Selma

Selma, the latest film from director Ava DuVernay is a powerhouse of a movie. The subject matter is known to almost every American and every citizen around the globe over a certain age and it's the kind of film that should be required viewing of the younger generation. Selma is packed with amazing performances by a truly talented cast and it's quickly become one of my favorite movies of 2014. Because of that, I give Selma four and a half buckets of Killer Korn.












Now I have seen movies regarding the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and they have all fallen short in one major way or another. They either suffered from hero worship and focused on his accomplishments strictly and failed at every turn to show the humanity of the man or they were disjointed messes that wanted to cover everything King had ever done from the cradle to the grave. The beauty and the genius of director Ava DuVernay's Selma is that it centers around one incident in the struggle and fight for Civil Rights. It takes a pivotal moment out of King's life and tells the story of that period with style and grace, not pomp and circumstance. Selma is the movie so many other King films should have been, one the focused on the man and his team as they made demands of Lyndon B. Johnson to pass legislation that would help end discrimination across this country and making demands on the people of this country to look themselves in the mirror and discover what was truly in their hearts.

I am a very big fan of David Oyelowo and while his portrayal of King was not convincing, it was the best one since the late great Paul Winfield's in the 1978 mini-series King. King is a hard man to play due to his distinctive cadence. He spoke slow and deliberately, never wasting a word and I can't imagine how hard that must be to pull off for an actor. Carmen Ejogo play Coretta Scott King and she was marvelous. If Coretta was anything like Carmen's portrayal of her then there was no way King could have failed. Tim Roth, Giovanni Ribisi, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Wilkinson, Wendell Pierce, Common and so many other wonderful actors comprised the talented cast Ava had to work with. The movie starts off with two seminal moments, King winning the Nobel Peace Prize and the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church that killed four little girls. The film's intensity never waned and only grew stronger as the story unfolded. Although I do feel there were a few missed opportunities that Ava could have-with creative license taken advantage of-Selma is a resounding film about King's march across the Edmund Pettis Bridge. The screenplay by first time writer Paul Webb is phenomenal. It's tight, humorous, and above all focused. There are many characters in this film with their own voices and personalities and not one of them was short changed. Paul may have to clear his calender, I'm sure Hollywood will come knocking on his door very soon if they aren't already.

Now while there is a lot of love to be given out to the cast and crew, I have to give the production design team and set decorator Elizabeth Keenan and costume designer Ruth E. Carter a standing ovation. The look of this movie hinged on those two women's shoulders and they did one amazing job. The clothes looked like they were straight off the rack of some 1960's department store and the appliances, furniture, cars, wall paper, and phones had to have been nearly impossible to find and yet, there they were. The cinematography by Bradford Young was impeccable. The camera's placement and movement captured all the angst, violence, tragedies and triumphs so well that you felt like you were there yourself, as if you could reach out and touch King's shoulder. The score by first time composer Jason Moran was moving and timely. It wasn't overdone or melodramatic. It added to the images on the screen and it didn't pull you out of the moment with being bombastic or overreaching. Selma may bring tears to your eyes so bring tissues dammit, okay? You never listen to me. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this movie as much as I did and who knows, it may end up on your list of favorite movies of 2014 as well. I'll see you at that theater.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, the latest film from writer/director/producer Peter Jackson was a colossal CG disappointment. This movie was a hollow, soulless, unemotional, and embarrassing last bow of the Hobbit franchise. It was a waste of money and time (two and half hours damn near) that you can never get back. That being said I can only give this Hobbit film one bucket of Killer Korn (yes, it was really that bad).













When The Dark Knight Rises was released upon us many said they felt that Christopher Nolan mentally checked out and didn't put his all into the last film. I didn't see that personally. While it wasn't as good as The Dark Knight, and while it had some significant holes in the plot I still thought it was a good movie, one I enjoyed immensely. However I then started to wonder what that would look like on screen, a movie put out by a director who has mentally moved on to other projects but has yet finished the one he or she was currently working on. I now know what that looks like all too well. It looks like The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. I have no idea what Peter Jackson's next project is (according to IMDB it's The Adventures of Tin Tin: Prisoners of the Sun) but The Five Armies looked so bad that Jackson's mind had to have been on Tin Tin the majority of the time. The film looked to be nothing more than a two and a half hour advertisement of Jackson's special effects department Weta Workshop and the computer program they used to create the battle sequences. The acting was laughable, the dialogue was worse, and the movie never got going, it just spun its wheels.

All of the actors that were in the far superior second film, The Desolation of Smaug are back in this one so I won't get into the cast. Howard Shore has returned to offer up his magic on the score but after five movies of the same sound and very little new melodies or themes, the music feels stale. Somehow John Williams has been able to keep that from happening to his scores for the Star Wars franchise and while the score for Desolation was impressive, the music wore thin this time around. And for a movie filmed entirely on location in places like Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire in the UK along with time spent in Pinewood studios the actors seemed to have spent most of their time running around in front of green screens. It felt like practical film making went right out the window. There was nothing impressive about the cinematography and there should have been since this was as the tagline states, "The Final Chapter". The Five Armies should have been a grand spectacle instead of being a disappointing one. It should have taken your breath away instead of making you yawn. It should have made you float out the theater instead of making you run so you could get to the restroom.

Peter Jackson is a good director and if you watch The Hobbit and The Lord of the Ring films in order you'll see that firsthand, and that's what I suggest you do. That way by the time you get to The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers the sour aftertaste of this movie would have long been washed away. Peter Jackson seemingly gave a fuck doing the LOTR films and he seemed to give a fuck on An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug, but he then seemed to check out on Five Armies and that was a damn shame because THIS was the one we were all waiting for. Watch the trailer of this film, it is far better than the film itself in almost every way and I'll see you at the theater.

 

Trailer Alert: Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens

It's here Kornheads, the teaser trailer for the next installment of Star Wars and it shows you things you've never seen or thought you'd see in a Star Wars movie. X-Wing fighters skimming the ocean surface. The Millennium Falcon doing a maneuver that SCREAMS IMAX! A lightsaber the likes you've never seen before. And another Black face other than Billy Dee Williams! My inner twelve year old has been awakened! This teaser seems to have everything you could want and hope for and for me it has created a burning desire to buy my ticket NOW! It seems JJ has done it again, do you agree?

The Hunger Games: The Mockingjay Pt. 1

The Hunger Games: The Mockingjay Pt 1, the latest film in the Hunger Games franchise from director Francis Lawrence, is a film that was well worth the year long wait. If you were/are a fan of the books then you will definitely enjoy The Mockingjay even if it does require you to wait for part 2. It's a more intense, grander in size and scope movie than both of its predecessors and because of that I am giving The Hunger Games: The Mockingjay Pt. 1 four buckets of Killer Korn.












It's a very rare instance where you can say the third film in a movie franchise is the best of that franchise but that was the case in the Harry Potter films and it's the case for The Hunger Games movies. The third Potter film, Prisoner of Azkaban was directed by the Oscar Award winning directer Alfonso Cuaron. It showed a different side of Harry than the previous two films directed by Christopher Columbus, a more petulant, angry side to Harry no one had ever seen. The same goes for The Mockingjay Pt. 1. Francis gives us a different side to Katniss no one has seen yet, a more determined, hardened, smarter, and somewhat fearless Katniss the first two movies didn't bring to light. In my opinion that makes The Mockingjay Pt. 1 a far better film. The same cast is all back for round three but there have been some new additions. Julianne Moore plays President Alma Coin, Mahershala Ali plays Boggs, Sarita Choudhury plays Egeria, Wes Chatham plays Castor, Elden Henson plays Pollux, and Natalie Dormer plays Cressida.

This time around there is serious unrest in the districts, so much so that any association with the Mockingjay is a crime punishable by death and yet the districts fight anyway. There are some incredibly moving and powerful scenes in this movie. I call them "movie moments", where the director let's it all hang out. Francis did that a few times here so I can rest assured that Pt. 2 will be chock full of them. District 13 has taken in refugees from the utter destruction that was District 12 but that wasn't just done out of the kindness of President Coin's heart. She and Plutarch Heavensbee played once more by Phillip Seymour Hoffman wants no...needs her to be the voice and the face of the rebellion against the Capitol. She of course refuses at first but when she sees that Peeta is still alive she agrees but with conditions of her own and one is that her sister Prim gets to keep her cat. The other more pressing demands is that Peeta and the other Hunger Game victors be rescued as soon as possible. When a deal has been struck Katniss is introduced to Cressida, the best director the Capitol had before she defected. They want Katniss to star in a series of short propaganda films that the other districts can be inspired by. When Katniss sees what was done to District 8 she is more than eager to keep her end of the bargain.

The Mockingjay Pt. 1 is the first of the movies without another contest of kids killing kids, here we have adults finally being killed by other adults and it's a little jarring but great film making. Francis shows us the true dedication many of the Districts have for wanting to be from under the yoke of the Capitol with everything from fighting Capitol aircraft with small arms to suicide missions. The cinematography by Jo Williams was pure perfection. There wasn't a moment where anything looked off or out of place as far as look and feel. The music by James Newton Howard, while not one of my favorite composers did an excellent job with this score and lucky for him he had a lot to work with. There were some truly inspiring moments in this film and James' score was the perfect accompaniment. The Mockingjay Pt. 1 shows that Francis' Catching Fire was no fluke and that he was the right man to take over from director Gary Ross. I highly recommend this movie if you are/were a fan of the books and even if you haven't read them, this movie will still blow you away. Get your ticket and I'll see you at the theater.    

Beyond The Lights

Beyond The Lights, the latest film from writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood is a tale about a broken superstar and her heroic police officer boyfriend. It is in effect, nothing new. This story has been done countless times and in countless ways, but the one thing those stories didn't have that this one does is one scintillating performance surrounded by great ones. Prince-Bythewood shows us what fame can do to ones soul and ones family in dramatic ways and because of that I give Beyond The Lights three buckets of Killer Korn.











My one biggest takeaway from this movie is that Gugu Mbatha Raw is one absolutely amazing actor. She is nothing less than a powerhouse and is definitely worthy of being a household name. This is two performances back to back that have blown me away. Earlier in the year she play the title role in the fantastic movie Belle and now she plays Noni, an up and coming pop star whose album is about to drop which would bring her more fame than she's ever known. Gina Prince-Bythewood, the woman behind the classic Love & Basketball competently directs this love story, deftly navigating the pop world with a sense of realism and the world of an ambitious police officer named Kaz played by Nate Parker, who is transitioning himself as deftly as he can into the world of Los Angeles politics. The film also stars Danny Glover as Kaz' dad Captain Nicol, Isaac Keys as Jonas, Aml Ameen as Trey, and Minnie Driver as Macy Jean. It's an impressive cast and Minnie and Gugu are perfect as mother and daughter, something I could have never imagined in a million years.

My one big issue with BTL (and the fact that I'm only giving it three buckets and not four) was everything just happened SO FAST! We got no back story on Kaz and how he got the "guard the superstars door" gig. We get no reason why Noni wants to commit suicide, there is no catalyst for such a decision. One minute she's just won her first major award and is signing autographs and the next she's on her hotel rooms balcony with nothing in-between those moments except adoring, admiring fans. Kaz saves her life and is then forced to lie to the press about what really happened. There's friction between the two and feeling bad about the way he treated her, Kaz wants to apologize and they reconcile and that's where Beyond The Lights get's cliche and goes off the rails. Noni woos Kaz because she not only feels safe around him but because she believes he's the first person in a host of people that actually sees that she's broken. She reveals to him her innermost desires and dreams and when something occurs at another awards show, the two run off together leaving everything behind.

Gina brings the movie back on the rails in the third act with Gugu doing an amazing rendition of Nina Simone's Blackbird (and for the record, if that's really Gugu singing, someone should sign her to a recording contract like...NOW). I got frustrated with the cinematography by the talented Tami Reiker. Everything seemed like a close-up or a step too late in following the action. The original songs were impressive but I don't recall the score by the amazing Mark Isham at all. None of those two things distracted from my enjoyment of the movie and while it's not built for a sequel or set up as a franchise, these are two characters I wouldn't mind revisiting. I highly recommend Beyond The Lights, it may just surprise you, and I'll see you at the theater.

Big Hero 6

Big Hero 6, the latest film from writers/directors Chris Williams and Don Hall is a fun filled, action packed, adventure about the practical birth of super heroes and loss. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this movie and while it did have that Saturday morning cartoon feel at times, it was so engrossing that you forgive that feeling (unless of course...you happen to like that feeling). I loved Big Hero 6, it can make you cry and it will crack you up. Because of that I am giving this movie four buckets of Killer Korn.












The star of Big Hero 6 is Baymax and I want one. No seriously, I want a Baymax. He is a personal medical assistant created by Tadashi (voiced by Danial Henney) because he felt Baymax could and would help those that needed it, even if they themselves didn't realize it for themselves. Tadashi's younger brother, the genius child Hiro (voiced by Ryan Potter) isn't trying to help anyone but himself in the beginning. All he wants to do is immerse himself in the illegal world of robot fighting and win as much money as he can. The two brothers live with their aunt Abigail (voiced by Katie Lowes and who is my second favorite character in the movie) who took the boys in after their parents died. Tadashi feels Hiro is wasting his abilities by not applying himself and Hiro thinks Tadashi is a giant nerd. That is until Tadashi trick Hiro into coming to his college and showing off his lab to Hiro, along with his fellow giant nerd friends. The second Hiro sees what's being built and designed in the lab and all the potential possibilities, he wants in.

Now I don't normally do animated movies because there are no performances to gauge. There is no real cinematography or costume designs to speak of and surprisingly every character is either just alike or they are so ridiculously over the top exaggerated that they border on annoyance. Thankfully Big Hero 6 avoids those pitfalls with some great characters that can stand on their own two animated feet. There's Go Go (voiced by Jamie Chung), Wasabi (voiced by Damon Wayans Jr.), Honey Lemon (voiced by Genesis Rodriguez), Fred (voiced by T.J. Miller) and Baymax (voiced by Scott Adsit). All of these characters have something about them that's unique, not to mention their individual quirks that make them as close to real life humans as I have ever seen in an animated movie. The plot is nothing new in Big Hero 6 but what's different about this movie is the desire to not kill the bad guy for his evil deeds but capturing him and getting to the truth. All the while, you fall in love with Baymax. When his battery is low, he comes across as drunk and it is hilarious.

Big Hero 6 is ultimately about loss, coping with the emotions that come from dealing with that loss, having people around you that care, and then learning to let go and live again. It truly is a great movie for children who may be going through that or have gone through that already. The colors are vibrant and the movie is a fun time for kids and adults alike. With a score provided by the very talented Henry Jackman, Big Hero 6 musically and visually doesn't fail on any level. There are even renewable energy nods with wind turbines hovering over San Fransokyo. Now there is that Scooby-Do twist that you can sort of see coming but if you can forgive that then you will enjoy Big Hero 6, I did and I am satisfied with my care. I'll see you at the theater.

    

Fury

Fury, the latest film from writer/director David Ayer is the perfect example of a person sticking to what they know. David Ayer's films have all been about law enforcement and the perks as well as the perils that come with doing that job. He's been very successful, or at least entertaining at showing that life. Fury has him now taking on tank warfare in WWII and it's a big fat swing and miss. The movie was predictable, uninspiring, and lacking any real depth. Because Fury should have never been made I give it a bucket and a half of Killer Korn.











David Ayer wrote Training Day and wrote and directed End of Watch so he got a pass from me. That pass got destroyed when I saw his horrible film Sabotage, which he also wrote and directed. He seemed to have a serious love affair with police so when I heard he was doing yet ANOTHER WWII film to go along with ALL the other WWII films, I was curious because I enjoyed End of Watch so much. I had completely forgot that Sabotage was pure trash. Let me tell you the biggest problem I had with Fury, one of them anyway. It was with the marketing. If you saw the trailers then you saw the movie. The trailers showed you EVERYTHING, making the movie completely predictable from a story standpoint. Nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing took me by surprise while watching Fury because I knew what was coming. Second issue with this film was Brad Pitt playing the leader of his Sherman Tank squad, Don 'Wardaddy' Collier. If you saw Inglorious Bastards then you have a pretty good idea who Wardaddy was modeled after. Brad brought back Lt. Aldo Raine minus the stupid accent. Rounding out the cast is Shia LaBeouf as Boyd "Bible" Swan, Micheal Pena as Trini "Gordo" Garcia, Jon Bernthal as Grady "Coon-Ass" Travis, and Logan Lerman as Norman "Machine" Ellison.

Don's crew was just what you've come to expect from a movie about the second world war. One quotes Bible scripture, one is truly messed up in the head from war, one is the seemingly sane one, one doesn't quite belong on the front lines as he was trained to type 60 words a minute and has never seen a razor let alone hold a machine gun, and then there's their leader. A fearless, determined, brilliant leader who doesn't duck for cover like everyone else when mortar rounds are exploding around them. It's like they chose to rip off characters from Saving Private Ryan but got lost somewhere along the way. Now four Sherman tanks are given a mission, to hold a crossroads until a larger force can be mobilized. Out of a tank skirmish with a German Panzer tank only one Sherman escapes (guess who's) and heads to the crossroads. As the trailer indicates, the tank loses a tread but the guys stay and fight even though Wardaddy orders them to leave. You can guess the ending can't you?

The look of the film is a muddled mess. The color palette is dark, there is virtually no color anywhere and there's a ton of fucking mud everywhere yet it never seems to rain. The movie is devoid of almost any kind of humanity and while I know it's a war film there have been others that have delivered that necessary touch of decency. The one attempt at that makes no sense and falls completely flat. There was some cool scenes in the movie thanks to cinematographer Roman Vasyanov, I just wish there had been a few more. For a film centered around a tank and her crew, you'd be forgiven for expecting more tank battles than just the one. The music by Steven Price is fantastic. His music for Fury proves that what he did for Gravity was no fluke. There are moments where you "hear" Gravity musical cues but for the most part it provides the film with the emotion it's lacking on it's own. It is a job well done. I'd skip Fury if you haven't already seen it and wait for it on DVD unless you don't mind predictable bangs for your buck. I'll see you at the theater.