Child 44

Child 44, the latest film from director Daniel Espinosa is a complete and utter mess of a film. The first and second acts are a complete bore and the film only has something to say near the end. It's a dark, ugly film and I don't mean that tonally. This is a hard film to watch and it wasted a magnificent performance by a man that is quickly proving to be the best actor acting today. All in all I give Child 44 a bucket and a half of Killer Korn.













The trailer for this movie is gripping and I truly couldn't wait to see the film. It seemed liked the movie would jump off the screen and find a place in your mind where it would hang out and make you think about it for weeks to come. I love those kinds of movies, films like Gone Baby, Gone, Adore, or Interstellar, those films stuck with me long after I'd seen them. I foolishly thought, basing my opinion on the trailer that Child 44 would do the same. It was a bait and switch and I couldn't have been more wrong. Daniel Espinosa, the director behind this mess brought us the Denzel Washington 2012 vehicle Safe House which wasn't a film I was wild about. It had some good moments but overall it fell flat. I'm guessing Safe House is the one reason Child 44 pulled in the on screen talent that it did. Tom Hardy was amazing in his portrayal of Leo Dimidov. Too bad is was a performance wasted on this drivel. The drivel also starred Noomi Rapace as Leo's wife Raisa, Jason Clark, Joel Kinnaman, Fares Fares, Paddy Considine, Vincent Cassel, and Gary Oldman. That is a pretty impressive cast to have in such a pretty awful film.

There are far too many story lines to follow here and that led to the damming confusion that plagued Child 44. If you've see the trailer the film looks like a can't miss (and if you have check out the trailer below). The trailer looks like Child 44 centers around a serial killer of Russian children and even the title of the film suggests that but what you get is a long, slow melodrama of a brainwashed people and the government organization that tries to keep everyone in line. In the middle of that government is a militarized known as the MGB and if someone is accused by someone else of being a traitor then the MGB roots that person out, shoots them full of drugs in order to get the names of the co-conspiritors. Then they kill that person. There is a power struggle between Leo and Joel Kinnaman's character Vasili who is in cahoots with their supervisor, Vincent Cassel's Kuzmin to destroy Leo. Leo's wife Raisa has been named as a traitor and they demand Leo denounce her knowing he would refuse to, they get reassigned to a small town far away from Moscow and they should be happy they weren't shot to death.

You have to get through that madness before you get to Leo and Raisa trying to find the killer of children. Once that storyline get's going then the movie is worth watching, and if you haven't left the theater yet you're in for a treat. Sadly the last act lasts for maybe twenty minutes at the most. The movie is based on a novel written by Tom Rob Smith and the screenplay is penned by Richard Price. The book I am quiet certain in this case is far better than the movie. The only redeeming thing about Child 44 (outside of Tom Hardy's performance) is the score by Jon Ekstrand. There are profound moments of tenderness sprinkled amongst a powerful and dramatic score but that's not enough to buy a ticket to see this film. Skip Child 44, enjoy the trailer instead (which far outclasses the movie), and I'll see you at the theater

Ex Machina

Ex Machina, the debut film from writer/director Alex Garland is a smart, intriguing, and very entertaining movie. Blessed with great performances and an intelligent, compelling story Ex Machina  is a must see film in my opinion. No explosions, no car chases, no bullets, this film is a nice alternative to what's currently playing in your neighborhood multiplexes but Ex Machina gets four buckets of Killer Korn.













Alex Garland the writer is responsible for films like the epic space film Sunshine, the fun and frightening 28 Days Later, the ridiculous Dredd (though I blame the director for that movie being the mess it was), and the novel The Beach that was adapted into the film that starred Leonardo DiCaprio. Alex Garland the director has just one film to his credit and it's damn good and if this is any indication as to what we can expect from Alex the director then movie fans, we are in for a treat. Ex Machina stars Domnhall Gleason as Caleb, Oscar Isaac as Nathan, Sonoya Mizuno as Kyoko, Corey Johnson as Jay, and Alicia Vikander as the amazing Ava. Now if you haven't figured it out yet thanks to all the other hundreds of films that have expounded on the perils of artificial intelligence, Ex Machina brings the dangers of AI to you in such a visceral way that it's hard to brush it off as merely science fiction.

Nathan is the creator of the search engine Bluebook and is a highly intelligent and incredibly wealthy man. He's also a recluse. Caleb is a coder and an employee of Nathan's from NY. Caleb has won a competition that allows him to meet Nathan at his isolated compound in the wilderness and spend a week with the genius. Once there Nathan introduces Caleb to his next big project, only after Caleb signs a non-disclosure agreement. Once all the paperwork is out of the way Caleb is introduced to Ava and that's when the cat and mouse game begins. Emotional manipulation, lies, exploiting vulnerabilities and more all come into play here through Caleb's sessions with Ava. While the movie can tend to drag a little in the middle, Alex does an excellent job with pace and I was never bored or impatient. I was never taken out of the movie by wishing things would speed up and at the end of the film I felt I experienced Ex Machina, not just watched it.

Ex Machina for the most part stars just three people. That's it. The other two actors in this movie, one is hardly on screen for more than five minutes and the other doesn't say a word so it's really just three performers. When you have that limited a cast then you better have a damn good story and this film has a great one. Thankfully Alex Garland the writer penned an incredible screenplay that will make you seriously take a look at the pros and cons of artificial intelligence that other movies have failed to do. Those other films are meant to scare you, telling you that once AI is unleashed on the world it cannot be controlled and it will destroy mankind (think Terminator and I, Robot). Ex Machina takes a completely different angle on that which is why I enjoyed this film so much. Of course the cinematography by Rob Hardy and the score by Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury significantly aided in that experience. If you want a smart, thoughtful, and provocative film to see then I highly recommend Ex Machina. If you want cars hurtling through the air, explosions, and bullets flying everywhere, skip this movie and just wait, that mindless entertainment will be back on screens before you know it. I'll see you at the theater.  

Can't Stand Losing You: Surviving The Police.

Can't Stand Losing You: Surviving The Police is a little gem of a documentary directed by Andy Grieve and Lauren Lazin. It's told from the perspective of The Police's Andy Summers and it does it's best to give you background on the one member of the group that flew under the radar. It's a fun yet angst filled enjoyable ride back through time and because of that I give Can't Stand Losing You: Surviving The Police three buckets of Killer Korn.












Based on his memoir entitled One Train Later, Can't Stand Losing You centers around Andy Summers and his life before, during, and after The Police. It touches on all the things you never really cared to know about the one member of the group that seemed overshadowed by Sting and Stewart Copeland and it offers up just a nod to why that iconic group broke up. I think this film is for those fans who loved the music and the die hard Andy Summers fans who wanted to know what happened to the musician/photographer.

This film follows Andy from birth to the end of The Police reunion tour that took the world by storm back in 2007/08. It touched on the artist's struggles trying to make it as a musician living in L.A. while having no prospects and no direction. He get's married, flies back to England with his wife and becomes a session player on Mike Oldfield's seminal hit Tubular Bells. Those sessions are where he meets Sting and Stewart who both in bands of their own at the time. One thing leads to another and The Police are born and just when his daughter is born, Andy is on the road for eight months out of the calendar year.

I don't know who really cared about the life and times of Andy Summers outside of those closest to him, family and friends but the music is a time warp. It will bring you back to a time when you first heard Roxanne and Can't Stand Losing You. The movie creates more questions than it answers for sure but the music makes that easier to swallow. If you are a fan of The Police then I highly recommend seeing this film. If you aren't then I suggest you skip Can't Stand Losing You (though that does make me wonder about your taste in music but whatever) and I'll see you at the theater.

50 Shades of Grey

50 Shades of Grey, the latest film from director Sam Taylor-Johnson is one of the biggest wastes of time I have spent in a movie theater in quite some time. I'm sure it's not the worse piece of garbage I have ever seen but it's damn close. I give it a kernel.















50 Shades is one of the most unoriginal movies to come down the pike in a long time and that's saying something when you consider the landscape of films Hollywood has been releasing lately (I won't even mention the films that are slated for release later this year). If you have seen The Thomas Crown Affair remake with Pierce Brosnan, Twilight, and 9 1/2 Weeks then you've seen 50 Shades Of Grey, with the exception of some kinky sex of course. And speaking of the kinky sex, it gets old quickly here, like super quickly. Both Christian Grey played woodenly by Jamie Dornan and Anastasia played annoyingly by Dakota Johnson keep taking their clothes off as if they look so amazingly good undressed, and they do not. There is nothing special about either one of these people unclothed. Sam overshot on that aspect and undershot on everything else.

There was no chemistry between Christian and Anastasia and had Christian behaved the way he had with anyone other than Anastasia she would have labeled him a psycho stalker and called the police. I got NO sense that one was remotely interested in the other. There was no passion, no fire, no heat, no sleepless nights laying in bed and fantasizing what they would do to each other. On the contrary, little mousie Anastasia was saving herself for the right man. How she figured the creepy stalker dude was the right man is absolutely beyond me. Once she's no longer a virgin she starts feeling her way and becomes more confident, she wants to know what it's like to play in Christians "play room" and once she does she seems alright with it. Then suddenly when Christian chooses not to open up to Ana about something and wants to punish her, she allows it only to rebuke him at the end which makes no damn sense at all.

50 Shades goes for a very modern, glass and steel kind of look which renders the movie entirely without personality. I have heard the books written by E. L. James are much the same. The storyline is ridiculous and the acting is atrocious by all involved and that includes Oscar award winner Marcia Gay Harden and Christian's mother. It honestly feels like a Twilight knock-off and Twilight was a far better film (if you can believe that). I can't imagine what the mood on the set was halfway through the filming of this drivel but I'd be shocked to hear if it was positive. Danny Elfman wasted his prodigious talents on scoring this film. He came up with something that was serviceable but I can't see anyone wanting to buy the score. If I were you and you have a satisfying sex life then skip this hot mess of a movie and spend your money on renting The Thomas Crown Affair, or doing something else, ANYTHING else and I'll see you at the theater.

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

The Second Best Marigold Hotel, the latest movie from accomplished director John Madden is like visiting old friends if you saw the previous Marigold Hotel film. While there are times when this film can get on your nerves the performances of the talented cast carry the weight and because of that I give The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel three and a half buckets of Killer Korn out of five.













Let me just say this, the first Marigold Hotel film was adapted from a book by author Deborah Moggach. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was not adapted from a novel and that may be why it seems the movie loses its way early on. The movie starts off looking and sounding like an old sitcom. While trying to capitalize on the charm of the original film its sequel sadly doesn't do a very good job of that. Written by the same screenwriter of the first movie, Ol Parker tries to concoct a story out of whole cloth without the foundation of the novel this time around. Second Marigold suffers the same rudderless fate as The Godfather III and Think Like A Man Too. Thankfully that doesn't last too long and the movie finally gets moving. Sadly though you're then subjected to the tired storyline of the insecure boyfriend/fiancé, Dev Patel's Sonny Kapoor, when a good looking friend of his future wife, Tina Desai's Sunaina, comes back into town looking to make his own mark in the hotel industry. His supposed rival is Shazad Latif's Kushal, one of the new characters, but don't worry, thankfully all the original cast is back.

Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Celia Imrie, Ronald Pickup, Diana Hardcastle, Fiona Mollison, and Lillete Dubey all reprise their roles again as well but they are also joined by Richard Gere as Guy Chambers and Tamsin Greig as Lavinia Beech. The story centers around the wedding between Sonny and Sunaina as well as Sonny and Maggie Smith's Muriel Donnelly attempts to expand their burgeoning niche hotel empire. In the first film Sonny seemed a charming, enterprising young man. This time around however, his act plays a little thin. There is nothing new about him and in fact it seems most of the characters take a step back. What you thought were solid relationships at the end of the first movie seem to fall apart in the second. Now granted you need to build a script, but weakening relationships only to strengthen them all over again is a tired formula and one The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel could have done without.

The look of the film however is absolutely exquisite. John Madden has a fantastic eye and Ben Smithard, his cinematographer this time around, picks up seamlessly where cinematographer Ben Davis left off. This film is lush in color and feel, regardless of the sets. The music, again by the talented Thomas Newman, was absolutely perfect. Like the movie it's a subtle yet lush score accented with authentic instruments that add flavor and color. It was a job well done. If you didn't see the first film don't worry, you don't need to see that film to get its sequel. In fact you may like this movie more if you don't see the first one but if you have then this movie will be more revisiting old friends than seeing something new. John Madden and company put forth a good attempt at a quality sequel but were hampered with a ridiculous script. Still though I would recommend it to those that have seen the first film and enjoyed the characters and I'll see you at the theater.

Focus

Focus, the latest film from the writer/director team of Glenn Ficarra and John Requa was a fun caper film that's an emotional roller coaster ride from start to finish (especially at the finish). It doesn't fail to entertain and since I can overlook it's one fatal flaw I am giving Focus four buckets of Killer Korn.














Focus is a Will Smith movie, I mean he is all OVER this film (quick note, if you don't like Will Smith then I suggest you skip this movie because I don't know if I said this already but he is all OVER this film). If he's not on camera he's about to me and when he is he's the best most charming thing the camera can focus on. It isn't however a Will Smith/Overbrook Entertainment film which means more than likely this role wasn't written with him in mind. After his last film, the debacle that was After Earth (which I wish I could have rewritten) Will needed something low key and something that was in his wheel house. Someone must have suggested he read the script for Focus and he came to the conclusion that this was a film he had to be in. I say that because the biggest flaw in this funny, beautiful looking film is the lack of fire/heat/chemistry between the two leads.

Focus stars of course Will Smith as Nicky, Margot Robbie as Jess, Gerald McRaney as Owens, the hilarious Adrian Martinez as Farhad, BD Wong as the fanatical Liyuan, and Rodrigo Santoro as Garriga. It is a very talented cast but as I said earlier, Focus' chief flaw is the lack of heat between Nicky and Jess. Jess and a partner of hers try to take Nicky down who just ends up embarrassing the duo. He then follows Jess, gives her some pointers and then leaves her in the cold NYC winter only to be tracked down by her in New Orleans at the Super Bowl. While there is a connection it feels like nothing more than a older brother/younger sister dynamic than anything else. That is made all the more apparent when he dumps her in New Orleans and moves on with his life only to run into her a few years later in South America. It made it seem that this role wasn't written with Will in mind but he felt like he needed to do it.

Focus is an absolutely beauty of a movie. The colors are vibrant, the costumes/wardrobe by Dayna Pink were perfect, and the cinematography by Xavier Grobet is gorgeous (though he was undoubtedly helped by beautiful locations). It's also a movie blessed with a pithy screenplay that's well written and executed even better. So much so that it has you thinking you know what the outcome is going to be only to be fooled at the very end. Glenn and John did their best to keep the Ocean 11 feel down to a minimum but these days any heist film is going to feel like an Ocean's movie. The charm of Focus though is that it chooses to focus on something other than the heist. My second beef with Focus was the lack of original score. Tasked with supplying music for the movie was Nick Urata and it seemed that the producers was so displeased with his offering that they littered the movie instead with great pop songs from the likes of Bruno Hovart, Stooges Brass Band, to Doris & Kelly's classic "You Don't Have to Worry". Thankfully Mark Graham and his musical team knew what they were doing and were able to give Focus a unique feel, something Nick failed to do. I would recommend Focus to any and everyone that isn't sick of Will Smith yet because I don't know if I said this yet but he is ALL over this movie. I'll see you at the theater.

Kingsman: The Secret Service

Kingsman: The Secret Service is the latest movie from the incredibly talented writer/director Matthew Vaughn and it is a MUST SEE! This film is a rip roaring take on the intelligent agency community and its tongue is firmly planted within its cheek. Kingsman never takes itself seriously until it takes itself seriously and even then it's hilarious. I loved this movie and because of that I give Kingsman: The Secret Service four buckets of Killer Korn.












For a man that has only five feature films on his resume and only six writing credits Matt Vaughn seems to know exactly what he's doing when it comes to making pretty damn interesting if not good movies (so it makes you wonder why director Brett Ratner sucks as badly as he does, at least it makes me wonder). I've seen three of Matt's five (missing Layer Cake and Stardust) and of those three I loved two of them. I am not a big fan of X-Men: First Class (I thought Professor X was too much Yoda and not enough Professor X and that got annoying really fast) but I loved Kick Ass and now Kingsman.

Based on the comic book by Mark Millar and David Gibbons, Kingsman: The Secret Service is a story of an independent intelligence agency populated with highly skilled agents who don names of characters from classic literature who protects Queen and country with their lives if need be. The cast is an impressive one starting off with Oscar award winning actors Colin Firth and Michael Caine playing Galahad and Arthur respectively. Then there's Taron Egerton making his American debut as the lead here playing Eggsy, a young street kid with talents he himself was unaware he possessed. Mark Strong (one of my all time favorite actors) plays Merlin, Samuel L. Jackson plays Valentine, Mark Hamill (yes THAT Mark Hamill) plays Professor Arnold, and Sofia Boutella plays the vicious henchwoman Gazelle with swords for feet (trust me, it works).

Valentine is the quintessential nemesis, the kind that believes that his wrongdoing is for the greater good of mankind. He wants to cull the population and has found an unoriginal way of doing that with an original idea. I won't divulge that here but if you've seen the trailers for the film then you have a pretty good idea. Meanwhile Galahad is trying to convince Eggsy to take his life into his own hands instead of heading down the path of criminality. He introduces Eggsy to the Kingsman and with Galahads stamp of approval Eggsy becomes an agent in training. This is around the time Valentine begins kidnapping certain heads of state if he can't convince them to go along with his diabolical master plan. Those who do get a chip implanted near the base of their skulls to...wait, I said I wasn't going to divulge Valentine's plan here so see the movie. What I will say though is there is a point in the film where those implants are the cause of some serious hilarity.

Kingsman: The Secret Service is not a very diverse one. Outside of Samuel L. Jackson's portrayal of the lisping Valentine this movie is almost completely devoid of color. That's a strike in my book but it may not be in yours, but it's the ONLY strike. Matthew Vaughn has shown the talent to go off the deep end with his original concepts as well as stay within the lines when dealing with properties that aren't his own (X-Men being that one). With Kingsman it looks like he decided to let it all hang out and in doing so he's potentially created a cheeky franchise that could rival the Bond films. There could be many Kingsman films in the future should this one take off (or at least a trilogy) and I hope it does though it might be hard to top this one. The cinematography by George Richmond is perfect with it's part cartoony, part serious look about it. The score by Henry Jackson and Matthew Margeson fit this film to perfection. There were the fitting heroic themes throughout but there was also the villainous themes that added a certain gravitas to the comical Valentine that I enjoyed. All in all I thoroughly enjoyed Kingsman, I highly recommend it, and I'll see you at the theater.