Christoph Waltz – Spinning Platters

Film Review: “Dracula”

A style-over-substance vampiric jaunt through the ages

Dracula (Caleb Landry Jones) strolls through revelers in ‘Dracula.’

From Tod Browning to Francis Ford Coppola, Werner Herzog and Robert Eggers to Mel Brooks, and many in between, filmmakers love to put their stamp on Bram Stoker’s Dracula and/or its German offspring, Nosferatu. It seems that just about every year the Dracula story gets reimagined. Step up to the plate, writer/director Luc Besson (Léon, The Fifth Element, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets). Besson imprints the traditional Dracula story with his trademark strangeness, choosing to emphasize both humor and gothic romanticism while filling the frame with strong production design. Though this new Dracula is far from dull, and even features a few standout performances, the film’s erratic style and tonality keep the final product from reaching the emotional and cinematic heights of its most memorable predecessors. Continue reading “Film Review: “Dracula””

Film Review: “Frankenstein”

A thematically rich but visually mixed adaptation

Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) looks upon his creation in ‘Frankenstein.’

Director Guillermo Del Toro has been waiting to adapt Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (that’s the full book title) ever since he saw the 1931 film Frankenstein at age eleven. His aspiration should come as no surprise to those familiar with his work — the gothic aesthetic and creature designs in his films have become synonymous with his name, like in Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, and The Shape of Water. Del Toro has finally made his version of Frankenstein, produced and distributed by Netflix. The streaming company’s involvement may or may not have contributed to the film’s decision to include computer-generated (CG) animals, and imbue many of the film’s scenes with what I can only describe as a distracting “Netflix sheen.” The director’s devotion to the source text is commendable and gives the film a deeper emotional and philosophical resonance, even if the end result may baffle viewers unfamiliar with Shelley’s book. Continue reading “Film Review: “Frankenstein””

Film Review: “The French Dispatch”

Anderson’s French Dispatch is precious and pretty, with an emotional punch

Fox Searchlight has finally released Wes Anderson’s very long-awaited new film The French Dispatch, and this sentence pretty much sums it up: “Leutenant Nescaffier is emphatically celebrated among cooks, cops and capitaines, not to mention swindlers, stoolies and snitches, as the great exemplar of police cooking.”

If that sentence – with its very sneaky verb, its obviously overbalanced serial commas, its all too visible use of French terms, and finally, its curious “police cooking”- makes you smile, laugh, giggle, catch your breath, or even tingle, then this is your film. If not, then there’s nothing I, or this review, can do for you.

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Film Review: Downsizing

Having your tiny cake and eating it, too

Matt Damon (l.) plays Paul Safranek and Jason Sudeikis plays Dave Johnson in Downsizing from Paramount Pictures.

“Going small” is not a goal often associated with the dreams of mainstream America, but what if going small meant maintaining a lavish, upper middle-class, suburban lifestyle with all the trimmings? This deceptively simple idea underlies Downsizing, Alexander Payne’s newest film, starring Matt Damon, Hong Chau, and Christoph Waltz. The film presents enough imagination and asks enough questions to launch a series, but it never figures out what it’s trying to say.

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Film Review: The Legend of Tarzan

Tarzan comes out swinging, but just barely misses.

Tarzan of the Apes, written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first appeared in the pulp magazine All-Story Magazine in 1912. Since then, Tarzan has been the title character of numerous novels, TV series, film adaptations, and more. It’s an old and valuable property, hence the ® symbol noticeably visible on the opening title credit. Now there’s a new Tarzan feature film, not surprisingly called The Legend of Tarzan since at this juncture there’s enough in the Tarzan mythos to argue a “legend” has been well-established. Unfortunately, the new film can’t avoid the blatant traditional racial tropes that were overwhelmingly present in Burroughs’ creation — after all, Tarzan, the hero who frees slaves and shifts the political and cultural course of central Africa towards the greater good, is a white man. Racial issues aside, there are still some emotional and visual pitfalls that the exciting action and stunning vistas can’t make up for. What does work about The Legend of Tarzan, in addition to a better-than-expected script, is a testament to the solid direction of David Yates (who directed the final four Harry Potter films).

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Film Review: Spectre

Bland, James Bland

Bond, like us, is waiting for some excitement.

I’m a Quantum of Solace defender. I think that film, which was Daniel Craig’s second as James Bond, gets better after repeat viewings and was highly underrated when it came out, and still is today. And so maybe you can take extra caution that even I, a Quantum of Solace supporter, think that Spectre falls short of the previous 3 Bond films. Don’t worry, it’s still better than Die Another Day. Spectre relies heavily on plot points from the previous three films, trying to tie all loose-ends together that didn’t need any tying. The movie also feels like a 150 min homage to classic Bond tropes—and it gets tiring when there’s no real purpose except to wink at the audience. It’s a pity so much talent and hype got mismanaged. It may be a pretty film, and distractingly thrilling during its handful of ridiculous action sequences, but its otherwise aimless, oddly unfulfilling if not dull, and ultimately less rewarding than superior actioners like Mi5: Rogue Nation, The Dark Knight and even Skyfall (all from which Spectre seems to be borrowing…or copying).

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Film Review: Horrible Bosses 2

A solid second ride thanks to great chemistry

Buddies Nick, Kurt, and Dale show off their new shower buddy.

From the co-writers of Dumb and Dumber To, the disappointing comedy sequel, comes Horrible Bosses 2, the slightly-less disappointing and still quite funny comedy sequel. Yes, we know that comedy sequels rarely work since the humor isn’t as fresh and the jokes are often forced. Horrible Bosses 2 is definitely not as funny as the original 2011 hit which took the dark fantasies of all white collar workers and spun them into a hilarious story of three down-and-out losers trying to kill their horrible bosses. But, HB2 still has plenty of great moments, primarily due to the chemistry between the three leads, and will likely entertain any fan of the first film (like myself) and coerce a few belly laughs from newcomers. But there’s no denying that considering the incredible cast of the new film, the film could’ve reached even greater comedic heights.

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Film Review: Epic

Naming a film Epic is asking for a lot, especially when it’s based on a children’s book of a different and less demanding title, “The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs” by William Joyce. Mirriam-Webster defines ‘epic’ as “extending beyond the usual or ordinary especially in size or scope.” To focus Epic on inherently small things, like insects and miniature people in a world of forest trees and underground hives, is a problem in of itself. Sure, things may look “epic” from the characters’ point of view, but from the perspective of a human being in the audience, not so much. Luckily the visuals do look epic, they just don’t feel that way. This is due in part because of the relatively banal storyline and uninspired character design for the protagonists. It’s still a very playful film with just enough depth to satisfy adults, but as it tries to balance emotion and a tone oriented toward small children, it falls short.

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