THE MASTER Review

THE MASTER Review

By Darin Skaggs

  

     One of the greatest working directors today is Paul Thomas Anderson.  He has only made five feature films, Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood.  Almost all of them have made a big impact on me.  Now Anderson has come out with his sixth film called, The Master.  It makes for an intriguing film with wonderful performances and beautiful cinematography.  The film also leaves you nearly flabbergasted at what the film’s themes are and confused at what it is trying to say.

     The Master is a film about a war vet named Freddie Quill played by Joaquin Phoenix.  He is a man who leaves the war and is not all there.  He goes from job to job getting in more trouble with every job.  Eventually he ends up on a boat.  On this boat Freddie meets a man named Dow played by an Anderson regular, Philip Seamore Hoffman.  This man is the leader of a group called The Cause.  The two automatically bond and form a weird and sometimes awkward relationship.

     The performances in this film, like in all of Anderson’s works, are spectacular.  Amy Adams, who plays Dow’s wife and is not in the film very long, gives one of the films best performances.  The film also has great supporting cast, with great acting from Jesse Plemmons as Dow’s son, Laura Dunn who plays a devout follower of The Cause.  One of the greatest performances in the movie is from Hoffman, but the outstanding performance comes from Joaquin Phoenix.  He gives it his all in the film.  At one point he can be quietly mumbling and another moment he violently lashing out.  His body posture through the whole film is like a man who is broken and he only gets worse throughout the film.

     The film has many different elements but its main focus is on The Cause, which is a group that believes in some sort of reincarnation and that we can look back and see who we once were.  One lady wakes up from a tranche and says see thinks she was at one point a man.  When Freddie enters Dow’s life he seems to become the wrench inside The Cause’s grinders and in some strange way at other times he makes them move faster.  Their relationship is confusing.  At one point they seem to have a father/son relationship in which Dow is trying to make him just like him and make him the best man he could be.  Also they seem to become best friends, for no good reason I may add.  The both of them have a strange friendship and a competitive spirit.  Dow doesn’t just bring out the best in Freddie but Freddie brings out the best in Dow.  Dow calls Freddie “the bravest man he’s ever met.”  Freddie takes this as a challenge and those words start him to become as good if not better than Dow.

     When I finished watching other films by Anderson I basically got what it was about or what it was trying to say.  It is impossible to fully understand what an Anderson film is saying, but it is possible to understand a little bit.  Punch-Drunk Love is about anger and depression.  There Will Be Blood is about greed and loneliness.  Magnolia is about fate.  When I came out of The Master I had no idea what this film was trying to say.  I honestly did not know if what I saw was a good film or not.  I knew it had things I loved, such as I previously mentioned the performances are amazing.  A lot of the shots are amazingly beautiful and will stick in your head for a while.  You will most likely after watching the film will say, “What was that?”, and the average movie goer will come to the conclusion that they did not like it or get it.  I’ve given this film a lot of thought and finally have a few theories about what it is about and what Anderson was trying to say with his shots and plot movements. 

     There are a few confusing moments and directorial decisions in the film that happen that are not one hundred percent clear.  There is a “special drink” that Freddie keeps making and that Dow admits his love for. This storyline completely goes away in the second act.  There is a character, Dow’s son that does nothing and almost has no point throughout the film.  Freddie literally tells him, “Do something”.  Besides those minor setbacks, none of these plotlines take away from the film at all.    

     This is another amazing achievement by Paul Thomas Anderson.  This is a film you cannot blow off; you have to spend time with it.  You need to stay with it and analyze it for a while.  It has great looking shots throughout the film and some of the greatest performances of the year.  It is one of the most interesting films of the year and that I have ever seen.

PARANORMAN Review

PARANORMAN Review

By Darin Skaggs

In 1968 George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead came out. This was one of the first films out of the zombie films genre.  Many films of the genre have been made since then, but in recent years it has become very popular with more films being made, books on how to survive and others taking on classics such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  Recently, I thought that the zombie phenomenon was almost dead, pun intended, but with the new stop motion animated film Paranorman has given it more life to the zombie fad and even gives it a twist.

     In Chris Butler and Sam Fell’s new film, Paramorman a young boy named Norman can see dead people.  He is not haunted by this fact nor is he mad about it.  He is or has come to peace with his special power.  Everyone around Norman thinks he is weird and a freak.  He is bullied and looked down upon by his peers and even some of his family for what he says he can do.  Then out of nowhere Norman’s uncle, wonderfully voiced by John Goodman, comes to warn him that a witch who was executed 300 years ago is going to come back and curse the town and he needs Norman’s help.  Norman sets out to help his uncle and the town while facing zombies, witches and intense visions.

     Like I mentioned before this film is a stop motion animated film and they do an amazing job with this film.  The film, even though it’s about the dead, looks strangely beautiful.  The colors of the film mix together well. The animators create a wonderful world, from the many shapes and looks of the people along with the building structures inside and out.

     The film is about a young boy, it’s animated and the marketing for the film makes it seem to be for children.  Despite all that this film’s age circuit is actually for an older audience.  The film has several scary moments and some of the jokes in the film have a little more mature material and not subjects that young kids will understand or be aware of.  This is not a complaint about the film however.  The scares in the film are well done and all the jokes work.

     Besides being a great hilarious young person zombie film this film also has a great theme.  Norman has accepted his strange ability, but in the beginning of the film nearly no one else has accepted it.  His parents are telling him to stop talking to his dead Grandmother, his classmates bully him and his sister wants nothing to do with him.  The most haunting part of Norman’s life is not seeing dead people; it is that nobody understands him.  That is what the film is about, accepting the “weirdness” in people and dealing with people that have trouble accepting who you are. There are even parallels with some of the villain like characters and Norman with having to be accepted by others, that work really well in the film.

     The film is short, but affective.  It has frightening moments and great jokes.  It has a wonderful message and an emotional finale that will make you want to spend time with your friends and family.  Paranorman is one of the greatest animated films of the year, if not the best.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES Review

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES Review

By Darin Skaggs

     I love a great film trilogy. The Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones, Toy Story, The Man with No Name and the Original Star Wars trilogies are some of my favorites.  The history of film has shown that, despite the ones I’ve just named, it is hard to make a good trilogy.  Most of the time the biggest challenge of making a good film franchise is the addition of the third film, especially for superhero movies.  Examples of bad trilogies include films such as Spider-Man, X-Men and Alien.  So when I went to see Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises I was very nervous to see if it lived up to the hype of Nolan’s previous two amazing Batman films, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.  Well I’m glad to say that Nolan’s Batman series can be added to the list of great film trilogies with the new inclusion of The Dark Knight Rises.

     Nolan’s new film takes place eight years after The Dark Knight in which Batman takes the blame for the crimes of Harvey Dent and becomes a fugitive.  The city of Gotham, because of Batman’s sacrifice, has significantly dropped in crime.  No one has seen Batman in years and Bruce Wayne, Batman’s true identity, has become somewhat of a hermit. Everything seems to be going fine in Gotham city until the villain, Bane shows up and starts causing mayhem around the city.  That’s when Bruce decides that it is time to bring back the Batman and stop Bane with help from an expert thief named Selina Kyle.

      The big star in The Dark Knight was the Joker. There were other good characters, but everybody left that film remembering him.  However When I left The Dark Knight Rises, I had many of the different characters roaming around in my head.  Kyle, who is also Catwomem though she is never called that in the film, is a really interesting and dynamic character.  Other characters from the previous films are given more to do, such as Fox, Alfred and even Scarecrow has a nice cameo in the film.  Bane, who throughout is merciless and is downright evil in his actions, becomes sympathetic near the end of the film.  The story of Bruce Wayne/Batman is explored to a great conclusion and brings his character back around to who he was in Batman Begins and who he has become. 

     None of these character’s arcs would be possible without the writing and especially the acting. Anne Hathaway, who as an actress I love, plays Kyle does a great job with the role.  Tom Hardy who plays Bane has restrictions because of the mask and can only act with his eyes and his posture. This is proven to work throughout the film, especially in the opening scene.  Christian Bale, who always did well in the role, as Bruce steps up his game. I would go as far to say that no one in this movie gives less than a good performance.  The best performance for me was Joseph Gordon-Levitt as cop turned detective, John Blake.  It is a hard thing to do, in the third film in a franchise to introduce a new character and give him an arc that is satisfying and also give all the other beloved characters satisfying conclusions as well, but the direction of Nolan and the acting of Gordon-Levitt make this possible.

     If you couldn’t already tell I love this film, but it is far from perfect.  In 2010 a similar issue took place with another Nolan film Inception.  This film was fairly popular with the film community despite being less than perfect and full of plot holes.  I did not enjoy Inception for that very reason.  I enjoy The Dark Knight Rises however despite its flaws because in Inception that was an imagined world with rules we were not familiar with and had to be learned from the movie.  I think the rules of the world were not explained very well and decreased the quality of the film.  The Dark Knight Rises however is set mostly in the reality that we live in. This helped me forgive all the plot holes and faults because I could find an answer for what was not explained unlike the dream world presented to me in Inception. 

     This film makes you feel so much, when you realize that Batman is out of his element you cringe at him when he is not getting the victory we are so used to him getting, which makes his victories much more glorious and well deserved.  The emotions get high when you realize what Bruce will do and all he has done for Gotham.  It even gets a little emotional with the story of Bane.  There are even a few nods for die hard Batman fans and Nolan brings the whole story back around from Batman Begins. 

Much like Joss Weadon’s Marvel’s The Avengers, Nolan made a superhero film that can speak to you on so many levels.  It’s fun, with great characters and makes you think.  Nolan has made a franchise that can be looked at more than just a few superheroes movies, he made great cinematic art.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN Review

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN Review

By Darin Skaggs

     In the past there has seemed to be a new movie genre, the comic book superhero genre.  There were a few superhero movies in the past like in the late 1970’s with Superman and the late 1980’s with Tim Burton’s Batman films, but the genre never really took off until the past decade.  It all started with the X-Men franchise and the original Spider-Man movie.  Then it took off with other superhero films such as Iron Man, The Dark Knight and The Avengers.  Now, ten years later, we have our second attempt at the Spider-Man franchise with Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man.

     The story of Spider-Man mostly everyone knows.  A boy named Peter Parker, who lives with his Aunt and Uncle, is bitten by a radioactive spider and gains spider like super powers.  Then a villain, who usually starts out sane, becomes evil and endangers the city and it’s up to Parker to become Spider-Man and save the day.  The villain of the piece this time is Dr. Curt Conners, a one armed man who studies lizard DNA so he can find a way to grow missing limps.

     The film is new, but it basically tells the same origin story as the previous Spider-Man film and the villain in this film almost mirrors the original villain of the previous.  However the little changes that it makes in the story benefits it more and enhance the character of Peter Parker, not to mention Andrew Garfield’s acting is really enjoyable. 

     The acting in the film is a big highlight.  Everybody in this film does a great job at establishing their character and making them believable, especially Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy.

     This film is director Marc Webb’s second attempt at a feature length film, his previous attempt being the romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer, a film I enjoy quite a bit.  This is an odd choice for the studio to give this one time indie romance director a big comic book franchise.  Despite the odd choice in directors, Webb handles the material very well with fun action scenes and still adding a bit of romantic comedy material with Peter and Gwen.

     Even though I liked the film it has a few more problems. The origin story is great on its own and did not bother me that I saw it ten years ago.  The film takes so long on the beginning of Spider-Man and how he becomes familiar with his powers that when it gets to the climax of the story, it’s all over way too fast.  The fight between Spider-Man and Lizard is over way too quickly and the film lessens the character development of Dr. Conners becoming the evil Lizard.

I would say that this one is better then the first Spider-Man film. I think for someone a little younger or some who never saw the original this film would be a good, if not better, starting point for the Spider-Man series.  It’s not amazing as it advertises but I will not deny that it’s fun.

BRAVE Review

BRAVE Review

By Darin Skaggs

Often when a director makes several good films, filmgoers get on board with that filmmaker.  Then when a new one comes out they go and see the film no matter if they think it would be good or bad.  Examples of this for me are Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Spielberg, Wes Anderson.  The film studio Pixar, even though all their films are multiple directors, is also one of those that I would go to no matter what because they put out such great work.  Wall-E and Up are two of my favorite films of all time.  Lately their films have been some of their weakest efforts.  That brings me to Brave.

Brave is a story about Marida, a Princess who is somewhat of a tom boy.  This upsets her mother who wants her to be proper and act like a lady.  Marida is destined to marry a first born son from one of the separate clans in the area.  Marida however does not want this, she wants to pick herself.  Well, that’s reasonable. Right?  Oh well, that leads to Marida finding a witch that, as the trailer leads, helps change her fate.  That furthers the plot and goes into some interesting directions, but the film doesn’t try anything new with their female lead.

Before this film the most well developed female character at Pixar was Jesse from Toy Story 2.  This is the first Pixar feature that has a female lead when every other time they have been secondary characters.  When I first heard this I was excited and I thought that Pixar was taking a chance on something new.  Most of Pixar’s stories when explained sound kind of ridiculous, but the majority of them turn out to be great.  This film however does not take any chances and doesn’t try anything new with the ‘girl coming of age story.’  Despite the unoriginality of the characters and the story of the film, it is not a bad one.  The story is fun, there are some good jokes in the movie, some scenes are touching and there is one part of the plot that when it comes up it is really enjoyable.

Another low point is that the themes of the film are trying to explore are interesting, but not explored to there entirety.  This is because the film is too short.  The running time is less than one and a half hours.  This film is trying to look for so many things like maturity, family, revenge, marriage and fate and it tries to explore all of them in that short amount of time.

The highlight of the film is the visual effects.  Previous films like Wall-E, Up and Finding Nemo looked beautiful and the creators really took advantage of the world they have created.  Brave might look the greatest when it comes to the Pixar films.  The forest looks like a forest and makes you want to visit that land, while the castle that Marida lives in is stunning and looks like a real castle.

Brave is an average story from the creators of Pixar and while still enjoyable it makes me nervous for what is to come with Pixar.  However the film is still worth checking out.

PROMETEUS Review

PROMETHEUS Review

By Darin Skaggs

Ridley Scott’s Prometheus has been marketed as a prequel to another one of Scott’s films, the 1979 classic Alien.  Not really.  It might have something to do with Alien, but it is not a direct prequel to the film.  It is its own film and a pretty good one at that.

     The film’s focus is on a space mission that is sent to a set of stars in the universe that matches several drawings that are found on earth.  They believe that this is the area of the universe where the creatures that created us are. 

     Confused? So am I and I saw the film.  Most of the film is confusing.  There is a ton of unanswered questions and unexplained events that come up.  With a movie with all these plot holes and confusion it could turn off a viewer of this film.  Still, I found this film thrilling and entertaining.  There are many questions asked that interested me and many scenes that are horrific but still fun to watch.

     One of the best parts of the film is the set pieces and the special effects.  This is a science fiction film with futuristic sets and space ships.  They all look great in this film.  There were a few moments in which I thought it was dazzling and beautiful but there were other parts where some sets looked like they were used.  Scott creates a great world and makes you feel like you’re really there.

     One of the main problems that I’ve heard from others is that the characters are not really developed well.  I happen to agree with that these characters are just there to move the plot ahead and reveal information to other characters.  The only few characters that you care for or have a story is the main character Elizabeth Shaw and David, the man made robot. 

     The character’s problem could be blamed by the writing but I would also set blame to the acting.  Michael Fassbender, who plays David in the film, does a great job as well as Noomi Rapace as Shaw.  The rest of the cast members do a okay job, some more than others.  However, the worst performance in the film comes from Charlize Theron.  This upset me because Theron stared in my favorite film of last year, Young Adult.  Her performance in that film was fantastic, but in this film it felt like she was just phoning it in. 

     This film’s writing is a bit of a problem as well.  Like I said the characters were not development and to add to that, the dialogue wasn’t the best.  Plus the writing had many flaw in the plot.  There were so many confusing things that happen that were not explained.  At one point a character poisons another; we never get a motive, we never know if the character knew what they were doing was going to hurt the other character.  There are a lot of other things that happen that have no explanation.  Like I said the film asks many questions that we as humans ask ourselves.  Where do we come from?  Why are we here on Earth?  These questions are not fully answered, but it tries to examine them and how far we would go to find them.  This is why the film works for me and what draws me to it.

     This is a film that tries to examine our humanity, but it also becomes somewhat a thriller.  There are several scenes where there are impressive action sequences and a few more that drift toward the horror genre.  There is one scene involving Shaw that is a throwback to Alien while still being a great scene on its own.

     Near the end of the film I knew I was on board with what I just watched.  The remaining characters have a conversation and go about their way.  It was a great ending to a good film.  Fade to black.  Then, without getting into spoilers, another scene happens.  It was weird and way off from the tone from the rest of the film.  It seemed to only be there to connect this film with the Alien series even though it so much different than what I thought the rest of the film was trying to bring.

     This film is kind of a mess, but I still found it entertaining.  It was beautiful to look at, had me paying attention the whole time and made me think of my own existence.  It is not an amazing achievement, but it is a really good film.

MOONRISE KINGDOM Review

MOONRISE KINGDOM Review

By Darin Skaggs

     There is a point in everyone’s life during their teen years when they realize they have to grow up and there are some younger children that it just happened naturally for them. Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom is a film about both of these types of people.

     The movie focuses on two children, Sam, a young orphan boy and Suzy, a violent young girl with parents who don’t know what to do with her.  They go on a journey that ends up becoming one of the most beautiful love stories I’ve ever seen and an amazing addition to Wes Anderson’s discovery.

     In the “film nerd” community, Wes Anderson is either highly loved or completely hated for his quirkiness in his films.  I am one of the people that have loved almost everything he has done.  Moonrise Kingdom is one of Anderson’s best.  It is probably in the top three of his films for me; the two others being The Royal Tenembuams and his previous film Fantastic Mr. Fox which is a Claymation film.  Moonrise Kingdom is a live action film but some shots seemed that they could have been inspired by what he learned from making Fantastic Mr. Fox.  This style suits me just right and it makes me excited for what is to come next for Anderson.

     This film, much like all other of Anderson’s work is really funny.  Most of the jokes come from his quirkiness and surrealism of this reality. At one point in the film you see a tree house on the top of a very tall, slim tree but somehow it stays up.  Other jokes come from the script and like always with his films, the acting.

     The preview for this film said that the film’s stars great actors such as Anderson vet Bill Murray and new comers Bruce Willis, Francis Macdormand and Edward Norton. These are all great actors and they give great performances, but they are secondary to the main characters, the children in this film.  The children in the story are both neglected by their peers. Such as the girl’s parents who don’t pay that much attention to her as well as the boy’s foster parents.  Along with that, Sam’s Boy Scout troop who do not like him and pick on him.  So after meeting at a church play and becoming pen pals they make a plan to run away and live with each other.

     They go off and start to form a connection that has been evolving since the moment they met.  Their time together only last a few days but they go through an entire romantic relationship.  This is the way the young group grows up naturally.  They encourage each other, Sam provides for her by hunting and like anyone in love they become best friends.  In a way they have an adult relationship, while still being kids in the process.  The other kind of person I mentioned was the ones that realize that growing up is a need.  The adults in the film fit this bill.  When they realize the children are missing they are screaming and throwing a tantrum, some characters are in constant worry. 

In this film the roles are almost reversed, the kids act like adults and the adults like kids.  Anderson handles this aspect of the film very well.  He has the roles switched, but still having the roles they are supposed have.  Bill Murray’s character at one point is so upset about his missing daughter that he announces he is going to cut down a tree with an axe and a bottle of alcohol in his hand.  This is a funny line but I also see it as a calm temper tantrum.  At the same moment his boys are listening to classical music, as they do throughout the film, and they are the only ones appreciating the music like mature music critics would.

     Anderson’s film is hilarious and might be his most touching. It is one of the greatest films of the year so far and probably will stay on my greatest of the year list.  I love this film and am very excited to see what Wes Anderson has next. You know, three years from now.