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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| Elvis & Nixon - Surprisingly and unfortunately tame. |
Elvis & Nixon (2016)
Buy Elvis and Nixon
Written by: Joey Sagal & Hanala Sagal & Cary Elwes (screenplay)
Directed by: Liza Johnson
Starring: Michael Shannon, Kevin Spacey, Alex Pettyfer, Johnny Knoxville, Colin Hanks, Evan Peters
Rated: R
Plot:
The untold story behind the famous archived photograph depicting the meeting between Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon.
Verdict:
The last half hour is closer to what I expected from this movie. The first hour is all set up. This should have been a fun, campy movie with two great actors chewing the scenery. Instead they sleep walk through their performances. If you only watch the last half hour, you'd miss nothing. The last half hour makes this almost worth watching, but even that isn't great.
It depends.
Review:
If anything I thought this would be entertaining. The esteemed Kevin Spacey plays Richard Nixon with Michael Shannon as Elvis. That alone sold me on this movie. Unfortunately I was disappointed in them and the movie.
The first hour focuses on Shannon who has zero fun as Elvis. I expected over the top, and he is nowhere close. I was hoping for a fun two hander. When we get Nixon and Elvis on screen together the movie steps it up a notch, but it takes way too long for that to happen. This movie is all set up and very little payoff. The sound track is good, though it would be a travesty to screw that up.
When we finally get to the famed meeting we see what this movie should have been. The last half hour is good. We first get a juxtaposition of Nixon's people briefing Elvis on how to interact with the President while Elvis's people brief staff on how to interact with the King of Rock.
Of course Elvis ignores everything he's been told, much to the ire of Nixon who masks his frustration. Presley even holds his finger up to pause the President in mid sentence as he swigs a Dr. Pepper reserved for Nixon. The karate demonstration is another excellent scene.
This movie should have had them meet early and team up on an undercover operation. This had such potential, especially with the talent. How do you ruin it?
I was expecting something zany like Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) where Elvis, played to perfection by Bruce Campbell, is thought to be just a senile retirement home resident despite his claims while his best friend Ossie Davis claims to be JFK. If you are familiar with Ossie Davis, you'll understand the absurdity of the claim. They fight a mummy stealing elderly people's souls. That is a movie worth watching. Elvis & Nixon is not. Do yourself a favor and find Bubba Ho-Tep.
Read my Saving Private Ryan review
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| Jaws - Fear the water. |
Buy Jaws
Watch Jaws on Netflix
Written by: Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb (screenplay), Peter Benchley (based on the novel by)
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss
Rated: PG
Plot:
A shark terrorizes a small beach town.
Verdict:
Combined with a great score, the tension and pacing continue to make people afraid of the beach. We've all wondered what's that brushing our leg in the ocean. Speilberg provides a frightening explanation. Even if you haven't seen the movie, you've heard the title and the song. It succeeds with out blood and gore because Speilberg taps into your imagination.
Watch it.
Review:
This movie is the genesis of the summer blockbuster and caused fear in millions of people who began to think twice before entering the ocean. Sixty-seven million people went to the movies to make this the highest grossing film of all time (at the time) despite it playing in a limited number of theaters. Beaches and hotels had to hate this movie during the summer of '78.
John Williams did a great job on the score, now synonymous with impending terror. At first Speilberg didn't like it, but admitted later the score was half the movie's success.
Brody (Roy Scheider) is the big city cop transplanted to a small town who knows something is in the water, but can't convince anyone to believe him and close the beach. The mayor is concerned about losing money during their busy season, dismissing Brody as overzealous. This is bolstered by the fact that Brody doesn't even like the water.
Speilberg got the directing job after the first director pitching to executives kept referring to the shark as a whale. The executives dismissed him, not wanting to recreate Moby Dick. I'm glad Speilberg took over. He does an amazing job. Almost every scene has a sense of movement. The camera is rarely still. He capitalizes on the fear of what lurks beneath the ocean's surface. Speilberg is a master and creating anticipation and tension. We quickly learn that the Jaws theme means watch out.
We really don't see much of the shark, which is a good thing. Numerous shots from the shark's point of view increase anticipation. The one downside to this movie is how bad the shark looks when we see anything more than the dorsal fin, but that fin splitting the water is a classic image.
Speilberg operated within the constraints of the time, minimizing the shark's screen time and for good reason. The shark isn't bad for the '70s, but even a movie today would suffer from the shark looking too much like CGI.
The attacks culminate in Brody, scientist Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) taking to the ocean to kill the shark head on. They have no idea what they're up against. Quint is a seasoned veteran and he's killed his fair share of sharks, but this doesn't play out like you might expect.
Speilberg includes two jump scares, and later admitted he got greedy. He stated the audience can only handle one good scare. After that, the effect diminishes. The legacy of Jaws has not diminished. There is a reason it entered the cultural lexicon. It's thrilling and intense.
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| Jaws 2 - As bad as the first is good. |
Buy Jaws 2
Watch Jaws 2 on Netflix
Written by: Peter Benchley (characters created by), Carl Gottlieb and Howard Sackler (written by)
Directed by: Jeannot Szwarc
Starring: Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton
Rated: PG
Plot:
A shark terrorizes the same small town again.
Verdict:
It's difficult to live up to an icon, and this sequel proves that. It's almost a certainty the producers wanted to generate the profits from the first one, but the most glaring omission is the lack of Speilberg's metered pacing. This dispenses with the sense of foreboding doom that made the original Jaws a classic. This is a cash grab over substance.
Skip it.
Review:
Jaws 2 lacks the impact of the first movie. It doesn't try to provide anything new. This is a failure of the writing in that it's a feeble recreation of the first, but the directing lacks Speilbergs tension and suspense.
Speilberg's Jaws didn't show us the shark, and for good reason. He relied on us to create a gruesome image in our mind. This movie jumps right in, showing us the shark in the very first scene. The attack is over so quickly that there isn't even a chance to let the iconic score build and create a mood.
Jaws 2 just tried to recreate the first movie instead of bringing something new to the franchise. There is no reason to see this as it's completely inferior to the original. Instead of a focus on the shark, this movie decides to focus on Brody (Roy Scheider) and his family. I liked the idea of Brody unhinged at yet another shark attack, but the inclusion of his kids as potential victims is just lazy and manipulative.
Where the first movie used establishing shots in the ocean to imply the shark was close, this movie has way too many establishing shots at the beach or bar. Every other scene change includes an establishing shot of happy vacationers and islanders on the beach. That's not how you create tension.
This shark's face is burned, just to give it distinguishing feature. This happens in one of the early scenes where a woman, while being attacked in her boat, douses the boat and herself with gas and lights it up. I don't know if she made a mistake or was the hero the movie needed.
The shark is too smart, picking or avoiding targets just to manipulate the audience. It makes the movie boring.
I was surprised that the same writer was involved with Jaws and Jaws 2. It doesn't seem like it, but then the sequel doesn't have the advantage of being based on a book and it shows. The biggest omission is the lack of Speilberg. This is just a B movie, riding on the coat tails of success..
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| Babel - Heavy handed and contrived. |
Buy Babel
Watch Babel on Netflix
Written by: Guillermo Arriaga (written by), Guillermo Arriaga and Alejandro G. Iñárritu (idea)
Directed by: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael García Bernal
Rated: R
Plot:
A married couple's tragedy while on vacation is the impetus for four interlocking stories.
Verdict:
This isn't bad. It's got slick editing and a winding story, but it's heavy handed and contrived. The non-synchronous delivery adds to the tension, but it's a mask for lack of development. The first hour is engrossing, but that intensity slowly fades and never returns as the movie continues.
It depends.
Review:
This is part of Innaritu's death trilogy, comprised of Babel, Amores Perros (2000), and 21 Grams (2003). Each contain intersecting disparate story lines.
This movie ha something for everyone with a chicken beheading, Brad Pitt beating up an elderly man, Cate Blanchett unconscious for most of the movie, and a kidnapping.
Babel follows two children who herd goats, a married couple (Pitt and Blanchett), a nanny, and a deaf Japanese girl. The story lines are linked only tangentially, and this isn't chronological. The story structure feels like it's done just to add drama and tension. While this keeps the pacing quick, it also makes it more of a mystery as we try to figure out what happened, in what order, and how these stories are linked.
The film boasts great editing, part of that is due to the multiple story lines. Most movies don't juggle this many story lines at a time, and this allows the maximum amount of emotion extracted, ending scenes at an emotional peak. Multiple times I was impressed with where scenes ended or started and it's not something I usually notice, unless it's done exceptionally well. This is a great example of how editing can shape a movie. Even a tour bus scene, which plays an important role in the beginning is edited so that you can begin to place where you are to determine the first story intersection.
The underlying theme, as you might have guessed from the title, is communication. We get language, cultural, and emotional barriers as people try to understand each other and themselves. This is combined with the ripple in the pond effect where one tragedy affects multiple people. It feels like Oscar bait at times with heavy handed emotionally manipulative stories loosely stitched together. The story links are contrived. This isn't bad, it's just lacking. The first hour is strong, but it lost steam as I began to wonder more how the story lines would wrap than what was actually happening. Each of these stories features an initial shock, that is then just prolonged until the end.
One of my favorite parts is when the rest of the tour bus wants to leave Pitt and Blanchett during their crisis. The reason? It's too hot. While they are scared too, it's silly but with a hint of realism. I felt like leaving this movie long before that scene occurred.
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