My 2017 In Movies, Part 1

Posted: December 1, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Brian A. Costello, Movie, Review | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Hi.  I saw some movies.

Split:  M. Night (don’t squeeze the)Shyamalan verrrry sneakily goes back to the well and successfully brings about his own career resurgence.  You probably know why by now, but in case you don’t, I’ll spoil it for you- turns out this movie is a sequel-of-sorts to Unbreakable (his best movie to date, if you asked me my opinion, which you didn’t.  Then again, you’re here, so you kinda did…).  But it’s not really a sequel until literally the absolute last shot of the movie, so let’s not dwell.  Especially since the movie we get before that reveal is really great on its own.

So, James McAvoy is a man with multiple personalities that abducts three young women.  The strongest… four (?) of these personalities manifest themselves at different times during the film, adding to the mental trauma of our captives, who, in turn, have their own strong personality differences that keep them from figuring out just what to do.  But survivor-girl has a traumatic past that may just give her an edge over McAvoy and the threat of a yet-unseen, murderous, monstrous personality that is on its way.  Also, Betty Buckley plays his shrink.

McAvoy is absolutely fantastic.  He’s usually great when playing just one role, and in this he gets to play several.  And they’re all so completely specific.  Split is proof that this guy is an actor’s actor, and while he’s been working pretty steadily for the past decade or so, I really hope he can leave the mediocre X-Men movies behind and get back to more substantial stuff like this.

Anyway, Split is great.  See it.

John Wick: Chapter 2: Hey, more highly stylized, supercrazy merc action featuring many, many fatal head wounds!  Yeah, I’m down with this whole John Wick thing and I hope they make it a trilogy.  That said, this one was slightly less fun than its predecessor… maybe because since it was a sequel it wasn’t as fresh and original?  Whatever.  Doesn’t matter.  It’s still about an underground-yet-in-plain-sight society of people killing other people quickly and brutally.  Keanu is clearly still having a blast, and that’s really all I need.  If you haven’t seen John Wick (the first one), do so, posthaste.  If you have but you skipped this one… well, you’re probably OK, if I’m being honest… but why wouldn’t you give this one a go?  It’s not like it’s asking you to postulate on the interspatial implications of thermodynamic equilibrium.  It’s just guns and punching and cars and stuff.

(uh… are the interspatial implications of thermodynamic equilibrium something one can postulate on?  Because, clearly, I pulled that one out of my butt.)

(Why, yes, my butt is where I store big words.  SO?)

The Great Wall:  Uh…lots of controversy surrounding this one, mostly of the “another movie where a white guy saves a non-white country” variety.  Turns out that’s not at all what happens.  I know this because I actually saw the movie.  And while it is told through Matt Damon’s character’s point of view, it’s so much more about the far-superior heroism of these Chinese warriors at the wall.

But none of that matters, really, because this movie is fucking dumb.

Uhhh… The end.

No, seriously, The Great Wall exists so that you can see color-specific costumed warriors going about their color-specific battle duties on top of a CGI recreation of the Great Wall of China.  Example: the blue warriors attach their feet to bungie cords and jump down into the fray so they can maybe spear an enemy or two before they get horribly mauled to death by five more baddies.  Which is completely counterintuitive- throw the damned spear from the top of the wall and maybe save a life or two instead of using a seriously convoluted method where your blue-clad ladies awkwardly bounce twenty feet below in the middle of a raging sea of razor-clawed dragon lizards.  I mean, hell- you’ve got the red-clad archers firing away already, so… oh.  Sorry.  I forgot to mention something important…

They’re not fighting Mongols.  They’re fighting giant, dragon-esque lizard creatures.  You see, these lizard creatures are sort of like locusts in that every sixty years, hordes of them come running towards the wall because there needed to be some kind of simplistic fantasy plot for this movie because I guess someone thought dragon lizards were supercool and wouldn’t it be neat if humans clad in basic vibrant colors so everyone remembers their job I guess were to fight the monsters because fantasy is so hot right now and why am I even still typing I need a drink oh god what is reality anymore and does anyone else hear the screaming or is it just in my head oh god please someone stop the screaming STOP THE SCREAMING.

Get Out:  Jordan Peele delivers a 100-minute, completely original, racially charged, reality-bending thriller that would make Rod Serling blush.  I don’t really want to say any more, in case anyone reading this hasn’t seen it (and hasn’t heard any specifics) yet.  Just know that I can’t imagine a world in which anyone watching this would be disappointed.  I’ll have to think about it a bit (and there’s still more flicks to see), but it may just be the best movie of the year.

Logan:  FINALLY.  Finally, someone let Wolverine off his leash.  I thought The Wolverine was pretty great, but it still had that “20th Century FOX superhero” sheen to it (I wrote abut it a few years back somewhere in THIS post).  This movie, though… this movie pulls out the stopper.  Opens the floodgates.  Takes off the training wheels?  No, wait… goes into berserker mode.  Whatever.  I’m off track.

I guess the future setting allowed them to do whatever they wanted, since nothing that happens in this movie could have an effect on their precious X-Man continu… it… y.  Pfff.  Too late to think about such things, FOX.  We’ve seen all those movies.  Where was I?  Right- the future.  It’s the future and old man Wolverine is living a boring life as a caretaker to the only guy who ever truly believed in him- Professor Jean-Luc Picard Xavier.  The Professor is going senile and needs medication to keep his seizures in check so he doesn’t kill everyone around him with his brain.  But Logan, who, incidentally, doesn’t quite insta-heal like he used to, crosses paths with a new mutant, smuggled out of the facility where she was created (mutants aren’t born anymore and are basically going extinct), and she, Wolvie, and Jean-Luc flee towards a (possibly fictional) mutant safe-zone while being hunted by some baddies as they trek (heh) across the country.

And what we get is an uncomfortable, brutal, and at times profound movie about generations, age, aging, fatherhood, sonhood (?), responsibility, and redemption, that, in its storytelling, isn’t afraid to get its hands dirty.  And bloody.  At times it’s similar to Unforgiven.  Other times, it reminded me of something like A Perfect World.  Part road-movie, part western, I guess.  But all great.  And in the end, it’s a perfect send-off to the role that made Hugh Jackman’s career (and, arguably, shackled him ever-so-slightly).  As far as I know he’s now done playing Wolverine, and as much as he totally owned it over the past 17 years (ho. ly. SHIT.), I’m glad he’s gone out on a film where they finally found the perfect balance between sarcasm, anger, kindness, and pathos that this character has always been about.

And, bonus!- if you only have a cursory knowledge of Wolverine (et al.) and/or have only seen a few (or none) of the other X-Movies, this one is self-contained enough for you to still enjoy.  So, enjoy!

Kong: Skull Island: “It’s OK.  Good monster fights.  Mostly lame characters.  Bad music cue decisions.  Gorgeous visuals.  Really great title character.”

(Click HERE for more.)

T2 Trainspotting: Pleasantly surprised by this movie.  And I shouldn’t have been- I should have just trusted Danny Boyle to not just lazily rehash what we’d seen before, but hey, like the characters in T2, I’m in my 40s and am naturally cynical due to the ever-creeping specter of anxiety/depression and an obligatory sense of my own mortality.

And I think maybe that’s the best way to describe T2 Trainspotting.  Those optimistic, fearless, piss-and-vinegar twentysomethings have grown up and are each dealing with their own mid-life crises.  When they get back together, all of their shared unfinished business comes out and nostalgia (for lack of a better term) gives them a quick jolt of youth, but it’s fleeting.  They still need to come to terms with who they are now.

And this is masterfully represented in the film’s direction, pacing, story, cinematography, soundtrack… literally every aspect that made the original Trainspotting such a product of mid-90s twentysomething optimism has been tweaked for mid-10s fortysomething decline.  It’s uncomfortable and it’s off-putting.  It’s pretty great.

Side note- I’m writing this brief T2 thing upon returning from a specialist who has diagnosed my sudden, intense phantom throat pain as a combination of years of reflux damage, unchecked TMJ, and horrible, horrible snoring.  BECAUSE, AGING.  Yeah, this movie hits home, hard.  All you twentysomethings out there- be afraid.  Be very afraid.

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2: Yeah… couldn’t leave you with that last sentence, so let’s end this first part on a positive.  Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 is wonderful.  Funny, irreverent, cute as hell, full of heart, packed to the gills with great music… it’s a grand old time.  Don’t listen to the people calling this movie “derivative”- just because they saved the day in GOTG doesn’t mean they’re all suddenly new characters that don’t fall back on their bad habits and personalities.  Don’t listen to the people who call this movie “hollow”- those same people complain that the Marvel movies have become “too serious.”  Don’t listen to the people calling this movie “obvious”- guaranteed, they’re complaining about the convoluted plots of other comic book flicks.  Some people are just too cool for school.

But I’m not.  A sentient baby tree that dances around to ELO while a violent monster battle rages, out of focus, in the background?  I’ll take it.  A wisecracking, humanesque weaponsmith raccoon bonding with an angry blue-skinned outcast mercenary with a heart of gold?  Yeah, I’m down.  A tattooed hunk of man-meat repeatedly insulting a lovable bug-woman through an utter lack of self-awareness?  More, please.  Is the plot a little thin?  Yeah, sure.  Is the father(s)-son conflict a little muddy right up until the moment they smack you in the face with it?  Yup.  Is the general concept of family one step over the conspicuous line?  Two steps, and yes.  Does that mean the movie isn’t a joy to watch?  Fuck no.  I am Groot.

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Stay tuned…

(Part 2 HERE, Part 3 HERE, Part 4 HERE.)

2013 Midterms, Part 2: May The Force Live Long And Prosper.

Posted: July 8, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Brian A. Costello, Movie, Opinion, Man., Review | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Click HERE for Part 1.

Moving right along…

…I think there’s a pseudo-review buried somewhere in the ramblings below. Happy Hunting.

Star Trek Into Darkness (or, Star Wars Episode VI 1/2: Vengeance Of The Khan):

Here’s where I stand on the whole Star Trek thing: I love it. I’m talking the original series and its six movies. I don’t really have much in the way of nice things to say about the “Next Generation” shows (or “Enterprise”) beyond “there were a couple of really good episodes and a passable movie or two,” so I’m definitely not going to dwell on any of that. But, yes, I love Kirk, Spock, Bones, and the whole original Star Trek thing. I’m definitely not a Trekkie (or Trekker, or whatever nickname the hardcore fans feel the need to label themselves with). My gateway drug came in 1982 with Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (or, more specifically, whenever it ended up on Showtime/HBO). I mean, I already knew the basic mythos through osmosis- Kirk was the brave maverick ladykiller, Spock was the logical one, McCoy was emotional, Scotty was, uh… Scottish… but it was Wrath Of Khan that got me watching everything else. And, full disclosure here, I haven’t even seen all of the original episodes. I own them all (those remastered HD Blu-Rays are really, really great, you guys), and I pop them in every once in a while, so someday I will have seen them, but there are a small handful that I’ve missed. And I’m cool with that. If I was even half as obsessive about consuming (and re-consuming) all things Trek as some people are, I’d have grown tired of it years ago.

OK. So.

Star Trek Into Darkness is not a great Star Trek movie, considering the decades-spanning quality of the source material. But I had a friggin’ blast.

Random thought/tangent: A director is given all the pieces of a puzzle and it’s his job to put it together. But he doesn’t always create the pieces. Independent films often have the luxury of having the director wear many hats- producer, writer, editor, sometimes actor… but on a big Hollywood blowout like this, somebody “famous” like J. J. Abrams is basically a glorified hired gun. A big studio basically says, “come in and make something great out of the tools we’re giving you.” Problem is, sometimes, mixed in with the pneumatic screwdriver, the variable speed orbital sanders, the heavy-duty Milwaukee Sawzalls, and the Titan Powrliner 850 Airless Spray Painters is a plain old ball peen hammer. But there’s no time to go out and buy a DeWalt nail gun, as you need to get this deck built by 5PM. And, hey, a hammer still works… it just doesn’t get the job done with style. Writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are that hammer. And, given the amount of work Double-J is doing these days, squeezing him in for a second go-around on this new franchise means getting down on his hands and knees and pounding that nail. It also means the Spray Painter is going to get some serious overtime to make some of those bent, off-center nails look as good as possible.

Yeah, uh… I got a little off track there. But you get what I’m trying to say, right?*

So, the movie- it’s fun. I still like all of these newbies’ takes on their characters (Sulu, Chekov, and even Bones are a little underused, but they’re all great). I liked the idea that this Federation, because of the events of the first 10 minutes of Trek 2009, has to struggle to be the peaceful organization of the days of yore. I liked the retooling of Season 1’s Space Seed, in the context of what I just mentioned, of course, but also in the context of modern-day world issues like terrorism and the fallout caused by nouveau-empire-building. I liked Benedict Cumberbatch’s Khan (yes, that’s at least partly due to my Cumberbatch man-crush). I liked the pacing. I liked the FX. I liked the spectacle of it all.

I didn’t like the writing… but you knew that already. Literally all of the things I mentioned in that last paragraph I liked because I recognized the basic ideas Orci & Kurtzman tried, albeit ham-handedly, to present to us. I didn’t like the opening sequence (too much emphasis on “cute,” not enough (if any) emphasis on logical storytelling. (Why did Kirk steal a scroll from the natives? Because it initiated a movie-opening chase sequence, dummy!)). I didn’t like that, when all was said and done, this was another origin story. I didn’t like Alice Eve. I didn’t like the obligatory Nimoy cameo (although, I’ve been told that in a crowded theater that was a more electric moment) I’ve never jumped on the “JJ Lens Flare” hate bandwagon, but I definitely didn’t like that his response to everyone else doing so was to triple his use of them here.

OK, it’s time to mention Star Wars.

I’ve never subscribed to the idea that you are either a Star Trek person or a Star Wars person. I have lived most of my life as a fan of both, through both the peaks and the gungans valleys. Just because both have spaceships shooting energy weapons doesn’t mean they’re in the same ballpark. That would be like saying Home Alone and Pan’s Labyrinth are cinematic equivalents because they both feature a child protagonist. The biggest difference between the two, on a very (very) basic level, is that Star Trek deals heavily with the science part of sci-fi, while Star Wars leans more heavily on the fiction part. If Kirk & Co. are trying to figure out how to heal this creature they found in a cave, Spock is going to explain why normal medicine isn’t going to work because the creature is a silicone-based life form. In Star Wars, a freezing, injured, dying-from-exposure Luke Skywalker can just be thrown into a tank with tubes coming out of him and we understand that’s just how healing gets done. In Star Trek you may get an explanation on how phasers work in order to to set up why one needs to be recalibrated (for plot purposes, or something). In Star Wars, blasters work because they’re guns, and we know what guns do (no one ever had to explain how Josey Wales’ Colt Walker 1847 worked…). In Star Trek, Khan will almost defeat you with the aid of mental and physical prowess. In Star Wars, Darth Vader will almost defeat you with the aid of mysticism and faith.

So… why do I bring this up? Because Star Trek Into Darkness is really a Star Wars movie in a United Federation Of Planets uniform. Sure, it references past Trek glories and occasionally uses pseudo-science to explain things, but those explanations take a back seat to spectacle, emotion, and plot momentum. And for some, namely the hardcore Trek peeps, that’s like eating pudding with thumbtacks in it. But it ain’t the first time a beloved franchise (god, I HATE that I just used that word…) has blurred its well-established, very bold line between science and fiction. I refer you to The Phantom Menace and the dumbassery that was midichlorians (god, I hate that I just used THAT word…). If you’re an angry, hardcore Trekker, hell-bent on shaming the world for daring to enjoy this year’s Trek-Lite, now you know how the angry, hardcore Star Wars Heads felt in 1999. So, let’s let the two cancel each other out and move on with our lives, yeah?**

Oh, I also bring it up because it means that with J.J. at the helm, we might actually get a decent Star Wars movie in 2015. Star Trek 2009 and, even moreso, Star Trek Into Darkness feel, to me, a lot like Abrams dipping his toe in the thematic waters of a galaxy far, far away.

Anyway, despite the fact that Star Trek Into Darkness was a big, loud, ADD summer movie, more Star Trek in name than in execution, I’m good with it. We will always have the original series & the original movies, and we can go back and revel in their greatness whenever we want. But when we want, on occasion, to consume the junk food version, brimming with both obscure and blatant “wink-wink” references, unearned partial nudity, big explosions & fisticuffs, and not-so-scientific science, we have 2009’s Star Trek and 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness. As a person who still enjoys McDonald’s about once a month, I can get behind that.

STID

*I need to make this clear- I’m not suggesting J. J. Abrams is some kind of major visionary and deserves your undying love. Far from it. If he were more of an artist he’d probably have the time to demand a better script… or even have the basic understanding that he needed one.

**Angry, hardcore Star Trek enthusiasts & angry, hardcore Star Wars fanatics- I love and respect your passion. Seriously. I just don’t dig your attitude sometimes.

Part 3 HERE.