Silence Review


            It seems like nowadays every single theatrical release of a Martin Scorsese film is a major event.  The man has pretty much become cinema’s high priest (considering his directorial talent in addition to the massive work he has done in promoting and preserving film).  Now Scorsese’s latest film didn’t make that much at the box office, but Silencecertainly has fans of film talking and has to be one of the most memorable experiences at a theater currently out there.  Silence is a brutal yet beautiful film on what it really means to be a religious person.  As such it is one of the best portrayals of religion put onscreen.

            Silence follows two Jesuit priests (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver, the later in a much more supporting role) in the 17th century as they travel to Japan to find their mentor (Liam Neeson) after a letter comes to them claiming that he has renounced his faith. 

            At a near three hours, Silence has a whopping runtime, and it can feel a bit repetitive at times.  The film mostly follows Father Rodrigues (Garfield) as he tries and fails over and over again to save Japanese Christians from persecution.  However, thanks to some beautiful direction on Scorsese’s part and career best work from Garfield, the film feels like something much more substantial than it actually is in the early goings.  It’s like a dark adventure film unlike anything we’ve ever seen.

            However, it is the final act that is the true highlight of this film.  This is an epic film, but it is here that Scorsese delivers some of the most personal work that he has ever done.  It really takes his personal approach (not the committee approach that Christian films take way too often to awful results) to deliver a powerful vision of one man’s struggle with faith.  Scorsese is able to capture the reality of religion in a way that hasn’t really been done outside of Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life.  It’s a realistic approach to such a vague concept as God while still finding ways to fit in religious elements naturally. Not only is this act thematically interesting, it also delivers some of the best visuals Scorsese has ever put onscreen.  It also helps you get Liam Neeson showing up briefly for what is his best work since the underrated The Grey.


            If you can get past the brutality of the early goings of Silence you will be rewarded with a beautiful cinematic experience and a powerful third act that once again proves Martin Scorsese as one of the best filmmakers alive today.

8/10

La La Land Review


            In 2014, a young director named Damien Chazelle burst onto the scene with the brilliant, Whiplash.  Whiplashis one of those rare films that impresses you on first sight but also reveals new ideas and snippets with every new viewing.  It’s now a little over two years later and Chazelle has cemented himself as one of the best directors currently working with his new musical, La La Land.  La La Land will struggle to have the same level of re-watch-ability factor that Whiplash does, but it has a visual splendor to it that is hard to ignore.  Additionally, the film does a fantastic job of creating a fun atmosphere while never focusing on its style so much that the substance gets left behind.

            La La Land follows an aspiring actress (Emma Stome) and a down on his luck jazz musician (Ryan Gosling) as their paths continue to cross in present day Los Angeles.  The film is a musical, and it’s a musical from beginning to end.  This is certainly a film that won’t be criticized for forgetting that’s a musical midway through (which it seems is a common complaint of many musicals nowadays).  The story is somewhat conventional.  The basic description of the plot, no doubt, makes it seem that way.  However, there is some interesting material about trying to achieve your dreams and trying to maintain your social life (a topic that was also covered in some ways in Whiplash) that makes the plot standout.  The only downside to the plot is that it concludes in what is a dazzling yet somewhat slight final set piece, and that’s because the concept used for the set piece is something that was used before and to better effect in the indie romance drama, (500) Days of Summer).

            These small issues are for the most part covered up by a colorful visual palate, a soundtrack that is quite memorable (the catchy “Start a Fire”, the underrated “Someone in the Crowd”, and the emotional “Audition (The Fools Who Dream” being the highlights), and two strong performances at the center of the film.  Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are quickly becoming one of the most interesting sets of co-stars since Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn.  They have great chemistry together (and never more so than here), but both make individual achievements out of their performances.  Stone has never delivered such a raw performance, and Gosling continues an impressive string of performances that have shown him to be quite possibly the most charismatic actor working today.


            La La Land is a reminder that there is still room for fun in a genre as overdone as the musical.

8/10

Final Predictions for the 89th Academy Award Nominations



BEST PICTURE
-Arrival
-Hacksaw Ridge
-Hell or High Water
-Hidden Figures
-La La Land
-Lion
-Manchester by the Sea
-Moonlight
BEST DIRECTOR
-Damien Chazelle, La La Land
-Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
-Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
-Martin Scorsese, Silence
-Denis Villeneuve, Arrival
BEST LEAD ACTOR
-Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
-Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
-Ryan Gosling, La La Land
-Viggo Mortsensen, Captain Fantastic
-Denzel Washington, Fences
BEST LEAD ACTRESS
-Amy Adams, Arrival
-Isabelle Huppert, Elle
-Natalie Portman, Jackie
-Emma Stone, La La Land
-Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
-Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
-Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
-Ben Foster, Hell or High Water
-Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins
-Dev Patel, Lion
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
-Viola Davis, Fences
-Naomie Harris, Moonlight
-Nicole Kidman, Lion
-Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
-Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
-Arrival
-Fences
-Lion
-Hidden Figures
-Moonlight
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
-Captain Fantastic
-Hell or High Water
-I, Daniel Blake
-La La Land
-Manchester by the Sea
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
-Finding Dory
-Kubo and the Two Strings
-Moana
-My Life as a Zucchini
-Zootopia
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
-13th
-The Eagle Huntress
-The Ivory Game
-O.J.: Made in America
-Weiner
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
-Land of Mine
-A Man Called Ove
-Paradise
-The Salesman
-Toni Erdmann
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
-Blind Vaysha
-The Head Vanishes
-Inner Workings
-Pear Cider and Cigarettes
-Piper
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
-4.1 Miles
-Extremis
-Joe’s Violin
-The Mute’s House
-The White Helmets
BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
-Graffiti
-Nocturne in Black
-Silent Nights
-Timecode
-The Way of Tea (Les Fremissements du The)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
-Arrival
-La La Land
-Lion
-Moonlight
-Silence
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
-Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
-Florence Foster Jenkins
-Jackie
-La La Land
-Love & Friendship
BEST FILM EDITING
-Arrival
-La La Land
-Lion
-Manchester by the Sea
-Moonlight
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
-Deadpool
-Florence Foster Jenkins
-A Man Called Ove
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
-Jackie
-La La Land
-Lion
-Nocturnal Animals
-Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
-“Angel by the Wings”, The Eagle Huntress
-“Audition (The Fools Who Dream)”, La La Land
-“City of Stars”, La La Land
-“How Far I’ll Go”, Moana
-“Try Everything”, Zootopia
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
-Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
-Hail, Caesar!
-The Handmaiden
-La La Land
-Silence
BEST SOUND EDITING
-Arrival
-Deadpool
-Deepwater Horizon
-Hacksaw Ridge
-Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
BEST SOUND MIXING
-Arrival
-Deepwater Horizon
-Hacksaw Ridge
-La La Land
-Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
-Arrival
-Doctor Strange
-The Jungle Book
-Kubo and the Two Strings

-Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Hidden Figures Review




          It is easy to see why Hidden Figures has become such a success as of late.  It’s the type of film that can cater to people of all shapes and sizes while still showing enough artistry (especially from the actors) to make it feel like something more than it actually is.  It also helps that its an optimistic film about space, and those films have not only done really well at the box office as of late (Gravity, Interstellar, The Martian), but more of these types of films deserved to be made considering the lack of attention NASA has received as of late from the powers that run the US government.  There are still multiple problems with this film, but what the film does right makes this quite an enjoyable film.

            Hidden Figures follows three African-American women as NASA prepares for the Mercury Seven era of the space race.  Katherine Johnson (portrayed by Taraji P. Henson) is suddenly asked to calculate landing zones, speed rates and other incredibly important measurements in a community of NASA scientists filled with white males.  Mary Jackson (portrayed by Mary Jackson) is trying to find a way to get a better career within NASA by becoming an engineer, a job that an African-American woman has never held before, and Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) is trying to get the raise and promotion that she deserves for leading an entire department of calculators (actual humans before computers revolutionized how we live today) for NASA.  The entire plot makes for a very optimistic storyline, but the film does combine all of these plotlines into a single plotline.  The problem with this is that the film does spend a lot of time deciding that it would rather follow Katherine’s storyline rather than a more equal combination of the three.  It also gives the impression that these three women were extremely close, which was probably not the case in real life.

            It also doesn’t help that Theodore Melfi’s direction is rather paint-by-numbers.  There is no visual flair to this film, and musician Pharrell Williams’ influence on the film can become a tad tedious with the frequent musical interruptions.

            However, when you have a cast as strong as this film does all can be forgiven.  Taraji P. Henson makes for a solid core for this film (as long as she’s not being forced to ham it up running back and forth through the sets for comedic relief) and really gets to nail her one big scene.  Octavia Spencer (a natural at stealing scenes in ensembles at this point), Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons and a charming Glen Powell round out the rest of the stronger elements of the cast.  However, it is Kevin Costner and Janelle Monae, who are the real highlights of this film.  Costner was destined to finally nail one of these mentor roles that he has constantly been cast in during his Hollywood comeback, and this role is it.  His usual charm works so well here, and some physical ticks he uses with this character really adds a lot of dimension.   Meanwhile, Monae delivers a loud (but not-over-the top) performance that shows a great deal of range between her work here and her other acclaimed performance from this year in Moonlight.  She’s clearly a talent that I hope remains in the cinematic world rather than the musical one.


            Hidden Figures is a bit slight but a strong cast and an optimistic core makes it one to remember.

7/10

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Review


            Ever since The Avengers was released in 2012 every single major studio has been trying to build up cinematic universes with its major properties.  It’s now gotten to the point that even once hollow ground such as Star Wars (say what you will about George Lucas but he was a genuine auteur who was trying to make new boundaries for the cinematic art form) has been infected by this craze.  Although, most properties that have tried to follow the path of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have failed (Hello DC!), Rogue One: A Star Wars Storygets the Star Wars Cinematic Universe off to a good start.  Rogue One takes chances that most franchise blockbusters wouldn’t and delivers us a bunch of new interesting characters.

            Rogue One takes place right before Star Wars as a renegade orphan named Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones making it look easy as she makes a memorable performance out of a bunch of dialogue that doesn’t really warrant the effort that she gives it) discovers that her long lost father has created a fault in the plans for the Empire’s new super weapon, the Death Star.  She decides to work with the Rebel Alliance as she tries to give her father’s life meaning.

The film is directed by Gareth Edwards, who has so far shown that he is a master of showing scale in his direction.  That is put to use to great effect here.  We may never see the full power of the Death Star during this film, but it has never been so intimidating.  Plus the gigantic ruins of Jedha and the impressive design of the Imperial data base tower of Scarif make for a film that does a great job of world building.  A steady visual hand at the helm also allows the film to go to new heights with the use of CGI.  Sure, the resurrection of the long dead Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin isn’t completely photorealistic, but this film marks the next step in an increasingly interesting future for cinema.

            While the film certainly takes risks with its visuals, there are also enough risks taken with the story to always keep things interesting.  Major new characters in the Star Wars canon are built up to only be killed off, villains are given motives that you can actually feel sympathetic towards and “heroes” are allowed to make choices that are incredibly dark. 

            The film really is at its best when it’s playing with the new elements that were created specifically for this film.  Characters such as the blind force believer Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen acting like he was born to appear in a Star Wars film) and the snarky robot K-2SO (performed by Alan Tudyk) are great additions to the Star Wars canon.  The only time this film actually gets into trouble (other than with its overstuffed opening act) is when it starts playing with fan service.  Rogue One can at times be fan service at its worst.  At one point in the film the filmmakers decide not to reveal the name of a planet onscreen (which the film so far had been quite happy to do so) just in order to keep the surprise of the character that is about to show up.  The problem with that is that revealing the location of the sequences inside the film (instead of some book or an interview with Gareth Edwards) would have added so much character development to that one character.  Instead that is all gone to waste in order to give the fans a cool if insignificant surprise.  Even worse, though, is that the film features a final sequence with not a single main character in it.  Instead it’s just a bunch of legendary Star Wars characters doing cool things for the sake of doing cool things.


            Fan service does ultimately keep Rogue One from the upper ranks of Star Wars films, but it a serviceable and adventurous entry into the Star Wars canon.

8/10

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