When growing up, I wasn't into the comic book or video game phase, so my knowledge of these arenas is sparse at best. So when I went to see "Warcraft", I had no Idea that, even though it's based on a video game series, that there would be more than one film to carry on this obvious franchise. I'll have to do my homework more thoroughly in the future, because this truly became bogged down a bit as the story played out.
Humans and orcs clash in this feature-film adaptation of the popular video-game series. After realizing that their home is becoming uninhabitable, a race of orcs travel to the peaceful realm of Azeroth. There, they encounter the realm's human denizens, who fight against the invaders. In time, an orc warrior, Durotan (Tony Kebbell) and orc female Garona (Paula Patton) forge an alliance with a group of humans including Anduin (Travis Fimmel), Llane Wrynn (Dominic Cooper)--king of Azeroth, and two guardians, Medivh (Ben Foster) and Khadgar (Ben Schnetzer) in order to overthrow the orc's corrupt leader, Gul'dan (Daniel Wu) and bring peace once again to the land.
Others to round out the cast are Robert Kazinsky as Orgrim, Clancy Brown as Blackhand, Ruth Negga as Lady Taria, Anna Galvin as Draka, Callum Keith Rennie as Moroes, Burkely Duffield as Callan, Ryan Robbins as Karos and Dean Redman as Varis.
This was directed with gritty intensity by Duncan Jones ("Moon" '09, "Source Code" '11) plus a short. Even though this filmmaker doesn't have an elaborate amount of experience, the work he's done stands on its own, especially "Moon", which was basically a sole performance by Sam Rockwell which takes talented directing for any actor to pull that off. The adrenaline and explosiveness of this was staged and paced well. It was written by Jones and Charles Leavitt based on a story and characters by Chris Metzen. This certainly was a well structured script--Leavitt alone has a tremendous amount of experience, but about half way through, there was a bit of slowness and a couple of places where it looked as though they didn't know what to do. Otherwise once the storyline got past the half mark, this story increasingly improved. And how many films of this genre have we seen? A ton! Between "The Immortals" and the "Lord of the Rings " trilogy and many others, these types of films are getting a bit tiresome. One nice aspect was that of the chemistry between Fimmel's Anduin and Kebbell's Durotan. The camaraderie between the two was refreshing. Of course, the visual effects predominantly designed by ILM (Industrial, Light & Magic) were absolutely seamless which made for a killer large screen presence.
Certainly if you're a lover of this particular genre, you'll be in medieval heaven. It is a truly popcorn flick that is so fitting of the summer movie season all in a nifty IMAX and 3D format to give one that grandiose feel.
Out of 4 Stars: 2.5 Rated: PG-13 123mins.
Films about magic are always a crowd pleaser, because we are often asking, "how do those magicians do those tricks?" Couple this aspect with a sting operation, and you end up with "Now You See Me 2". This is basically the follow up of last year's "Now You See Me" whereas one group was 'stung' so now this is get back time--a kind of turn-the-table story with, of course, amazing visual effects.
One year after outwitting the FBI and winning the public's adulation with their Robin Hood-style magic spectacles, The Four Horsemen, J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) newcomer Lulu (Lizzy Caplan) and their leader Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) resurface for a comeback performance in hopes of exposing the unethical practices of a tech magnate. The man behind their vanishing act is no other than Walter Mabry (Daniel Radcliffe), a tech prodigy who threatens the Horsemen into pulling off their most impossible heist yet. Their only hope is to perform one last unprecedented stunt to clear their names and reveal the mastermind behind it all.
Others to round out the cast are Jay Chou as Li, Sanaa Lathan as Deputy Director Natalie Austin, Michael Caine as Arthur Tressler, Morgan Freeman as Thaddeus Bradley, David Warshofsky as Agent Cowan and Richard Laing as Lionel Shrike.
This was directed by a filmmaker that typically delves into the sensationalistic type films, Jon M. Chu ("Step Up 2: The Streets" '08, "Step Up 3D" '10, "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" '13, "Jem and the Holograms" '15) plus others. As compared to his other projects, this was a somewhat toned-down film unlike its counterpart--huge visual effects and lots of music and dancing. This was, in a way, within his comfort zone, but not really in some ways. The original was directed by Louis Leterrier, and even though the directors are different, there was that similar feel to each film. It was written by Ed Solomon based on a story by Solomon and Pete Chiarelli which is based on characters by Boaz Yakin and Edward Ricourt. What actually saves this film is the fact that Solomon wrote this as he did the original--talk about similarity. Solomon is a seasoned writer and knows how to capture his audience with a script he has delineated. "Now You See Me 3" has already been announced, so hopefully Solomon has signed over to pen that screenplay as well. With the exception of a couple of slow moments and a bit of choppiness, this storyline keeps the audience rolling right along. It was great to see the cast maximally intact with a couple of new characters as well.
This sky's the limit with this franchise as far as plot development is concerned, so with this consummate cast and tight-knit writing, this franchise could potentially go on as long as the audience is willing to plunk down that money to see a new 'act' unfold before our very eyes.
Out of 4 Stars: 3 Rated: PG-13 129mins.
Certainly one of my favorite forms of comedy is that of the satire or parody. It typically comes across as a dry form of the truth done to poke fun at or to make light of, so when executing this, one must be a honed writer to pull this off well. Films like "Thank You for Smoking" '05 and "Zombieland" '09 are satirical films in which the dialogue was slick and cutting and hilarious. So when "Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping" came along, why did these writers feel like this was a satire which is clearly was not?
When his new album fails to sell records, pop/rap superstar Conner4real (Andy Samberg) goes into a major tailspin and watches his celebrity high life begin to collapse. He'll try anything to bounce back, anything except reuniting with his old rap group The Style Boyz which includes Owen (Jorma Taccone) and Lawrence (Akiva Schaffer). His manager Harry (Tim Meadows) and publicist Paula (Sarah Silverman) even start a tour for Conner with another artist, Hunter (Chris Redd) as the lead in to Conner's concerts hoping that will spark more audience interest only with Hunter eventually garnering more popularity than Conner. What is this self-absorbed, egotistical, narcissistic 'artist' to do?
Others to round out the cast are Maya Rudolph as Deborah, Joan Cusack as Tilly, Imogen Poots as Ashley, Edgar Blackman as Eddie and James Buckley as Sponge.
This was directed spot on by Akiva Schaffer ("Hot Rod" '07, "The Watch" '12) and Jorma Taccone ("MacGruder" '10). These guys certainly know how to pace and stage the newer actors today in a way that makes their films hip and contemporary. It will be interesting to see what they will pull off next. However, where the direction exceled, the writing by Andy Samberg, Schaffer and Taccone did not. Even though the premise here certainly was great fodder for an incredible satire, the execution simply was sold out to gratuitous four-letter-words, toilet humor with only a handful of lines even worthy to laugh at. Comedy, especially satire should be conveyed effortlessly--as a 'knee jerk' reaction. When a writer has to take its audience by the juggler and scream, "hey! look at me!", it no longer is funny. Comedy isn't just words. It's how those words are played out along with the proper timing and delivery that goes into a well honed comedy that makes it truly funny. Why can't the newer Hollywood writers today get this concept!? These writers should view some past screenplays that are satires, at their very best, and take note. Sure some of the lines were funny, but even some of those lines seeming forced. These guys have a ton of TV and shorts to their credit, so maybe they should stick to that medium for a while to hone their talent a bit more. As mentioned prior, the premise is classic, it's just too bad that a more cutting edge dialogue couldn't have followed.
You be the judge. If you like satirical comedy, watch this tell me what you think, otherwise I would pass on this and maybe Netflix or rent this down the road.
Out of 4 Stars: 1.5 Rated: R 87mins.
There are conventional, even formulaic films out there and there are unconventional, expressly quirky and bizarre films out there and never the twain shall meet. "The Lobster" definitely falls in the latter category to the point of, not only does it have a bizarre premise, but with an extremely quirky development of character as well.
This is a love story, of sorts, set in a dystopian near future where single people, whether by choice, divorced or widowed, are arrested and transferred to a creepy hotel. There they are obliged to find a matching mate in 45 days. If they fail to do so, they are transformed into an animal of their choice, and released into the woods.
This story centers on David (Colin Farrell) who has just been dumped by his wife, and is sent to a hotel for single adults and is urged to find a new significant other within the 'magical' 45 day period. He meets several quirky individuals including the lisping man (John C. Reilly), the limping man (Ben Whishaw), the nosebleed woman (Jessica Barden) and the heartless woman (Angeliki Papoulia). David eventually meets a runaway from the hotel (Rachel Weisz), and the two begin a secret romance, even though, at this point, they've breached a 'loner' dystopian sect headed up by loner leader (Lea Seydoux).
Others to round out the cast are Olivia Colman as Hotel Manager, Ashley Jensen as Biscuit Woman, Ariane Labed as The Maid and Michael Smiley as Loner Swimmer.
This was certainly creatively directed by Yorgos Lanthimos ("My Best Friend" '01, "Kinetta" '05, "Dogtooth" '09, "Alps" '11, "Venice 70: Future Reloaded" (Documentary) '13). By his very resume this filmmaker puts the Q in quirky. Everyone has an otherwise flat affect expecting nothing from each other as characters. This surely is purposed in his direction and comes across with dry comedic delivery. Lanthimos and his writing partner Efthymis Filippou wrote this extremely unconventional script and I'm not sure if I like it or not. Although the script is well executed, the premise is far from formulaic--in fact so far that the storyline can be confusing in how the story is laid out. There were problems with the storyline that begs particular questions, such as: why do single adults have to be partnered in 45 days or they will be transformed into an animal? Why not 50 days, a year or why at all? This was never explained. I suppose some things in this just went with assumption that this is just how the situation was at this point in our society. This is definitely a film that is clearly not made for a mass audience appeal. Truly a smaller based audience could tolerate or even understand this film. One aspect of interest was the fact that, other than David, no else had an actual name in this. They were named after what they did or were, which certainly makes this an original idea.
As stated above, this film is certainly not everyone's cup of tea. It starts abruptly and ends that way--neither end giving the audience much to analyze. If you're a moviegoer that wants and yearns for a film with a distinct beginning, middle and end, this will confuse and confound you. Otherwise, the direction and acting certainly are worthy of a viewing if you just want to have a film study that has a 2 hour time slot.
Out of 4 Stars: 2.5 Rated: R 118mins.
In a movie season that is fraught with ninja turtles, jacked up super heroes, amazing fantasies and several animated films, we have, before us, a small film rooted in humans actually connecting instead of driving us farther apart. Not too many romantic drama/comedy films in our past I can truly respect, mostly for their predictability, but this story is compelling enough to capture my attention without the expectation of a formulaic script.
Lou Clark (Emilia Clarke) knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in the Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick (Matthew Lewis). What she doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or knowing what's coming keeps her sane. Will Traynor (Sam Claflin) knows his being hit by a motorcycle leaving him paralyzed took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that. What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of color by being hired by Will's mother Camilla (Janet McTeer) to be Will's caregiver along with Nathan (Stephen Peacocke). And neither Will or Lou knows they're going to change each other for all time.
Others to round out the cast are Charles Dance as Will's father, Samantha Spiro as Josie Clark, Lou's mother, Brendan Coyle as Bernard Clark, Lou's father, Jenna Coleman as Katrina 'Treena' Clark, Lou's sister, Alan Breck as Grandad, Henri Kirkham as Thomas Clark, Vanessa Kirby as Alicia, Ben Lloyd-Hughes as Rupert and Pablo Raybould as Frank.
This was delineated well by director Thea Sharrock (theatre direction) plus TV. This is her film directorial debut with a good deal of theatre directing to her credit. The chemistry between Claflin and Clarke was amazing and this has everything to do with the directing. Hopefully she will continue directing more films, because she appears to be quite at home with it. It was written by Jojo Moyes based on her novel. Since this is her first screenplay, I'll be much more forgiving. I say that because this was a bit clumsy in the cohesiveness of script, but since she's actually a novelist, she gave this screenplay an amazing attempt. The 'bread and butter' of this story is that of the connection of Will and Lou--this is why you want to see this film. The other actors, although pivotal, were there to fill in the gap of the growing connection between these two main characters. Even when there were places of presumed sappiness within the story, it was written in a way that forgiveness of it was appropriate. The casting of both Claflin as Will and Clarke as Lou was genius. Claflin has that seemingly pompous way about him until he starts to connect with Lou and Lou has this electricity about her and is so expressive, wearing those bright colored clothes, that the extreme opposite characteristics they hold makes it that much sweeter when they start to truly connect.
Is this a perfectly written story? No, but as this story continues to unfold before your eyes, you'll see a human, touching story that we just don't see nowadays. Hopefully this film will connect with the movie going audience amongst all the big-budget films out there so those watching this touching film can actually see what it's like to be human.
Out of 4 Stars: 3.5 Rated: PG-13 110mins.
Motion picture history is fraught with period films, so much so that Hollywood has had a perennial love affair with them. And rightfully so since the brunt of them are typically well acted, directed and written, not to mention the production values are finely detailed. What makes "Love & Friendship" stand out from the rest of the period films is that it is written as a comedy instead of the standard dramatic fair we've come to expect.
Beautiful young widow Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) visits to the estate of her in-laws to wait out the colourful rumours about her dalliances circulating through polite society. Whilst ensconced there, she decides to secure a husband for herself and a future for her eligible but reluctant daughter, Frederica (Morfydd Clark). In doing so she attracts the simultaneous attentions of the young, handsome Reginald DeCourcy (Xavier Samuel), the rich and silly Sir James Martin (Tom Bennett) and the divinely handsome, but married, Lord Manwaring (Lochlann O'Mearain), complicating matters severely. And with her using her American friend Alicia Johnson (Chloe Sevigny) to assist her with these intentions, the sparks soon fly, especially with Mr. Johnson (Stephen Fry), Alicia's older husband and Charles Vernon (Justin Edwards).
Others to round out the cast are Emma Greenwell as Catherine DeCourcy Vernon, Jenn Murray as Lady Lucy Manwaring, Sophie Radermacher as Miss Maria Manwaring, Jemma Redgrave as Lady DeCourcy, Reginald's mother, James Fleet as Sir Reginald DeCourcy, Reginald Jr.'s father and Kelly Campbell as Mrs. Cross.
This was wittily directed by Whit Stillman ("Metropolitan" '90, "Barcelona" '94, "The Last Days of Disco" '98, "Damsels in Distress" '11) plus TV. I say wittily because the comedic format was witty in an extremely powder dry way. The way he was able to showcase his actors in conveying the lines in this being humorous in that powder dry way was brilliant. He hasn't a ton of work to his credit, but what he has is first rate. It was written by Stillman based on Jane Austen's novella "Lady Susan". Where Stillman excelled with direction, his writing, however structured and executed well, delved in a storyline that was a bit two-dimensional and boring. It truly took half of the 92 minute running time for this to get off the ground. Once it did, was a nice, tight little script. A storyline about the social elite's indiscretions and their cattiness about them is simply too taxing to keep one's attention for too long. Again, this was written well, and I realize this is a comedy, albeit dry, but couldn't the source been one that covered another subject matter still keeping the comedic format? Certainly if Stillman wrote on another subject, Jane Austen's novella obviously wouldn't have been the original source for the film, but would that actually suffice? This could garner some Oscar nods come that time for costumes, production design, cinematography and even acting for Beckinsale. Time will tell.
Period films are typically those that attract different types of audiences, given the star power and or storyline. With this, the acting was amazing, however the storyline was simply about a subject that one could cover in half the time, otherwise it just gets too bogged down.
Out of 4 Stars: 3 Rated: PG 92mins.
Well folks, it's Memorial Day, which is not only remembering the soldiers that have perished both past and present, but also it's a time for BBQ's and big-budget, high adrenaline films like "X-Men: Apocalypse". A couple of weeks ago I thought Hollywood forgot it was the summer movie season, but after this film, they may have been a bit slow on the draw, but it looks like we're in for a number of the films we've come to know and love.
Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshipped as a god. Apocalypse (David Isaac), the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel's X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. The year now is 1983. Upon awakening after thousands of years, Apocalypse is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto/Erik (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven/Mistique (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young X-Men, including Hank/Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Peter/Quicksilver (Evan Peters), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) and Scott/ Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.
Others to round out the cast are Rose Byrne as Moira Mactaggert, a CIA agent, Josh Helman as Col. William Stryker, Lucas Till as Alex/Havok, brother of Scott's, Kodi Smit-McPhee as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler, Ben Hardy as Angel, Alexandra Shipp as Ororo Munroe/Storm, Lana Condor as Jubilee and Olivia Munn as Psylocke.
This was directed by a filmmaker who's probably the king of directing these types of films, Bryan Singer ("The Usual Suspects" '95, "X-Men" 2000, "X-Men 2" '03, "Superman Returns" '06, "Valkyrie" '08, "X-Men: Days of Future Past" '14) plus others. It takes a honed director to bring all the characters together in a massive project as this and still convey the story at hand so as to guide the audience and Singer does this incredibly well. He's directed almost all of the installments of this franchise, so it's kind of his baby. It was written by the incomparable Simon Kinberg based on a story by Singer, Kinberg, Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris. This, unfortunately, is where the trouble ensues. Even though Kinberg, who solely wrote this screenplay, is a consummate and experienced writer, there were four people involved in the story of this which the screenplay is based on. I've said it before and I'll say it again, there are too many hands in the pot involved in this where the different ideas coming from all angles lend to too much choppiness and a diminished continuity. Kinberg and Singer should have been the only ones involved in the ideas of the story here with Kinberg writing the final screenplay. It would have been far more concise and clear in how the story was to be laid out. Trust me, it was an admiral attempt, especially with all the avenues used for ideas, but stick with less people involved and it just goes smoother. And, of course, the visual effects predominantly designed by MPC (Moving Picture Company), Digital Domain and Rising Sun Pictures were absolutely seamless, but one would have to be living under a rock not to realize this.
This is the quintessential summer flick replete with explosions, tons of action, high adrenaline-- all the elements to keep those 18-34 single males in those seats--ca-ching! But hey, this is summer and this is why we go to the multiplex during this time of year-- to escape and zone on some of the best fluff money can buy. Enjoy!
Out of 4 Stars: 3 Rated: PG-13 144mins.
When growing up, I wasn't into the comic book or video game phase, so my knowledge of these arenas is sparse at best. So when I went to see "Warcraft", I had no Idea that, even though it's based on a video game series, that there would be more than one film to carry on this obvious franchise. I'll have to do my homework more thoroughly in the future, because this truly became bogged down a bit as the story played out. 
