Carrie Coon – People Talking

Movie Review – ‘Widows’ – Windy City Heat

Directed by Steve McQueen
Written by Gillian Flynn & Steve McQueen, based on the television series created by Lynda La Plante
Cast: Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, Colin Farrell, Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, Jacki Weaver, Carrie Coon, Robert Duvall, Liam Neeson, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Jon Bernthal, Garret Dillahunt, Michael Harney, Lukas Haas, Matt Walsh, Adepero Oduye, Ann Mitchell, Kevin J. O’Connor
Soundtrack: Hans Zimmer

Dear Lord, is anyone (other than Kevin J. O’Connor) in this movie actually from Chicago?

It’s a very specific accent. It’s not like New York where anybody can just throw it on and be passable, you pretty much need to grab real Chicagoans to do it. I mean, if the movie took place in Chicago and everybody just had a neutral accent, I’d be fine with it, but the fact that some people do and some people (none of whom are portrayed by Americans) have incredibly hackneyed (borderline comedic, to be honest) Chi-Town accents (like why does Robert Duvall sound like Robert Duvall but his son played by Colin Farrell sounds like a cartoon villain?), and then Garret Dillahunt is doing his West Texas thing, what are we doing?

So, that’s one problem I have.

Shocking as it may be, I did not see 12 Years a Slave, or any other of his films, so I’m unfamiliar with Steve McQueen (the director, not the actor), but I did see Gone Girl (one of the best films of 2014), so I am familiar with the screenwriter Gillian Flynn. Suffice it to say, Widows is no Gone Girl (although it is better than The Girl on The Train, which is something), which is fine, but it falls in the long line of movies based on BBC miniseries that feel like truncated versions of miniseries (e.g. Edge of Darkness and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy).

Make no mistake, I’m not saying Widows is a “bad movie”. There’s a lot to like (Daniel Kaluuya in particular steals every scene he’s in and I’m a little upset he’s not in the movie more), but there’s also a lot that feels lazy or not quite entirely thought out. Perhaps most emblematic of this (other than the questionable accents) is the music. I like Hans Zimmer fine, but much of the score for Widows just feels like B-sides from The Dark Knight and Dunkirk. Also, there’s an effort to make some political and social commentary, some of which works in a matter-of-fact way, but most of it just feels clunky.

In the end, it’s entertainment, and it’s okay, but it’s nothing life-changing. You can wait til it’s at the Redbox or on Netflix.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Movie Review – ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ – The Gang’s All Here

Directed by Anthony Russo & Joe Russo

Written by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (screenplay), based on the comic book story by Jim Starlin, George Pérez, & Ron Lim, based on characters created by Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, and Jim Starlin

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba, Peter Dinklage, Benedict Wong, Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillan, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Chris Pratt, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Jacob Batalon, Isabella Amara, Florence Kasumba, William Hurt, Terry Notary, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Carrie Coon, Michael James Shaw

Soundtrack: Alan Silvestri

It all comes down to this.

(Until Ant-Man and the Wasp comes out in ten weeks, which I’m actually more hyped for, but whatever.)

Eighteen movies in ten years have all been building up to the conflict to end all conflicts (until the next one).

The Infinity War.

So, what do we got?

Well…that kind of depends on the question.

As far as its purpose, which is the joining together of multiple sub-franchises to form, more or less, a single, cohesive story, I think this film does an admirable job of hammering the puzzle pieces together, but it’s not seamless enough to transcend the limitations of adapting one medium to another.

To put it another way, there’s very little about Infinity War that’s bad on its own; pretty much every scene unto itself works just fine, but I don’t think it cuts together well. Frankly, I found the whole thing rather overwhelming (perhaps a second look would be worthwhile, but I’m not sure).

One big problem is that the audience is expected to carry too much into the movie (metaphorically speaking). I’ve seen every MCU film, I assume most people who are going opening weekend have as well, but most of the emotional payoffs in Infinity War rely on you to remember why they’re important, and, as good a memory as I have, I just don’t have that kind of RAM for this, and as such a lot of the emotion of the movie fell flat for me (not to mention there haven’t been many real consequences in the MCU to this point, so…yeah, I’ll just leave it there).

Second, and I know I’ll be in the minority here because it’s the point of all of this for a lot of people, but there’s too much mind-numbing action, which I don’t normally find myself saying about these films. I like action fine, I can even enjoy nonstop action when it’s done right, but let me ask you this:

If two CG characters are fighting each other, why does the camera need to shake so much?

One positive I will mention, because I didn’t hate this movie and want to end on a good note, I actually liked Thanos as a character. Sure, he’s a villain who must be stopped, but at least he has an ethos and isn’t just another bitter revenge dude.

Other than that, hardcore fans will probably eat this one up, but I’m not convinced it has that much staying power for general audiences. Check it out if you want, especially if you’re pot committed to the MCU, but don’t feel bad about seeing it at a discount.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

P.S.
Shoutout to Alamo/Mondo for the swag.

Movie Review – ‘The Post’ – Truth and Consequences

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Written by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer

Cast: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford, Bruce Greenwood, Matthew Rhys, Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, Jesse Plemons, David Cross, Zach Woods, Pat Healy, John Rue, Rick Holmes, Philip Casnoff, Jessie Mueller, Stark Sands, Michael Cyril Creighton, Will Denton, Deirdre Lovejoy, Jennifer Dundas, Austyn Johnson, Brent Langdon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Deborah Green, Gary Wilmes, Christopher Innvar, Justin Swain, Kenneth Tigar, David Aaron Baker, Gannon McHale, Dan Bucatinsky, David Costabile, Johanna Day, Annika Boras, Carolyn McCormick, Peter Van Wagner, Angus Hepburn, James Riordan, Kelly AuCoin, Cotter Smith, Ben Livingston, JaQwan J. Kelly, Shaun O’Hagan, Celeste Arias, Sonny Valicenti, Aaron Roman Weiner, Tom Bair, Mark Jacoby, Curzon Dobell, Neal Huff

Soundtrack: John Williams

Before Watergate.
Before Woodward and Bernstein.
There were The Pentagon Papers.
And thus began the rise of The Washington Post to national prominence, and the downfall of the presidency of one Richard Milhous Nixon.

I said this before when I reviewed Bridge of Spies, and I think it bears repeating. It’s become somewhat popular to hate on Steven Spielberg, and I get it (I mean, I’m about as excited to see Ready Player One as I am to get food poisoning, or cancer), but the fact remains, he’s still Steven Spielberg.

I’m not going to tell you that The Post is “Classic Spielberg”, reminiscent of his heyday in the Seventies and Eighties, but it does at least hearken back to his run in the early Aughts, which isn’t so bad (Catch Me If You Can, anyone?).

On its face, The Post isn’t anything particularly special. It’s nothing that hasn’t been done before, and none of the performances, even from the Oscar winners in the room, are really anything to write home about (though it is fun to see Bob and David in a Spielberg movie together). Yet, somehow, I’m left feeling satisfied, which leads me to conclude that film is greater than the sum of its parts, and I believe that is largely due to that wily old veteran director, Steven Spielberg (and his near-constant collaborator, John Williams; who’s getting up there, kids, so maybe savor this one while we still have them to savor).

For all of his softening and head-scratching decisions over the past fifteen years, the man still knows how to bring a script to life and make it pop, and he still knows where to throw in his signature touches (like those little one-ers you don’t really notice, but your brain does). Was he the absolute best choice to handle this particular material? Maybe not, but they certainly could have done a lot worse.

Speaking of the material, kudos to first-time screenwriter Liz Hannah, who was the initial rolling snowball of this avalanche, and executive producer and writer Josh Singer (who, unsurprisingly, held the same positions on Spotlight), for putting together yet another intricate and no doubt incredibly well-researched period journalism piece (to have a script with roughly fifty real-life people portrayed by credited actors in a two-hour movie just goes to show how deep the dive was). Much like Spotlight (and in contrast to All the President’s Men), The Post works whether you lived though the events or not.

However, I wouldn’t say The Post is all-in-all on the same level as Spotlight, which is to say I don’t think it’s Best Picture material, and the subtext of the film given the current climate is fairly obvious, but still, perhaps for reasons I can’t fully articulate, I have zero issue recommending it.

It’ll make you real depressed about the Vietnam War (but then what doesn’t?), but if you’re a fan of Spielberg, journalism, and/or the First Amendment, The Post‘ll be right up your alley.

Rating: ★★★★☆