Marco Beltrami – People Talking

Movie Review – ‘A Quiet Place’ – “He’ll rip your lungs out, Jim”

Directed by John Krasinski
Written by Bryan Woods & Scott Beck (story and screenplay), and John Krasinski (screenplay)
Cast: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Noah Jupe, Millicent Simmonds, Leon Russom
Soundtrack: Marco Beltrami

It’s not technically his inaugural feature (which is probably why it feels so self-assured), but, as far as the general public is concerned, A Quiet Place is John Krasinski’s directorial debut, and what a debut it is.

The horror genre, at least as far back as the 1950s, has often been rooted in gimmicks (cheap or otherwise), sometimes straight-up recycled, but in the case of A Quiet Place, more so sliced, diced, and sautéed. After all, this isn’t the first movie to feature monsters hunting by sound (and it probably won’t be the last), but A Quiet Place takes the necessity of silence to a new level.

I’ve said it before in regards to The Man From U.N.C.L.E that sometimes style can effectively become substance, which is fair to say of A Quiet Place, although that’s not to say it’s without some legitimate depth. The core story is really a family drama that you could port into a myriad of other scenarios, this one just happens to be a post-apocalypse with creepy sound hunters, but nonetheless there are actual themes and emotions beyond “SPOOKY MONSTERS SCARE ME”, which is pleasantly surprising.

As far as performances go, everybody’s on point to the point that it’d be hard to ask for much more given the material and the sparseness of the cast (it’s really just the one family for the whole movie). Everybody’s appropriately taking it seriously and the family dynamics in particular feel genuine, not to mention Krasinski and Blunt bring a natural chemistry from their real-life matrimony into their on-screen version.

Beyond that though, I’m happy to report the movie was shot on 35mm, and it does generally look pretty great. As far as digital photography has come in terms of daylight shooting, the night shoots still give it away, and in a film like this it absolutely makes a difference.

If I have any nitpicks, for one, I wish the studio would have kicked in more of a budget for the aliens, not that we need to see them more, but, I don’t know, I felt like, at least theoretically, they could have been done better; and second, there were a couple of moments where the inherent schlockyness of the premise shined through, and it felt out of character given everything else in the movie, but that’s about it.

It’s not earth-shattering by any stretch, but on the whole A Quiet Place is of a quality I wish we saw more of in contemporary genre films, and it’s certainly worthy of a theatrical experience.

So, go get some friends together, find yourself a nice, dark moviehouse, and, by all means, STFU.

Your life may depend on it.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Twofer Movie Review – ‘Only The Brave’ and ‘The Snowman’ – Fire and Ice

Ordinarily I can find some kind of connection when reviewing two films at once, but I’m at a loss here, other than these two having the same release date.

Only The Brave

Directed by Joseph Kosinski
Written by Ken Nolan and Eric Warren Singer, based on the GQ article “No Exit” by Sean Flynn
Cast: Josh Brolin, Miles Teller, Jeff Bridges, James Badge Dale, Taylor Kitsch, Jennifer Connelly, Andie MacDowell, Geoff Stults, Alex Russell, Thad Luckinbill, Ben Hardy, Scott Haze, Jake Picking, Ryan Jason Cook
Soundtrack: Joseph Trapanese

A few weeks ago I woodshedded a pair of “based on a true story” films and I was not eager to do the same thing again this week.

Fortunately, I don’t have to.

I hesitate to call it great, but Only The Brave is very good. A bit uneven perhaps, but it’s a fitting and deeply heartfelt tribute to a group of men who battled not flesh and blood, but rather the fierceness of nature itself.

In a word: wildfires.

If you’re unfamiliar with the world of wildfire firefighting, don’t worry, the movie gives you a pretty clear picture, so much so that I won’t even bother to provide a primer, but suffice it to say it’s not the sort of work for the faint of heart, to say nothing of the physical demands.

It sounds like the most obvious thing in the world, but Only The Brave has realism on its side. I don’t know all the true life facts, I know for sure there’s some timeline shifting, but, on the whole, you don’t get the impression that there’s a lot of Hollywood-ing going on, which is nice for this sort of movie; and, outside of a few dream sequences for Josh Brolin’s character, nothing is even shot in a way that would seem unrealistic.

Speaking of Josh Brolin, this movie has a great cast (including Jennifer Connelly, who’s still as captivating as ever, and James Badge Dale, who’s probably my favorite actor who’s not yet a household name), and they all do solid work, though because it’s a feature film and not a miniseries, not a lot of people get much to do (there are twenty guys on the hotshot crew alone, let alone the other supporting characters, so screen time is at a premium for just about everybody). It’s hard for me to be critical because maybe everyone is portraying their real-life counterpart perfectly, but if there’s one performance I found puzzling at times, it’s from Taylor Kitsch, but, again, I don’t know.

Given that I didn’t know the story going in, I’ll assume most people won’t know the story going in either, so I’ll leave that to be discovered, but it’s most certainly a story worth telling, and I think Only The Brave tells it well.

It may feel a bit by the numbers at times (I mean, Peter Berg has had a near-monopoly on this kind of film the past few years), but I’d say it’s a movie absolutely worth seeing theatrically.

Just make sure you bring some tissues.

Rating: ★★★★☆

The Snowman

Directed by Tomas Alfredson
Written by Peter Straughan, Hossein Amini, and Søren Sveistrup, based on the novel Snømannen by Jo Nesbø
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Val Kilmer, J.K. Simmons, Ronan Vibert, Toby Jones, Genevieve O’Reilly, James D’Arcy, Adrian Dunbar, Chloë Sevigny, Anne Reid, Jamie Michie, Alec Newman, Jamie Clayton
Soundtrack: Marco Beltrami

Boy, was this a disappointment.

The Snowman has pretty much all of the elements you need for a pulpy crime thriller: based on a novel (one book in an expansive series; if they were planning on a movie series, that ship has now sailed), a drunkard detective, a murderer with a gimmick, intrigue, flashbacks, and, perhaps most importantly, an A-list cast devoting themselves to B-level material (somebody even plays twins).

This could have been so-good-it’s-good, so-bad-it’s-good, or, at the very least, just some trashy fun, but the execution was totally lacking (and, if recent rumors are to be believed, so was 10-15% of the script).

Right off the bat, there’s a lethargy to this film that it never quite shakes, and I don’t know that it could be fixed purely with editing. I was never so bored that I completely checked out, but, make no mistake, this was a bit of a chore to watch.

In contrast to Only The Brave, The Snowman thoroughly wastes its tremendous cast. Honestly, there’s not one standout performance in the whole bunch, at least not in a good way. Val Kilmer has a strange role that’s made doubly stranger by some truly awful dubbing, which I have zero explanation for, but that’s about it.

None of this really matters, however, because, in the end, this movie isn’t worth seeing or talking about any further.

I questioned whether it would be worth full price, but it’s not even worth a matinee.

Shame.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Movie Review – ‘Logan’ – Who Wants To Live Forever

Alright, break’s over. Time to start reviewing new movies in a timely manner again (and, yes, the title of this review is another Queen reference).

Directed by James Mangold
Written by James Mangold (story and screenplay), Scott Frank (screenplay), and Michael Green (screenplay)
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Richard E. Grant, Eriq La Salle, Daniel Bernhardt
Soundtrack: Marco Beltrami

I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s been wearied by the fact that there have been eight X-Men films previous to Logan and a total of six of them have been Wolverine movies (regardless of whether or not they actually have “Wolverine” in the title), not to mention he’s got cameos in the other two (First Class and Apocalypse) that aren’t about him.

Frankly, I’ll be happy to see a future X-Men movie that has no Wolverine whatsoever (much like how I’m waiting for a Star Wars movie with no lightsabers).

However, there’s always been that one exceptional idea. You know the one I mean: “Well, if they actually did justice to the character by making an rated-R movie…”

So, when rumors began circulating that the next (and hopefully last) Wolverine movie was going to feature Old Man Logan, and that it might actually be rated-R, I got a little bit excited.

And I was right to feel that way.

It’s hard to quantify exactly what Logan is, because it works on so many levels, but it’s definitely more emotionally substantive than I was expecting (and I was expecting something fairly mature to begin with). Other than a based-on-a-true-story type war movie, I can’t remember the last thing I’ve seen that I could describe as fantastically violent and utterly beautiful at the same time, but Logan earns such a description.

Honestly though, the movie works as a mildly futuristic science fiction film, it works as a violent-as-all-get-out action movie (although, frankly, there might not be enough action to satisfy certain audiences), it works as something of a family drama, there are some western elements at play (not a surprise given writer/director James Mangold’s obvious love of that particular genre), and it works as a comic book movie (again, why this didn’t come out Valentine’s Day weekend, following in Fox’s own footsteps of Kingsman and Deadpool, is a mystery). I won’t claim to be able to recognize every wink and nod to all of the various source materials (plus I think this is largely an original story from Mangold), but I know they’re in there (there’s even one shot that’s straight out of Cop Land).

It would be all too easy for a movie attempting to accomplish so much to just devolve into utter garbage, but thankfully Logan is anchored by a number of good performances. Obviously Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart have been well-versed in their respective characters for many years, but I’d say they both do an admirable job of bringing something new to the table for this movie specifically. Also, I was impressed with Stephen Merchant in a very much outside-the-box role for him, and, it must be said, Dafne Keen is a young star on the rise. She can say so much without saying anything at all, and at certain points you can’t help but share in her child-like wonder (despite her darker side).

I guess if I were to sum up Logan as one particular thing, it would be a pleasant surprise, because I was not expecting this violent, R-rated mutant romp to be so heartfelt and beautiful in exploring themes of life and family.

Story-wise, I’m not sure exactly how well it will play with people totally unfamiliar with the characters, but it’s certainly more forgiving towards the uninitiated than, say, Rogue One. I actually went into Logan pretty fresh (no research for this one, surprisingly) and was able to pick up the story just fine as it went along (although I did leave with a few questions, but nothing central to the plot).

If I have one particular criticism of Logan, it’s that certain elements become predictable as you get further along into it (and also not every performance is on the same level), but that’s a small chink in the armor of what may very well go down as one of the year’s best.

It’s brutal, it’s beautiful, it’s got just enough levity when it needs it, and it’s a fitting last ride for an iconic actor in an iconic role.

Even for non-X-Men fans, I highly recommend it.

Go see Logan.

Rating: ★★★★½ (out of five)

P.S.
As usual, shout-out to Alamo Drafthouse for getting into the spirit of the thing, including this month’s “Old Man Logan” special cocktail (it’s strong).

Movie Review – ‘No Escape’ – Streets of Rage

Directed by John Erick Dowdle
Written by John Erick Dowdle & Drew Dowdle
Cast: Owen Wilson, Lake Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Sterling Jerins, Claire Geare, Sahajak Boonthanakit
Soundtrack: Marco Beltrami & Buck Sanders

I had a lot of questions about this movie going into it.

Would I be able to take Owen Wilson seriously?
Would the two little girls hold their own, or would they break the fourth wall?
Quite simply, would this be a legitimate action thriller, or an unintentional comedy fest (a la Taken 2)?

For the most part, No Escape exceeded my expectations.

The latest work from brothers John Erick and Drew Dowdle (Quarantine; As Above, So Below), No Escape is a harrowing couple of days in the life of Jack Dwyer (Owen Wilson), who moves his family from the good old U.S.A. to Unnamed South East Asian Country on the very day of a violent coup (No Escape was shot in Thailand, but most of the context clues point the setting to Cambodia; the movie has since been banned in both countries). Struggling to survive a city exploding with violence, Jack is faced with almost every terrible choice imaginable in an effort to save himself, his wife, and his two young daughters.

I have to hand it to Owen Wilson. He’s a little bit of his usual comedic self towards the beginning, but once the hammer drops and his character is in straight-up survival mode, he gives a very good performance; same for Lake Bell and the two little girls. I had little trouble believing this was a family trying to make it through an incredible life-and-death situation.

That said, I do have a few minor critiques of No Escape. For one thing, sometimes the visual style tries to get a little too cool for its own good, but this is far from a constant annoyance. Also, there’s a moment where the politics behind the coup are explained, which I don’t necessarily have a problem with, but the timing of it kind of interrupts the flow of the “survive” narrative; I guess it was supposed to be a twist, but I would have preferred it come closer to the beginning of the film, or not included at all. Lastly, there are some plot-related believability issues, especially in regards to Pierce Brosnan’s character, but, hey, it’s a movie, and it works for the most part; I’m not going to hammer it for that.

On the whole, No Escape was the most intense moviegoing experience I’ve had since I saw Roar (which is a movie about people surrounded by real lions). It’s not a work of art on the same level as say, Nightcrawler, but in this case I appreciated the simplicity of the story. I commend the Dowdle brothers for not only making such an effective and gripping film, but for maintaining a hard edge. This movie should be R-rated and it is. Kudos.

If you can handle the intensity, I’d say No Escape is definitely worth your time.

Rating: ★★★★☆