ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL Review

Though a fan of science fiction I'm not familiar with Yukito Kishiro's 1990 manga comic Battle Angel Alita that inspired the latest Robert Rodriguez picture as produced by James Cameron. I'll clarify that I truly enjoy science fiction largely for the genre's ability, whether it be in the writing or when translated to the big screen-the concept artist, director, or costume and set designers-ability to create a new environment and/or new world's altogether. Further, to apply a structure to this environment where an advanced, and if not advanced at least futuristic society, exists where the world follows the rules of this implemented structure is inherently fascinating as it undoubtedly takes cues from our present world and applies what the creator might think will be to the human races benefit or ultimate detriment. Such prophecies within the genre over the years have created an amalgam of tropes, motifs and clichés, but while the dystopian future has been a familiar trend over the last few years especially it does well to establish a compelling backdrop or habitat, if you will, for the kind of people we come to know in Alita: Battle Angel. Cameron, Rodriguez, and Laeta Kalogridis's (Shutter Island) screenplay shows early on that it has the aforementioned innate ability and, more importantly, a strong desire to construct a world centuries ahead of our present time that is not only inventive, but feels fully realized and lived-in. What the screenplay doesn't do and arguably fails to do is follow through on the promises of this world in which it builds. Meaning, that while it's not automatically a negative to utilize familiar sci-fi and action tropes there does need to be a unique take on whatever traits your movie or story might be adopting from the genre and there are certainly flashes of as much in Alita, but most of it comes from the investment in our main character rather than any kind of investment in the beats she is following. You want to know more about the character, you want to live alongside them because this world that has been created feels so alive and so layered and so interesting, but it's almost as if you also wouldn't mind checking in on and seeing what other characters are up to because as much as we like Alita, there isn't really much depth or surprise to the video-game structured script that is pitting her against the ultimate final boss in the sky.

New Trailer for ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL

It's kind of hard to think that Alita: Battle Angel isn't going to be huge. I mean, besides the fact it's been in the works for a long time and the guy who made Titanic and Avatar (as well as Terminator and T2) is behind it-there is something rather innovative about it all and whether the quality is ultimately better or worse the closest thing I can equate it to in my lifetime is the buzz prior to the release of 300 in 2007. I can remember being in one of my college film classes and the professor along with many of the students talking about how excited and curious they were about that new Zack Snyder film. The visual medium of film was given something of a shot in the arm by 300 and its new take on how far those visuals could be pushed in the age of green screen and visual effects. If he was to be outdone in buzz, James Cameron certainly wasn't going to be outdone in box office and thus 2009 came along and Avatar was released upping the ante of what was possible with visual effects even if the film didn't make as lasting an impression on pop culture. It seems prior to beginning work in the world of Pandora though, Cameron was close to directing this adaptation of the graphic novel series "Battle Angel Alita" by Yukito Kishiro that revolves around an amnesiac female cyborg who is rescued from a scrapyard by a doctor, rebuilt, and then set on a path of hunting down vicious criminals in the 26th century. Cameron is still involved as a producer and co-writer on the project while Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Desperado) has taken over the director's chair. Rodriguez falls into that school of directors who are always looking to push boundaries and if this new trailer is any indication it looks as if the director may very well have his first hit in ten plus years on his hands not to mention a new franchise. This thing looks spectacular as the blend of real photography and motion capture effects is flawless, the action is staged in a very visceral fashion, and the story, while coming with shades of Ghost in the Shell and no doubt other material I'm not aware of, piques my interest due to the seeming connection the titular character has with this item from the past and the fact it may indicate what the future holds; stuff like that always gets me. Not to mention, this thing has a hell of a cast with Rosa Salazar taking on the role of Alita and co-starring the likes of Eiza González, Jennifer Connelly, Michelle Rodriguez, Christoph Waltz, Jackie Earle Haley, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, and Casper Van Dien. Alita: Battle Angel opens December 21st, 2018.

THE DARK TOWER Review

It seems like there have been rumblings of a Dark Tower adaptation for as long as my memory will allow me to recall, but never did it actually seem as if a feature film version of the material would make its way to the big screen. Well, here we are, the summer movie season of 2017 winding down and the feature film version of what is said to be Stephen King's magnum opus of sorts, his most expansive series to date which now consists of eight novels, 4,250 pages, and introduces concepts and characters from King's many other works that come into play as the series progresses has arrived. The first volume in the The Dark Tower series, subtitled The Gunslinger, was published in 1982 and comprised itself of five short stories that had been published between 1978 and 1981 to which those stories have now been condensed down into a 95-minute, PG-13 would-be blockbuster that never takes off in the way it would seem it was always destined to. Rather, director Nikolaj Arcel's (A Royal Affair) tight, but exposition-heavy film suggests there is much mythology left to be explored, but for one reason or another it was decided the Cliff Notes version was the best way to go out of the gate so as to no doubt make the movie on the cheap and hopefully as accessible for the uninitiated as it would be pleasing to the fans who've been waiting on it for twenty-five years. Sure, the film makes sense in the way that point A leads to point B which inevitably leads to a CGI heavy point C, but never do we feel compelled by anything that's going on, invested in any of the characters taking part, nor-as one of those uninitiated members in the audience-do we care to see the series continue which one might think would have been the key to Sony finally ponying up and making a Dark Tower movie in a current world of shared cinematic universes. Truthfully though, it kind of fails to emphasize this factor at all. In many ways one wants to commend the studio for telling a more contained story rather than baiting viewers with tease after tease so that they have to come back for a sequel to see what they really wanted to see the first time around, but at the same time fans also want to see what they imagined while reading the source material come to life in a good movie and whether or not The Dark Tower is that is what's up for debate. The Dark Tower is not necessarily a bad movie, but it's not very good either. It's very much a middle of the road affair; not bad enough to hate, but not good enough to remember. Let's put it this way: the best thing you can say about The Dark Tower is that it's competent and the worst thing you can say is that it's uninspired.

First Trailer for THE DARK TOWER

Man, I really need to read more Stephen King. Given the upcoming IT re-make and the fact I've never seen the original miniseries (don't kill me) I feel like I have a lot of King territory to cover. All of that said, I have no idea what The Dark Tower is about or what all the hype is concerning, but I'm certainly interested. That said, this trailer is the first thing I've seen around the material and while I'm not sure I exactly understand why the intrigue is seemingly so great I am naturally interested to find out about this world, these characters, and the story that has captured the imagination of so many of King's readers. Hell, I have three months I may even try to knock out the source material beforehand if I have the time. So, how does this trailer look from the perspective of someone who has no attachment to said source material? Well, it looks fine. It definitely looks like a big-budget summer movie and the fact it gives Idris Elba a marquee role in a potential blockbuster franchise as well as potentially giving Matthew McConaughey one of his more interesting roles in a few years is worth the investment alone. Apparently there are eight novels in King's series and I suspect Sony is hoping this first film is a big enough hit that they might continue to make films and build a franchise around them especially given the studio is now sharing its most profitable property with Marvel and hasn't exactly found any other solid ground in the past few years. With Bond up for grabs this would seemingly only make The Dark Tower series more vital and a fairly large gamble for the studio. Still, what is different about this offering is the fact it will likely be an R-rated summer offering in the midst of PG-13 action adventures and animated blockbusters. The fact it does come from King also leads me to believe there will be a fair amount of horror involved-setting the expansive landscape that features the Gunslinger and the Man in Black apart even further. Here's to hoping filmmaker Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair) can use everything working for him to his advantage. The Dark Tower also stars Tom Taylor, Katheryn Winnick, Abbey Lee, Jackie Earle Haley, Dennis Haysbert, Fran Kranz, and opens on August 4th, 2017.

THE BIRTH OF A NATION Review

Nate Parker's The Birth of a Nation plays with the title of D.W. Griffith's 1915 silent film to reappropriate its phrase of a title to no longer be used in a deprecating manner towards black people. Griffith's film (which is a requirement in any film school due to it being widely accepted as the first feature length motion picture) used blackface to portray African American characters while, given the time in which it was made, is also wildly racist in many regards. For Parker to be willing to challenge a term and the cultural baggage that goes along with it that has now been established for over a century is bold. This boldness ultimately works in his favor though as his film certainly stands to make a statement. Coming off a whirlwind debut at the Sundance Film Festival at the beginning of this year the film scored a record for the most expensive acquisition deal in the festivals history with Fox Searchlight snatching up Parker's slave drama for an astonishing $17.5 million. Of course, in the months since that acquisition stories have re-surfaced about the seventeen year-old case in which The Birth of a Nation's director, writer, producer, and star Nate Parker was accused and acquitted of sexual assault and that four years ago the woman who accused him committed suicide. Such allegations can of course not be taken lightly and it doesn't exactly bode well for Parker that he depicts or suggests two savage and humiliating rape scenes in his film as performed by malicious and one-dimensional Caucasian villains, but to let those allegations influence the judgement of this piece of art he has created feels unnecessary. Sure, this is solely a product of Parker's doing as he had a hand in every stage and facet of this production and thus his particular view of the world undoubtedly made its way into the DNA of the film, but to allow such outside influences such as actions from nearly two decades ago to come into account for a piece of art made by an individual who has no doubt grown, matured, and maybe even changed in that time period isn't wholly fair. And I understand-neither was what he was accused of doing. It wasn't fair that the repercussions of his actions might have contributed to the accuser's death, but taken on its own terms-only as a piece of filmmaking depicting an ugly time in history that simultaneously attempts to re-write multiple generations worth of certain interpretations of history- The Birth of a Nation is a powerful and unapologetic film that uses that aforementioned boldness and an appealing saga of revenge to craft something memorable if not exactly transcendent.

First Trailer for Sundance Favorite THE BIRTH OF A NATION

Back in January the big talk of the Sundance Film Festival was actor/director/writer Nate Parker's The Birth of a Nation, not only because it received several standing ovations, but largely due to the fact it ended up selling to Fox Searchlight for a record-setting $17.5 million. Searchlight beat out competing bids from The Weinstein Co., Netflix, Paramount and many others with the likes of streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon being cited as game changers as far as the typical market at film festivals go. Having written, directed, and starred in the film this could be a potentially huge year for Parker as Searchlight has set the film up with an awards-friendly October release date and no doubt plan on rolling out an awards worthy campaign for the multi-hyphenate. In the film Parker plays Nat Turner, a former slave in America, who leads a liberation movement in 1831 to free African-Americans in Virginia. While it is easy to peg such a film for awards season glory I'm sure this was not the pure motivation for Parker to sink so much of his time, talent, and heart into the film. Rather, he undoubtedly felt it was time for Turner's story to be told and felt not only a responsibility to do so, but at a certain point that he could do the material justice. With an astounding supporting cast and this first trailer that features some haunting and hauntingly beautiful images set to Nina Simone's "Strange Fruit," it seems as if Parker has certainly captured a certain tone and hopefully hit something of an emotional core that, should this become the awards favorite it seems destined to be, won't feel redundant of Steve McQueen's masterpiece from three years ago. The Birth of a Nation also stars Armie Hammer, Aja Naomi King, Penelope Ann Miller, Aunjane Ellis, Jackie Earle Haley, Mark Boone Jr, Colman Domingo, Dwight Henry, Esther Scott, Roger Guenveur Smith, Gabrielle Union, and opens on October 7th, 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.

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.

PARKLAND Home Video Review

There has always been an intense amount of interest around the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and with good reason. It was a horrific event in which the President was murdered in front of countless people with any number of possible suspects, there was a race to get Kennedy to the hospital, the immediate man hunt for the suspected shooter and countless other avenues were followed that fateful November day. What writer and director Peter Landesman has attempted to do, in his directorial debut no less, is condense these events into a feature that runs a mere hour and a half long (including notes at the end and the credit sequence). There is not nearly enough time here to develop the several intriguing stories the film documents, much less get to know the the actual emotions felt by the people placed under these extraordinary situations. Parkland would be a film that justifies a run time of at least three hours, but it seems Landesman is keen on hitting the high points of these events and highlighting little more than small moments of that day in brief, almost news clip-like segments that intertwine to piece together November 22, 1963 and the subsequent days following as both the President and his suspected killer were laid to rest. I am a sucker for historically-based films and have read plenty on the JFK assassination, the investigations around this event and the countless conspiracy theories that continue to plague it nearly fifty years after it occurred. I also know better than to get my history lessons from the movies and so I approached this film with a sense of both optimism and caution as it seemed both ambitious while at the same time a balancing act of moments pulled straight out of the history books with little more intention that bringing to life how this death affected unsuspecting, regular citizens while adding nothing more to the story and having no particular point of view it was going to approach the subject matter with. Unfortunately, while the actual events of that day remain engaging as ever Parkland is only able to take us so far because it only gives its content so much attention before moving on and taking the audience, no matter if we have lingering questions or deeper interests, with it. I can admire the film for what it is trying to do and the dots its trying to connect, but ultimately this is more a failed experiment than anything else with an execution that doesn't come close to what it promised.

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.

LINCOLN Review

When coming from a generation where director Steven Spielberg has already been placed upon a pedestal as an iconic director it is hard to look at anything the guy does with anything less than high expectations. While other times it will naturally feel as if the man is skating by on his reputation rather than his abilities that could have easily come to a halt once reaching such a status. I have always wondered about this, wondered if Spielberg had what it takes to continue walking his line between serious films and blockbuster money-makers while maintaining his credibility with the critics and keeping the general public intrigued no matter what type of project he chose to take on next. In the time since I began seriously loving films (say, the last ten years) the director has created two genuinely great films and a slew of others that are very good. One thing was ultimately clear, these movies were made by a filmmaker who knew what he wanted and no matter the genre or the size has the power to make you feel something, an inherent reaction to what is happening on screen. While I have always been a fan of Spielberg and of course have wrestled with what some of his films might have become were they made by a less established name, none of this came into consideration when reflecting upon Lincoln many hours after the credits rolled. A film that has been in the works for over fifteen years, it is simply rewarding to see this work finally come to fruition. An intense and stirring look behind closed doors that doesn't cover Lincoln from birth to death but instead focuses on a small window in his life that very well defines why the man still commands an iconic status today.