AD ASTRA Review

Ad Astra is a Trojan horse of a movie for as mainstream as a film about space exploration wrapped in mystery and starring Brad Pitt sounds like it would be if one is able to expel such expectations set by the marketing and feast on the fulfillment that Ad Astra ultimately embodies given the aspirations of writer/director James Gray's (Two Lovers, The Immigrant, The Lost City of Z) latest work one would quickly come to realize this is a film filled with ideas and questions bubbling just below the surface despite its apparent facade; questions the movie as well as Gray's screenplay may or may not have answers to. Ad Astra is also, and not coincidentally, a film that is as slick in its storytelling as it is its visual representation meaning there is an immediate confidence to the film that speaks to the idea that it knows exactly what it wants to be and where it's going even if, as we go further into the deepest reaches of our solar system, the philosophical ponderings posed by the film seem to be or at least feel more like questions born out of questions that were born out of the writing process. Moreover, the themes and ideas Ad Astra ultimately come to wrestle with being more the products of streams of consciousness writing than they do necessarily questions that pertain directly to the initial idea Gray was chasing. There's nothing wrong with this, of course, as it in fact makes for a rather rewarding experience given the mysteries the narrative offers. The few, distinct answers the film delivers are slight in both comparison and reward to the number of new questions and ideas one's own mind will generate; the thought of the individual experience and reaction to certain material being such that each individual will respond differently, but with valid interpretations and inquiries is a claim not many films-especially mainstream Hollywood space movies with movie stars on their posters-can claim these days. Yes, there have been a number of films about space starring members of the Ocean's Eleven ensemble lately, but neither of those films approach the topic of the stars with as much of a balance in cynicism and optimism as Ad Astra does. Given the Trojan horse comparison, one might expect the subtleties of the film to outweigh the more blunt aspects general audiences require from a space adventure, but there is a specific moment when, like Pitt's character of Major Roy McBride, we come to realize there are more layers to the picture than the ones being highlighted for us and that we can choose to either dig as deep as we'd like or revel in the surface pleasures-both have their perks-but the true reward comes in finding your own place to land.

First Trailer for AD ASTRA Starring Brad Pitt

It seems as if I first heard about James Gray's Ad Astra a little over a year ago when it was scheduled for release in May of this year, but the premiere showing at the Cannes film fest was canceled and the rumors were that the opening may be delayed until the fall depending on the Fox/Disney merger and how everything shook out with that. Well, it seems the fall it will be as 20th Century Fox (as now owned by Disney) has released the first trailer for Gray's follow-up to his critically acclaimed, but seemingly little seen The Lost City of Z (you can stream it now for free if you have an Amazon Prime account). The filmmaker has also had good luck with critics in his 2007 and 2008 releases of We Own the Night and Two Lovers, but neither of those lit the box office on fire either and I'm curious as to what it is that might keep the hordes away given Gray tends to attract some pretty big names to his movies. For instance, Pitt has been eager to work with the director for some time as he was originally scheduled to star in The Lost City of Z, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Gray has worked with both Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix multiple times, but not even when he paired those two in that aforementioned 2007 crime thriller was he able to tap into a wider audience. I say all this with the hope that Ad Astra is the turning point for the filmmaker. Gray, who wrote the original screenplay with Ethan Ross (Fringe), has seemed to craft nothing short of a fascinating mystery/sci-fi film that isn't so much going to be leniant on the "fiction" part and instead be more grounded in its approach to discussing extraterrestrial life forms. In the film, Pitt plays an astronaut who travels to the outer edges of the solar system to find his father and unravel a mystery that threatens the survival of our planet; ultimately uncovering secrets that challenge the nature of human existence and our place in the universe. This sort of thing is right up my alley. I love when movies really go for it in the vein of something like 2001, The Tree of Life, or Interstellar, and this film seems as if it will fit really well into that line-up. It's also encouraging that films like Gravity, The Martian, and the aforementioned Interstellar have done well financially in a similar release landscape as this film will face. Ad Astra will also star Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler, Donald Sutherland, John Ortiz, Kimberly Elise, and opens on September 20th, 2019.

LOVING Review

Much goes unspoken in Loving, but that shouldn't be a surprise given it comes from director Jeff Nichols who has given us such restrained and meditative pieces as Take Shelter and Mud, not to mention his slight venture into genre territory earlier this year with Midnight Special. Still, Loving is something of a different beast. As with most of Nichols films the multi-hyphenate again deals in its main male character working through a particularly life-altering time in his life. Whether it be a man working through understanding an illness, heartbreak, or a parents love for their child Nichols is clearly attracted to these leading male characters that carry burdens of one type or another-none of which can actually be drawn as distinctly as I've just done. In Loving, this Nichols quality is born in the form of Richard Loving as played by Joel Edgerton who is a simple man who loves a woman just as simply, but is told he can't due to the race laws that plagued the time in which he was born. What separates Loving from Nichols filmography thus far is the fact Nichols has yet to adapt a true story or any other source material for that matter for one of his films. They have all been original concepts and ideas that have allowed the writer/director his own ways/styles of telling his own stories, but with Loving he has crafted a film very much in the vein of his previous works while still seemingly allowing the genuine spirit of those who actually lived this story to come through. Nichols accomplishes this by not making up much of his own dialogue for the real-life people to say. Rather, Nichols allows much of what needs to be said to be said through the performances of Edgerton and his co-lead Ruth Negga as Mildred Loving. In doing so, Loving ends up not as an overly schmaltzy or sentimental love story or even a melodramatic courtroom drama, but instead a subtle study of how simple true love can be despite how complicated our world can make it.

Movies I Wanna See Most: Fall 2016

So far, 2016 has felt like something of a lackluster year for film when compared to what felt like a rather stellar 2015. Maybe it is the hurt of summer '16 and the many disappointments it carried that is still making me feel worse about the year than it actually has been, but if the summer of '16 was a let down the latter half of the year certainly seems like it has a shot of righting the ship and offering plenty of interesting films that could fill the majority of my year end list that I'm beginning to get concerned about. In fact, the rest of the year is so jam-packed with highly anticipated stuff I think I could make a top twenty and be legitimately excited for each and every one of the movies on that list. As I did last year, I'm basically including a top fifteen with more of a focus on why my top ten are indeed my top ten, but hard choices had to be made.

I'm interested to see what Clint Eastwood and Tom Hanks have to offer with Sully and the fact it was shot 100% on IMAX cameras. I'm equally as intrigued by what Oliver Stone and Joseph Gordon-Levitt have up their sleeves in Snowden, but while interested I can't say I'm necessarily excited for the possibilities these features hold. I kind of feel I know what to expect and if they fulfill those expectations, great-if they surpass them-even better. This could very much describe the way I feel about the likes of The Girl on the Train and The Accountant as well. I'm very much interested to see if either of these can rise above their genre trappings to be more than what their trailers promise or if they'll simply be solid exercises in those genres-which isn't a bad thing either. I expect Birth of a Nation may be a great film, but am I excited to watch another harsh account concerning slavery? Not really. If I knew or had seen a little more about Denzel Washington's Fences adaptation or Miss Sloane starring Jessica Chastain I might be more inclined to include them on my list. Speaking of Washington, I'm certainly eager to see such mainstream films as Magnificent Seven, When a Monster Calls, Deepwater Horizon, Moana, and Assassins Creed, but not more than what is currently on my list. Monster and Moana would definitely make that top twenty though.

I've excluded Martin Scorsese's Silence from this list as I've put it on the last four or five lists I've made of this nature and it seems and it still doesn't have a firm release date. If we were to get some kind of confirmation it would certainly be near the top, but as of right now I'm treating this thing as if it won't come out until 2017. Same for the Will Smith/Kate Winslet/Keira Knightley/Helen Mirren/ Edward Norton/Naomie Harris/Michael Peña starrer Collateral Beauty. We could get a trailer any day now given the December 16th release date, but as we haven't seen so much as a still yet there is nothing to go on. The one landing just outside this top fifteen is Ewan McGregor's directorial debut in American Pastoral which I unfortunately feel will take a while to get to my neck of the woods. And so, without further adieu, let's dig in...

First Trailer for Director Jeff Nichols' LOVING

A few weeks back I saw the trailer for Loving, the latest from auteur Jeff Nichols, in front of the screening I attended of The Neon Demon, but if you've seen that film you'll understand why I forgot to comment on the Loving trailer. While I was certainly happy to see the unexpected preview given I'd heard very little about the film since its Cannes debut earlier this year I wondered when it might be making its way to masses via the internet and it seems that day is today-almost two weeks after I saw it playing in theaters. While I won't go into how nice it was to be surprised by a trailer I hadn't seen before playing in front of a movie I was watching in theaters I will say that rush is certainly one of the things I miss about the pre-YouTube days. We're here to discuss the latest from director Jeff Nichols though and the trailer in question marks the directors second feature film this year. Early word out of Cannes declared the film as a strong Academy Award contender and after Focus Features picked up the film and set an early November release date it seems that is certainly the plan. The film tells the story of Mildred and Richard Loving, the Virginia couple who were arrested in 1959 for violating that state's anti-miscegenation law. They pleaded guilty to the charge, but later challenged it in court with the case eventually reaching the Supreme Court as Loving v. Virginia. It is interesting to see Nichols take on a pure love story as most of his films have dealt more with love of the less romantic kind-namely that of the love between parents and children, of the love that creates legacy, and in his other film this year, the fantastic Midnight Special, that of a love between a father and his gifted child. While most of Nichols' films have premiered in the spring only to be forgotten by the Academy by the time awards season rolls around if Loving is indeed as good as the early reviews suggest it will be nice to see Nichols finally get some recognition on a bigger scale. Loving stars Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga, Marton Csokas, Michael Shannon, Nick Kroll, Bill Camp, Terri Abney, Alano Miller, David Jenson, Jon Bass, Christopher Mann, and opens on November 4th, 2016.

WARCRAFT Review

Going into the long-awaited feature film adaptation of World of Warcraft I wasn't sure what to think or expect. The closest thing I could equate the experience with was that of Stardust back in 2007 where I assumed that the tropes of wizards, witches, and magical lands would follow a rather standard plot (not knowing it was based on a Neil Gaiman story at the time). Given that adaptation came from the likes of writer Jane Goldman and director Matthew Vaughn that film turned out to be a favorite of mine that I still enjoy to this day. This was the sole reason I had hope for Warcraft. I like Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code) and that he came to this project as both a co-writer and director as well as a person who seemingly had an affinity for the source material I was given slight hope in the fact this story, that more or less looked like a second-rate Lord of the Rings, could potentially turn out to be, if not necessarily good, at least mildly entertaining. As it turns out, that is where this feature adaptation of the long-running video game series finds itself. With no point of reference and close to no expectations I went into Jones' Warcraft with the simple hope that it wouldn't be terrible and it's not-by any means. In fact, there is some pretty fun stuff to experience and even some affecting moments that caught me off guard. That isn't to say this movie isn't silly-it is, but that Jones and his team fully embrace the nerdiness of the material and are willing to do a deep (enough) dive into the mythology of this world and the numerous creatures that exist shows they're committed to not only the material, but that there is a certain regard for the story they are telling. All of that said, if you're not into such fantasy worlds or such fantasy stock characters then you will still hate or at least find what is going on here beyond ridiculous. And admittedly, outside of a few combat scenes and those aforementioned surprisingly emotional moments there isn't a whole lot to find appealing for an outsider looking in, but that this final product turned out to be as coherent and, for the most part, as fun as it is counts as a win considering the twelve years' worth of material the makers had to pull from combined with the task of pleasing fans of the games and the uninitiated alike.

New Trailer for Duncan Jones' WARCRAFT

Man, I really don't know what to make of this World of Warcraft adaptation. I don't play video games. I have no idea what is going on with this world, but the main thing working against it for the uninitiated audience is the fact it looks like little more than a Lord of the Rings rip-off. I of course have my hopes; hopes that somehow this will turn out to be more unique and enthralling than I suspect it to be at this moment despite everything I've seen looking rather generic. The closest thing I can equate this to is Stardust where I assumed that the tropes to follow a rather standard plot (not knowing it was based on a Neil Gaiman story at the time), but of course with the adaptation from Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn and with Vaughn (Kick-Ass, Kingsman) in the directors chair Stardust turned out to be a favorite of mine that I still enjoy from time to time. This is the sole reason I have hope for Warcraft. I like Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code) and that he has both co-written and taken the helm of this adaptation gives me slight hope. The conflict between each species and how they want to handle the situation of their differences for the greater good is appealing and is heavier than what I expected, but I still don't know or care about any of the characters involved. The film certainly isn't shying away from putting on display how grotesquely nerdy the whole affair is, but for those who aren't familiar with the world I was hoping this second trailer would provide an anchor for the film in the form of a stand-out character, but I'm just as bewildered as I was in November when the first trailer premiered. That said, Warcraft stars Travis Fimmel, Toby Kebbell, Paula Patton, Rob Kazinsky, Ben Foster, Daniel Wu, Clancy Brown and opens on June 10th, 2016.

First Trailer & Images for Duncan Jones' WARCRAFT

I don't play video games. I haven't been interested in one since NBA Jam for the Super Nintendo came out in 1993 and so, when it comes to World of Warcraft, I have no idea what is going on. That said, I do like the work of director Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code) and that he has both co-written and taken the helm of this adaptation gives me a slight interest. Still, the full trailer that has premiered today offers little in the way of trying to convert those that aren't already fans as the visuals represent little more than a Lord of the Rings-esque epic with orcs and humans battling one another. I will say the conflict between each species and how they want to handle the situation of their differences for the greater good is appealing and is heavier than what I expected from a movie adapted from a video game, but that just illustrates what low standards we have for our big budget Hollywood spectacles. I can't say that I'm excited for this feature at all as I have no vested interest in the material and the trailer does nothing to excite or intrigue me further, but I am interested in how this will play with the general movie-going audience. Will anyone see this beyond the gamers who already enjoy these characters or will Universal Pictures come to regret this $100 million investment if things go the way of Hitman, Doom or Need for Speed. Starring Travis Fimmel as the Alliance’s Anduin Lothar, Toby Kebbell as Durotan the hero of the Horde, with Paula Patton, Rob Kazinsky,Ben Foster, Daniel Wu, and Clancy Brown also starring Warcraft opens June 10, 2016.