PRE-REVIEW: Batman V Superman - Will It Be Everything That I Have Been Dreading?

Movies like this one don't come along very often.  By saying that, I mean movies that I really don't want to see because I am sure that I will hate it, but at the same time I really want to see it because I am hoping that it will prove me wrong.  There was very little that I liked about Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, and the over bloated cast and run time of Batman V Superman makes me wonder just how coherent the story is going to be.  If we add on the fact that Warner Bros and DC Comics are years behind where Disney and Marvel are in terms of super hero shared universes, this film could be looking to cover too much distance to allow for some catch up.

With all of that in mind, and the fact that I have been having nightmares about watching this movie (this is not a joke or hyperbole.  I have been having literal nightmares.  The most recent one was a few nights ago when I was forced to watch this film), I have decided to write a review of it without having even seen it.  That's right, sight unseen, and a full review.

I will throw out a few disclaimers, however.  After I have seen the movie tonight, I will write another review tomorrow.  This means if I have to eat crow, I will gladly do it.  As I said earlier,  I am hoping to be proven wrong about this movie.  Secondly, I have read no reviews for Batman V Superman.  I have also read no synopsis for it and my only knowledge of the film is what I have seen in the trailers.  I will base my review on what I know of Snyder's film style, the direction that they seem to be taking with this universe from Man of Steel, and what I believe the studio will be attempting to gain from the launch of this film.

So, here goes nothing.  Let's see just how correct I will be with my crystal ball of scepticism.

What can I say that's positive about Batman V Superman?  Well, the fact that it is over and done with is about the best that I can do.  Sure it wasn't all bad, but the fact that I won't have to relieve this over bloated, CGIed beast ever again is the ray of sunlight that never was to be seen in an overly gloomy and grim movie.

When Christopher Nolan made the Dark Knight trilogy, he focused it on being real world and dark.  It was absolutely perfect, considering the fact that Batman exists as an ordinary man (not needing to come from a world where gamma radiation causes appendages to become all elastic and spiders bite people giving them super cooties).  Thus, the real world application works.  He is also a tormented man, and less of a super hero.  He is a vigilante, which means the dark tone allows the character to toss and turn over the lines that should and shouldn't be crossed.  Just because it worked in that wildly successful franchise does not mean that it is the solution for everything.  It worked because it was true to its narrative, and that is why Batman V Superman fails.

There is nothing here that is true to its narrative, because it fails to have a proper and streamlined story.  At its barebones, there is something here that could have resembled a quality film.  The opposites that are the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel lead to some fascinating quandaries, but the scope of that is lost in the screenplay which wants to be nothing more than a spring board for an entire universe of franchises instead of focusing on the title characters.  The script is messy and jumps around way too often, a bi-product of trying to get people all the way down the list to Aquaman in there.

The really frustrating part of this experience is that Snyder seems to have learned very little from the criticisms that came from Man of Steel.  What that movie missed was heart and personality.  It chose to use CGI massiveness over character.  It also kept actors from being energetic.  How the hell do you have Amy Adams in a movie and her performance come across as bland?  That is a question I will be asking myself for many years, as I never thought that this enchanting talent could ever be forgettable in a role.  Lastly, Man of Steel opted for having a forty minute battle at the end that wasn't used to tell any story, but merely existed to allow buildings to get smashed in enormous ways (which would have killed millions of people in the process, something that Snyder and Superman seemed oblivious to).   'Bigger is better' seemed to be the motto of that film.

Well, here we are almost three years later and very little has changed.  Jesse Eisenberg attempts to bring some personality into his role, but there are few people beyond him that appear to be allowed to attempt such treachery to what should be such a somber film.  Remember, it is all about being gritty and dark.  This leads to a lot of soap opera-ish looks from our on screen talent as they stand under dim lighting.

The special effects do look quite nice at times, but the problem here is that we are exposed to them for way too long.  Snyder once again decides that there must be an exorbitant amount of action, and that it must be big and destructive.  Once again (boy, I am getting tired of saying that), it looses its appeal and effectiveness.  The key is that you don't want sensory adaptation to set in on the audience. You want things to last just long enough to pack the punch and then put them somewhere else.  With Batman V Superman, eventually numbness sets in and each sequence begins feeling like the last.  Buildings are destroyed, civilians must be killed, and there is a complete lack of awareness for the fact that story trumps action.

I bash on it, yes, but it is not the worst movie of the year.  It is simply a movie that is trying to be all things to all people to set up all franchises to make a lot of money.  It is complete studio meddling here, much like what killed Spiderman last go around.  If they kept it as just a story about the two title characters, it would have been a lot more palatable.  You may as well just walk out on the ending.  Spoiler alert, it only functions for the purposes of making more movies, not for satiating the audience.  Oh, and Wonder Woman is barely in the movie.

Rating - 1.5 out of 4 Stars

REVIEW: The Little Prince

I have fond memories of watching the television show of The Little Prince when I was a child.  There is not a lot that I remember about it, other than the fact that it was something that I put time aside for and enjoyed greatly.  It was this childhood energy that got me very excited the first time I saw the trailer for the feature film, and it was the same energy that I took into the theatre with me.  The big question was, could it recreate the magic?

The movie tells the story of The Little Girl (voiced by Mackenzie Foy) who is applying for the Werth Academy, a school that will be the stepping stone to a productive future.  Her mother (Rachel McAdams) will do anything and everything possible to see that it happens.  This includes relocating herself and her daughter to a drab neighbourhood and planning the studious activities that the little girl must spend her summer vacation undertaking.  Even the best laid plans can go awry, as their new house is situated next to that of The Aviator (Jeff Bridges).

The world of The Little Girl is one of structure and routine, the paths and roads that lead to the life of the adult, which is represented by her mother and the dronish lifestyle of the people in her neighbourhood.  Everything is straightedges and muted colours, a drab view on the lack of imagination and fun that can overtake life as one ages.  The house of The Aviator, however, has curves and colours, with many vibrant and happy birds living in the overgrowth of his backyard.

It is the story telling of The Aviator who introduces us to The Little Prince, a story of an encounter that he has written down on paper and shares with The Little Girl.  As the story is told, the movie transforms from digital animation to stop motion that is done in a style to make it look like the pages of the story come alive.  It is incredibly effective in creating that feel, and the narration by Bridges brings me to a spot of sitting on the floor of the library as a child, sitting on the carpeted floor during story time.

This film is incredibly philosophical.  It is not just a story of keeping hold of imagination and joy through the transition to adulthood, but deals with different perspectives that have been laid out by her parents.  It looks at the confinement of the super-structured life that is imposed upon her by her mother, and the confined view of the world that is represented through the symbol of snow globes that she receives yearly from her father for her birthday.  The movie also looks at dealing with loss, dealing with true love, and the importance of friendship.

The strengths of The Little Prince are most notably in the voice acting as well as the quality of the two animation styles.  The combination of the two, in conjunction with the great script from Irena Brignull and Bob Persichetti, make it a heartfelt journey that leaves a lot of introspection for the mature viewer.  The younger audience may still enjoy it, but this film is less about the visceral element that is needed to keep their attention.

Rating - 3.5 out of 4 stars

REVIEW: 10 Cloverfield Lane

For those movie freaks who are hoping for a direct sequel to 2008's Cloverfield, you could be disappointed.  Producer J.J. Abrams has long stated a lack of ambition for creating sequels, but it does not take long in watching 10 Cloverfield Lane to understand why it is that he has returned to this universe.  Instead of working immediately off of the events of the first film, this movie is less of a sibling and more of a doppelgänger.  Well, that may be a little misleading in of itself.  The point is that it is not related, but there are similarities.

The film takes place in an underground shelter that has been created by Howard (John Goodman), who has taken in Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Emmett (John Gallagher, Jr.) as the world seems to have come to a brutal end.  There is not a great deal that is explained about Howard, and it is clear right from the start that we should not have the most trust for the man.

The weight of the unease is put on the shoulders of Goodman, who sadly has never been nominated for an Oscar.  You may think that I am silly for putting John Goodman and Oscar in the same sentence, but look far past his films like King Ralph and The Flintstones.   His career in film is full of supporting roles that have been more than worthy of the nod, and this movie is the perfect showcase of that talent.  He brings the tension brilliantly in a way that keeps the audience from never feeling completely settled, expecting that anything could happen at any point in time.

This suspense is played on well through the directing of Dan Trachtenberg.  This is his directorial debut with feature films, but he handles himself well.  There is a real trick to this movie, and that is to make a reveal of aliens far from silly.  It's not a spoiler that there are aliens in the film, it has Cloverfield in the title.  It would be a spoiler if I said there were no aliens in the movie.  It would also be a lie.  It is a tricky thing to transition from the grounded portions of the script to the extra terrestrial, but it is managed well, and the viewer should not be knocked from the flow of the film.

Ultimately it is a movie that focuses on isolation and claustrophobia, unanswered questions and not knowing who to trust.  In a way the feelings that resonated with me were similar to John Carpenter's The Thing, in that there was very little throughout the film that I felt I could believe.  This was what made the experience of 10 Cloverfield Lane a thrilling and entertaining journey, finding out the dangers in the dark at the same time as the main character and bewaring the motivations of Howard at all times.

Rating - 3.5 out of 4 stars

REVIEW: Eddie The Eagle

Eddie the Eagle took centre stage at the Calgary Olympics in 1988, not to fly the farthest, but to merely compete.  And that, in a nutshell, is the same feeling that one could get from the recently released biopic, Eddie the Eagle.  This film, directed by Dexter Flesher, is no champion amongst other sports films.  It bobs and weaves to all of the familiar beats, with a script that fits in almost every cliche of the genre.

However, it did leave me smiling at the end.  We get a very honest performance from Taron Egerton, whom,  I am assuming from his ripped physique in Kinsmen: The Secret Service, added on a few pounds to get the proper shape of the title character.  Egerton works for nuance with the character, and it goes over well for the most part.  Unfortunately, it is the script that keeps a lot of what Egerton is doing at the surface level.  There are very few glimpses of anything more than an unending spring of optimism, and, especially given the skills of Egerton, making Edwards feel more realistic would have gone a long way in creating a protagonist that there could be more connection with.

While the movie unfolds, there are many moments where it is easily spotted that reality must have been deviated from as it is over reliant on cliches of sports dramas.  One of the most atrocious offenders is the over-done person who is out of the game and doesn't want any part of it, only to be sucked in by the personality and the ambition of the hero.  This role is played by Hugh Jackman, an alcoholic former ski jumper who wants nothing to do with the sport, and especially nothing to do with training Eddie Edwards.  But, wouldn't you know, he is finally brought out of retirement to help the underdog pursue his dreams, the whole while battling his own inner demons.

Along the way, there are plenty of doubters and haters that Edwards has to deal with.  These are the most cartoonish elements of the film, as any antagonistic character is as thin as a playing card and as ridiculous as the rendering of the king or queen that inhabits it.  There are plenty of straight edged suits and snide ski jumpers who will mock Edwards and attempt to discourage him along the way.  I understand that you need some tension in a film, but let's not have it come from the sports film equivalent of a Bond villain in a ski jumping unitard.

It can be a mess at times that you swear you have seen many times before.  And you probably have.  Luckily there is the fun and vibrant score from Matthew Margeson.  It focuses on using instrumental elements from the 1980s while still having a modern touch to it.  It is probably the most unrestrained aspect of the movie, and does well to add to those moments when we are to cheer for The Eagle.

I did mention previously that it left me smiling at the end, but the journey to get there was not a smooth one.  There was a lot of fractured narrative that got spoiled by the script just blazing along to portray a typical underdog story with everything that has been used in the past.  The script, and the director's adherence to it, feels like the ultimate issue in Eddie the Eagle.  Cliche can work in a sports film, as we saw in Creed.  There just needs to be a personalized energy to it, and Eddie the Eagle had little of that.

Rating - 2 out of 4 stars

REVIEW: The Witch

Be ye willing to lend ear to old English?  I pray thee, that thine do be just and willing to do so, so that ye shall harvest thine fruit of enchantment and fear from The Witch.  I am rubbish at pretending to have the skills to use a dated tongue, but the scriptwriter for The Witch (Robert Eggers, who also directed it) nails it perfectly.  I bring up the dialogue style because I know that it has been the source of some confusion for some movie goers.  It takes an attentive ear to follow the conversations in the film, and it takes an equal amount of patience.  However, if you are able and willing to work through that you are in for the year's best psychological horror film so far.

It is easy to give it that praise based off of two reasons.  Reason the first, there have been few decent movies hitting the theatres so far in 2016.  Reason the second, it is a really good horror flick.  Based in the 1600's, it is about a family that gets exiled from their community after the father has been accused of heresy.

The location of the film is around the farm that they create, roughly a day's ride from the village.  They live in isolation, surrounded by the dark woods.  It is the perfect place for the imagination to take you for walks through the dark creations of the mind.  Robert Eggers makes the most of the stunning isolation, turning it into an incubator for the suspicions and desires of the characters in the film.  With this being Eggers' first feature film, he shows an understanding of how to transpose the vision he has onto the screen, making great use of pauses in the film, cinematography, dialogue, and music to create the tension.

The Witch is a definitive slow burn horror.  That is not me saying that it is boring or a slog.  Not by any means am I inferring that.  It is a captivating tale that focuses on the religious leanings of the family and how superstition about witchcraft is granted birth after some very serious instances happen.  Eggers uses wonderful pacing to unravel the tale in which a secluded family begins turning on each other over stresses from catastrophe.

Yes, I am being vague about the plot points of this film, but I think it is best if there is very little known going into it.  It is all about how it develops and unfolds that feeds the beast of intrigue and suspense.  Some things are best experienced first hand.

It would be impossible to write about this review and not to mention the impressive performance for the feature film debuting actress Anya Taylor-Joy.  She leads the charge as the main character, the teenage daughter Thomasin, whom the majority of the story revolves around.  Anya delivers a well rounded performance that keeps the audience invested emotionally in the tale.  She shows through her skills that she will be a talent that is going to be around in films for a long time to come.

The one negative that I can give about this movie is that perhaps it could have ended a few minutes earlier.  This is not a comment on the run time, but more about what Eggers chooses to expose in the final moments of the film.  Some things are best left to the imagination, and a little too much gets exposed when the rest of the film is a lot more cryptic.  I was left with a similar feeling as when I saw The Last Exorcism, a great film that built a lot on mystery and doubt only to show the answer to all of the questions in the final moments.

Let that criticism not be enough to keep you from seeing the film.  It is just something that took away the whooshing of the wind in my sails and killed the adrenaline that had been built up over the prior hour and an half.  This is a must see for horror fans, but also serves as a good gate-way into the genre.  It is a wonderful microcosm of human nature's need to pin reason the the unexplained and the division that can quickly appear when despair is rampant.

Rating - 3.5 out of 4 stars

REVIEW: Deadpool

Not another super hero film.  Sigh.  Will it actually be a movie, or is it just an origin story in disguise to vainly try and set up a franchise?  One again, sigh.

With the glut of comic book movies that stalk the halls and screens of your local theatre, it is easy to be hesitant about any new offerings that are (for lack of a better word and also lack of a handy thesaurus) offered up from within the genre.  It is a realm that Disney and Marvel studios have owned since Iron Man came out and paved the way for the shared universe with his Avengers cohorts.  It is also a realm that has seen some dry and dusty films from other studios attempting to create the same magic.  The financial returns are not as big as they were in 2012 when Avengers first showed the true dollar value of super hero films.

Comic book movies are a dime a dozen right now, and its only going to get worse as studios have deluded themselves in believing that this trend will continue for at least the next four years.  It is near impossible to stand out among the generic looking films, each trying to be bigger and more action packed than the next.  But, sometimes there is hope.  Sometimes a movie is brave enough to shun convention and be something different.

Take Guardians of the Galaxy as an example.  It was a time when comic book movies needed to be grounded in real life and everything needed to be dark and serious.  Along comes a movie that injects natural flowing humour along with vibrant colours and it does remarkably well.  The unconventional was shown to be something that audiences would accept.

A year and a half later (and a lot of rambling on my part), and we have Deadpool.  Not only does it try and be a bit different than the rest, but it goes full on down the rabbit hole by shunning the idea that all comic book movies need to be PG-13.  A full on R rating is what we have here, and the movie plays with those extended boundaries allotted to it right off the bat.  This is not the film to take your children to see.  Also, it is not the film to see if you hate the idea of gratuitous violence and crude humour.

If, like me, you find those things acceptable in their proper context, then welcome to the comic book movie that was catered to you and me, my friend.  The first thing you will notice about this film (and when I say 'first thing,' I mean right from the opening credits) is that it has a unique voice and tone to it.  It knows that to survive in the land of comic book giants you need to be true to the character, and this film's entire flow is woven through the core ethos of Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds).

Debuting director Tim Miller shows a complete understanding that when you have a very unique character at your disposal, it helps to cater everything at your disposal to reflect that character.  Wilson is a wise cracking and sarcastic person who breaks the fourth wall with the audience in numerous ways, and the film is styled off of that personality.  I can think of numerous films that have tonal issues where stylized elements are implemented for the mere sake of using them, but here there is nothing out of place.  It all works well with the anti-hero that is Deadpool.

The performance of Reynolds here is terrific.  For those who bemoaned him getting the role based off of the shoddy movie that was Green Lantern, you need not worry.  There were many issues with Green Lantern, and none of them had to do with Ryan Reynolds.  He was in a role that didn't let him shine properly, which is something that he gets to do as Wade Wilson.  His love interest in the film is played by Morena Baccarin, who gives a fiery and strong performance as Vanessa.  Added to the mix is what would normally be considered the comedic relief (although in a film that has comedy layered throughout, it is just extra icing on a cake that makes it all the more delicious and fattening) with Wilson's friend Weasel, who is played by T.J. Miller in a very memorable performance.

If there is one qualm that I had with the film, and it is a minor one, it would be that perhaps the film was a little too self referential and fourth wall breaking.  As with 22 Jump Street, it does well to add humour and freshness, but almost leans on the gag a little too often which softens the impact of it.  Take that for what you will, but remember that it is only a mild issue that I had.

Overall it triumphs as a film that has a great sense of tone, awareness, and attention to pacing.  It speeds along at a good clip, using its run time efficiently.  It also never over plays the action elements, which allows them to keep from becoming too stale and loosing their impact.  It shows us that there may be a new, hot director on the scene in Tim Miller, and it reminds us of what Ryan Reynolds is capable of in the right role.

Rating - 3 out of 4 stars

REVIEW: Kung Fury

Trapped in the mind of every cinema-freak man child of the 1980s movie scene is a kaleidoscope of tropes, scenes, and sequences that typified the decade but never dared to pair along side one another in a single film.  Well the impossible has now come to life in David Sandberg's Kickstarter funded short film, Kung Fury.  It may only clock in at half an hour, but it is more homage packed and crammed full of action than anything from the library of Chuck Norris.  That's right, I went there.

Sandberg stars in the film as a cop who has been imbued with ancient Kung Fu powers after being simultaneously struck by lightning and bitten by a cobra.  He fulfills the long held prophecy as the one who will bring the most awesome techniques of the martial art into form, and the mean streets of Miami are all the safer because of it.  He must deal with having a new partner as well as travelling too far back in time, to an era where raptors shoot lasers out of their eyes, to conquer the biggest threat to both Kung Fu and society.

While the film is a complete joke, it is a joke with terrific energy and a great example on the micro scale of correct story telling.  The whole thing is a gimmick, and the smartest side of Sandberg comes out in never playing on one gag for two long and maximizing the script for the half hour run time.  There was a hope that it would be created into a feature film if it had gathered one million dollars from its Kickstarter campaign, but I think missing that mark was to its benefit.  Keep the jokes and references quick, keep them concise, and then cram the audience in a Lamborghini Countach and launch us towards the next one.

It is this precision that not only makes the film keep from getting stale, but makes it watchable.  After the first few gags, while I did most hearty a chuckle, I wondered if it was possible for it to keep it up for a half hour without me getting bored.  Most definitely it does, is the answer.  Heads explode, Thor wields awesome pectorals, and vikings ride giant wolves while carrying mini-guns.

There is also a charisma to the performance of Sandberg's that keeps it interesting.  He plays a cop that is a loose cannon and is too cool for school, talking in the menacing monotone voice that was popularized by Clint Eastwood.  It's not particularly easy to mimic that style and still have personality.  Just look as far as Adam Sandler's performance in The Ridiculous 6 to see how easy it is to cock up such a style and make it boring as hell.

If you don't lay in bed at night dreaming of all the cliches of 1980s cinema, mostly the love for cop movies and martial arts films, then there is a decent chance that you may ask what the hell was so special about Kung Fury.  It is probably best to just take a pass on it, if that sounds like you.  However, if the trailer posted below revs your engine to the redline of excitement, then get off your ass and check out the movie.  I promise that you won't be disappointed.

Rating - 3.5 out of 4 stars