FATMAN Review

Fatman is the kind of movie that is primed for embrace by movie nerds across the internet based on the concept alone. It almost doesn't even matter how well the writing/directing team of brothers Eshom Nelms and Ian Nelms pull this off or don't because all that really matters is that the idea remains the centerpiece. Whether everything surrounding the premise enhances the experience or not the fact they can say sixty-four year-old Mel Gibson was down for playing a disgruntled Santa Claus who has to contend with a hitman sent by a disappointed child is all they really needed to say to sell anyone on it. What does in fact actually sell said pitch though, is that the Brothers Nelms seemingly approached their script as if it were any other post-2010 Gibson actioner. In other words, St. Nick could just as easily have been played by Liam Neeson, Bruce Willis, Sean Penn or any other number of aging actors that tried their hand at the "old man action movie" genre post-Taken. While it may have been fun to see someone like Tom Cruise give this lowly low-budget B-movie a kick in the pants by playing into the bait and switch of the tone, Gibson is admittedly a perfect choice for this project. As the man will be working to rebuild his legacy for the remainder of his career these ghosts of Gibson's past somewhat work in the actors favor here as his public persona and very public meltdowns inform this version of a Santa Claus that has lost his influence and become little more than a joke to people. Hell, the role may have even been written with Gibson in mind as the screenplay is one thousand percent banking on the idea the audience will get a good chuckle out of the idea Gibson is playing Santa, a man whose whole deal is that he's completely altruistic in nature. There is no better way to appeal to the masses or earn back some gratitude than by taking the piss out of yourself and Gibson fully commits to doing so here. No, there isn't much more to the movie than this idea of a tongue in cheek take on the most innocent and well-meaning of holidays via a genre of movie that couldn't be more the opposite, but given Gibson's commitment to the bit, the Nelms' ability to manage a tone that's over the top without crossing the threshold from absurdity to stupidity, and the sheer presence that is Walton Goggins, Fatman turns out to be an amusing romp if not an immediate staple of the Christmas season.       

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP Review

I heard a bug hit the windshield on my way home from the theater after seeing Ant-Man and the Wasp and genuinely felt bad about it. If that tells you anything about how well this movie will hit you. That isn't to say this superior sequel to 2015's Ant-Man is something of an emotional roller coaster that evokes real sympathy for characters that get minor in the most minor of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies, but in some ways...it kind of does. In its earnest portrayal of these characters we come to easily invest in each of their plight's largely (isn't that ironic?) because they are dealing in stakes that are so personal and thus small when compared to that of the end of the world. Is it kind of ingenious? Yeah, a little bit considering Doctor Strange goes to another dimension to stop a blob called Dormammu from engulfing the earth and all things considered that should terrify me far more than if Paul Rudd's Scott Lang survives his last few days under house arrest, but it didn't and I would rather watch Ant-Man and the Wasp a hundred times over than sit through Doctor Strange again. The best part of that? Doctor Strange isn't a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination. Rather, Strange is simply a generic and forgettable one in the scheme of the last decade of MCU films whereas director Peyton Reed (Ant-Man) and writers Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari, as well as Rudd himself lend their movie a more memorable signature by allowing it to indulge in its inherent goofiness while simultaneously proving this isn't as cheesy an affair as it has to be. I mean, the basis of a super hero being a super hero because he shrinks down to the size of an insect and can then communicate with said insect is a premise wholly owed to whatever drug-induced haze Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby were in at the time (1962 to be exact) which isn't a bold claim considering Lee's cameo here hints at how crazy the sixties were, but the fact is despite their powers being corny and their abilities being used more so for their own agendas than maybe any other heroes in the MCU Reed is still able to execute and exhibit these technologies and the capabilities they enable in ways that are effective and dare I say it...even kind of cool. There are less than a handful of big action sequences here, but that doesn't matter because everything about Ant-Man and the Wasp is enjoyable, but more each of those few action sequences are crafted in ways where it feels every facet of who these characters are and the world they exist within is being utilized in creative and fun ways. This kind of passion for the material also assists with the level of compassion we, the audience, feels toward the characters and thus the level of investment we pledge to what is admittedly a less vital piece of the MCU puzzle. That Ant-Man and the Wasp challenges this precedent set by the first film is enough to solidify its worthiness among the ranks as well as its quality outside of them.

New Trailer for ANT-MAN AND THE WASP

Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige are wasting no time in ramping up the promotional campaign for their follow-up to Avengers: Infinity War with the sequel to 2015's Ant-Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp. Though Ant-Man and the Wasp apparently takes place before the events of Infinity War as does next March's nineties-set Captain Marvel it seems a foregone conclusion that either film will offer little in the way of answers to some of the questions that third Avengers film poses. Of course, we could see some type of serious foreshadowing depending on how exactly Paul Rudd's Scott Lang went about staying off the grid after Captain America presumably broke him out of prison after the events of Civil War which might in turn provide reason as to why Ant-Man was nowhere to be seen in Infinity War, but we'll have to wait and see as we have just over two months until the next MCU film hits theaters. Joining the company of Jon Favreau, Joss Whedon, and James Gunn director Peyton Reed is only the fourth director in the MCU's history to return for a sequel (though the Russo brothers still lead the pack as they will have directed four MCU films come next May). Of course, you may remember that there was a lot of fuss around the first Ant-Man given Edgar Wright's involvement in developing the script and even casting many of the key roles before dropping out of the project mere weeks before principal photography was due to begin due to "creative differences". Despite the late-in-the-game roster change it was easy to see the DNA of Wright all over that initial film and so it will be interesting to see what Reed and what seem to be his two writing teams that took a pass at the script (Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari breaking into the big time while Chris McKenna and Eric Sommers of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and The LEGO Batman Movie) come up with as Rudd also received a writing credit. Of course, the biggest draw of this sequel is that Evangeline Lilly will finally get to suit up as The Wasp and join Rudd's Lang in the action and while MCU heroes have had sidekicks before (The Falcon to Captain America, War Machine to Iron Man) the MCU has never touted one in the title of one of their films nor has one ever been female. Here's to change and here's to hoping change is good. Ant-Man and the Wasp also stars Michael Douglas, Laurence Fishburne, Walton Goggins, Michael Peńa, Hannah John-Kamen and opens on July 6th, 2018.

TOMB RAIDER Review

The newly re-booted and freshly grounded Tomb Raider from Warner Bros. isn't necessarily bad, but it is pretty bland. There is a constant back and forth as one experiences the final product given there is real promise in what is essentially the entire first act as the viewer gets to know this younger, more inexperienced Lara Croft (Alicia Vikander) and the mysteries surrounding her father's disappearance as well as the issues she has been working through as a result of such. It is when the movie goes from slyly intriguing to full-on what the target demographic expects from a Tomb Raider movie that most of the intrigue disappears and what we're left with is a series of action sequences that look like the actual video game that inspired the movie. The more reliable and realistic visual effects become the easier it will be to lean on them and while this seems to have become more and more apparent over the last few years it seems especially glaring when the source material for an effects-laden blockbuster is that of a fully digital world. Once our titular protagonist gives into the life she was always meant to have, despite who she was when trying to make a living on her own accord being more interesting, Croft is quickly swept off to Hong Kong and then to the next level, I mean act, of the movie where we continue to go through stage after stage of Croft getting closer and closer to her end goal, which in this movie, has something to do with an ancient Queen that was said to command the power over life and death. Why someone would want to seek out much less break open the tomb of an ancient spirit that was capable of killing people simply by touching them is beyond me, but that is the quest we're sent on and the tomb we're meant to raid and so that is what unfolds. Naturally, there are layers and bad guys along that way that make this journey a little more interesting or at least a little more dramatic, but it no matter how much Tomb Raider wants to feel like a fun adventure tale it is far too gritty and routine for its own good. Unlike last week's A Wrinkle in Time, which didn't necessarily work as a whole, but was at least trying to do something fresh and innovative with the material it was based on Tomb Raider instead works as a coherent whole in terms of style and tone, but does nothing with these features to accentuate them in any special or meaningful way.

MAZE RUNNER: THE DEATH CURE Review

As it goes with these adaptations of popular dystopian YA franchises it is best to know from which perspective a particular review is coming and how passionate the (re)viewer is about the source material they have just witnessed adapted for the big screen. Warning: I have not read James Dashner's version of the "chosen one" narrative so, for me, The Maze Runner series sits somewhere comfortably in between the gold standard that is The Hunger Games and the deplorable Divergent series that couldn't even muster enough fandom for Lionsgate to follow all the way through on it (I guess the first one was fine). Maze Runner is nestled comfortably in between these two opposite ends of the spectrum though, because it is more or less a different take on the exact same story Divergent tried to pull, but done so in a much more enthusiastic manner (which is saying something as these Maze sequels have lacked the energy of that initial flick) as well as being much less convoluted with the main detractor being they have failed to create anywhere near the emotional investment on the part of the audience in these characters; sorry, Tommy, Teresa, and Brenda, but you are no Katniss, Peeta, and Gale. That said-there are A LOT of characters in these movies as tends to be the case in each of the examples cited thus far and by virtue of this requirement there is ample opportunity for solid talent to enlist themselves as part of a guaranteed series of jobs and to that point it is nice to see the likes of Barry Pepper, Giancarlo Esposito, Patricia Clarkson, Aidan Gillen, and Walton Goggins in supporting roles where they are hamming it up the best each of them can even if at least three of them are playing the same type of ringleader role. To this end and to the end that I'm thankful 20th Century Fox decided against splitting this finale into two movies Maze Runner: The Death Cure is a well-made and well-executed action thriller that is more or less comprised of the same sequence of events again and again until our gang of ragtag heroes reaches the last standing city and faces the bad guys down once and for all. That may be a bit harsh as there are shades of honor on both sides of the line that make things more complicated than one might expect from such a film and there is a clear theme of loyalty that screenwriter T.S. Nowlin and franchise director Wes Ball have never strayed from, but much like WCKD, the evil corporate enemy in these movies, The Death Cure delays the inevitable conclusion we all know is coming due to our genre conditioning just a little too long.

First Trailer for MAZE RUNNER: THE DEATH CURE

Man, I really need to see Maze Runner: Scorch Trials, but it's been so long since I missed it and have't heard much about the series since that the whole thing just kind of slipped from my radar. Still, I know that I purchased Scorch Trials because I was out of town at my first Toronto International Film Festival when the film came to theaters and was bummed I never caught back up with it before it was released on home video because I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed the first one. And, of course, this third and final installment in the series was set to come out earlier (and by earlier, I mean February of this year), but was delayed due to production having been halted for over a year as a result of star Dylan O’Brien suffering severe injuries as a result of an on-set accident. Filming resumed nearly a year later, after O’Brien had thankfully recovered and was ready to complete the series. With the series finale of Teen Wolf happening last night, in which O'Brien also starred, I'm assuming that's why we're now getting our first look at this final film, but it seems director Wes Ball (who has been with the franchise since the beginning) and 20th Century Fox weren't completely ready for the launch as the first twenty seconds or so of this trailer are scenes from the first two films while the remainder of the trailer clocks in at less then fifty seconds. Still, what we get here looks to be pretty satisfying in terms of the scope and of the action and the intensity of the story. Granted, having still not seen the middle chapter I'm not sure as to where the characters heads are at or where the plot has since taken them since the reveal at the end of the first film, but this quick teaser makes me want to rectify that as I'm eager to see what the whole of this series will offer as Ball seems to have constructed a worthy finale for a series that has flown just enough under the radar to be a good and smart investment for Fox while maintaining its credibility as a fun YA action/adventure. Maze Runner: The Death Cure also stars Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Giancarlo Esposito, Walton Goggins, Aidan Gillan, Patricia Clarkson, Rosa Salazar, Nathalie Emmanuel, Will Poulter, Ki Hong Lee, Jacob Lofland, Barry Pepper and opens on January 26th, 2018.

First TOMB RAIDER Trailer Starring Alicia Vikander

In this day and age when every budding young actress must have a franchise of their own it kind of makes perfect sense that Alicia Vikander would go on to star in the re-boot of Tomb Raider as Lara Croft, the highly intelligent, athletic, and beautiful English archaeologist-adventurer who ventures into ancient, hazardous tombs and ruins around the world. As someone who doesn't play video games I never knew what the huge fuss around the games or the character was, but of course, as a fourteen year-old male in 2001 I was compelled to see what that fuss was all about when Angelina Jolie (who was twenty-six at the time!) took on the iconic role in what turned out to be a disappointing Simon West actioner in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Though it spawned one sequel, 2003's Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, the franchise sputtered out of existence afterwards as neither film seemed to be able to capitalize on whatever the appeal of the video game might have been. If the Tomb Raider video game series is still around and/or relevant at all I have no idea, but apparently movie studios still believe the character is a viable investment and thus, fifteen years after the last Lara Croft film, we are getting a new Tomb Raider movie that looks to have taken the more grounded and gritty route as opposed to the flirting with every kind of CGI they can get their hands on route that every action movie in the early aughts suffered from. It is understandable, in retrospect, why everyone was so anxious to utilize this new technology, but as the dust has settled there has been found this nice balance of practical and computer effects and it seems director Roar Uthaug (The Wave) has found that balance with his take on the character while the film itself looks to be one of those origin stories that may not give us what we actually came for until the last frame of the film. I'm intrigued by the participation of credible talents such as Vikander and Walton Goggins in the role of the antagonist, but can't say much else about this clip excites me. Still, I look forward to seeing what these actors do with the material and if Uthaug can offer an interesting take on the material. Writer Geneva Robertson-Dworet is also something of a question mark as she has a laundry list of potentially big credits to her name including Captain Marvel, Sherlock Holmes 3, Gotham City Sirens, and a Dungeons & Dragons re-boot, but it seems Tomb Raider will be our first taste of what this new voice has to offer the world of cinema. Tomb Raider also stars Hannah John-Kamen, Dominic West, Daniel Wu, Alexandre Willaume, Rowan Polonski, and opens on March 16, 2018.

MOJAVE Review

Knowing nothing about it, the plot, or its characters Mojave begins and quickly takes on a sense of aimlessness. Like its Hollywood wasteland setting, the hopes and dreams of whatever writer/director William Monahan (Oscar winning writer of The Departed) aspired for this to be seems to get lost in the shuffle of the day to day, and the existing lives that thrive purely on indulgence and artificial and material accomplishments that never get around to tapping into their true desires. Mojave, while constantly striving to be more, ends up doing little more than wasting away and ultimately wasting our time. More than feeling like wasted time though, Mojave feels like a missed opportunity due simply to the talent involved. Not only do we have the on-fire Oscar Isaac and the legitimately talented Garrett Hedlund for Isaac to both verbally and physically spar with, but we also have the likes of Walton Goggins and Mark Wahlberg in supporting roles. I won't even harp on the fact Monahan has charismatic folks like Dania Ramirez, Matt Jones, and Fran Kranz in minor supporting roles that he only utilizes for single scenes, but even the likes of Goggins is criminally underused in that a talent of his stature wasn't necessary for his six lines of dialogue. Sure, Mojave has some interesting things going for it as Monahan is a capable writer and pens some interesting back and forth about the measure of success and how it affects the narrative of one's life, but in the end none of it means anything. For all the flowery language and high-brow quotes our two leads pull out of their asses there is no substance in their actions, which I guess is the kind of demons they are attempting to chase away in the first place. How can their lives symbolize their deepest desires and greatest ambitions rather than simply being an on-going conversation about those dreams and desires? Bleak, no doubt, but that seems the writer/directors desired tone which in turn causes his movie to drag.

THE HATEFUL EIGHT Review

At this point in his career writer/director Quentin Tarantino runs the risk of being a parody of himself. Playing up the most obvious and popular aspects of the kinds of films he tends to make his latest, The Hateful Eight, tends to skirt that line more than a few times, but dammit if overall this is an experience like no other. What is being said? What is the objective? What is the point, if you will, of collecting eight or more disparate souls in a single confined space and allowing them to exhaust each of their personal vendettas against the world on one another? It would seem Tarantino would need to have some type of idea or some larger theme he intends to tackle when setting out to write a project that concerns the relations of a variety of characters shortly after the end of the Civil War. As with his two previous efforts that have addressed history and it's inconsistencies in equality, The Hateful Eight looks to bring up old wounds and address them freely. Unlike his previous two efforts though, The Hateful Eight is not a revenge tale in the larger sense of the genre, but more it is a contained mystery that asks whodunit and has the audience play a guessing game as it holds the answers just out of arms reach until the inevitable bloody end. Of course, the similarities to playing a game of Clue don't detract from the quality of the film as Tarantino goes back to more fully relying on what made his initial films all the more engaging and distinct: the talking. At ten minutes shy of three hours The Hateful Eight is certainly something of a journey, but it never feels like an endeavor. More, the film is an exercise in detailing a portrait of this point in time and the varying perspectives that contributed to the climate of America. By confining these eight very different, very volatile individuals into a single location Tarantino is able to make many statements, but mainly the guy seems to offer the idea that the state this country was founded on and how it came to fruition after we finished fighting ourselves is that of an unstable one-with qualities seeming to still echo into today's society.

AMERICAN ULTRA Review

American Ultra is fine. It is somewhat ambitious and somewhat derivative, but most of the time it plays things right down the middle and offers little more than we expect. It is subtly silly, not laugh out loud hilarious though it maintains it's ridiculousness throughout given it's honest with itself and well aware of what it is. In short, the film is a trivial exercise in triviality given it makes light of typically serious subjects such as secret agents and government operations, but will never be seen as more than a tiny blip on the pop culture radar. This is no crime against humanity as those who have even a modicum of interest in something akin to this will likely give it a shot while those who don't, won't and are not really missing out on much. Sure, American Ultra has it's redeemers, but none are strong enough to qualify it for a recommendation and while I sat watching the film, both amused and bemused for much of the time strangely enough, I couldn't help but to think how inconsequential it all felt. I didn't actively dislike the film, in fact I was more than happy to sit down and watch both Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart again as I've come to really enjoy Adventureland more and more over the years, but never throughout the course of experiencing this film did I find myself invested in any aspect of what was happening. It's almost as if the film is so trivial that it's not even worth saying much about it, but that would be to diminish the solid qualities and obvious heart that has gone into creating the product and I genuinely hate to minimize that effort to less than it is. Whether it be in the inherent chemistry between our two leads, the strong supporting cast that is selling the mess out of this outlandish material or the rather deft tone of the film as a whole there are certainly selling points and things to enjoy. The problem is, that deft quality seems to be one the film owes more to it's script than to it's director and some of that intended mentality was lost in translation.

Teaser Trailer for Quentin Tarantino's THE HATEFUL EIGHT

The Weinstein Company has released the first teaser trailer for Quentin Tarantino's eight film, The Hateful Eight. The film features bounty hunger John Ruth aka “The Hangman” (Kurt Russell) escorting criminal Daisy Domergue aka “The Prisoner” (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to her death when they get holed up during a snowstorm in post-Civil War Wyoming. Relegated to the close quarters of Minnie’s Habberdashery the two come to find a fair amount of tension between themselves and the six other folks who've become trapped by mother nature. The other titular characters include Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), Joe Gage (Michael Madsen), Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth), Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), General Sanford Smithers (Bruce Dern) and Bob (Demian Bichir) who’s taken over innkeeper duties from Minnie while she is away visiting her mother. It has been three years since we caught our first glimpse of Tarantino's venture into Western territory, but it seems he has settled comfortably into the genre now with his latest. That isn't to say Django Unchained felt like the director was testing the waters (I loved the film), but the first impression I get from this trailer offers a distinctly more traditional vibe. Whether this is due to the intimate setting, the crisp dialogue or simply the fact the performances seem to be front and center, I can't really tell, but I do know the film looks gorgeous and I can't wait to unwrap this gift come Christmas day. The Hateful Eight also stars Channing Tatum and opens in 70mm on December 25th.

First Red-Band Trailer for AMERICAN ULTRA

Adventureland feels like one of those forgotten gems that no one ever really gave a chance because expectations set it up as something else. It was director Greg Mottolla's follow-up to Superbad and we all expected more of the same, but Adventureland was a more personal journey-slight, but precise and really is worth a re-watch. All that is to say that it's good to see Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart on screen together again, this time in something of another stoner comedy. Penned by American Werewolf in London, Animal House and Blues Brothers director John Landis's son, Max, and directed by Project X helmer Nima Nourizadeh the film is a hard-R comedy about a stoner who is set to propose to his girlfriend and play out a typical existence in their sleepy, small-town when everything goes nuts after being disrupted by a past Eisenberg's character didn't know he had in the form of a government operation that subconsciously made him a secret agent. Combining multiple, seemingly opposite genres has always been a way to generate something fresh feeling and this first red-band trailer certainly does that for this film. It seems only yesterday I considered Eisenberg the lesser of he and Michael Cera, but since The Social Network Eisenberg has continued to prove the more versatile actor of the two. While he can certainly handle dramatic material and even has a flair for the outrageous and rather confident roles that wouldn't seem to fit his personality his roots seem to have always been in comedy. Those muscles look as if they're being stretched quite nicely here and I can't wait to see this late-summer stoner comedy that should be good for plenty of laughs if not something a little more substantial. American Ultra also stars Topher Grace, Walton Goggins, Connie Britton, Bill Pullman, Tony Hale and opens on August 21st.

MACHETE KILLS Review

Remember six years ago when Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino decided to team-up and create an epic production that once and for all would pay obvious tribute to their love of exploitation films? It was awesome, right? Both Planet Terror and Death Proof had their own style and story while effectively re-creating the tone and look of those seedy, unrestrained 1970's flicks that weren't mainstream enough for big studios. While the combination of the two features were released under the banner, Grindhouse, the mainstream still didn't seem to take as much of a liking to the project as it ultimately wasn't the box office hit the directors had become accustomed to. Still, no one lost any credibility on the project as it catered exactly to the kind of high concept work the two directors were known for innovating. One of the many highlights of Grindhouse though turned out to be the fake movie trailers that played before and inbetween the features and thus the world was introduced to Machete. I went back and re-watched that original trailer that played before Planet Terror as well as watching a good portion of that Rodriguez film which only came to re-enforce the overly-negative opinion I have concerning the follow-up to the 2010 full length version of Machete, Machete Kills. One of the bigger issues of the first Machete was the fact it frequently became exactly the thing it was parodying while the sequel does so in even bigger strides while no longer even looking like or seeming to attempt to actually become a part of the genre Rodriguez was originally so intent on paying tribute to. There is a fine line though between showing affection and making fun of, and while both Planet Terror and Death Proof were able to play up the elements of these exploitation flicks to modern audiences in the form of laughs they at least had the craft and quality down pat. Machete Kills is little more than a parody, a rushed job with a nonsensical script and stunt casting that is clearly intended to fulfill the entertainment quota. The base purpose of these homages is to have fun watching the ridiculousness unfold while laughing at the countless references and cinematic commentary, but unfortunately there is no such fun to be had here.

DJANGO UNCHAINED Review

It is likely with a biased opinion that I fully indulged in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained. I am, of course, from the generation that was young enough to find Reservoir Dogs on VHS and proclaim Pulp Fiction as our own kind of masterpiece that pushed us to go to film school and wanting to gather a larger pool of knowledge concerning film so that we might apply them to our own works. Tarantino is the inspiration, the guy who made it seem possible for a film lover to become a filmmaker and that essence, that feeling of connection in giving the audience what it really wants, what it really craves despite feeling so constricted to the standards of Hollywood filmmaking. When the man decided he was going to take on the topic of slavery for his latest film it was certainly a field that would provide plenty of material for the kind of brutal, over-the-top genre pictures he likes to pay homage to. My only concern going in was how might this come off when made by a white man. From the get go though it is clear that Tarantino knew what he was getting himself into and that he wouldn't have done so had he not known what he was going to do with it. The film is, most of the time, extremely bent on undermining the power and authority of the institution of what slavery was and in doing so the writer/director brings his flair for sharp, witty dialogue into a film that is overall a very serious movie. In the same way he treated the Nazi's of World War II Tarantino again turns history on its head and gives the overseer's exactly what they deserve and then some. It also doesn't hurt he's extracted some of the better performances this year from his top form group of actors.