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Dunkirk

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The script for Dunkirk must read something like this:

Page 1. The Battle of Dunkirk. / FADE TO BLACK / The End

There is that much action and that little dialogue. And most of the dialogue is in any case unintelligible due to accent and vernacular. Luckily, the story of Dunkirk is not one of words but deeds.

The Director, Christopher Nolan, has great respect for the power of intersecting story structure. As in Memento, where he tells a story in reverse, Dunkirk follows three unique but intersecting strands. Unlike Moonlight where the three chapters come in chronological order, Dunkirk’s structure follows its own order. The acts, as explained through titles at the start include the sea, whose day long story is the anchor the others jockey towards and past. The story of the beach takes a week to unfold and the story of the air, one hour, or the amount of time that it takes for the gas tank of a Supermarine Spitfire fighter plane to run dry. Dunkirk is revealed in the cross cutting of these stories. As V.I. Pudovkin wrote in his 1930s seminal anthology Film Technique and Film Acting, it is through the control of time and space in editing that filmmaking is elevated into art. And that is true here. I can’t think of a war epic since Battleship Potemkin that has used editing in such a groundbreaking way. And in terms of the cinematography of Hoytema, the achievement is on par with Apocalypse Now and will no doubt be a front runner for the Academy Award next March.

Which brings me to the format of this film, IMAX 70mm. This is over twice the size of a typical 35mm film. In IMAX 70mm, the aspect ratio, or relationship between the vertical and horizontal, creates a large square frame. You may have seen an IMAX movie at a science museum. In the USA, the film is being screened in IMAX 70mm, the way Nolan shot it, in under 100 theaters. The nearest IMAX 70mm screening of Dunkirk to the L & D is at the Minnesota Zoo, four and a half hours away. Weirdly, Alabama, not exactly known as a film mecca, actually has two theaters showing Dunkirk in IMAX 70mm. Here is a link to all the IMAX 70mm theaters screening Dunkirk: Dunkirk in IMAX 70mm. The nearest cinema from the L &D screening the 70mm print is outside of Milwaukee in a place called Waukesha, about an hour and forty five minutes away. Here is a link to all the theaters showing the film in 70mm: Dunkirk in 70mm.

So what this means is that I watched Dunkirk in a cropped aspect ratio. The movie itself did not fill up the entire screen, neither sides nor top or bottom. Not knowing anything about the production of Dunkirk going into it, this definitely confused me. Back in the day, this issue would have been corrected by having a curtain come in from the sides and top and bottom to cover the blank parts of the screen. But theaters in the multiplex era are spartan affairs in this regard and the thinking is that ninety-nine percent of the films will have no issues since it is only Tarantino and Nolan who shoot features, like the The Hateful Eight, in 70mm. I found the blank screen distracting and it bugged me. An IMAX film camera goes for a million dollars. The quality of the resolution is off the charts. So it’s kind of a bummer not to be able to see Dunkirk in its full glory in terms of projection quality and aspect ratio. However, if you are planning on waiting to watch this at home on Blu-ray, don’t bother, you won’t get it. Unless I suppose you are sitting about a foot away from your flat screen.

What to say about the rest of this film. There are flawless effects, brilliant combat scenes including the aerial dogfights, the acting is seamless and engaging. And I think its ultimate victory is something D said, it’s claustrophobic. For an IMAX formatted movie to be at once epic in its scope and claustrophobic in its atmosphere is a testament to the greatness of everyone who worked on this picture and the vision of Christopher Nolan.

War for the Planet of the Apes (L)

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First of all, for the record, I love Woody Harrelson and could watch an entire feature film of him eating a salad. I’m not sure why it would take him an hour and a half to eat a salad but there you go. The movie Woody Salad I’m certain would have more unpredictable twists and turns than War for the Planet of the Apes. Big explosion at the end? Check. Not to pick on it, the last three films we have seen, Baby Driver, Spiderman and Wonder Woman also end with big explosions. I think the screenwriters start all the movies with a massive explosion and reverse engineer a script from there.

This particular film could have undergone at least an hour of cutting. It has the scale, the sets, the score of Doctor Zhivago but without the story to prop it up for over 2 hours.

Personally, I did enjoy the film from a purely technical point of view. The apes themselves are a marvel. Not necessarily better than the original apes from Planet of the Apes in 1968, which garnered an honorary Academy Award for make-up artist John Chambers. Back then you could still tell who the actors were. You could see it was Roddy McDowall down there and that made it even better. These days, it is more of a photorealistic effect, if you will. But it still works for me, it’s just different.

And then of course there is the aforementioned Woody, doing this wacky mix of an evil Michael Stipe meets Apocalypse Brando — and it works. His scenes form the apex of this film for me. If you are into this series, War for the Planet of the Apes is a must see but ultimately for the rest of us, popping in or streaming the original Planet of the Apes with McDowell, Heston and the Statue of Liberty would most likely be a more worthwhile experience.

The Beguiled

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This intense Civil War remake is all about smoke and mirrors. Veils and fog. I thought we were friends. There is a single telling shot of a spider web. And oh what a tangled web we weave. Nicole Kidman as an understated Norma Desmond. Her talent is shocking every time you see her act. And Sofia Coppola, who won Best Director at Cannes for this effort, lives up to the moniker “The Velvet Hammer.” There is syrup to the photography. At times a heavy, choking vignette suffocates the frame and threatens to swallow the images. But they seem so sweet, what harm could these images possibly do? And with that I’ll leave you to submit to this most intricate and emotionally sophisticated film.

Baby Driver

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If movies with a lot of action and violence are not your thing, steer clear of Baby Driver. If on the other hand you enjoy great car chase scenes and don’t mind some gore, you will groove on this fast paced, musical joy ride. If LALA Land had an edgy side, it would be Baby Driver. Not that anyone breaks out into full on numbers but you feel like it could happen at any moment. Unlike the recent flop Collide which combined stunt driving with star power, Baby Driver has enough unique elements, characters and situations going for it that it doesn’t feel like another rehash or frankenmovie. It has the action of Hardcore Henry and the romance of Badlands. The story gives its A list actors room to strut their stuff and flex their performance range. As for the lead, Ansel Elgort, it’s refreshing to see someone not as well known as say Ryan Gosling do his thing. Speaking of which, this is the film that I wish Drive had been.

Baby Driver did not fail to inspire. However, as D noted when we left the screening, the epilogue seemed rushed and crushed. Personally, I didn’t mind the parachute touch down after so many hard emotional hits in the film. Even though Baby Driver recalls a lot of other favorites like Shooter or The Fugitive, it does have its unique musical side and that is appropriate since Paul Simon sings the title song. It was after all Paul Simon who mentioned to Annie in Annie Hall, “You are very musical.” If you can catch Baby Driver it in the theater, you should. The stunts are big but the soundtrack rivals them and you won’t have the same experience listening to these jams unless you have surround sound set up in your home. Baby Driver does not have the advantage of story depth like Pulp Fiction. But to its credit, it does pull off the trick of taking elements that we have seen many times before and creates something different and entertaining with them. It is a heist film that has a big heart and proudly plays to its own beat.

The Mummy

The ride will be great. Like many times I see the Universal logo spinning into view with the blaring thuds of trumpet sounds, I realize that the chances of this action film being bad are up there. One large piece of…computer generated plastic, wrapped around a hot turd of a story. Sorry but I had to get scatalogical. Frankly, I was disappointed because I was really rooting for Sofia Boutella, who had a fine turn on Star Trek Beyond. But I should know better regarding expectations and movies. Tom Cruise could carry this film. It is Tom Cruise after all. But he doesn’t. D leaned over and said “Wooden” during one of the excruciatingly painful expositional dialogue scenes. And I know he wasn’t referring to the Pyramid of Success. What was even worse were the attempt at shocked or horrified looks from the actors. Honestly, if some demonic mummy comes out of a sarcophagus and starts sucking peoples brains out are you just gonna sit there — or even run? Let’s face it, you are gonna lose bowel control (again with the scatology) and roll up into the most fetal of fetal positions. But let’s say you are not, let’s say you trained on Amazon Warrior Island with Wonder Woman for the past 20 years. Are you really going to get all Kung Fu on a bunch of dead crusaders? Yes, I said crusaders. This film goes everywhere from the Medieval crusades to the Resident Evil video game. It would be forgivable, as the mashup in Wonder Woman is, were it not that the film tries so hard for there to be some type of romantic relationship between Cruise and Jenny, played perfunctorily by Annabelle Wallis. His concern for her defies any possible suspension of disbelief. And how about Russell Crowe as Henry Jekyll? Yes that Jekyll. This addition is straight out of left field story-wise. Though Crowe does give an admirable, impassioned performance as the bipolar madman.

The one thing to recommend here are the special effects. They went to town on that. And also the make-up on the mummy, which I felt was strong. Set design also left nothing to be desired. It is a well crafted film. This film also did register on the D “Jumped In My Seat” Richter scale at least once. And there were moments of high suspense where I couldn’t look because I was too freaked out. I’m sure at the Universal theme park, the ride will be great.

Wonder Woman

I’m just going to come out and say it. Wonder Woman is a good movie. Not a great one. We have seen all of this before. Especially the massive ending with the big explosions etc. etc. Regardless, it is enjoyable as hell and it is a movie to root for with its fantastic lead, Gal Gadot and the kick ass Director, Patty Jenkins.

As a great cultural phenomenon it would be easy to join the “Wonder Woman is great!” bandwagon…but no. It’s just too derivative. Not as much as The Mummy, our next review on the L & D, but derivative nonetheless. I will say that like many people I enjoyed the WWI aspect of the film and who wouldn’t love ACT 1, the fun and games growing up on an island of Amazon warriors. Hello! You had me at Ama.

Now of course, you will have some haters. Like the asses that sued the movie theaters for screening the film as Ladies Night for Ladies Only. But you know, those people would never be able to let their hair down and enjoy a Summer blockbuster like this…because they are old guys with no hair.

So I say, if you want to have some fun, munch your popcorn extra loud and revel in Amazonian Badassery, then get strapped into a magic lasso and check out Wonder Woman.

Alien: Covenant

SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS — Now I know a lot of people are super into the Alien series and I have been on the short end of long chronologies about where this movie places and ranks in this franchise. Fine. The thing is if you have never seen an Alien film in your life you will still get a whole lot out of this one. There is even a Franco sighting! And just for the record I have seen the first one and the fourth i.e. Resurrection. Set design is always a big deal in Alien films and Covenant does not fail here with its eerie planet and dingy sets. If you are that type of person, this film could give you nightmares. It will no doubt give you the creeps. And yet there is a certain aesthetic elegance in all the gore. Enough, I’m sure, to make even H.R. Giger grunt his approval.

The deeper philosophical part of Covenant deals with A.I. As in another movie you may have heard of by Director Ridley Scott, namely Blade Runner, we return to the idea that the robot/replicant/humanoid is just as human if not more so than an actual person. Except of course that it is not. Films have been exploring the robot/human idea since at least Lang’s 1927 German Expressionist masterpiece Metropolis. And even the fairly recent Ex Machina deals with these ideas in a profound and artistically inspired way. Alien: Covenant and Scott decide to take a darker path. In an ending —MORE SPOILERS— reminiscent of this years’ sci-fi thriller Life, Scott comes to a fork in the road and goes down the darkest path possible. It all does kind of leave you shaking your head in dismay. On the other hand, if you are a nihilist, it will warm your cold cold heart and make you hug your ferrets. All in all a powerful, well acted, well crafted entry into the Alien universe.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

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I really enjoyed King Arthur: Legend of the Sword — well, at least more than I thought I would. Charlie Hunnam, commands the screen, as he did in The Lost City of Z and Director Guy Ritchie’s frenetic editing, camera angles and EDM Light musical selections kept the fantastical plot moving.

This easily could have devolved into an endless series of video game deaths (John Wick 2, I’m looking at you) but it didn’t. There is a fairly solid script and story that goes along with all the action. Jude Law as the villainous king is played with nary a false note. Even when his actions are outlandish and difficult to reason. He was a splendid bad guy. When he and Hunnam shared the screen, the chemistry was palpable.

Once again we have a film that if nothing else serves as a parable for father and son relations. This is one of the greatest and most long lasting dynamics in storytelling. As in Lost City of Z, protagonists dealing with the actions of their fathers, whether they like it or not, becomes what their lives are about. What if the protagonist didn’t try to avenge or make good in the name of his father? The films would be much shorter.

The final battle scene was slightly hokey and seemed more so as it dragged on. But all in all, the directorial style, stunts and special effects in this film are strong enough to deflect any slight story or vfx snafus. If you like action and adventure that still reflects a strong commitment to storytelling, I suggest King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

Your Name

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As a fan of Miyazaki films like My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away and the Toho production company, I enjoyed the animation in this film immensely. The film directed by Makoto Shinkai was a mash up of Freaky Friday, Memento and Vertigo and at times didn’t seem to make sense. But I had that expectation going in so it didn’t bother me. The film itself is the fourth highest-grossing of all time in Japan and the highest-grossing anime film worldwide at over 350 million.

Oddly, I felt the overtones of guilt and sadness as if the comet that we know will destroy a small seaside town was a nuclear bomb and the director/producer/writer feels bad they can not take everyone to shelter. The main characters in the film feel that way. Of course, I may be reading too much into it but that was a passing thought. And obviously, the movie did resonate and have a strong emotional impact on many viewers for a reason.

The film was quirky with one character constantly feeling him/her self up to good laughs. And just some non-sequitur situations and shots like why is the boy/girls underwear prominently seen in a bike riding scene? It’s a Japanese thing, you wouldn’t understand.

The film certainly had strong spiritual and humanistic dimensions, including a Cyrano de Bergerac subplot which I found to be refreshing. One of us here at the L & D fell asleep during the screening but since a lot of the action occurs during dreams I think the filmmakers wouldn’t mind too much. If you’re into Japan, anime or any type of animated film I highly recommend this film to you.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

As you know, the comic book / graphic novel genre is whoosh, right over my head. When I see these films, it’s like some kind of social experiment. Like, how confused can one person be if they walk right into the middle of a Hollywood tentpole franchise? Well Guardians 2, didn’t make me feel like that. Even if it was only days later when I figured out who Gamora is. …The raccoon, named Rocket and voiced by Bradley Cooper, keeps me scratching my head, except to think, the creators are super imaginative and/or must have the ickiest of the stickiest on heavy rotation in the bong.

I enjoyed the film as it did make plenty of homages to the 70s, including star Kurt Russell. Though it did give me a real desire to see Escape from New York again…almost to the point that I wished I was watching Escape from NY instead of Guardians Vol 2.

The film seemed to drag on sadly. And though the special effects of this 200 million dollar VFX masterpiece were inventive and of the highest caliber production value, the story itself seemed to be locked in a repetitious death spiral. The film could easily have been 30 minutes shorter.

Also, there was some serious plot strain / suspension of disbelief needed when it was reveled that Ego, Russell’s character, had killed the main protagonists’ mother. Isn’t it enough that he is an egomaniac hell bent on destroying life on several planets. It was a forced addition to the plot line that seemed over the top even in this universe. (When reviewing this genre I have to say “universe” at least once.)

Overall, I liked this film. It had spectacular camera work and special effects. The acting and voicing were all strong and the only ding I have is that it seemed repetitious story-wise in the final 30 minutes. I think sometimes directors or producers just fall in love with their work and there is no one there to simply say “No” to Stan Lee, when he needs to hear it. And yet, if you are a fan of this genre, I would strongly suspect that you would enjoy Guardians Vol 2.