I haven’t seen E.T. in twenty years, but by the time the credits rolled I had teary eyes and the theme song wonderfully repeating itself in my head. My girlfriend sitting next to me exclaimed, “my track record of crying every time I see E.T. is still intact”. That’s the power of Steven Spielberg’s 1982 classic E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, and there really was no better way to watch the film than with live orchestral accompaniment at the San Francisco Symphony.
10 Cloverfield Lane is the “sequel” of sorts to the J.J. Abrams produced 2008 found-footage monster movie, Cloverfield. At least that’s what its meant to be — or rather a spin-off/anthology story. In all honesty, I’ve never seen a “sequel” be so distinct in style and substance from its predecessor. And this is for the best, since 10 Cloverfield Lane is a remarkable old-school thriller that aims to build upon the world set up in Cloverfield, rather than be confined by the latter’s story elements. It’s also been a while since I’ve been so nervous watching a film! Once 10 Cloverfield Lane hooks you in, you’re strapped in for an intense, unrelenting ride executed to near perfection via sharp direction and A-game acting.
Malick’s stream of consciousness goes to Hollywood.
Christian Bale is a Hollywood Knight…of cups.
For the most part, you’re either a fan of Terrence Malick or you’re not. There isn’t a whole lot of middle ground, considering the polarizing style of his films — they’re sort of poetic streams of consciousness in the form of montages and existential voice-overs. His early masterpieces, like Days of Heaven and Badlands (and even The Thin Red Line) paved the way for, arguably, his magnum opus, The Tree of Life. Since then he’s delivered hit-or-miss cinematic experiences that are stories built upon the interpretation of the collection of images on the screen. Not to say that Malick doesn’t have a complete understanding grasp of his own products, but it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to think he may not, and purposefully so. And now there’s Knight of Cups, Malick’s newest existential experience. This time, the experience is centered around one man’s journey in Hollywood, his success and failure, of the rich and poor around him, his dreams and his fate, and with a central heartbeat to it all in the form of tarot cards. What’s not to like!? Well, there’s a lot that feels pretentious and aimless, and accidentally so. But there’s also a lot in Knight of Cups that overflows with meaning and beauty, and those moments make KoC just rewarding enough to enjoy watching.
So good it might as well feature humans, but then it wouldn’t be as good.
The DMV scene that has everybody laughing hysterically!
Zootopia has all the makings of a classic Pixar film. Everything except the emotional heft. But seriously, it has absolutely everything else going for it — it’s inventive, beautifully animated, smart, funny, and well-rounded. Just because it doesn’t make you cry shouldn’t be any reason to think less of this Disney entry, though it’ll inevitably be compared to recent Pixar films (I’ve already been asked if it’s as good as Inside Out, which it isn’t, but it’s more re-watchable). Two of Zootopia‘s directors are Byron Howard (Bolt, Tangled) and Rich Moore (Wreck-It Ralph), so you know that the sense of humor will be quick-witted and charming, and the characters quirky and varied. But more significantly than that, Zootopia sustains a maximum sense of fun while simultaneously tackling social issues with more finesse than most films.
Gerard Butler, despite a big gun, misses the mark by a long shot.
I really wanted another Olympus Has Fallen, the action-packed guilty pleasure of 2013. I was ready for explosions and gunfire and John McClane-type odds. London Has Fallen missed the mark on every single one of my expectations. The explosions looked hokey, the level of implausibility was off the charts, and despite the John McClane-type odds, the action never rose to fully excitable heights. Gerard Butler has the same charisma he’s always had, but the movie (which he produced) doesn’t do him any favors — simplifying his one-note wise-cracking character to a gun wielding one-note wise-cracking character. Sure, it serves the ultra-generic action movie plot well, but when the best line he utters is “F-ck me? F-ck you!”, you know that another minute or two could’ve been spent fleshing out his character’s persona a bit more. Needless to say, Butler is still the best part of London Has Fallen, demonstrating his physical action hero gravitas in a sea of utter muck.
A modern romantic comedy with its heart and mind (and humor) in the right place.
Fifty Shades of Singledom
It’s rare that I’m this nervous to write a film review! Perhaps it’s the fact that How to Be Single surpassedall my expectations. Or maybe its that I feel that by accidentally omitting any aspect that I loved about the film, I’d be doing the film a disservice. Maybe I’m nervous because I feel that my excitement for the film is a byproduct of being caught off guard by its hilarious yet sensitive handling of serious topics, and therefore maybe I’m overhyping it? The fact of the matter is that How to Be Single is one of the best romantic comedies in a long while, and does more than just continue the recent (wonderful) surge in female-led rated-R comedies. How to Be Single balances awkward conversational humor with crude humor exceptionally well and doesn’t let up even when its time for the story to enter ’emotional climax’ mode, all the while sending strong messages about dating through adulthood.
A silly, subversive, colorful day in the life of a 1950s Hollywood studio fixer — as only the Coens can envision.
Channing Tatum the singing, dancing sailor.
Expectations were high for Hail, Caesar! the new film from the modern great American filmmakers, Joel and Ethan Coen. Three years after their award-winning triple play of 2009’s A Serious Man, 2010’s True Grit, and 2013’s Inside Llewyn Davis, the sparkling musical trailers for Hail, Caesar! began hitting the web, and suddenly Coen fever began spreading again. However, unlike the washed-out colors and quiet dramatic quality of the former titles, Hail, Caesar! seemed to promise bright colors, outlandish musical numbers, and an unbridled sense of fun. The question I found myself asking was — would Hail, Caesar! embrace the darkly comic bizarreness of early Coen films such as Raising Arizona and The Hudsucker Proxy, or the cynical chastisement of Hollywood in Barton Fink? Well, the answer is really ‘no’ to both. The most wonderful thing about Hail, Caesar! is that it has its own new brand of Coen humor, one of PG-13 lightweight, sarcastic and playful tones, but still filled to the brim with the filmmakers’ unparalleled attention to detail and love of subtle and not-so-subtle references.
Zombie-slaying Bennet sisters worth cheering for. Zombies, not so much.
Victorian era badassery.
More influenced by 2005’s Pride & Prejudice starring Keira Knightley than the classic piece of literature by Jane Austen or the works of George A. Romero, Pride & Prejudice and Zombies,based on the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith,is a mediocre popcorn flick. It’s not as campy or cheeky as I’d had hoped, nor as serious and emotional as it could be if it avoided being the former. Despite the PG-13 rating, there’s enough genre blending jokes and tame action to make the first hour an enjoyable piece of escapism. Unfortuantely, an apparent inability to conclude the story whilst providing a non-anticlimactic finish makes the last 30 min a bore — an uninspired CGI-filled bore. Yet PPZ can be taken in its entirety as a relative success. The failings don’t take away from what most folks will expect from a sci-fi period piece romance (not sure the appropriate genre?) based on a popular piece of spoof fiction.
A loud, intense disappointment from director Michael Bay-nghazi
I have a feeling we’re not in Scranton anymore.
I’ll start with what impressed me about Michael Bay’s 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. First (yes there is more than one thing), the story follows the real life sequence of events, at least based on what is publicly known about the attack. Second, Bay still knows how to capture intensive explosive action on screen. The firefights are, indeed, very effective. Despite knowing how the events played out, the chaotic gunfire and threat of technicals kept me on the edge of my seat. But those moments come and go, and the remaining minutes of the film completely misfire on all cylinders. The dialogue, comprised of 95% stupid one-liners, is an embarrassment. The stereotyped supporting characters are cringe-worthy. And the message Bay is trying to get across is confusing. 13 Hours shows some directorial maturation from Bay, but the film fails to properly honor the real life heroes due to the same annoyances that we’ve come to expect from Bay’s everlasting churn of slightly entertaining blockbuster garbage.
The 20th Anniversary of the Berlin & Beyond Film Festival has an amazing lineup, set to entertain audiences from Jan. 14-17 at the Castro Theatre and Jan. 18-20 at the Goethe-Institut — Tickets available here. Until Thursday, we wanted to provide you with some quick highlights to check out as you’re buying tickets:
Opening night film Who Am I: No System is Safe, a hacker-heist film that draws inspiration from Fight Club, The Usual Suspects, and has no doubt inspired a lot of story elements in the Golden Globe award winning show, Mr. Robot. The young award winning star of Who Am I, Tom Schilling, will be in attendance.
