Tag Archives: Film Review

Review: Ghostbusters (2016)

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I never lived in a world without Ghostbusters. The original film was #1 at the box office the day I was born (although my parents decided to see Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom that day), and it and its sequel have been movie viewing constants all my life. I yearned for a sequel for years and years, only to be disappointed when it finally became clear that that was never going to happen. Instead we were given a remake with an all-female cast, which unfortunately still brings out the worst in a certain segment of the population who can’t stand to see women in positions where they feel only men should reside. The result is both an important milestone for women in cinema, a big-budget, sci-fi, action comedy based on a beloved franchise resting solely on the backs of four talented women, and the internet firestorm that’s come to surround the film shouldn’t detract from the fact that it’s nevertheless shattered some glass ceilings. But the question of the film still remains, whether it can both hold up on its own and live up to the legacy that goes along with the name. Could it ever be as funny as the classic from 1984? Well, the answer to the second question is no, it’s frankly not as funny. But better than funny, it gives us deeper characters, more exciting action, and a more interesting world than we’ve ever seen under the Ghostbusters banner. It might not be the non-stop laugh riot we might have hoped, though it is still frequently hilarious, but it just might be a better all-around film.

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Review: Money Monster

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It’s impossible to watch Money Monster and not be reminded of Dog Day Afternoon. That 1975 masterpiece by Sidney Lumet starring Al Pacino, which told the story of a pair of hapless bank robbers turned into anti-establishment heroes must have been in the back of the minds of those behind Money Monster, which takes many of Dog Day Afternoon’s emotions and updates them for our modern age even while serving up a more exciting and altogether different story. Though Money Monster follows in strong cinematic footsteps, with an excellent cast and solid directing from Jodie Foster, it occasionally struggles to strike a consistent tone and is at times let down by its script, especially in its final act. Still, Money Monster is an energetic film that strikes at emotions shared by many, anchored by its charming and attractive stars and held up by its brisk pace. It may not be as biting, powerful, or moving as it potentially could have been, but it’s still a solid, entertaining experience.

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Review: Eye in the Sky

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Most films that aim to be as topical as Eye in the Sky tend to be boring slogs, more concerned with hitting each hot-button issue or pulling the right strings than with telling a compelling story. Eye in the Sky, however, manages to do both. It’s a white-knuckle suspenseful tale of a mission to apprehend potential terrorists in Kenya while also managing to bring depth and subtlety to the debate about drone-based warfare. In many ways the film is a cinematic version of the Trolley Problem, the famous thought experiment that is a favorite in Intro to Psychology classes and occasionally makes appearances onscreen, and where another film about the drone war might come down definitively on one or the other side of the debate, director Gavin Hood has instead crafted a story complex enough to not offer any simple answers yet simple enough to foster a healthy debate. And while Eye in the Sky does an excellent job of showing just how muddy the waters are when it comes to drone strikes, in the end the audience is likely to see in the film a reflection of their own beliefs, whatever they may be, but regardless of your feelings you should come out of the film with something more to think about.

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Review: 10 Cloverfield Lane

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10 Cloverfield Lane is a movie that no one saw coming. It’s been 8 years since Cloverfield was released, and while there might have been some clamoring for a sequel at the time it mostly died out a long time ago. Producer J.J. Abrams moved on to other things, including Super 8, the Star Trek reboot, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. And while I mostly enjoyed Cloverfield, I liked it more for its boldness the scope it brought to the found footage genre (and it’s shocking trailer) than for the film itself, so the idea of another film in the series never held much interest to me. But despite all of that, here we are with 10 Cloverfield Lane, not exactly a sequel but a “blood relative” to the original monster movie, surprisingly announced only two months ago and which could not be more different both from its predecessor and the bulk of other offerings from Hollywood today. It’s a tight, intense little film that constantly keeps you guessing, both frightening and empowering, anchored by some fantastic performances, bringing a surprising amount of emotion to what is otherwise a thriller. It’s a memorable spinoff to a largely forgettable film which it manages to surpass in every way, and which may have already delivered one of 2016’s best cinematic experiences.

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Review: Hail, Caesar!

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The Coen Brothers mainly make two distinctive types of films. On the one hand, many of their films fall into the category of quirky comedies, such as Raising Arizona or O Brother, Where Art Thou?. On the other hand, they’ve also dabbled in more serious, yet still unique, dramas like No Country for Old Men and True Grit. Hail, Caesar!, a farcical romp through a 1950s Hollywood studio, falls squarely into the first category, and as such is the funniest film the Coen Brothers have made in years, particularly for classic film fans. It’s a return to form for the writing/directing pair, combining an all-star cast with a distinct storytelling style and comedy that demands a fair amount from viewers in able to fully appreciate it. The end result is a film that feels different from anything we’ve seen onscreen lately and is bound to please any fans of the Coens or of the golden age of Hollywood.

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Review: The Finest Hours

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The Finest Hours is decidedly old-fashioned. In many ways it takes its storytelling style from the time period in which the film is set, giving us pacing, characters, and performances which feel like they belong back in the early 1950s as if the film itself could have been showing in a theatre in snowy Chatham, Massachusetts on that fateful day in February of 1952. This old-fashioned approach will probably be enough to keep most viewers away, but to me it’s the film’s greatest strength. The film tells a heroic story in an understated way, perfectly matching the modesty of the historic figures involved. That along with a solid cast who really fit with the feel of the time period, some impressive visual effects, and a steady storytelling hand combine to make The Finest Hours a far better and more engaging film than it has any right to be.

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France on Film Blogathon: Le Pacte des loups (Brotherhood of the Wolf)

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This post is a part of the France on Film Blogathon, hosted by Serendipitous Anachronisms. Day 1 focuses on French cinema, while day 2 will cover France as a film subject.

I can probably count on my two hands the number of French films I’ve seen. I’m in no way an expert on French cinema, despite having a great appreciation for it. I’ve been to France twice, but only as a tourist. I don’t speak the language, and while I know more than the average American about French history I’m sure my knowledge pales in comparison to the average European. Basically, I have no authority to speak with any certainty on French culture, history, or cinema, with one exception: one of my all-time favorite films is French. Le Pacte des loups (in English: Brotherhood of the Wolf), is a bizarre, unique mash-up of period drama, monster movie, and martial arts action film, but it’s also intense, emotional, funny, sexy, and simply gorgeous to look at. And, above all, it feels like the sort of film that could only have been made in France.

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Review: The Good Dinosaur

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The Good Dinosaur had a rough journey to the big screen. Its release date was pushed back twice, and at some point in its production it was reimagined and rewritten, with an entirely new cast as well as a new director and producer. But even worse than that, it has the misfortune of having been released in the same year as Pixar’s brilliantly creative and original Inside Out. By comparison, any film would feel dull and ordinary, and The Good Dinosaur is doomed to live in Inside Out’s shadow. But while The Good Dinosaur may be simple or even predictable when held up next to Pixar’s other work this year, it remains an excellent film in its own right. It’s a solid, classic coming-of-age story, with a fun twist, all wrapped in the kind of emotional storytelling and gorgeous filmmaking that Pixar does best.

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Review: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2

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mockingjay_part_2_posterMockingjay, the final book in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy, always felt unfilmable to me. It broke drastically from the formula of the previous books, with no true Hunger Games as a part of the plot, covering instead a vast, complex revolution through the eyes of a damaged, broken, hopeless teenager. It was epic in scale yet filled with intimate, intense, but often internal emotions. It required basically reintroducing the audience to the universe, now filled with entirely different situations and concerns than of which we were aware in the first two books. And to cap it all off, it was one of the most dark, tragic, violent, and depressing finales to a beloved sci-fi series in recent memory. So the fact that The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 not only works as a cohesive narrative, but is about as good a film version of an unfilmable book as possible, is praiseworthy, even if it struggles at times under the weight of its own story as well as immense expectations.

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Review: Spectre

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Bond is back once again for his 24th film, with the unenviable task of following the most successful entry in the 50 year old film series. Skyfall was a hit in every measurable way, and it helped in many ways to finish Daniel Craig’s three film James Bond origin story that began with 2006’s Casino Royale. It introduced Moneypenny, Q, and gave us a new M, all while answering the question of whether the world still needs James Bond at all. The latest film, Spectre, piggybacks off this partial reboot, giving us the first Bond film of the Daniel Craig era that actually feels like a “James Bond movie,” while still bringing some new twists to the tale. Spectre is a film filled with ties to the past, whether Bond’s personal history, the storylines that began with Casino Royale, or the legacy of the franchise itself, but it also has an eye to the future of both the character and the series.

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