The Witch - Movie Review

"The Witch" is the film debut of writer and directer Robert Eggars. The film stars Anya Taylor-Joy as Thomasin, the daughter of English immigrants to colonial America in the sixteen hundreds. This is the story of how she and her entire family decent into madness after their newest baby disappears. 

That is all you need to know. I don't want to spoil anything further because trust me when I say that this movie gets most of its strengths from its surprises, twists and turns.

The performances in this film were all outstanding. The reason for that being, they have to make Shakespearean dialogue sound natural in an every-day context. Words like "thus", "thou", "thy", "ist" and "hither". To make dialogue like that sound natural is not an easy thing to pull off.

The writing was also fantastic. The film is written in such a way that feels dream-like and unreal. This amplifies and secretes a tone that is uncommon in most horror films.

And yes this movie is scary. Very scary. Scarier than most horror films made in the past ten years. Why? Because it uses the Stanley Kubrick methodology of horror. The film starts out being pretty straightforward. But as the conflict escalates, the story becomes enriched with ambiguity that makes the story stranger and stranger. Finally in the third act, something happens that throws everything that happens into question. This method worked in "The Shining", "The Babadook" and it works here just as well.

What makes this movie as suspenseful as it is is that everyone is a suspect. Nobody is out of the question because they are all religious and they are all sinners. One of the children, Calab is even infatuated with his sister, Thomasin. Its that extreme! 

That being said the character's sins are not subtle. The movie goes out of its way to prove to the audience that these characters are not perfect. That's kind of a shame since every other aspect to the storytelling is super secretive and analytical. 

The characters were also not as fleshed out as the could have been. Also a problem because this movie is 90 percent build-up.

The Witch is an exceptionally strong debut from Robert Eggars. Although the characters are not as well developed as they could have been, the film's finale and riviting tension more then make up for it.

4.3 out of 5 stars

Mad Max: Fury Road - Movie Review

My choice for Best Director at the Academy Awards(r) is George Miller for "Mad Max: Fury Road", one of the best action movies in decades.

Tom Hardy stars as the classic apocalypse movie icon Mas Rockantansky, a man of few words and many bullets. The film is about how he gets involved with a prison break lead by the badass Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron). And that's the plot. There is nothing else but guns and explosions and chaos and destruction and everything in between. 

This is a movie that was great but for unexpected and counter-intuitive reasons that strangely make sense. Who the hell new that a movie whose gimmick is trucks and cars blowing up in various creative ways could be so damn great! Especially when all the luck in the world was set against them (the production was a disaster). But it payed off with flying colors... and cars and fire.

This movie was awesome! The action is some of the best ever put to film and it makes one of the most annoying gimmicks to ever touch Hollywood work. Style over substance. This one of the few movies in history to make it work. 

The characters, their motivations, who they are and what they are after are all told through how they handle the mayhem around them. The style IS the substance. 

There are only a few movies in history to ever make style over substance work and "Mad Max: Fury Road" joins them.

George Miller... holy crap! The action is directed so well to the point that its literally scary. The intensity, the adrenaline, the stunts, the tone, the mood... it was all clear! There was clarity! For an action movie to have clarity (especially in the past few years) is very rare. 

The Mad Max franchise has proven to be one of the greatest action movie anthologies of all time. Not all of them have been good, but they were all visionary, imaginative and revolutionary in their own way. What started off as an indie movie that created the post apocalyptic  has grown into a multi-million dollar franchise that keeps getting better (even though "Road Warrior" was undeniably the best).

My hats off to everyone involved with this film. I can't say I have a single problem with this film. For what it was, it was perfect. And that's why I'm giving this film...

5 out of 5 stars

Brooklyn - Movie Review

It is a widely known fact that chick flicks tend to be pretty terrible. Especially when they are based on other material in some way. But thankfully John Crowley's new film "Brooklyn" is the proud exception. This film is delightful in every way possible. The romance is held with care, the characters, while not new, are proud and strong, and it sheds light on the conditions of immigration in the 1950s. 

The film stars Saoirse Ronan, a very talented young actress, as an Irish immigrant who traveled to Brooklyn New York, to start a new life. 

At first, she is not happy. Who the hell would be? She left her family behind, she has next to no friends and she is stuck with a terribly job that she clearly hates like nothing else in the world. 

But her life changes for the better after she meets a young Italian man played by Emory Cohen. She suddenly has someone to love and care about again and her happiness returns. 

Due to the very important ex machina known as plot, things back in Ireland are not going very well so she has to make a very important choice that will change her life forever. 

As you might have guessed, the plot is not very original or (dare I say) good, but the acting, and execution of said plot makes it all worth while. At least for the most part. One more than one occasion, I was taken out of the movie due to its cliche story telling and character motivations. 

The movie is hellishly predictable at times. For the most part when you think something is going to happen, it does. But that doesn't change the fact that the predictable romance is still delightful and engaging.

Is it perfect? No. But is it still good? Yes. Very much so in fact. There is a lot that this film has going for it. 

However it still had the potential to be so much more then it was. It could have touched on the hatred between Irish immigrants and Italian immigrants. It could have touched on "native" New Yorker's hatred for immigrants in general. But it never does. Its irritating because the first half of the second act doesn't have much conflict at all. Its just pure delight. Which is fun but to a point. 

Conflict makes stories work and without it they're boring. And Brooklyn almost was, but wasn't. Why? I'm actually unsure. Maybe it was the acting, maybe it was the directing, and maybe it was both.

"Brooklyn" is not a masterpiece by any means. But then again, few movies are. Brooklyn is enjoyable, well acted and directed but has more then a few issues with its story and failed to live up to its potential.

3.7 out of 5 stars 

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Movie Review

SPOILER WARNING

Its got to happen so here it is:

Apologies for the lateness of this review. I will be honest I have been a bit busy (lazy) these past few weeks. But who wouldn't take their time to review the fandom phenomenon that is Star Wars?

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens (TFA)” is directed by JJ Abrams and written by Abrams and the great Lawrence Kasdan (a favorite of mine). The film stars new-comer Daisey Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Adam Driver as a completely old… sorry… new set of characters to breath some life back into the dead Star Wars franchise.

The film also stars many of the original trilogies great assets. Actors include Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and “Mark Hamill” (supposedly).

This film was a huge disappointment, and not because it is endlessly inferior to the original trilogy, but because of the talent that this film had behind its back. JJ Abrams directed this who has proven that he is capable of breathing new life into a dead franchise with Star Trek. Lawrence Kasdan wrote this who has proven himself to be one of the greatest (if not the greatest) blockbuster writer in the history of cinema (credits include: Indiana Jones, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, etc.).

Clearly this film had potential and when anything fails to meet that potential, I consider it a problem.

This movie is not [that] bad, at least from the technical standpoint. The action scenes are all very entertaining and well directed, and the visual effects and cinematography are well done.

The problem is the writing. Every beat of the TFA (and I mean everything) feels recycled and unoriginal. Don't believe me? The film opens with the empire… cough… First Order searching for a map to find Luke Skywalker located in a droid on a desert planet. The droid is then discovered by a peasant who is stuck on the planet for some reason or another. This protagonist is then forced out of their comfort zone by an old man (who later dies) leaving this protagonist to learn the ways of the force and escape from the evil empire or in this case the First Order. Then there is a big battle between the Resistance and the evil First Order to take down a giant space station that can destroy an entire planet.

Does that sound familiar to you? It should.

This film is “A New Hope” with bigger spectacle and a bigger budget. There is really no difference between the two films.

What's funny is that the writers must have been completely aware of this because when any of the new characters makes a decision similar to that of A New Hope, it is followed by a moment of nostalgia between characters from the original trilogy to try to cover it up. But their little trick did not work. At least for me anyway.

The filmmakers were completely aware of the films flaws yet they chose to ignore it. That is the definition of lazy.

Unfortunately all of these points have been virtually ignored by die-hard fans who see Star Wars as the greatest thing on the entire f*cking planet.

That being said there is not nothing of quality here. The acting all around is very good which is a vast improvement of every single other film in the franchise. And (SHOCKER!) Abrams has restrained himself from adding in an appalling number of lens flares during post-production! That's something, ain't it?

But in all seriousness, everything that isn't the plot is generally very good. But unfortunately for this film, the plot is the most important asset of any story. If the plot doesn't work, the art doesn't work. Its as simple as that.

In the end, Star Wars: The Force Awakens succeeds in breathing new life back into the franchise after the disaster that was the prequels. But it ultimately plays it a little to safe to what fans want and what the studio wants. It's not a bad movie, but with the potential and credibility it had, it could have and should have been much better.

3 out of 5 stars

Room Movie Review

And here it is. Possibly the most acclaimed movie of the holiday season (at least by critics anyway). I saw this movie and... wow. 

Major warning. If you have a son or daughter or any kind of offspring, you will cry like your freaking five. I know because I did... twice actually; with great intensity each time. I'm really not exaggerating this fact. People in the theater were literally sobbing like nothing I've ever seen before. And who the hell will say that's a negative?!

"Room" stars Brie Larson (in the role that should win her an Oscar) as a young woman who is kidnapped and held hostage in a ten by ten garden shed for seven years. During these dark episode of her life, the man holding her hostage rapes her. This results in the birth of Jack (Jacob Tremblay) who is held in Room as well.

This child knows nothing of the outside world. He believes that this small garden shed is everything God ever created so when Joy (Brie Larson) hatches a brilliant escape plan, many of the events that follow confused him greatly. And yes the escape scene is a tear-jerking moment.

This movie was interesting, and not just because everyone in the cast knocked in out of the park. The journey that Joy and Jack share is very moving and very honest. Both of them pose as a kind of yin and yang. When one is down, the other is there to support them. This relationship they have and how they react to the world around them is what makes this movie as great as it is.

The mother of Brie Larson, played by Joan Allen in possibly her best role ever, says to her "When I look at you Joy, I will see my daughter". In this quote, you can learn so much about what has happened to Joy as a character. Being trapped in Room for so long changed her personality so much that she is literally a different person.

If your a grammar-nazi like my English teacher, you have probably noticed that I have written "Room" instead of "the room" like its an actual character. This is probably the most interesting stylistic choice made on behalf of writer Emma Donoghue. She chose to describe certain objects within Room as being people. Sink instead of the sink, Wardrobe instead of the wardrobe. This small choice makes everything about "Room" feel so much more authentic. Jack's speech skills have not been fully developed yet and these household objects are the only friends he has other than his mother (who does yell at him quite often) so of course he will argue that they are actual people.

The only problem I have with this movie is that the P-T-S-D that Joy suffers from is never flushed out to its fullest. But I have come to forgive this issue because I consider Jack to be the main character; not Joy. So of course he will see things he doesn't understand and being vague and underdeveloped (a metaphor for his character).

In the end I would highly recommend seeing Room if you have enough tears to live through it. While some characters were underdeveloped, the greatness of everything else more then made up for it.

4.8 out of 5 stars

Making a Murderer (Spoiler Free) Series Review

  

Its impossible to fathom how a combination of human nature and the justice system that keeps our streets clear day-in and day-out, could do much more harm on a person's life then good. That's at least what I thought to myself when I pressed play to watch Netflix's new and acclaimed documentary series.

“Making A Murderer” is a Netflix original documentary series written and directed by Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi and is about Wisconsin's most notorious homicide case that sent citizens Steven Avery and Brendon Dassey (a teenager) to prison for life. This series has been getting a huge amount of critical acclaim. This new series currently stands at a 97 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and has an audiences rating of 4.7 out of 5. Now, I plan to do a spoiler review of this series sometime in the future because there is so much here to talk about. But for this review I plan to state only what is necessary to know going in so that each turn can be seen as a surprise.

Back in the 1980s, a man named Steven Avery was found guilty of raping a women and spent 18 years of his life in prison. Years later, while Steven was still in prison, DNA evidence was released that proved him innocent of this crime so naturally he was released. But Steven was unsatisfied with the way the state had treated him during his trial so he sues Manitowoc county for 36 million dollars. Then three days before before the initial hearing, a women named Teresa Halbach goes missing and is suspected to be dead. Several days later, Halbach's burnt remains were discovered on Avery's property so now he is the prime suspect and faces life in prison (all of this was in the first two episodes so believe me nothing of importance was spoiled). The rest of the series is basically how the investigation and trial were carried out.

Every single moment of this series was astonishing. Everything. Every single moment. Right from the grisly details of Halbach's murder to the measures in which the state was determined to prove Avery guilty. But what is even more astonishing is that the evidence that was presented in the show, points to the fact that Avery was innocent of this crime, but the state didn't care. It was the Sheriff’s department that found a large majority of the incriminating evidence. The very same department that Avery was suing several weeks prior. Yet almost all of the evidence that they found was admitted to be valid and was used in the trial. EVERYTHING THE SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT FOUND SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN VALIDATED BECAUSE OF THE CONFLICT OF INTEREST!! ITS FREAKING INSANE!!

And yes, this series does contain many conspiracy theories that point the finger at the cops. And yes, this series is very one-sided. But when the evidence is studied, it actually suggests the cops (possibly) knew who the real killer was but framed Steven Avery instead. Did they in actuality? Who knows. Maybe Avery really is guilty and the documentarians' thesis is false. But there it definitely more than enough room for reasonable doubt still in the air ten years after the trial took place.

Whats wrong with this series? It doesn't present that many opposing arguments to maintain an unbiased view of the situation Avery was in. The documentary was clearly made by people who firmly believed Avery was (and still is) innocent.

Whats right with this series? Everything else. All of the footage in the series was one hundred percent relevant and was very convincing. The documentary also does a great job at getting you to want to know more about Avery's case so you can form your own opinions about it (something very few 10-hour documentaries have been able to do).

If you believe in conspiracy theories then this series is definitely for you. But it you don't, then you'll walk out angry and the filmmakers for even contemplating something like this could ever have taken place. But either way this series is definitely worth watching whether you believe what it is saying or not.

Believe me, this program is captivating from moment one and definitely accomplishes what it set out to do so the series did its job and did it well. I can't wait to start doing more research about this case so I can form my own opinion on it.

[For television programs I give letter grades instead of using numbers.]

Grade: A

Spotlight - Movie Review

The new film entitled “Spotlight” is, without a doubt, the most predictably intense film of the last several decades. Just like another great journalism movie, “All the Presidents Men”, the story was already famous so we knew what was going to happen. But it still managed to introduce some of the most powerful suspense of all time. This simple stroke of genius is how you can tell a good movie from a great movie. Simply put, this is by far the best movie of 2015.

“Spotlight” is director Tom McCarthy's follow up to the horrendous comedy “The Cobbler” and stars a brilliant ensemble cast which includes Micheal Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Stanley Tucci and Liev Shreiber. This film follows a team of investigative journalists (called Spotlight) that worked at the Boston Globe in the early 2000s. The film explores how the Boston Globe discovered and decoded the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. I tried to keep my description as vague as possible because this film is best experienced knowing as little as possible.

Getting right into it, this film is very descriptive. What I mean by that is that the film does not show anything; it describes it. Every single interview is told in the moment. There are no flashbacks. But it counterintuitively works. I always believed that showing something is more effective than describing it, but this film is the proud exception. The descriptions allowed the audience to stay in the moment and not be detracted with backstory. The acting was also great enough to grant such a risky move by the filmmakers.

I am not joking when I say that every human being in America and beyond should see this movie. Not only is the film perfect on the storytelling and technical standpoint, but the story that it successfully tells is very important and, because of the Church, not many people are aware of its existence and everybody should be.

There is a moment towards the end where the character played by Mark Ruffalo is observing the character played by Stanley Tucci comfort several young girls who were victims of sexual harassment by priests. The expression that Ruffalo gives perfectly captures the tone of the first two acts. He knows that there was nothing he could do about their ordeal, but he could not help but feel some guilt for his ignorance. That short scene is this movie.

Believe the hype that this movie has generated. If your friend tells you it sucks, give him the finger and never talk to him again because he is dead wrong. This movie is a masterpiece—beyond perfect.

When you go see it (I say when because everyone should proudly give their money to this work of art), know right off the bat that it is a dark movie, it is a suspenseful movie and it is a disturbing movie. But that shouldn't matter in this case. Its a film that you should see just to respect what these brave, AND CATHOLIC, journalists did in the name of justice. Go see this movie, I beg you.

I wish that I could give this movie a rating beyond five because it is the rare film that deserves it.

5 out of 5 stars