JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM Review

Come what may, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a curious middle chapter that will likely be remembered more for its curiosities than its contributions to the overall arc of this new trilogy. What will allow the World trilogy to always have an upper hand over that of the will-always-be-superior original and its two less than successful follow-ups is that of the coherency this new set of films will seemingly possess and thus is what initially makes Fallen Kingdom so intriguing. Intriguing in a morbid curiosity kind of way as the first act of the film would have one believe it was something of a task to bring together our protagonists from the first film. Bryce Dallas Howard's no longer high-heel wearing Claire Dearing has become a voice for the dinosaurs left abandoned on Isla Nublar as a volcano is set to erupt at any moment threatening another extinction-level event. Convenient, right? Well, as it turns out this is not only an opportunity for writers Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow to move the action off of the island (a good thing), but it also creates inspiration for Claire to reach out to now ex-boyfriend and "raptor wrangler" Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) so that they may reunite in an effort to rescue as many dinos from the island as they can. Is it necessary that Owen be brought back into the action? Not entirely and Fallen Kingdom does Pratt's character no favors by giving him little to do other than become a human super hero who in turn becomes more of a dinosaur whisperer than a trainer that is also doomed to repeat the romantic beats of the first film with Claire, but to not have the star of the first film return would feel weird as well. It makes sense to a degree, but this contradiction of sorts in need versus obligation is symbolic of what seems will come to define the shortcomings of this new trilogy as well. Owen is a fun and charismatic character that functioned well for the plot of the first film, but who is only called on to be fun and charming in this sequel despite the function of his character within the plot being largely pointless (though this wouldn't be as glaring if there were more depth to the character). The movies themselves are breezily enjoyable and often times massively entertaining, but the plots on which they function will seemingly only feel more and more strained the further they push this. In essence, other than for financial reasons is there a story worth telling that justifies the existence of more of these movies? The moral dilemma of should man do something simply because it is capable has been obliterated as yet another genetically engineered dino is at the heart of Fallen Kingdom with this film moving more into should these dinosaurs be regarded in the same way as other endangered species despite being created in a lab. Much in the same way Owen is charming and fun to have around even if his presence is mostly unnecessary Fallen Kingdom only brings up said points to try and validate its existence without ever exploring them enough to make this movie feel necessary.

ISLE OF DOGS Review

Isle of Dogs is the ninth feature film from director Wes Anderson and by this point, one knows prior to going into an Anderson film both what they will be getting and whether they're already in the bag for Anderson's style and how he will undoubtedly expand upon it. Needless to say, I was very much in the bag for the auteur's return to stop-motion animation after the delightful excursion that was 2009's Fantastic Mr. Fox. And so, the question then surpasses that of expectation dictating the perceived outcome of a certain film, but rather to be that of if there is already this acceptance of quality due to the understanding of the passion, time, and care committed to a project then just how good is it exactly? Where does it rank among the director's already impressive catalogue? As the credits rolled on the brief feeling, but wholly satisfying Isle of Dogs it became infinitely more clear than it had a moment earlier when still in the midst of the film that while this may be Anderson's most outright imaginative take on a motion picture it is also the one that is most vague in regards to its intentions. Maybe memories of Fantastic Mr. Fox escape me or maybe I missed a thesis that Isle of Dogs states throughout its rather straightforward narrative, but what seems most likely is the fact Anderson intended this to be as simple as it could possibly be so that individual movie-goers might make of it as they please with the filmmaker himself only taking credit to the extent the experience of watching his film brought excesses of escapism and joy. There isn't a single aspect of that previous sentence I would disagree with in terms of how easy it is to be swept up in the world of Isle of Dogs and how effortlessly enjoyable the movie is, but there is no sense of real emotional investment to be conjured either. It's not a mandate that Anderson's films be emotionally involving which is to say the meaning of his movies rarely take center stage, but often times it's hard to avoid such because of the natural investment made in the compelling characters. In Isle of Dogs we have a pack of abandoned canines and a twelve year-old boy who doesn't speak English whom Anderson gives no subtitles and thus there is something of a disconnect, but despite these small quibbles (and trust me, that's all they really are) Isle of Dogs is a meticulously crafted, beautifully rendered, and pitch perfect Wes Anderson movie that positions the water cooler conversations to not be about what the film is discussing, but what the film is; not what it says, but how it makes you feel.

THOR: RAGNAROK Review

You know those ideas that are better in conception that they ever turn out to be in actuality? The ones where the pairing of two things, like Vince Vaughn and True Detective, sound fantastic, but when the reality of it comes into being it only serves to prove that some mediums and personalities just weren't meant to be meshed? Well, for the first twenty or so minutes of the third solo Thor film I thought that might be what was happening. The idea of taking darling indie comedy director Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) and pairing him with the massive machine that is Marvel to bring their most self-serious and most dour hero into the new phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) that might bridge the Shakespearian those ideas that almost felt too good to be true, you know, like Edgar Wright making a Marvel Studios film (which, it turned out, was in fact just that). It was an idea that seemed it might produce something truly singular for the long-standing MCU, but would it be too weird for Kevin Feige and the gang to really let slide? Honestly, I was waiting for the moment over the last two years when the news would break that Marvel and Waititi had to break over "creative differences" but to my pleasant surprise that day never came and today we sit here with Thor: Ragnarok, the best solo Thor movie that has been made to date, the first Thor movie that truly seems to utilize the full spectrum of the character and the world he inhabits and the never ending reaches of the cosmos he can inhabit while also upending many of the story conventions we've come to expect from our super hero epics. That is all, of course, after the rather nerve-wracking twenty or so minutes at the beginning of the film where it looked as if Waititi had bitten off more than he could chew in terms of managing a production the size of Ragnarok while also in the simple splicing together of jokes and story, of tender moments and CGI-filled natural environments where it was apparent that maybe the best choices had not been made. It's a rough start, but this only makes all that follows that much more assuring in its competency. Thor: Ragnarok is slight to be sure, but it is a ton of fun and serves up just enough freshness for the title character and his present situations that it's impossible not to throw your hands in the air and just enjoy the cheeky ride this take on the super hero genre offers.

First Trailer for Wes Anderson's ISLE OF DOGS

As someone who isn't necessarily a fan of the stop-motion aesthetic it is still hard to deny a Wes Anderson movie, whatever the medium he chooses to tell his typically delightful stories in. This is what might be so intriguing about this first trailer for the latest from Anderson though in that, while this is technically an animated film, Anderson is telling a story that is so seemingly odd and unique that it wouldn't be one you would inherently assume might benefit from being an animated feature though, as the clip plays on, is easy to see why Anderson chose to return to stop-motion for the first time since his twice Oscar-nominated 2009 effort Fantastic Mr. Fox. Since Fox, Anderson has made the equally fantastic Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel, each of which I've watched more times than I can count with the latter being a required viewing at least once a year. So, while I may not be one to typically flock to stop-motion animated films (with the exception of Laika, I'll give anything they do a shot) I am anxiously awaiting the latest from Wes Anderson simply because it is the latest from Wes Anderson. Speaking of the film itself, it is titled Isle of Dogs, and follows a young boy who ventures to an island in search of his own dog after an outbreak of dog attacks in a near-future Japan forcing all canines to be banished to live on a garbage-filled island hence, the title, the Isle of Dogs. Once on the island, the young boy comes across a pack of Alphas lead by Edward Norton‘s Rex. This will mark Norton's third collaboration with the director, but he isn't the only cast member who is returning to work with Anderson as the rest of the voice cast is made up of frequent collaborators such as Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, F. Murray Abraham, Tilda Swinton, and Bob Balaban while also featuring the talents of Bryan Cranston, Scarlett Johansson, Kunichi Nomura, Harvey Keitel, Akira Ito, Akira Takayama, Koyu Rankin, Yoko Ono, Courtney B. Vance, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDormand, and Liev Schrieber. Isle of Dogs is set to open on March 23, 2018.

INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE Review

There is a bit of trivia on the IMDB page for Independence Day: Resurgence that talks about how, after the success of the first film, 20th Century Fox paid screenwriter Dean Devlin a large sum of money to write a script for a sequel. The story goes though, that after completing the script for what would have been the original sequel to 1996's Independence Day Devlin decided not to turn it in and instead gave the money back to the studio. The trivia goes on to state that Devlin did this because he felt the story didn't live up to the first film. As we are now twenty years removed from that original film and have now seen what an Independence Day sequel looks like this course of action only seems to beg one question: how bad must that original sequel script have been? Could it really have retreaded the beats of the first film as much as Resurgence does? The only thing that differentiates the first film from this new one is the passage of time and how that has changed earth's technologies and defense systems while having what cast returns look a little older. The IMDB page goes on to say that it was only fifteen years later, when Devlin met up with director Roland Emmerich to try again, that they felt they had finally "cracked" a story for a sequel. Though it is difficult to be downright negative towards a film story and character development certainly aren't Resurgence's strong suits and may even be the most laughable aspects of a movie that tries really hard to be funny. One can't help but feel that, in this scenario, "cracking" the story only meant they were offered a lot more money than before. If Resurgence does indeed deliver the story that Emmerich and Devlin thought more justified the existence of a sequel to their 1996 feature it can only now be concluded that they were only going to repeat themselves more with the scrapped screenplay. While Resurgence certainly finds moments of dumb fun and some rather spectacular action sequences given special effects have improved greatly in the last two decades it is more or less a retread of what we saw in that original movie in terms of ensemble cast and humans versus aliens. Granted, the question easily posed in response to that statement is, "what did you expect it to be?" and the answer to that is that they at least try to find a new way into that same old story.

New Trailer for INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE

In light of Earth Day today 20th Century Fox has decided to release a new look at this summer's Independence Day sequel that will inevitably destroy it. This twenty years later sequel that undoubtedly hopes to cash in on some of that nostalgia money Jurassic World was able to make last past summer is throwing all the chips on the table with this latest trailer. Unlike World though, this property has many a returning factors. Director Roland Emmerich has directed what looks to be a real time second chapter to the story of the 1996 alien invasion where the likes of Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Judd Hirsh, and Vivica A. Fox are all back to once again defend the planet from incoming invaders. The set-up has a neat little conceit to it as Goldblum's David Levinson has seemingly been leading the charge to ready the Earth for the inevitable by using the alien technology they acquired after the events of the first film to protect them if the aliens were to ever return. Well, it seems as if the time has come. With this new look at what I assume is recently completed footage given the amount of CGI here is seems the director has really outdone himself this time in terms of pure spectacle and scale. The destruction in this thing is almost incomprehensible, but it is truly stunning and should translate on the big screen quite well. The real question is if any of these characters will the same way Smith was able to way back when. At the very least, Emmerich is always a reliable source for big, brainless summer spectacle and I expect nothing short of such entertainment here. Independence Day: Resurgence also stars Liam Hemsworth, Brent Spiner, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jessie Usher, Maika Monroe, Sela Ward, and opens on June 24, 2016.

Teaser Trailer for INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE

Out of nowhere 20th Century Fox has decided to release the first look at next summer's Independence Day sequel. Of course, this isn't really out of nowhere as everyone in their right mind is vying for a spot in front of Star Wars: The Force Awakens this Friday and Fox has simply thrown their hat in the ring with both the X-Men Apocalyspe trailer that debuted Friday and now the twenty years later sequel that will undoubtedly hope to cash in on some of that nostalgia money Jurassic World was able to make this past summer. Unlike World though, this property has many a returning factors. Director Roland Emmerich has directed what looks to be a real time second chapter to the story of the 1996 alien invasion where the likes of Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Judd Hirsh, and Vivica A. Fox are all back to once again defend the planet from incoming invaders, but sadly there is no Will Smith to be seen. The set-up has a neat little conceit to it as Goldblum's David Levinson has seemingly been leading the charge to ready the Earth for the inevitable by using the alien technology they acquired after the events of the first film to protect them if the aliens were ever to return. Well, guess what-they're back. While this first glimpse at the footage for the upcoming film looks to be in line with what today's audiences expect in terms of dark and gritty and taking things fairly serious, I wouldn't be surprised if the final film is much more in line with the tone of the original. Plus, Emmerich is always a reliable source for big, brainless summer spectacle and I expect nothing short of such entertainment here. Independence Day: Resurgence also stars Liam Hemsworth, Brent Spiner, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jessie Usher, Maika Monroe, Sela Ward, and opens on June 24, 2016.

MORTDECAI Review

Remember that one time when Johnny Depp was going to star in Wes Anderson's (now Oscar nominated) The Grand Budapest Hotel? Can you guess what role Depp might have likely ended up playing? Given the headlines that went out shortly after Moonrise Kingdom became a bigger hit than expected in the summer of 2012 I would venture to assume it would have been the lead of M. Gustave. A role that, thankfully, ended up going to Ralph Fiennes. Fiennes is brilliant in a way and to an extent we've never seen him before in that role, but if you're still upset that we haven't seen the fruition of an Anderson and Depp collaboration, or more specifically, what it might have been like had Depp taken on the lead role in The Grand Budapest you might now be in luck as Captain Jack himself has presented us with Mortdecai. With a screenplay from Eric Aronson whose only other credit includes 2001's On the Line (and if you're not of my generation and don't immediately recognize that title, it's the romantic comedy that starred Lance Bass from Nsync) and based on the first novel in the Mortdecai series by novelist Kyril Bonfiglioli titled Don't Point that Thing at Me, Depp has essentially brought what his interpretation of Gustave might have looked like in a film that feels like a Wes Anderson movie as it were directed by a more conventional filmmaker. This is nothing against Mortdecai director David Koepp who is known more for his screenwriting credits that include several Spielberg films and large property adaptations than his directing work. Still, Koepp has directed his fair share of features as well including the solid Stephen King adaptation and first, post-Pirates movie for Depp, Secret Window, as well as the likes of underrated little gems such as Ghost Town and Premium Rush that he also penned the scripts for. It's hard to tell if it's because Koepp doesn't seem to have had a hand in the development of the screenplay here that he isn't as passionate about the material, but there is definitely something lacking as far as the soul of this movie is concerned.

Favorite Films of 2014 So Far...

There have been plenty of solid films come out this year already and we are only halfway through it. I say solid, but in no way does that mean many have been exceptional. It's funny really because in terms of quality this has been one of the better summer movie seasons in recent history. From the straight up, brisk nature of Neighbors to the full on-lampooning of sequels in 22 Jump Street this summers comedies have delivered while both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and X-Men: Days of Future Past have proved to be fine diversions in the super hero genre that seem to be breaking away from the formula that has become standard in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (here's lookin' at you, Thor). We've of course had smaller films that I have garnered a good appreciation for including Jon Favreau's return to small-scale movie-making in Chef and Nicolas Cage's return to actual acting in Joe, but the real surprise has been the typical (Godzilla, Edge of Tomorrow) and atypical (The Fault in Our Stars) summer fare that has really made this year a breeze so far. The two major animated releases have both come extremely close to that exceptional mark as The LEGO Movie is downright hilarious and has a unique take on what could have been a giant commercial while How to Train Your Dragon 2 is a beautifully realized continuation of Hiccup and Toothless' story that deserves to be seen on the big screen. I rather enjoyed Noah as well and look forward to re-visiting that film when it hits home video much in the way I enjoyed Snowpiercer which I saw and reviewed yesterday and you can read about here. Don't get me wrong there have still been plenty of mediocre to less than stellar films this year both in mainstream and arthouse releases (Pompeii and Under the Skin could crawl away and die for all I care), but the following five films are what struck me as either fascinating, substantial or flat-out awesome as I left the theater. Hit the jump to check out my top 5 of 2014 so far...

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Review

Wes Anderson's latest, The Grand Budapest Hotel is many things, but at its heart it feels like a quiet epic, a love letter to time gone by with a narrative spanning decades that chronicles the exceptionally unexceptional life of one young man who was influenced by another and would have his world forever changed because of him. It is as much about the world one creates around themselves and how it determines the outcome of ones life as it is about the actual plot of the story which, be not afraid, contains prison break-outs, gun fights, affairs with older women and a fair amount of lies and deception. Over the course of his career, Anderson has created many an interesting world where his characters find their typically odd yet perfect little worlds rocked by some kind of event. Whether it be the Tennenbaums, Steve Zissou or even Mr. Fox each of these characters have a way of trying to retain the normality that has escaped them in the time of their lives that Anderson's films have chosen to document. With The Grand Budapest Hotel things are only slightly different in that the screenplay itself, for the first time in his career, was written solely by Anderson and this more intimate relationship with the material certainly makes for a strong showing by the director, one in which it feels this film is the epitome of Anderson's imagination, that he is fully operating within the confines of his own imagination that he has come to be inspired to create through the works of Stefan Zweig and his consistent themes of becoming lost in ones reality and while not only has Anderson seemed to inhabit the role of Zweig here he has also come to imprint that same mentality on his main character, M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes). Gustave, as one of our two storytellers overseeing the main narrative insinuates near the end of the film, may have come to live in a world that ceased to exist before he even entered it. It is this kind of thinking, these ideas beyond that of simply telling an entertaining story, but rather inspecting the mind of someone and how they look at their world and take on the challenges laid before them that makes Anderson's work so engaging and off-kilter, while this film in particular beautifully demonstrates the thin line that sometimes exists between real life and imagination.

First Trailer for THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

I have always been a fan of Wes Anderson's work if not for the fact that he has a great story of how he and Owen Wilson met and made it into Hollywood, but for the fact he has kept his singular voice throughout his now illustrious career and continues to do so. Coming off what was likely his most mainstream success as well as being one of his better films last year in Moonrise Kingdom, Anderson has turned his sights on a script that for the first time he has written solely on his own. The Grand Budapest Hotel tells the story of a legendary concierge in 20th-century Hungary who takes a young employee (Tony Revolori) on as his protégé. Naturally the film looks to be much more complex than this as there is murder, scandal, and comedy thrown in for good measure all of which can be gauged in this excessively charming first trailer. The cast is ridiculous as the concierge is played by Ralph Fiennes in a rare comedic role that he looks to absolutely kill as well as the roles of Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody and Tilda Swinton getting nice moments here. The set design looks to be on a massive Anderson scale and the camera work is as stoic as ever with complex shots and framing done to the hilt (Anderson also shot this in three different aspect ratios; one for each of the time periods in which the film takes palce). If it is unclear I am beyond excited for this film and only hope that it lives up to the expectations I've always held for Anderson's work. The rest of the cast includes the likes of F. Murray Abraham, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Murray and Owen Wilson. The Grand Budapest Hotel opens March 7, 2014.

JURASSIC PARK 3D: A Quick Review

In the summer of 1993 I was six years-old and unfortunately not old enough to convince my parents they should take me to see Jurassic Park when it opened on the big screen. While I was obviously in love with dinosaurs at the time ( I was six! C'mon mom and dad!) the most my parents could do to appease me was buy one of those National Geographic VHS tapes that was produced around the time of Jurassic Park's release so that they might make some extra dough considering the piqued interest in the subject. I can remember watching the documentary about the archaeologist's countless times and only imagining what the cinematic version of these kinds of stories might entail, but I was relegated to feeling left out when it came to that initial craze around Steven Spielberg's return to the Summer blockbuster. What made this opportunity to see the film on the big screen again all the more exciting is that even after twenty years of being available I never made it back around to sitting down and watching the film in its entirety. I'd certainly seen bits and pieces on TBS time and time again and even tried to sit down and watch the film several times after purchasing the trilogy on blu-ray last year, but despite seeing the third film upon its home video release in 2001 and never before touching The Lost World, I was anxious to sit down in a theater and for the first time watch the film all the way through and on the big screen no less. Suffice to say, it was completely thrilling to see the classic moments I'd always heard about come to life as well as coming to understand the mythology surrounding the film. Seeing these childhood aspirations brought to life on a scale I never thought I'd have the chance to experience it on was nothing short of magical. What was most surprising about the experience though was how little time seemed to have affected the final product. Sure, the technology was rather dated and the effects were spotty in some places, but never enough to take you out of the world and what a world it is to become so entranced with and to so easily want more from.