Dir. Peyton Reed
It seems like superhero movies can only get so big. After a while saving/destroying an entire city just doesn't do it anymore. That's one of the reasons Ant-Man, the final "Phase Two" Marvel movie before Civil War next year, is so refreshing: it literally scales everything back. Ant-Man's power is shrinking down to the size of an ant and the film is kind of the superhero version of Honey I Shrunk the Kids. The way director Peyton Reed (a self-professed hardcore Ant-Man fan) and his cinematographer Russell Carpenter captured the small scale "epic" action was unlike anything I've seen before, and it's fun and hilarious to boot!
The story boils down to more or less a standard heist film. Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) resigns from S.H.I.E.L.D. in 1989 after finding out they're trying to re-create his shrinking technology, which he believes is dangerous. In the present day, however, Pym's former protege Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) is close to finishing his own shrinking suit. To stop the somewhat mentally unstable Cross from possessing this "Yellowjacket" tech, Hank recruits a fresh-out-of-prison cat burglar Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) to help steal it before Cross can use it for his own evil agenda.
It's a simple plot, but what makes this movie work are the relationships between the characters. As usual, Marvel perfectly cast its actors: Michael Douglas brings an air of authority and class to the picture, and Rudd bounces off that with Spider-Man-esque quips. Also, there's two major father/daughter relationships at the core of the film that I found really worked well. First is Lang's young daughter Cassie, who's instantly likeable after a scene involving an "ugly" stuffed animal she gets for her birthday, providing extra stakes for Lang to turn "good" and also to survive. Then there's Pym and his daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lily), who trains Lang and is much more capable of using the Ant-Man suit. However, we learn that in the past Pym lost his wife after using it, which gives a logical and emotional reason why he won't put her in the same situation. I don't want to spoil anything, but all the plot threads come together by the finale, without any loose ends save for a couple hints at what the sequel(s) will entail.
Besides Guardians of the Galaxy, this may be the funniest MCU movie yet. Although a lot of fans (me included) felt defeated after Edgar Wright left the project, you can still feel his whip-smart fingerprints all over this movie. The dialogue is very sharp, especially regarding Lang's group of friends (played Michael Peña, T.I., and David Dastmalchain), who almost steal the show, surprisingly (their running gag involves the funniest product placement since Wayne's World). Plus the film does a great job of balancing both as a standalone origin story, while also nicely tying it into the larger Marvel universe.
Overall, Ant-Man is a ton of fun. Even if its overall story is cliche and the villain is a little 'meh,' the humor and amazing 'macro' special effects ensure there's never a dull moment. Although I'll remain forever curious what Edgar Wright would have done, I think Peyton Reed nails it. Ant-Man may not have the marquee value of an Iron Man or Spider-Man, but it isn't any less entertaining.
Rating: B+
Trainwreck
Dir. Judd Apatow
Amy Schumer is this summer's "it girl." Her sketch comedy program on Comedy Central was awarded a Peabody Award, she was named one of TIME Magazine's "100 Most Influential People," and she her face is seemingly plastered everywhere right now, usually adorned with countless pull quotes labeling her an inspiration for all women. As a fan of her show and stand-up, I was eagerly awaiting to see what she'd do with her first feature film, Trainwreck, which Schumer wrote and stars in, with Judd Apatow directing. I was hoping it would feature the same laugh-out-loud progressive and outrageous material that made Inside Amy Schumer such a hit, but Trainwreck was a huge disappointment for me. Cliched, overlong, and generally unfunny, this semi-autobiographical flick is definitely not the best showcase for Schumer, in my opinion.
The film follows a men's magazine writer, Amy (clever name, right?), who enjoys a life free of commitment - something her father (Colin Quinn) drilled into her head as a young girl, that "monogamy isn't realistic." But while writing about a charming and successful sports doctor, Aaron (Bill Hader), who works with famous athletes, Amy finds herself in a bit of a crisis as she starts to fall in love for the first time. As you can tell, much of the movie relies on you buying into their relationship together, and unfortunately I didn't buy it at all. Hader's character is just too well put-together to fall for Schumer's drunk mess of a character.
Besides the story I didn't quite buy, the worst sin this movie commits is that it's just not all that funny - at least to me (hey, comedy's subjective, so what do I know?). Even though it's 'Rated R,' and features a lot of crude sexual humor, Trainwreck feels like a softball in comparison to Inside Amy Schumer. At the end of the day, this is a pure and simple "Chick flick-ian," earnest romantic comedy without much more on its mind, not featuring the type of hard-hitting progressive stuff she regularly uses on her show (like this sketch about "rape culture"). There's also a ton of pointless celebrity cameos that feel forced (not to give any away, but towards the end of the film, a few notable people show up at an intervention for Bill Hader's character - making no sense within the narrative).
I don't know whether to mainly blame Apatow or Schumer for these issues, but you do get a bit of the same tired "man-child learning to grow up" schtick that's become Apatow's go-to structure, only the gender is reversed. I honestly think had Amy used one of the directors from her show this could have been a funnier, leaner movie (Apatow has always had a problem "trimming the fat," letting improv scenes linger well past their welcome). While not a total bust - it's not laughless and I like Schumer's intentions here - I can't say I enjoyed this movie, sadly to say. Trainwreck feels like Schumer reaching to be Woody Allen, while I don't think that kind of Hannah and Her Sisters drama/comedy works for her style.
Rating: C
The Gallows
Dir. Travis Cluff & Chris Lofing
When a found footage movie really commits to its internal logic, I find the experience really rewarding: Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, even the first Paranormal Activity all worked for me because they in some way felt real - that if you were there in that situation, that's what it would look like. The Gallows, however, literally makes no effort to logically adhere to the "found footage" format.
"Behind the camera" is Ryan Shoos, an arrogant football player who's recording his buddy Reese before a high school production of "The Gallows"; a show that twenty years prior resulted in the accidental death of a student. Ryan constantly berates Reese and mocks his involvement with the play, especially the fact that he's acting alongside his crush Pfeifer, who he's afraid to kiss in the final scene. Ryan and his cheerleader girlfriend Cassidy then convince Reese to destroy the set the night before the premiere, so he doesn't have to be embarrassed in front of everyone. They break into the school in the dead of night, destroy property, and then are subject to ghosts of high school productions-past.
These are the least likable characters I've seen in a film in a very long time, and at no point does the film try to give them some kind of arc or "lesson" to learn after basically being complete assholes. The movie tries to make us scared by putting these kids in direct danger, but I didn't care in the slightest because they were outright destructive bullies to begin with. It makes no sense to me why the screenwriters would make the main characters so unlikeable, and not attempt to redeem them in some way. The movie also makes no narrative sense whatsoever, and the mystery behind the hauntings, the film's final "reveal," was so mind-bogglingly stupid I couldn't help but facepalm.
The Gallows is boring, makes no sense whatsoever, lacks any real scares or tension, never goes anywhere, and at points made me physically angry. Besides a couple of the main kids showing decent "scared" acting, I can't think of a single good thing about this movie. This movie is complete garbage and I can't believe that people actually put time, effort, and money into it.
"Behind the camera" is Ryan Shoos, an arrogant football player who's recording his buddy Reese before a high school production of "The Gallows"; a show that twenty years prior resulted in the accidental death of a student. Ryan constantly berates Reese and mocks his involvement with the play, especially the fact that he's acting alongside his crush Pfeifer, who he's afraid to kiss in the final scene. Ryan and his cheerleader girlfriend Cassidy then convince Reese to destroy the set the night before the premiere, so he doesn't have to be embarrassed in front of everyone. They break into the school in the dead of night, destroy property, and then are subject to ghosts of high school productions-past.
These are the least likable characters I've seen in a film in a very long time, and at no point does the film try to give them some kind of arc or "lesson" to learn after basically being complete assholes. The movie tries to make us scared by putting these kids in direct danger, but I didn't care in the slightest because they were outright destructive bullies to begin with. It makes no sense to me why the screenwriters would make the main characters so unlikeable, and not attempt to redeem them in some way. The movie also makes no narrative sense whatsoever, and the mystery behind the hauntings, the film's final "reveal," was so mind-bogglingly stupid I couldn't help but facepalm.
The Gallows is boring, makes no sense whatsoever, lacks any real scares or tension, never goes anywhere, and at points made me physically angry. Besides a couple of the main kids showing decent "scared" acting, I can't think of a single good thing about this movie. This movie is complete garbage and I can't believe that people actually put time, effort, and money into it.
Rating: D-
Self/Less
Dir. Tarsem Singh
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Self/Less is the latest box office bomb from director Tarsem Singh, known for his gorgeous, almost avant guarde visuals (as seen in The Falls and The Cell). The film is about a dying business tycoon (Ben Kingsley) whose only hope is a radical medical procedure called "shedding," where your consciousness is transferred into a new, healthy body (which in this case, looks like Ryan Reynolds) - the premise feeling like a long lost Twilight Zone episode. While the film starts out intriguingly, it doesn't really go anywhere.
Strangely enough, for Tarsem this is pretty bland on a visual level, in fact nothing about it seems at all like a "Tarsem" movie (Self/Less has the same vanilla "sci-fi" aesthetic as The Adjustment Bureau). It's hard to tell exactly where it went wrong - the acting is pretty good, the story is ripe with questions of identity, consciousness, and ethics, and it holds together decently, but by the end I just didn't care. There were just one too many coincidences for me to be invested, and you can see the twists a mile away (I'm sorry, there's no way this hush-hush "shedding" company can be totally legit). Not horrible, not great, probably worth a view when it inevitably re-runs in the afternoon on FX.
Rating: C
Self/Less is the latest box office bomb from director Tarsem Singh, known for his gorgeous, almost avant guarde visuals (as seen in The Falls and The Cell). The film is about a dying business tycoon (Ben Kingsley) whose only hope is a radical medical procedure called "shedding," where your consciousness is transferred into a new, healthy body (which in this case, looks like Ryan Reynolds) - the premise feeling like a long lost Twilight Zone episode. While the film starts out intriguingly, it doesn't really go anywhere.
Strangely enough, for Tarsem this is pretty bland on a visual level, in fact nothing about it seems at all like a "Tarsem" movie (Self/Less has the same vanilla "sci-fi" aesthetic as The Adjustment Bureau). It's hard to tell exactly where it went wrong - the acting is pretty good, the story is ripe with questions of identity, consciousness, and ethics, and it holds together decently, but by the end I just didn't care. There were just one too many coincidences for me to be invested, and you can see the twists a mile away (I'm sorry, there's no way this hush-hush "shedding" company can be totally legit). Not horrible, not great, probably worth a view when it inevitably re-runs in the afternoon on FX.
Rating: C
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