Liam Neeson narrates the bookended tales capping either side of this second Snow White.
The prologue finds the young Wicked Queen, Charlize Theron, gaining power and turning her little sister Emily Blunt to the dark side with a trauma that freezes her heart.
Blunt as Ice Queen builds an army of kidnapped child soldiers in order to rid the world of love. Sadly for her, even the most highly trained automatons cannot erase emotional pangs, especially when Chris Hemsworth enters the room. If he liked a duck, it would probably develop a serious crush. So, Thor’s blonde tendrils woo even the stoic fighter Jessica Chastain as he waltzes through with his band of merry men hoping to save the world for love.
The special effects scenes worked, perhaps because they included A-list actors in leather fighting each other: battle blades and arrows versus witching forces wielding weapons of ice, blood, fire and gold dust. This film felt a lot like the show Once Upon a Time in a tuneless Frozen recap minus the charming snowman and sisterly affection.
Can “true love conquer all?” Only if bad Scottish accents and too many poor attempts at comic relief don’t get in the way.
The heart was right. But the execution…abrupt and ill-conceived.
The actors, however, proved themselves professionals. Mary Elizabeth Winstead (best as Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim) and John Gallagher Jr. (from the beloved short-lived HBO series Newsroom and the perfect indie Short Term 12) cared that their roles were believable and strong. John Goodman obviously enjoyed playing the crazy bunker-builder. They seemed eager participants in what felt like an experimental suck-up film, each shot an attempted homage to JJ or Spielberg. But even that would have been nice had this not felt more akin to Shayamalan’s more recent tragedies.
It all felt forced, and left too many unsolved mysteries about the characters themselves: like the unsolved main issue of Michelle’s backstory and serious relationship on the rocks. Any real details about her Emmett in the hatch, oh sorry the bomb shelter. Man, good thing they barely had to redecorate the Lost set after Desmond set the place up. Aren’t they supposed to be hitting a button every 108 minutes?
If you wait for breadcrumbs to lead you to truth in this one, you’ll go hungry. They mean nothing in the end. (Wait. Maybe this IS another Lost finale.)
I don’t know. Maybe people don’t go to the movies to think. Maybe I’m alone in blaming sloppy writing / directing. Sure JJ may have paid for it, but his MO is to support up-and-comers. He’s walking in the footsteps of his mentor Steven (Spielberg) and helping the fledgling directors take wing. Unfortunately, this Icharus not only flies too close to the sun, he flies into it inviting strangers from outerspace back with him to take over our planet. After this film, you’ll wonder which is worse: crazies on earth or crude angry aliens.
Don’t believe everything you read. Go see it for yourself. Just know what to expect, and maybe you too will be surprised to find yourself enjoying another hero flick that humanizes the super and normalizes the surreal making us all feel a little closer to cape-clutching hero status.
Tom Hardy’s Max, the namesake, dealing with grief and demons of his own past, is the accidental tourist “bloodbag” as he is called in this the 4th in a series of Max films by the same director, George Miller. Max is along for the ride of his life until he escapes in a torrent of cyclones, teams up, grows a heart, and finds a cause to chase on his own path to redemption.
Every award well deserved, it’s a stunning, explosive, daring, brutal, artistic, masterpiece. Strangely beautiful in sweeping desert scapes and an unforgettable storm sequence. (But feel free to look away during the scene with the baby. You’ll know when it’s coming. Don’t watch. There is enough dust and chaos in this death race to more than compensate for a few moments of eye-shutting.)
Cinematographer, John Seale, connects to audience eye movement, drawing them shot for shot from one frame to another maintaining visual consistency. This concept is explained beautifully in this slightly crass but vivid and informative video called 
Somehow the plot is not lost in the action nor is the fight for justice, morality, and human dignity lost in the tumult.
Until now, the blonde Bond has never cracked a smile, but what’s this? Could his Grinch heart have grown three sizes? Perhaps three to accommodate his number of female conquests per show. He’s still Bond…like a traveling salesman with a woman at ever port. Always the wanderer with a savior complex.
Ever suave, adjusting cuff links, ever walking calmly away from burning buildings and exploding cars, shoulders first like an underwear model mid-photoshoot. His pristinely pressed and combed remains unscathed, and yet, the assassin Bond has perhaps grown a conscience about his occupation. His sins and the faces of those he hunted and killed haunt him more now. Therefore the inner conflict of this film seemed to be Bond’s choice: when to pull the trigger or more so when not to. The audience gets the view from the scope many times thanks to director Sam Mendes. Don’t assume that Bond doesn’t still leave a massive body count in his wake, but somehow now he cares and needs to prove that mercy can triumph over justice sometimes and that killing isn’t always the answer. New leaf for a Bond film. For any film, actually. This one plays out more like a Mission Impossible or Borne film with a host of action scenes and stunts as our man lifts off from one helicopter to the next, half smiling and saluting, ready to take one more fist to the face to save the world. Yet amidst the action and excitement, it posits the moral quandary making each life valuable. 
Still rather violent, but comparatively less blood than we’ve seen in the past. So many nods to classic Bonds, this one played more like Sean Connery’s Dr. No in certain scenes. Ralph Fiennes brings such perfect contrast in his role as the savvy and sorrowful new M. You feel his helplessness, and yet you trust that he has a trick up his sleeve. Christoph Waltz brings a quiet sophistication with his broad grin and brilliant bad guy persona. Sadly, his case is just a little too easily solved, this conflict easily taken care of. Holes in the plot seem to matter less than if the suit has been properly laundered. So relax. All is proper. All is lovely. All is calm and bright and classically shaken not stirred in Bond’s world.
The nods to the Star Wars canon of films and universe lore were extensive. They allowed family and friends to participate on set in small ways and asked the old gang of concept artists to get back together to dream for VII.
So the CGI worked, as it appropriately nodded to George Lucas and ILM’s life works but didn’t go overboard. Most CG characters were meant to be despised. The likable oracle however, Maz Knata, with her all-seeing tiny eyes, had Han’s approval and therefore ours. He nods, we nod. He falls, we fall. We may have seen it coming, but it’s still a shock, no matter how poetic it was.
The power of the force was treated exactly like I’ve seen addiction. Ben Solo, now Kylo Ren, craves it, seeks it, cherishes it, blocks out all others. He’s addicted, swallowed by it. His father wants to rescue him at all costs. Han’s fatherly love is beautiful and sacrificial. Perfect.
We also rejoice and applaud vigorously in theaters along with the new characters as they too rediscover old favorite characters, ships, weapons, and the mysteries of the force. My friend, Dusten (pictured below dressed as Kylo Ren for opening night, followed by his daughters in festive array. They are the best!) said that he loved how the three new characters were given Luke’s characteristics. It’s true, equal parts insecure orphan, trooper uniformed rescuer, and stellar pilot.
Fin, played by John Boyega, according to the exposition is basically one of Invisible Children’s rescues. He has his Jack from Lost’s savior complex in tact, and he’s reluctant enough to drop into any scenario with our support. We want him to win forever.
War inevitably results in collateral damage. Legs, arms, minds, whole lives forfeited while the opposition resets and plans next moves. Desperate times force characters to choose allegiances, values, alliances. Gamemakers reset within the city walls. None are safe. The victor hero and spokesperson, Katniss Everdeen, remains the ugly-crying face of the rebellion carrying her personal vendetta against President Snow up the steps of the Capitol. Leading rebels in civil war proves more difficult post Peeta’s mind meld with Snow. Battle rages. Mine fields are set. With every step, detonation or success?
No more showstopping costumes aflame, no more fake romance drama and lies, no more appeasing the Capitol viewers in the old ways. Or so they think. All is televised, all is heresay and henchmen. Faceless guards rack up the body count while Districts unite to attack one final time.
It’s all difficult to watch. I struggle through war films, question everything. I wonder, when do we audience members become like the Capitol? When does a well made film turn viewer into voyeur?
Katniss defends. She has killed, but is she a killer? Motives muddle. Pressure mounts and armies assemble. When is a single life expendable? In war, do the rules of morality change? When do soldiers forget that war is not a game?
Some would say these are just movies. Action and sci-fi adventure. Drama and a nice blend of peace and romance amidst explosions and chaos. In my opinion, these are not simply films. They are not made for entertainment alone. They cannot be. They are perhaps cautionary tales. Story and history mimic and repeat, ebb and flow. We pray the world will never repeat in history this story of Panem.
This film is a giant leap for outer space storytelling after many films that take only small laborious steps from one malfunction to the next. This film achieves the same survival efforts but perks up the pace by blending them with upbeat attitudes and humor, a boost for math and science education, and a swell of hope.
We wonder if we’d make it. On the reality tv series Survivor, it’s more about interconnectivity and socio-relational survival. You’ve gotta win the trust of the right people. Our Martian is all alone but can somehow function, create, self-motivate, and build. Fortunately he is vlogging, or video journaling, instead of talking to a volleyball. There is a countdown, rationing, always a next step.
Then the supporting cast gets to work. The future NASA as it is presented, looks feasible as they pull an Apollo 13 by pooling their efforts and collective genius. Jeff Daniels, Kristen Wiig, Donald Glover, Jessica Chastain…the list goes on. It’s a beautiful cast on a film worth seeing.
Damon’s character Watney sees problems as opportunities. He strategizes and builds, sets deadlines and works hard to meet them. In his own quirky way, he says goodbye to every little thing, thanking storage bins and chairs for helping him make it each day. 
Gratefulness goes a long way. And whether he survives or not, you feel, as he does, simply thankful for each day, each sunrise, each plant, each breath.
The message of this film is clear: life is precious and worth fighting, striving, creating, growing, learning, laughing, surviving for. Don’t miss it, any of it.
There are essentially three camps of audience members: the Front Section that watched faithfully week-to-week, the Tail Section that petered off somewhere around mid-season two, and the Darmahites who binge watched on Netflix or dvd deeming it a “cool show” some years later, making LOST a true cult classic.
Despite the stats, the inevitable questions were posed by all three groups:
The answers are rarely given and are usually simpler than we care to believe. The show was genius. It played on just the right emotions. It drew us in from moment one with great characters and writing. We believed that there was hope, so we kept watching. Hope is a seed planted which sprouts action and blossoms in destiny.
Paul Rudd delights audiences with comedic ease, promising character depth, and physical agility. He knows himself well by now and despite his crass comic tendencies, the director of Ant Man holds him back and allows the penchant for quick wit to help audiences settle in for a ride that’s basically a Honey I Shrunk revival for the Marvel generation.
Splatter: on FILM 