BLACKKKLANSMAN: This is the first year that I can remember when I actually saw every film nominated for Best Picture. That's even more surprising since they nominate more than five films now. But the internet has totally fucked Hollywood. I saw all of these films but none in theaters. BlacKKKlansman I watched on DVD, Roma was released on Netflix, and the others were all illegally put up online thanks to the DVD screeners that the studios send to the members of the Academy that end up leaked online. What's not entirely shocking is that none of these films are great films. I can't even remember when a Best Picture winner ended up on my Top 10 list of the year. I haven't even seen a few Best Picture winners in the last few years; Spotlight and A King's Speech. And the last two year's Best Picture winners, The Shape of Water and Moonlight, were good but not great. As for BlacKKKlansman, the critics loved it but I felt that it wasn't that good at all. Denzel Washington's son plays the main character, a Colorado police officer in the 70's that infiltrates the KKK through telephone conversations and by using a white, real-life stand in played by Adam Driver, who got a Best Supporting Actor nomination (John David Washington was not nominated). Spike Lee got his first ever Best Director nomination for this, but he's obviously made much better films in the past. I think John David Washington is as bad an actor as his father is; he never acts like a real person for some reason. The movie is somewhat entertaining but never reaches any kind of great, poetic energy that some Spike Lee films have. It's an okay film. ** out of ****.
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY: Rami Malek, the star of USA's awesome TV show, Mr. Robot, is Freddy Mercury. The film is basically about Mercury and Queen's rise and fall. It culminates in a pretty accurate, long adaptation of Queen's legendary 1985 Live Aid performance. For what it's worth, go watch that Live Aid performance on YouTube because it's a hell of a lot better than this film. While the movie is entertaining, it's also awful, silly, and really bad in parts. Malek does give a good performance, but the fake teeth he wears in the film are so distracting it's hard to notice much of anything else. Some have said that the film downplays Mercury's homosexuality, and I suppose that's true since his ex-wife is more prominent than any of the men he dated and slept with. What may have hurt the film is that the director, Bryan Singer, was fired late in production thanks to stories that came out that he had sex with underage boys. Singer's name is still on the film, which certainly isn't a good thing since new revelations about him just came out the other day. The film is an entertaining bad movie, if that makes any sense. **1/2
THE FAVOURITE: Yorgos Lanthimos is kind of like David Lynch in that their films are always interesting but usually never that good. The Favourite, much like Lanthimo's last picture, the super bleak and depressing The Killing of a Sacred Deer, is gorgeously shot. The Favourite looks incredible. The acting from the three women, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, and Olivia Coleman (all three received nominations, Stone and Weisz for Best Supporting Actress, Coleman for Best Actress), is excellent. And the script does have some nifty, fun, and amusing dialogue. The story, a tale about a real life English Queen and two women that lie to win her affection in the 1700's, is rather dull. The problem is that the first half is compelling and then it goes downhill, turns into a boring slog, and abruptly ends instead of building up to some sort of exciting, dramatic conclusion. **
GREEN BOOK: This film won the Audience Award at the Toronto Film Festival, which is why everyone says that it's a crowd favorite. The critics have not been so kind, and there's a ton of controversy about the film and how it deals with racism. Some say that it showcases the "white savior" narrative. After I watched it, I felt like it white-washed history. Making a buddy comedy about the horrors of segregation and racism in the 60's does seem to be a bad idea. Viggo Mortensen gives a pretty good performance as an Italian driver that has to drive Mahershala Ali's concert pianist through the South. The film won the Golden Globe for Best Musical or Comedy while a real musical, Bohemian Rhapsody, won the Best Drama Golden Globe. The film is never boring, although it definitely feels wrong and out of place in today's world. I guess this is why a bunch of older men and women, like those that are members of the Old Hollywood Academy, like it. It takes them back to when racism was simpler. **1/2
ROMA: This is Alfonso Cuaron's latest, after a long stint of inactivity since Gravity. Roma was released on Netflix, which is why a lot of people probably actually saw it. It tells the story of a maid in Mexico City in the 70's and it's in black and white. The film looks gorgeous but is boring. It does feature 2018's best scene though, when the maid, played by Yalitza Aparicio (who got a Best Actress nomination), gets to hold her baby in the hospital for a very brief moment before they take it away. The scene is as heartbreaking as 2017's best scene, The Florida Project's next to last scene when the police are taking the daughter's mother away. There are a few sequences in this film that are mesmerizing to look at and beautifully staged. But, unfortunately, it's pretty to look at but that's about it. **
A STAR IS BORN: The first half hour or so of this film, Bradley Cooper's re-make, is great. Then it devolves into Lady Gaga turning into a star and Cooper hitting the bottle. If they had changed the ending and had the two of them reuniting on stage and the ending was happy then this movie would have perhaps been a masterpiece. This will probably end up winning Best Picture. It seems like the one film out of all of these that both audiences and critics have enjoyed. The sequence when Lady Gaga's character is forced on stage to sing, "Falling" with Bradley Cooper early on is the movie's highlight. **1/2
VICE: This was the best film out of all of these nominations. This is Adam McKay's Dick Cheyney biopic. McKay of course made zany comedies like Anchorman and Talladega Nights, so this isn't a boring, serious, biopic. It has tricks and plays around and goes for broke. It's, above all else, both entertaining and horrifying. Christian Bale disappears into the role as Cheyney, and while Sam Rockwell got a Best Supporting Actor nomination for playing George Dubya, I think Steve Carrell was awesome as Donald Rumsfeld. Amy Adams was nominated for Best Supporting Actress as Lynne Cheyney, but I didn't think she did all that much to warrant that. This isn't a great film but it's a good one. ***
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Friday, January 11, 2019
THE TOP 10 MOST ANTICIPATED FILMS OF 2019
1- ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD: This is Quentin Tarantino's latest, a film about a has-been actor and his stunt double, played by Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, in the late sixties during the Manson murders. The actor lives next door to Sharon Tate, hence the connection. The star list is huge: Al Pacino, Margo Robbie as Tate, Kurt Russel, Bruce Dern, Dakota Fanning, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, Lena Dunham. So far, the plot hasn't exactly been revealed. Which is kind of a shame because by the time the film finally hits U.S. theaters after a probable Cannes premiere every secret will be spoiled. But I'm curious; will this be like the rewrite of history that Inglorious Basterds was and we'll have Brad Pitt and DiCaprio hunting down and killing the Manson family members? And I think that sense of mystery is mostly why this is such an anticipated film. It's stars are fictional characters so this isn't strictly a Manson film. Tarantino will obviously never make another great film like Pulp Fiction, but at least he's one of the more entertaining and interesting filmmakers out there. I'm really curious if the studio let him pay big bucks for some of the rare songs off The Beatle's White Album. If I know Tarantino, "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" will be making an appearance.
2- STAR WARS: EPISODE IX: There's no title or trailer yet to this, the final installment in the new trilogy. J.J. Abrams is back on board as director, though, which is a good thing since The Force Awakens was better than The Last Jedi. The problem with this film is that they killed off all of the big stars like Luke and Han and Lea won't be in it for long since Carrie Fisher died in real life. That means we're left with the story of Rey vs. Kylo Ren, which, let's face it, isn't all that exciting. But J.J. Abrams and a massive budget should produce a fun tale. Let's hope it ends on a high note.
3- SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME: So where is he? France? Who cares? It's fucking Spider-Man, the second best super hero (Batman, obviously, is the first). What we do know is that this is the second entry in the Tom-Holland-as-a-high-school-Peter-Parker series and that Jake Gyllenhaal is Mysterio. I loved the first film in this series. It was super fun and action packed and had surprises and was funny. This is what comic book movies should be: fun, not dour like the Avengers films of late.
4- IT: CHAPTER 2: I admit it: I didn't even really enjoy the first It film that came out in 2017 that much. I forget why, but I did read the book right before I saw the movie...so perhaps I didn't like how much they cut out. I think I was also angry that the best part, the clown, wasn't even in it that much, and that they resorted to lame special f/x for a lot of the supposed, "scary" monster bits. This sequel is the kids all grown up and visiting Derry again to battle Pennywise as adults. Bill Hader, James McAvoy, and Jessica Chastain star in this.
5- GLASS: There really isn't much better than going to see the latest M. Night Shymalan film on opening night in a packed, rowdy theater. While his movies usually never turn out great, they always entertain and surprise. And with Split, he seemed to finally get his mojo back after selling his soul and making The Last Airbender and After Earth. His latest, Glass, is the third part of his super hero trilogy that started with Unbreakable, a film I didn't all that much cared for. Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis are back from Unbreakable and James McAvoy and Anya-Taylor Joy are back from Split. I guess this will sort of be like a typical hero vs. villains super hero story? Expect twists, even dumb ones, as usual, and this should be as stupid and as wild as all of Shymalan's features, just how we like them.
6- THE GOLDFINCH: Donna Tartt's mega hit book was one of the best books I've read. Making the 700 plus page epic into a two hour film is, quite obviously, impossible. It's too bad they didn't make this as an HBO mini-series or something, although it doesn't really matter; the book was so great no film will ever touch it. What the film does have going for it is that while Tartt's writing is great, so is the story. It's a hell of a page turner with a fantastic opening sequence and such exotic locales as Vegas after the mortgage crisis and eventually Amsterdam. The film stars Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman, and Sarah Paulson. It was directed by Brooklyn's John Crowley. I think it'll be pretty hard to fuck this one up.
7- GODZILLA 2: KING OF THE MONSTERS: Remember how dumb Garth Evans' Godzilla was? Godzilla turned out to be a good guy fighting other monsters when all we really wanted to see was Godzilla destroying cities? Well looking at this title I'm guessing it's more of the same...but I'm still a sucker for mega-budget, disaster, sci-fi, monster epics. Who isn't? This one stars the girl from Stranger Things and the Nordic vampire from True Blood.
8- THE NEW KING OF COMEDY: This is the new Stephen Chow film, a man that is definitely an acquired taste if there ever was one. Case in point: his movies are always the highest grossing films in China, the world's most populated country, yet most Americans have no idea who the hell Stephen Chow is. Even Jackie Chan is famous in the U.S. these days yet Chow probably never will be. He's written/directed/starred in some classics, though, like Shaolin Soccer, Journey to the West, and Kung-Fu Hustle. I even loved his last feature, The Mermaid. Chow is basically a stupid comedian. The comedy is dumb, silly, ridiculous, yet wonderful. The New King of Comedy is a sequel to his '09 feature and is basically about bad actors. Should make a billion dollars and be hilarious and you'll never even know it exists.
9- ZOMBIELAND 2: I put the first Zombieland on my Best of 2009 list (it came in #7). Ten years is a long time and I vaguely remember it (didn't Bill Murray play himself?). But certainly I loved it for some reason and the whole crew is back for a sequel. Director Ruben Fleischer hasn't done too much of anything good lately (he directed the poorly reviewed Venom last year but did make the entertaining 30 Minutes or Less in 2011), but I love zombie movies and Woody Harrelson and Emma Stone and Jesse Eisenberg are always great. The plot involves "evolved" zombies. So, what, they fly now?
10- JOKER: Joaquin Phoenix, Hollywood's best actor, is playing The Joker. That's really all you need to know. This movie doesn't make any sense of course. This is a DC film. The Joker in the DC films is Jared Leto. They didn't re-cast him, this is just a separate film from the Suicide Squad universe for no reason. Don't worry, nobody understands the logic behind this. Robert DeNiro also stars and the director is the guy that made The Hangover. I suppose this will either be awesome or awful, and so far it doesn't sound or look like the usual Wonder Woman or Aquaman DC films. Who fucking knows? Phoenix should give a performance for the ages, so there's that.
2- STAR WARS: EPISODE IX: There's no title or trailer yet to this, the final installment in the new trilogy. J.J. Abrams is back on board as director, though, which is a good thing since The Force Awakens was better than The Last Jedi. The problem with this film is that they killed off all of the big stars like Luke and Han and Lea won't be in it for long since Carrie Fisher died in real life. That means we're left with the story of Rey vs. Kylo Ren, which, let's face it, isn't all that exciting. But J.J. Abrams and a massive budget should produce a fun tale. Let's hope it ends on a high note.
3- SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME: So where is he? France? Who cares? It's fucking Spider-Man, the second best super hero (Batman, obviously, is the first). What we do know is that this is the second entry in the Tom-Holland-as-a-high-school-Peter-Parker series and that Jake Gyllenhaal is Mysterio. I loved the first film in this series. It was super fun and action packed and had surprises and was funny. This is what comic book movies should be: fun, not dour like the Avengers films of late.
4- IT: CHAPTER 2: I admit it: I didn't even really enjoy the first It film that came out in 2017 that much. I forget why, but I did read the book right before I saw the movie...so perhaps I didn't like how much they cut out. I think I was also angry that the best part, the clown, wasn't even in it that much, and that they resorted to lame special f/x for a lot of the supposed, "scary" monster bits. This sequel is the kids all grown up and visiting Derry again to battle Pennywise as adults. Bill Hader, James McAvoy, and Jessica Chastain star in this.
5- GLASS: There really isn't much better than going to see the latest M. Night Shymalan film on opening night in a packed, rowdy theater. While his movies usually never turn out great, they always entertain and surprise. And with Split, he seemed to finally get his mojo back after selling his soul and making The Last Airbender and After Earth. His latest, Glass, is the third part of his super hero trilogy that started with Unbreakable, a film I didn't all that much cared for. Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis are back from Unbreakable and James McAvoy and Anya-Taylor Joy are back from Split. I guess this will sort of be like a typical hero vs. villains super hero story? Expect twists, even dumb ones, as usual, and this should be as stupid and as wild as all of Shymalan's features, just how we like them.
6- THE GOLDFINCH: Donna Tartt's mega hit book was one of the best books I've read. Making the 700 plus page epic into a two hour film is, quite obviously, impossible. It's too bad they didn't make this as an HBO mini-series or something, although it doesn't really matter; the book was so great no film will ever touch it. What the film does have going for it is that while Tartt's writing is great, so is the story. It's a hell of a page turner with a fantastic opening sequence and such exotic locales as Vegas after the mortgage crisis and eventually Amsterdam. The film stars Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman, and Sarah Paulson. It was directed by Brooklyn's John Crowley. I think it'll be pretty hard to fuck this one up.
7- GODZILLA 2: KING OF THE MONSTERS: Remember how dumb Garth Evans' Godzilla was? Godzilla turned out to be a good guy fighting other monsters when all we really wanted to see was Godzilla destroying cities? Well looking at this title I'm guessing it's more of the same...but I'm still a sucker for mega-budget, disaster, sci-fi, monster epics. Who isn't? This one stars the girl from Stranger Things and the Nordic vampire from True Blood.
8- THE NEW KING OF COMEDY: This is the new Stephen Chow film, a man that is definitely an acquired taste if there ever was one. Case in point: his movies are always the highest grossing films in China, the world's most populated country, yet most Americans have no idea who the hell Stephen Chow is. Even Jackie Chan is famous in the U.S. these days yet Chow probably never will be. He's written/directed/starred in some classics, though, like Shaolin Soccer, Journey to the West, and Kung-Fu Hustle. I even loved his last feature, The Mermaid. Chow is basically a stupid comedian. The comedy is dumb, silly, ridiculous, yet wonderful. The New King of Comedy is a sequel to his '09 feature and is basically about bad actors. Should make a billion dollars and be hilarious and you'll never even know it exists.
9- ZOMBIELAND 2: I put the first Zombieland on my Best of 2009 list (it came in #7). Ten years is a long time and I vaguely remember it (didn't Bill Murray play himself?). But certainly I loved it for some reason and the whole crew is back for a sequel. Director Ruben Fleischer hasn't done too much of anything good lately (he directed the poorly reviewed Venom last year but did make the entertaining 30 Minutes or Less in 2011), but I love zombie movies and Woody Harrelson and Emma Stone and Jesse Eisenberg are always great. The plot involves "evolved" zombies. So, what, they fly now?
10- JOKER: Joaquin Phoenix, Hollywood's best actor, is playing The Joker. That's really all you need to know. This movie doesn't make any sense of course. This is a DC film. The Joker in the DC films is Jared Leto. They didn't re-cast him, this is just a separate film from the Suicide Squad universe for no reason. Don't worry, nobody understands the logic behind this. Robert DeNiro also stars and the director is the guy that made The Hangover. I suppose this will either be awesome or awful, and so far it doesn't sound or look like the usual Wonder Woman or Aquaman DC films. Who fucking knows? Phoenix should give a performance for the ages, so there's that.
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
THE TOP 10 MOST ANTICIPATED FILMS OF 2018 REVISITED
1-SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY: The script is good. Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "The Empire Strikes Back," and "The Return of the Jedi," wrote it with his son. The final product is unfortunately not as good as the script. Ron Howard came on board late as director and it kind of shows. The film feels slapped together and never really achieves a unified whole. It is entertaining in spots, though, has some cool looking set designs, and does feature a great performance by Donald Glover as Lando. **1/2
2- HOLMES & WATSON: This movie was an ultra-bomb. Not only did it fail at the box office, it even failed with both critics and audiences. I didn't see it but bet it's still hilarious.
3- THE PREDATOR: A disappointment. After Shane Black's masterpiece, "The Nice Guys," what could go wrong? Apparently everything. While it does feature some of Black's trademarks, it mostly seems like just another bad, dumb "Predator" sequel made by an unknown hack that used to direct video game commercials. *1/2
4- FANTASTIC BEASTS: CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD: I enjoyed this, although it's not as good as the original film. Everyone seemed to dislike this film for some reason. ***
5- ISLE OF DOGS: Good film, although not as good as Wes Anderson's live action pictures. And it's not as good as the trailer, as I predicted. ***
6- THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT: Boring. Who makes a movie about a serial killer boring? You'd think it'd be difficult. The movie does have a great last sequence, though, when Jack travels down to hell and tries to cross the bridge back up to Earth. Finally, after two dull hours the movie gets interesting for ten or so minutes. *
7- JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM: This is another movie that a lot of people hated that I thought was super entertaining and awesome. I give up, really. If you think this movie is bad then what the hell did you think of "Jurassic Park 3"? Seriously. The scene of them running down the hill while a volcano is going off and dinosaurs are running past them is one of the best scenes in all of the "Jurassic Park" films. This was sheer popcorn bliss in my eyes. ***1/2
8- EARLY MAN: Amusing, albeit not as funny as Aardman's other works. I'm still laughing thinking about the staring dog from "Shaun the Sheep". **1/2
9- HALLOWEEN: I didn't see this. It got good reviews.
10- X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX: This was pushed to February 2019 and then June of 2019. That doesn't bode well but it still looks great.
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