WARFARE Review

Making a war film inherently means you're making an anti-war film even if that intention was never part of the process. No matter your political persuasion, the reasons for the conflict, or even the dopamine hit certain types of personalities receive from being amidst such situations, one would hope we could agree the waste of life given in exchange for such rationale is not only unfortunate, but unnecessary. By default, most war films are labeled as propaganda - using seductions of the cinematic language to portray the horrors of combat in an idealized and/or unrealistic fashion - yet writer/director Alex Garland in collaboration with Navy vet Ray Mendoza seek to strip the genre of all such seductions in order to make audiences both more aware of such stories while also conducting something of an experiment in order to gauge what conclusions are drawn and what the perceived central idea becomes when taking a more forensic approach to these events as opposed to a more fabricated one. 

Interestingly, the film informs the audience of said experiment up front stating that the film is based on the memory of the people who lived it. Though Mendoza serves as co-director as well as receiving a screenwriting credit and is portrayed in the film by D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Warfare is an ensemble piece that is essentially a re-enactment of an encounter this platoon experienced during the Iraq War in the wake of the Battle of Ramadi. The film gives no more context than this, allowing viewers to take from it whatever they choose to glean. While the film very clearly seeks to honor and respect what these men do when risking their lives in order to execute the whims of their superiors and their superiors’ superiors, in terms of being an exercise in the “less in more” school of filmmaking and crafting what is ultimately a collage of memory pieces it is a fascinating experiment as it is inherently understood that even the most vivid of memories are subjective, that there can be no absolutes in the chaos of such confrontations, and further – that everything that has happened to these individuals since these events has informed their recollections of these moments.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXYL. 3 Review

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the most confounded I’ve been by a movie in some time. I don’t know how to process it completely. As a fan of writer/director James Gunn, his first film, and a massive fan of GotG Vol. 2 (as in it’s absolutely the best non-Avengers film in the MCU) I had high hopes for the gang’s swan song. Unfortunately, this final time out with this configuration of the Guardians - at least upon initial viewing - is an incoherent, repetitive, sensory overload so grating that any attempt at emotional resonance is rendered moot. 

From the minute Will Poulter’s underdeveloped and underutilized Adam Warlock arrives to decimate the titular team it seems clear Gunn took his screenplay out of the oven a few drafts early. The character of Warlock (who was heralded as a Christ-like figure in the second film) is presented as a clown mere minutes after almost annihilating the Guardians with little to no effort. The contrast could work, sure, but it's not developed in any recognizable fashion as Gunn was clearly more interested in the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), a mad scientist of a man whose abusive yet paternal tendencies certainly fit the writer/director’s running themes in these movies, yet the High Evolutionary's arc feels as stock as the template Gunn uses to close out his trilogy. Iwuji also likes to yell. A lot. 

When I say template, I'm of course referring to the one where a main character becomes incapacitated, and the movie then spends the rest of its runtime sending his friends who desire to save them on countless missions to locate countless McGuffins required to in fact save him. I realize many a genre flick rely on these kinds of plot devices as a way of propping up their bigger thematic ideas through easily accessible checkpoints, but Gunn feels above this and that he chose to go out leaning on such a structure would only seem to suggest that the script and, as a result, everything afterward was not necessarily ill-conceived, but more feeble in the way James Gunn movies are typically bold and affecting. 

First Trailer for Ari Aster's MIDSOMMAR

In Sweden, "Midsummer" is the period of time centered upon the summer solstice, taking place on a day between June 19 and June 25 as well as the preceding evening. Midsummer is such an important festivity in fact, that there have actually been discussions about making Midsummer's Eve into the National Day of Sweden. This is all well and good, but what does the director of last summer's breakout horror flick, Hereditary, know about this festival that we don't? Or, moreover, what might he know that would lead him to base his second feature for A24 around it? As it turns out, the holiday has its roots in a pre-Christian solstice festival. Rather than trying to stamp out such pagan festivals, the early Catholic Church would co-opt them by associating them with Christian celebrations. For example, the winter solstice took place on December 25th and thus establishing this as the date when Jesus was born allowed the Church to be able to absorb the pagan midwinter festival of Yule into the Christian celebration of Christmas. Further, Biblical sources suggest that St. John the Baptist was born six months before Jesus, meaning that his birthday could then be conveniently associated with the pagan summer festivals. Alas, "Midsummer" as it is presently celebrated was more or less born with the modern festival featuring the usual trademarks of food, entertainment, and fellowship, but with plenty of unique ticks such as the inclusion of magic and anything to do with nature being thought to have a special power as well as the large outdoor bonfires and the tradition of decorating a "maypole" with greenery and flowers. Writer/director Ari Aster will undoubtedly go after the pagan origins of this festival in order to produce some of the more "unconventional" aspects of this festival, but it will be interesting to see just how much religion and the origins of this real-life celebration play into Aster's narrative. For now, this first trailer offers all the mood and tone necessary to know that, at the very least, Aster's beautiful aesthetic was no fluke; this trailer is gorgeous. Midsommar stars Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper, Vilhelm Blomgran, Archie Madekwe, Ellora Torchia, Will Poulter, and is currently set to open on August 3rd, 2019.

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.

DETROIT Review

If you thought the sound design in Dunkirk was crazy effective wait until you get a load of Kathryn Bigelow's Detroit. That isn't to say one is more effective than the other, but both utilize their environments and the sounds that resonate most within those environments to help push the visceral experience of both films to the next level. A level that indeed truly transcends the space and time of where one might be viewing the film and places you among the riots of the summer of 1967 where fear, uncertainty, and chaos ran rampant. I open with such a statement not to emphasize the technical aspects over everything else in a film as important and timely as Detroit so as to draw attention away from the tough and difficult subject matter at hand, but more to begin a dialogue about why the movie itself becomes equally effective and affecting. It is through this portal of sound, of genuine gun shot smatterings that ring out at any given point in the movie and make you feel not only as if you’re in the room with these characters, but are then also inherently placed in the headspace of someone such as Larry Reed (portrayed by newcomer Algee Smith), a singer and aspiring musician who just so happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is interesting, seeing how writer Mark Boal’s (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) screenplay brings several strands of characters, historical situations, and themes together into a single, encapsulating experience, but while we don’t meet Larry Reed until just prior to the events that the film dedicates its biggest chunk of time to it is his arc that we become most enamored with in many ways due largely to the fact he faces a wider variety of obstacles in terms of difficult choices as well as attempting to comprehend a life that seemingly has everything he ever hoped for stripped away in the matter of a handful of hours. That also said, Detroit is not about a single character, but more it is about how far away we still are from things being easy even if it would seem we’ve overcome so much in the fifty years since these infamous riots. As a piece of entertainment, Bigelow’s film isn’t something to be recommended for the experience which it entails, but rather because it is a heavy experience that needs to be known about and acknowledged. Detroit is about acknowledgment and about asking not why this happened in the past-we know why it happened-but rather if we’re doing today what we need to be doing in order to prevent as much from happening again. Detroit is a reminder we’re not doing as well as we should be in case you couldn’t tell already.

First Trailer for Kathryn Bigelow's DETROIT

The first trailer for Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow’s (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) highly anticipated new film, Detroit, has premiered via Annapurna Pictures. The film, which was written by Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker), chronicles the Detroit riots of 1967. The riots are historically known to have been initiated by a police raid of an unlicensed bar in the city’s Near West Side when confrontations turned violent, ultimately resulting in the deaths of thirty-nine people and leaving hundreds wounded as the riots went on for five days. Bigelow and Boal have seemingly approached this event with the idea of telling several different accounts that occurred over the course of the five days in order to paint a full picture of what happened, why it happened, and how those on either side of the law were forced to handle themselves. In typical Bigelow fashion the film seemingly holds a number of tense moments while the ensemble cast as led by The Force Awakens' John Boyega are seemingly giving top notch performances to only accentuate that suspense further. Though not overly familiar with the details of the events that happened in Detroit that summer the tagline for the film, as shown at the end of the clip, hints that the film will paint a picture from a perspective most history books aren't accustomed to telling. I'm anxious not only to see what a talented filmmaker like Bigelow does with such material, but also the kinds of conversations it creates given the material couldn't be more relevant or a more timely reminder for the American conscience. The remainder of the ensemble cast includes Chris Chalk, Nathan Davis Jr., Kaitlyn Dever, Austin Hébert, Joseph David-Jones, Malcolm David Kelley, John Krasinski, Jacob Latimore, Anthony Mackie, Jason Mitchell, Hannah Murray, Ben O’Toole, Will Poulter, Jack Reynor, Algee Smith, Peyton Alex Smith, Jeremy Strong, Ephraim Sykes, and Leon Thomas III. Detroit opens in theaters on August 4th.

THE REVENANT Review

The idea for The Revenant is more satisfying than its realization. It's a fact many of us who have been looking forward to the film likely realized before even watching it, but nonetheless the reaction to this realization is still one that feels it witnessed something unique, or special at the very least. Throughout the course of the film I couldn't help but to keep coming back to the thought that the huge amount of effort that was so clearly put into the making of this film deserved to be seen multiple times, countless times even, but in trying to come up with a time in which I might actually want to sit down and experience this again I came up with little desire. That this was also director Alejandro González Iñárritu's follow-up to his Oscar-winning Birdman factors into the mystique of the idea of how great this film might be, never mind the fact he was collaborating with the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. And so, the "what if" thought came to mind in the form of, “what if this were made by a no-name director?" Would it be met with the same expectation? Would reactions be as critical to the leanness of the story or would the beauty of the cinematography allow that to be forgiven? Obviously, this is not the case and thus the film will be viewed and criticized for how it stacks up against Iñárritu's past works as well as the fellow awards fodder that is being released this year, but despite all of these factors that inform the here and now, the initial reactions to the film, The Revenant feels like a movie that will be around for a long time. It is a movie that will be discussed not for its large themes or the depth with which it conveys this rather simple and straight-forward story, but more for what it was able to accomplish in bringing beauty out through such brutality. That, in its own way, it was able to deliver as visceral an experience as one could have with a motion picture. This is a movie not meant to elicit a lot of intellectual pondering, but more an experience of the emotions that you drink in, let settle, and then decide if it's for you or not. My palate seems to have come to the decision it appreciates the taste more than it necessarily enjoys it.

New Trailer for THE REVENANT Starring Leonardo DiCaprio

With The Martian opening this week it's no surprise that 20th Century Fox is trotting out a new trailer for it's big awards contender this season in director Alejandro González Iñárritu's (Birdman) The Revenant starring what we all assume could finally bring Leonardo DiCaprio an Oscar. That said, I always imagined this would be something of a tough sell to the general movie-going public. It is a film that seems to largely operate on visuals alone (though they are Emmanuel Lubezki's visuals, but again the average movie goer doesn't know or care about that) and while DiCaprio is one of the few movie stars left in a culture where actors are known more for what superhero they play than their body of work it will be interesting to see how far audiences will follow the actor based on his presence alone. Getting them to follow him to the tune of a $50 million opening weekend for The Great Gatsby is one thing, but doing even half that for The Revenant would be impressive. The fact the film is also following the same release pattern as Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight (limited on Christmas day, wide on January 8th) is curious and an intriguing game to watch play out for people such as myself who find these kinds of match-ups entertaining. All of that said, this new trailer sells the hell out of the action/adventure/drama that also features recognizable and credible faces in Tom Hardy and Domhnall Gleeson. Lubezki's aesthetic that is complimented by Iñárritu's desire to shoot this film in remote locations in Calgary and all in natural light allow for a stunning and distinct style that, along with the pure adrenaline this clip offers, will hopefully set the film apart from everything else we see this holiday season.

First Trailer for THE REVENANT Starring Leonardo DiCaprio

Anything that Leo DiCaprio works on these days seems destined to be on my most anticipated list. Whether it's that the guy has truly impeccable taste or the luckiest timing in the world, he seems to be consistently picking the right projects. Truth is, it is a combination of those things that have set DiCaprio up for appearing in and championing projects made by the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Baz Luhrmann and Martin Scorsese (and that's only in the last four years!). The timing aspect is most evident though in that not only is DiCaprio finally working with heralded director Alejandro González Iñárritu (21 Grams, Babel), but he is working with him on the follow-up to Iñárritu's Best Picture Winner, Birdman. The fact that DiCaprio is one of the most well-regarded actors working today combined with Iñárritu's current clout and the added bonus of starring Tom Hardy (who is on his own hot streak as of late with Mad Max and the awesome looking Legend coming out this October) in the supporting role gives off the impression everything fell in line perfectly for this film to be positioned as an awards season favorite. I'm sure the filmmakers and stars would gawk at that previous sentence though given the difficult and tumultuous shoot they reportedly experienced. Iñárritu shot the entire film with outdoor lighting in the rather inhospitable Canadian wilderness over nine months. It looks as if the hard work and long days paid off though as this first look trailer is absolutely breathtaking. Working from the real-life story of Hugh Glass who was left for dead by his companions following a bear mauling in the early 19th century, Iñárritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki show once again that there is always a new way of looking at things. Besides DiCpario and Hardy the film also stars Domnhall Gleeson, Will Poulter, and Lukas Haas. The Revenant opens in limited release on Christmas Day before expanding wide on January 8, 2016.

THE MAZE RUNNER Review

Young adult literary adaptations have become as much a genre to themselves as the super hero or comic book movie. They exist in a vacuum where many of the same rules apply to the different worlds being brought to life. As of late, and meaning after the breakthrough of Harry Potter, the solidification of Twilight and the confirmation of not simply being a fad by The Hunger Games, we have received several female-led, dystopian-set tales of rebellion and individualism that employ fantastical creatures and environments to communicate their bigger themes to the youth of today. In all honesty, I've enjoyed a great deal of them for either their tone (Beautiful Creatures) or extent of creativity (Divergent) while others have been downright terrible (Mortal Instruments). While it may be easy to spot a YA adaptation from a mile away these days it doesn't mean the trend is fading, in fact it is the opposite, for if anything it feels these types of titles are just ramping-up in the way that studios have finally found solid ground on which to build these series hopefuls. It is in the same vein that it took Marvel nearly a decade to establish their own cinematic universe after the X-Men hit the screen for the first time, but now that wehave a type of blueprint things are moving much faster. No matter the eventual box office return, the feature adaptation of a popular teen-lit series can't presently be labeled as a bad idea and thus we have been brought The Maze Runner. Based on a series of four books (which, if successful, will eventually mean five movies) by James Dashner this is the first real departure for the genre since becoming an institution that deviates from the formula of female lead in a failing, dystopian societal structure. Instead, what we are given is a very stripped down, human survival story with plenty of mystery surrounding the circumstances to keep audiences intrigued as our host of characters slowly peel back layers of the secrets within twisting both our expectations and hopes while consistently keeping us engaged in its proceedings. It is as much an accomplishment as any non-branded, non-sequel movie to hit theaters these days and become a hit as it is for the first installment of a YA adaptation to stand completely on its own while still setting itself up for more stories and if The Maze Runner has a single great strength, that is it.

First Trailer for THE MAZE RUNNER

The race to find the next big young adult adaptation has been one of fierce competition and many failures and with the premiere of what has the best shot at claiming the title, not necessarily from The Hunger Games as it will only have one film left after Katniss leaves the screen for good, but more a placeholder that will make enough money to justify its two sequels while we wait on the next Hunger Games installment and then of course ease the pain of having nothing more to look forward to after Mockingjay Part 2 is released, are the screen adaptations of Veronica Roth's bestselling Divergent series opening this Friday. Thus the reason why we now have a trailer for another contender in what hopes to capitalize on this trend, but it seems the tide is more favorable toward The Maze Runner than something like Beautiful Creatures or The Mortal Instruments. I have yet to read the four-book series by James Dashner, but based on this trailer alone I plan on doing so before seeing the first film. Yes, it still centers around a group of teens in peril and having to fight against some type of system to no doubt prove how individuality can never be truly suppressed by conformance, but at least this time around the premise seems genuinely intriguing and nowhere near as forced or put together by a committee as some of the aforementioned young adult lit hits. Dylan O'Brien (Teen Wolf, The Internship) leads the cast as Thomas, a young man thrust into the middle of this maze that may hold the secret to why he along with countless others have been trapped inside said maze, but more importantly, how they might be able to make it out. The Maze Runner also stars Will Poulter, Kaya Scodelario, Aml Ameen, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Patricia Clarkson and opens on September 19.

WE'RE THE MILLERS Review

I love early August comedy releases. Though this spot is usually reserved for a Will Ferrell comedy every other year and thus may be the reason it holds a special place in my heart, We're the Millers does a fine enough job of filling that void until Ferrell unleashes his massive sequel he's saved for Christmas this year. While this has been a particularly stale year for American comedy, not to mention this summer, with the most memorable thing to come out so far being the very meta, very elaborate inside joke we all felt a part of that was This is the End. What was unfortunate about that film was that it didn't leave the big cultural impression I expected it to, or hasn't immediately anyway. It may pick up steam once it arrives on Blu-Ray and DVD as it will no doubt become my default funny flick to toss in when I'm bored, but as for We're the Millers I was hoping for a little something more, something lasting from the summers final funny effort. Director Rawson Marshall Thurber hasn't made a feature film in five years and that one, titled The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, didn't exactly do much (I'd never even heard of it). Before that, his last film was 2004's Dodgeball. Now, I loved Dodgeball as it came during that sweep of a summer that also included Anchorman and was preceded by Starsky & Hutch in March. It was a consistent set of comedy monopolized by the likes of Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, and Ferrell. It is clear those days are long gone now as not even a Wilson/Vaughn reunion flick garners much excitement, but Thurber is at least intent on trying to keep that type of comedy intact and continuing the tone by any means possible. For, if nothing else, what I took away from We're the Millers was that initially underrated feeling that I will come to love in the long run. I know there are jokes I missed, inflections on certain lines I will laugh at more when I hear them again, and certainly something more to the characters of David and Kenny that I'll end up feeling more akin to and as a result laugh at their jokes even more. It is a comedy that, while funny enough on first viewing, will undoubtedly grow on me as time goes by. That may not be the best compliment to pay a film right out the gate, but as for now that is the biggest highlight of this high concept comedy.

First Trailers for WE'RE THE MILLERS

Though little has been heard or seen surrounding director Rawson Marshall Thurber's first full length feature since Dodgeball it is on the night before The Hangover Part III is released that we get our first taste of what this comedy promises. As Ed Helms plays a supporting character here we will likely be seeing these trailers in front of that major comedy sequel this weekend, but the main attraction here is that it is a fresh comedy with a zany premise that looks surprisingly promising. Maybe it was the fact Thurber has taken a good amount of time off between directing features or that several of the major comedies this year feel somewhat familiar, but something about the aura this movie is giving off makes me feel it could definitely be the sleeper hit of the summer. There are a good amount of laughs in the trailer that imply an effortless quality to the pacing of the film and the free flowing jokes. Though the highlight of the trailer for many will be Jennifer Aniston playing a stripper it looks like her pretend son Kenny (Will Poulter of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader) might steal this show. People seem to be fairly divisive on whether they think Jason Sudeikis is funny or not, but I've always enjoyed the guy on Saturday Night Live and though besides Horrible Bosses he hasn't really had that great a kick-off to his film career (most have already forgotten Hall Pass and we won't count his supporting role in The Campaign) this could easily jump start his career and put him off and running as he prepares to depart the late night comedy show. Thurber seems to have rounded up a good cast of comedians to fill in the bit parts as Nick Offerman, Kathryn Hahn, Molly Quinn, Emma Roberts and Thomas Lennon will also be joining the party. We’re the Millers opens August 9. Hit the jump to watch the red and green band trailers.