reviewsbycaleb Reviews

The Martian (2015)

Hilarious, smart and pure entertainment

[9/10 · 4 October 2015]

The Martian is one of the best movies of the year and let me tell you why.

What Ridley Scott (Director), Drew Goddard (Screenwriter), Andy Weir (Book), and Matt Damon do with this movie is so unconventional and smile inducing, that it may redefine how some movies mix genres. I threw this under the category of Drama, but it wasn't a drama. I thought of possibly putting it under the comedy or thriller section, but The Martian is not a comedy or thriller nor is it just a mere mixture of genres to create a new Sci-Fi movie. So what am I trying to say? The Martian is a mixture of numerous elements that are authentically blended in a way that few movies can attest to. Consequently this makes it significantly harder to put a genre on it, but in this case, I think it's a good thing.

The Martian is straight forward in its plot. Mark Watney (Damon) is stranded on Mars during an emergency evacuation due to a massive storm. The other crew members (Jessica Chastain, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie) think he is dead after they see him get struck by debris from the ship and so they are forced to leave him behind. Damon's character is then stuck with the seemingly impossible task to stay alive on Mars with limited resources and a 4 year time period until NASA's next mission to mars.

With a premise like this, you're most likely asking yourself, "Why is the first line of my synopsis 'Hilarious'?". The answer is found in the witty writing and amazingly charismatic performance of Matt Damon. Damon's character in the movie has a line in which he says "I'm going to have to science the S--- out of this". He must have looked at the script and said the same thing, only replacing science with charm. Watney is an overtly intriguing character even though there is virtually no background given to us about him. Weir and Goddard resist the cliché of giving him a family in order to heighten the stakes so that we care about Watney more (even though it would have been very easy and realistic to do). Instead, we rely on Damon's charm and delivery of the character to hold the stakes.

The Martian also did not go for outlandish Sci-Fi lore in the obvious far or near future or a super realistic drama with buzz kill characters. Instead it went for a superior inspiration of a slight detachment from present realism. The situation, the people, and the overall movie has an ideal outlook where the best is made of every hardship, and out of every character. You are aware that it is kind of outrageous and not completely in touch with what realistically would have happened, but in the end that's why The Martian is so great. Damon may have had too good of a time on mars and because of this his dread may never have been completely realized. Executives of NASA and others are VERY selfless (not just in action but in actually caring for Watney) and use extreme measures and resources in the rescue attempt of Watney. However, in real life that may sadly be a bit far fetched. Maybe this is just what we need and are drawn to by the Martian though, watching people on screen see a massive need and doing all they can to relieve it.

The Martian is one of the best movies of the year, why? Matt Damon gives one of his most compelling performances and The Martian is a straight up good time while also intriguing to the mind. The film is also a great study on the nature of humanity and our desire to help one another.

Black Mass (2015)

If nobody saw it, would Black Mass still be another Depp disappointment?

[5/10 · 20 September 2015]

"If nobody sees it, it didn't happen" - Whitey Bulger In the words of Whitey's devilish advise, I wish, for me, that Black Mass didn't happen. It's not that Black Mass is a bad movie, but it was just so dang boring. One of the year's best casts, stories, and overall opportunities for greatness is wasted with this dull, and minimalist gangster bore.

Black Mass, essentially is a canvas for Johnny Depp to re-thrive his recently deadbeat career. Depp, as one of the most infamous gangsters of all time, does not disappoint. The control and maturity of the performance is applaud worthy, and maybe award baiting during next year's Academy Awards. Along side him Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch and the rest of the cast gives terrific performances. Director Scott Cooper also gives a dark tone and effective camera work that is noteworthy. The screenwriters also give a moderately air tight story that I wouldn't call a weakness, despite the at times over dedicated dialogue. So what went wrong with Black Mass? Let us first get to some plot first.

Whitey Bulger's rise from small time gangster to FBI's most wanted man is a well known fact, but not a well known story. How he got there is the primary purpose of Black Mass, I think. When FBI agent John Connolly (Edgerton) moves back into his hometown, he reacquaints himself with a childhood friend who was "very good to him" growing up, Whitey. The problem here is that this is not a simple childhood reunion, due to Bulger being a motivated, psychopathic gangster, and Connolly being a morally corrupt FBI agent. Together Bulgar and Connolly get rid of each others competition and "rats" in order to rise up their respective ladders to a not so respectful end. Black Mass does not focus on the business side of Winter Hill Gang's operation, but instead almost solely on dealing with the FBI, competition, and Bulgar's own paranoia. Him and his goons kill quite a few people in this movie, and you can see most of the executions coming from far away. There is one stand out scene, taking place in a parking lot, that was the only excitement or suspense in this entire movie. Everything was predictable. Everything was boring. The story format was intriguing, especially at the beginning, with Bulger's colleagues informing against him, then flashing back to the crimes being explained. A really interesting development was the refrain from making Depp's Bulgar, "cool". One of his guys who was informing the FBI against him explained Bulger as "just a criminal". Cooper and the writers make sure to not commit the all too common mistake of having people leave the theater praising a serial killing gangster.

So what went wrong? The lack of cohesiveness of all the minimalist parts drowning the movie of all excitement or intrigue. Over control and nuance kills this movie. Black Mass did not compel me or bring me into this world of South Boston in the 70s and 80s. I knew I was watching a movie the whole time. While being well made and acted, Black Mass completely fails at being even remotely entertaining or immersive.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)

A Bland Story Saved by Intriguing Characters

[7/10 · 15 August 2015]

Stylish movies always pose the question, What is the value of style over substance? Some movies get ridiculed for it and others get praised ( Quentin Tarantino for instance). The director of The Man from U.N.C.L.E, Guy Ritchie is divisive in this argument due to his trademarked energetic style all his movies are marked by. One could argue though, that there (I'm one of those) is significant substance to warrant the blatant style in his best movies like Snatch. and Sherlock Holmes. So the real question is, where is the substance in The Man from U.N.C.L.E.? Characters. This film at its core is driven by a plot of an over told and bland spy story that is covered with effective and ineffective style, and ultra intriguing characters, namely The KGB stud Illya who is played shockingly well by Armie Hammer. One disturbed and complex look off of Mr. Hammer's face holds more depth and weight than the whole plot. The other characters are Solo, played also surprisingly well by Henry Cavill, and Alicia Vikander's Gaby. Vikander is what you would expect, a marvel. She made her name known by her brilliant portrayal of a robot that achieves AI (Artificial Intelligence) in Ex Machina, All three of these characters meet in the first few minutes. Solo goes to a garage in East Berlin, where Gaby is a car mechanic. Solo tells the story of her real father, a man forced against his will to build atomic bombs for the Nazi's. I won't get into the plot too much because how bland and conventional it turns out to be, but we have to hit this first twenty minutes because it is fantastic. In their attempt to get Gaby out of East Berlin they run into KGB's best Illya, and in a stunningly amazing set piece, Solo, Illya and Gaby play a cat and mouse game that is a brilliant intro to this film.

Style. As said before, the first 20 minutes or so of The Man from UNCLE was such a great start, before getting bogged down by its familiar plot exercises. The real reason was because of Ritchie's incorporation of style into the action scenes that worked effectively.The problem with the style of the rest of the film was instead of laying off the gas slowly from what was shown in the beginning, Ritchie hits the gas and beats his style into the audience in a rather hit and miss way. Some scenes it worked, and some scenes it failed....miserably. Ritchie, probably recognizing the weakness of the story that he co-wrote, overcompensated at times with style that was so bold and gutsy that I applaud with chagrin in the same moment of feeling sick and overwhelmed.

A place with a complete lack of substance was in the end, and the way it was told lacked creativity, which Ritchie lacks very rarely does. No spoilers so don't worry. In the end there is a scene that the fate of main characters is discussed over the phone, and Ritchie gives us information in an incorrect order to try and add weight to a 5 pound dumbbell. The misappropriation of story and the chopping up of a 5 minute scene and revealing it in that same 5 minutes was a poor attempt at clever story telling. Also, the conclusion and purpose of the phone call was an insult to the audience, and characters intelligence. You had a feeling with the whole ending Ritchie...struggled, and struggled to close it. The redeemable scene in the later parts was an effectively shot and built up (throughout the film) scene between the two lead male characters. The characters and their relationships for the most part, made up for the unimpressive ending, and the whole story in general.

Humor. Guy Ritchie really knows how to make me laugh, UNCLE was hit and miss for me in that department. During a set piece where Solo, and Illya are getting chased by boat, Solo jumped off the boat and escapes rather easily while Illya keeps getting shot at for a few more minutes. Solo is eating and drinking with a front row seat. It was hilarious and in the end, a big scene for some character development. There's a couple other scenes with big laughs, but others that drop a bomb.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. tells a forgettable story, but gives us memorable characters. Ritchie hits and misses with style, humor and action set pieces, and straight up miss fires all together with the plot. The actors work hard, and mainly achieve at making up for this sin, with powerful acting and great chemistry. I'll see a sequel, if someone else writes the story.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)

Maybe the best of the series

[8/10 · 3 August 2015]

Just like the film, I'm going to start off running for this review. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation is a really good movie! Think what you will about Tom Cruise off the screen. On the screen he is a pure and exciting action star, and even at the age of 53, man can he run.

This film is a good example of why we go to the movies, to be entertained but not at the expense of dulling our brain. The newest installment of Mission Impossible shows us that Hollywood blockbusters can be more than mindless action flicks that require viewers to turn there brains off to enjoy. Rogue Nation, written and directed by one of my favorites Christopher McQuarrie, is remarkably well written, and even exceeds that accomplishment with its concise delivery. The Mission Impossible series has been slandered for being convoluted, which is very accurate, but McQuarrie takes this franchise to the next level by having elements of complexity in its stories while maintaining clarity.

MI5 starts out to the thrilling scene that has been highly advertised, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) jumping and hanging onto an airplane while it takes off. This sets the tone for a film with many memorable action set pieces the franchise is praised for and sometimes gets lost in. One of the biggest refreshment of this film was the strong story around the set pieces that demanded much of the attention. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol from 2011 was a let down in the series for me, which I know is contrary to popular opinion but I really liked MI3, and part of that was the investment that was lacking in the story. The impressive set pieces took center stage which made me lose interest in why they were doing these stunts and missions, Rogue Nation had no such problem. The plot of the again disavowed IMF attempting to take down a highly trained and dangerous Syndicate was not only strong, but shockingly enveloping and intriguing for a crowd pleasing Hollywood film. This is almost solely to McQuarrie's ability to get the audience to not only like the characters on screen, but have a deep care and affection for them that makes you care about the story and where it is going.

The highlight of Rogue Nation: Ethan Hunt finding his female equal in Ilsa Faust, played brilliantly by Rebecca Ferguson. In a year of strong female characters (particularly Charlize Theron in Mad Max) Ferguson's Faust takes home gold. Which is saying something because I love Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road. What a wonderfully complex character and performance. This is Ferguson's breakout film, and my goodness did she breakout. The concrete, and the layers on top of the plot are all focused around this character and her intentions. While Ethan Hunt is caught early in the film by The Syndicate, Faust helps him escape and saves his life many times, and you still somehow don't know where her alliances lie. With the writing of McQuarrie and the superb acting of Ferguson, you are transfixed on what is going on in the story because it will tell you what her motives our. Best side character in a series that is filled with great supporting character (Simon Pegg as Benji in particular).

The only thing in this film that didn't work for me was during one of the action set pieces, McQuarrie got a little bit lazy and had Ethan Hunt make a mistake, that frankly his character would never make and hasn't made in the first 4 movies. He did this to provide Ilsa Faust the vehicle to save Hunt, which is an interesting twist in this series, but was poorly executed and set up. Minor set back but would of liked that scene to be more well done and conceived.

The fifth installment of Mission Impossible could very well be the best so far. The action is exhilarating as you would expect, but what a gloriously written character driven story. Ferguson steals the show from Cruise, even though he is excellent as well, with a dynamic portrayal of an even more dynamic character which drives this story. To many times in recent years you see women placed in similar places in movies and it feels forced and ineffective. But with Theron earlier in the year and now Ferguson, writers and directors have shown that they can incorporate and center an action movie around a strong and interesting female character.

Southpaw (2015)

Beaten by Clichés

[4/10 · 24 July 2015]

Strengths: Gyllenhaal's fantastic performance Weaknesses: Grotesque and Compounding Clichés, over revealing trailer, uneven supporting characters, narrative familiarity...etc, this was a bad movie.

A paradox, contradiction, how could Gyllenhaal team up with director Antoine Fuqua? The actor that has come out with some of my favorite films in recent years teams up with the director of The Equalizer, and Olympus has Fallen to do a boxing movie? As many of my readers know, last year's NightCrawler blew me away and was my favorite movie that year, and the year before Prisoner's was my favorite movie, and the year before End of Watch was among my favorites of the year. Even with one of my favorite actors, Jake Gyllenhaal, I had low expectations, and even those weren't met.

Southpaw begins with crazed boxer Billy Hope in his pre fight mindset, getting his fists wrapped before using them. His headphones are in and they are loud, muting everything else out with pure adrenaline, then his wife Maureen, played very efficiently by Rachel McAdams, enters. Everyone leaves the room and she takes off his headset and tells him to not getting punched too much, their is an obvious connection between these two that is magnetic. Strong start that raised my eyebrows due to my doubts coming in.

What ensues is a rocky reincarnate, all punch and no block brawl. In the HBO telecast, there is a hint at another boxer, Miguel Escobar, and that the winner of this fight will hopefully get to fight him. This really takes the steam out of the opening fight, up to that point I honestly wasn't sure if Gyllenhaal was going to win or not, but that unnecessary add-in blocked the intensity of that scene. Escobar really wanting to fight Hope, challenges him in a mocking way at the post fight press conference and by the logic of this movie, just because he won that fight. The fight made him 42-0, really who wants to fight a 41-0 guy? Billy speaks at a charity that supports orphans, which him and Maureen were growing up. Escobar is in attendance and kind of apologized to Billy for how he acted but Billy just brushes him off, which upsets Escobar and he says some disgracing things about Maureen. Well naturally being boxers, this leads to a battle royal of sorts between Escobar, Hope and their crews. In the process Maureen gets shot and dies.

You may think that is a spoiler but it really isn't, THEY SHOW IT IN THE TRAILER, I know right...stupid. The whole way leading up to that could of been really solid for all I know, but I don't know because whatever dumb executive who made the trailer gave away the emotional climax of the movie. Everything preceding has been a worn narrative throughout the years...with the perfectly loving parents who have the perfect relationship. It would of worked if I didn't know the big event, but the trailer gave it away and I just saw Fuqua amateurishly build to get the emotional return. Looking back on it, that relationship really did work and I don't want to blame the movie, for the misstep of the trailer, so I just upped my rating a little bit after further thought. Adams and Gyllenhaal...sparks fly between the two.

The rest of the movie turns into a tragedy of Hope's life and his fight for custody of his daughter so she doesn't follow in her fathers footsteps of being an orphan. He goes to train at Wills gym and meets the owner Tick (Forest Whitaker). Together they train and fight to get both their lives back on track for the people around them. Really promising stuff and in more talented hands would of worked, but Southpaw stalls to a melodramatic bore in the middle. But wow, I went this long and haven't talked about Gyllenhaal, he was great Not shocking. Not surprising, he was completely lost in this role (which is a good thing) and I forgot it was him, just as what happened in Nightcrawler. Jake Gyllenhaal truly has been the actor of the past 4 years. Then Fuqua almost squishes the enjoyment of the performances out with all to used clichés around every single corner. Since his 2001 Training Day, Fuqua has been hackish and has squandered many promising movies. The narrative is completely by the books here, other than the devastating climatic moment given away before you even got to the theaters, and there are some side stories that go on that are laughable due to the poor misplacement. Supporting characters do things that are so uneven with the character laid out for them. Potential complex characters were given way by temptations of clichés and lesser cinema.

If you go to Southpaw, go searching a character study of Gyllenhaal's Billy Hope, that is the only reward this movie has to offer.

Slow West (2015)

A Quality Different Western

[7/10 · 19 July 2015]

Just a quick review here, Slow West is one of those Indie films in redbox I have wanted to catch up with before I do my best films of 2015 so far. Anything with Michael Fassbender in it is worth seeing and am also a big fan of the always gruesome Ben Mendelsohn. Violence is present throughout.

Slow West is an unusual Western about a young Scottish man/boy, Jay (Kodi Smit-McPhee), who is in love and due to a tragedy that he claims to be his fault, his love had to flee to the West. On his way to the west Jay has a run in with some men having a "hunting party" for Indians. At gunpoint and not knowing what to do, Jay is rescued? by Fassbender's character, Silas. They agree to a deal where Silas will protect and lead him to the West for a hundred dollars. Along the way the audience learns that Silas is truly just using Jay in a diabolic way, and that Jay's love Rose and her dad, have a $2,000 bounty on their bodies and Silas wants to collect.

On their way, encounters with Bandits and people of many kinds are frequent. Silas also learns a lot about Jay and sometimes seems to becoming fond of him but you are never really sure if Silas is using or helping Jay. Narrating, Silas says about Jay "That kid was a wonder. He saw things differently. To him, we were in a land of hope and good will." The uncertain relationship and even at times, a seeming mentor-ship between Silas and Jay is a component in Slow West that outright works. Will Silas help Jay save his gal or will Jay unknowingly lead Silas to his gal? Slow West is propelled by its great characters and cast. First time writer and director John Maclean has full control of this film and while it may be too slow for some, he succeeds in getting the audience to its inevitable finale caring about the characters and their fates. Overall throughout the film I was only mildly compelled by Slow West and without the intriguing characters, I would of been uninterested. That's what Fassbender and McPhee are their for, tremendously portrayals of their well written characters.

While Slow West will most likely miss my top 5 of 2015 so far list, it was an interesting and different look into the West. Hold on and focus on the characters to get you to the extremely effective and absorbing ending.

Ant-Man (2015)

Refrshingly Small

[8/10 · 17 July 2015]

Ant-Man was one of those movies that was almost hard to believe they were going to try to make into a movie. Even in the trailers they made fun of the name and predictably the general public followed. The buzz for this movie seemed minimal with friends and if anything was said about it, usually it came from a negative perspective. I had some hope for this film though, I think Paul Rudd is hilarious and the overall commitment to a more comedic cast, director and writers seemed like a promising fit for Marvel instead of action guys writing comic relief.

Ant-Man begins with a young Michael Douglas, playing Dr. Hank Pym, arguing with some members of SHIELD about an invention of his and him not sharing it with them. You find out early that his wife is dead and he has no intentions of letting SHIELD use his application, in fear of what could happen if it gets into the wrong hands. Then fast forward to present day, Scott Lang, who is in prison for burglary, (Rudd) gets released in a pretty amusing scene. You learn a great deal about the Lang character quickly. He has a daughter, with a women who is now engaged to a cop, and that he is not allowed to see her until he gets his life together and can pay his alimony. You learn more of his criminal activity that landed him in prison and the almost Robin Hood persona it follows. He gets a job and gets fired due to a background check and a struggle follows of Rudd's character trying to stay away from the life of crime, but wanting to be able to be in his daughter's life.

Paul Rudd is absolutely perfect for this role and breaths a lot of life into this movie, same goes for Michael Douglas. The comedy to this point was pretty effective and invoked my laughs and the people around me in the theater. The movie was slow getting to the super hero part, but in hindsight I think that's a strength of Ant-Man because this worked better as a heist and unconventional super hero movie better than it would of as a grand scale typical Marvel movie.

Through struggles and pressures Scott Lang decided to do a heist his friend Luis, hilarious turn by Michael Peña, has set up and has been trying to get him to do. Showing his physical and intellectual skills, Lang gets in with ease but discovers instead of money or gold, their is a suit in the vault. Dr. Pym turns out to be recruiting Scott to be the new Ant-Man and tries to sell the idea to him as he tries on the suit and gets himself into a little trouble. Wanting nothing to do with this he returns the suit, breaking in again, but this time gets caught by the cops and sent to jail. At this point he has no options but to join Pym as he has a plan to bust him out of jail. Throughout the movie you get the antagonist Darren Cross, played by Corey Stoll (House of Cards), revealing he is getting close to achieving something similar Dr. Pym's technology, the Yellowjacket suit. This is why Pym is recruiting Rudd's character, to use him and his own Ant-Man suit to steal Cross's Yellowjacket suit before he sells it to some rather sketchy people.

As talked about earlier, the ant sized scope of this film is refreshing compared to the rest of the Marvel universe. Instead of the fight for the world on a grand scale you get an intimate fight with those same stakes in the background. The obviously coming "climatic fight scene" was also surprisingly original and had some interesting and new elements even thought the setting isn't what you would think of as an interesting setting for this type of movie's climax.

The humor overall was a strength of the movie and didn't take away from the dramatic elements as other Marvel films usually are guilty of. There were scenes were they used the same type of punch line over and over which got tedious and corny. Some of the dialogue in the fight scenes were also pretty comically bad and the villain Corey Stoll was a pretty poorly written and uninteresting character in my book. They tried something interesting with the effect the suit and science has on people involved that could of been developed into an interesting development for the Stoll character, but that was completely ditched and what we ended up with was a pretty Clichéd character.

Ant-Man is the best Marvel movie of the year, which is only a moderate accomplishment due to Age of Ultron being so average. With great humor comes great responsibility and overall the cast, writers, and director don't let down Uncle Ben's famous line that I just butchered to fit my review. The intimate scope is refreshing and daring for a Marvel franchise that has become obsessed with destroying whole cities with not much of a thought. Not great but absolutely good enough to catch in theaters for a fun ride following this unique super-hero.

Check out more of my reviews: http://reviewsbycaleb.com

'71 (2014)

An intense story about survival and war

[9/10 · 15 July 2015]

"None of us want to do this, but its war" An Indie war movie, with Jack O'Connell (Unbroken, Starred Up), a young star in the making and with a fresh first time director at the helm, and '71 has received raving reviews from critics and fans alike. With this whole combination of excitement I had to check it out (at redbox currently) and give it a look.

Director Yann Demange, follows the ultra intense story of Gary Hook (O'Connell), a young British soldier who during a routine house check gets separated and left by his unit. '71 starts off with Hook and the rest of his unit going through seemingly routine training. The unit gets notice that they are going to Belfast, Northern Ireland to assist the army there. The city is violently divide between the Protestants and the Catholics, which is mainly ran by the notorious IRA. Before they set off, Screenwriter Gregory Burke delivers some discrete and effective character development for O'Connell by showing him spending some time with a boy who seems to be his younger brother. While dropping the boy off before he goes towards Belfast it becomes apparent that not only the boy is an orphan but that Gary grew up an orphan as well.

During the majority of the beginning, and throughout the film, O'Connell plays Gary Hook with extreme physical achievement with minimal dialogue. '71 never says too much while keeping us on the edge of our seats and beautifully laying out some very difficult subject matter. Demange is always in full control of this movie and the pacing from plot point to plot point is tremendous.

Once in Belfast the movies intensity increases as they perform a house check and in the process some women form outside the house and start hitting garbage lids against the ground in an eerie rhythm. The people start rioting and the viewer's gut starts wrenching, the tensions pick up quickly. In the midst of the riots and getting rocks thrown at them, one of the soldiers gets knocked out and a boy picks up his gun and starts running, Gary Hook and another soldier chases the boy (In the main picture above) and they get jumped by a bunch of the rioters. A older lady breaks up the fight and the young soldiers seemed saved but in the blink of an eye the worst happens, and Jack O'Connell's character runs for his life. In the fight and run for survival Hook is faced with many tough decisions as he's not sure who's a friend or who is an enemy.

The cinematography during the initial chase scenes were up there with the Bourne movies. The shots were close and intimate to all the characters without be disorienting. Demange puts you right there and the feeling of running through the streets with Gary Hook is something I will not forget for a long time. Also, other stories progress about members of the IRA and of this undercover police operation. The storytelling is fine tuned and woven together with all the material when in lesser hands, this film could of gotten very muddled. Maybe the biggest accomplishment in the storytelling is how they introduced and with great care told the story of the IRA members with no bias. This movie's purpose is not to point out good and bad guys, but to show that in times of war, sometimes its hard to tell who is right and who is wrong. At the core I believe '71 is primarily a survival tale with some well written side stories that inter tangle.

'71 is the best movie of 2015 so far due to its controlled story that maintains to be one of the more intense movies in recent years. The stakes are so high in this movie and Jack O'Connell as Gary Hook is a marvel. He has a controlled and physical way about him that reminds me of fellow English actor Tom Hardy, and gives a limited on words performance that Hardy is known for. The cinematography from Tad Radcliffe and the directing are other real strengths taken away from this film. For a first time director Demange breaks through the door and I can't wait to see what he does next.

Check out more of my reviews: www.reviewsbycaleb.com

Inside Out (I) (2015)

Surprising Dramatical heft with limited laughs

[7/10 · 12 July 2015]

Is a kid's movie that is incredibly moving and thought provoking still successful if its only mildly funny? Came into this one with pretty high expectations due to the eye-popping reviews and it was the first film I brought my niece and nephew too. If you have seen my top movies of 2014 lists, then it is apparent that I can really appreciate animated movies, with The Lego Movie being my #2 favorite movie of that year. Would Inside Out be this years Lego Movie? or the bigger question, would my niece Henley be able to sit through a whole movie? Inside Out is an inventive story that follows a young girl Riley and her emotions; Joy, Rage, Fear, Sadness, and Disgust. She is a seemingly happy girl with her family up in Minnesota and with Joy (Amy Poehler) at the controls of her emotions. There are bowling ball looking spheres that represent memories; gold for joy, green for disgust, red for anger, green for fear, and blue for sadness. With Joy leading the way of all the emotions, most of the spherical memories in Riley's mental inventory were a pure gold, including the core memories that helped create thematic islands that represent Riley's life. Then within a blink of an eye Riley gets uprooted from her life in Minnesota and moves to San Fransisco. All the emotions panic and Joy's joy is shaken for a split second for the first time before she gains composure and tries to put on a smile during a bad situation.

As you can tell so far the story and idea are incredibly clever, and the execution was nearly flawless, but the big missing piece for me was the humor. The laughs for me were sparse, which was even true for my 3 year old niece, and 5 year old nephew. Spoiler: Brecken enjoyed the movie while Henley couldn't sit still, and even if she was sitting still, all the worth while themes would of probably flown over her head, but we still had a great time.

Once in San Fransisco, the fight gets real for Joy and the rest of the emotions to make Riley happy. Joy loses control though of sadness, who keeps touching memories which makes these joyful memories into sad memories. In the middle of one of these scruffs of joy trying to keep memories from sadness, they both get sucked out of the emotion headquarters and into the long-term memories. With joy gone and unable to help Riley's emotions, the happy and loving girl fades into a disgusted and fearfully angry girl, mainly towards to her parents (like so many of us did when we were kids). Riley, on the inside and out, slowly falls apart into an emotionally numb pre teen. This is actually a pretty dynamic and long plot for a kids movie so with specifics to the plot that's where I'll leave you.

When Joy is out trying to get back to the headquarters and throughout, Inside Out becomes an allegory that hits pretty heavily on some weighty issues regarding emotionally numb teens due to adults expecting you to always be happy, or just over medication of our kids. This works remarkably well and the emotional heft of this animated movie is pretty remarkable because this is a tremendously heavy and important topic it is hitting. Anyone who's grown up, which is everyone, really can relate to Riley and the battle of feeling like you have to be happy all the time even when there are times for sadness and how those mix of emotions can be a beautiful thing.

While Inside Out may of been lacking in laughs, it is more than successful in provoking deep thoughts and pulling at the heart strings. Younger kids below 7 or 8 probably will like something like the minions more due to its more obvious humor but for those looking for surprising dramatic heft, Inside Out is for you. Disclaimer: Missed about 3 minutes in the middle taking Henley to the bathroom and dispensing popcorn and their drink throughout, so may of missed some of the more clever jokes.

The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

Wes Anderson's best (Only seen 3 of his films)

[8/10 · 5 July 2015]

This is now the 3rd Wes Anderson movie I have seen, the first two being the most recent Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel. While, I thought both those films were pretty good, I was not in love with them or Anderson like so many other movie fans (gave them both 3.5 stars). With this revisit of one of his older films I have come to the conclusion that I need to see more. The Darjeeling Limited while being mildly heavy handed at parts is a dryly hilarious and beyond charming film even with its pretty unlikable characters. My favorite Wes Anderson film uses some beautiful symbolism and comparisons of life to help these characters find themselves and their meanings of life.

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St. Vincent (2014)

Touching Story with Rough Edges

[8/10 · 30 June 2015]

"Somewhere there's a score being kept, so you have an obligation to live life as well as you can, be as engaged as you can" -Bill Murray Bill Murray made his name as pure comic genius, and while he was younger for some not so saintly doings. He has actually become a great figure of redemption in Hollywood and can be looked on as a role model for many now. Any movie with Bill Murray in it, especially as the titled character, has my attention and desire to see it. Not only because of his humor or acting talents, but because of the life lessons you always hear about him teaching random strangers (if you don't know what I am talking about look it up on google).

St. Vincent is a rough, mean, and sometimes off putting story with a lot of heart at the core, which depicts the main character Vincent (Bill Murray). From the beginning you can tell Vincent has had a rough go of it and is continuing that trend. He is a Vietnam veteran with a big drinking problem and a bigger gambling problem. The only person that Bill's character seems to have regular contact with is a pregnant Russian prostitute, Daka (Naomi Watts). With his trend of bad luck a tree branch falls onto his "vintage" car due to negligence of a couple of movers hired by his new neighbor Maggie (Melissa McCarthy). Maggie is a single mother who is going through a divorce because her husband cheated on her and the downward trend in her life just hit a new low by getting on Vincent's bad side. St. Vincent has an all to realistic haunt of real life hardships. It is believable what the characters are going through and the weight added by that is essential. Another real life problem touched on in this film is bullying, Maggie's son Oliver is getting picked on at school which leads to his phone and keys being stolen. Locked out of the house he goes over to Vincent's house to call his mom. Stuck at work, Maggie asks Vincent to watch Oliver and he agrees with a price tag. Vincent's babysitting skills are put into question due to the after school activities of going to the racetrack and bars. At there trips to the racetracks you learn of Vincent's gambling debts that he owes. Zucko, played by Terrance Howard, comes into the fold many times demanding Vincent to pay the money he owes.On one trip to the tracks Oliver has an idea on how to change Vincent's gambling fortunes that pays off and makes both of them a good amount of cash. Throughout the movie other relationships that Vincent have are shown that display his better side, and a more complete picture is shown of this Saint Vincent. But just like in real life negative things happen when you least expect it, how will Vincent respond? There are dark themes and a harsh realism embedded into this film that must be realized before going to see this film.

The mismatch relationship between Oliver and Vincent brings a wonderful clash of innocence and corruption by the world. St. Vincent is in many senses a brutal case study of its titled character and Oliver is the unblemished Vincent. Vincent shows how even the pure of heart can be worn down the by the worries of this world. Bill Murray effortlessly shows this in his portrayal of a man who has given up on this world. Oliver, the innocent Vincent, tries to show him and the world the good inside of the bad and the beautiful in the midst of the ugly.

With the grisly depiction of the titled character the performance by Bill Murray is effective, St. Vincent is an all too real story of hard times, laughter and more hard times. Right when you think the movie is losing steam and hope, a shockingly sincere conclusion saves the day. Bill Murray is perfect for playing Vincent and the relationship between Oliver and him is dynamic and feels so real. St. Vincent has Murray's usual comedy and wit, which makes this movie pretty hilarious at times, but the emotional realism, which makes it hard to watch at times, in the end provides an emotional punch thats deeply touching.

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Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

"Feels like Hope"

[8/10 · 30 June 2015]

"If I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die historic on a Fury Road" - Nux Mad Max: Fury Road drove into theaters with furious anticipation due to excellent reviews that we have not seen from a Blockbuster movie in a long while. A mixture of sadly hearing (I like going into movies with no knowledge of critically feedback) about those stellar reviews before my viewing of this film and my favorite actor Tom Hardy playing Max, my excitement for this film was a bit overwhelming. Could it live up to the hype? "My name is Max. My world is reduced to a single instinct: Survive. As the world fell it was hard to know who was more crazy. Me... Or everyone else." This is the spine tingling start to MAD MAX: FURY ROAD narrated by Max (Tom Hardy). In a world ran mad, by the mad, due to a reduction in the worlds oil the thought on the minds of everyone is simple...survive! In a beautifully shot opening, which is consistent throughout the movie, Max is chased down by cult leader King Immortan Joe's (Hugh Keays-Byrne) men and imprisoned in there citadel. He is used as a blood donor for half-life war crazed Nux (Nicholas Hoult) who wants to die historic on a Fury Road. While Max is locked up Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) is sanctioned to lead a gas run with a convoy towards Gas Town. On the road to Gas Town Furiosa takes a detour and Immortan Joe discovers that his five wives are out of there chambers and Furiosa sets the road she is traveling on a furious course. The King in a desperate anger leads a historically wild and large war party to retrieve his "property". Nux, wanting to make a name for himself and to impress the immortal, sets out to lead the "rescue" with Max chained to himself so he can continue to receive his blood which gives him strength. The first of many absolutely breathtaking action scenes ensues between Furiosa's rig and Joe's army in a sand storm with tornado's and all sorts of "lovely" natural elements. Nux drags Max into this mad sandstorm in pursuit of Furiosa's rig and declares it all as "a lovely day". Lovely...this is maybe not the best word to describe the surrounding events for Max, but for the viewer...one of the straight up coolest and jaw-dropping scenes ever filmed. The intensity captured and maintained throughout the movie is sheer brilliance displayed by director George Miller. The whole film in its most simplistic form is just one big chase scene, but the execution and characters make this film so much more. The movie throws you right into the story like so few successful movies have, but the acting gives these characters such depth. Hardy, Hoult and most of all Theron are so effective in a movie that is more about the ground breaking stunts and beautifully sadistic film making. Hardy, like in many films doesn't talk very much for a main character but gives a fully expected performance marked by controlled brilliance. Hoult, as Nux gives energy and surprising heart to Mad Max: Fury Road in his quest for hope. The theme of hope is rooted in this film, Nux's hope began in an attempt to please cult leader Joe in battle and ended in a quest to help those he was originally out to kill. Theron as Furiosa was a gem and gave a strong women character that at times stole the show from the titled character. Passionately ran by redemption, Furiosa fights for those oppressed by this cruel apocalyptic world.

Mad Max: Fury Road "feels like hope" in an action genre fueled by CGI and depthless characters. It is unlike anything seen before and the intensity is jarring and never lets up. George Miller creates action scenes that are truly unique and will leave no one yawning. Hope has arrived not only for the characters in the movie but also for viewers and fans of action films. What a refreshing cinematic experience, not only because of the visceral action scenes but also the depth of the characters and themes. While due to the hype the fourth installment of Mad Max may not of left me fully satisfied, it was pretty dang close even though my expectations were through the roof. If you choose to see Mad Max:Fury Road it will truly be a lovely day for you and hopefully regain your hope in summer blockbusters.

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Ex Machina (2014)

Underwhelming Brilliance

[7/10 · 30 June 2015]

"By far the greatest danger of Artificial Intelligence is that people conclude too early that they understand it." - Eliezer Yudkowsky I am no intellectual and these theoretical scientific films are not in my wheelhouse, but the trailers looked tense and I heard it had some good reviews so there were some moderately high hopes for Ex Machina.

Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), a computer programmer for the world's largest internet search engine, wins a lottery held by the company. The prize for winning this lottery is a week with the CEO of the company, Nathan. Played by Oscar Isaac, he is a genius who thought of the algorithms of the worlds most complex search engine when he was just 12 years old. A helicopter lifts Caleb to an excluded house in the mountains where Nathan resides and the only people in the complex for the week are Caleb, Nathan and a Japanese maid who doesn't speak any English. Caleb, having no idea of the agenda for the week, is told by Nathan that he is creating a human android with artificial intelligence and that they will be performing a Turing test. Then the movie is split up into Caleb's sessions with the android Ava, and him performing the test to determine whether or not Ava is indistinguishable with a human. Ex Machina is heavily reliant on some character studies, of course of Ava as the plot of the movie is centered on Caleb's tests of her, but also of Caleb himself and Nathan. The relationships between themselves are also very compelling in determining all there intentions and Caleb serves as a detective of sorts, as he determines whether or not Ava thinks as organically as a human and why her creator/programmer brought him there. During this inspection of Ava, Caleb's sympathy and affection towards her grows, and his awareness of her artificial intelligence dims. The touring test is moving forward and through the relationships and suspense of the film, you forget this is just a scientific experiment just as Caleb has. Ex Machina is an expertly made film with an interesting premise. The acting was marvelous and all three of the relatively unknown stars shined in their respective roles (Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, and Alicia Vikander). For the first half of the movie it grabs your attention with a gripping force and you hope it just keep getting tighter...but it loosens. The suspense driven between Caleb's conversations with Ava and Nathan just keep repeating and don't amplify nearly soon enough. I caught myself being very cognitive of the time passing and with thrillers that should not be the case. Don't get me wrong, I was never bored or uninterested but Ex Machina just never hits that next level of excitement or intrigue. They sold this film as a game changing thriller in the trailers and it was really just a drama with the mask and some attributes of a thriller. Don't get me wrong, it was an effective drama with compelling interactions but when you sell a movie as a thriller you better get my heart racing more than this. Ex Machina is a well crafted and smart film, but misses that boost needed to be a memorable Sci-Fi Thriller it aimed to be.

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Fruitvale Station (2013)

An emotionally resonant telling of a growing tragedy

[9/10 · 30 June 2015]

Recently, it is hard to go more than a few weeks without seeing a debated shooting by a police officer on the news. There are many different stances people take on these events, but too often we focus more on the rioters, looters and the story than the actual people affected.

Looking through the Netflix options, I saw Fruitvale Station and between the relevance of the story, Michael B Jordan being a rising star, and massive praise at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival this was a movie to see! This film uses necessary foul language that is necessary for this movie to seem realistic and for the needed character development, but take into account before viewing.

Fruitvale Station follows Oscar Grant (Michael B Jordan) on the tragic night of New Years Eve 2008 where he was unjustly shot while being handcuffed on the ground (not a spoiler due to opening scene containing real footage of the event). Director and writer Ryan Googler, in his directorial debut deliver a gut wrenching reenactment of this true even. The story begins with Oscar arguing with his girlfriend Sophina (Melonie Diaz) about him recently cheating on her and they hear a knock on the door and Oscar hides a bag on marijuana and lets his daughter in the room where they let her sleep with them due to a bad dream. This sets the tone for a realistic portrayal of Oscar brilliantly given by the up and comer Michael B Jordan. Googler doesn't knight Oscar or villianize him, but instead gently lays out a character who is complex. Throughout many encounters with various people Oscar Grant's personality, the good and the bad, is brought out in full force to the audience. An example of both being brought out in the same scene is when he visits a meet market where he works on his "day off". While waiting for his boss he starts talking to a waiting customer, Katie. Oscar lets her know he works there and helps her pick out the best choice for the night, and then he sees his boss. In this conversation you find out Oscar has been fired for being late to many times and asks for his job, and when the boss doesn't budge Oscar flips and makes a guilt trip by saying he will have to go back to dealing drugs if he doesn't get his job back and threatens the former employer. In the span of a minute you understand Oscar and his desperation leading him to be the person he doesn't want to be and the person he is in better circumstances, which is a fun loving, nice guy. Fruitvale Station builds with other scenes similar to these and the tension, knowing the conclusion of the movie, was almost painful at times to watch. The real skill of Coogler is revealing the climax in the first scene and then going back and the build up, to the already revealed climax, being so intense even though your just following Oscar through a routine day.

Fruitvale Station is not just a cinematic gem, but also a much needed look into a growing news story we hear far too often. Instead of dehumanizing the events and focusing on what happened and the political implications like the news usually does, Coogler focuses on the people affected and the implications on them. This leaves a lot on Michael B Jordan and he expertly delivers Oscar Grant's cries and laughs, his pains and joys, and shows he is an actor to be watched in following years. This movie is for mature movie-goers but if you can handle the rough aspects, you should really enjoy this film and the tough questions it conjures up.

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The Interview (II) (2014)

One to Miss

[4/10 · 30 June 2015]

Even with the massive attention drawn on a serious scale to this movie due to North Korea's response aside, Rogan and Franco are two big movie stars that can draw buzz for any movie there in due to their proved talent. The two real life friends have teamed up a few times before (This is the End, Pineapple Express) in pretty successful, and crudely funny movies. I had heard mixed things about the Interview and wanted to check it out myself. The Interview, as all Rogan movies, involves crude jokes, language and nudity so extreme discretion should be used before viewing. Nudity is very minor but language and sexual jokes are exceedingly present. The plot has been well talked about and honestly the movie was pretty awful so my desire to write the plot line is very thin and this review will be rather short. Watching the Interview became quite a chore pretty quickly in. I'm actually a moderately big fan of Franco and think Rogan has very considerable talents, which left me disappointed in this poorly told and just sporadically funny movie. The crude jokes and language is about what we are used to with these types of movies so judge whether or not you should see this movie on what you thought about Pineapple Express (with regards to degree of offensive material, not quality of film because Pineapple Express was a far superior film). The real simple problem with The Interview is that the script isn't funny. Rogan and Evan Goldberg, who paired up to make This is the End write and direct this film with the help of Dan Sterling for the screenplay. While the idea was very intriguing and promising, the execution in the writing was frankly terrible. Effective jokes are few and far between and leave Franco in an awkward spot of trying to be funny with nothing to say. The Interview is a clumsily written comedy that commits the tragic sin in Hollywood of wasting good talent and a good idea. Franco tries oh so hard, but in the end this is just a boring interview that leaves its audience counting down the minutes for it to end. If you are looking for a non-kid comedy on Netflix check out The Big Lebowski (if you can deal with the F bomb), Chef (Comedy/Drama), Hot Fuzz or check out Pineapple Express (not on Netflix) if you want to see a far more dynamic Rogan and Franco pairing.

Check out all my reviews at: https://reviewsbycaleb.com/

Calvary (2014)

"Memories Hard Forgotten"

[8/10 · 30 June 2015]

Calvary is my #2 of "filmspotting" golden brick award nominees that I have watched in recent weeks. The golden brick award is one they give out for an outstanding under viewed movie that not many people have heard of. Unlike Blue Ruin (Which I absolutely loved and you can find my review on this website) I had heard of Calvary apart from my favorite movie podcast when I saw the trailer on IMDb, and wow it looked compelling as a promising dark comedy.

"Well that's a startling start" is a great way to describe the opening scene of Calvary, starting Brendan Gleeson as Father James. While hearing confession, a man opens (the movie and his "confession") up by telling the Father that he was raped when he was 7 years old by a catholic priest. He goes on in a calm yet vengeful anger to tell Gleeson's character that he was going to kill him in a week. From here Writer and Director John Michael McDonagh (The Guard, Ned Kelly) digs deep into this priest and what kind of man he is, and what made him that way. First off, Gleeson is mesmerizing as the lead character and delivers his hilariously sarcastic and blunt lines in career defining fashion. These lines are just one way McDonagh reveals Father James' character to us, and the more vital avenue he uses is his interaction with a variety of depraved and moraless people. Every encounter he has follows a similar form of him asking a question, the other character providing a disturbing answer, and Gleeson delivering a snarky reaction that made me smirk. Another thing McDonagh does well is a subtle development of Father James' past that hints at the overall grim point of the movie. In a scene with his daughter, she asks him why there are no pictures on the wall, and that memories fade. Gleeson delivers a simple but powerful line, "no they don't". This is a brilliant "bring back" scene to the opener where the man who was molested by a priest would agree with the conclusion of the man he has threatened to kill, and to the underlying purpose of this movie, the mistreatment committed by the Irish Catholic Church. McDonagh, who is Irish, uses this whole movie as his portrait of memories. Memories that were committed by many priest and that could not be removed.This is obviously very dark material but McDonagh handles it in a way that is truly remarkable, in invoking laughs in a very serious and dark way which allows the overall movie to make some powerful claims on forgiveness and redemption. Calvary is an adult movie and contains adult themes and language, discretion's must be taken before viewing.

Calvary, while hard to watch at times for some, is a grimly beautiful movie rooted in sin, but saved by forgiveness. Gleeson gives the performance of his career and McDonagh uses parallel's in themes like memories and death that show his skills as a writer and director for pulling them off is such a natural way. Calvary is superbly rewarding if you focus on the themes and pay close attention throughout the movie. Not a fun night film with the friends but probably best to watch alone to ponder some of its more serious questions.

Check out all my reviews: https://reviewsbycaleb.com/

Boyhood (I) (2014)

Nostalgic Innovation

[8/10 · 30 June 2015]

Boyhood has been on my list of movies to watch for a long time, due to its love received last Oscar season by critics and fans alike. With a run time of 2 hours and 45 minutes I will admit, I was a little scared of putting that amount of time into a movie that seemed so simple and possibly boring. What really could of been a poor decision, even though it truly is a good movie, was starting this movie at around 11:30 at night...

Richard Linklater's Boyhood watches Mason (and the actor who portrays him Ellar Coltrane) grow up. It really is that simple which shows how truly brilliant Linklater (Dazed and Confused, School of Rock) is as a film maker that I watched this film by myself so late and never got bored. Boyhood depicts many realistic circumstances that many boys go through while going through boy hood. Everything nostalgically glorious from playing Halo 2 on the original Xbox, riding around on your bike with friends, to not so fun things like peer pressure to drink and do drugs and dealing with divorced parents. Mason's biological parents are played by Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke, which both do a tremendous job at being superbly believable. It never shows the two while they are married but the movie uses both the maternal and paternal scope to analysis the parental role in shaping their kids. Arquette is the single mom who has been beaten down by life but dearly loves her kids even as a disciplinarian. Hawke, as the father, is a nomadic father at first who lives up in Alaska and is painted in poor light at the beginning of the film. But throughout Boyhood, Hawke deals as a vital lense into the purpose of this movie: the meaning of life. In one conversation young Mason asks the younger (probably around 2004) Hawke What the point of life, and Hawke replies, "What's the point? I mean, I sure as S*** don't know. Neither does anybody else, okay? We're all just winging it, you know? The good news is your feeling stuff, you got to hold on to that." Most of the meaningful take away quotes are similar to this, in asking what is the meaning of life or what should or am I doing with it? The achievement of filming a movie over 12 years and it ending up so smooth and fluid is an innovation we have never seen before and the most impressive part of Boyhood. The transitions when Mason would get a little older and older were refreshing and breathed so much life into this movie. There were no big jumps, which makes it amazing Linklater got through 12 years in less than 3 hours. Another real strength, which I mentioned a little earlier, was the cinematic relationship Mason had with Hawke and Arquette's characters as his parents. It felt so real and never did anything in Boyhood feel forced. Arquette won the Oscar for best supporting female role, which I didn't fully understand why until the next morning when I woke up (which was late because I started the movie so late). She seemed a 100% capable of being one of my friends parents, and she made a severely interesting character, same with Hawke. These really are normal people that the actors make you root for them so bad because of the realism in their performances. The only thing I didn't really like (used like for a reason, liked but didn't love the film like most people) was Linklater's grimness of life that he over emphasized. Let me explain...not with the circumstances because I know stuff like that happens all the time, but with the characters. Mason and his sister Samantha aren't what I would call a normal boy or girl. I think Linklater did this to be able to put a more philosophical touch and narrative on the movie, so I completely understand,but I think he used kind of a clichéd cast of kids that didn't go with the realistic older characters. Very minor critique because I completely understand why he did it and still was drawn and invested into mason and Samantha. Boyhood has language throughout, sexually suggestive scenes and drug use.

Boyhood may of come up just a bit short of the modern masterpiece stapled to it by most critics, but Linklater made a nostalgic, innovative and realistic portrayal of boyhood, even if it over focused on the more grim aspects. Watching the movie so late was a gamble, but it surely paid off.

Check Out all my reviews at: https://reviewsbycaleb.com/

Blue Ruin (2013)

Netflix Flick to See

[9/10 · 30 June 2015]

"You know what's awful? Just cause my dad loved your mom… we all end up dead." Over the past couple of years I have listened to a movie podcast, filmspotting. I would highly recommend this podcast for anyone who considers themselves a lover of movies and wants to learn more about movies, specifically older classics and smaller indie films like blue ruin. I heard about Blue Ruin a few times on the show and that it was nominated for their 2014 Golden Brick award, which is an award for a great smaller under viewed film. I wanted to give it a look even though I had no idea what the movie was about, which sometimes is a very good thing. So if you want to watch the movie the same way I did, not knowing anything going in, only read the bold text. (Will be not plot related) Blue Ruin is a low budget ($420,000) suspense thriller that follows a seemingly homeless man and his search for propitiation and revenge. Dwight (Macon Blair) is living out of his car and showers in random houses that have accumulated papers on the front step. Just out to survive, and sulk in his tough circumstances, a policewoman who knows Dwight comes and tells him that Wade Cleland has been released from prison. The look portrayed by Blair is haunting, and the care by Director Jeremy Saulnier in revealing the backstory slowly and not heavy-handedly elevates this film. Slowly you learn more and more about what has transpired between Wade and Dwight and the consequences from them. The real brilliance of this film and why it is not just the conventional revenge flick is in the refreshing storytelling. The seeming culminating climax seems to happen in the first 20 minutes of this movie, and usually movies end where Blue Ruin truly begins. Saulnier goes into seemingly new territory and navigates through the downfall of the usual ending climax of these revenge flicks.Because of this fresh story development the uncertainty of where this movie was going was invigorating. Blue Ruin leaves the viewers on the edge of their seats in a way that we wish all these types of films did. Moving away from the plot and on to the cinematography because the uncertainty of the where things are going is such a strength of this film. Saulnier in his sophomore endeavor as a director is known more for being a great cinematographer, and it fully shows in this beautifully shot film. Everything looks finely crafted in a wonderfully grim way, and the landscape filmed plays a character in this movie depicted by the ruins left by previous actions similar to Dwight's life. But can Dwight and these other characters evade the same fate of these ruined places? Warning: The film contains gruesomely violent scenes and dark themes; language is also used throughout this film. Please take into consideration before viewing.

Blue Ruin is a revelation for the revenge flick genre. Saulnier pulls off a wonderful change to the clichéd revenge story structure to make a memorable film. Macon Blair is also a good fit to play the haunted and creepy Dwight. This movie is usually beautiful and brutal at the same time, beautiful in how it is shot and told and brutal in the story being told and the gore used to add weight to the consequences of previous actions. Go in not expecting the typical blockbuster movie and you won't be sorry you went it, check it out on Netflix and let me know your thoughts! Check out all my reviews at: https://reviewsbycaleb.com/

Jurassic World (2015)

Heavy Hands Produce Cash

[5/10 · 30 June 2015]

Jurassic Park has been a box office phenom and surprise, which for me this summer has not always translate into me enjoying that film (specifically thinking of Furious 7). I am a big fan of Chris Pratt and enjoyed the original Jurassic Park when I revisited it last year. There were mixed expectations coming in with many friends telling me they really enjoyed it and many critics I know or follow being not so thrilled about the new Jurassic Park (World) reboot. What would this relatively unknown and new director (Colin Trevorrow) come up with? In the fourth installment of this prehistorically new world, it picks up 22 years after the events of Jurassic Park (1993). Jurassic World follows many characters, and two of those characters are brothers Zach and Gray Mitchell (Zach Robinson and Ty Simpkins) who get sent off to the theme park by their parents. Right after the two kids are out of hearing range, it is apparent that their is high tension between the grown ups and it is later revealed they are in the process of getting a divorce. This is my first problem with the movie, this side story line is solely their to raise the stakes for the audience in these two kids, and it is done in such a blatant and uncreative way. This is an ongoing theme throughout the film and a huge problem with the writing. On the other end of the plane is Zach and Gray's aunt Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) who runs the whole park. She is clearly a driven and work focused women who hasn't seen her nephew's in over 7 years. The boys are clearly disappointed when she is taken away on business and leaves an assistant to show the boys around the park. The business is a new attraction to revive the theme park and boost attendance. It is learned that this new "asset" is a genetically enhanced super dinosaur, and the billionaire owner Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) wants to make sure the dinosaur is safe enough to open up to the public. This is when the one and only Chris Pratt, playing Owen, finally comes in. I am a big fan of Chris Pratt for my favorite movie in many years The Lego Movie, and the very solid Guardians of the Galaxy.He was a moderate bright spot in this movie and was a good fit for the role, while not blowing me away as he did in the previous two films mentioned. Owen, being a Velociraptor trainer has considerable skills in this field but him and two others are tricked by the dinosaur and the other two characters pay the ultimate price and all hell is broke lose when the dinosaur escapes.

In the escape of these many prehistoric animals there is a mad dash by the characters to control or eliminate the outbreak, and specifically the super dinosaur who caused it all. In this chaos Vic Hoskins (Vincent D'Onofrio), the head of security on the Island, wants to use the Velociraptors and his men to eliminate the problems, and him and Pratt's character clash drastically. In the first attempt to take down this creature it is CLEARLY noticed that he has camouflage capabilities when the leader of the hunt party yells out "HE HAS CAMOUFLAGE" before being eaten. This provides two problems for me with Jurassic World; first being the heavy handed writing and unbelievable lines delivered by characters. There is no way that character would yell that right before his ultimate demise, and we don't need to be clearly told the dinosaur has this ability because we can see that for ourselves. Second problem is my biggest problem with this movie, and it is the lack of care for the human characters deaths but a huge sentiment when one of the animals or dinosaurs is killed or hurt, it is like PETA made this movie. Can't really get into it anymore without spoilers but look for it when you see the movie, all the dramatic heft is for the hurting or deceased animals which is fine, but there is almost a disdain towards humans in this movie. I loved Marley & Me and it brought me to tears, so don't freak out that I hate animals, but when there are people dying all around and there is no care in that, but a clear dramatic focus on these genetically modified animals, we have a problem. On that note, this is a moderately violent and scary movie so young kids may be frightened. Jurassic World suffers from a heavy handed script, and an even more heavy handed animal activist agenda. There are significant thrills in this movie that can be thoroughly enjoyed, but in the end is a forgettable disappointment despite it fattening the wallets of studio executives.

Check out all my reviews: https://reviewsbycaleb.com/

Black Sea (2014)

Black Sea - "Drowned to the unmemorable"

[5/10 · 28 June 2015]

Black Sea, when I first saw the trailer was probably close to my top 10 most anticipated movies of 2015 due to its fantastic cast and intensely brilliant trailer. Also, Kevin Macdonald has made two films that I have enjoyed quite a bit (The Last King of Scotland, State of Play), which made me even more faithful to this films success. Would Black Sea meet my high expectations, or be held down by the weight of all it's "gold"?

Black Sea is an interesting story crippled by muddled storytelling and lack of true genuine thrills. The shots are beautiful but the substance is lacking. While Jude law is thrilling in the lead role, he could save Black Sea from sinking into the unmemorable.

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