REVIEW: Don't Breathe

"You'll be sitting on the edge of your seat.'  That's the hyperbolic line that is thrown out way too often in describing something that is action-packed, adrenaline-fueled, or suspenseful.  It has become cliche, and I never really think about it in terms of actually meaning anything.  However, it is so delightful to be a part of an experience where I am sitting forward in anticipation, my body frozen, as I dangle on the edge of a comfy theatre chair in wait of what will happen next.

It is an experience that seldom happens, and I believe, if I really put the brain effort into it, I could count the times it has taken place on one hand.  To captivate the audience to the point of that sort of physical reaction is so difficult to pull off.  Yet there I was, fully drawn into my screening of Don't Breathe.  It was not just me.  As the film quieted down I noticed that there was not a sound to be heard in the entire theatre.  Nobody was talking, nobody was shifting in their seats.  The entire crowd was in the palm of director Fede Alvarez'a hand.

This is because, in only his sophomoric feature film effort, Alvarez has shown that he is a master in setting the mood as well as the stakes.  Both are incredibly important.  If you have a good atmosphere but don't care about the characters and the outcome, it will be a bust.  If you really like the characters but the setting is a bore, you can lose interest quickly.

The story is about three young people who break into homes and take items, leaving money behind.  All of a sudden, there is a big score that they have in front of them.  A blind army vet is sitting on a lot of cash, and the three cannot pass up the opportunity for the amount of money they could rake in.  From there, it turns into a home invasion film, but one that is able to stand out from others in the genre.

Right from the beginning of the film, we are able to attach to the motivations of the protagonist, Rocky (Jane Levy).  She is living in an absolute shit hole in Detroit, and wants to get her and her sister out of there.  Alvarez, who also penned the script alongside Rodo Sayagues, doesn't try and make her the ultimate of moral heroes.  He allows her to be flawed and for us to question her actions at times.  This is the kind of character that I really love, someone who feels like they could live in the real world and has real life struggles around what to do with ethical decisions.

The performance of Levy is off the charts, and it is clear that she is an under-rated talent in Hollywood.  She was solid in Alvarez's Evil Dead, but here she runs the gauntlet of emotions, portraying them all with her entire body and soul.  This is key to making us care about how things will turn out for the young woman who ends up in a very scary situation.

The other standout performance comes from Stephen Lang as the blind man.  He is an absolute terror on the screen, a determined force that will make the intruders pay for going into his house.  He has moments of passion and devastation as well, as Alvarez and Sayagues wrote him to be more than just a one dimensional antagonist.

From the moment the break in takes place, Alvarez sets the intrigue and suspense through a masterful sequence that is designed to feel like one continuous take.  It shows the exploration of each of the robbers through the house, as well as taking note of different objects.  It is clear to the audience that these objects are going to be of significance later in the film, but it doesn't detract from their payoff at all.  This one scene is the beginning of a nightmare that unfolds as the robbery turns pear-shaped and three become caught in a horrific world as the blind man tries to find them.

The skills of Alvarez's attention to atmosphere and setting were the biggest take aways from Evil Dead.  The man knows how to establish an environment and ensconce the audience within it.  The house itself feels like a living character in Don't Breathe, as it creaks and groans as they move, giving away their position, as well as having a terrifying maze-like basement.

The past few years have shown that there are some outstanding horror directors on the rise, and Don't Breathe declares that Fede Alvarez is not just in that conversation, but that he has already arrived.  He brings well earned jump scares through the use of timing and pace, and keeps a struggle for life unfolding with silence and patience as well as driven moments with a dominating score.  This is an outstanding addition to the home invasion genre, and should be seen by horror fans the world over.

Rating - 3.5 out of 4 stars

The Bourne Conundrum

The critics were split on the release of the latest Jason Bourne movie, called, well, it was called Jason Bourne.  It was the return to the franchise by both Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass, and opened to an encouraging $60 million.  That makes it the second highest opening weekend for a Bourne movie, putting it only nine million behind the opening take of 2007's The Bourne Ultimatum.

While my podcast co-host Christopher enjoyed the movie enough to recommend it, the key fault that kept me from going that far was the camera style.  It was incredibly shaky throughout, and I felt that it led to the film being overwhelmed by the one technique.  Shaky works at times, but when it is used for all shots, be them action or subtle scenes of dialogue, it looses its power.

On top of that, it made some of the brilliant chase scenes feel as though they were not allowed to shine.  There was a great deal of attention paid to coordinating and executing these sequences, with a lot happening in the background.  Because of the shaking camera and super fast edits, it was difficult to take any of it in and really experience what the characters were going through.

Thank goodness it wasn't in 3D...

At least, that was the case in North America.  The movie has begun its Asian rollout, and some people are not extremely happy with the fact that it is playing primarily in the third dimension.  That's right.  A movie with insanely fast edits and a shaky style (which, as mentioned, can work at times) has been converted to 3D, something that audience members in China say are ruining the experience.

There has even been a protest over it.  Movie goers got together to demand a refund on their ticket purchases, claiming that the film was difficult to sit through in 3D.  I could only imagine the pain of the experience.  Not everything is equal when it comes to adaption for 3D.

While it was only a small group of people protesting, it shows the side of Hollywood that is all about the money instead of the art form.  The Asian markets were selected for the conversion because of their previous acceptance and love for the format in other action films.  The difference is that those action films were shot with 3D in mind.  This one was not.  It is a move to exploit higher ticket prices from the public by cramming Jason Bourne into something that it is not meant to be.

In North America, at least in Canada, where I am located, bumping up to paying the admission price of a 3D movie is usually the difference of three dollars or so.  That is not the case in China.  The ticket prices for 3D movies are roughly twice what it costs to see it in two dimensions.  That is quite the price hike, especially for something that the rest of the world gets to see in its intended format.

Having 3D as an option is not a bad idea, but that is not really the case in the Asian markets.  In Beijing, eight out of one hundred and forty nine theatres ran the 2D option.  It's worse in Shanghai where only 9 out of 174 theatres screened the film in 2D.  Those screenings are said to have been in remote areas or during non-prime movie going hours.  Universal has responded by saying that it will release more screenings in 2D.

So, what's the point?  Well, it has felt like this summer, more than before, that theatres were making seeing a two dimensional offering of a 3D film more difficult.  In Brantford, where I live, the only screenings that were in 2D were between the hours of 4 and 5pm.  Not early enough in the day to be home for supper, and not late enough in the day to have a complete afternoon.  It was obvious that the exhibitors were making all of the efforts possible to keep people paying the money to see the films in 3D.

Even though I thought we had it bad, it is not close to the same situation over seas.  This episode with Jason Bourne shows that the main driving force in the end product is about money, and not about the quality of the film.  Anyone who has seen Jason Bourne, whether they liked it or hated it, will most likely tell you that they were thankful it was not a 3D movie.  It just was not built that way, and we are seeing that the drive to get double the ticket prices in an expanding market outweighs the measure of the product that is being sold.

Weekend Box Office Predictions: 'Don't Breathe', and 'Mechanic: Resurrection'

Could this finally be the weekend that Suicide Squad gets knocked out of first place in the box office?  I am voting yes.  The run of Suicide Squad, spending three weeks at number one, had less to do with its holding power than it did with the weaker offerings that come about at this time of year.  Going into week four of its release, it will come as an absolute shock to me if it is able to hold off an upstart horror film that should be able to take first place from it.


Don't Breathe

This is the second team up from producer Sam Raimi and director Fede Alvarez.  The two paired up originally with the 2013 remake, Evil Dead.  Alvarez was a first time feature film director, having worked on a number of shorts before hand.  While I was a bit of a fence sitter on the final product, Alvarez showed that he was extremely capable of using environment to set to the tone and the feel of a film, something that will play well into Don't Breathe, as it appears to spend almost all of its time without one house.

It was that attention to atmosphere, as well as cinematography, that helped win over the fans of horror as he used practical effects and led Evil Dead to an opening weekend of $25 million.  The movie topped out at $54 million domestically, so it didn't have the greatest legs.  But, long term projection is not what I am all about in these articles, so let's not worry about that.

Evil Dead had something going for it that Don't Breathe doesn't have, and that is a name brand with rabid followers.  I am not going to equate too much of Evil Dead's success to having a niche fan base, because we have seen in other films, like Edgar Wright's Cornetto trilogy, have hardcore fans that don't make a large impact on the box office.  We could also look at Warcraft from earlier this summer to see that fans don't mean financial success.

All of that is to say that I don't see a huge dip in box office openings between Evil Dead and Don't Breathe.  I think there will be a bit of a drop, and that Don't Breathe won't open to the same numbers, but it will come close.  It has had a solid marketing campaign, and it is holding up well on Twitter.  The critics are loving it, so it may just end up having better legs than the front loaded Evil Dead.

Prediction: $22 million


Mechanic: Resurrection

This movie is a difficult one to think about.  Firstly, it is because the first movie was not a hit.  It brought in a world wide tally of $62 million on a budget of $40 million.  Those are hardly numbers that make a property declarable as a winner.  Secondly, it's star, Jason Statham, is not a big numbers driver.  He does well in ensemble casts, but films where he is the principle cast member don't run very well.  This is his first starring role since 2013's Homefront, which opened to just under $7 million.  The opening weekend numbers are similar for other efforts such as Parker ($7 million opening weekend), and Safe ($7.8 million opening).

It is hard to believe that things have changed drastically for Statham and his ability to draw audiences.  This is a franchise that nobody was really asking for.  Movies about action and adventure have a difficult time drawing at this time of year.  Last year saw Hitman: Agent 47 open to $8 million, as well as No Escape opening to the same numbers a week later.

While the title of the film is 'resurrection,' I don't believe that it is apt for this film.  This one could easily be considered dead before it hits theatres.  The best chance it has at making any of its reported $40 million budget back will be in the international scene.

Prediction: $6 million

The Crash of Ben-Hur

Sword and sandal movies are not necessarily hits at the box office, but for some reason there was an attempt to bring a remake of Ben-Hur into theatres on a budget of $100 million.  While that does not seem like a lot of money for a blockbuster during the summer time, it is a number that far outweighed the interest of the movie, and was perhaps a mis-calculation of MGM and Paramount.  It is less of a hit by Paramount, who only put up twenty percent of the funding for the movie.

The budget is very similar to what Paramount put up in 2014 for Hercules, a movie starring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, that brought in close to $250 million world wide.  If they had hopes that Ben-Hur would do similar numbers, they were vastly mistaken.  It lacked the sort of drawing star power that Hercules had, as well as aiming at a vastly different demographic, one that doesn't necessarily flood to theatres.

That demographic is the much sought after Christian market.  They were ripe for the plucking with Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, which made over $600 million on a budget of $30 million.  Ever since then, there have been attempts to harness the same sort of success, as studios have been trying to dole out biblical and faith based stories in hopes of seeing the green.

In 2014, there were a glut of films trying to break into that demographic.  We had big budget movies like Darren Aronofsky's Noah (which made $362 million world wide on a budget of $125), and fellow acclaimed director Ridley Scott's Exodus: Gods and Kings ($268 million on a $140 million budget).  The former was a success, although there was an intense battle between the film maker and the studios over the version that should be shown, as the executives were afraid that it would not penetrate the Christian market as hoped.  The director won, and the result was a film that fared well.

There were also a smattering of lower budget attempts that year.  The most profitable was God's Not Dead, which had a production budget of $2 million and made $62 million across the globe (the majority of that was from North America).  There was also Heaven is for Real.  It starred Greg Kennear and was directed by Randall Wallace.  It was able to barely break $100 million world wide on a budget of $12 million.  And, if I haven't mentioned enough already, there was the adaption of The Bible mini-series from the History Channel, which got repackaged into a horrible looking film called Son of God.  It made close to $60 million domestically on an unreported budget.

So, have any of these films that I mentioned seemed as though there was proof that a large budget film seeking the Christian audience would work?  Only one comes to mind, and that was Noah, the film made by a man considered by many to be an atheist, and a film that left a lot of the Christian audiences upset at liberties taken with the story, as imagery and symbolism were used to tell the spiritual aspects of the narrative.  Oddly enough, there wasn't the same kind of backlash from Exodus: Gods and Kings, which did everything it could to actually leave God out of the film.

Looking at the evidence from the box office, it is easy to understand that there is no such thing as the Golden Christian Egg, the movie that will get everyone out of their homes and into the theatres.  What happened with The Passion of the Christ was lightening in a bottle.  It tapped into culture, and those sorts of things, when re-attempted, can easily come off as forced.

The team behind Ben-Hur, most notably Mark Burnett and Roma Downey (the couple behind many faith based projects), were looking to bring a faith based element to the film in the hopes that it would get the audiences out.  They could have looked at the two previously mentioned blockbuster attempts to see that even with established and acclaimed directors and star studded casts it is hit or miss.  Ben-Hur had neither of those things, unless you consider the director of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter a recognizable and acclaimed name.

There was little happening for this movie that was going to make it stand out.  It had to rely on the merits of the original in its marketing.  The target demographic never even saw the faith based elements in the trailers.  Perhaps that was a big miss.  In the end, the movie ended up servicing a much older audience than was possibly intended (95% of the movie goers were over the age of 25), and disappointed on critical and financial levels.  It may come as a surprise to MGM and Paramount, but, from the lessons of history, it was actually very easy to predict.

REVIEW: Kubo and the Two Strings

Brought to us from Laika studios, Kubo and the Two Strings is a stop motion animated family feature.  Laika specializes in stop motion, and from the visuals in Kubo, you can see that they are very good at what they do.  It does not take long for the viewer to get completely immersed in the world that is created, and it only gets better as the movie progresses.  This is also one of those special movies where seeing it in 3D actually makes a difference to the story telling.  So many 3D films are just as good in normal formats, but Kubo uses the technique to make the world and the story all the more magical.

The tale is about a young, one-eyed boy named Kubo (Art Parkinson) who has an ability and power to create moving origami through the use of his guitar.  He is a story teller in the village square, hooking the residents to his every word, but never seems to know how a story should come to an end.  His life is turned upside down when he does not heed the words of his mother to get home before dark, and the truth of his past comes to track him down in the form of The Sisters (Rooney Mara).  They are his aunts, and they are after him at the command of Kubo's grandfather, the Moon King (Ralph Fiennes) to take his remaining eye.

In one final act of protection, Kubo's mother uses the last of her magical abilities to send him far away.  She also transforms a monkey shaped magical charm into his protector, voiced by Charlize Theron.  Kubo must seek down a fabled set of armour to be able to protect himself from the Moon King and The Sisters.  Along the way, the come across a samurai beetle (Matthew McConaughey) who has had his memory wiped and is up for helping Kubo on his quest.

The story is a sweet one, as Kubo and his youth must face the grown up task that is set before him.  He has to rise above his age to be something that he is not, going from the teller of the stories to the main character.  His inability to know how a story must conclude is something that he must confront at the end of the film to find triumph and safety.

Much like Big Hero 6, this is an animated film that is not just good as a family film, but a good movie, period.  There is a lot of fun humour that comes from many different directions, such as gags, facials, and punch lines.  It also excels in its action sequences and brings a great deal of entertainment in choreographed battles.  The layout and story flow that happens through the action scenes surpasses the abilities of many main stream blockbusters.

The true heart of this film comes through in the voice acting.  It is genuine and sincere.  Art Parkinson embraces the character of Kubo and opens the door to invite the audience into his heart.  Theron and McConaughey have a chemistry between them that builds towards a relationship that appears true and time weathered.  Notably, Rooney Mara is chilling in her performance as The Sisters.

It is a beautiful movie.  The animation and the story itself create a world that the audience is a part of.  The magic seems real and has a flow to it.  The use of lighting is exceptional, as it assists in the telling of the story by bringing out the wonderful colours of the world as well as dimming things down to invite the darker aspects into the fold.

I do not simply recommend this film to families, but to everyone.  There is something neat about a story about story telling, and how real life needs story tellers to assist in the great feats of humanity.  It is a coming of age tale that has a note of resonance for all ages.  It is a very special kind of movie that doesn't come along that often.

Rating - 3.5 out of 4 stars

REVIEW: War Dogs

There is a certain something about War Dogs that is familiar as a cozy blanket.  It could be the use of a musical soundtrack featuring songs that have been over used in movies before.  It could be the narration of it that leaves it with a feeling of Goodfellas.  There are many different attributes of this Todd Phillips film that are recognizable, but that doesn't mean that it is a hack of a movie.

The story is one that is based on a news article, much like Pain and Gain was.  The difference here, is that War Dogs understands how humour is supposed to be integrated into a movie.  That is key.  We follow David Packouz (Miles Teller) as he has dreams of becoming more than a certified massage therapist.  His life is changed when he runs into his best friend from tenth grade, Efraim Diveroli (Jonah Hill).  David is a door mat with a solid heart, while Efraim is not one to take shit from people, and looks after himself.  These are qualities that David admires, as he doubts his dreams and ambitions in life.

David finds out that Efraim makes a living bidding on the crumb sized military contracts of the mid 2000s was in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Emboldened by being in the company of his old friend, David leaves his humble dreams and teams up with Efraim to make insane amounts of money making deals that are on the shady side of legal.

Ultimately, it is a movie where the main character must look at who he truly is and decide if the life that he is living is one that he can sleep with at the end of the day.  As mentioned in the opening paragraph, nothing new here.  But that is alright.

What Todd Phillips is able to do with this story, is direct it into something with bits of memories of past film, but without directly stealing anything.  He is able to keep a good pace throughout the movie, something that he is known for.  There are down times, and those down times mean something.  They aren't just for trying to pad the run time of the movie.

Miles Teller is as good as he always is, but, to me at least, the main acting story coming out of War Dogs is the performance of Jonah Hill.  Known primarily as a comedian (while we already know just how talented Teller is), Hill elevates himself to become a chameleon who is able to be something to everyone.  In his one role, he plays a master manipulator who changes shapes and attitudes, and it is believable the entire time.  There are great things ahead for this actor, that is for sure.

Probably the biggest draw back of the film is that we don't get enough of the down to earth moments of Teller's character.  With the movie about his choices of what to do, as well as battling the morality of what he is doing, there needed to be a very solid foundation of personality that we are to build off of.  A lot of it comes from the narration, rather than actually seeing the moments that are to make him a three dimensional character.

Phillips, who directed the Hangover trilogy, shows that he is willing to take his understanding of comedic timing and gags and transport them to a more serious film.  It is still not the most serious film in the world, but it is compared to Phillips past filmography.  The movie offers some good, solid laughs, as well as some dramatic moments, to make it effective summer fare.

Rating - 3 out of 4 stars

Weekend Box Office Predictions: War Dogs, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Ben-Hur

This is a busy weekend in theatres, with three wide release films taking their shot at making money.  Their timing isn't the best, as mid to late August is generally a time of year where movies go to die.  There is a time of transition from summer blockbusters into fall Oscar fare.  An absence of excitement dwells in theatres at this time, and right now War Dogs, Kubo and the Two Strings, and the remake of Ben-Hur are hoping that the general audience numbers swell in their favour.

War Dogs

If you haven't seen the trailers for this movie, it is the 'based on the true story' film about two young men in the United States who end up becoming gun runners.  The man behind the movie, Todd Phillips, is best known for his work on the hugely successful Hangover trilogy.  While they were well received by fans, the attraction faded over the course of the series, with the third one only totally $112 million domestically, a far cry from the $277 million of the first film.

Still, in the modern landscape of comedies, scoring over one hundred million is a great achievement.  The big question is if this movie starring Jonah Hill and Miles Teller has what it takes to reach the same heights.  Hill, while a recognizable name, has not been one to show that he is a big box office draw.  That is not to take away from his great talents, it is just what the numbers show.

On social media, War Dogs has not been tracking well.  As of the time of writing this, it only has just shy of 3,000 tweets for the day.  Considering it opens tonight and that it is geared towards a younger audience, that does not bode well.  What is really interesting is that The Bronze, a movie about a gymnast starring The Big Bang Theory's Melissa Rauch which has not been well received by critics or audiences, has more than twice as many tweets.

The really unfortunate factor facing War Dogs is the fact that it is coming out a week after the animated for adults film, Sausage Party.  There is a good chance that the Seth Rogen starring movie about grocery store food gone wild will hold up well and that means it will dig into the pockets of War Dogs.

Prediction: $18 million


Kubo and the Two Strings

It has been a fairly strong year in terms of family focused movies, so it will take something special to make another movie stand out from the rest of the pack.  Luckily, that is exactly the sort of thing that animation studio Laika is known for.  At a time where all animation seems to be focused on computers, Laika uses brilliant and beautiful stop motion to capture their stories.  The trailers for Kubo give a taste of the visual treats that the film will have.

Unfortunately their films don't set records when it comes to their releases.  The Boxtrolls brought in $17 million during it's opening weekend, which was three million better than Paranorman, which came out in 2012.  The performance in the box office seems to be steady, reaching world wide totals close to the $110 million mark, and I don't see much changing for this one.

Prediction: $17 million


Ben-Hur

There is a lot riding on this movie.  I am not talking about terms of franchise potential or anything like that, but more in the pure financial sense.  It cost roughly one hundred million to make, which is a lot for a film that is being released during the third weekend of August.  The advertising for it has also been pretty intense, so there will be a hefty marketing budget that Paramount will be needing to make up.

If there is something that we have learned from the horror genre in the mid 2000s, it's that remakes of 'classics' do not essentially mean success.  Are audiences really dying for a remake of the original movie that was nominated for over ten Academy Awards?  The big answer, at least what I am thinking based on recent trends of movies, is that they aren't.  Just look at Ghostbusters and the difficulties it had in getting audience members in their seats.  That film is looking down the barrel of a $70 million loss, and I would be surprised if Ben-Hur ends up doing better.

With Morgan Freeman as the only recognizable cast member, there is nothing here that is going to push people to go out and see it.  The reviews for it are currently in the dumps, sitting at 33% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing this.  It will end up keeping some people at home, but the religious material in Ben-Hur may be its saving grace.  Audiences of faith based material generally don't pay attention to the critics.  If this remake is able to really tap into that audience, then it may stand a chance.

Prediction: $10 million

REVIEW: Sausage Party

Consider this movie a version of Toy Story, but for adults only.  And when I say, 'for adults only,' I sincerely mean that.  The comparisons lay with inanimate objects given human emotions and looking to become selected by human beings.  Instead of toys, we are given all of the different items that populate a grocery store.  They want to be chosen by shoppers to go to the great beyond where they will live the best of lives.  Essentially, they believe that leaving the store is like entering into heaven.

What they don't know, and what they are told from a returned bottle of Honey Mustard (Danny McBride) is that life outside of the grocery store is a horrid one where the humans mean to murder and consume the food.  There is little attention paid to him by the others, as his story seems ridiculous and crazy.  Only Frank, a hotdog played by Seth Rogan, listens to him and begins questioning everything that they believe, setting out on a journey to find the truth.

There is a lot in this film that could be seen as a criticism of religion, as well as having a political statement.  The food's nationalities parody stereotypes and hyperbole.  I didn't see it as a method of debunking religious beliefs, but more of adding layers to proper anthropomorphize the delicious food products as well as creating a society full of subculture in which they live.

Leading the charge of high calibre talent in this film (including Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, and Edward Norton) is Rogen who also was one of the scribes for the script.  I have said for a while that he is not just a comedian, but an actual acting talent.  He shows it off here, as it is not just the jokes and gags where he shines, but in the delivery of every line.  It is the kind of performance, as well as his role in Jobs, that make me want to see more of him in varying types of roles.

The direction of Sausage Party is handled expertly by Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon.  They do well to keep the movie flowing along at a good pace.  They also have delightful fun with playing with pop culture references and moments from other films.  This goes a long way to adding a flavour (horrible pun intended) that is unique to this film.  That sort of thing stands out in a summer where a lot of what has been offered on the mainstream level feels generic and as though we have already seen it before.

As mentioned, this is a film that is really for adults.  Don't sneak your kids in to see this movie.  It is irreverent and is not shy on throwing the cussin' about.  As well, there is a full on pleasure orgy that happens when the food is liberated.  Could it be a commentary about hedonism?  Possibly, but more likely it happened because Rogen and company thought that the images of food copulating in various ways would be hilarious.

If you have a problem with seeing a donut having sex with a wrap, you will not want to see this film.  If you have issues with the ideas of religion being played with, it is best to stay home.  If you are willing to view this picture as merely a microcosm of humanity in the grocery aisles, both the good and the bad, you may very well enjoy it.  A lot of the jokes landed firmly, and it was a lot of fun to watch.

Rating - 3 out of 4 stars.

REIVEW: Punk's Dead: SLC Punk 2

Have you ever sat down to watch the sequel to a movie and been left wondering, why the hell did they make this movie?  It happens, and could be because of many reasons.  I don't know the exact motivation behind director James Merendino returning to pen a follow up to 1998'a SLC Punk, and that unfortunately shows throughout the film.

It is difficult to not think of an original property and what it was when you are viewing a sequel.  The film that you are watching should be a stand alone experience and judged on its own merits.  This was very hard to do while watching Punk's Dead: SLC Punk 2.  The first film was about the battle for personal identity and self discovery, and the tone of the directing matched it well.  It had a unique feel to it, and it was lead by the outstanding performance of Matthew Lillard as Stevo, a punk living in Salt Lake City who had to come to terms with everything he believed about anarchy and life.

Punk's Dead misses out on harnessing an identity of it's own.  It does try through various methods, although most of them rely on brining back characters from the original film.  It can be tiring watching a movie that is just focusing first and foremost on fan service, as the story suffers just to fill in as many call backs as possible.  The worst such offender is the fact that the film is narrated by Heroin Bob, who passed away in the first film.  He is our guide from behind the grave, and, although actor Michael Goorjian tries hard, he is a very sterile and word spewing guide, the very kind that makes us ask for our money back at the end of the tour.

Perhaps that is the best way to describe this film.  It is not an actual experience that the audience feels, but a tour that has been arranged with points to stop at along the way.  The narrative focuses on the straight laced goth offspring of Bob, Ross (Ben Schnetzer).  Even though he never met his father, we are shown from our seats on the tour bus that he has father issues, although it is never adequately on display.  More so just like animatronics on a Disney Land journey.

What I suppose the movie is to teach us is that sometimes we need to step outside of ourselves and grasp onto a new experience in life to understand what else may reside on the dark edges of our comfort zones.  If this is indeed the message, it is muddled through a bland script that lacks the upbeat tempo of the first film.  We don't necessarily feel for Ross, but rather want him to be punched in the face a few times.  It worked for Edward Norton in Fight Club, and I would have loved to see that self involved brat get a slug to the old kisser.  We eventually do get that, and it is finally a moment to pay attention to the screen.


There are times when I can say that while I didn't like a sequel, die hard fans of the original will find joy in it.  That's not the case here, though.  I doubt that anyone will enjoy this herding of former cast members in for the sake of it will appeal to anyone.  It is a complete shame that a movie about inner and outer identity is followed up by a movie that has neither.

Rating - 1 out of 4 stars

Weekend Box Office Prediction: Suicide Squad and Nine Lives

This is a very important weekend for one studio in particular.  Warner Bros. has been trying to catch up with Disney in regards to super hero movies and the shared universe concept.  It has been a tough act to follow, and the performance of Suicide Squad will be an indicator of just how far they have come, or need to go, to match the earning potential of Marvel movies.


Suicide Squad

There has been a great deal of marketing around this movie.  There have been a slew of trailers, and that branding has paid off well.  It is dominating Twitter, and, at the time of writing this, has had over 216,000 tweets for the day of August 4th.  To put that in perspective, the next most talked about movie on Twitter is Ghostbusters, which has just shy of seven thousand tweets.  It has also been seeing a lot of Facebook likes added to its page, and is one of the year's most talked about movies on social media.

Even though it is performing well on the internet, that doesn't mean much past the opening weekend. What is really going to pay off in the long run is continued word of mouth, rather than just pure anticipation.

But, we are not here to talk about the future of the movie, but rather the opening weekend.  The trailers for the film look to inject a lot of fun into the movie, something that has changed from its original trailer.  I think it is equal parts the effects that Deadpool would have had, showing that there can be comedy and laughs integrated with the action, as well as the fact that Batman v. Superman fell flat on its face after opening weekend.

There was a lot of reshuffling that happened with the movie after Batman v Superman faltered.  What this means is that there have been massive reshoots, and the tone of the film has changed a lot from what it was originally intended.  The final product is not doing well on Rotten Tomatoes, scoring only 29% at the time of writing this.  That will mean little to the opening day, but if it really is a flat movie as the critics suggest, it could pose a problem as the weekend continues and could make the film incredibly front loaded on opening day.

Prediction:  $125 million


Nine Lives

It may seem on the surface that taking big, authentic Hollywood names and placing them in almost any kind of film is the key to success.  That almost feels like the strategy that is being taken with the film Nine Lives.  It casts Kevin Spacey as a father who neglects his family for business aspirations, who is then transformed into a cat by Christopher Walken.  He has a finite number of days to reconnect with his family in the form of a cat, or else he will spend the rest of his life as a feline.  Sounds like a winner.

The problem is that the trailers look incredibly generic, and it has the feel of a straight to video release.  There has been little awareness of this film, as boxoffice.com indicates that the movie doesn't even have twenty thousand Facebook likes.  It has been almost non-existent on Twitter, and that looks to spell doom for the film.  I have watched a number of family features this year, and I have never seen a trailer for Nine Lives screened.  With the awareness low and no critical reviews out yet (which is never a good sign at this point in the release cycle), I see this film bombing and ending up on streaming services before the year is done.

Prediction: $7.5 million

Letting the Fear Keep Me Away

Well, it has been a while since I have written anything on the blog.  We can chalk that up to the side effects of dealing with anxiety on a daily basis and giving into the demands of the dark beast.  It is not a proper excuse, because I have managed to be actively writing during the time, but just not on the blog.  There is something different about writing for the blog.  Putting something out there that people will read and judge.  Like a punk, I allowed my fears to get in the way and keep me from talking about the movies that I have been seeing this summer.

It is unfortunate that I took a bit of a break, because there have been some really fun features that have been screening in theatres.  There have also been a number of duds.  This summer has had both ups and downs as far as movies go, and it has been a lot of fun to be a part of that, viewing and reviewing for the podcast that I co-host, The Movie Breakdown.

Hopefully this week will be a lot better for getting content on the blog.  The big movie coming out this week is Warner Brothers' Suicide Squad.  The reviews are starting to come in for it, and it is not encouraging so far.  I have been disappointed with the vision taken by DC in their films, and I still have high hopes that I will be enjoying this one.  I like to believe that come Friday morning I will be writing a positive review for the film, one that talks about how it takes risks and tries to be something different.

But, at the same time, I have worries.  Those worries come from the fact that this movie looks to be going the complete opposite direction as the Superman movies.  They were super serious and gritty, while Suicide Squad appears to be taking a more fun approach, using bright colours and humour.  I can't help but think that they will take it to the extreme, just as Superman was the extreme in trying to be dark and real.

Oh well.  I shall find out soon enough.  Thursday night is coming quickly and I will remain optimistic until the final credits roll.  There have been a number of movies that have shocked me this summer, and I feel that Suicide Squad could be one of those.

So, all of this is to say that I haven't gone anywhere and am trying to tackle the anxiety that has made daily blog writing very difficult to do.  It doesn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon, so I may as well do what I can to work through it and get the words down anyways.