Beasts of No Nation

Beasts of No Nation, the latest film from visionary director and writer Cary Joji Fukunaga is a gritty, intense, and tragic movie with absolutely incredible performances. It's an ambitious war film that takes you into the heart of the conflict one boy deals with everyday. It's one of the best films I've seen all year and because of that I give Beasts of No Nation five buckets of Killer Korn.













Right up front I have to say this, if Beasts of No Nation is the reason why director Cary Joji Fukunaga had nothing to do with season two of True Detective (he directed every episode of season one) then all is forgiven. This movie is a powerhouse of a production. It's scope and breadth is impressive and it's intimacy is almost embarrassing. It feels like you're listening in on conversations you shouldn't know anything about. In my opinion Nation is on par with other war movies like Platoon, Apocalypse Now, and Full Metal Jacket. Cary shows how True Detective was no fluke and why season two was so horrible. This man is a talented director and I can only imagine how amazing Detective season 2 would have been had Cary been behind the camera. Based on the book of the same name by author Uzodimna Iweala, Nation tells the harrowing and heartbreaking tale of Agu, played by the amazing newcomer Abraham Attah, a little boy from an unnamed African village. His family is split due to the war heading their way. The village elders chose to send the women and children away while those who call themselves men would stay and fight, defend their land.

Nation is Attah's first movie and you would never know it, he's that convincing. When his father and brothers are murdered by the government backed military, Agu escapes into the woods. He's found by a platoon of the rebel forces of the NRC under the command of the Commandant played by the man himself, Idris Elba. He is in charge of an army comprised of little boys armed with AK-47's and other deadly armament who stay high on different kinds of drugs. They shoot where the Commandant says shoot and they kill who they are told to kill and they do this with absolutely no remorse. Cary downplays the violence as much as possible with this kind of story but there is one scene that made me incredibly uncomfortable. It's when Agu kills his first person. The man is clearly innocent but Agu is ordered to murder him and the look on his face as the blood splatters on the camera lens is unforgettable and disturbing.

Cary never details the heart of the conflict because that shit really isn't important. Knowing why there is a war isn't going to help you relate to or understand Agu better, it's his journey that's more important than anything else. You hope one day he'll find his mother and younger sister again but everyday he carries his weapon you realize he's getting further and further away from that heartwarming reunion. The logistics of Nation are almost impossible to comprehend. Getting such realistic performances from these children couldn't have been easy and staging the battles even more difficult I imagine. Now I already mentioned Cary was the writer and director of Nation but the man pulled triple duty as he was the cinematographer as well. This allowed him to get every shot exactly how he wanted it and every shot was beautiful. Scored by Dan Romer-who kept the music to a minimum-Nation's score is ethereal and breathy which represents the innocence of the corrupted youth. It's a job perfectly executed. Everyday we wake and are led to believe that we are here on this earth for a reason, that we have a purpose, but it's a film like Nation that can make you question all of that. The brutality of war is something most of us will never know, it will never touch us and we should be thankful for that. I'll see you at the theater.

The Martian

The Martian, the latest film from accomplished director Ridley Scott is a film best described as a satisfying meal. It's not an over the top emotional rollercoaster it could have been nor is it a sci-fi film that is absent of heart. It's a smart, engaging, and entertaining film and because of that I give The Martian four buckets of Killer Korn.














Based on the bestselling novel by Andy Weir, it appears Ridley Scott has another sci-fi hit on his hands. The Martian is the kind of movie that satisfies on every level. The storytelling is well done and not dumbed down at all. It starts off fast and gives the impression that it could burn itself out. With Ridley at the helm however, the film finds a nice steady pace and what could have been an "I'm fucked" scenario turns out to be just the opposite. For someone stranded on a planet after being considered dead and millions of miles from Earth, The Martian took the approach to find the humor of the moment and embrace the science. In a world where people are more and more turning away from science, The Martian explains how science can save your life.

Matt Damon stars as the botanist/martian Mark Watney and the casting is brilliant because Matt plays Mark with a cool, dry, almost detached of emotion performance. I would assume much like any scientist who is confronted with a difficult situation, they don't fall to their knees and wonder why them and instead they try to solve the problem. Matt Damon does that better than anyone in the business today. Starring alongside Matt is Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Benedict Wong, Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. This is an amazingly talented cast and there isn't a weak performance from anyone. There is a practical realism to this movie that is wonderfully detailed due to the politics of trying to get Mark Watney home and trying to keep him alive until he can be rescued. The push to get him strains both the people that are working to back to earth and the equipment. Corners are cut and mishaps happen because space is unpredictable and both wondrous and brutal from one second to the next.

Aesthetically The Martian is a beautiful movie to look at which is usually the case with a Ridley Scott production. It's been that way since Alien blew our minds back in 1979 and that doesn't look like that's changing anytime soon. The landscape of Mars may look like every other landscape that's supposed to be Mars but when shot by cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, whose last four films were all Ridley Scott projects, the vistas of Mars look beautifully majestic. The score by Harry Gregson-Williams is beautifully rendered. I think it's Harry's for all electronic score and it was a perfect marriage. It didn't overpower the film and it didn't take you out of the experience. I really enjoyed The Martian and while it's not perfect you have to love the fact that they aimed for the stars and landed on Mars. I'll see you at the theater.

Everest

Everest, the latest film from director Baltasar Kormakur is the movie based on the novel Into Thin Air by author John Krakauer and it's both visually and emotionally arresting. It tells the story of the fateful expedition up Everest where eight climbers died on the mountain and countless others were injured after being trapped on the mountain and besieged by a monstrous storm. I enjoyed Everest and feel it's worthy of three buckets of Killer Korn.













Off the bat I want to clear the air and come clean with you. I want to admit that I am not a fan of Baltasar Kormakur's work. I didn't like his film Contraband and I thought his film 2 Guns was decent. Now this may be because Mark Wahlberg were in them both and if you don't know how I feel about him as an actor please allow me to share. He's absolutely atrocious and that may be what dragged Baltasar's last two American films down. Thankfully Markie Mark is not in this film. This time around Baltasar has a pretty impressive cast. The story follows climber and Adventure Consultants owner Rob Hall, played by the talented Jason Clarke as he leads an expedition of semi-inexperienced climbers up the mountain while his pregnant wife Jan Arnold, played by Kiera Knightly stays home.


Rob was the guide/herder of Doug Hansen played by John Hawkes, Naoko Mori who played climber Yasuko Namba, John Krakauer played by Michael Kelly, and Beck Weathers played by Josh Brolin. Everest also stars Emily Watson, Sam Worthington, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Robin Wright. It may be Baltasar's best collection of talent in any of his American or Icelandic films. Going into this movie I was curious to see what they did visually with a book I absolutely fell in love with and I was not disappointed. Some of the visuals in Everest are absolutely breathtaking. The screenplay written by Williams Nichols and Simon Beaufoy did a great job of balancing the beauty and the terror of Everest with the emotional aspect of all the characters. They each get their emotional moments and if you didn't read the book and you don't know what happens the emotional impact will hit you even harder.


Technically I think Everest missed the boat on educating the viewer to all aspects of mountain climbing. It instead leaves the audience ignorant. You aren't informed that climbers have to use ladders to traverse crevasses. They are held together and in place by a specific type of rope, something you get no explanation on. Now I know that it's not about those things, that the movie is about the human condition and the will to survive in surface-of-the-moon type conditions but when lives depend on ladders being secured by a specific rope that doesn't freeze, I become fascinated. The look of the film is authentic, like you're actually at Everest and that's due to Salvatore Totino. The film looks exquisite and very fucking cold. The score by Dario Marinelli didn't impress me and I am a big fan of his work. The music sadly didn't add anything to Everest in any way for me so I'll chalk this one up to a project not in his wheelhouse. It happens to the best of them. All in all though, Everest is worth the price of admission but if you go see it bring a sweater, and I'll see you at the theater.