Jude Law – People Talking

Twofer Review – ‘Apollo 11’ and ‘Captain Marvel’ – Up and Down

Directed and Edited by Todd Douglas Miller
Soundtrack: Matt Morton

In an era in which we have seemingly unlimited options for content, and the only event “everybody” stops and looks at anymore is the Super Bowl, it can be difficult to:
A. have an appreciation for a truly shared cultural experience
and
B. think of a “documentary” as a must-see cinematic event.

Apollo 11, however, will make you a true believer.

This is a big, beautiful movie; as big as anything you’ll see on the big screen this year.

Rather than a traditional documentary with face-to-face interviews and a lot of experts explaining things, Apollo 11 is more of an art house experience, but make no mistake, it’s for everyone, not just a niche audience. Whether you’re a NASA nerd or a complete space novice, the power of the film is undeniable.

There’s not much else I can say in terms of the moon landing itself or the movie, but the score by Matt Morton is as nearly perfect as the rest of the film (and, as confirmed to me by a source, was performed on strictly Sixties period instruments, which is impressive).

You will laugh; you will cry; you will cheer.

If you see nothing else theatrically in 2019, go see Apollo 11.

Rating: ★★★★½ (out of five)

Directed by Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck
Written by Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck (story and screenplay), Geneva Robertson-Dworet (story and screenplay), and Nicole Perlman & Meg LaFauve (story)
Cast: Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan, Annette Bening, Clark Gregg, Jude Law, Akira Akbar, Azari Akbar, Mckenna Grace, London Fuller, Marilyn Brett, Stan Lee
Soundtrack: Pinar Toprak

It stands to reason that after twenty-one feature films since 2008 (and three per year since 2017) the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) would start to unravel at some point.

I haven’t seen every MCU film theatrically, but I have seen every single one in full. They’re not all great, but to this point they’ve all maintained a certain level of quality, be it through ambition, emotion, charm, or just being quirky.

Unfortunately, Captain Marvel is lacking in all of these areas.

Frankly, it’s a boring, predictable tonal mess that feels like a Frankenstein’s monster of a script, and it tries to skate by on some mild Nineties nostalgia that largely falls flat (REMEMBER BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO!?).

The one true highlight of the movie is some quality de-aging effects for Sam Jackson (who finally gets to have some fun in these movies).

Other than that, there’s just not a lot to grab onto. I like Brie Larson as an actress, I’ve seen her do quality work, but her attempt to be laid-back and cool here just comes off as lethargic; and she’s not the only quality performer who goes wasted (Jude Law and Ben Mendelsohn among them).

Overall, there’s nothing Captain Marvel does better than any MCU film beforehand, and for the first time ever in seeing this giant franchise I felt like the movie was just total a waste of time.

The worst sin, though, is that the biggest question the film asks goes unanswered. I could forgive a lot but to get to the end of a movie like this and not have that “Why?” answered is just too much.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Quick Thoughts – August Round-Up

Across 110th Street (1972)

Anyone who’s seen Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown is familiar with this title, as the Bobby Womack single of the same name (which appears on the soundtrack album but not in the actual movie?) plays at both the beginning and end of that film.

It gets lumped in with the Blaxploitation genre, but after seeing it, it’s clear that Across 110th Street doesn’t belong there. For one thing, the tone is too serious (there’s nothing really tongue-in-cheek about it), and there’s no strong, Black protagonist, because there’s no protagonist of any kind (we’ll come back to that).

Let’s back up for a second. Across 100th Street begins with the violent theft of a large sum of Italian mob money by three Black robbers. From there, it’s a race against time between the mobsters and the cops to find out who did it; the cops wanting justice for their gunned-down brethren, and the mob wanting to set an example to those who would try to steal from them.

This is where things get problematic for me, because the movie constantly cuts around between the three concerned parties (thieves, mobsters, cops), which is fine in theory, but in practice it doesn’t really allow you to connect with any character in particular, good, bad, or otherwise, and thus you never really connect with the movie as a whole.

This is not to say Across 110th Street is terrible. As well as having some entertaining moments, the movie addresses serious issues in a mature fashion, which is admirable. I just wasn’t expecting it to be so cold and flat from a stylistic standpoint. It’s one thing to go that route for a based-on-a-true-story movie (like Tora! Tora! Tora!), or a this-is-what-could-happen movie (like Contagion), but for a fictional police procedural I don’t think it’s the best idea.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

eXistenZ (1999)

If you made a cocktail out of Videodrome, The Matrix, and Inception, you’d have eXistenZ.

I was a bit nervous about seeing this one, given David Cronenberg’s infamy for gross-out material, but eXistenZ is surprisingly measured in the body horror department (even the “Chinese Restaurant” scene didn’t really bother me, although whether or not a lot of this stuff upsets you comes down to individual tastes and fears).

The movie takes a hard look at the concept of virtual reality, and, while it may not be an action movie, it feels appropriately dream-like (without question one of the movie’s strongest aspects). There’s also some commentary on videogames which gamers past and present will understand and appreciate.

Performance-wise, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law put in solid shifts, but I think I find the supporting roles more interesting (Ian Holm and definitely Willem Dafoe in particular).

Overall, eXistenZ may feel somewhat dated, give that it’s a late-90s vision of the future, but the way it questions our ability to unplug from the machine is as relevant now as ever. Kudos to David Cronenberg for that.

Rating: ★★★½

Red Mob aka Chtoby vyzhit (1993)

Information on this movie is sketchy at best, but if you understand Russian, you can enjoy the whole film on YouTube.

The boys at Vinegar Syndrome are putting together a Blu-ray release of Red Mob and I can’t wait for it to go on sale. It’s not on the same level of hidden gem as, say, Ninja Busters, but it is the right mix of incomprehensible and funny-bad that makes for a “magnum opus” of low-budget cinema (not to mention lots of guns and explosions).

I’m not going to bother to explain the plot, given that it took me until about forty minutes into the film to figure out who everyone was and what was going on, but I can tell you that it involves the Russian Mafia (obviously), weapons smuggling, former Soviet soldiers, kidnapping, and, if you can hold out til the end, some of the best helicopter flying I’ve ever seen committed to film.

One thing I know for sure about Red Mob is that it was shot in the former Soviet Union, maybe a couple of years after the Berlin Wall came down, and it makes use of a fairly wide variety of locations. The only one I recognized outright is what I assume to be Moscow, but I’m guessing they also filmed quite a bit in one or more of the Central Asian states.

Anyway, like I said, I can’t wait for the Blu-ray release. Definitely a bonkers kind of movie to be enjoyed with a group of friends.

Rating: ★★★½

(Update 05/26/17 – The Blu-ray is finally on sale: https://vinegarsyndrome.com/shop/red-mob-ltd/)

The Lost Boys (1987)

Before True Blood or Twilight or even Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there was The Lost Boys.

I can’t say with absolute certainty if it’s the first ever presentation of contemporary teenage vampires, but it seems to get the most credit as such. Regardless, it’s years ahead of its time from that standpoint

And yet, it’s also very much of its own time, not just in terms of music and fashion and all that (not to mention the first ever pairing of “The Two Coreys”), but because, for whatever reason, the 1980s were the heyday of the horror comedy (Gremlins and Ghost Busters come to mind), although there has been something of a resurgence of such films in the 2000s, but we’re not talking about that, we’re talking about Joel Schumacher’s The Lost Boys.

He takes a lot of crap for Batman & Robin, which is fair (at least he owns up to it and doesn’t point fingers elsewhere), but I disagree with the popular notion that Joel Schumacher is a “bad director.” In addition to Lost Boys, he’s also directed Falling Down and the very much underrated 8MM. as well as other successful projects, but again, we’re not talking about those; we’re talking about The Lost Boys here.

The movie is a fairly classic type of story: a family moves to a new place and discovers things are not all as they seem But, in addition, the look of the film still holds up pretty well (I appreciate how they handled “flying” on a budget), there’s some great set design, the cast is pretty solid all around, and, most importantly, the tone is such that you can seamlessly move between horror and comedy.

If you’ve never seen it, especially with Halloween season coming up, I definitely recommend this stylish flick.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Twofer Movie Review: ‘A Most Violent Year’ and ‘Black Sea’ – Danger Surrounds Us

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing two new movies this month, neither of which have gotten proper releases yet, but I believe they’re about to go wide this coming weekend (at least I hope so). Now, these two films are very different in most respects, but for me personally there are a few important parallels: A. two Academy Award-nominated/winning directors whose previous works I’ve never seen; B. two movies in which it’s crucial for me to explain what they are not in order to appreciate what they are; and C. I highly recommend both of them (and D. neither of them will likely do well with general audiences, unfortunately, but that’s why I’m here).

Neither of these films are perfect, although ‘A Most Violent Year’ definitely deserved more “awards season” buzz than it got (one Golden Globe Nomination for Jessica Chastain; zero other major nominations or wins), but they are both very strong, particularly within their respective genres.

A Most Violent Year

Written and Directed by J.C. Chandor
Cast: Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, David Oyelowo, Albert Brooks, Glenn Fleshler, Elyes Gabel, Alessandro Nivola, Daisy Tahan, Ashley Williams, Elizabeth Marvel, Robert Clohessy, David Margulies
Soundtrack: Alex Ebert

Right off the bat, I’ll tell you what ‘A Most Violent Year’ is not.

‘A Most Violent Year’, contrary to what you might glean from its trailer, is not a gangster film.

A gangster film sees a man start out as a low-level criminal and work his way up to a much higher position in organized crime, the stakes constantly escalating all the while, as the dark path he has chosen forever dominates his destiny.

‘A Most Violent Year’ is about a man trying desperately to hold onto not just his life, not just his family, and not just his business; it’s really about a man trying to maintain his honor under nearly impossible circumstances. It’s a movie for those of us who actually work hard to do things the right way, or at least not the criminal way.

At the beginning of the film, Oscar Isaac’s character is signing a contract to buy some waterfront property that would be most advantageous for his oil delivery business. The terms of this contract dictate that he must close on the property in thirty days, or he will forfeit both his sizable deposit and the land itself.

It may not sound like all that exciting a premise, but this contract is nonetheless what sets the plot in motion. I don’t want to say too much more because I don’t want to spoil the movie, but I will say that the drama in the film basically comes from watching how much gets piled onto our protagonist, and wondering how far he can bend without actually breaking, as he is surrounded by difficulties on almost all fronts.

Performance-wise, Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain are top-notch as the husband and wife team, while Albert Brooks provides his usual genius supporting work (a la ‘Drive‘, though much less sinister), and David Oyelowo is solid as well, although I wish he’d gone with a more neutral American accent (his “Noo Yawk” drawl needs some work). Also, I don’t know if it was an intentional casting decision or just happenstance, but see if you can spy David Margulies (the “Mayor of New York” from Ghostbusters I & II) somewhere in the film (spoiler alert: he looks older).

Cinematically, I got some pretty strong 1970s William Friedkin vibes (in particular ‘The French Connection‘ and Roy Scheider’s prologue in ‘Sorcerer‘), perhaps cross-pollinated with some early Michael Mann stuff (‘Thief‘, ‘Manhunter‘), which is a good thing. As an early 1980s New York City period piece, ‘A Most Violent Year’ should and does have a very classic look, and Alex Ebert’s haunting score fits perfectly with it.

Overall, ‘A Most Violent Year’, much like last year’s ‘A Most Wanted Man‘ (unrelated), is a most quiet movie, but that doesn’t mean it’s without thrills. If you like intelligent crime dramas, or are just tired of the usual action schlock, you should definitely go see it.

★★★★☆

Black Sea

Directed by Kevin Macdonald
Written by Dennis Kelly
Cast: Jude Law, Jodie Whittaker, Scoot McNairy, Tobias Menzies, Michael Smiley, David Threlfall, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Ben Mendelsohn, Bobby Schofield, Branwell Donaghey
Soundtrack: Ilan Eshkeri

Full Disclosure: I love submarine movies.

From the fantastical (‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea‘), to the realistic (‘The Hunt for Red October‘), to the classic (‘Run Silent, Run Deep‘), to the comedic (‘Down Periscope‘); if you tell me, “We’re watching a submarine movie,” I’m pretty much fully on board right then and there.

I think part of it may be because my grandfather actually served on a submarine in World War II, but for the most part it’s really because submarines, like military aircraft, just have an inherent “cool factor” about them (although I don’t think I’d ever want to serve on one, and it’s not because I’m claustrophobic). Like surface ships, trains, planes, and even spacecraft, a submarine makes a great setting for a movie, because the limited location provides built-in drama, which makes it perfect for tense thrillers like ‘Black Sea’.

Now, it’s not like we haven’t had our fair share of submarine flicks in the past twenty years, but they tend to be period pieces, whether based on true stories (‘K-19: The Widowmaker‘) or completely fantastical (‘Below‘). In fact, since ‘Crimson Tide‘ came out in 1995, I can’t think of a single [serious] theatrically-released submarine film that’s been contemporarily set, until now. This is one reason why I give ‘Black Sea’ a lot of credit, because at a time when it seems like everything is a remake, reboot, or re-imagining (or something based on a book), Kevin Macdonald gives us something we’ve actually not seen before, at least not for a very long time. Sure, the basic story is something familiar (hunting for lost treasure), but the way it’s executed is actually unique and interesting.

What’s also interesting is that ‘Black Sea’ is a joint British and Russian production, and I’m so glad that it is. One thing ‘Black Sea’ is not is an underwater slasher movie (‘Ten Little Indians‘ on a sub), despite what you may perceive from the trailer; it is also not an over-the-top action thriller that forces you to suspend disbelief, which it likely would have been had it been a typical American production). I mean, I’m no expert on submarines or underwater salvage, but in terms of the technical plot of the film, I found everything to be completely plausible. There are a few character inconsistencies here and there, but on the whole the movie is very tightly knit together, and the ensemble cast does a good job of getting you invested, so, when things get tense, you actually care. I don’t use the term “edge-of-your-seat” lightly, but, for me, ‘Black Sea’ definitely falls into that category.

Speaking of the cast, other than being a submarine movie, the biggest selling point for me in actually going to see ‘Black Sea’ was the chance to watch a bunch of familiar faces in an unusual setting (Full Disclosure: I’m something of an Anglophile). I mean, you’ve got Jude Law, who’s in everything, Scoot McNairy (‘Argo‘ and ‘Gone Girl‘), Ben Mendelsohn (‘The Dark Knight Rises‘ and ‘The Place Beyond the Pines’), Wright/Pegg/Frost alumni Michael Smiley and David Threlfall, and, on the Russian side, Grigoriy Dobrygin (‘A Most Wanted Man‘). Even people in bit parts stuck out to me; Tobias Menzies I know from the BBC spy series “Spooks” (and ‘Casino Royale‘, apparently), and Jodie Whittaker was in the amazing sci-fi horror comedy ‘Attack the Block‘ (which I highly recommend around Halloween, or even a week after).

Basically, this movie was a real treat for me in almost every way, but, if you like tense thrillers, or are a just a submarine junkie like me, then definitely go see it if you can. Just be prepared for a few thick British accents and some subtitles for the Russians; and if those are a problem for you, then you probably shouldn’t be reading this anyway.

★★★★☆