I watch movies every week and then write down my thoughts. Read my previous reviews!
My rating is simple, Watch It, It Depends, Skip it.
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| The Revenant - A brutal and effective revenge tale. |
Written by: Mark L. Smith & Alejandro G. Iñárritu (screenplay), based in part on the novel by Michael Punke
Directed by: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter
Rated: R
Plot:
After being mauled by a bear and left for dead by fellow trapper Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) struggles to survive, intent on seeking revenge. The movie is based on a true story from the early 1800's.
Review:
This is revenge movie at it's core, but it's also about survival. Revenge is anything but easy for Hugh Glass.
Glass is a scout for fur traders. After an attack from a Native American tribe leaves most of the group dead, Glass directs the men to ditch their boat and travel inland.
While scouting game, Glass sees two bear cubs but no mother. When he turns and sees the mother, it's too late. The bear rushes Glass before he can even fire a shot.
The bear mauling is brutal and horrific, Glass screaming in agony. You can feel Glass fighting to stay quiet, hoping the bear will leave him for dead. When the bear leaves him, Glass musters the strength to grab his rifle and aim at the bear. The shot enrages the bear who attacks him more voraciously than before. Glass looks like a rag doll as the bear flings him around the forest.
Glass is found by the fur trappers under the dead bear and his wounds treated. He's carried on a makeshift gurney, with Fitzgerald urging the trappers to put Glass out of his misery.
The captain of the group refuses, but when they reach a mountain pass, they're unable to continue with the gurney. Fitzgerald negotiates a sum of money to stay with Glass. The captain is surprised, but is more afraid of killing Glass himself. Fitzgerald is joined by Bridger and Glass's son Hawk.
Fitzgerald goads Glass into giving up, telling him to just blink. The camera circles DiCaprio, his eyes shining in the daylight, unblinking. It's an intense scene as you hope Glass won't blink, knowing what's at stake. Fitzgerald attempts to suffocate Glass anyway, but is stopped by Hawk.
Fitzgerald kills Hawk as Glass is unable to do anything, struggling to move or even make a sound. Fitzgerald hides the body and early the next morning convinces Bridger that they are under attack by Native Americans. They leave Glass behind in an open grave, and by the time Bridger realizes Fitzgerald has tricked him, it's too late to turn back.
If he wasn't acting against DiCaprio,Tom Hardy would be the stand out as Fitzgerald. You don't disagree with his initial assessment to spare Glass the pain, but abandoning Glass confirms he is evil. I have a difficult time picking the better performance.
DiCaprio does an amazing job. His screams of pain feel so real. It's a powerful performance as he is the only one on screen for a lot of his role. We're rooting for Glass, but at the same time his plight seems impossible.
After being left and fueled by revenge Glass pulls himself out of the grave.
In one scene, Glass is attempting to fashion a crutch out of a branch. A trio of elk cross a stream nearby, and Glass raises the branch to his eye, aims at the elk, and pretends to fire. It's a powerful scene showing where Glass is, was, and where he wants to be. How can he survive with no weapons or supplies?
This movie is full of powerful and emotional scenes. I never exclaim out loud at a movie, but when Glass rides his horse off a cliff, I audibly said, "Woh!" It was a complete surprise filmed perfectly. We see the horse and glass sail off the cliff and clip the top of the snow covered trees below.
That same horse, Glass guts so that he can sleep inside of it to weather a storm approaching.
Glass finally makes it back to camp, everyone astounded he's alive. Fitzgerald has fled and Glass pursues. The battle between them is brutal, and the outcome is hard to predict. Glass completes his quest for revenge, though it doesn't unfold as you would assume. He's again left in the wild with no supplies and has to make it back to camp.
At first I didn't like the ending, but it is thematically consistent. You hope Glass will make it back to camp, he's braved worse, but now he's not fueled by revenge. With his mission complete, will he be content to rest quietly in the snow?
The Revenant has a lot of camera work, much like Iñárritu's previous film, Birdman (read my review).
The camera maintains a sense of motion and fluidity, looping around actors and changing the point of view without cutting.
The scenery looks great with snow covered trees and vistas. It feels completely authentic, and the movie proclaims this, lingering on gurgling streams and nature shots. The movie does have a few wide shots that go too far in showing off, adding nothing to the movie and stating look at me.
With a lot of parallels to the Western genre, it's brutal and horrific. We root for Glass to survive, hoping he will indeed get his revenge. He deserves it. At the edge of victory, Glass makes a surprising decision. If this wasn't based on a true story, I could easily see one of the last shots being DiCaprio in the grave, having died on the spot, though that would be an unwelcome trick.
DiCaprio shares very little time with other actors, instead putting on a one man show of torture, grief, and pain. This is a good case for DiCaprio finally getting the Oscar that's eluded him for so long. Though an understated performance, The Departed might be his best work, but you can't deny the difficulties of filming this. The movie went over schedule, over budget, and many of the production crew quit or were fired. Even DiCaprio has stated it's been the most difficult conditions he's encountered for a film.
Verdict:
The Revenant is a brutal revenge tale. Tragedy and misfortune strike Glass time and again, but revenge keeps him alive. It's at times haunting and horrifying, in its entirety expertly told. Many scenes are perfectly crafted to generate the maximum emotional response. Everything about this movie is well done. DiCaprio is amazing, his pain and torment is visceral in a performance that is anything but easy.
Watch it.
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| Mad Max: Fury Road - The definitive action movie. |
Watch Mad Max: Fury Road
Written by: George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, Nico Lathouris
Directed by: George Miller
Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult
Rated: R
Plot:
After escaping the Citadel, Mad Max (Tom Hardy) becomes a key part in Furiosa's (Charlize Theron) betrayal of the overlord Immorten Joe.
Review:
I saw Fury Road last year in theaters, and I liked it even more seeing it again. The story unfolds perfectly. It's got a great opening that's high octane at the start, from Max's capture to his attempted escape.
It's a stylized post apocalypse world that feels part comic book, due to the fact co-writer Brendan McCarthy works in the comic industry. This stylization makes it fun. All of the cars look great, even if they are over the top. Realistically, the cars would be simple rust buckets, but that changes the entire aesthetic of the film. Each car has an incredible design.
The pacing is thrilling. It really is expert film making. You get a feel for the characters of Furiosa and Max in just a few actions.
Furiosa is freeing Immorten Joe's harem. Max is along for the ride because it's his best chance for survival. In a great moment of subverting common action movie tropes, a member of Immorten Joe's harem escapes death. We've seen this scene before countless times, but then Miller doesn't stop. The harem member succumbs moments later. It's a powerful moment, bolstered by Theron and Hardy's reaction. He states they have to keep moving because "She went under the wheels." The rest of the harem beseech him to turn back, but Theron relents and agrees with Hardy. They share a bond based strictly on mutual survival and it thankfully doesn't fall into the romantic trope.
When the plan fails, they go back to the Citadel. It's a great resolution because it's uncommon.
Max knows when to step back, he's missed two rifle shots and hands the rifle to Furiosa who uses Max's shoulder to steady the rifle. This really is Furiosa's story, Max is just helping.
Max doesn't have to be the hero of this story, and he doesn't have to be great at everything. It doesn't make him any less legendary. While the timeline of this movie and the original Mad Max films could be questioned, this movie could be a legend of Mad Max, a story passed down to generations.
The movie employs a great use of color and composition, though the night time scenes are obviously filmed in daylight and tweaked. Action and fights are never confusing. It's easy to know what's going on in every scene.
The war boy Nux (Nicholas Hoult) would be the only weak point for me. He's too whiny and too eager to please Immorten Joe. I would have preferred an early send off for the character.
Verdict:
Mad Max: Fury Road is an excellent action movie because it excels not only at action, but with story telling that avoids and subverts cliches and tropes. Fury Road is surprising at every turn and entertaining for every second. It looks great from composition to production.
Watch it.
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| Sicario - Great direction elevates an average story. |
Watch Sicario
Written by: Taylor Sheridan
Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Emily Blunt , Josh Brolin , Benicio Del Toro
Rated: R
Plot:
FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) is recruited by a government agency to help capture a drug kingpin.
Review:
I like Villeneuve's movies. Prisoners was a solid thriller, and Enemy was a mind trip, but I wasn't sure if the Sheriff from Sons of Anarchy could write a compelling script. Emiily Blunt has established herself as action movie competent after The Day After Tomorrow, and Del Toro usually provides a solid performance
The first scenes grab you. The drum beat score is mesmerizing and returns throughout the movie, kicking up the tension one more notch. The FBI raids a house looking for hostages, and they discover bodies hidden throughout the walls. The scene is accentuated with an explosion.
If you're expecting to see Emily Blunt's character from The Day After Tomorrow, you will be disappointed, but Kate Macer has a lot more depth. She is tough, but also vulnerable, completely over her head and mixed up in what she hopes is a government operation. Neither Macer nor the viewer has any idea what's going on. Macer questions if the task force is sanctioned as they travel to Mexico to retrieve a contact. Successfully retrieving the contact, the convoy is stuck when trying to cross back in to the United States. The field team is nervous, weapons drawn, waiting for something or someone. The team clocks two cars that are suspects but are told not to engage first. The scene is intense. This task force is operating outside of the law as they endangered civilians and opened fire at suspects in line at the border. Macer's concerns are dismissed.
The police force can't stop a criminal organization that operates outside of the law. This task force moves the boundary to regain order and control. Macer's by the book approach is shown to be ineffective, while this new team she has joined borders on reckless.
Villeneuve has proven masterful at creating suspense, employing thermal cameras for a first person viewpoint as the field team enters a smuggling tunnel. The objective is disruption in an effort to flush out the the crime lord in control. We, just like Blunt's character go down the rabbit hole unsure of what we will discover.
What Blunt's character Macer finds is that Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) is not just a Department of Defense consultant, he's connected to the Columbian drug cartel.
Del Toro is cold, brooding, and ruthless as he topples the drug lord, shooting Macer in her bullet proof vest along the way
The pacing is excellent. The entire movie feels like it's building to something. While the end of the movie is underwhelming, it perfectly echoes how Macer feels. She thought she was brought on this team to make a difference, but she was a pawn in this game. The CIA needed an FBI agent to legally operate within U.S. borders. Villenuve knew exactly what he wanted to do. Despite the drug lord being toppled, we like Macer are left disappointed. The story is typical, but the execution is excellent.
Throughout the movie we see scenes of a Mexican cop, which felt out of place. It felt out of place, though it did have a point when Del Toro kidnaps that very cop. At first I wondered if it was just to generate an impact later, and in part maybe it was, but it also shows both sides of it. Macer is dismayed at operating outside of the law, but the Mexican cop doesn't even have a choice. Del Toro forces Blunt's character to sign a waiver that the operation was by the books and then tells her to leave town for safety.
One drug kingpin was toppled so another could take his place. The drugs won't stop. In the last scene as kids are playing soccer in Juarez, gunfire breaks out in the distance and the game plays on.
Verdict:
Sicario offers a standard story that is elevated with excellent direction. Villeneuve makes simple moments really intense. This easily could have been a run of the mill action movie, but Emily Blunt gives us a strong, yet vulnerable character. We, like her, have no idea if the operation is sanctioned. The war on drugs isn't to topple the empire, but merely to try and control it. The violence will continue and the game will play on.
Watch it.
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| Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation - The Tom Cruise thrill ride. |
Watch Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Written by: Christopher McQuarrie (screenplay), Christopher McQuarrie and Drew Pearce (story), Bruce Geller (television series)
Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Jeremy Renner
Rated: PG-13
Plot:
Not only is the IMF in danger of being disbanded, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and crew have to deal with a double agent and a terrorist organization.
Review:
M:I kicks off in media res with Ethan Hunt on a mission. He ends up jumping onto a plane and hanging onto the side as it takes off. Cruise did a lot of his own stunts and had to wear special contact lenses for the plane stunt as and dust or debris would shred his eyes at the speed the plane was traveling.
This is highly stylized action that ventures into the ridiculous, designed for maximize fun. I have to balk as Hunt is holding onto a pole, while handcuffed and inverted, hopping up the pole to free himself. This is the introduction of Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust. She's a double agent with questionable alliances that seems to help Hunt. Ferguson does a standout job in this movie. She is a mix of no-nonsense, yet charming.
To ramp up the tension the IMF, Hunt's CIA like organization, is shut down and Hunt is wanted for his crimes. It's such a common trope to create tension. It's a place holder idea at best. This provides the opportunity for another common trope. The CIA has located Hunt's hideout and are about to kick the door down They can hear him inside and the scene is intercut with scenes of Hunt working out. I knew what was going to happen. Hunt's not there. He's in a different castle.... err room. It's another common trope, and it's not the last we see in this movie.
Hunt has been tracking the Syndicate, an organization no one else believes exist. He's also an extremely talented sketch artist.
Hunt lures Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) to the opera to set up the next big action set piece. Hunt tries to find the mysterious big bad and runs into Faust again. We get fights, shots, and comedy.
This really is the American version of James Bond as it's completely over the top.
With the team together it's time to infiltrate a building that has super high tech security. This is the trademark of M:I movies, but this time Hunt isn't suspended from the ceiling above a laser grid. This is the standout action set piece. Hunt jumps into a water cooled reactor to switch out a security card so that Dunn can steal the data. Why is the card here? Who knows. As the movie tells us, it's the only way. Dunn jokes that it should be no problem for Hunt. He'll only be under water for three minutes. It's difficult, but not impossible. You know Hunt will make it, but the movie does it's best to cast doubt. It's intense and to say more would spoil it.
In one of the rare moments of Hunt not at the super human level, he stumbles trying to jump over the car as he's still out of it from the last scene. It's a humorous touch that reinforces this movie isn't beyond having a laugh at it's own expense.
The car chase wasn't bad culminating in an over the top car crash. Cruise did his own stunt driving. The car chase leads to a motorcycle chase that culminates in Hunt laying the bike down at speed with nary a scratch.
To satisfy the syndicate and save his friend, Hunt has to kidnap the Prime Minister. I have no idea how the next movie will top this. The mission is successful with some classic M:I trickery.
With Dunn sitting on a bomb and Faust prepared to kill them both to save herself, Hunt defuses the situation. He's memorized hundreds of bank account numbers. I buy that Tom Cruise could memorize that, could Ethan Hunt? I don't think so.
Of course the bad guy is detained in a carefully orchestrated plan. They trap him in a glass cage. This part was actually clever.
Verdict:
Mission:Impossible is a collection of larger than life action set pieces. Is this a thinly veiled Tom Cruise biography? I honestly don't know. It's not easy to act opposite of Cruise, but Rebecca Furguson is a standout. The plot is typical and reality is sidestepped whenever it benefits the story. Ethan Hunt might as well be superman. With a mix of humor and bravado, you won't lack for entertainment.
It depends.
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| Malcolm X - A well done history lesson. |
Watch Malcolm X
Written by: Alex Haley & Malcolm X (Book "The Autobiography of Malcolm X") and Arnold Perl (screenplay) and Spike Lee (screenplay)
Directed by: Spike Lee
Starring: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Delroy Lindo
Rated: R
Plot:
The epic tale of Malcolm X, from an orphan to a gangster and his time in jail where he joins the Nation of Islam. After his release from jail he becomes a prominent minister but his success breeds contempt among his peers.
Review:
This starts as a gangster film. Malcolm (Denzel Washington) is a small time thug with slick backed hair and brightly color suits. This contrasts with his rise as a civil rights leader. He becomes more introspective and reserved. Washington really had two different roles and completely inhabits both. He goes from comedic and swagger to serious and reserved.
Malcolm X's passion helps him rise as Nation of Islam minister. Those around him begin tearing him down. Malcolm clings to his faith as those around him abuse it.
I don't agree with what the character is saying, but I respect the underlying idea. His goal is to empower the community. While his ideas could be perceived as militant, he's opposed to violence.
This is a epic movie in scale and scope, clocking in at over three hours long. We see Malcolm's childhood, his time as a gangster, his imprisonment, and his social activism after prison.
It could have been trimmed down. A lot of the scenes with Spike Lee as Malcolm's gangster friend seemed overly comedic and unnecessary. The movie really begins once Malcolm emerges from prison.
Verdict:
Malcolm X is a history lesson. It's worth seeing for the education alone. While it's a bit long it also has a big story to tell. Denzel Washington does an excellent job in a demanding role.
Watch it.
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