Category: Review

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.

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.

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.

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.

I had a feeling that LCoZ would be a pretty good movie when I found out it was produced by Plan B. Plan B is Brad Pitt’s production company. Plan B has distinguished itself with academy awards for producing The Departed, 12 Years a Slave and Moonlight among other enlightening and entertaining works. LCoZ falls in that category, a film that on its face could be chalked up as just another adventure yarn instead pulls in the long arm of colonial mentality and history.

The story follows Col. Percy Fawcett, (Charlie Hunnam, who has an indisputable Pitt aura)  on his journeys in the Brazilian Amazon.

One aspect of the film that rings false is the relationship of the Col. Fawcett with his wife. It’s high minded to include a strong female character but in this case, it comes off as forced and doesn’t even pass the Bechdel test (did at least two women talk to each other about something other than a man). Nina Fawcett, played well by Sienna Miller, really doesn’t have that much to do. She is neither a foil, as she acquiesces to Percy and then their sons’ requests to leave nor an active participant in the search for the lost city, as Col Fawcett does not allow her to go. There is a lot of lip service paid to how heroic domestic life is but that just seems to reinforce how great it is to jet out of there and hit the jungle. And hit the jungle they do in this film. There is plenty of high stakes action, tribal and expeditionary drama and just sick scenery and cinematography by the great Darius Khondji, who also shot Seven.

The Lost City of Z is an epic tale that takes you from the bunkers of WWI to the most remote ares of the Amazon. If you are into adventure stories this one will satisfy you and leave you with a thing or two to think about in your own life. One of the lines in the film that really spoke to me, and I paraphrase, was “Keep your goals just out of reach so you will keep striving to achieve them.” I thought that in the end, LCoZ is a film that gives the audience something to think about and that alone deserves to be applauded.