GODZILLA

GODZILLA Review

By Darin Skaggs

     We live in the age of the big movie.  They are filled with special effects of what is impossible without the technology.  They are mostly over two hours long and have some of the biggest stars of the now.  Gareth Edwards’ new film Godzilla has all that and tries to say something about it, maybe to a fault.

     In this look at the Godzilla franchise the story begins in 1999, where a scientific Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins look upon some alien like material that causes the ground to cave in.  This cave travels all the way to Japan where Joe played by Brian Cranston, his wife played by Juliette Binoche and a whole lot of other workers are evacuated from their nuclear plant.  Binoche doesn’t make it out.  The story then goes fifteen years into the future to 2014 where Joe’s son Ford, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, returns to his American home from duty.  He comes home to his wife Elle, played by Elizabeth Olsen and young son.  Soon after returning home he finds his father, who is still in Japan, has gotten into trouble.  He goes to help him and while there they both discover a shut off center of the city that is holding the same type of egg from the beginning of the film.  It hatches and is revealed to be a MUTO, a dangerous monster that feeds on radiation.  From there it is a struggle to stay alive and rid the world of these MUTO.

     As it seems, there is a lot going on in this film.  Godzilla wasn’t even mentioned in the synopsis.  He honestly isn’t in the film that much until the last third.  Some could see this as a problem.  The movie is called Godzilla after all.  The audience is probably asking “Where is Godzilla?” but that is kind of the point of the film.  The threat of the world is never the iconic beast.  It’s the creatures that may or may not be a take on Mothra.  The US army is constantly trying to take down the threat but it is evident pretty early that there is nothing they can do.  It feels like days pass and they clearly haven’t made any progress in exterminating the MUTO.  Then in the middle and then near the end of the story Godzilla comes to save the day, as predicted by Watanabe early on.  And when we do see Godzilla fight it is from the human’s point of view, so we don’t see much until a group of army men have to carry out a mission near the monsters.  It is a gimmick that will upset many audience members but it does work fairly well.

     With not much monster on monster action that only leaves the MUTO just being destructive.  This leads to some of the more on the nose moments.  A lot of the action sequences add an aspect to their story that has some allegory of 9/11.  There is nothing wrong with that, there is a ton of this in recent years.  Some moments work like Jets falling out of the sky because the MUTO’s presence makes technology shut down and other times they are roll your eyes moments like a random kid being separated from his parents due to a disaster that goes nowhere.  This film does not only have allegories for 9/11.  It takes on a lot of tragedies from the last fifteen years.  This includes the Marathon bombing, shootings, Tsunamis and the horrors of war.  This is fine to make allegories for these events that should be explored but it does so much that it is at times overwhelming. 

     Godzilla is a fun movie, excluding dealing with the tragedy of our world.  It has a most satisfying finale.  It doesn’t focus on character too much but that is not the point.  It is not energy fueled but is surely a good time.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 Review

By Darin Skaggs

     A couple of years ago a reboot of Spider-Man films came out.  It was basically a carbon copy of the 2002 Raimi film.  The second one of the reboot has come out and is trying to do its own thing.  It is good that they are branching out but the film tries to do way too much.  This sequel opens during the graduation of Peter Parker, played by Andrew Garfield, but of course Peter is busy being Spider-Man stopping a crazy Paul Giamatti from stealing a whole lot of Plutonium.  He barely makes it to shake his principles hand and accept his diploma.  He then struggles with a bunch of problems including keeping a relationship with Gwen Stacy, played by Emma Stone, and making money at The Daily Bugle by selling pictures of Spider-Man and a horde of villains that conveniently never show up at the same time. 

     The film tries to become its own thing this time around and because of that fact, fails to compile all the stories it is trying to sell you into a well flowed movie.  In the film Peter is dealing a lot with Gwen.  Also there is the mystery of his father.  Then he sees Harry Osborne’s father has passed and decides to visit him, even though he hasn’t seen this guy for fifteen years or so.  Aunt May is dealing with the death of her husband/Peter’s uncle from the last movie.  The film decides that Peter doesn’t need to do much processing about that death because dealing with the death of Gwen’s father is more important.  Then Harry, who is new to us, is dealing with the inheritance from his father including the Oscorp Company and the deadly disease that killed him.  And hey, if that is not enough there is a man named Max Dillon who no one notices and dies in a bat of electric eels and becomes a super charged super villain named Electro.  There is more, but I’ll save you the trouble.

     The film simply has too much going on.  It needed to pick about half the story lines and focus on those.  Then it would flow better and not have to be constantly catching up with itself with all the plot points.  Though, it doesn’t flow well the movie has very good individual scenes.  The director Marc Webb, whose only other films included the previous Spider-Man film and (500) Days of Summer, is very good at scenes of emotional rawness and human connection.  There are several scenes where you can tell Peter and Gwen really do like and care about each other.  There is a wonderful scene with Peter and Aunt May as well.  His first film (500) Days had many moments similar to this that worked just as well.

     This is a superhero film so that means there will be action.  Some of these scenes work.  The first one is a highlight, but for all the others are about fifty/fifty.  The fight with Harry is a weak fight but works due to decisions in the script.  Characters are uneven a lot of the time as well.  Peter and Gwen are grounded in reality having real conversations about life, but then Max/Electro is the nerd character straight out of a Nickelodeon sitcom.  Then sometimes Electro is a good villain, particularly the break in to Oscorp, and you wonder why he wasn’t as effective in previous scenes.

     The film as a whole is a mess.  It is a bad movie with good parts.  With all the superior superhero movies to choose from, you can probably steer clear of this one.

Darin Takes On The Classics: THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT

NO BODY PUTS MOVIE IN A CORNER

By Darin Skaggs

    Many say that Jaws started off the summer Blockbuster. Others say X-Men brought fourth this wave of superhero films and it is clear that The Blair Witch Project is responsible for the pile up of the “found footage” genre. Fortunately, this film is not like most from the genre. This film is scary, effective and actually believable.

       The film, as said, is told as a found footage movie following Heather, Josh and Mike; three inspiring filmmakers that are making a documentary with their home bought, hand held camera about the legend of the Blair Witch. The whole film being shot with an actual hand held. The film starts with interviews from towns people and some scenes of the three just goofing around which makes you feel it is grounded in reality. They then set out into the woods to find whatever they can to prove the Blair Witch is more than just an old wise tale.

        The film is told like a ghost story you would hear around a camp fire. It starts in the woods, not much happens, then boom, the end comes and hits you like a ton of bricks. This is a film that takes its time with the fear. It could be viewed as boring or too slow. When the gang is in the woods it takes a while for anything to happen. That is not a compliant, the film builds the tension so well, even when nothing is happening, you feel scared for them and a large sense of dread of what is to come. Actually, we see nothing happen pretty much the whole film. The most terrifying moments happen with the sounds coming from the distant or outside of the tent, mostly happening at night. The most chilling visuals come from a set up in the woods of organized sticks that may or may not be of the Blair Witch and a log the group can not seem to escape. There is no jump scare nor is the witch finally revealed. It is all left up to the imagination which makes it even more scary.

          It is not just what we hear and imagine that makes the film terrifying, the performances of the freighted filmmakers affects the sense of terror. Heather Donahue, who is mostly behind the camera in the film, has to act with her voice. The voice acting all around is great as it builds to frustrated talking to helpless screams for help. Heather, along with her costars Josh Leonard and Mike Williams, get the point across to make it feel like they are all friends even by the end when they are sick of each other.

         The ending for this film is brilliant. At this point, Josh has disappeared but we still hear his screams in the distant. Heather and Mike are desperately looking for him and eventually come across a house. Heather is crying making the scene more and more tense. Mike vanishes as well, so Heather heads downstairs. For a brief second we see Mike standing in the corner, the camera drops and the movie ends. The brilliance of the film is we don’t see anything, at all. There is no conclusion or closure at all. Like any good ghost story, the supernatural force wins, the victims all die and the fable is unanswered. It is a film that, again like Jaws but with water, begs you not to go in the woods. The film started an overload of found footage films but you can't blame it for that. This one is truly scary and is one of the best horror films of all time.

DRAFT DAY

DRAFT DAY Review

By Darin Skaggs

     Most films are made because some aspect of the plot is interesting. Some have semi-invincible men and women going around saving the world. Some films have two good looking people struggle to keep a relationship going. Sometimes there is an underdog rising to the occasion. Others are filled with metaphors and allegories of today's world. Most films contain something that will keep the interest of someone watching. And then every once in a while a film comes along you have to wonder who this film is for. That film is Ivan Rietman's Draft Day.

    Draft Day is the story of Sonny Weaver, played by Kevin Costner, who is the general manager of the Cleveland Browns. Draft day is coming up and if Sonny doesn't make any good picks he probably won't have a job the next day. The whole film takes place over about thirteen hours before the draft starts. Throughout the film there are trades for picks and discussion about favorable players. If you are into sports most of the information and discussions that take place will be familiar to you. If you're not, Godspeed. The film makes no effort to help you understand what is going on. And it is pretty confusing if you are not familiar with sports.

    It might have been a better achievement if the film just totally committed to being moments that are taking place just before a draft, but it doesn't. The film is aware that it won't appeal to all viewers so it adds a ton of story lines for the “plus one” who are attending the movie. Sonny is faced with many troubles. In the first scene there is some drama about him and Ali, played by Jennifer Garner about her being pregnant. Throughout the film Sonny is deciding if he wants to be part of this relationship because, wait what's this, Ali works for the Browns. He is also being constantly reminded about his father who recently passed away and we find out he had to fire him from the Browns a few months earlier. So for the thirteen hours we are with Sonny, we see him go through the basic of your life changing moments. There is also a low amount of comedy in the film. It is not that the jokes just keep falling flat, they do, but there are so few jokes in the film that when one does pop up it is almost startling.

    This might be the most insecure film ever made. It is very aware of the lack luster-ness of its story. There is just a lot of discussing the same thing over and over. There are also many phone calls that sometimes go nowhere and occasionally head in a direction. Because of the total dryness of the plot the filmmakers decided to make all the phone calls interesting. They are all shown with split screens, which is fine. The problem though is that each and every split screen has one character overlap to the other character's screen. There is absolutely no reason for this. A few time the screens just switch places to keep these painfully dull phone calls interesting.

    Draft Day is an odd film. It wants so bad to be interesting that it tries every trick in the book, even good old melodrama. That attempt though is why it fails. It never focuses on one aspect of the film long enough to feel like a whole realized project.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLIDER

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLIDER Review

By Darin Skaggs

    Marvel has made quiet a name for itself. Phase one of the series included Iron Man 1 & 2, Thor and concluded with The Avengers. Phase two has had films including Thor: The Dark World, Iron Man 3 and now Captain America: The Winter Solider. With the series having about an even amount of ups and downs, the new film is fortunately a great add on to the whole Marvel series.

   In this film Steve Rogers AKA Captain America is thrown into a mission to save the world from sure destruction. With the help of Black Widow, Nick Fury and other heroes they fight off an old enemy and The Winter Solider. This film both stands alone as its own and as a great addition to the Marvel canon.

   The film does what many of these kinds of films do. It has great action. The film opens with Captain America along with his team as they raid a boat full of spies. The camera follows the Captain flawlessly, you can tell what is going on. You feel triumph as the team gets the advantage on the spies. Every action scene fills you with excitement and tenseness of the moments. And Captain does not get all the glory, other characters like Black Widow and even nameless agents get some moments.

   This story of Captain America follows Rogers, who has waken up in the modern day after being frozen for over fifty years. This allows Rogers for the first half of the film to be just wondering about his life. He visits a museum where a section is celebrating him and even finds an old flame. There is a “What now?” vibe to a lot of scenes. The second half of the film explores his past catching up with him because he was focused to much on his past and not living his life in the now.

   This film does great at being a fun action film but as a Marvel film it builds the world. There are several twist that happen in the film that are so story altering that it sets up intense anticipation for the next few films. It adds a few characters into the story that will be a pleasant surprise to folks not familiar with the comics and an excitement for the reveal of names for the people who are familiar.

   Captain America: The Winter Solider is a great film. It is clear by the performances that the cast is having fun. Robert Redford really seems to be enjoying himself. The action is just as fun as the performances. The twists are actually surprising and it means something to the story of The Avengers.

NOAH

NOAH Review

By Darin Skaggs

     At one point in the Bible, God is upset where the human race has ended up so he sends a flood to wipe them out.  He doesn’t kill everybody though.  He spares one family, instructs them to build an arc to fit two of every animal and be sturdy enough to wait out a flood that covers the entire earth.  That is the adaptation of Darren Aronofsky’s new film, Noah. 

     This film doesn’t really follow the classic Sunday school tale we are all familiar with.  There are a few surprises and complete changes to the story. Aronofsky begins with the “In the beginning…” parts of this tale with God creating earth, animals, light and humans.  Adam and Eve eat from the forbidden fruit after being tempted by Satan and end up exiled from Eden.  They have three children Cane, Abel and Seth.  Cane then murders Abel.  The good people, Seth, and the bad people, Abel separate and spend a long time as enemies.  This leads to Noah living in a dark world.  He starts getting visions from God, referred to as Creator, and decides to build an arc.  That all sounds pretty faithful to the story.  Well, Aronofsky adds other elements to the story such as powerful stones that cast “spells” of sorts and fallen Angels that look like that rock monster from The Neverending Story.

     The film is pretty well put together.  The effects of the boat on the water, animals flocking to the arc are done really well and there are great performances all around.  Russell Crowe plays Noah and does a wonderful job as a man who is sent to build a boat he thinks will save the “innocent” and be the death of the entire human race.  You feel for him, he gets a few laughs out and when the script needs him to be, he is very unlikable.  Other great performances come from Jennifer Connely, playing Noah’s wife Naameh and Emma Watson who plays a girl named Ila that the family takes in after finding her abandon in a village.  All the effects are not amazing but they get the job done.

     What really makes the film is its exploration of faith and religion.  The film, in an act of genius, skips the whole part where people call Noah crazy for building this boat.  The antagonist in the film say they don’t believe in miracles but when they saw thousands of birds flying towards the boat they did not play ignorant.  They threat Noah that their village will overtake his boat when the rain comes.  Another part that is different in the film is that Noah, who has been given vague instructions from God, believes this is supposed to be the end of the human race because we are all evil in some way or another.  When they find Ila, she is wounded and it leaves her baron.  Noah thinks this is more proof God wants them all dead. 

     These aspects help explore the themes of the film.  Noah is convinced the human race is supposed to die.  Then Ila is healed, becomes pregnant and is given just enough girls to repopulate the earth.  Noah doesn’t care and goes with what he thinks God told him to do and threatens to murder the children if they are girls.  This says a lot about modern day religion.  Miracles happen, Noah is given all the material to build the boat, enough food for his families and wives for his sons all because he listened to God.  Then he thinks God wants him to kill his grandchildren because God told him to.  There was no hint that he was told this, but he goes on believing it.  With all the religious people judging “bad people” because the Bible says what they’re doing is wrong they are just like Noah in this film.  God didn’t ask us to talk or tell people that we need to judge people and say they are bad.  He wants us to be kind to each other and do the right thing.  The film is a mirror image of wrong doing religious people of now.  God does not want us to judge or be rude to others just like God didn’t want Noah to kill his kin.

     The film does have its flaws.  There are storylines that don’t leave much of an impact.  The final confrontation with the main bad guy seems rushed.  The script kind of puts all the conclusions at one point making some of them unsatisfying.  It is a good exploration of religion.  It is also pretty fun while being honest with the horror of what would happen if God asked you to do this. 

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Review

By Darin Skaggs

     A director is probably hired because they have some sort of talent.  After a few films it is their job to figure out what kind of filmmaker they are.  Wes Anderson is one of those filmmakers that started out not knowing exactly who he was at the beginning of his career and later came into his own style.  With each film especially his last three films; Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom and his newest The Grand Budapest Hotel, Anderson has delved deeper and deeper into his own brain. 

     The Grand Budapest Hotel tells the tale of M. Gustave, played by Ralph Fiennes, the owner of The Grand Budapest who is charged for stealing a painting that he was bequeathed from a will. The painting is named “Boy With Apple” and eventually Gustave is also charged for the murder of Madame D, the giver of the will.  Gustave, along with his best lobby boy Zero, played by Tony Revolori, try to clear his name.

     Anderson has always had a distinct style to him, which does turn people off, but others love his style.  In this film he delves so far into his own brain that he almost creates a parody of himself.  Anderson has always made motion pictures, moving pictures.  In this film he basically makes a bunch of paintings surrounded by actors which is why the main focus of the film is a painting. Every single frame could be viewed as a beautiful painting with all the colors and patterns.  More signature aspects that Anderson does throughout his career is centering the main idea of a scene in the frame.  He does this so much so in this film that Anderson was probably driven crazy that it was not possible to get things in the center of the frame anymore. With all that the film is great.  If you love the style of his previous films, you will adore this one.  Anderson pulls out all the punches with cameos with old and new players including Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, Jeff Goldblum, William Defoe, F. Murray Abraham and a ton more amazing actors.  It is pretty much Wes Anderson playing his greatest hits montage with all his signature moves.

     The film is also a great riot.  You could tell Anderson was having fun while making this film.  He has jokes like switching the “Boy with Apple” painting with a gross, crude painting.  A scene of following clues that ends in disappointment and prison escape that makes no logical sense.  He even makes fun of movies in general when the story gets interesting and the conflict is revealed Gustave says “The plot thickens, as they say” then debates if that saying is about soup.  The film is full of funny, ridiculous moments that prove Anderson does not care about our reality anymore and cares more about the heighted one he has been slowly creating his whole career.

     The film while being very funny and looking spectacular is about art.  The McGuffin in the film is a painting which is described by many as one of the best paintings ever.  When seen by Zero he gives a look of not quite getting its greatness but pretending he does.  Throughout most of the film several characters are reciting poetry but never do finish a whole poem.  This is Anderson saying he is never fully satisfied with the creations he makes and how other critics of art in general struggle with fully understanding it. 

     Wes Anderson has never been more like Wes Anderson with this film.  It is one of the more fun times you can have at the movies and it is so pretty that you might not know what to do with all of the colors.