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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| Chi-Raq - It explores serious issues, overshadowed by a campy setting. |
Watch Chi-Raq
Written by: Kevin Willmott and Spike Lee (written by), Aristophanes (play)
Directed by: Spike Lee
Starring: Nick Cannon , Teyonah Parris , Wesley Snipes, John Cusack, Angela Bassett, Samuel L. Jackson
Rated: R
Plot:
Based on an Aristophanes play and set in modern day Chicago, Lysistrata unites women worldwide to end the violence by committing to temporary celibacy.
Verdict:
Chi-Raq often feels like a stage play or musical due to the sing song delivery of rhyming lines, contrasting with the over the top but wholly serious performances. It explores systemic issues that contribute to violence, but the tone of the film often overshadows the message. Women unite and abstain from sex until their men agree to end the violence. It's an absurd situation. Despite tending to be more absurd than enlightening, I enjoyed it.
Watch it.
Review:
Nick Cannon is rapper Chi-raq. It's difficult to disassociate Cannon from his previous roles, but he did a good job in this. Snipes was over the top and Jackson felt like just a box to tick.
Jackson's role was to deliver exposition, but it never felt necessary, instead slowing the pace.
The rhyming couplets throughout the movie can be distracting and often feel forced. Some of the rhyming words don't actual rhyme. The dialog is sometimes clever, but often bad too.
It's based on a play, but the style takes away from the message. It's a great concept of transposing the play to modern day Chi-Raq and gang violence. Lysistrata devises a plan to stop gang violence after a stray bullet kills a child.
She creates a worldwide movement, but it's hard to find that kind of solidarity believable because someone always relents. In Chi-Raq, you just have to accept it.
Cusack delivers an impassioned speech about the systemic and community issues. What allows for death and destruction in the community?
The scale and scope of Lysistrata's plan is comical exaggeration which obscures the severity of the issues the movie is trying investigate. The government's plan to stop the strikes is called "Hot and Bothered." I think the comical moments are going to cause people to remember this as comedic exaggeration and miss what this movie is trying to do, at least what I think it's trying to do.
Lysistrata organizes the women, but her role as powerful is derived from treating women as sex objects. Her power is withholding sex.
While it's become more prominent with how many movies treat female characters as nothing more than a sex companion for the male lead, it seems weird this movie blatantly ignores that issue. It's female characters are one note, but then so are the male characters.
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| What We Do in the Shadows - Subtle, clever, hilarious. |
Watch What We Do in the Shadows
Written by: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi
Directed by: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi
Starring: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Jonny Brugh, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer
Rated: R
Plot:
Four vampires sharing a flat in the modern world leads to tension, comedy... and death.
Verdict:
What We Do in the Shadows is understated and hilarious. It treats vampires with such banality. Their conflict is getting into the clubs and cleaning the house. This could easily be a cult classic, nearly every line is quotable often playing off words. It doesn't rely on shock or gross out humor. It's legitimately funny. One of the funniest movies I've seen in a while, and one I've been quoting for a few days
Watch it.
Review:
I was wary of the faux documentary style of shooting. but they use it to great effect. Its a great concept, showing modern day vampires in common situations. There is a lot of clever dialog that might go right over your head. It deals with immortality, love, human friends, and even were wolves.
They don't show up in mirrors, but wouldn't their clothes show? How are their clothes invisible?
They have difficulty clubbing because they have to be invited in, per vampire code. The vampire bar is dead, ha. No one is there. I love how it treats vampires with such banality. It makes them absolutely hilarious as they try to cope.
Vlago is on a date and brings a girl back to the flat. He's putting down newspapers and towels for the impending mess. After the date he states, while covered in blood, "I hit a main artery. It's a bit of a mess there. On the upside I think she had a good time."
They look like middle aged guys, but they're from the middle ages. Modern society is completely foreign to them. They have to rely on an assistant to get them 'food' and interact with the world on their behalf. As powerful as they are, there are downsides.
When their assistant brings two of her friends for dinner, one of them is turned into a vampire. He's able to update the vampires with televisions, computers, and phones. They watch a video on Youtube of a sunrise.
The movie does an excellent job of setting up scenes and utilizing vampire powers as part of the joke. When the cops come to inspect the house, Vlago has to hypnotize them, though he admits his power isn't very good. It's a standout sequence. The movie sets up multiple jokes and delivers the pay offs. It's very smart.
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| 99 Homes - Foreclosure isn't fun for those receiving. |
Watch 99 Homes
Written by: Ramin Bahrani (story) & Ramin Bahrani (writer) and Amir Naderi (writer) & Bahareh Azimi (story)
Directed by: Ramin Bahrani
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon, Laura Dern
Rated: R
Plot:
After being evicted from his home, Dennis Nash begins working for the real estate broker that evicted him.
Verdict:
99 Homes has strong performances. Michael Shannon is at his best when playing an aloof, despicable character like Rick Carver. Andrew Garfield does a good job of playing the sympathetic single father Dennis Nash who will do anything to get his house back. That includes working for and becoming an apprentice to the man that evicted him.
Do you help people or do you kick them out when they've violated the law and not paid back a loan, in essence stealing? That's the main question, though the story adds a few layers of deceit and treachery. While it goes too far in making Rick Carver cartoon evil, there are a number of intense scenes that stand out. The ending was a bit over the top, though in line with the themes of the movie. I enjoyed the story and performances.
Watch it.
Review:
This movie puts a face on the people losing their homes and the ones doing the taking. The two aren't so far apart.
99 Homes grabs you from the start with Rick Carver (Michael Shannon) at a suicide crime scene, though thoroughly disinterested. He's a wheeling and dealing real estate broker. He just saw the man alive and wonders if it was the pizza toppings that led the man to commit suicide. You wonder if Carver was involved in the crime scene as he's on the phone telling an associate to cut off power and water to force someone to sell their house. He's unscrupulous, but is he a murderer?
Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield) is a single father construction worker facing foreclosure on his childhood home that he shares with his mother (Laura Dern). The court states he has thirty days to pay the back what he owes or he loses the house. The very next day Rick Carver evicts him.
It's a dramatic scene with the music underscoring their frustration. You feel bad for Nash as he's told he is now trespassing in what he still considers his home. Just the day before he caught a break and was trying to figure out how to gather the money. He's bewildered as cops push him out the door.
Nash needs money, and he reluctantly takes a job from Carver to remove feces from a foreclosed house. The joke wasn't lost on me. Nash has hit rock bottom as he now shovels crap.
Why did Carver take Nash under his wing? I wondered if he sensed someone vulnerable and just wanted to exploit him.
Carver possess no empathy as he kicks people out on the street, now with Nash at his side. It's legal, but it doesn't make it easier to accept. Carver is also scamming the government. He removes heat pumps and appliances from foreclosed homes just to sell them back. The government compensates the banks to make foreclosed homes sale ready. The movie makes a point to make Carver completely unlikable. Thankfully through Nash, it shows that the guy evicting you isn't always bad. While Nash joins the scam, he's doing everything he can to put a roof over his son's head. It doesn't make it right, but at least we see his reasons.
When Nash delivers his first eviction, Garfield does a great job of acting tormented and torn. He's repeating what he heard when he was evicted. You wonder if he'll break down or stop. He's ashamed to admit to his family what he's doing. He's living a good life, and he can finally afford to buy his son a birthday present.
Nash has to deliver a forged document to the court to settle a foreclosure dispute. Nash wants the money, but doesn't want to sabotage a human being. Nash was upset about evicting people, but it was within legal boundaries. Now he has to cross that line.
The finale goes big instead of going home. It's easy to hate Carver. He's the e-cig smoking, Range Rover driving jerk the movie continually pushes us to hate, but we watch as Nash follows in his footsteps. Nash goes from joining the scams because he needs the money, to becoming greedy. Nash has to confront his actions in the last scene. We don't know the repercussions as it's left open. I'm willing to bet that Carver gets out of it. He's just slimy enough that I don't think anything would stick to him.
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| Z - A political thriller based on actual events. |
Watch Z
Written by: Vasilis Vasilikos (novel), Jorge Semprun
Directed by: Costa-Gavras
Starring: Yves Montand , Irene Papas , Jean-Louis Trintignant
Rated: --
Plot:
When a Greek politician dies, the state rules it an accident, but the autopsy rules it murder. It's up the investigating magistrate to determine what happened.
Verdict:
The mystery isn't who did what, but how high the cover up goes and it it will be revealed. Flashbacks are woven into the narrative seamlessly, no two people seeing the same thing. Any witnesses that corroborate the murder claim suffer swift 'accidents.' It's a tense thriller that recounts actual events. It's a subtitled foreign film, and I feel like I need to watch it again to better understand it.
It depends.
Review:
This political thriller is set in Greece. A pacifist group attempting to hold a rally is attacked. The group is expected to win the next election and the police state in power oppose them. The calls for peace beget violence from the police state. The police state hires goons to attack the politician, though they make it look like a car hit the politician. How can those that wish for peace triumph against open violence?
The film slips in and out of small memories that bolster the characters. It depicts simple actions like a phone ringing or even an embrace triggering painful memories.
We see from the start that the ruling party ordered the attack and is now covering it up, though the investigator is unaware. The investigator catches a break when the hospital autopsy reveals the politician was murdered. Witnesses that step forward are attacked.
The ruling party deems anyone that opposes them an enemy and a communist. The investigator is able to indict military officers, but will the truth be revealed?
The ending is not happy. Weeks before the election the military seizes control and exonerates their men, among other atrocities.
The movie had far reaching consequences. Those that worked on it were black listed. Even FBI director J. Edgar Hoover stated that anyone who watched the film wasn't a true American.
I don't know if it's the presentation or the subtitles, but it wasn't as exciting as I hoped it would be. While the movie at large was a big deal, I felt removed from the action
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| Heavenly Creatures - Being in love is a crazy thing. |
Watch Heavenly Creatures
Written by: Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson (screenplay)
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Starring: Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet, Sarah Peirse
Rated: R
Plot:
Two teenagers form a friendship that turns obsessive and overly-dependent.
Verdict:
This movie starts as a slice of life genre with two outcast teenagers bonding, but then it becomes bonkers. Peter Jackson does a great job of capturing that madness. It's based on a true story and both actresses do a great job. If you're interested in early Jackson and Winslet work, this is it. Lynskey had a recurring role in Two and a Half Men. It's an interesting story and well made, but I can't find an anchor point. I don't get the why, other than some people are delusional and crazy.
It depends.
Review:
This movie is bonkers. You get a hint with the opening Pauline and Juliet (Lynskey and Winslet) run through the woods screaming, drenched in blood. Then it cuts to a classroom and I'm left wondering what I just saw. It is the trope of showing the end first which I can't stand. It's cheap storytelling, but at least in this instance it left me bewildered, which is better than revealing the entire ending.
The story is about two high school girls who become friends. This is based on a true story, but if it wasn't I would have to question the sanity of Pauline. If this were a different movie I could argue Juliet is her imaginary friend since Juliet is some sort of genius. She can do everything expertly and knows more than her teachers. From the top the movie stated it's viewpoint is Pauline's as told from her diary. Juliet could be how Pauline saw her, the events could be fictitious as Pauline's grasp on reality is tenuous at best.
The girls are highly imaginative, creating this fantasy world of kings and queens. For high school girls, it felt off. They get really involved in these stories and even experience a shared hallucination. The hallucination was a crazy left turn. As I learn more about the girls, the crazier they and the movie becomes, working in tandem. We go deeper down the rabbit hole and I question where reality begins and ends. Were both girls mad or did Pauline turn Juliet. Our narrator is unreliable because she's certifiable. Are they friends, lovers, or something else entirely?
Their bond is completely unhealthy and they begin plotting ways to stop their parents from separating them. I won' t spoil the ending, but title cards inform us the girls went to jail and a stipulation of their release was that they would never contact each other.
Jackson does a great job directing. The movie maintains a manic level of energy that intensifies as reality slips away and madness descends. There is a lot of CGI work that often looks bad. Even as old as this movie is, Jurassic Park came out a year earlier and it's a world of difference, though the budget difference is huge.
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