WONDER WHEEL Review

One might summarize Wonder Wheel, this year's offering by the prolific Woody Allen, as being the epitome of what many would call, "meh." "Meh" is what one would call expressing a lack of interest or enthusiasm. "Meh" is what one could define as uninspiring or unexceptional and in the pantheon of Allen-produced films over the past fifty years Wonder Wheel certainly falls into the category of "meh". That said, the visual elements that see legendary cinematographer Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now, Last Tango in Paris) shooting Allen's fifties-set melodrama like it were a postcard where the colors are saturated to the point they are about to burst off the screen are fantastic and serve to be the only thing that is somewhat memorable about Allen's latest effort. The sweeping sequences that involve Storaro's re-creation of Coney Island that is partly comprised of practical effects, part location B-roll, and other part full-on digital trickery would seem to encourage the movie to immerse the viewer in this setting and yet, even as the strongest facet of the film, the location serves as little more than a backdrop. A backdrop for yet another of Allen's explorations of the kinds of characters made famous in the likes of Tennessee Williams works that he's already explored in Blue Jasmine and has probably explored multiple times before that, but my Allen filmography knowledge gets a little spotty prior to 2005 sans the obvious stand-outs. What I kind of expected from Wonder Wheel given Justin Timberlake's (yes, Justin Timberlake is your Woody Allen stand-in this time around) delivery of certain lines in the trailer was that of an homage of sorts to (or even parody of) the big melodramas of yesteryear where the actors were performing with a knowing sense of what they were going for and of letting the audience in on the fact of what they were going for. Were this true and we, the audience, ended up laughing with the movie instead of at the movie it might feel like a completely difference experience, but as it is Wonder Wheel is a movie out of touch with what it should be and what it needed to be in order to pull-off what it seemingly wanted to be. But hey, it really is visually stunning, so there's that.

First Trailer for Woody Allen's WONDER WHEEL

To be honest, it felt a little strange not having a Woody Allen movie to catch up with this August or September and I wondered, only momentarily, if the writer/director had become so busy with his Amazon series, Crisis in Six Scenes, that the toll had become too much and he simply wouldn't be able to keep up with his regular output of a feature a year. Of course, as soon as I googled to see the status of the almost eighty-two year-old's latest projects I remembered that I'd heard rumblings of the fact he was working with Justin Timberlake on a new project and, of course, that project would end up being Allen's 2017 feature titled Wonder Wheel. The film, which stars Timberlake as a lifeguard on Coney Island during the 1950's, tells the story of a middle-aged carousel operator and his beleaguered wife. This first trailer seems rather in line with what we've come to expect from the auteur as of late as far as story is concerned as Allen seems to be getting extra nostalgic, or-at least-more enchanted with the idea of bringing the days of his youth back to life as four of his last seven films have taken place in the (distant) past. And while I didn't adore last year's Café Society in the way that I'd hoped I might I thought it was a fine and fun enough trifle that at least looked gorgeous. I can very much see Wonder Wheel turning out the same way as Allen has once again partnered with cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, who also shot Café Society, as well as a number of other notable movies like Apocalypse Now and Last Tango in Paris. Allen had regularly worked with Darius Khondji prior, but it seems Khondji has been booked more than usual as of late and has thus led to a new partnership that I think Allen's work is all the better for-especially when set in a specific time period of the past that calls for rose-tinted glasses in the way Allen's themes will typically line up with. And, of course, Allen is always able to wrangle up a rather stellar cast as, on top of Timberlake (who I'm still not sold on as a serious actor by the way), the film also stars Kate Winslet, John Belushi, Juno Temple, and a host of Allen regulars including Max Casella and Steve Schirripa. Wonder Wheel opens on December 1st, 2017.

LIVE BY NIGHT Review

The problem with Live by Night is that it is both too much and never enough. Ben Affleck, who has proved himself a strong storyteller in his screenwriting and directing skills, certainly has a fine ambition in his latest effort, but it simply never seems to pan out the way he originally imagined it. This is to the point that Live by Night is as big, extravagant, and sexy a gangster drama as one could hope to get made in the studio system today and yet the story is nowhere near as compelling as it should be to make the amount of effort put into the costumes, production design, and other period details matter. The question on my mind as the film came to its one too many endings-none of which are satisfactory, I might add-was, "how did this happen?" How did a filmmaker such as Affleck, with a story he himself adapted from a Dennis Lehane novel (Gone, Baby, Gone, Mystic River, Shutter Island, The Drop), in this time period, and with a star-studded cast that features stand-out performances from the likes of Chris Messina and Elle Fanning end up sinking as quickly as a dead body attached to a boulder in a river? There is seemingly never a clear answer as to how so many promising parts can come together to form a subpar whole, but with Live by Night the majority of as much seems to fall on the script never knowing exactly what type of story it wants to tell and as a result, the momentum of the pacing never finding its footing well enough to keep viewers invested. There is always more material in a novel than a two hour movie can handle and it seems rather than relay what was more or less the same story the source material was telling through the prism of a single perspective or theme that Affleck instead attempted to cram in as much of Lehane's novel as he could resulting in the film feeling more than overstuffed while still leaving the viewer hungry for more. When talking of adapting a book for the screen director David Fincher said, "The book is many things. You have to choose which aspect you want to make a movie from." It seems Affleck might have learned a thing or two from his Gone Girl director as this lack of a singular viewpoint is exactly what Live by Night is missing; delivering so many characters, ideas, and plot strands it's hard to care about any of them.

JACKIE Review

There's a moment that comes forty-five or so minutes into Jackie where the former first lady boldly strides into her husband's quarters for the first time since his death and proceeds to play what she recalls as his favorite number from the musical, "Camelot," while trying on much of her wardrobe, sitting in chairs, smoking, sitting in rooms, and admiring swatches of material she no doubt had glorious plans for; soaking in all that will soon be gone, the tragedy, the full comprehension of what our titular character is going through just washing over Jackie herself-maybe for the first time since her husband's death with the full force of reality. There is a plethora of delicious dialogue in Noah Oppenheim's screenplay, but it is moments such as this-moments that require no words where director Pablo Larraín excels at cutting to the heart of what motivates our titular character, what allows her to push on with life, and most impressively what gives Jackie the ability of allowing the audience to understand an individual's challenging ideas and decisions in the midst of unfair circumstances that are also undoubtedly the worst days of her life. Jackie follows former first lady Jackie Kennedy (Natalie Portman) in the week following the assassination of her husband in 1963, but that is what is to be expected from a biographical film concerning Mrs. Kennedy. What one might not necessarily be prepared for, but that Jackie certainly delivers, is a closely compacted study of the balance a woman in her (singular) position must pull off when concerning themselves not only with the here and now, but what people will write about her and her husband for decades to come. The ideas of legacy and of shaping that legacy come easier to viewers who obviously know what the myths around the ever-regal Kennedy clan have come to be, but Jackie opens our eyes to the fact such myths have to be constructed in some form or fashion. People like to believe in fairy tales and, for Jackie, it seems the goal was always to purport this facade that embodied the noble and majestic lifestyle of her husband's favorite musical. While Jackie, the film, looks to more or less deconstruct those myths-revealing the thought process and truths behind the scenes-the film also weirdly works to build up that myth even more albeit with more of an eerie tone than that of the mysterious one Jackie might have preferred. 

WILD CARD Review

Wild Card starts off by quickly setting up two intriguing predicaments. One is to show what our main character, Nick Wild (Jason Statham), does for a living while the other is an unspecified woman being dropped off, beaten and battered, at the emergency room. There is no need to understand how the two scenarios might connect as the movie isn't intent on making a major mystery of anything, but rather Wild Card is more intent on simply hooking you in hopes that you might stick around to see what scenario the next Statham caricature might be forced to use his martial arts skills to take care of. Giving credit where credit is due, the hook is nicely placed and I'm a fan of Statham so I was willing to go along with what could of course never rise to become more than a mediocre action flick. That is simply what we expect from Statham in his solo outings, but somehow he always manages to bring something more to the table than we ever expect. Whether it be the tone and setting of Homefront, the large amount of sympathy and goodwill contained in his character from Safe, the twists of War, the time period and fellow actors in Killer Elite or even the gritty, grimy style of something like The Mechanic-there is always an aspect of these Statham films that allow them become more than what we bargained for which was a direct to video movie so trashy and standard it is instantly forgettable. Instead, Statham operates on the principles of intriguing character pieces despite him being pegged as playing the same guy over and over again. This is partially true as each of the characters the action star portrays resembles one another in some form or fashion, but their circumstances always paint a different picture and it is this information that informs the state of mind of the character that allows Statham leniency from his British accent and bad boy facade. In Wild Card he is again a kind of bodyguard, but he is a man with an addiction and one that doesn't derive from drugs or alcohol, but that of one he could make a clean break from if he so chose. It's the choices that make Statham's characters different and if anything new comes to light in this otherwise generic film it is why Statham is equally as heralded as he is crapped upon.

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Review

To be burdened with ambitions that outweigh what the average person looks for to find satisfaction in life is a burden that will weigh heavy your entire life. There is no escaping the thought that you need to keep trying, that you need to keep going or else you will miss the opportunity that will grant you access to a world and a life you have only dreamed of prior. There is seemingly no shame in this, but it can certainly make for an unpleasant existence. While in today's world it would seem easier to make one's self known for their musical ability it has become so crowded with so many people trying so many different avenues that those who do achieve a level of success that fully supports their livelihood are those whose names we know and hear rotated on top forty radio. They are deemed the successes, the ones who luck into or operate under the circumstances of being picked to have their song played over and over despite the fact music can be recorded, promoted and played on any social media and pretty much any device the average person carries around all day. It is more difficult than ever to make yourself stand out, but Llewyn Davis would argue to his point that no matter how hard he tries, being in the right place, playing the right music at the right time still doesn't guarantee success for despite the talent Davis possesses he doesn't seem to be able to catch a break. In the latest film from brothers Joel and Ethan Coen they bring their bleak, deadpan humor to the 1960's Greenwich Village folk scene and focus on a kind of day in the life of a struggling musician. Ultimately, the film becomes more than this and plays into the larger themes of disappointment and the difference in leading a fulfilling life and simply existing. It is, in many regards, a hard truth to swallow about human nature, our dreams and how we are conditioned to believe things must go a certain way in order to be regarded as a success which commonly translates to a satisfaction with ones self not too many people seem to ever fully reach. I have enjoyed Coen brothers films over the years and usually find their tone and sense of humor inviting and extremely in line with how my inner most thoughts work. Inside Llewyn Davis feels like something special though, something I'll cherish for a long time to come.