SOUTHERN COMFORT: a review of "The Beguiled"

"THE BEGUILED"
Based upon the novel A Painted Devil by Thomas P. Cullinan
and the film "The Beguiled" (1971) 
Screenplay Written by Albert Maltz and Irene Kamp   
Directed by Don Seigel
Written and Directed by Sofia Coppola
***1/2 (three and a half stars)
RATED R

For Exhibit B in my plea to the cinematic powers that be, as well as to all of you, as to why we still need to have strong, auteur directors and filmmakers creating movies, I gladly turn your attention to Ms. Sofia Coppola and her latest effort, the dark, atmospheric, grim Southern Gothic drama "The Beguiled," her remake of the 1971 Don Seigel directed film starring Clint Eastwood.

Now, of course, we do find ourselves during a period in cinema where originality has taken a severe backseat to all manner of remakes, reboots, re-imaginings, sequels, prequels and so on. But, that is not to say that all of those sub genres possess no value just in an of themselves. In fact, there are some stories more than worthy of re-telling and with "The Beguiled," based upon an original novel written by a man and a film directed by a man, Coppola's uniquely feminine (and I am certain some would say "feminist") perspective forces the material to be seen and experienced through a profoundly different lens, therefore making for an overall different experience whatsoever.

And in the case of Coppola's "The Beguiled," she has created a darkly artful, quietly disturbing, almost queasily intense chamber thriller which places the dynamics of the sexes front and center while also continuing to explore her consistent themes of female isolation and imprisonment, either self-imposed or otherwise. For those of you out there who are craving a movie that is decidedly more adult in tone, tenor and presentation, Sofia Coppola's "The Beguiled" will indeed serve as a grim antidote to the summertime superhero movie blues.

For those of you, who like myself, are unfamiliar with the original material, I will keep the plot description brief. Set in 1864 Virginia, three years into the Civil War, Sofia Coppola's "The Beguiled" stars Nicole Kidman as Miss Martha Farnsworth, headmistress of an increasingly vacant and isolated girls school, as all but five students and one teacher, Miss Edwina Morrow (Kirsten Dunst), have remained.

One morning as one of the students named Amy (Oona Laurence) is out in the nearby woods picking mushrooms, she stumbles across the wounded body of John McBurney (Colin Farrell), a corporal in the Union army, whose leg was shot and he has since deserted the battlefield. Out of kindness, Amy brings John to the girls school to the surprise, confusion and anxiousness of her classmates and teachers. John soon falls into unconsciousness and Miss Martha reluctantly houses him inside one of the school's rooms and tends to his wounds while all of the other women in the household gather outside of the door in extreme curiosity.

As John regains consciousness and slowly begins his healing process, the girls all take turns visiting him, showering him with attention, curious stares and affectionate wonderment, all of which John reciprocates individually and based upon each woman's particular interests, most notably the more amorous emotions and sexual tensions stirred within both Miss Farnsworth and Miss Morrow.

Conflicts begin to rise as John's health improves to the point where he volunteers to work in the school's garden, as he fears that he will have to return to the war, fears that are intensified by Miss Farnsworth's prompts for him to leave the premises.

And then, one night, after the girls, the women and John share a sumptuous meal together by candlelight, the gradually percolating tensions boil over...

As I have not seen the original film or have even read the original novel from which this material is based, I am unable to make any sort of comparative judgement for you. But that being said, Sofia Coppola's "The Beguiled" is an elegant pot boiler, one whose quietness and subtlety can often be disarming to the point of being somewhat lulling--as is a Coppola trademark. But rest assured, the power and overall disturbing nature of the film is not undone by the film's minimalism. In fact, the sparseness more than works to the film's advantages and definitely showcases Coppola's strengths as a filmmaker who has established and demonstrated her fully developed idiosyncratic voice from her very first film.

I do realize that for some viewers, perhaps even some of you reading this post, may feel that Sofia Coppola's style is artificial at best with a measured, deliberate pacing that can be numbing at worst. I get it. I understand. Yet, for me, that specific quality has never been a bother to me as her films have contained a certain dreamy haze that lends itself to her consistent themes of alienation, isolation and feeling completely remote from one's location or environment as a whole. With "The Beguiled," I felt that Coppola's understatedness and overall restraint--plus Cinematographer Phillipe Le Sourd's cloudy, naturalistic palate, reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon" (1975)--were crucial to its drama, making the larger moments truly stand out without any sense of hyperbole.

Additionally, I do realize that there has been some rumbling controversy over Coppola's interpretation of this Civil War set material and the fact that there are no Black actors or characters present within the film, therefore making "The Beguiled" viewed as the latest attempt at Hollywood "whitewashing."  For me, while I do understand the criticism, I harbored no such emotions as I viewed the film as I do feel that the inclusion of racially based subject matter would have altered the story tremendously, opening the experience up to existing as a completely different kind of movie altogether. Essentially, in order to insert such material properly as well as artfully, "The Beguiled" would need to be fashioned into being more of an epic. In Sofia Coppola's directorial hands, her film is a chamber piece and intimacy is the key.

"The Beguiled" fits perfectly within the remainder of films in Sofia Coppola's oeuvre as we are again given a collective of characters who are essentially living life as if under a pristine casing of glass. From the over-bearing restrictive parents in Middle class White suburbia (1999's "The Virgin Suicides"), the fishbowl world of fame, celebrity and (it could be argued) White privilege (2003's "Lost In Translation," 2006's "Marie Antoinette," 2010's "Somewhere," 2013's "The Bling Ring"), wealth and power (essentially all of her films), Sofia Coppola's characters are sometimes victims, architects or even some semblance of both in regards to their collective states of isolation, misery and downfalls.

For me, "The Beguiled" fits best with "The Virgin Suicides" and "Marie Antoinette," as Coppola places her focus squarely upon women often trapped in worlds not of their making but are attempting to exert some sense of control regardless. For this film, I loved how that even though the film is set three years into the Civil War, we never see any of the battle whatsoever. We solely hear the gunfire and see the rising smoke from battlefields far, far off in the distance. Aside from John McBurney, we greet a few Confederate solders who pass by the schoolhouse where McBurney is hidden in secretive convalescence and that is really all we gather of anyone from the outside world. Coppola gives us a large school, surrounded by a gate and removed from absolutely everything pertaining to the war and inhabited by seven girls and women, who are mostly viewed from the indoors gazing out of the windows at the larger world they are not even connected with.  

The surprise arrival of John McBurney, a Union soldier no less, perfectly sets up the initial sense of conflict and distrust between the man and the females, plus within the females themselves. But when faced with their Christian values--a nice touch--the woman find themselves tested by the constructs and expectations of their own existence as Southern girls and women. Once the "other" has breached the threshold of their environment, the differing, conflicting emotions of simple curiosity and fascination soon flow into areas of sexual tension and dominance of one gender over the other.

And yet she gives men equal time to explore societal constructs and expectations. I found it fascinating how Coppola and Colin Farrell framed the McBurney character as one whose war wounds have clearly altered his feelings about his participation within the war, therefore making his character conflicted with his own feelings about his manhood. As tensions escalate and explode in the later sections of the film, Coppola slyly addresses male psychological fears of castration into the mix, therefore allowing McBurney to question his manhood regarding sexual power. But it is in those earlier sequences in the film, as the women of the school house visit McBurney one by one, how effectively he plays into their affection and attention through zeroing in on a certain attribute, fully specific to each female, therefore making the women feel as if they are the sole female figure in the house to have the entirety of his gaze and desires.

This is where "The Beguiled" finds its strengths, within Coppola's measured tone and meticulously perceptive examinations into male and female vanity, and as the film continues, the levels to which each gender will ensure their own sense of self-preservation.  

The entire cast of "The Beguiled" is first rate. Nicole Kidman, already raising her own bar through her searing work on HBO's "Big Little Lies," has turned in one of her most accomplished performances as the severely pragmatic Miss Martha Farnsworth. Colin Farrell also provides another high mark in his career, with a performance that is by turns sly, charismatic, polite, sincere, fearful, monstrous and even comical as the Union soldier who soon discovers that life inside of the female inhabited schoolhouse is more perilous than the Civil War battlefield. Kirsten Dunst, working with Coppola for the third time after "The Virgin Suicides" and "Marie Antoinette," again serves us an engaged, honest and empathetic gaze into the inner world of another of Coppola's "butterflies under glass."  

Dear readers, the movies are reaching a most critical period. Now I am not about to admonish any of you for desiring to see all manner of superheroes, sequels, and mainstream genre films, certainly not because I see the same films too. But as I have been expressing for the entirety of this blogsite, what troubles me is the increased focus upon those films at the expense of any other films being made, especially ones from filmmakers who clearly have a personalized viewpoint that they wish to create and share. Sofia Coppola is such a filmmaker, and especially within an industry where there are so shamelessly few prominent female filmmakers with Coppola's influence, clout and ability to get her projects made and released, she is someone I feel that we should treasure unquestionably.

Sofia Coppola's"The Beguiled" is an adult artistic statement from a filmmaker who has always been fortunate and skilled enough to create, explore and critique her cinematic worldview. We need filmmakers like her and what a shame it would be to have a voice like hers snuffed out in favor of the vacuously uninspired, the mindlessly gargantuan, and the blatantly anonymous.

JOYRIDE: a review of "Baby Driver"

"BABY DRIVER"
Written and Directed by Edgar Wright 
**** (four stars)
RATED R

May the Gods of Cinema forever bless Edgar Wright!

As recently as yesterday, I have been struck by articles pondering the end of the Director as we know it, essentially reducing cinematic artists to hired hands randomly picked to work for the desires of the true visionaries, so to speak, the Producers.

Now, truth be told, in some respects I can understand the hows and whys Producers may be more in control than the actual Director, especially when using movies to build interconnected film universes. In those situations, consistency within the brand is paramount. But that being said, to have an industry where movies are only created to devise mere product therefore pushing any potential filmmaking artists to the fringes if not out of the system altogether, it is a potential future that seriously troubles me, for without those visionaries, the movies will undoubtedly be doomed to becoming uninspired, homogenized, ultimately disposable and worst of all, anonymous.

This is why when we have a filmmaker of the caliber and breed of Writer/Director Edgar Wright, we should rejoice, for when he finds himself behind the camera, the movies look, sound and feel like no one else's as they are so often dazzling, head spinning, propulsive, eye popping and outstanding pieces of art, that I would truly fear a day in which we would not be able to experience what his seemingly endlessly creative mind has dreamed up.

With "Baby Driver," Edgar Wright more than continues his personal winning streak, which has included nothing less than the likes of "Shaun Of The Dead" (2004), "Scott Pilgrim Vs.The World" (2010) and "The World's End" (2013). I think he has quite possibly topped himself while also helming one of the very best films of 2017 by a mile.

Edgar Wright's "Baby Driver" stars Ansel Elgort as the titular, reticent, headphone earbud wearing getaway driver whose devotion to the music he blasts into his ears not only drowns out the tinnitus he received from a childhood tragedy, it provides him with a supreme focus and connection to the car and his reflexes as he speeds away from one heist after another.

Baby is under the employ of the crime kingpin named Doc (Kevin Spacey), and he often runs alongside a collective of increasingly psychotic criminals, including the hotheaded Bats (Jamie Foxx), Darling (Elza Gonzalez) and her husband, the ferocious Buddy (Jon Hamm), all the while earning money which he squirrels away in the tiny abode he shares with his deaf and disabled foster Father, Joseph (CJ Jones).

While visiting a local diner one morning between getaway jobs, Baby makes the acquaintance of the lovely waitress Debora (Lily James), with whom he quickly strikes up a friendship, bonds over their shared devotion to music and falls in love.

Yet, when one last job after what was presumably Baby's last job threatens to collide with his new plans for escaping his life of crime for a blissfully endless journey of love, music and the road with Debora, he is forced to face the music as never before.

Edgar Wright's "Baby Driver" has fully re-invented the car chase/crime film/action thriller and ingeniously re-fashioned it as the most lavish, deliriously inventive movie musical you are bound to see for quite some time, and yes, that even means you "La La Land" (2016).  The very best thing that I can say about this film is the following: once it was over, there was noting else that I wanted to do but to walk to the back of the ticket line to buy a ticket and see it all over again immediately.

Now certainly, as far as plots go, the storyline of "Baby Driver" is as old as the hills. But, trust me, it is only utilized as a starting point from which Edgar Wright and his superlative cast and crew can all take a deep dive into the whirlpool of Wright's inventive imagination as he re-contextualizes all of the chases, crashes, shootouts and mayhem with the expertly conceived choreography of a major movie musical.

Dear readers, I just have to explain at this time that after watching movies avidly for 40 years there are things that I need never need to ever see again and one of those cinematic constants is the car chase. Certainly, when it is done well, car chase sequences can be thrilling and the very best that I have seen are still etched into my memories and excitedly so.

I think of the truck chase in Steven Spielberg's "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" (1981) or the extended road rage sequences in George Miller's "The Road Warrior" (1981) and "Mad Max: Fury Road" (2015). Or how about the elegant motorcycle chase in Jean-Jacques Beineix's "Diva" (1981), or the wrong way freeway chase in William Friedkin's brutal "To Live And Die In L.A." (1985) or the dazzling freeway extravaganza in The Wachowski's "The Matrix Reloaded" (2003). And there is no way that I could write about movie car chases and not mention the granddaddy of them all, in my humble opinion, John Landis' "The Blues Brothers" (1980), a film which truly took car chase pyrotechnics to a transcendent level. With "Baby Driver," Edgar Wright has now joined this exclusive company as he has made such a tired sequence in the movies feel almost as if I am seeing it for the first time.

As with all of his films thus far--especially with "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World"--I wondered just how oh how Wright would be able to keep up his creative momentum for the entire duration of the film as it felt to be so impossible. Within the film's first 10-15 minutes or so, we have been blown backwards from a ferociously paced getaway car chase plus another sequence where Baby walks the morning streets of Atlanta to obtain four coffees for his partners in crime. And throughout it all, the movements and motions of the people and objects are all in exquisitely timed sequence to the songs that Baby pumps through his earbuds...and I mean absolutely everything! Gunshots occur right ON THE BEAT. Car skids and slides flow right with the songs. Just even watch how characters walk from time to time and once all is said and done, it is as if Edgar Wright's "Baby Driver" was imagined as the cinematic love child of John Woo and Busby Berkeley and again, never for a minute designed to assault your senses and bludgeon you but to whisk you away in two-fisted, speed of light and sound entertainment.

From even conceiving of a film such as this, Edgar Wright more than deserves any kudos and awards that happen to flow his way. And for that matter, he is assisted tremendously through the efforts of his superlative team from Editors Jonathan Amos and Paul Machliss, Cinematographer Bill Pope, most definitely Choreographer Ryan Heffington and for the love of Pete, the entire Sound Department has more than earned every industry award they can get their collective hands upon!!

Of course, you cannot have a musical without the music and Wright had loaded his film from end to end with a wildly eclectic mix of 44 songs, a tactic that instantly places him to the front ranks of filmmakers who utilize songs to serve as an additional character within the film and not solely as sonic wallpaper. Over the course of his previous films, Wright has already displayed his impeccable taste, placing him the same league as Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Cameron Crowe, the late John Hughes and Jonathan Demme and most notably, alongside his contemporaries with Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola and Quentin Tarantino. But now, with music serving as the film's engine, so to speak, Wright is able to delve even deeper and more extensively into the music of  his mind.

Now much has been written and celebrated about the soundtracks that augment James Gunn's "Guardians Of The Galaxy" series (2014/2017) and trust me, I am not about to rain on your collective parades if you cherish them.  For me, I was most underwhelmed. Not with the songs for I love them as much as you do. But, to me, within the interstellar context of those movies, they felt to be so obvious and even safe instead of creatively innovative.

I bring up Gunn's films as his work shares a certain conceptual theme with "Baby Driver" as both Gunn and Wright have conceived of youthful anti-heroes  mourning lost Mothers and have maintained emotional connections through the music they are each obsessed with. But where Gunn's choices felt to be market researched to me, Wright's choices felt distinctly personalized and feverishly hand-picked, making the conceptual connective tissue carry a much more significant weight to the proceedings.

With all of the action, thrills, razzle-dazzle and the music, I again applaud Edgar Wright for ensuring that Baby Driver" would exist as so much more than an exercise in style--no matter how high flying of style it is. Wright indeed has a story to tell and some larger themes to carry along with it and primarily, he has used "Baby Driver" as another exploration of his consistent theme of male arrested development.

Just as Shaun possesses an unhealthy attachment to his prized neighborhood bar as well as commitment to his longtime girlfriend in "Shaun Of The Dead," and Gary King's alcoholism and desperate sense of nostalgia for his lost youth sits at the core of "The World's End," Edgar Wright utilizes the music of "Baby Driver" to signify what is ultimately Baby's fuel and his crutch. Baby's rigid dependence upon music serves as a means for him to simultaneously connect and retreat from the world around him, thus blurring his overall sense of reality, which is finally tested once Debora enters his life and the savagery of the criminals around him at last begin to rattle his sense of humanity.

In some ways, I think that Baby comes closet to the character of Scott Pilgrim regarding the level of disconnect from the real world as Scott's narcissism was presented through his choice of viewing life as being one endless video game as a protective measure from real, human relationships and the inevitable emotional wounds that occur.

With "Baby Driver," I loved how Baby carried this tendency to essentially channel whatever emotions he carries into the technology he surrounds himself with. From cars, certainly, to the music he pours into his ears and then, to even the conversations he obsessively records and then re-contextualizes into his own music, therefore reducing human beings and relationships into song lyrics, recording equipment, instruments, synthetic beats and a case of cassette tapes.

And you know, just as a casual thought, I am curious if some of you who see this film would argue if Baby mentally exists somewhere upon the autism spectrum. Wondering...Yes, I may be completely off base here but even so, "Baby Driver" does indeed lend itself to such interpretation and that only adds to the fun. Oh, I have gone on long enough and I certainly do not wish to delay you any longer from racing out to go see this film, this restless, relentless and rapturous film that only made me want to rejoice.

Edgar Wright's "Baby Driver" is exhibit A evidence of precisely why we still need to have actual Directors when it comes to our cinema. The ones who have the ability to harness their vision and craft it so exquisitely through the language of film giving us movie experiences to celebrate and cultivate as we receive a perspective that we have not heard before and enlivening the movies in the process.

Just look at this year alone as we are indeed drowning in superhero movies but it took Patty Jenkins to crack the code and make a transcendent one in "Wonder Woman." Look at what Jordan Peele accomplished with the horror genre with "Get Out," a film we really have not ever seen before. The individuals have the potential to be cinematic artists to carry movies further into the future and I believe that these figures should not only be celebrated and appreciated, they should be more than encouraged to continue reshaping what the movies can actually be and inspiring us all to boot.

Edgar Wright is unquestionably a filmmaker of that caliber, whose euphoric aesthetic has left me increasingly ecstatic over the years and I sincerely hope that he is able to continue making the types of films that leave me happily slack jawed and breathless. If there is anything negative I can say about "Baby  Driver," is that now, I'll have to wait all over again and for however many years for Edgar Wright's next film.

But until then, I cannot wait to get behind the wheel of this film again and again and again.

SAVAGE CINEMA DEBUTS: "JOHN WICK" (2014)

"JOHN WICK" (2014)
Screenplay Written by Derek Kolstad
Directed by Chad Stahelski & David Leitch
*** (three stars)
RATED R

I don't know why but sometimes, I just cannot resist a good shoot 'em up.

Sometimes, when I decide to watch a movie, I just may go for one that is more seemingly fitted to whatever mood I may find myself in. And truth be told, some of those times involve the classic shoot 'em up crime/action film genre. Granted, I do genuinely like those sorts of action thrillers but usually to  point. I mean--there is only one "Die Hard" (1988) for a reason, as it is rare when that type of a film is able to transcend its own genre and truly become something classic...and therefore, making other, lesser films in the same genre irrelevant and not worth watching.

But still...there are those times, when I just happen to need something with flying bullets and some level of  ultraviolence. For that is precisely the reason that I saw a film like the Quentin Tarantino scripted and Robert Rodriguez directed thriller/horror film mash-up "From Dusk Til Dawn" (1996) or the slightly more obscure heist film "Killing Zoe" (1994) from Writer/Director Roger Avery.  More recently, I found myself surprisingly and wildly entertained by the preposterously enjoyable autistic hit man concoction "The Accountant" (2016) starring Ben Affleck in the titular role and on this lazy Saturday afternoon, and after an extended stressful period in my life, I found myself in need of something potentially like that film and that was how I happened upon making my acquaintance with "John Wick."

Starring Keanu Reeves in the titular role, "John Wick" spins the bloody, brutal tale of our eponymous anti-hero who, at the film's start, is mourning the loss of his beloved wife to a terminal illness and is just only beginning to etch out a new life with his wife's final gift, a beagle puppy. named Daisy.

Just days after his wife's passing and the arrival of Daisy, Wick is taunted at a gas station by some young Russian ruffians led by Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen), who are ogling the sights of Wick's classic 1969 Boss 329 Mustang, and is later attacked in his own home by the same ruffians, who finally steal his car and kill Daisy.

Upon taking Wick's Mustang to a chop shop run by Aurelio (John Leguizamo), Iosef is informed that he has crossed paths with the wrong man, a fact further confirmed by his Father, Russian crime boss Viggo Tarasov (the late Michael Nyqvist), who proclaims that John Wick is not The Boogeyman...John Wick is the man you would hire to kill the Boogeyman!

And so it goes, with this tale of revenge and intended redemption transformed in to inevitability as John Wick hunts down Iosef and Viggo with a relentless (and even quite fashionable) approach, littering New York City in a hailstorm of bullets and blood.  

"John Wick," as conceived and directed by Chad Stahelski & David Leitch (who was actually uncredited as a co-director due to the rules of the Directors Guild Of America but was listed as a producer), is a lean, bare-bones, yet highly stylized  action thriller that never really takes itself too seriously but is also deeply steeped in its variety of cinematic influences, from Asian action cinema, of course, to filmmakers as diverse yet cut from the same conceptual cloths as Sergio Leone, Walter Hill, John Woo, and Quentin Tarantino.

Unlike the hysterically convoluted plot of "The Accountant," Stahelski and Leitch ensure that their film's storyline is just this shy of skeletal, a tactic that actually works in the film's favor as it informs the proceedings as we, in the audience, are left to devise of the backgrounds and histories of Wick and his adversaries. That being said, a double feature of "John Wick" and "The Accountant" does not seem to be terribly far fetched.

What Stahelski and Leitch do bring to the table is a high style that feels simultaneously gritty yet elegant, due to the exclusivity of the film's New York locations, the high fashion wardrobes of the film's criminal underworld and the slyly humorous politeness to all of their dialogue exchanges and the euphemisms utilized to covertly describe their dirty deeds.

Keanu Reeves, who has long carried a  mighty screen presence yet has often been saddled with a limited acting range, has again found a conceptual sweet spot to explore as John Wick. His verbal reticence combined with his still impressive physicality, again, informs his character's grief as well as his existential drama with returning to a life he felt that he had long left behind, the skin he thought he had forever shed. This quality does indeed give the film some necessary (but not too much) weight, a quality that was reminiscent of themes housed in Tarantino's "Kill Bill" series (2003/2004), Tony Scott's "Man On Fire" (2004) and definitely in Clint Eastwood's revisionist Western "Unforgiven" (1992). 

But even still, "John Wick" is a film where it strongly feels that the visuals and action are indeed the heavy lifters as far as storytelling is concerned and with that Stahelski and Leitch succeed greatly. We happen to live in a cinematic age where action sequences are seemingly devised and executed via a blender rather through any cinematic creativity and imagination.

Fight sequences that are often shot too closely via the dreaded shaky-cam and then edited together in a randomness making audiences fully unable to follow the story of the fights, chases and shoot-outs and are therefore subjected to being bludgeoned rather than legitimately excited and exhilarated. Stahelski and Leitch avoid all such errors as they allow the camera to follow the copious action sequences cleanly, with purpose, attention, skill and focus, ensuring that every set piece is one that will fully satisfy while also setting the stage for whatever is to follow.

Now, all of that being said, there are many reasons for me to actually hate a film like this and I am wondering why or even how I could have enjoyed a film so much that did employ a sickeningly cheap tactic of the killing of a cute little beagle (thankfully, shown very briefly but even so..) as the film's catalystic plot point. It is more than a shallow thing to hinge and entire film upon and it does call into question for us as film-going audiences about what do we even need to find ourselves to be entertained these days. Honestly, is there absolutely nothing that is off limits anymore? Did that dog really have to be killed in order to spring Wick into action? Could having been attacked in his home and having his car stolen be enough for a film this conceptually scant?

But maybe...I know that I just  might be reaching here, but maybe Stahelski and Leitch have tapped into something akin to what was tapped into Luc Besson and Pierre Morel's especially nasty, sadistic and at times borderline racist yet efficiently effective "Taken" (2008)--frankly, I wont even count the later two sequels as those movies are essentially comedies as far as I am concerned.

I really do not wish to make too much of this but I am wondering that considering the increased vitriol, violence, precariousness and overall uncertainty of our 21st century American landscape, where so many of us are indeed feeling up against it, trapped under it or fearing that all could be lost in an instant and through no fault of our own, there is this need to lash out and provide ourselves with some sort of individualized frontier justice against our foes, whether real or imagined. In many ways, I could see a film like "John Wick" serving as a safe way to vicariously act out upon our basest and more violent tendencies as this is quite the primal little film.

In some ways, aren't we all just kind of lashing out against those who would or could potentially take away the most vulnerable like John Wick's beagle? Admittedly, living in Wisconsin, I have felt like that for the last five to six years and even moreso now with who is currently occupying the White House. If I am feeling like this then certainly, I would think it is safe to assume that others are as well. Again, I don't want to make too much of this small slice of pulp fiction but I can't help to wonder if this film has inadvertently touched a cultural nerve.

Regardless, "John Wick" was indeed effective enough that I am not only willing to give this year's "John Wick: Chapter 2" a whirl, I am not-so-secretly hoping that we can have a cinematic mash-up featuring John Wick....VS. The Accountant!!!!

Now THAT would be heaps more entertaining than Batman Vs. Superman!

SAVAGE CINEMA'S COMING ATTRACTIONS FOR JULY 2017

The Summer Movie Season of 2017 rolls onwards with its standard rapid pace yet I am already feeling that I have fallen behind, feelings that may be more fully described to you in a future posting that I am still mulling over writing or not. But for now, the month really looks packed and I am hoping that I am able to get myself to this new batch of films that have all captured my attention.

1. The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand with the arrival of "Spider-Man: Homecoming," a film that I have to admit I was more than skeptical about and possibly filled with the most fatigue regarding the comic book movie genre as Spider-Man has been rebooted twice now. But after his high flying appearance in "Captain America: Civil War" (2016), where Tom Holland filled the role with a whip-smart engagingly awkward youthful exuberance as well as some fine comedic chemistry with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) himself--plus the positive early reviews certainly help--I guess I'm going to join the wall crawler one more time.

2. "Atomic Blonde"--I know nothing about this film other than what I have seen in the trailer and I'd like to keep it that way, because for this one, I'm there!

3. Director Matt Reeves returns to the elegantly presented moral darkness of the richly re-booted "Planet Of The Apes" series with "War For The Planet Of the Apes," another sequel that will hopefully show that extended episodes of a film series need not be artless money grabbers. 

4. The new film from Christopher Nolan. 'Nuff said.

So, with that and some holdovers that are just now arriving in my city, I hope to be cinematically busy and happy. As always, please do send me your well wishes and I'll see you when the house lights go down!!!

IN SPACE NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU YAWN: a review of "Life"

"LIFE"
Screenplay Written by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick
Directed by Daniel Espinosa
* (one star)
RATED R

Early on during the blatantly derivative would be science fiction/horror hybrid know as "Life," when the ravenous alien life form has only just begun to wreak havoc, one of the characters looks in terror filled amazement and utters, "How smart is this thing?" Apparently, smarter than all of you humans put together.

Dear readers, we have reached an other film where I have to announce to you that I see these things just so you do not have to and "Life," from Director Daniel Espinosa is precisely one of those very films. As I have previously stated, the film is derivative to the point of plagiarism yet the filmmakers never even bothered to steal the good stuff. It is indeed that bad. A joyless, often incoherent, journey into the darkness of space that we have all seen before and much better and is unfortunately a complete waste of the talents of the game cast, and aspects of the technical side of this very good looking but entirely empty headed and cold hearted production. See this at your own risk.

Such as it is with movies of this nature, "Life" is set upon an International Space Station withth epre-requisite skeleton crew of six members. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Senior Medical Officer, Dr. David Jordan, the war veteran whose distaste of human atrocities on Earth has led him to remain in space upon this very station for long over a year.  Joining him in the station's multi-cultural crew are quarantine officer Dr. Miranda North (Rebecca Ferguson), pilot and new Father Shu Murakami (Hiroyuki Sananda), biologist Dr. Hugh Derry (Ariyon Bakare), space station commander Ekaterina Golovkina (Olga Dihovichnaya) and the wisecracking system engineer Rory Adams (Ryan Reynolds who clearly does not yet have Deadpool out of his system).

OK...after the space station captures a probe containing a soil sample that might contain proof positive evidence of life on Mars and further, Dr. Hugh Derry revives a dormant cell which rapidly grows into a multi-celled organism, which is soon dubbed with the name "Calvin." And much like the iconic comic strip character at his most devious, Calvin begins to grow in intelligence even more rapidly and in hostility even faster as it attacks Hugh before embarking upon its space station rampage, growing larger in size and ever shifting shapes and forms (Honestly, it is like a jellyfish? Or an octopus?  Audrey II from "Little Shop Of Horrors"?) as it engulfs the crew one-by-one and they not only try to survive but to stop it from reaching Earth.

You get the picture...

Daniel Espinosa "Life" is truly a pathetic title for a film that clearly carries no appreciation for its subject. For as good looking of a film as it is, and for that matter, one that is also as well acted as this one, it is also a painfully bland one, which carries absolutely no original ideas whatsoever but does house an international space station's worth of cliches and greatest hits from other better movies yet without any of the inventiveness, finesse, artistry and imagination that made those other films so memorable. Truth be told, if Ridley Scott and Alfonso Cuaron decided to file a joint plagiarism suit against the filmmakers and the studio, they would more than have a case.

Yes, "Life" is essentially a hybrid of Scott's "Alien" (1979) and Cuaron's "Gravity" (2013) with perhaps a taste of Barry Levinson's "Sphere" (1998) thrown into the mix but entirely without the creative brains to make it stand on its own two cinematic feet. It is yet another carnage filled space thriller in which scientists intelligent enough to work on a space station but stupid enough to open doors allowing murderous space creatures to roam free to devour them alive are rampant to the point of distressing unbelievability.

In some respects, "Life" felt to be like a less bloated but equally awful "Jurassic World" (2015), a film that exists to solely have stupid people do stupid things just to find themselves dismembered, thus blowing a conceptual hole into anything resembling true terror, awe, fright, or even a fight for survival. The fate is sealed once Dr. Hugh begins to become attached to little Calvin as a petri dish organism. You know from the jump that he'll be the first to find himself attacked (Yes, Dr. Hugh Derry is a Black man--and as Black people in horror films go, this man really takes a beating), and you know someone will try to save him, thus endangering the crew instantly and so on and so on and so on...

What is this eternally boring concept of every potential extraterrestrial organism existing for the purpose of annihilating humans? I mean--just as a genre unto itself, it can work and has worked many times before, sometimes as a brilliantly conceived and executed thriller like Scott's "Alien" or as a cultural critique/allegory like either of the versions of  Directors Don Seigel or Philip Kaufman's "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers" (1956 and 1978 respectively) or even Steven Spielberg's truly outstanding and horrifying remake of "War Of The Worlds" (2005).

But even as Ridley Scott continues to extend his "Alien" universe with some pretty strong prequels, even he understands that monstrous creatures destroying humans in and of itself is not enough. So wisely, he has decided to instill larger concepts about humanity, creation, existence, religion, faith, the dangers of artificial intelligence and the primal nature of survival to brutally nihilistic degrees. Yet, with "Life," Espinosa just wants to seemingly create a series of incoherently staged traps of no real excitement or consequence--especially with its bait and switch climactic sequence, which is just so poorly staged and only exists to twist the knife, so to speak.  .

And what is it with the cinematography anyway? I have no problems with Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey's elegant, gliding camera work or even the beautifully displayed zero gravity special effects, which are as smooth as anything we have seen before, The issue is that, like the so-called thrills and action, the visual twists and turns through the space station are of no consequence or purpose, completely unlike what we experienced in Cuaron's "Gravity," which truly immersed you in space, giving you the awesome and terrifying feeling that you are right there alongside Sandra Bullock as she spirals through the endlessness of space. Nope, Espinosa simply plays all of the notes without understanding the music, making him look like a show-off but even so, it is still incomprehensible why we would be looking at two characters upside down when there is really no discernible need. 

Look...what more is there to say for a movie that is the equivalent of a White Castle slider. It's in. It's out. That's all. Daniel Espinosa's "Life" is a waste of talent, time and energy as it possesses a complete lack of anything resembling a desire to make a movie. In fact, this is the kind of film that hungry filmmakers should stone the screen as for all of the films that could have been make, this one was and for the love of Pete, why?

In space, no one may be able to hear you scream but here on Earth, you can certainly hear the yawns that are bound the exuded in the theaters and homes of those unfortunate enough to view this space junk.

Daniel Espinosa's "Life" is one of 2017's very worst films.

WONDERFUL!!!!: a review of "Wonder Woman"

"WONDER WOMAN"
Based upon the DC Comics series created by William Moulton Marston
Story by Zack Snyder & Allan Heinberg and Jason Fuchs
Screenplay Written by Allan Heinberg
Directed by Patty Jenkins
**** (four stars)
RATED PG 13

I can't believe it!! I just cannot believe it!!

Dear readers, I am going to go on record at this moment to tell you that I was not, in any way, looking forward to seeing this film. Now, before you jump to any conclusions, my reluctance has absolutely nothing to do with the character of Wonder Woman, a superhero fixture within my childhood and life long love of comic book warriors. My reluctance had absolutely, positively everything to do with the overall quality of the DC Cinematic universe as of late and especially when com pared to the Marvel Cinematic universe, which has beaten the DC films hands down over and again.

Essentially (and if you are regular visitors to this site, I apologize for any repetitiveness), Director Zack Snyder's inaugural features "Man Of Steel" (2013) and "Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice" (2016), were not disasters but they were indeed visually striking, intermittently involving would-be epics that were severely undone by incoherent storytelling messiness, a complete lack of joy within the CGI bombast and excruciating overlong climaxes where every single item except the movie theater itself was reduced to a mindless, heartless, soulless rubble (Michael Bay would be so proud!). Writer/Director David Ayer's inexcusable "Suicide Squad" (2016) was such an unmitigated disaster, that it very nearly made me want to swear off future DC films altogether.

And then, there was Gal Godot herself. Once again, my initial dismissal of Godot had nothing to do with an eternal allegiance with Lynda Carter who portrayed the iconic role of Wonder Woman in her television series from the 1970's. It was just that Godot made for quite a weak impression within her debut appearance in the role during "Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice." Yes, she clearly looked the part. She obviously fit the costume. Her full entrance in the film (with that downright nifty theme music) was the movie's sole awesome moment. But, then, she began speaking and I was so put off by the woodenness of it all that I could not possibly imagine her carrying a full film on her own shoulders. Gal Godot just felt to be not up to the task at all, but here she was, cast in the role she would portray over a series of films and quite possibly, she just may have been unable to act!

For me, the bar was set at an extremely low level. But then, the initial reviews and their  high marks piqued my curiosity, allowing me to just give DC one more try. And dear readers, I am so, so thankful that I did because "Wonder Woman" is a flat out winner, a wonderful, wondrous feature that not on ly has given the DC characters their best film by a mile, but the finest one since Director Christopher Nolan's game changing "Dark Knight Trilogy" (2005/2008/2012) and even further, the film conjured up emotions of which I have not felt since Director Richard Donner's "Superman: The Movie" (1978) and Director Richard Lester's "Superman II" (1981).

Director Patty Jenkins, who helmed the brutal, brilliant "Monster" (2003) spotlighting a transformative performance by Charlize Theron, may have been a most unlikely choice to bring this figure to vivid, vibrant life. But, it turns out that she was the best choice without question, as she not only brought the DC Cinematic universe back from near death, she has outpaced and outclassed the generally more consistent Marvel films and ultimately, she has finally made one of the very best films of 2017!

While bookended by sequences set during present day Paris, Patty Jenkins' "Wonder Woman" is an origin story primarily set near the conclusion of World War 1 but begins with our titular heroine as a free spirited child named Diana born on the island of Themyscira, home of a race of Amazonian warrior women created by the Gods of Mount Olympus with the purpose to protect mankind from Ares, the God of War.

The Amazons are led by Diana's Mother, Queen Hippolyta (the glorious Connie Nielsen) and her sister, the military General Antiope (Robin Wright), whose training sessions capture the intense interest and inspiration of young Diana (played by Lilly Aspel), much to the Queen's chagrin and worry. Reluctantly, the Queen allows Diana to be trained by Antiope in the ways of an Amazon warrior, lasting throughout her childhood, into her adolescence (played by Emily Carey) and finally, her young adulthood (now played by Gal Godot), all the while believing that she will one day be called upon to defeat Ares in battle utilizing the "Godkiller," a ceremonial sword.

The course of Diana's life is irrevocably altered when a plane miraculously crash lands off the coast of the island and carrying United States Army Air Service Captain and Allied spy Steve Trevor (a terrific Chris Pine), whom Diana rescues from drowning. Immediately thereafter, German planes, in pursuit of Steve approach the island, thus engaging in battle with the Amazons.

With the realization that "The Great War" is at hand, Diana, feeling her destiny to defeat Ares calling loudly, leaves Themyscira against the wishes and orders of the Queen to join Steve on a voyage to London. From here, the newly christened Diana Prince fully embarks upon a life-changing, world saving odyssey that will find her on the front lines of combat against the insidious General Erich Ludendorff (Danny Huston), the mad scientist Dr. Poison (Elena Anaya) and their exceedingly lethal mustard gas chemicals. But most importantly, her own inner journey towards a greater self-discovery and understanding of humanity itself.

Patty Jenkins' "Wonder Woman" is a fully engrossing, enormously entertaining comic book epic that marries the worlds of mythology, classic Hollywood romantic comedy, espionage and war films, and the modern day superhero genre effortlessly and seamlessly. It is a beautifully filmed production in which the CGI special effects do not overwhelm but somehow carry a throwback charm to a time when superhero films were not so ponderous and self-consciously dour and dark. In fact, "Wonder Woman" possesses qualities that have been long missing from the comic book film genre from both DC and Marvel, and those qualities are an unabashed sense of fun and most especially, a healthy dose of old fashioned innocence that makes the experience feel as rich as the most fantastical dream.

Whatever trepidation and resistance I held towards Gal Godot during her initial film appearance have been marvelously erased with her full fledged starring performance. Godot is sensational, fashioning a sense of joy, awe and naivete that is completely infectious and engaging to regard as she allows us to become as amazed as Diana becomes throughout the film. Without hyperbole, Gal Godot's performance unearthed in me feelings I have not really had for films like this since Christopher Reeve made us all believe that a man could fly. Yes, she is that good and I am sorry that I ever doubted her!

One sequence in particular is the spectacular "No Man's Land" battle, during which Diana first appears in the complete and iconic Wonder Woman attire--bulletproof bracelets, the golden Lasso of Truth, plus shield and the Godkiller sword all at her disposal. Just watch Godot's face during this lengthy action set piece where she defeats legions of German soldiers and throws tanks and I guarantee you will be as equally enthralled as the character, who is just so amazed to discover all of the things that she can do and all in the service of the greater good. Her sense of astonishment is ours in turn, making for a film that scales heights over and again, completely on the shoulders and good will of Gal Godot whose star making performance is precisely what this iconic character demands and deserves.

Chris Pine is absolutely perfect as the heroically rogue-ish Steve Trevor, who engages with Godot with a dazzling light comedic touch that allows the twosome to elicit stupendous chemistry that accentuates Diana's "fish-out-of-water" comedy of manners, her richly paced romance with Steve and her growing understanding of the grey areas of the human condition, especially when it comes to the insanity of war.

In my recent reviews of Writer/Director James Gunn's "Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2," I remarked upon the shallowness of that film's leading actor Chris Pratt, for whom big biceps and a glib nature counts as a full performance. Thankfully, Chris Pine in "Wonder Woman" completely escapes that trap and has discovered how to create a full and rich performance out of material that could be more than a little silly. Pine always finds the correct notes, as he is always in service of Gal Godot (for it is her movie), never trying to claim the spotlight from her but is always there at the right moment with the right delivery of a wry line of dialogue, a bemused expression at the majesty he is able to witness while also being a first rate conduit for Diana to experience the fullness of the human experience in humor, romance and a surprisingly effective level of pathos.

Gal Godot and Chris Pine are a perfect team and they are aided superbly by the film's expertly chosen supporting cast, which includes Steve Trevor's rag tag trio of sidekicks, all portrayed by Ewan Bremmer, Eugene Brave Rock and Said Taghmaoui,  the masterful David Thewlis in a duplicitous role and even the charming Lucy Davis (from the original BBC version of "The Office") as Trevor's trusty secretary.

And even still, none of these performance could possibly have been allowed to shine so brightly if not working in the service of Allan Heinberg's witty, cleanly written screenplay and the pitch perfect direction of Patty Jenkins, who never has one superfluous moment and is armed with a determined and clear eyed filmmaking vision that affords her tremendous agility with transcending all of the superhero movie trappings, creating an experience that is deeply involving, honestly exciting and more than a little moving.

Trust me, dear readers. I have no need to ever sit through another origin story again yet in "Wonder Woman," everything felt fresh and new again. The film's extended climax, itself a comic book movie trapping as so many of these films, most infamously the DC brand, descend into a battering ram of numbing audio/visual cataclysm during which the world ends ten times over and yet nothing happens.

By establishing her characters so strongly, and giving us ample time to be invested in Diana's cause, mission and conflict so thoroughly, Patty Jenkins ensures that everything that occurs within the climax of "Wonder Woman" carries the proper weight, where (frankly) we give a damn because we are completely invested. For the first time in quite some time with this particular genre, I was not bored for one moment during the epic battles, which are engaged essentially on three fronts, where mythology and a more grounded reality collide powerfully and themes of sacrifice, honor and love are paramount--not how many explosions can we blast the movie screen with.

And at the center of it all is Diana Prince, her open-heartedness, her purity, her bravery and her unquestionably bad-ass warrior status is downright inspirational. I know how this film affected me. But I can only imagine what this film could possibly mean for young girls and hey, adult women in the audience who really have not had a film like this to call their own at any point during our glut of comic book films for nearly the past 10 years...at least!!! Representation is everything and Patty Jenkins clearly took up the challenge of bringing this classic figure to such vibrant life with all of the fierce creativity and skill that, again, this character so richly deserves.

At the outset of this review, I proclaimed that I just could not believe that this film turned out so exceedingly well, especially with the low quality of what preceded it. I am hoping powerfully that as DC continues to build their cinematic universe, they look to what Jenkins has achieved and follow her template. With all due respect to Zack Snyder who is ensconced in a personal family tragedy, I just don't have high hopes for the already filmed "Justice League," which will arrive this November. But afterwards, the DC films brain trust need to study Jenkins' outstanding work carefully and proudly for after hitting such a high bar, they can't go back down in quality.  

Yes, I am still undergoing my strain and sense of superhero movie fatigue but with Patty Jenkins' "Wonder Woman," my love of the genre has been fully rejuvenated as she has delivered a film of such imagination, adventurousness and a most delightful jubilation that just makes the film fly through the clouds.

And in turn, we happily fly right along with it!

SAVAGE CINEMA'S COMING ATTRACTIONS FOR JUNE 2017

And now, we're off to the races!!

Despite some excellence in the first few months of 2017, my movie going has been quite scant. Things seem to change this month as the Summer Movie Season is racing out of the gate and with several already audience and critically acclaimed films ready for wide release. I'm ready, dear readers. I'm ready!!!!!

1. The DC Cinematic Universe has lagged far behind the Marvel films creatively so I was really not anticipating anything new from this outfit. But, the near rave reviews for Director Patty Jenkins' "Wonder Woman" now has me a bit excited to see if they will finally get one right and give the legendary Amazon the movie she has long deserved. 

2. Director Sofia Coppola and Kirsten  Dunst re-team for the third time with "The Beguiled," Coppola's remake of the 1971 film starring Clint Eastwood and directed by Don Siegel and for which she just won the Best Director award at this year's Cannes Film Festival. 'Nuff said!

3. Yes, the one-sheet proclaims an August release date but Writer/Director Edgar Wright's "Baby Driver," his rock and roll car chase, crime, action extravaganza wowed the audiences at this year's SXSW Festival so enthusiastically, its release date was pushed upwards two months! 'Nuff said, part two!!!

4. Tom Cruise returns with a creature feature remake of "The Mummy," a concept that doesn't interest me that much but Cruise has been exceedingly consistent recently so I have to give it a shot.

So, with that, my plans and schemes for the month are set. I ask of you again to wish me well for June and I'll see you when the house lights go down!!