Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Film Review: Only The Brave (2017)

Director:

 

Writers:

  (based on the GQ article "No Exit" by),  | 1 more credit »

It is a tall task to adapt a film from a true story.  There is so much to consider, so much source material to attach to it and at the end of the day, it is essential to not just please the audience, but to honor the real people and their families being depicted on screen.  It is with this sort of mindset that I went into Joseph Kosinski's Only The Brave, the real life story of the Granite Mountain Hotshot wildfire firefighters who lost their lives in the Yarnell Hill Fire of 2013, the deadliest wildfire in America since 1933.

The story follows a similar formula that has grown more common over the last few years.  Mainly with the films of Peter Berg, such as Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon and Patriots Day, the focus of the true story is on the characters.  It is the heart and soul of this film, the Hotshot firefighters of Granite Mountain who train hard and risk their lives to fight wildfires all over America.  Led by Josh Brolin as the determined and hardworking, Eric Marsh, leader and founder of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, Kosinski uses his keen eye for cgi in the scenes with fire and dreams of fire to create a supernatural entity in the flames that Eric Marsh and company extinguish.  Brolin is so on point, it's obvious how much he cares about telling this tale as honorable and real as can be.  Finally, there is a vehicle for the talents of Kosinski, who has the vision of a great director, but never the script.  Kosinski, who shot onto the scene with Tron:Legacy and Oblivion, has often been viewed as a visually gifted director with his use of cgi and scope but of plotless films.  In Only The Brave, he options to allow the cast of real lived people to tell the story and rely on the actors to push the story forward.  His job then becomes depicting the wild of a forest fire and in that regard, this is some of the best footage filmed of a burning world.

The rest of the cast handles like a military unit of close comrades.  The Hotshots are brave and daring and skilled, more skilled than any other Hotshot unit in America according to some dialogue, but the dangers of what they do for a living is trying on their families.  Kosinski uses this to show humans being humans, but becoming heroes at the same time.  They are just men fighting fires, but somewhere along the line, we learn their work ethic and the hazards they endure and earn respect for their labor.  Where so many real life tragedies are focused on an hour and a half of devastation and drama, Kosinski focuses on the men and their lives first, only getting to the tragedy in the final act.  This makes it a rare film about people with a tragic ending as tribute.  With great acting from Miles Teller as the rookie fighting his shady past and trying to make a good mark for his newborn daughter, the heart of this film is the men on the line.  The fires they face bring them closer together and we see that develop.

When the film comes to it's finale, we see the purpose of their journey.  I couldn't help but feel bonded to these characters and forced to lose a piece of that bond as their tragic story plays out.  It becomes emotionally deep as it rolls to a conclusion and eventually breaks as we witness the anguish of the families the Hotshots left behind.  All of this, like a letter lit up to ash against a candle, leaves a lasting echo in us after it ends.  The beautiful tribute given to each man as the credits being closes out the film with complete respect.  Where so many of these films tries to omit or redirect facts for a more extravagant meal, Only The Brave shines for it's approach and handle of the material, making it an easy digestible true life story with a devastating conclusion.  A fitting tribute to fallen American heroes.

8 of 10

Tyler Baker
 

Monday, January 29, 2018

Film Review: The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

Director:

 
Stars, Nicole Kidman, 

Yorgos Lanthimos is a bizarre sort.  A Greek import in the directing department, Lanthimos has impressed the indie world of filmmaking with strange fed movies like Dogtooth and Alps, but came to Hollywood in 2015 with one of the sweetest and strangest films ever in The Lobster.  Lanthimos' odd writing and directing (always with the writing partner of Efthymis Filippou) bleeds through the screen and his sharp vision on life and the awkwardness of humanity has become a masterclass.  With The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Lanthimos continues this habit of standing on the outside, but never looking in, and gives us one of the silliest, but disturbingly watchable films of the year.

I went into Sacred Deer with an immense love for The Lobster and excited to see Colin Farrell work with Lanthimos again.  This film was different.  It had the same sort of displaced direction that Lanthimos does best, forcing deadpan performances from everyone as if the people of the world had been drained of human emotion but still continued to feel them.  All the actor's cadences were mimicking one another, everything said was spit out strait and it shows Lanthimos' ability to direct everyone to his will and purpose.  The story itself is crazy and I suggest knowing as little as possible about the film (I won't spoil it here) and then watching it with complete confusion as you find out more and more as time goes on.  The music and tone of the film, all blended together in foreboding mischief of dark corners, was perfect to confuse the audience what the film really was until it is revealed half way through.

The real benefit of this film is seeing Barry Keoghan, who had a less than bit part in Dunkirk last year, show his ability to act with such talents as Farrell and Kidman.  He works perfectly in Lanthimos' twisted tale.  The acting only goes so far, however, letting the absurdity of the story soak in as it constantly misdirects towards any logical avenue.  The result is a dark but zany drama that could be a comedy or a horror film or a thriller or an allegory for humanity or something else entirely.  It is that kind of foggy misunderstanding that makes The Killing of a Sacred Deer something to really sit down and watch.  Pay attention to, absorb...if you can make it past the first minute of open heart surgery.

8 of 10

Tyler Baker

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Film Review: Netflix's The Polka King (2018)


Netflix is coming into 2018 after a successful year of Stranger Things and other stuff.  Sure, they completely whiffed with shows like Gypsy and Disjointed, were forced to end their award winning drama House of Cards without Kevin Spacey, had a hard time winning over critics with films like Bright and almost every Adam Sandler "movie" they produced, but all in all, they hit big with The Crown, fans flocked to Ozark, stand up dominated their viewership and Peaky Blinders took out the last week of 2017 like a powder keg with a lit fuse.  This leads us into 2018, the year of Netflix's true assimilation into the film industry and it began on January 12th with the release of the Jack Black led true story comedy, The Polka King.

Netflix has pushed plenty of money into their film division.  They spent over $100 million on Will Smith's Bright (and what seemed like nothing on the script), produced movies with Adam Sandler and Brad Pitt, but never found a strong footing in 2017.  Most of their films were misfires because of what seems to be an overwhelming freedom they let their filmmakers work with.  With Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky, they found the perfect team to write and direct the insanely true story of Jan Lewan, famed Pennsylvania polka singer and ponzi scheme mastermind.  At it's core, the film revolves around who Jan Lewan was as a person, played by Jack Black, and how things spiraled from needing to make more money to pay his polka band to stealing millions of dollars from elderly people.  Black bends his ability to play silly with an instilled form of deception and manipulation that makes you sort of root for "Jan the Man" while shaking your head at his nonsense.  It is this area that Black has shined in before, playing a lovable murderer in Bernie or the big talking fame seeking director in King Kong.  Black shines with the strong writing that has perfect pockets for comedy and utilizes the kind of over the top character Lewan was.  With fine surrounding acting from Jenny Slate and specifically Jackie Weaver, Black has plenty of moments to act and not just chew scenes for a gag-reel.

What propels this film to interesting levels is the actual content.  What happened with Jan Lewan and his "investments" is as strong of a true tale as something like The Informant, but just off the mark of The Big Short.  With great joint effort from Forbes and Wolodarsky, who are obviously both comfortable with one another to avoid pointless scenes or poor directing choices, the film benefits from having two sets of eyes and two writer's pens in charge of it.  This is a rare film that hits all it's marks and comes to a satisfying end...all in under one hour and forty minutes.  So many films have pacing problems or dead spots or don't build enough on the characters, especially with comedies, but here is a smart and meaty balance of all things filmic.  The result is a fun, laughable but real plot and strong bodies all around it boosting the entirety of the project beyond just another comedy to watch and forget.  

Where Netflix has been just fine letting Adam Sandler hang with all his friends that can't get work outside of him, The Polka King works as a sign of good things to come on the film side of Netflix in 2018.  As bizarre as it is true, The Polka King is precisely what Netflix needs to build a bigger streaming giant.  Definitely worth the watch and with little to no fat around it's edges.  This is a solid streaming steak.

7 of 10

Tyler Baker

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Top 10 Films of 2017

Decisions decisions.  With 2017 on it's last legs and we look to a wild 2018 in cinema, we can do nothing else but reflect on what was a diverse and overall successful year for movies.  We were graced with a new Spider-Man franchise, another trip to a far off galaxy, Vin Diesel faught all his Fast and Furious friends both on and off camera, The Rock rebooted Jumanji and Baby Groot stole our hearts.  For all this, we had ten standout films that stole the screen.  These elite films of 2017 were unique and masterfully crafted by the genius teams behind each.  Some have bottomless heart, other gut busting laughs, quick draw action and sprawling colorscapes, but one thing they all have in common...they made our top ten.
First, the following films have been omitted from this list as I haven't had a chance to see them yet.  I can tell you right now, The Disaster Artist, The Phantom Thread and Ladybird should probably all make this list, but to be fair, I want to see them first .  Here's what is omitted:

The Disaster Artist
Ladybird
The Phantom Thread
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Call Me by Your Name
Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri
I, Tonya
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Ingrid Goes West
Detroit

With that MovieMercs.com presents:

The Top 10 Films of 2017


10. Guardians of The Galaxy: Volume 2 (8 of 10)
Director: James Gunn

Writer: James GunnDan Abnett
Starring Chris PrattZoe Saldana, Kurt Russell

This was my most anticipated movie of 2017.  I have been a GIANT James Gunn fan since Slither found it's way into my dvd player all those years back and I have been following his career since.  When he was announced as the director of a Marvel movie, I told everyone for two years it was going to be epic.  Then they cast Chris Pratt, my favorite idiot from TV (Andy from Parks and Rec) and I really wouldn't shut up.  Enter into the frey, Guardians of The Galaxy, which played like a space installed version of Indiana Jones and both stole our hearts and our walking around money.  It was inevitable that Gunn would get the team back together.
What he does in the sequel is continue the good times and catchy soundtrack from the 1970's, but adds Kurt Russell as Star Lord's father, Ego the Living Planet.  Russell is perfect for the role and brings his kind of cool all the way through. 

Gunn's use of spectacular is on display from the opening scene all the way to the post credit scenes and we are blessed with one of the most stunning and funny films of the year.  Was it as good as the first?  Not exactly, but it does build on it properly and relies on the characters to bond with the crowd like before.  Rocket is prickly as ever and Baby Groot is a riot, but Yondu (Michael Rooker) finally gets his moment to shine and boy does he.  The action is fast and funny but with a dark mortality surrounding it.  As Guardians 1 is known as the film with the most deaths on screen EVER, it seems Gunn wanted to challenge that in a more viseral way.  What he sets up for the future of Marvel and it's cinematic universe, however, will be a wonder to behold for sure.

9. The Big Sick (8 of 10)
Director: Michael Showalter

Writer: Emily V. GordonKumail Nanjiani
Starring: Kumail NanjianiZoe KazanHolly Hunter

The Big Sick was getting stellar reviews around the film festival circuit early in the year.  That is a sure sign of a strong indie film.  The story revolves around the true story of Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley's Dinesh) and his wife (then girlfriend), who contracts a mysterious and serious illness and Kumail's interaction with her family and her during this process.  Knowing the outcome in real life made this more of a love song to co-writer Emily V Gordon (who is the girlfriend character played by Zoe Kazan) told through the eyes of Nanjiani.  The result is a carefully sweet confession of learning life's lessons the hard way, but that learning these lessons can lead to unexpected things.

Director, Michael Showalter, who until now has relied on his slapstick mastery in such projects as Wet Hot American Summer and The Baxter, finally found an outlet for his chipper charmed sense of humor and it blends quietly into the film as if it were baked in perfectly.  There is no room in this for silly jokes about butts or big hammers hitting heads, this is a sophisticated, love story with the real world of comedy allowing the trouble drama scenes feel as real as our own.  With amazing performances from Holly Hunter and Ray Romano (who continues to show range after CBS), this is a beautiful story of sad pieces put together.  The Big Sick is a must watch.

8. John Wick: Chapter 2 (8 of 10)
Director: Chad Stahelski
Writer: Derek Kolstad
Starring: Keanu ReevesRiccardo ScamarcioIan McShane

John Wick shot onto the scene with one of the silliest premises of all time.  An ex-assassin nicknamed "The Boogeyman" is forced to exact revenge on the men who steal his car and murder the dog his dead wife left for him.  The rest is glorious, bloody history.  Keanu Reeves dominated the screen with double taps and quick reloads, all the while delivering havoc in horror measures.  With Chapter 2, they shed co-director David Leitch (who directed Atomic Blonde this year and Deadpool 2 next).  They also shed all of John Wick's dead weight as the sequel blasted onto screens earlier this year to resounding reviews and a $171.5 million worldwide gross (off a $40 million budget).  

What made it so good?  Simple, Keanu.  Here, Reeves is unhinged, not so much about revenge this time, this time it's survival.  When the whole world around him falls down, it is Reeves who shows incredible range physically while driving home the meticulous, calculated and stylish John Wick persona in every scene.  He is quicker than before, more awakened and incorporates so many judo throws and improvised action that this film was like a ballroom blitz (literally).  The story was better than the first and it forced John Wick into a corner, which is exactly where fans want him.  With great effort by Common,as Wick's enemy counterpart, the action had the perfect places to excel and overcome the first and did at every turn.  From the set designs, the use of colors and space to the unrelenting cat and mouse between Reeves and Common, John Wick : Chapter 2 could go down as my second favorite film of 2017.

7. Dunkirk (8 of 10)
Director & Writer: Christopher Nolan
Starring:  Fionn Whitehead, Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh

We were able to review this one, so please check out our review HERE.

The film has a strong sense of grandeur and stays close to historical accuracy.  The distribution of storytelling by land, air and sea develops an interesting narrative that collects in pools of intense survival scenes cut between air battles and the calm limbo on land.  This is a love letter from one of the best visual directors ever born and everything about it proves willing to go outside of what a conventional war film would.  They don't rely on the fog aspect, where body limbs blow off and blood spills onto screen, instead, Nolan allows the environment to be the main character and the actors are simply moving through it.  With huge highlights in ever air battle with Tom Hardy, who is a madman in the sky, there is this sense of urgency and survival while building a beautifully visual and striking film overall.

6. Thor: Ragnarok (8 of 10)
Director: Taika Waititi

Writer: Eric PearsonCraig Kyle & more
Starring: Chris HemsworthTom HiddlestonCate Blanchett

This is another film we were lucky enough to see in 3D and review.  READ IT HERE!

Of all superhero films this year, in a year where comics shined dramatically and thematically, there was only one true winner of them all...THOR RAGNAROK!  From start to finish, this film was both a visual and comical blast of entertainment.  Equal measures beautiful and brutally hilarious, director Taika Waititi revamps and reboots the Thor franchise without breaking the Marvel Cinematic Universe cycle.  How?  He strips Thor of all the pieces we identify him with and then builds him up as more of the comic version of the hero than ever before.  With amazing performances from the entire cast, especially Chris Hemsworth and Taika Waititi himself (Korg) and an action packed fight between Thor and Hulk midway, this colorful, insane film is arguably the biggest surprise of the year.  When it beat out Justice League in the box office, however, it became a beacon for quality superhero films that take risks and try to do things right and how that formula is much better than Zack Snyder's dark, slow and boring one.

5. Logan Lucky (8 of 10)
Director: Steven Soderbergh

Writer: Rebecca Blunt
Starring: Channing TatumAdam DriverDaniel Craig

There were two films this year with the title character of "Logan" in it.  This is the better one by a long mile.  Yes, I liked Logan with Hugh Jackman, but that movie would have been the perfect ending to a real Wolverine trilogy, not two shoddy movies and an old man at the end.  In Logan Lucky, Channing Tatum and Adam Driver plan to rob a NASCAR track vault to break their family's bad luck streak.  It is an incredibly clever and comical film, one of the funniest this year and has all of the regular Steven Soderbergh madness in it, but with little use of drama to the movie's benefit.  The acting is point blank, all the way down to Daniel Craig's idiot brothers.  A perfect popcorn flick but one with enough heart and head to stand out against a sea of caper genre films.
What really makes Logan Lucky go is the way the actors engage within this goofy, broken down world.  All the oddities of the film, like Adam Driver's fake arm fiascos and Sebastian Stan's NASCAR driver character on a Tom Brady level detox, all play well to bond the shenanigans of the heist.  Great supporting characters and a genuine enjoyment from all involve that oozed through the screen makes this one of the best, most original and enjoyable films of the year. 

4. Baby Driver (9 of 10) 
Director & Writer: Edgar Wright
Starring: Ansel ElgortJon BernthalJon Hamm

When Edgar Wright dropped out of Antman just before shooting started, I told everyone Marvel was going to regret driving him off a project he had worked on since before Iron Man.  While they may not have felt it when Antman came out, the proof was in the picture and Peyton Reed's lack of experience with action and big budget productions bleed through the quick cut, close up heavy film that should of been just over two hours but Reed rushed so rapidly from scene to scene it ended up being somewhere around an hour and forty minutes.  Wright walked though, all the way over to SONY and was able to get the budget and freedom he wanted to direct a movie about a young driver who had to listen to earbuds to drown out the "hum in his drum".  The result is 
Baby Driver, a far superior film than anything Peyton Reed ever did (Yes Man and Bring it On, please).

What makes this movie great is the incredible intricacies and awareness of Wright.  Wright is the type of person to build around an idea with such passion that the people who are around him during this time often excel and shine as well.  This time, the actors all came with their A game in play and like an All-Star home run derby, everyone was swinging for the fences.  The acting, however, couldn't compete with Wright's keen style and ability to blend his amazing soundtrack of self selected songs with every inch of motion on screen.  When our driver, "Baby", dances his way around town to his ipod, we watch as Wright syncs up every movement perfectly with the beat...all the while holding the shoot to make it a single take and force the film crew to really work in unison to succeed.  The results are obvious and wondrous and Wright's continued progression as a filmmaker was rewarded with rave reviews and a personal best $226.9 million worldwide ($107.8 million in America alone) off a tiny $34 million budget.  With award season around the corner, Baby Driver is on the radar to clean house in the original script, directing categories.  Hard to top this driver.

3. Get Out (10 of 10)
Director & Writer: Jordan Peele
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradly Whitford

Very few films attempt what Jordan Peele has with the horror/thriller/comedy that is Get Out.  This is a film that hinges on mystery in the same flavor that Hitchcock would savor, but with a much deeper meaning than anything else made this year.  This is the story of a black man visiting his white girlfriend's parents for the first time...only to find things aren't exactly as they appear on the surface.  Add in a whole slew of tense, quiet moments expertly maneuvered by Peele and you have yourself a bonifide nail biter.

At it's core, Get Out is a story of social commentary in a time where the call for equality is a battle cry.  Peele knows this and executes his story first, with keen thought behind it and then worries about the boarders of race and perception of culture.  As a result, the audience is captivated by the nerve-racking tension and unspoken spook, but learning a lesson about how white and black cultures differ (even if the white culture depicted is exaggerated to a thriller level degree).  Constantly, Peele displays adapt ability to curve the mood of the picture to benefit the tone.  His insert of comedy is perfectly placed and without needless props or simple humor, but baked into the bigger picture.  With a perfect twisting ending that pays off everything Peele winds up and stellar acting from Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams (and everyone really), this is a strong thriller film with true purpose and actual meaning.  Something original to learn from and enjoy, which is rare in the world of remakes and half cocked studio franchises.  One day in the future, we will hail Get Out as a film for the time, that was entirely needed.

2. Wind River (10 of 10)
Director & Writer: Taylor Sheridan
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Jon Bernthal

We reviewed Wind River late last year.  Check it out HERE.

Taylor Sheridan was an actor on the first season of Sons of Anarchy, playing Deputy Hale, who was eventually killed off for some pointless reason.  Since then, he has produced more influential and critically praised films than everyone on the entire show (seriously).  As a writer, Sheridan wrote the stellar Sicario, then followed it up with Hell or High Water, and then took on directing with this year's Wind River.  While the script may not have been as cutthroat and ruthless as Sicario, the story was more important.  The plot revolves around a young native american girl who is found dead in the winter mountains of a Wyoming reservation.  As Elizabeth Olsen arrives as an FBI agent, she works with tracker, Jeremy Renner, to solve the death and prove it to be a murder.  From there, the film is quick, precise and brutally heartbreaking.  Sheridan shows a real knack for being behind the camera, leading the film exactly how it should to maintain the tense pace.

The acting is truly on display in this one and not nominating Renner for an Oscar will be a tragedy.  Blending his ability to display deep rooted pain with Sheridan's sharp writing makes the most out of a character we learn small chunks of along the way.  By the end, Renner is utterly captivating to watch.  With great supporting acting and a willingness to speak out against the social injustice for native american women, who are the only gender and race of people in America who the police do not file missing person reports for, Sheridan allows the dark corners of his story to bond with the white cold of the winter as a lesson to us all.  I was so amerced in this film, which moves quick, that I often yelled at the screen in overreaction to the lingering tension built.  While this film has already seemed to been blackballed by the Golden Globes because of it was originally produced by The Weinstein Company, the company agreed to cut their ties with the film, giving it back to Sheridan and the other producers and donate the entire proceeds of the film's gross to native american female victims.  Still, the name holds a black cloud over the film and has led to it being overlooked.

1. Blade Runner 2049 (10 of 10)
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Writer: Hampton Fancher, Michael Green
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas

First off, FUCK EVERYONE WHO DID NOT SEE THIS MOVIE!  You were all killing me last year, a year where Vin Diesel grossed the most money by any actor due to a Groot technicality.  A year where you all poured hundreds of millions of dollars into IT, even though it was laughable rather than frightening and championed Wonder Woman for being "amazing" even though it stole the plot to Captain America: First Soldier (it was still very enjoyable).  Instead, of going to the film event of the decade, more people watched Bright on Netflix (11 millon people and growing).   With that, here's why this film is #1.

Blade Runner 2049 picks up where the original Harrison Ford/Ridley Scott film left off, but with a 30 year age gap.  In that time, things in this futuristic world has changed, but one thing hasn't, Blade Runners be hunting replicates, the humanoid clones developed by Tyrell Corp.  Enlisting Denis Villeneuve, arguably the best director currently alive, who stole our minds with Prisoners and brought us to the dark side of the world with Sicario, then bent time and space with Arrival, came into Blade Runner with a perfect respect for the source material.  His strong suit is his vision, which wallows in the shadows when it isn't sprawling with widescreen scenic shots of a displaced future.  When you include the fact that this film has THE BEST SOUND MIXING of any film EVER and stunning, colorful visuals, it is no wonder why Villeneuve was given over $100 million to make the film.

The story might not be the most original, but it beckons all fans of the original to go on another run and with a solid and emotionally deep performance from Ryan Gosling, the film can follow his Agent K to all the dark spots of his journey properly and with perfect justice.  That is what Villeneuve does, blends the old guard with the new and builds on it.  He doesn't try to reboot the technology Ridley Scott developed in the 80's, he takes it all and ages it thirty years to make it all seem logical and proper.  He pays heavy tribute to the original, infusing Scott's neon city steampunk into every shot of technological glory.  This is a display of directorial force and a crash coarse in how to use sound to drive a movie to new levels.  I couldn't get over how visually amazing and real everything was, but then when the music took over, it stole the scenes.  Harrison Ford was sharp and so well versed in his craft, we almost forgot he could do drama, but here, it's on full display.  Add in high target action, a thoughtful purpose, one of the best villain monologues since Blade Runner and an enduring story with years of care put in it, this is the best film of the year, the best film of the decade and maybe the best sequel ever.  You need to see this, do yourself a favor, even if you never saw the original, this is a MUST WATCH FILM and the new bible to true filmmaking.

Tyler Baker

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Film Review: Dunkirk (2017)

Written and Directed By: Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Inception, Memento)

Starring: Fionn Whitehead , Tom Hardy , Kenneth Branagh

Since the release of The Dark Knight in 2008, Christopher Nolan has had his way with Hollywood.  Sure, he was far established by then with incredible directing efforts with Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins and The Prestige, but 2008 marked the beginning of Christopher Nolan's domination of the big screen.  His advanced understanding of time structure, storytelling and character development was only overshadowed by his keen eye for beauty and grandeur.  As a result, we were awarded such amazing follow ups as Inception, Interstellar and The Dark Knight Rises.  What we really were getting was an auteur mastermind of filmmaking who had refined his craft to the teeth.  His efforts as a filmmaker could only be quenched by his need to tell amazing, original stories.  From all of this, after the superhero franchise trilogy and the space odyssey and the magic show, Nolan was finally ready to make his passion picture, Dunkirk.  While he takes many risks with this war film based on the true story of British and French soldiers during World War II evacuation, there isn't an inch of this film that isn't addressed with complete adore and attention worth watching.  This is Nolan reminding us that he isn't just another director, he's a filmic genius and we need to stop forgetting.

First, let me just say I loved Dunkirk for what it was, a story without telling a direct story, built on actions and scenes of motion rather than a cast of characters explaining everything to the audience as if they weren't smart enough to grasp it.  Nolan never insults his audience that way, however some people find his work in Inception to be insulting for the complexity of the story as "arrogant".  Nolan has a specific vision within his mind and attempts at the most finite level of everything to get his shots the way he sees them inside his mind.  Does this alienate the audience?  I always looked at it this way, would you rather have a person trying to cash a check by making the same crap you've seen twenty times or a person who would go through personal trials to take the risk of doing something original or amazing with the utmost respect for the source?  No brainer, right?  That is why 90% of Michael Bay movies have over-dramatic explosions and trash-bin reused one liner jokes and Christopher Nolan won Oscars with a Batman movie.

Dunkirk is built on the concept of telling the story in three phases, land, air and sea.  We get to jump through the beaches of Dunkirk, where the soldiers are nothing but sitting ducks for the constant swarm of enemy fighter planes bombing them, to the air where Tom Hardy seems to battle the entire enemy sky fleet on his own, then focus on the rising water of a sinking ship as the young men soldiers pile out into open waters to survive.  Without a focused narrative, Nolan is able to build this  "snowball effect" he attempted to create purposely where everything builds up throughout the entire movie on it's own.  Without force.  That is a kind of skill almost no filmmaker has besides Nolan.  In fact, he is perhaps the greatest director of all time when it comes to juggling scenes within different time frames, while still holding the integrity of the drama.  What he does great in Dunkirk is find a young cast, led by Fionn Whitehead in an almost silent role, to display the desperation of the British soldiers in limbo.  We follow them, wanting to know what will happen next, but the split between the sky and the sea make for a nice pace of action and story.

If nothing else, the air battle scenes with Tom Hardy are a calculated adventure to behold.  Everything about his character, from the beginning of the film to the end is powerfully placed as a reminder of the slow spots on land or sea, where people are trying to survive, that there is still a war above them.  With great performances all around, Nolan's care of casting is safely managed by his actors.  He then places them in danger and lets them slip in and out of it like waves on a constant tide.

Visually, the film is a wonder, but that was a given considering how much Nolan loves IMAX cameras and widescreen format.  He continues to be the closest grand scale director to Ridley Scott, who's The Martian mirrored Interstellar visually in a lot of ways.  Nolan has taken his visual talent to many different levels however and seems in complete control of everything in Dunkirk.  His care of the fictional characters telling a real life story have purpose and meaning, which is missing in so many movies these days.  If nothing else, Dunkirk is further evidence that Christopher Nolan should be given $200 million and let loose upon the Earth whenever he has an idea.  Dunkirk was born in the 90's, when he traveled the route of the English Channel that rescue boats from England took to save soldiers.  He refused to make it until he had enough experience with action films.  That kind of care, waiting twenty years to make a movie right, is a dying art in cinema and one that we are ALL rewarded with by the masterpiece that is Dunkirk.

8 out of 10

Tyler Baker


Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Film Review: Netflix's Bright

Director: David Ayer
Writer: Max Landis
Starring: Will Smith, Joel Edgerton

Back when the script for Bright was circling studios to produce and distribute the film, Netflix outbid everyone and quickly attached Will Smith to headline the flick.  It was obvious by the $90 million price tag on the film, it was meant to be a stepping stone for Netflix's film division, the only part about the streaming giant that hasn't taken off.  They've produced a few mainstream movies, from Beasts of No Nation to this year's War Machine with Brad Pitt, but nothing with a budget as big as Bright.  When they elected to bring in David Ayer as director (and script re-writer) it signalled that Bright would more than likely be a dreadful affair.  Sure enough, the one trick pony who couldn't execute the stolen episode of Arrow he used for a shooting script in Suicide Squad once again takes a could be original film and turns it into a slipped disc of fractured filmmaking.  The end result is a very underwhelming, utterly predictable and overall boring film with an eventual boring sequel already green-lit.

When I first heard of Bright, it was somewhere after I had watched Suicide Squad, entirely against my better judgement and hearing the news that Will Smith was coming to Netflix enthralled me.  Then I got the grave news that the film would be manned by David Ayer and that he would rewrite Max Landis' script.  Well, Neither Ayer or Landis are on a hot streak lately.  Landis most recent film credit was writing Victor Frankenstein, one of the worst films of last year.  Ayer, who I believe peaked with his writing credit for Training Day, has failed to make three other films that aren't just some rehashed, scene jumbled play on that same Training Day script.   Ayer showed his complete inability to manage a big budget or create an original script in Suicide Squad.  Putting them together with Will Smith, who hasn't exactly been going hard at the acting game lately, just seemed too problematic for Bright to work.  Still, I watched it opening day like everyone else.

What I found was a lazy use of fantasy elements, which was the focus of the trailer all along.  It was obvious that Ayer had rewritten the script, since every scene from Training Day was in the film, with the exception of the scene where Ethan Hawke smokes crack.  Over and over, I kept cursing at the screen for having to see the same five scenes in every David Ayer corrupt cop drama, but this time it didn't even make sense.  When he used the fantasy elements, he only used them in little pop up mentions to service the lazy, gutted story that went nowhere.  Hell, there was a dragon in one scene so brief and unexplained, most people probably missed it.  It was this lack of depth in the conceptual stage of the film that suffers the most.  Besides the fact that Ayer is a mess behind the camera, lacks true cinematic vision and can't assemble an action shot with any rhythm, the real problem is his constant need to insert the same tropes in all his movies.  Everyone is racist and cops are corrupt is his main draws.  You saw this in Training Day, Deep Blue, Street Kings, and End of Watch.  This reason alone should be enough to keep Ayer's name off cop drama directors lists; but apparently Netflix had to learn the hard way.

Don't expect any character development or the story to be rightfully explained.  There is no real story, just the quick references of everything magical that is never fully displayed and otherwise serves somewhat the same as a skinny guy flexing at the gym; this movie has no muscle.  It is driven from A to B to C without common reasoning and leads to scenes where Will Smith says, "We need to change clothes, their looking for two cops" only to give up his police issued bulletproof vest for a hoodie, walk outside and then INSTANTLY be found by everyone who is chasing him anyway.  It is that lack of knowledge of their own script and scenes prior that insult people who waited months for a Will Smith Netflix movie.  With a handful of secondary characters who we never even know by name or real purpose and called in acting from the great Will Smith, I couldn't help but feel bad for poor Joel Edgerton, who spent hours and hours a day in makeup to be the ONLY person who showed up to act.

Where they go with the second film, we don't know, all we do know is Will Smith is on board and I personally hope David Ayer will get blackballed from filmmaking sometime next year.  Until then, plan on seeing bad versions of Training Day over and over again.  I wouldn't even value the cgi, which was only utilized in one scene really, a scene Ayer loved so much he spent more time going back to it then developing the main characters.  This is the kind of film that is too lazy to name it's Orc main character anything other than "Nick".  This is the kind of film that shouldn't be called a film, it should be called an overpriced piece of shit, because that's what David Ayer created.

3 out of 10

Tyler Baker

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Film Review: Wind River (2017)

Directed byTaylor Sheridan
Written byTaylor Sheridan
Starring

Wind River is the gripping story of the vast cold lands of Wyoming and the mysterious dark deeds that go unresolved in this land.  The third film written by Taylor Sheridan, the scribe behind Sicario and last years Hell or High Water, Wind River marks Sheridan's first crack as a director.  It is Sheridan's keen sense of his own script, what he wants to show the audience, what the message is, that drives this quiet, sprawling crime story.  

Led by Jeremy Renner (Avengers, Arrival) in one of his most passionately painful performances, the film broods and barks like the winter winds of Wyoming as the characters move throughout, trying to solve the murder of a teenage native american girl.  As an FBI agent dead set on finding the caulprit, Elizabeth Olsen (Avengers Age of Ultron, Ingrid Goes West) uses her now refined acting skills to move the story along with gravity but also with a sense of gathering information.  She doesn't know the land, doesn't know the people and Sheridan uses this character to bond with the audience, so that we learn as she does.

The story itself is ice cold and at it's most raw.  What I mean by this is that it makes no apologies for what you are watching, but instead continually reminds you of the animistic urges within man himself.  Sheridan's sharp dialogue and unique scenes make every shot memorable.  Every inch of the film is carefully vetted by Sheridan to instill the sort of awareness he is after (which is bringing awareness to native american female victims of assault).  His passion bleeds through the camera.

I can't express how amazing Renner was in this.  The guy dominates the background in the Avengers, but year by year he ends up in one of the top 10 films of the year.  This year is Wind River, which allows him to utilize his dramatic chops, but portray him also as a skilled hunter and tracker, which Renner seems born for.  His own inner torture wears on his face throughout, adding layers to his character without even adding a word.  When he does almost every line he utters is something to behold, especially as the movie spirals down it's third act.  By the end, his words are like ghosts that will stay with you long after the credits roll.

There is a sinister sort of shadow following this film as it plays out.  All the way to the bone it chills, helmed by a man willing to tell a real story without filling the film with fodder to appease action junkies or sex for the lustful ones.  This is a story worth telling, worth watching and then worth carrying with you into the world.  If nothing else, to help solve the world in the slightest, Wind River is arguably the strongest drama of 2017 and perhaps the best of Sheridan's work yet.

9 out of 10

Tyler Baker

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Film Review : Thor Ragnarok

A film as well built as Thor: Ragnarok doesnt come around often in a modern time of quick hit blockbusters and small budget franchises.  Most of today is built on reboots, connected cinematic universes and microbudget indie films that have broad appeal.  Then you have director Taika Waititi, the director of such great recent indies as Hunt for the Wilderpeople and What We Do in the Shadows, who comes in to an already established connected film world (the only success one so far) and redefines the genre with comedy, creativity and the willingness to kill the old world formula.  As a result, Thor Ragnarok is the thunder god franchise star film and perhaps the funniest film of the year.

Lets break it down quick.  The highlights is the comedy, sown together by random improv and carefully focusing the feel of it to the amazing cast strengths.  Goldblum is Goldblum, Hemsworth carries the very comedic aura throughout and then there is Korg.  Played by Waititi himself, Korg the stone gladiator is the funniest character in film since the Step Brothers.  His random causality brings a real rise over the plot and steals every scene hes in. The rest of the cast is well fitted for their parts, though some are only there to service the reinvention of Thor's story.

The big bad, Hela, played by Cate Blanchett, is by far the best villian in the MCU thus far and continues to prove Thor films as Marvel's only true villians (with Loki and that big Laser eye guy).  Hela is mischievous and unremorseful, having little patience for inferiors who do not bend the knee.  She elevates the areas that dont rely on comedy, but danger.  It fits perfectly to build the grandeur and scale of the quest of Thor.  The stripping of his pieces (hammer, hair, ext) allows us to bond to him like never before.  Add in the best version or Hulk seen yet and we have us a stew going.

The colors, the soundtrack, the story, the acting, the everything about Thor: Ragnarok makes this film in the top tier of not just the MCU, not just comicbook movies, but film in general.  A nonstop thrill ride, a matter buster for the silver screen, this is a must see film if only to make you laugh your ass off during a bad day.

9 of 10 Stars

Tyler Baker

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Charlie's Monologue

I overheard a girl in a bar once.  Her voice was full of that sweet, pulpy sarcasm that her gender tend to trend.  She was upset because a potential beau blew her off earlier that afternoon and that kind of injustice, in her eyes, could not go without retaliation.  Her solution, she so proudly proclaimed like a mad scientist would with a plan to obliterate the planet, was to pick some “poor bastard” at the bar and entice him to buy her drinks all night.  Once she had her fill, she explained emphatically to her curled cohort in the deviled-down sun dress, she’d sneak out the bar’s back.

I remember this story because of how it made me feel; hearing the scheming narration of a stranger in a bar. With all my heart I had hoped she wouldn’t scan the stock in the room and set her sights on me as an easy, squeezable target.  Then, when she charmed the ginger headed coed with the tattered lacrosse hat five seats from me, I began to panic that I wasn't even noticeable enough to be some poor bastard in a bar.  I wasn’t noticeable enough to be a venting point or an eavesdropping weirdo or even a potential suitor had seeing me altered her perspective on fate and destiny.  I wasn’t anything at all to this girl.

It’s silly how we come around the clock-wheel of our reasoning.  How some strange situations stumbled upon can often make you feel more than the ones you may engage in.  And then I worry that had she asked me for a drink, I wouldn’t have called her out or told her to ‘fuck off’, but instead spend the night letting her use my wallet for well drinks just for a few fake smiles and some manipulative shoulder play.

Holy shit, how pathetic would that have been?

(This post is an the opening dialogue for an untitled screenplay I won't get a chance to write for another year.  My cousin told me to post it on the internet because he enjoyed it.  I feel I'm ready to share it for now.)

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Where Footprints Don't Follow


The following is coming from a place where footprints don't follow.  A place where verbal communication fails like a broadcast system during a tropical storm and rationality renders itself defenseless over emotion and a rainy disposition.

It's hard to start explaining emotions out in the air when all you do is keep them tangled within; wrapped up and wrenching down on your everything.  All I know is that it has been far too long since I wrote a word of true meaning; of true, finite emotion and I fear the build up of painted expressions and half hidden intentions have taken over the person I used to be.  Either that, or the person I used to be was never that noble after all and the idea of such a person came to me fictitiously but believably induced.

Believe me when I say that the heart is a muscle.

Believe me when I say that muscle, that heart, can grow strong with love...or strong with bitterness and hurt.  It's the black and white syndrome, sifting through your blood stream like a furious wraith, haunting your persona as if to possess the person you want to be with the person you are.  As much as I try to be one way or live a likable existence, I'm far to set in my deconstructive disconnect to recover without a makeshift montage or hail mary redirect.

Let me begin again.  I once knew a man with a cloudy expression but an honorable and polite demeanor.  He worked hard at his job and was honest and truthful towards his peers.  A man of true meaning, who spent his life working with his hands and taking care of his family.  No matter how virtuous he was, his time came and went far before it should have.  He was one of many I miss when I am alone.

I am not that man and all but short excerpts of his honor can be seen in my own character.  I am all flaws with faint hints of a human side.  All my afforded opportunities have been taken for granted and while I know I am not all sour, I also know how rotted I am and how that rot aggressively persists.  The parts of me that strive to be as inherently good as a Greek hero, has not found a way around that phantom which plagues my character.  The hardened, coiling cold of my person.  I maim and terrorize for pleasure.  I wear my faces as a costume and conceal my intentions with every locked file that fills me.

Recently, someone asked me what I was thinking, to which I deflected and dodged the question until the topic had reached it's designated time limit.  Looking back on it now, I know there was no easy way for me to answer that very simple, very strait forward question with a similar adorned answer.  I am anything but a simple man.  Call me a mechanism for I am holding gears and cogs rigged to triggers that set off a chain reaction to keep me from being myself.  Perhaps it has to do with the armor I wear under my skin.  That thick, stone-like crust I mark as invincible but is actually as permeable as a piece of paper.

My heart was pure once, I know that.  I had decency and affection once.  Years of twisting has seen to that end; years of sucking shards of misplace sentimentality can take down even the tallest giants from within.  Somewhere in me, however, is the wide eyed adventurer who thought love was the only real act of a fairy tale and living to find such a love was the only acceptable answer.  Even though the softer, gentle me is still alive, forever romancing my darkened intentions, my body is a prison and my mind keeps the key.
There may never be a real version of me, no matter how many hearts I wear on how many sleeves.  That part of me lay slain as the cynic in me holds the sword.  They are not me; they are versions of my ego, dancing around the people and places I surround as if I were a dinner show to behold.  I play a part as a jester to my own kingdom.

Somewhere in me, though, I can feel the subtle push of a heartbeat; begging to begin again.  Somewhere in me, I can see the ghosts of the people I've loved and lost forever and they're smiling.  They're happy to see me and it makes me warm again, if only for a moment before my generator gives out and the frost in me reclaims its throne.

Somewhere in me is the boy who sought to face down dragons for his princess.  The boy who did everything unnecessary to break another's tears with an inevitable soft served smile.  The boy who kept his valentines in a shoe-box under his bed, so as to sneak a reminiscent peek when he knew no one would know.  The boy who belonged to the better part of me.
Tyler Baker

Film Review: Only The Brave (2017)

Director:   Joseph Kosinski Writers:   Sean Flynn  (based on the GQ article "No Exit" by),  Ken Nolan   |   1 more credit  ...