Chris Hemsworth – People Talking

New and Old Twofer – ‘Bad Times at the El Royale’ and Larry Cohen’s ‘Special Effects’ – A Bundle of Meh

Bad Times at the El Royale

Written and Directed by Drew Goddard
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Cailee Spaeny, Lewis Pullman, Chris Hemsworth, Manny Jacinto, Jim O’Heir, Alvina August, Nick Offerman, Mark O’Brien, Xavier Dolan
Soundtrack: Michael Giacchino

Bad Times at the El Royale is not the worst movie ever, nor would I even say, “It sucks.” However, it’s not nearly as clever as it thinks it is (or as most people seem to think it is).

The biggest and most glaring issue is that for a film that’s nearly two-and-a-half hours long, the amount of information you receive is borderline shockingly low, which I could abide if it was super-stylized (a la Mandy, or something more Tarantino-esque like Inglourious Basterds), but it’s really not. It’s more plot-driven than character-driven, and dare I say neither the characters nor the performances are all that special.

It’s a shame because I like Drew Goddard for his work on The Cabin in the Woods and The Martian, but something just didn’t quite jell here. Maybe trimming some of the fat to reduce the runtime and quicken the pace would have been an improvement unto itself, but I’m really just spit-balling here; who knows what would have worked?

Again, I didn’t hate it, and if you’re still really curious it might be worth a Redbox rental down the line, but that’s about as much of a recommendation as I can give it.

Rating: ★★½ (out of five)

Special Effects

Original Release Date: November 16, 1984
Written and Directed by Larry Cohen
Cast: Zoë Lund, Eric Bogosian, Brad Rijn, Kevin O’Connor, Bill Oland, H. Richard Greene, Steven Pudenz
Soundtrack: Michael Minard

In our [hopefully continuing] little series on the life and works of Larry Cohen, Special Effects has decidedly been the biggest disappointment.

Much like Bad Times at the El Royale, I didn’t hate it. It at least has the trademark Larry Cohen (and vintage New York City) energy to keep you going, but it suffers from a lack of a strong lead performance (or supporting performance for that matter), and a lack of just plain old verisimilitude. As talented a screenwriter as he is, and as much as I appreciate the influences from, say, Vertigo, there’s an uncanny valley effect to the story here that not even Cohen can overcome, and it’s difficult to not realize how insane and unrealistic it all is.

Again, it’s a shame, because obviously I like Larry Cohen, and I don’t think Zoë Lund and Eric Bogosian are untalented, but the film is a misfire, plain and simple.

Rating: ★★½ (out of five)

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 – ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ – Kiwi Fried Goodness

Directed by Taika Waititi
Written by Eric Pearson and Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost, based on the comics by Stan Lee & Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Hopkins, Benedict Cumberbatch, Taika Waititi (voice), Rachel House, Clancy Brown (voice), Tadanobu Asano, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Luke Hemsworth, Sam Neill, Cohen Holloway, Matt Damon
Soundtrack: Mark Mothersbaugh

To be honest, I’m a bit superhero-ed out right now. I don’t think I’ll be able to get up for Justice League, or Black Panther, but I’ve got just enough in the tank to be excited for this, because it’s a known fact that the Marvel Cinematic Universe benefits from getting a little wild from time to time.

Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man: Homecoming: all a bit nutty, a bit weird, and all wonderful (and all helmed by non-“name” directors, who Marvel came to terms with before shooting); and as I well know, if you really want to get your freak on, you pass things off to Taika Waititi.

Director of such films as What We Do in the Shadows, and the criminally underrated Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Taika Waititi knows how to provide his audience with a good, fun time, without making a complete farce of things (not unlike Edgar Wright, though they are definitely not the same; growing up on opposite sides of the globe will have that effect), and Thor: Ragnarok is no exception.

This is not to say that we have a perfect film on our hands (for one thing, I’m not sure it stands up entirely on its own, which I’m something of a stickler about), but it’s definitely worth the price of admission.

The strength of Thor: Ragnarok lies largely in its tone and its humor (shocker, I know), to the point that the action bits are probably the least interesting thing about the movie.

Of course, none of this would work without quality performances (including a bit of a scene-stealer from Waititi himself). Chris Hemsworth, if he wasn’t already, seems perfectly comfortable in his Thor suit; same for Tom Hiddleston as Loki; Cate Blanchett is clearly having a blast (and is darkly fetching); Idris Elba does fine with what little he has; Tessa Thompson makes for an interesting addition; Karl Urban brings a surprising amount of gravitas to what could easily be a throwaway role; Mark Ruffalo is Mark Ruffalo (in the same way that RDJ is RDJ); but the man himself, Jeff Goldblum, is truly the straw that stirs the drink (so much so that one of my disappointments is that he’s not in the movie more).

Thor: Ragnarok won’t work for everybody, I recognize that (I already said it wasn’t perfect); not everyone will jibe with its particular sense of humor, but, by-and-large, I think most people will experience this as the fun romp it is

After all, you don’t want to be taking all this comic book stuff too seriously now, do you?

Rating: ★★★★☆

P.S.
Of course there are stingers; why are you asking?

Twofer Movie Review: ‘Green Room’ and ‘The Huntsman: Winter’s War’ – Dark & Stormy

So, we’ve got two movies this weekend, one not quite yet going wide and the other going full spread; both look like they could use a little boost.

Green Room

Written and Directed by Jeremy Saulnier
Cast: Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole, Callum Turner, Mark Webber, Imogen Poots, Taylor Tunes, Macon Blair, Eric Edelstein, David W. Thompson, and Sir Patrick Stewart
Soundtrack: Brooke Blair and Will Blair

I know this movie’s really good because I already want to go see it again.

Let it be said that writer/directer Jeremy Saulnier likes what he knows and knows what he likes, namely hardcore punk, grisly violence, and ratcheting up tension.

This was true in his sophomore effort, ‘Blue Ruin‘, and it’s even more true for ‘Green Room’.

Everybody knows that horror is not exactly my bailiwick, but ‘Green Room’ is my kind of serious bloody thriller: no stupid jump-scares, no dumb CGI monsters, and no torture porn. It’s just a simple story about a punk band in the wrong place at the wrong time. As much as I enjoy big movies with big struggles (gotta save the earth, again), I also enjoy movies where small things become dramatic elements (like in ‘A Most Wanted Man‘, I never knew how important someone merely signing a piece of paper could feel). ‘Green Room’ revels in the small details. There are no waves of nameless, faceless drones; everything is personal.

Now, it’s not like we haven’t seen this kind of movie before (‘Assault on Precinct 13‘ comes to mind), but what makes ‘Green Room’ unique is the cultural setting (hardcore punk scene), and the performances, namely of one Sir Patrick Stewart as a neo-Nazi club owner. He has such presence in general whenever he appears on screen, but in this case he’s that villain you love to hate. I think he truly relished the role and it shines through in every frame he appears.

Order of the British Empire aside, I’d be remiss if I didn’t praise the efforts of our band of survivors, Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole, Callum Turner, and Imogen Poots. I’m not saying there’s anything Oscar-worthy happening here, but they all put in solid performances as, punk aesthetics aside, otherwise ordinary people in an extraordinary situation.

Ultimately, I like ‘Green Room’ because it’s a movie that punches above its weight class. It’s small and not too flashy, but it delivers big. Whether you’re into more slasher type horror or traditional Hitchcockian thrillers, or if you just like hardcore punk, you should definitely see it, although I bet it’ll make you think twice about stepping foot in a skinhead club ever again.

Rating: ★★★★☆

The Huntsman: Winter’s War

Directed by Cedric Nicolas-Troyan
Written by Evan Spiliotopoulos and Craig Mazin, based on characters created by Evan Daugherty
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt, Nick Frost, Rob Brydon, Sam Hazeldine, Sam Claflin, Ralph Ineson
Soundtrack: James Newton Howard

I’m not sure what’s up with all these fairy tale movies and TV shows the past few years, other than the usual trope of Hollywood selling literally anything people recognize (including but not limited to board games), but at least ‘Snow White and The Huntsman‘ tried to interject some original ideas. The biggest problem with that film, despite how great it looked (way better looking than that ridiculous ‘Hobbit’ trilogy), was it was pretty much just dark and brooding the entire time.

In comparison to its predecessor, ‘Winter’s War’ (which is both a prequel and a sequel; for good measure, I suppose) is bloodier, sexier, and, most importantly, has more humor. Most of the laughs come from the natural comedic chemistry of Rob Brydon and Nick Frost, but plenty of other characters have moments as well. This is not to say that ‘Winter’s War’ is a comedy, but it’s nice to have a chuckle once and a while to ease the tension (even Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ Trilogy had moments of levity for the audience). After all, this is by and large a general audience movie, not some kind of horror film.

Now, I’m not going to put ‘Winter’s War’ in the must-see category, but if you just feel like going to the movies sometime in the next month, it’s an acceptable choice, and even if you haven’t seen the prior film, I’m sure you’ll follow along just fine. It’s got a good cast, fairly state-of-the-art visuals, and provides enough entertainment to take a flyer on. Plus, it’s a rare sequel that trumps the first movie.

(I mean, seriously; when are Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt, and Jessica Chastain ever going to be in the same movie again?)

Rating: ★★★½