Jack loved this sci-fi thriller about a woman held captive by a survivalist who claims there has been a chemical attack. I can't deny that it's good, but I had to make myself stay in my seat for the first act. Due to first rate acting, tight editing, and exciting music, though, I wanted to stay after about a half hour.
The Thrill List calls this a horror movie but a ticket taker at the multiplex said it isn't, so I agreed to go. It kind of is (and pushes some buttons for me, hence my discomfort). Mary Elizabeth Winstead (last blogged for The Spectacular Now and just wrapping up Mercy Street on PBS) gives a great deal of depth to the heroine Michelle, not to mention being beautiful with expressive eyes. We expect John Goodman (most recently in The Monuments Men) to be fabulous as the crazy captor Howard, and he is. John Gallagher Jr. (the younger brother in Pieces of April (2003), Jim Harper on The Newsroom, and Christopher Kittredge in Olive Kittredge) is very good as another cast member, Emmet, also as expected from his resumé. The recognizable voice on Michelle's phone is Bradley Cooper.
Dan Trachtenberg makes his feature debut as director and so does one of the co-writers, Matthew Stuecken. For former assistant editor Josh Campbell this is his second script (also co-) and then there's co-writer Damien Chazelle, who was Oscar-nominated for writing Whiplash (which he directed).
You can stream the aforementioned soundtrack from this link. It's by Bear McCreary, who has scored a ton of TV shows, more than a few other features, and worked with alumni of the band Oingo Boingo in LA in the 1990s when he wasn't yet 20. The movie also has a few fun hits of the 1960s, including I Think We're Alone Now, Tell Him, and Venus.
Definitely watch out for occasional MPMS (motion picture motion sickness) and sit in the back.
Highly rated on Rotten Tomatoes, this has critics at 90% and audiences at 83 (the trailer can be found on that link) and the estimated DVD release is June. It's a good movie but may be hard for some to watch.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Creative Control (2015)
I feel so hip now after we saw (and liked) this sci-fi satire about a young adman testing virtual reality glasses in a near future Brooklyn. Benjamin Dickenson stars, wrote, and directs (he says he wouldn't do it all at once again) his second feature. Also starring are Nora Zehetner (she was in Brick (2005), The Brothers Bloom, the series Maron, and more) as Dickenson's girlfriend, Dan Gill (new to me, he has worked some before) as his promiscuous best friend, and Alexia Rasmussen (ditto) as Gill's girlfriend. Then there are cameos by Reggie Watts (musician on The Late Late Show with James Corden as well as many other gigs) as himself and Jake Lodwick (in real life he invented vimeo) as the guy who invents Augmenta (the VR glasses).
Its script chugs along and the sets are cool with floor to ceiling windows in the apartment, office, and hotel. Inspired by Michelangelo Antonioni and Woody Allen, it's shot in black and white (with one exception) using anamorphic lenses.
This movie won a Special Jury Award at South by Southwest for visual excellence and was nominated for the Grand Jury Award there.
The music is also cool, by Dražen Bošnjak AKA Drazen Bosnjak, but isn't available for streaming on any site that I can find. If you google his name you'll find a few other tracks. Here's the one I liked best.
I subscribe to a number of email newsletters that I occasionally read before throwing away. Thrill list recommended this movie as among the best of the year so we went last week during its one week in town. It may cause mild MPMS (motion picture motion sickness) so is going on that list, but I was okay in the back row.
Rotten Tomatoes' critics are cool in its other definition, averaging only 64% to audiences' 71. Kellie, you can watch the trailer from the Rotten Tomatoes link, but I consider it to contain major spoilers. The DVD is coming out May 10 and I expect it to be streaming at that time as well. We thought it fascinating.
Milestone alert: this is movie #850 summarized in the blog! See the alphabetical list here.
Its script chugs along and the sets are cool with floor to ceiling windows in the apartment, office, and hotel. Inspired by Michelangelo Antonioni and Woody Allen, it's shot in black and white (with one exception) using anamorphic lenses.
This movie won a Special Jury Award at South by Southwest for visual excellence and was nominated for the Grand Jury Award there.
The music is also cool, by Dražen Bošnjak AKA Drazen Bosnjak, but isn't available for streaming on any site that I can find. If you google his name you'll find a few other tracks. Here's the one I liked best.
I subscribe to a number of email newsletters that I occasionally read before throwing away. Thrill list recommended this movie as among the best of the year so we went last week during its one week in town. It may cause mild MPMS (motion picture motion sickness) so is going on that list, but I was okay in the back row.
Rotten Tomatoes' critics are cool in its other definition, averaging only 64% to audiences' 71. Kellie, you can watch the trailer from the Rotten Tomatoes link, but I consider it to contain major spoilers. The DVD is coming out May 10 and I expect it to be streaming at that time as well. We thought it fascinating.
Milestone alert: this is movie #850 summarized in the blog! See the alphabetical list here.
Friday, March 25, 2016
The Brothers Grimsby (2016)
Jack loves cringe movies but even he was taken aback at some of the raunchy gags in this action farce about two reunited brothers, one a spy/assassin and the other a soccer hooligan buffoon. That said, we laughed and groaned at co-writer/star Sacha Baron Cohen's (the buffoon) nasty antics.
Remember last week when I said Tangerine was filthy? This makes Tangerine look like Ozzie and Harriet. When I covered Cohen's Brüno, I wrote, "The envelope is torn now," but this surpasses any filth that I've ever seen, with the camera lingering on the worst of them. As the brother, Mark Strong (most recently in Kingsmen: The Secret Service) is a good sport. And Cohen (last blogged for his comic relief in Les Miserables) does not save the most humiliating parts for himself.
Rebel Wilson (last in these pages for Pitch Perfect) puts her comedy chops to good use as Cohen's wife, and Cohen's wife in real life, Isla Fisher (most recently in Now You See Me) plays it entirely straight as Strong's love interest, as do Penelope Cruz (last in I'm So Excited) and Gabourey Sidibe (last in Seven Psychopaths) in a cameo. Daniel Radcliffe (Kill Your Darlings) has a funny bit as well.
Director Louis Leterrier (most recently helmed Now You See Me) uses the action skills he demonstrated in The Incredible Hulk (2008) and others to keep this going, except when he doesn't. The writing is credited to Cohen with Phil Johnston (he wrote two huge animated hits that we didn't see, Wreck-It Ralph and Zootopia, after his feature debut, a very funny Cedar Rapids) and Peter Baynham, who, along with Cohen and others, was nominated for an Oscar and a Writers Guild award for writing Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006), among his other work.
The editing, particularly on the opening sequence, is remarkable, like a video game or virtual reality, and it, like most of the movie, will induce MPMS (motion picture motion sickness--see the running list here), so my fellow sufferers should sit in the back row.
Cohen's brother Erran Baron Cohen (covered in some detail in The Dictator) and David Buckley (collaborated on the soundtrack to The Town) are credited with the score. I don't really remember it from nine days ago but here's one track and a list of songs.
We ended up seeing this after I listened to Marc Maron's podcast with Sacha (the podcast is quite long and took me several sessions to finish it--I like the Podcast app on the iPhone).
Grimsby is a real town, voted the worst place to live in England in 2016, on the east coast, and this movie does much to sustain that image.
If puerile, explicit sex jokes sicken you, stay far away. It's surprising that this is rated only R. It may be best for certain boys 18-25, Sacha Baron Cohen fans, and the most open minded of the rest of us. Critics on Rotten Tomatoes average 38% and audiences (self selected, no doubt) a resounding 54. Nonetheless, it was ninth at the box office last week and is returning tomorrow for another week in these parts.
Remember last week when I said Tangerine was filthy? This makes Tangerine look like Ozzie and Harriet. When I covered Cohen's Brüno, I wrote, "The envelope is torn now," but this surpasses any filth that I've ever seen, with the camera lingering on the worst of them. As the brother, Mark Strong (most recently in Kingsmen: The Secret Service) is a good sport. And Cohen (last blogged for his comic relief in Les Miserables) does not save the most humiliating parts for himself.
Rebel Wilson (last in these pages for Pitch Perfect) puts her comedy chops to good use as Cohen's wife, and Cohen's wife in real life, Isla Fisher (most recently in Now You See Me) plays it entirely straight as Strong's love interest, as do Penelope Cruz (last in I'm So Excited) and Gabourey Sidibe (last in Seven Psychopaths) in a cameo. Daniel Radcliffe (Kill Your Darlings) has a funny bit as well.
Director Louis Leterrier (most recently helmed Now You See Me) uses the action skills he demonstrated in The Incredible Hulk (2008) and others to keep this going, except when he doesn't. The writing is credited to Cohen with Phil Johnston (he wrote two huge animated hits that we didn't see, Wreck-It Ralph and Zootopia, after his feature debut, a very funny Cedar Rapids) and Peter Baynham, who, along with Cohen and others, was nominated for an Oscar and a Writers Guild award for writing Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006), among his other work.
The editing, particularly on the opening sequence, is remarkable, like a video game or virtual reality, and it, like most of the movie, will induce MPMS (motion picture motion sickness--see the running list here), so my fellow sufferers should sit in the back row.
Cohen's brother Erran Baron Cohen (covered in some detail in The Dictator) and David Buckley (collaborated on the soundtrack to The Town) are credited with the score. I don't really remember it from nine days ago but here's one track and a list of songs.
We ended up seeing this after I listened to Marc Maron's podcast with Sacha (the podcast is quite long and took me several sessions to finish it--I like the Podcast app on the iPhone).
Grimsby is a real town, voted the worst place to live in England in 2016, on the east coast, and this movie does much to sustain that image.
If puerile, explicit sex jokes sicken you, stay far away. It's surprising that this is rated only R. It may be best for certain boys 18-25, Sacha Baron Cohen fans, and the most open minded of the rest of us. Critics on Rotten Tomatoes average 38% and audiences (self selected, no doubt) a resounding 54. Nonetheless, it was ninth at the box office last week and is returning tomorrow for another week in these parts.
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Hello, My Name Is Doris (2016)
Jack and I really liked this story of an eccentric woman in her late 60s with a crush on a co-worker half her age. Sally Field (last blogged for Lincoln) is wonderful in her naivety and colorful wardrobe. I guessed that she is 70, but that birthday is in November. As the object of her affections, Max Greenfield (best known for 105 episodes of New Girl, and he played Mortgage Broker #1 in The Big Short) is the ultimate nice guy. Tyne Daly (126 episodes of Cagney & Lacey, 138 of Judging Amy, won a 1990 Tony for the revival of Gypsy, plus many more, mostly TV, roles) and my old pal Caroline Aaron (she's been a part of Woody Allen's ensemble since Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), has had dozens of other supporting parts, most notably in Bounce (2000), as well as a lot of stage work in New York and LA) are great as Doris' age-appropriate friends. Stephen Root (most recently in Everything Must Go) and Wendi McLendon-Covey (we see bits of her appearances on The Goldbergs before we watch Modern Family on the DVR) are suitably mean as her brother and sister-in-law. Beth Behrs (the blonde in Two Broke Girls) plays another nice person and Peter Gallagher (among his best work are Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989), The Player (1992), Short Cuts (1993), Malice (1993), Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994), While You Were Sleeping (1995), American Beauty (1999), a series arc on Rescue Me in 2010, briefly mentioned by me in Adam, and now in season two of Togetherness on HBO) makes a short appearance as a pivotal character.
Laura Terruso's NYU short film Doris & the Intern attracted the notice of her professor Michael Showalter and they co-wrote this script for Showalter to direct (his second, after The Baxter (2005)). I've been trying to find a link to watch and share the original short but have been so far unsuccessful. If I find it I'll update this post.
Kudos to costume designer Rebecca Gregg (nominated by her peers for Iron Man (2008)) for her eclectic mix of 1950s and other thrift store outfits. The set dressing is also wonderful, from the trendy offices to Doris' diagnosably cluttered home, thanks to production designer Melanie Jones' team.
There's an extensive song list in addition to a nice lilting indie-movie soundtrack by Brian H. Kim (new to me but he's worked a fair amount as an orchestrator and TV show composer). Six of said tracks can be streamed here.
We had a pretty good crowd, not all gray-haired, on opening afternoon last Friday and the reviews have been good on Rotten Tomatoes: 86% for critics and 97 for audiences.
Laura Terruso's NYU short film Doris & the Intern attracted the notice of her professor Michael Showalter and they co-wrote this script for Showalter to direct (his second, after The Baxter (2005)). I've been trying to find a link to watch and share the original short but have been so far unsuccessful. If I find it I'll update this post.
Kudos to costume designer Rebecca Gregg (nominated by her peers for Iron Man (2008)) for her eclectic mix of 1950s and other thrift store outfits. The set dressing is also wonderful, from the trendy offices to Doris' diagnosably cluttered home, thanks to production designer Melanie Jones' team.
There's an extensive song list in addition to a nice lilting indie-movie soundtrack by Brian H. Kim (new to me but he's worked a fair amount as an orchestrator and TV show composer). Six of said tracks can be streamed here.
We had a pretty good crowd, not all gray-haired, on opening afternoon last Friday and the reviews have been good on Rotten Tomatoes: 86% for critics and 97 for audiences.
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Tangerine (2015)
Ann and I liked this crazy story of two transgender women hookers looking for one of their pimps on Christmas eve in LA. It's kind of a comedy: filthy, over-the-top, and funny. Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor, real life trans women of color and close friends, were rewarded for their screen debuts (playing Sin-Dee Rella and Alexandra, respectively) by sharing the Breakthrough Actor Award at the Gotham Awards and Taylor winning the first Best Supporting Female Independent Spirit Award given to a trans woman.
Before we streamed this movie on Netflix ten days ago I knew that it was shot entirely on iPhone 5Ses with anamorphic lenses (well, I learned about the special lenses tonight) and thought that watching it at home would save me from MPMS (Motion Picture Motion Sickness--see my up-to-date list here). It's a good testament to our new home theatre that I had to move away from the screen because the jumpy camera nauseated me.
I saw and liked director/co-writer Sean Baker's last feature Starlet (now available for Netflix streaming) three years ago. Please read what I wrote on the previous link. It's six sentences in the second half of the post, and I'm kind of proud of them. Co-writer Chris Bergoch worked on both movies.
No composer is credited but here's a list of the 30+ songs played in the movie and here's another list with clips of some of them. Here are a couple of articles I found interesting, one and two, and a link to the movie's Facebook page which includes video of Taylor's Spirit Awards acceptance speech.
Rotten Tomatoes critics' average has sunk from 99 all the way to 96% since the movie's release but its audiences come in at only 77. Obviously this is intended for open minds. When Ann and I made our movie date shortly after the Oscars, she said she wanted to see something that wasn't all about white men. I had already picked it!
Before we streamed this movie on Netflix ten days ago I knew that it was shot entirely on iPhone 5Ses with anamorphic lenses (well, I learned about the special lenses tonight) and thought that watching it at home would save me from MPMS (Motion Picture Motion Sickness--see my up-to-date list here). It's a good testament to our new home theatre that I had to move away from the screen because the jumpy camera nauseated me.
I saw and liked director/co-writer Sean Baker's last feature Starlet (now available for Netflix streaming) three years ago. Please read what I wrote on the previous link. It's six sentences in the second half of the post, and I'm kind of proud of them. Co-writer Chris Bergoch worked on both movies.
No composer is credited but here's a list of the 30+ songs played in the movie and here's another list with clips of some of them. Here are a couple of articles I found interesting, one and two, and a link to the movie's Facebook page which includes video of Taylor's Spirit Awards acceptance speech.
Rotten Tomatoes critics' average has sunk from 99 all the way to 96% since the movie's release but its audiences come in at only 77. Obviously this is intended for open minds. When Ann and I made our movie date shortly after the Oscars, she said she wanted to see something that wasn't all about white men. I had already picked it!
Monday, March 14, 2016
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016)
Jack and I liked a lot this surprisingly funny story of an American reporter who goes to work in Afghanistan war zones. Based on a memoir by Kim Barker, it stars the inimitable Tina Fey as Kim Baker, and she knocks it out of the park, as usual. Fey (last blogged in Sisters) is joined by, among others, Margot Robbie (most recently in Focus), Billy Bob Thornton (last in Our Brand Is Crisis), Martin Freeman (most recently in The Voorman Problem, which was one of the 2013 Oscar nominated shorts, and The World's End, and co-starred with Thornton in the mini-series Fargo), and Alfred Molina (last blogged in Love Is Strange).
Co-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (whose most recent project was Focus) work from Robert Carlock's first screenplay (after writing for, among others, The Dana Carvey Show, Friends, 99 episodes of Saturday Night Live, 26 of 30 Rock, and creating and writing Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, whose second season drops April 15). Apparently Barker decided that her memoir The Taliban Shuffle might work as a movie when a reviewer said she "depicts herself as a sort of Tine Fey character."
My only quibble is that Fey's Kim thinks she's not pretty. She's lovely. And author Barker is far from unattractive. See for yourself in the review quoted above.
Composer Nick Urata rejoins his Focus director and co-star. When I started writing this afternoon I couldn't find any of his tracks. But now there is one with a middle Eastern theme posted on his management website. And here's a list of the many songs, some with clips, used to good effect.
The young teen son of my friend was tickled that he knew what the title of this movie means. WTF. Get it? I thought you did. I told her to tell him about SNAFU and FUBAR.
The Rotten Tomatoes critics and audiences are way too cool, averaging 62 and 65%. But it was fifth at the box office last weekend and opened the week before at fourth. We thought it was great. And it's an unusual movie that has two women stars, with lines, and lines that have to do with more than sex.
Co-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (whose most recent project was Focus) work from Robert Carlock's first screenplay (after writing for, among others, The Dana Carvey Show, Friends, 99 episodes of Saturday Night Live, 26 of 30 Rock, and creating and writing Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, whose second season drops April 15). Apparently Barker decided that her memoir The Taliban Shuffle might work as a movie when a reviewer said she "depicts herself as a sort of Tine Fey character."
My only quibble is that Fey's Kim thinks she's not pretty. She's lovely. And author Barker is far from unattractive. See for yourself in the review quoted above.
Composer Nick Urata rejoins his Focus director and co-star. When I started writing this afternoon I couldn't find any of his tracks. But now there is one with a middle Eastern theme posted on his management website. And here's a list of the many songs, some with clips, used to good effect.
The young teen son of my friend was tickled that he knew what the title of this movie means. WTF. Get it? I thought you did. I told her to tell him about SNAFU and FUBAR.
The Rotten Tomatoes critics and audiences are way too cool, averaging 62 and 65%. But it was fifth at the box office last weekend and opened the week before at fourth. We thought it was great. And it's an unusual movie that has two women stars, with lines, and lines that have to do with more than sex.
Saturday, March 12, 2016
Deadpool (2016)
Knowing this action picture would be extremely violent, quite lewd, and very funny, Jack and I had a great time watching Ryan Reynolds get down and dirty as a low-life who becomes a super anti-hero, based on a Marvel comic series.
Reynolds (last blogged for a dramatic role in Women in Gold) is clearly having fun in his three personae: as his handsome self, after being disfigured, and in his red mask. I heard him tell Seth Meyers that he enjoyed making the lovely script supervisor read his dirtiest lines back to him, even though he hadn't really forgotten them. Morena Baccarin (will forever be known as Nicholas Brody's wife on Homeland) is luscious and also sweet as "a hot chick" (more on that in a minute). Comedian T.J. Miller (best known to me for 18 episodes of Silicon Valley) has plenty of gags and also some semi-serious lines to deliver and mixed martial arts star Gina Carano (most recently in these pages for Haywire) has some good stunts. In the "who is that that looks so familiar?" category is actress/singer Leslie Uggams as a profane elderly blind woman.
This is director Tim Miller's feature debut. He directed the opening sequence of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo American remake. You can watch that sequence here.
Writing partners Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (they wrote Zombieland, Jack's favorite movie of 2009, which I also loved) are working on sequels to both Zombieland and Deadpool. The Deadpool opening credits alone, created by the screenwriters, are worth the price of admission. I found them and have hidden the text here, just in case some of my readers might deem them spoilers. This is where Baccarin is dubbed "a hot chick."
The composer is Junkie XL AKA Tom Holkenborg (he just scored Mad Max: Fury Road) and his stuff is great, but there are also lots and lots of catchy tunes by others. Here's the imdb list and here's the youtube playlist, playing right now on my computer.
There are two conventions in Marvel comics adapted into movies. We fan-girls and -boys know to watch for them and I tend to cheer. 1. The obligatory Stan Lee cameo, which is particularly good here. You won't miss it unless you leave the room. And 2. The post-credits bonus. Do not run away. Stay in your seat or fast-forward your DVD (scheduled release May 10, 2016) if you don't care for the music.
The critics are pretty kind to this one, averaging 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, and I suspect the audiences have self selected to want to like it, and are averaging 93%. You should self select as well. If gratuitous violence makes you sick, this is not for you. But it's a hoot for the rest of us.
Reynolds (last blogged for a dramatic role in Women in Gold) is clearly having fun in his three personae: as his handsome self, after being disfigured, and in his red mask. I heard him tell Seth Meyers that he enjoyed making the lovely script supervisor read his dirtiest lines back to him, even though he hadn't really forgotten them. Morena Baccarin (will forever be known as Nicholas Brody's wife on Homeland) is luscious and also sweet as "a hot chick" (more on that in a minute). Comedian T.J. Miller (best known to me for 18 episodes of Silicon Valley) has plenty of gags and also some semi-serious lines to deliver and mixed martial arts star Gina Carano (most recently in these pages for Haywire) has some good stunts. In the "who is that that looks so familiar?" category is actress/singer Leslie Uggams as a profane elderly blind woman.
This is director Tim Miller's feature debut. He directed the opening sequence of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo American remake. You can watch that sequence here.
Writing partners Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (they wrote Zombieland, Jack's favorite movie of 2009, which I also loved) are working on sequels to both Zombieland and Deadpool. The Deadpool opening credits alone, created by the screenwriters, are worth the price of admission. I found them and have hidden the text here, just in case some of my readers might deem them spoilers. This is where Baccarin is dubbed "a hot chick."
The composer is Junkie XL AKA Tom Holkenborg (he just scored Mad Max: Fury Road) and his stuff is great, but there are also lots and lots of catchy tunes by others. Here's the imdb list and here's the youtube playlist, playing right now on my computer.
There are two conventions in Marvel comics adapted into movies. We fan-girls and -boys know to watch for them and I tend to cheer. 1. The obligatory Stan Lee cameo, which is particularly good here. You won't miss it unless you leave the room. And 2. The post-credits bonus. Do not run away. Stay in your seat or fast-forward your DVD (scheduled release May 10, 2016) if you don't care for the music.
The critics are pretty kind to this one, averaging 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, and I suspect the audiences have self selected to want to like it, and are averaging 93%. You should self select as well. If gratuitous violence makes you sick, this is not for you. But it's a hoot for the rest of us.
Race (2016)
Jack and I enjoyed this bio-pic about American Olympic track star Jesse Owens, beginning with his early life in segregated society and culminating with his gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Hitler's Berlin. Stephan James, who played John Lewis in Selma, does a great job as the young man with big dreams and the skills to match. Jason Sudeikis (last blogged in Horrible Bosses 2) is totally believable in his first dramatic role as coach Larry Snyder from Ohio State University who nurtures those skills. Jeremy Irons (most recently in Margin Call) and William Hurt (profiled in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby) both bring gravity to their roles as members of the Olympic Committee. And I quite liked Carice van Houten (she was in Black Book (2006) and Valkyrie) as Hitler's filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl.
Before this, director Stephen Hopkins has helmed a lot of TV shows, including 36 episodes of House of Lies (Glynn Turman, who plays Marty Kaan's father on House of Lies, makes an appearance in this one), twelve of 24, and some features I haven't seen. The writing team of Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse are new to me as well, but I may watch Shrapnel's Oscar-nominated short The Tonto Woman (2008), which can be streamed here. I did appreciate the double entendre of the title. As with most period movies, we admired the production designer's work, especially the cars. Here we can thank David Brisbin, whose previous work I've seen only in The Lookout (2007), though he's designed dozens more.
This time the critics, averaging 60%, are harsher than the audiences at 82 on Rotten Tomatoes. Don't run out of the theatre or turn off the DVD right away, as the credits include some pertinent history.
Before this, director Stephen Hopkins has helmed a lot of TV shows, including 36 episodes of House of Lies (Glynn Turman, who plays Marty Kaan's father on House of Lies, makes an appearance in this one), twelve of 24, and some features I haven't seen. The writing team of Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse are new to me as well, but I may watch Shrapnel's Oscar-nominated short The Tonto Woman (2008), which can be streamed here. I did appreciate the double entendre of the title. As with most period movies, we admired the production designer's work, especially the cars. Here we can thank David Brisbin, whose previous work I've seen only in The Lookout (2007), though he's designed dozens more.
Rachel Portman's (last blogged for Belle) urgent and majestic soundtrack can be streamed from this link.
This time the critics, averaging 60%, are harsher than the audiences at 82 on Rotten Tomatoes. Don't run out of the theatre or turn off the DVD right away, as the credits include some pertinent history.
Friday, March 11, 2016
Hail, Caesar! (2016)
Arguably the best trailer of the year, if not all time, guaranteed that Jack and I would love this hilarious parody of 1950s Hollywood. To paraphrase Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980), we enjoy the Coen Brothers' work, especially their funny ones.
The top billed cast all deliver terrific, over-the-top, hammy work (Josh Brolin, last blogged in Sicario; George Clooney, Our Brand Is Crisis; Alden Ehrenreich, who played a kid in Blue Jasmine; Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Spectre, though I didn't mention him in the latter; Scarlett Johansson, Avengers: Age of Ultron; Tilda Swinton, Trainwreck, Frances McDormand, Promised Land and the outstanding mini-series Olive Kittredge; Channing Tatum, Magic Mike XXL; and Jonah Hill, How to Train Your Dragon 2), as do the rest.
Joel and Ethan Coen (most recently in these pages for co-writing Bridge of Spies and for directing and writing Inside Llewyn Davis) employ the vast talents of cinematographer Roger Deakins (Oscar-nominated for Sicario but didn't have a chance against The Revenant) with his rich colors shot on 35mm film instead of today's standard of digital. Costume designer Mary Zophres should score her second nomination, after True Grit (she also worked on, among others, Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Ghost World (2001), Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Ladykillers (2004), A Serious Man, Iron Man 2, Cowboys & Aliens, and Interstellar), for the fabulous wardrobe, especially Swinton's and Johansson's. Production Designer Jess Gonchor, also Oscar-nominated for True Grit, and by his peers in the Art Directors Guild for The Last Samurai (2003), No Country for Old Men (2007), Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, True Grit, Inside Llewyn Davis, and Foxcatcher, among his many accomplishments, should join her for a second Oscar nomination for the marvelous sets in this one.
The trivia list on imdb will tell you many connections between actual movies and this one.
The soundtrack by Carter Burwell (last blogged for Anomalisa and Oscar-nominated for Carol, but I'm very happy Ennio Morricone won for The Hateful Eight) can be streamed from this link.
The Rotten Tomatoes averages have risen a point since we saw this on vacation three and a half weeks ago, to 83% critics and 46% audiences. I can't imagine why the audiences (who voted) were so disappointed but we were not.
The top billed cast all deliver terrific, over-the-top, hammy work (Josh Brolin, last blogged in Sicario; George Clooney, Our Brand Is Crisis; Alden Ehrenreich, who played a kid in Blue Jasmine; Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Spectre, though I didn't mention him in the latter; Scarlett Johansson, Avengers: Age of Ultron; Tilda Swinton, Trainwreck, Frances McDormand, Promised Land and the outstanding mini-series Olive Kittredge; Channing Tatum, Magic Mike XXL; and Jonah Hill, How to Train Your Dragon 2), as do the rest.
Joel and Ethan Coen (most recently in these pages for co-writing Bridge of Spies and for directing and writing Inside Llewyn Davis) employ the vast talents of cinematographer Roger Deakins (Oscar-nominated for Sicario but didn't have a chance against The Revenant) with his rich colors shot on 35mm film instead of today's standard of digital. Costume designer Mary Zophres should score her second nomination, after True Grit (she also worked on, among others, Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Ghost World (2001), Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Ladykillers (2004), A Serious Man, Iron Man 2, Cowboys & Aliens, and Interstellar), for the fabulous wardrobe, especially Swinton's and Johansson's. Production Designer Jess Gonchor, also Oscar-nominated for True Grit, and by his peers in the Art Directors Guild for The Last Samurai (2003), No Country for Old Men (2007), Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, True Grit, Inside Llewyn Davis, and Foxcatcher, among his many accomplishments, should join her for a second Oscar nomination for the marvelous sets in this one.
The trivia list on imdb will tell you many connections between actual movies and this one.
The soundtrack by Carter Burwell (last blogged for Anomalisa and Oscar-nominated for Carol, but I'm very happy Ennio Morricone won for The Hateful Eight) can be streamed from this link.
The Rotten Tomatoes averages have risen a point since we saw this on vacation three and a half weeks ago, to 83% critics and 46% audiences. I can't imagine why the audiences (who voted) were so disappointed but we were not.
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