My journey as a writer of screenplays, novels, poetry, and more. films as I see them. Enjoy!
Far from simple, this talking heads cartoon allows an x-ray view into the psychology of emotion. It’s honest and sweet. …of course I cried.
Change can be difficult and jarring. Ever wonder why? Pixar let’s you eat popcorn as you tour the brain on a fascinating and emotional journey of self-discovery.
Don’t miss this literal mind trip. There are no better tour guides through the imagination than Amy Poehler as Joy and Phyllis from The Office as Sadness.
UNCLE is not your typical Guy Ritchie piece. More Snatch than Sherlock, this tribute film could play like a two hour inside joke if you’ve never seen the hit 60’s show.
Ritchie, known for his laid back, well-planned, tea-taking, collaborative directing form on set, offers that sensibility to audiences. The stress is gone, but the pace plays.
No kiss and tell. No swearing. The sex and extreme violence is simply alluded to as something naughty going on in the next room. It’s the classic fluttering curtain. The audience takes tea and never has to worry, thanks to the family friendly rating. I’m grateful. Though a scene of almost nudity, a few holocaust photos, and constant action may not dissuade a family film night, the sheer duration might. It’s two, long but fun, very full one-note hours. So, action lovers will most likely approve.
The soundtrack is a character, jumping into scenes like a welcome hero framing the chase, follow, rumble, and escape into a split-screen, real-time visual medley. Lovely.
Like the music, the characters are as adorably written as they are played. Henry Cavill somehow successfully sets aside the super suit and cape long enough to model Armani. Armie Hammer also drops his former bumbling physical comedy for some slick action moves. No longer the Lone Ranger, he’s a formidable opponent turned partner. 
Alicia Vikander, is the appropriate third wheel on this trained tricycle. Baby-faced but believable, her chemistry with the team works.
Even the delightful Hugh Grant drops in for more than a cameo rounding out the settings with his own confident kind of welcoming familial grace, a needed and timely element.
Spielberg gives Tomorrowland a frightening facelift in this latest installment in the Jurassic universe.
John Hammond’s flea circus-turned dino theme park dream becomes a reality. Universal Studios tram ride through King Kong’s city scape, Disneyland’s jungle safari cruise, and Sea World’s main attractions combined cannot compare to a day on the original island now paradise once more.
But hubris married with technology begets genetically amalgamated super saurus. Only the gritty ex-military turned raptor trainer, Chris Pratt, can calm the cage free and the control freaks. 
And, Bryce Dallas Howard proves for womankind that she can run a marathon in heals.
Some blood, but more jump scares. Some great lines, but more memorable characters. Tons of product placement and even more marketable park merchandise. Sure, every character is a caricature, but this film is meant for pure entertainment. It is meant to be a family action film.
Newby director and writers prove once again that Spielberg is not attempting to keep the legacy of big production film in Amblin’s name only. Art is meant for everyone, to be shared. No corner on the market. Just go and make your movie, and maybe someday a nice guy like Spielberg will pay for the promotion and you too will have the biggest box office weekend like Colin Trevorrow did.
Have fun. Don’t get scared now.
“Tell me, how do you get to Tomorrowland?
Close your eyes, make a wish, and you’re there.”
…or go by jet pack.
In Brad Bird’s newest screen sensation, dreams come true as the Small World ride at Disneyland opens up to reveal an interdementional gondola, as the Eiffel Tower in Paris disguises a secret rocket, and as bathtubs eject you to safety. George Clooney, likable curmudgeon furrows his way into your heart as he learns to believe in dreams again. Clooney, Hugh Laurie, and Tim McGraw lead a perfect cast, and up-and-comers Britt Robertson (best in Dan in Real Life), Thomas Robinson (my favorite little character from “The Switch”), and the young Raffey Cassidy astound in their roles.
Trusted screenwriters Damon Lindelof and Brad Bird allow the film to preach the power of positivity and to present the old Native American morality tale (also quoted by George Bernard Shaw): there are two wolves inside each one of us, and the one who wins is the one we feed the most.
Brilliant, poignant, and timely. This film is an adventure ride. It fills you with Disneyland joy, a love for family, and a hope for the future which waits in each of our hands, like a token waiting to take us there.
Be brave enough to dream in a Tomorrowland for all of us. “We’ve saved a seat, just for you.”
Joss Whedon throws a great party. Getting the gang back together for the ultimate battle against A.I. proves a Hulk-sized task. Each hero a strong-willed leader, the team struggles to mesh, especially when a new entity gets into their heads.
Keith Simanton of IMDb insightfully called “#AgeOfUltron=Whedon’s Empire Strikes Back.” on twitter. 
The Avengers indeed strike back at the Hydra bases only to find a set of formidable unfriendlies (twins) waiting to bruise them from the inside. Make them doubt each other and their own gifts, and the team will implode. As the tension builds, it pulses toward civil war.
Ultron awakens, evolves, becomes, multiplies. James Spader’s voice inflections give the machine terrifying strength, a sadistic quality. His Pinocchio song echoes eerily throughout.
How will the team put out a veritably invincible enemy? Force with force, obviously. In order to win, they must humble themselves. It’s a battle of wits and pedagogy. Each walks in with different stories and belief systems in the Marvel universe. The lore includes God-figures. Biblical allusions prevail even within the darkness. And somehow humor provides balance.
Ultron mimics Stark, swift to the punchline. Machine and man, the age-old battle, climaxes with the marriage of genius and wifi. This second film doesn’t feel like a second. It races and fights for the attention of a first film, ever adding to the groundwork already laid but with funnier lines, faster action, and a solid adventure. It’s a party you won’t want to miss.
I attended the most unconventional funeral this weekend…twice. The theater held showings every 1/2 hour, and still our theater was packed. People flocked to pay homage to the deceased actor Paul Walker after his tragic death this past year.
Fueled by vengeance and loyalty, the gang reunites for one last ride. “You ride, I ride. You fight, I fight. You die, I die.” With a call out for no more funerals, they succeed with zero body count.
The FF franchise is known for shocking car stunts, fast action, insane fight scenes, catchy one-liners, and throw downs starring The Rock, Jason Stathem, and Vin Diesel.
Somehow these films define the all-American culture. I haven’t decided if that’s a good thing. Competing for bigger-and-better somehow allows the freedom to objectify women, to race for hierarchy, to do things “your own way and with your own crew.” America. Sinatra would be proud. I asked a friend how The Rock can get away with such sexist speeches “I can leave when I want to, woman!” He smiled and said that The Rock is just playing that guy… He’s a super nice guy…plus he’s huge.
These films go so over the top, they succeed in satirizing these otherwise very serious sins. I’ll admit I laugh. Hard. These films are, above all, just plain fun. Walloped by lead pipes and no bruises. Head-on collisions, and step out unscathed. Explode out of a second story window and land on a car: fractured elbow that heals overnight. 
Super cars are expendable. The streets know and obey the kids who grew up on them. And cars fly. Not since Chitty-Bang-Bang and the Delorean have cars been known to fly, but Vin believes, like a Peter Pan of motors, and his car lifts into the air, floats out of planes, runs off of cliffs, and drifts from one skyscraper into another. Seamless.
Kurt Russell brings some surprising and much needed fatherly encouragement and grounding to Furious 7. Vin and the rest of Paul Walker’s screen family memorialized him well on the big screen. A true American tribute.
Exodus has moments of beauty and potential greatness, thoughtful on so many levels. But Bale is no Charlton Heston. Exodus: Gods and Kings lacks the pizzaz and joy of the original Ten Commandments. Prince of Egypt may not have had a doe-eyed Aaron Paul but at least it never diminished the miracles by making Moses the God-whisperer and attempting to explain the plagues scientifically: alligators, so blood, so frogs, so flies, etc.
False beliefs prevail in Biblical films of late. The heroes must be A-listers, never mind the fluctuating accents, as long as they can wield a blade and train the peasants to retaliate. Why would God bother to intervene when Christian Bale or Russell Crowe can lead an army?
I shouldn’t be surprised that so many renowned directors, like the brilliant, detail-driven Ridley Scott would look to the Greatest Stories Ever Told in the Bible for great screen fodder. To grasp the immortal seems the quest for most Hollywood greats. The gods of myth thought that eternal life is for those who live on in legend. Stories live on, so they must work as conduits…flux capacitors for a new age of inventors who visualize and create widescreen and digital IMAX.
Some also sadly believe that special effects will cover any sub-par plot points or dialogue, or anything that the filmmaker thought too potentially religious. Visual accuracy over biblical. The Pharaoh can look like he grew up in Texas as long as he cuddles with Cobras and paints a mean eyeline.
Egypt is sepia toned, to color the Caucasian cast. And the wilderness a Prometheus blue. The burning bush burst into a less than stunning blue flame.
I’m sorry to say, it’s not the biblical inaccuracies that tanked the multi-million dollar project. It was…boring. Slow and unsteadily paced. It lags so desperately that in the end you almost hope the Red Sea will take them all. But they cross…waist-deep, then the armies drown in a tidal wave.
Many Christians cry and run from theaters over these kinds of oversights. If only the same crowd of movie goers would cry over poorly made films in the B-genre known as Christian films and seek to correct the problem with excellent filmmaking. The Bible will continue to provide a wellspring of stories. The era of Bible-based movies will continue.
So many filmmakers and viewers alike continue the search in a bottomless grave looking for a frozen Savior who they hoped would come to save the world. They have yet to find that He is risen. He is risen indeed.
Capitalizing on anthropomorphism is not a new story for Disney. In conjunction with Pixar, they introduced a small trash compactor with big heart in Wall-e. They keep reviving the Toys of our childhoods giving them lives and attitudes. Now Big Hero 6 gives the State Puff a huge heart and one prime directive: to protect and keep young Hiro after he experiences a tragic loss.
Grief counseling never looked so appealing. Big Hero 6 achieved what no other A.I. could. Where films like iRobot, Prometheus, Robot & Frank, and Transformers fail to make huggable machines, this film succeeds. With his program downloaded to help and heal, Baymax brings together the team of six super friends who challenge the lurking evil madman currently threatening the city. Instead of taking out the masked man in a death-match, however, like true heroes they seek restoration and willingly sacrifice in an Interstellar scenario to bring ultimate justice and harmony back to the world. I laughed out loud. I understood Hiro and felt the Baymax hug.
What’s in a name?
Everything, apparently.
Channing Tatum lures an audience of lonely women, Step Up dance fans, and heart throb honeys looking to him to fill their Saturdays with shirts-off eye candy. In that case, Jupiter excels.
Mila Kunis‘s name promises dark eyeshadow dreams and daylight sighs. Her teen impressions are spot-on every time.
Sean Bean, ever Boromir, brings the sci-fi fans a quick thrill with his original accent and scenes of hard punching. Though he tries for the likable space-rogue status, he can never quite reach his inner Han Solo. Not enough comedy…even his smiles look angry.
And sweet Eddie Redmayne‘s big bang into stardom began with his role in Les Miserables and evolved into larger roles. He is currently up for an Oscar for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. In Jupiter, however, he whispers his way to the purest dark side as this film’s Hitler, trading bones for soap stones in effect by managing the factory that turns humans into liquid life. A sort of advanced anti-age serum.
And finally the big names: The Wachowski‘s, of the Matrix fame. Ironically, they wrote and directed this film in which yet another advanced life-form chooses to liquefy people into a product worth killing for. Decent plot repeat on the sci-fi syndicate.
I left feeling adequately sci-fi satisfied with endless kicking and sky-skating. My dad loved it. Aliens. Kicking. Explosions. Yes. Yes. Yes. He had to agree, however, that the dialogue was junior high driven, if not written, and when the plot lacked, shooting commenced.
You obviously won’t go for an intellectual boost. You won’t have to think at all, in fact. It feels very Men in Black minus the quirky duo and catch phrases.
“Say it again.”
“Your highness.”
“Yeah. I like that.”
Wow.
Oddly, the costumes and creature creations were almost worth the ticket. I enjoyed the sequence of alien waiting lines and red-tape best, even though it led to another poorly executed scene in which lycan bodyguards wrestled dragon dino slaves to free the helpless virginal beekeeping princess from a fate worse than death. Good thing they brought their flying boots along.
A short and sweet review for a thrill-a-minute futuristic Lord of the Flies with a Lost-esque flair. One character maintains the fight to stay and survive. One pursues escape at the risk of death. Both fear the Maze.
Splatter: on FILM 