the director's visual style lined up well with what most imagine Wonderland might look like were it actually brought to life. Instead, that film turned out to be a mess of CGI and convoluted storytelling that to this day I'm still not sure makes complete sense. And yet, the film earned more than a billion dollars worldwide so here we are. With director James Bobin (The Muppets) taking over we find Mia Wasikowska's Alice being recruited back to Wonderland after Johnny Depp's The Mad Hatter mysteriously goes bad. In order to figure out what happened to him, Alice must step back in time through a literal clock. That said, the imagery of this first look is quite striking and there at least seems to be some driving force to the narrative which is more than I can say for it's predecessor. Alice Through the Looking Glass opens on May 27, 2016 and also stars Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter reprising their roles from Alice in Wonderland.

CINDERELLA Review

When I was a little kid and completely enamored with the world of Disney animated features I always wondered what it might be like to see those characters and those worlds come to life. Real life. I never thought it would happen after the live action versions of 101 Dalmatians and its money-grubbing sequel underwhelmed (at least they did in my adolescent mind), but then again I also desperately hoped that one day movie studios might wisen-up and begin building a shared universe where my favorite super heroes interacted on the big screen as well. I guess dreams really do come true (and that Disney will always be there to make them happen). And so, over the past few years, ever since the astounding success of Tim Burton's take on Alice in Wonderland, we have seen an uptrend in live-action films based on classic Disney properties. Whether they be from the respective studio that originated the tale in popular culture or not everyone has noticed this as a way to make some guaranteed money. Most of the attempts from outside the mouse house (Snow White & the Huntsman, Mirror Mirror) haven't exactly done gangbusters, while Disney, in its two previous efforts (the aforementioned Alice and last summers Maleficent), has seen nothing but green. Granted, neither one of these films were particularly good and neither were straight-up re-tellings of the original Disney classics either, but luckily things have begun to change on both fronts with the latest incrnation of this trend that is Cinderella. If you're expecting anything from this latest interpretation of a story that has been told so many times you could literally drown in a stack of DVD copies of all the different versions you're likely to be disappointed. There is no alternate perspective presented here and this isn't some strange kind of prequel/origin story that gives more background into the reasons why Fairy Godmothers exist, but instead this is simply a new interpretation, a live-action interpretation, based on Disney's 1950 animated film. While it might be obvious to then question the point, what is most fascinating is still that simple joy that comes with seeing your childhood memories brought to vivid life and that is what Kenneth Branagh's version does best: it elicits joy.

Full Trailer for Live-Action CINDERELLA

I'm sure Disney is fairly relieved Maleficent did as well as it did earlier this year keeping their live-action adaptations of their classic animated tales on a winning streak. Granted, this streak currently only consists of Alice in Wonderland and the Angelina Jolie vehicle, but they have to be feeling pretty good about Cinderella's odds. While other attempts to bring these classic fairy tales (or at least familiar childrens stories) to life have been met with varying degrees of box office success (Snow White & The Huntsmen, Mirror Mirror, Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters) there hasn't been one of them that is actually a good movie. I would say Mirror, Mirror was at least trying to be something different and innovative, but I didn't love it and financially it was one of the worst performers. Unfortunately, the latest in Disney's line of re-imagining their animated movies as big budget, live action spectacles doesn't seem keen to break this mold. If anything, it looks to copy the beats and look of Maleficent fairly closely and being completely complacent in that. While this new trailer essentially gives you a condensed version of the entire film I'd still like to be excited especially since Kenneth Branagh is directing and Cate Blanchett is playing the evil stepmother, but this first look at the footage sparks little interest. Maybe Bill Condon's live action Beauty and the Beast, Sofia Coppola's reported The Little Mermaid, Joe Wright's Peter Pan or one of the upcoming Jungle Book adaptations from Jon Favreau and Andy Serkis will change my tune (I hope so!), but only time will tell. Cinderella stars Lily James, Richard Madden, Helena Bonham Carter, Sophie McShera, Holliday Granger, Nonso Anozie, Derek Jacobi, Stellan Skarsgard and opens on March 13, 2015.

THE LONE RANGER Review

It's hard to complain about a movie when you know so much hard work and care went into the production of it. The movie adaptation of The Lone Ranger has traveled a long and rugged road in order to reach the big screen and along the way I'm sure has seen many more tribulations than the common cinephile has been exposed to. As the whispers of production issues didn't come into play with World War Z's box office success a few weeks ago I was hoping the highly-publicized budgetary problems with Gore Verbinski's latest might play out the same way, but where the reviews were surprisingly glowing for the Max Brooks adaptation it almost seems critics were ready to jump on this latest Johnny Depp adventure before it was even out of the gate. Quite the opposite happened last summer when hopes were high for the Depp/Tim Burton collaboration Dark Shadows, but released only a week after The Avengers the film was lost in the shuffle and word of mouth was not kind. Still, I found myself enjoying the film rather immensely and have since re-watched it more than once on blu-ray trying to find what was so repulsive about it. I can't help but feel the same way about The Lone Ranger. I can certainly see where some of the criticism is coming from. The biggest issue the film faces is that of a tone and pacing crisis. There is never anything that jump starts the film and allows the audience to settle into their seats and enjoy the adventure about to take place and while there are fits and starts of rather harsh violence the film predominantly tries to take a comedic if not mostly slapstick approach to things. These kind of blunt tonal shifts can sometimes take us out of the experience we are trying to become a part of, but in the end it would be a disservice to this film and the people who might count on your opinion to decide if they'll see it or not to call this a bad movie. It is not a bad movie, it is a beautifully shot film with a layered story and some fine performances. It took a while to get going and though it doesn't really find its stride until the last half hour, one has to at least ask themselves what did they expect? It certainly couldn't have been much better than what we've been given.

LES MISERASBLES Review

Les Miserables is impressive. There is no doubt of this in anyone's mind who wanders out of the theater awestruck by the onslaught of grandiose that Academy Award-winning director Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) has included in his screen adaptation of the extremely popular stage musical which is in itself an adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel. Personally, I was not familiar with the original Hugo novel on which the story comes from but was lucky enough to have seen the stage play a few years back. I was entranced by the play, not fully knowing what to expect but understanding what was likely going to take place. I was mentally prepared to be bored, to check my watch every now and then or maybe even drown out the noise as people singing sentences rather than speaking them tends more to annoy than to inspire. Yet, all of that changed when the curtain came up and the dynamics of the story were introduced and the audience was made to root for this most genuine of human beings who was dealt a rough hand in life, but overcame. It was stunning to say the least, and I was grateful to have experienced it. For this reason, I was looking forward to the film. It is a great idea, a grand one; to take such an epic piece of work and apply it to the platform of cinema with huge movie stars and a grounded yet sweeping scale to it. The film succeeds in many ways and still it did not leave me completely satisfied. The sets are beautiful as is the cinematography. I am a fan of the way Hooper decided to shoot the film and for the most part enjoyed the performances of the star studded cast. It is a movie to be marveled at but more times than not I found myself admiring more than connecting.

Full-Length Trailer For THE LONE RANGER

Summer 2013 is starting to look all the more interesting as we've had several trailers coming out over the past few days. We've already seen a glimpse of Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp as The Lone Ranger and Tonto in a teaser back in early October but now we get our first full, fleshed out look at what is sure to be one of the more interesting stories of summer '13. The film has already encountered many problems in getting to the screen, but now that the dust has settled all that is left to discover is how good the quality of the film will be and if any of the budget concerns or production woes will ultimately affect the quality. I have not jumped off the Depp train yet, though I believe he needs to steer clear of any more Jack Sparrow roles. I know the guy is good at what he does and the collaboration between he and director Gore Verbinski in 2011 made my top 10 list of the year, so needless to say I have high hopes for this one. With Verbinski at the helm Depp has created Jack Sparrow and Rango; I only hope that magic continues with Tonto. Still, the sidekick is not the focus here and as this trailer proves Armie Hammer seems to be handling leading man duties just fine. The film looks gorgeous and besides Hammer and Depp contains an all star cast that includes Tom Wilkinson, Barry Pepper, and Helena Bonham Carter. The Lone Ranger is set to open July 3, 2013. Hi-yo, Silver!

DARK SHADOWS Review

There has always been a humbly engaging tone about the collaborations between Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. That may sound strange as many of their films deal with death and depression, but nonetheless, it is completely true. When watching them I have always felt that kind of warm feeling in the pit of my stomach that reassures me I am watching a movie by people who love movies. Even in their darkest collaborations like "Sweeney Todd" or "Sleepy Hollow" the energy that has come from the gothic sets and pale characters have an enduring quality that never fails to somehow strangely connect with you. The same can be said about their latest endeavor "Dark Shadows" as the story is yet again one that concerns much talk about death and demons, or more specifically vampires, but has the engaging quality of being a warm-hearted tale about the importance of family. Though the film has (surprisingly) earned mixed reviews I found it to be every bit as entertaining and funny as Burton and Depp's more popular films like "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Alice in Wonderland". I was especially disappointed in the latter and found "Dark Shadows" to be more of a reassurance than anything that the team of all things strange had not yet lost their touch. This is not a judgement on the film as compared to the director and stars past team-ups but should be looked at as a singular effort. In that regard, the film is a funny take on an old TV show that was apparently best known for its campiness. Burton brings his visual flair and Depp conjures up another memorable character. What more could we ask for?

Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green) is an evil witch who
has placed a curse on Barnabas Collins.

Though I had never seen, or even heard of the original show this was based on from the first still released it was clear that Burton was again up to something especially Burton-esque. what stood out all the more was the fact the director has officially become such a stable hitmaker that the studios now allow him to make a $125 million dollar summer movie with no questions asked. Given, he has had to work many years to achieve this status (and has now sat comfortably in this status for 6 years or so) it is still nice to see he can do what he wants and is creatively rewarded for it. The film feels like a genuine Burton production with little interruption from studio heads. There are the little quirks of observation throughout that are heavily supplied by the fish out of water element that has an 18th century vampire trying to seem normal in 1972. The trailer like opening gives us a brief (but expensive looking) history of the Collins family and how Barnabas Collins came to be trapped in a love triangle with the lovely witch Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green) who seeks some serious revenge when she learns she is not the one Barnabas desires to spend the rest of his life with. Killing off his parents and beloved Josette Angelique punishes Barnabas by turning him into a bloodsucker and locking him in a coffin deep in the forest just outside the town his family established. Skip forward some 196 years and we find the Collins family has fallen into a rut with matriarch Elizabeth (Michelle Pfeiffer) trying to salvage any last bit of normalcy. This is a hard task to accomplish as her brother Roger (Johnny Lee Miller) is a deadbeat dad and total moocher who's son David (Gulliver McGrath) sees dead people. There is David's psychiatrist, Dr. Hoffman (Burton regular Helena Bonham Carter)who has overstayed her welcome by about two and a half years as well as Elizabeth's own daughter, Carolyn (Chloe Grace Moretz) who is in a very peculiar state of teen angst.

Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp) reunites with his distant
ancestor Elizabeth (MIchelle Pfeiffer).

When Barnabas returns he has several plot lines to deal with and herein lies the big issue with the movie. This is so much of a problem with the film that the fact the main character is a vampire is an afterthought. Not only does Barnabas have to rebuild the family name and business to its former glory, but he also has to deal with the fact he is now a vampire and in a completely new world. Then there is Angelique who continues to torment his family bu building a rival fishing business in Collinsport. On the eve of Barnabas's awakening an unsuspecting young girl by the name of Victoria Winter's arrives for the purpose of tutoring David and just so happens to resemble Josette (Bella Heathcote in both roles). Barnabas recognizes the similarities right off the bat and makes it his quest to win her heart. This ends up being the most neglected story line though as by the end of the film the romance between Barnabas and Victoria seems not only underdeveloped but simply convenient. There is no real motive, no deep reason why Victoria was chosen to be the vampire's new Josette other than she resembles her. It is this lack of justification that worries me as the screenplay was written by Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter scribe Seth Grahame-Smith. I am about halfway through the aforementioned book (which has a movie treatment hitting theaters June 22) and it is incredibly detailed and intricate. You can tell the material has been heavily researched, but there are no traces of this in his script. It has some great dialogue and the movie overall is much funnier than I expected it to be, but the multiple story lines he gets going never seem to get as much attention as they deserve with none of them standing out above the rest.

While the main focus wants to be the rivalry between Angelique and Barnabas it doesn't leverage that enough with the sprouting romance between Barnabas and Victoria. It wants to show Barnabas re-establishing the family business (and does so in a montage) but the operation of the whole thing is dismissed as the family would rather flesh out their relationships with one another at their big fancy mansion. It is as if the film has been divided into family dynamics and Angelique with everything else being thrown by the wayside. Near the climax of the film Barnabas throws a party with the justification of impressing Victoria and establishing the Collins family has officially returned but feels more like an excuse to feature Alice Cooper and make a joke about him being the ugliest woman Barnabas has ever seen. It is funny, sure, but there is no deeper meaning to it, there is no substance to the story.

Roger (Johnny Lee Miller) and Dr. Hoffman (Helena
Bonham Carter) enjoy a depressing breakfast.

Overall, I enjoyed the tone of the film and the roster of credible actors make this a lot of fun. While Pfeiffer doesn't have much to do other than stand around and look suspicious she is fun to watch as she camps up as much of the dialogue and wardrobe as she can. Bonham-Carter is extremely under used as the strangely engaging Dr. Hoffman (Did I forget to mention she has a subplot as well?) but does get a final wink that was probably intended for something that will never happen. Eva Green who was a sly yet empowered sex symbol in "Casino Royale" allows those qualities to seep through here as well mixed with a hint of goofiness that seems self aware of the ridiculous situation her witch has put herself in. While Moretz is also a weird side not in that Burton seems to be exposing her young, attractive vulnerabilities it does have a nice relationship develop between Barnabas and David who connect through the spirit world in which David's deceased mother exists. I can understand why critics have had such issues with the story and lack thereof in the character development but the star attraction here is still Depp and he, along with the beautiful spectacle of the visuals, is not a let down. Barnabas is a playboy, a family man, and Depp plays up every aspect of this out of place eccentric. He means well but he doesn't always have the best of intentions. The best thing that can be said about Barnabas though is that he guides a movie that doesn't always know where it needs to go. "Dark Shadows" may not be the best Depp/Burton collaboration but it is so much better than those other vampire movies that keep coming out.

DARK SHADOWS Review

There has always been a humbly engaging tone about the collaborations between Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. That may sound strange as many of their films deal with death and depression, but nonetheless, it is completely true. When watching them I have always felt that kind of warm feeling in the pit of my stomach that reassures me I am watching a movie by people who love movies. Even in their darkest collaborations like "Sweeney Todd" or "Sleepy Hollow" the energy that has come from the gothic sets and pale characters have an enduring quality that never fails to somehow strangely connect with you. The same can be said about their latest endeavor "Dark Shadows" as the story is yet again one that concerns much talk about death and demons, or more specifically vampires, but has the engaging quality of being a warm-hearted tale about the importance of family. Though the film has (surprisingly) earned mixed reviews I found it to be every bit as entertaining and funny as Burton and Depp's more popular films like "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Alice in Wonderland". I was especially disappointed in the latter and found "Dark Shadows" to be more of a reassurance than anything that the team of all things strange had not yet lost their touch. This is not a judgement on the film as compared to the director and stars past team-ups but should be looked at as a singular effort. In that regard, the film is a funny take on an old TV show that was apparently best known for its campiness. Burton brings his visual flair and Depp conjures up another memorable character. What more could we ask for?