Tag: Connie Nielsen

Movie Review – ‘Justice League’ – Avert Your Eyes

Directed by Zack Snyder
Written by Chris Terrio (story and screenplay), Joss Whedon (screenplay), and Zack Snyder (story)
Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, J.K. Simmons, Ciarán Hinds (voice), Amber Heard, Joe Morton, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Doutzen Kroes, Brooke Ence, Ann Ogbomo, Samantha Jo, Holt McCallany, Marc McClure
Soundtrack: Danny Elfman

Alternate title for this piece (or the movie): Why Can’t We Be [Super]friends?

I really shouldn’t even dignify this movie with anything resembling a full-length review, so I’ll try not to.

At no point in time did I ever have high hopes for this film, and in its wake I definitely don’t have high hopes for the DCEU as a whole.

Justice League is as big of a mess as Rogue One (if not more so).  The only difference for me personally is that I don’t have nearly as much emotional attachment to the property, so I’m not nearly as angry or disappointed, but I still have to call a turd a turd.

The biggest problem with Justice League is that it is approximately 4,657 movies in one (hyperbole intended).

It’s almost as if these characters should have starred in their own films before appearing all together.

You know?  Maybe build it up a little bit?

Why DC didn’t bite the bullet on this and instead attempted to microwave everything in order to “catch up” to Marvel is entirely beyond me.  I mean, despite being pilloried by the critics at nearly every turn, these movies are still somehow doing good business, couldn’t they have put in the effort to make them good, too?

Back to the subject at hand (though this is a franchise-wide issue), Justice League, in addition to having a myriad of elements (especially tones) that don’t quite fit together, has so many visuals that are just plain ugly to look at that I could hardly believe my eyes.  I may not be a film-making expert, but I do know that this was a two-hour movie that cost $300 million.  It should not look as bad as it does, and yet it does.

Now, I’ll admit, there were a few tiny bits and pieces here and there that I did find enjoyable about Justice League, but mostly I was either bored, or trying not to be sick.  Even if you’re somehow a DCEU completionist, this movie still isn’t worth your money to see theatrically.

It’s a mess.  An ugly, boring mess.

What more do I need to say?

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

P.S.
There are multiple stingers, because D.C. is now in full Marvel mode (they wish).

P.P.S.
Naturally, and as usual, thanks to Alamo Drafthouse for the cool glassware (which is better than the movie).


Movie Review – ‘Wonder Woman’ – What Do We Have Here?

Directed by Patty Jenkins
Written by Allan Heinberg (story and screenplay), Zack Snyder (story), and Jason Fuchs (story), based on the character “Wonder Woman” created by William Moulton Marston
Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen, Elena Anaya, David Thewlis, Lucy Davis, Danny Huston, Saïd Taghmaoui, Ewen Bremner, Eugene Brave Rock, Wolf Kahler, Ann Ogbomo, Eleanor Matsuura, Doutzen Kroes, Samantha Jo, Brooke Ence, Florence Kasumba, Emily Carey, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Lilly Aspell
Soundtrack: Rupert Gregson-Williams

Ever since Chris Nolan and company packed up shop after The Dark Night Rises in 2012, DC’s been having a rough go of it, to say the least.  Their attempt to compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe with an Extended Universe of their own has so far resulted in three films (Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, and Suicide Squad) that have largely failed to win over critics and moviegoers alike (though at least they haven’t been unprofitable).

However, despite this track record, I got the feeling that Wonder Woman could turn the tide, or at least stand against it, if only because it’s set so far in the past that the filmmakers could pretty much do whatever they want with it, without worrying too much about fitting it in with the rest of the Universe.  In other words, the question is not, “Could this be the best DCEU movie?”  That’s not difficult to imagine.  The question is: “Could Wonder Woman actually be a good movie relative to other good movies?”

Well, disappointingly, no.  Wonder Woman is every bit as bloated, confusing, and tonally dissonant as its three predecessors (in some ways perhaps more so).  The only real distinction is that it’s a bit nicer to look at.

I’m not joking.  There’s a whole bunch of great visual concepts in this film, and some award-worthy production design to back it all up, so in that regard you know there were some talented people who worked on this picture, but, unfortunately, I still found myself saying at the end of the first act “I haven’t connected with this yet; this is a problem,” and nothing much came afterward to change that assessment.

One of the most glaring issues, and it absolutely pains me to say so, is Wonder Woman herself, Gal Gadot.  There’s no question she’s a fine-looking woman, and I bet she’s a first class human being, but her acting shoulders are not broad enough to carry a movie the way she’s expected to here.  I’ve seen her do well in supporting roles (I love her in the Fast & Furious movies), but ultimately I think she’s been miscast, and her performance quite often took me out of the film.  It’s not entirely her fault, as the proliferation of bad dialogue (and/or poor acting) is not limited strictly to her character, but, as I said in my review of Superman: some call it corny, I call it earnest, but one reason why that movie works is because Christopher Reeve is a great actor whose performance makes you believe what you’re seeing.  No such luck with Wonder Woman.

Another major problem, at least for me, is the action.  There are times when sequences should be shot more naturalistic or more stylized (you know, one or the other), and this film tends to throw it all together with a lot of signature Zack Snyder SLOW DOWN-SPEED UP-REPEAT (which became a tired trope well before this movie).  This messes with the tone of the action scenes which in turn hurts the emotional resonance of the film (not to mention the CGI looks super janky at times; maybe if the movie wasn’t 141 minutes long they wouldn’t have had to stretch the effects budget quite so far).

Beyond that, it’s hard to put my finger on exactly why the film doesn’t work, and I don’t want to get into a DC vs. Marvel pissing contest here (I’m on record as historically being more of a DC guy anyway), but it seems fair to compare Wonder Woman to something like Thor, in that both movies have protagonists with mythological origins (and scenes with mythological exposition) who become fish-out-of-water.  Now, I’m not going to argue that Thor is an all-time great, but it is a solid movie, and it succeeds where Wonder Woman fails in reconciling some inherently “silly” elements with more grounded ones (though this issue is not exclusive to DC; The Amazing Spider-Man movies are just as unsuccessful in this regard).

Overall, Wonder Woman is a mix of good and bad ideas, and the result is something that looks appetizing but is ultimately unsatisfying.  I wanted to like it; I definitely didn’t hate it (like another recent blockbuster).  There’s some stuff that from a conceptual standpoint I love (the World War I settings in particular), and some of the supporting players are a bright spot, but as an entire movie, I can’t give it a passing grade; there just wasn’t enough entertainment.

Rating: ★★½ (out of five)

P.S.
No stingers or any other end credits sequences.