Big Hero 6

Big Hero 6 directed by Don Hall and Christ Williams, with the voices of Scott Adsit, Ryan Potter, James Cromwell, and Alan Tudyk.

Just a good little family film with enough hero antics to make it completely worth the time to see.  I also like how science is being encouraged with this movie - kind of reminded me a little bit of Phineas and Ferb, which is not a bad thing.  Good character relationship between the main character and robot, with loads of laughs in between.  The action sequences are epic matching those of any action movie.  

Whiplash

Whiplash written and directed by Damien Chazelle, starring Miles Teller, J. K. Simmons, and Paul Riser.

Another good example of how to do a good low budget movie.  Who would have thought this movie would have been as good as it turned out?  I sure didn't but Damien Chazelle did a great job of drawing me into this world of drumming and music. 

One of the best things to do is create a good character and then have the audience understand his journey and desires.  I know next to nothing about music, especially drumming, but this movie made me empathize with the main character.  I fully understood his commitment and desire to be accepted by his teacher and to be the best drummer ever.  The teacher is played with manic, insanity by J. K. Simmons, channeling the drill Sargent from Full Metal Jacket to perfection.  He is the fire and torch of the story as he tries to mold and shape the main character.  Even when he's not on screen his mere presence and personality can be felt influencing and guiding the main character. 

Mix in some spot on direction for a drumming movie with songs that rip and roar complete with pacing that matches the intensity of drumming.  The acting of Miles Teller, who plays the main character in quietness which full compliments Simmons loudness and physical intensity.  But Teller matches Simmons one for one when he picks up the sticks and starts drumming as he lets them channel and talk with all the passion and rage bubbling up inside of him. The final set piece is master class of direction, writing, editing, and character all rolled up into an ending of an extremely enjoyable movie. 

Boyhood

Boyhood written and directed by Richard Linklater, starring Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Lorelei Linklater, and Ethan Hawke.

This movie had no right being as watchable as it turned out being.  Ultimately it's a gimmick movie where the director Richard Linklater spent 12 years making this movie as he brought together the actors of the movie once a year for that span of time to chronicle the life a boy through 12 years of his life.  The gimmick works though and is not used a crutch.  We get to literally see him grow up before our eyes without the aide of special effects.  It is truly something remarkable to behold as we even get to see the other actors and actresses age before us.  It's an experience I've never had watching a movie before.  The movie is almost 3 hours long and I honestly didn't think the movie was going to be able to sustain the narration for those hours but it did and did incredibly well.

Another factor that makes this movie even more interesting is that nothing crazy happens in the boy's life we just 12 different glimpses into time periods of his life and certain "normal" events that happen around him.  We even get to see him grow into his personality and philosophies as he becomes a way more interesting character as he ages than he was a kid - which is kind of the point with life. 

This movie works on all levels: acting, story line, believable characters, directing, pacing, and production design to create an intimate epic movie of boy's journey through life.  If you are a movie fan of all genres this is a movie you have to see.







  

The Shining Girls

The Shining Girls written by Lauren Beukes.

There was a lot of hype going into reading this book.  I like the concept of the time traveling serial killer.  But I can't say that by the books end I was completely sold on the execution of the story.  I also like answers, answers of any kind are better than just floating questions marks or answers that don't seem to fit into world created. No answers are given by the books end, so on that part I wasn't fully sold on this book.

The one thing this book does have going for it is the main character.  Once her story finally kicked in the book really took off as her character was, literally, the driving force of the story.  So much so that when she wasn't on the page the story was lacking.  I can't say as I bought into the whole analogy of  book being about women's issues and how society is keeping women subjugated.  I understand these women "shine" who the killer is killing but there needed to be more explanation as to why they were shining instead of just leaving it up to the reader to decide why they were shining.  If they were shining and the killer was killing them wouldn't the future or time be affected in some way?  These are the answers that need to answered or even have the questions brought up.  Sadly this book is lacking in those areas.

Beukes does have great story telling abilities, as at times her ability to drew me into the world of the story were very similar to Stephen King - this is by no way a bad thing either.  She was very capable of describing the different times without overdoing it.  The main problem was is that it took way over 100 pages before I was fully engaged with the story and I found the serial killers scenes rather boring as they took me away from the story of the main character - who's very presence was enough to propel the story forward.  Such was such a force of nature and thoroughly detailed person that she completely dwarfed the serial killer in all ways possible. 

What If

What If directed by Michael Dowse, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Megan Park, Adam Driver, Mackenzie Davie, and Rafe Spall.

With any romantic genre movie the two leads must have good chemistry.  No good chemistry equals no good romantic movie.  Randcliffe and Kazan nail the chemistry out of the park in this movie.  Every scene they are in together is oozing and saturated with it.  They are the main reason to see this movie and completely make this movie watching.  Along with a good screenplay that doesn't misrepresent the two main characters but treats them as real characters.  The same goes with their friends in their lives, making every situation they get into not seem artificial but well thought out with some dialogue that doesn't feel contrived but flows with the characters.  Again this isn't a movie trying to break new ground but if you're in the mood for a good romantic movie, you can't really do any worse than this movie and you won't feel like you've wasted time watching it.  

A Walk Among the Tombstones

A Walk Among the Tombstones written and directed by Scott Frank, starring Liam Neeson, Maurice Compte, Dan Stevens, and David Harbour.

Finally Liam Neeson has found a movie that doesn't try to retread his movie Taken.  Don't get me wrong though it still is Neeson kicking ass and taking a few names but it's done in a completely different way than Taken.  That's a good thing.

This is basically a cops and robbers type of story where Liam Neeson is trying to find a serial killer.  This movie doesn't break any new ground but it's told in a good manner as the story line lets Neeson's characters take forefront in the narrative as he guides the viewer through the twists and turns of the detective story.  It's told well enough, with enough character touches, and back story that I wouldn't mind another couple of movies with this character as long as Neeson is playing him.   

The Drop

The Drop directed by Michael R. Roskam, starring Tom Hardy, James Gandolfini, Noomi Rapace, John Ortiz, and Matthias Schoenaerts.

This is a little gem of a movie I stumbled upon with little information about it except the name Dennis Lehane.  I can tell you that alone makes this movie worth checking out.

I have come to an understanding over the years that if a movie is either written by Dennis Lehane or based on a book by him - I had better check out that movie.  It is bound to be good.  This movie has a double whammy of Lehane - it's based on a short story by him and adapted to screen by him.  It's 90 minutes of good story telling, great characters, very good direction, and some great acting by Tom Hardy.  This is an underrated movie not talked about by a lot people.  It doesn't try to reinvent the wheel but what it does best is just use simple storytelling to tell a simple story.  It's not hard to get caught up with the action and storytelling going on nor to get fully involved in the characters.

Lehane has become a master at the gritty, crime scene that slowly boils under a city.  He writes some really good characters and uses them as a guide through the underbelly.  This story is no different as Tom Hardy plays the main character masterfully and continues to add to his filmography of different roles played.  This characters is soft spoken and for the most part gentle.  There is nothing loud or abrasive about him but Hardy manages to fully bring him to life in quietness and subtle eye movements that speak volumes without saying a word.  Lehane is really good at bringing characters to life without using much dialogue but what dialogue there is has to be paid attention to because its not just there for the sake of being there.  There's a purpose to it and every scene in this small, tightly paced movie is necessary.  Every move of a character has purpose as it helps to explain them and flesh them out.

 

Hercules

Hercules directed Brett Ratner, starring Dwayne Johnson, Ian Mcshane, John Hurt, Rufus Sewell, Aksel Hennie, Ingrid Bolso Berdal, and Joseph Fiennes.

I came into this movie with low expectations, then this movie went lower than those expectations, that is how bad this movie was.  Ever cliche that is associated with a fantasy movie was here, not one hair of cliche was out of place.  There is no logic or even any semblance of structure to anything in this movie which would be all right if this movie just decided it was going to be over the top and then acted accordingly.  But this movie takes itself way to seriously as its inner logic betrays everything about it.

The only saving grave about this movie was the side characters around Hercules.  They were way more interesting than any aspect of this movie.  I just wish the writers could have figured that out.  It reminded me of the movie Kingdom of Heaven with Liam Neeson and his band of merry knights that died about 20 minutes into the movie despite the fact they were all way more interesting than Orlando Bloom's character who then had to support the whole movie.  At least in this movie they didn't kill off the more interesting characters, they just didn't have the common sense to give them more scenes.

Kingsman: The Secret Service

Kingsman: The Secret Service directed by Matthew Vaughan, starring Colin Firth, Samuel Jackson, Mark Strong, Michael Cain.

This is basically just a movie to kick back and have good time watching.  It doesn't take itself too seriously and knows what kind of movie it is.  It is completely over the top but it knows this and just rolls with it, like a movie that is going to be that.  This movie isn't trying to reinvent the wheel as it harkens back the fun times of the Sean Connery and Roger Moore James Bond movies.

It was also fun to watch Colin Firth in an action film.  I never thought I'd see him one and does a great job.  It was much like it was watching Helen Mirren in Red.  He helped to sale this movie as he played around with the suave British spy.  

Make no mistake though this movie is extremely violent.  One scene in particular was insanely violent but I will point out that scene did have a purpose storyline-wise and wasn't just there for the violent aspect of it.  It did serve a purpose. 

So when this movie comes out on DVD, just sit back, put it in the player, and have a good time watching it. 

Blood Ties

Blood Ties directed by Guillaume Canet, starring Clive Own, Billy Crudup, Marion Cotillard, Mila Kunis, James Cann, Noah Emmerich, and Lili Taylor.

The trailer for this movie was a hundred times better than this bore of movie turned out.  Even with all the actors in it, it still was way to slow and took to long to get where it was going.  The story line was all over the place and never seemed to fully settle down on anyone to guide the viewer through the movie.  There weren't enough acting scenes to fully flesh out the characters leaving the viewer to fill in the pieces of what was going on and for having this many characters, that's not a good thing.  There is a good story lurking underneath this movie but it needed a better screenplay to pull it off.  The direction and production design were the only good things this about this movie everything else was a let down.

Aliens

Aliens written and directed by James Cameron, starring Sigourny Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn, Paul Reiser, Bill Paxton, and Lance Henriksen.

It has been about 10 years since I've seen this movie and I've got say this movie has held up extremely well over the time since it came out in the late 80's.  This movie is easily one of the best 100 movie ever made and would make my list of the top 20 movies of all time.  I don't know what more I can say about it.  This movie defines categorization as it mixes in all kinds of genres: sci-fi, horror, thriller, and action, to create a movie experience unlike any other made.  It's one of the best sequels of all time and personally I think it's better than Alien even though it is differently made beast than the straight up horror aspect of Alien.  It's a beautifully executed marriage of idea, concept, production, direction, casting, acting, and everything else that goes into making a movie.  

Perfect casting along with perfect acting.  Sigourny Weaver out does herself from the first film and embodies one of the first and best action women ever.  She brings her character into a completely different world of motherhood as he battles the alien Queen doing the same thing.  This idea of motherhood shouldn't have worked but it's believably pulled off.  This movie also great at creating the characters of the marines in ways movies have been trying (and failing mind you) to recreate since this movie came out.  These characters really come alive not just by the actors playing them but by a screenplay that treats them as characters despite not a lot of them having more than a handful of lines.  But what lines they have breathe life into them and then the actors playing them just help to make them real.  Their dialogue is immediately quotable and funny without seeming to be forced.  And it flows with a familiar banter and intimacy among people who have spent a lot of time together - it feels genuine and real.

 Pitch perfect pacing with never an out of place scene in it's over 2 hour run time, which is very unheard of with movies today, especially from thriller hybrid.  Cameron pulled all stops on direction as he fully created a believable world with the help of a production team that completely complimented his vision.  He actually directed the movie using camera moves that show cased the detailed job the production team did on creating the sets.  They are sets but they never feel like sets and his camera movies around them in ways that make those sets come alive.  Even today Cameron is not a person obsessed with the MTV style of editing or jumps cuts.  He doesn't do this but I still felt like was extremely close to what was going on in this movie. 

Lastly the Alien creature itself is my personal favorite of all Hollywood monsters as it has imbedded itself into my mind since I first saw these movie back-to-back when I was 15.  That experience has never left me as I've come to love the design and culture of these "monsters".  I hate the three sequels after this movie but I own them and will watch them from time to time just because they are part of the Alien series - that is the only reason.