Review: Hail, Caesar!

If you have read enough of my reviews, then you might know that I am not the biggest Coen brothers fan. I definitely appreciate them and do find some of them to be very good. But I never see them to be award winning or be some of the greatest films of all-time.
However, some of my favourite films from this talented duo seem to be goofy comedies such as 'O, Brother Where Art Thou?' or 'Burn After Reading'. Their latest feature would seem to fit into that category judging by the trailer.

That actual trailer intrigued me so much that it became my most anticipated film of 2016. As this was a Coen brothers film, this gave me hope that this could be the one that I would see as one of the all-time greats.

Sadly, that wasn't the case. But don't worry, there is still a lot about this mad caper.

I seem to like screwball-type comedies that they do such as 'Burn After Reading or O Brother', 'Where Art Thou?'. This one turns to be another of those. But it does not quite match its predecessors.

It is always hard to classify a Coen brothers film, and that is mainly the reason why I don't put these directors on that pedestal that so many are. Thankfully, I can always appreciate what they are doing despite never seeing any of their films some of the greatest I have ever seen.

One things is for sure, is that it is gorgeous to look at. The 1950's setting is always a place that I would love to back in time to, especially when the setting is in Hollywood.
The type of films the Coens show throughout the film gives a great homage to those classic type of films that were being released at the time.

The performances are high-quality also from an extraordinary ensemble cast. Leading the way is Josh Brolin and George Clooney, who are regularly part of the Coen's features. Brolin was a solid lead and Clooney always excels in any Coen feature he has been in. Other regulars that were involved were Tilda Swinton who played twins who are both nosy gossip columnists, and Frances McDormand who was involved in one scene as an editor.
Stealing the show for me was relatively unknown Alden Ehrenreich, who plays an actor renowned for his roles in westerns. His image definitely fits the era and he has a young Orson Welles look abut him. His character is basically homage to Roy Rogers and he pulls it off beautifully with being involved in some of the best scenes in the film. Channing Tatum was great in a role that seemed like the Gene Kelly type.
Other roles paying tribute to classic actors were Scarlett Johansson who was basically playing Esther Williams, but with a sharp mouth and Veronica Osorio, who was the Carmen Miranda-esque character. Ralph Fiennes also gives a fine supporting role, along with small appearances from Jonah Hill, Wayne Knight and Christopher Lambert.

Two main things prevented me from thinking this was a very good. Not a lot of the jokes worked for me. But what worked was quite clever and the set-up style the Coens do in their comedy is definitely unconventional. They always seems to anything funny, especially when we don't aspect a comedic moment.
Something else was definitely missing that would have given a very good rating. I'm not quite sure what it could be. I think possibly the story could have felt more together and maybe I could have wanted the pacing slightly faster.

But I'm afraid the general feeling of it was a let down, but nevertheless a good and interesting watch.

If you're a fan of the history of film and understand the Coens style, then you will probably get the most enjoyment out of it. Sadly for the general audience, I think the stellar trailer and general marketing might let this film down as many including myself will leave disappointed. However, I still liked it, I never got bored, the quirky tone to it got a few laughs out of me and I never checked the time to see how long was left. The performances and writing were great, and the look of it is gorgeous.
I will still look forward to anything else the Coen's have to offer.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Bone Tomahawk

Westerns don't come around as often as they used to. But when they do, it is usually quite an enjoyable experience. The most recent ones I can remember that was well praised by the critics were The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained and 3:10 To Yuma.

The trailer for this really spooked me, and had my attention as it seemed to have an interesting horror angle to it.

The first half is a slow burner, but still intriguing enough to keep me interested. It gave us time to find out about the characters. It was also nice to see Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox and David Arquette back on the big screen.
One guy who was completely unrecognisable was Richard Jenkins.
Then the second half turns its attention to the horror part of this film. The last 50 minutes are pretty tense, disturbing and highly gruesome that made my jaw drop. It suddenly turns into something similar to two famous horror films that I like.

This definitely won't be to everyone's taste. But I think if you can get through the first half, then you can at least the tense and thrilling finale. The movie as a whole was pretty solid and I think the refreshing look will give it that extra edge over many other new releases.
The writing is developed well with enough character development is keep us invested. The horror segments are particularly un-nerving especially one scene that is one of the most gruesome I have ever seen.

The performances were not exceptional, but certainly not terrible. Kurt Russell gives us a fine lead and kept goes engaged in this odd premise. Wilson keeps reminding us what an under-rated talent he is and Fox gave us an interesting character. I certainly hope Fox is in more movies in the future. Lili Simmons who played one of the few female roles felt misplaced for most of her screen-time. Her reactions in the disturbing second half did not seem to work for me. It did not seem believable in relation to what was going on screen. But thankfully, that is only a minor flaw.

Despite having to be patient in the first half, I say this was a pretty original take on a genre that seemed to be all but done. The director S. Craig Zahler gave the film a welcoming unpredictability throughout and I hope he gets more opportunities in the future.

I can safely say that this is the best 'western-horror' I have ever seen. There might not be many of these types of films out there, but it is still the best one I have seen.
The production is a huge strong point as are costumes. The connection between the characters was pretty solid. It is great to see Kurt Russell come back regularly to our screen. He seems to have done this and The Hateful Eight back-to-back as he has kept his impressive moustache. The landscapes chosen are quite good to look at. One thing I should mention was a nice use of practical effects during the final act.

If you can get through the first half, then you can enjoy the movies pay off which an unpredictable second half that turned the film on its head.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Concussion

It is not often we see Will Smith in a dramatic role. Usually known for his upbeat and comedic roles, Smith has also done some nice dramatic roles in films such as The Pursuit Of Happyness, I Am Legend and Seven Pounds.

In this one, it is based on the true story of an accomplished doctor uncovering the truth on the seriousness on brain damage of the full contact sport, American Football. We see it mentioned in many other sports nowadays. Well, this is the story of how it became the norm now to make sure all the players avoid concussion.

This is definitely a courageous and ballsy move for the film-makers to make this and release it so soon after the incidents.
Will Smith is the star of the show. Any debate over his talent would easily be disregarded after watching this. He is believable throughout, the accent he gives felt legit and you do forget it is Smith on screen as he sinks himself into the character really well. His introduction eased us into the character and I felt at ease every time he was on screen.

As for the rest of the movie, the pacing is solid and slowly amplifies the tension well. However, I felt a lack of detail stopped this from being a terrific drama. But I think to appeal to a mainstream as they know Smith is a big attraction, they probably had to do it like they did.

The solid supportive roles of Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Albert Brooks and Alec Baldwin are definitely worth mentioning. Baldwin was the particular stand-out with several scene-stealing scenes in the second half of the film. This is probably his best performance since Seven Pounds or I Am Legend.

Despite the story not hitting me as hard as it probably should, I was enjoying this. It was great seeing Smith be great again.
I think the main reason of the story not hitting me hard is mainly due to what I already know about this story as I am an NFL fan. But also the pacing of the film did not make this a tense ride of worldwide organisation having cover-ups.
The structure of the film felt too formulaic. It is like reading a Wikipedia page. So I guess this is a bit of a negative as it is predictable. I know it is tough for biopics to give us something different whilst telling a true story.

But I will still recommend it as there is a lot to like about this. It tells an interesting story that is topical in today's society and other sports have followed suit by making sure their players are thoroughly looked after. Go to a screening for that and the great performances lead by a Will Smith that is returning to form.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Deadpool

The first of six superhero films begins with one many hardcore fans have been waiting some time for.

After showing small promise with a minor appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds is thankfully reprising his role as 'the merc with the mouth'.
I was glad to see them give a rating that matches the source material. So now everyone is expecting a film that is true to the character.

I was happy to see Ryan Reynolds return, as I thought he was really good in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I actually thought that film was pretty solid compared to what the majority say.

With most films these days, I try and avoid the trailers if I know I am going to see it whatever the trailer was going to show us. But the marketing campaign that I have seen have been very clever and have given us the perfect indicator on what tone this film is going for. Now that I have seen the film, I have now seen all the trailers, and they are all brilliant.

Well, I can definitely say that this is a totally different Marvel film and I have not had so much fun at the cinema since probably Guardians Of The Galaxy.
Even though we have five more superhero films coming out this year, I could be confident in saying that this could the best superhero film of 2016, mainly due to it being different. This has set the bar for the other comic book films with a higher anticipation such as Captain America: Civil War or Batman v Superman.
This has definitely put the pressure on those films that are expecting to make more box office sales.

Right from the incredibly funny opening credits, you can tell where this is going. It's self-aware of everything that it is doing and was not shameful in making fun of themselves. Even the cinematography was pretty clean instead of the shaky-cam that others have done. It managed to get me laughing out loud and fairly regularly. What was great about the comedy is that it felt organic rather than forced like what Avengers: Age Of Ultron did.
The type of comedy may be crude to some people. But I think it could win some of them over as it is not done in a gratuitous way, but with a smile on their face.

From the trailers, you think it's full on comedy with some superhero action. But there is a decent amount of romance that was well handed, you believe in it and you care for it. Yep, there is a lot different to this than any other Marvel or superhero film for that matter.

I have to express my praise towards Ryan Reynolds now. Reynolds pays great homage to the source material and the character. You can really feel his passion for this celebrated superhero. He was put on this Earth to play Deadpool.
The rest of the performances were pretty solid all-round. One who surprised me was Ed Skrein who plays the main villain. I felt he played it well and did not feel wasteful like 99% of the other Marvel villains we have seen. This is definitely an improvement to his performance in Transporter: Refuelled.

I may have not read a single comic book of Deadpool, but I get enough of it from others to understand what we should expect from Deadpool. I definitely felt it in this film and I am hooked for the recently announced sequel.
It may not be compelling or as award winning as something like Citizen Kane or 2001: A Space Odyssey. But for what it is, it is a super-fun time that does not hold back on the rating that it wanted.
Where others felt constructed by studios, this is definitely not feeling hand-cuffed. It felt free to go all out to entertain us in the crudest possibly way.

Tim Miller and his team have done a fantastic job and I honestly think this could make the other highly anticipated comic books films look disappointing. Boy has this got the ball rolling for 2016.
The timing of this release is much needed as we are beginning to have superhero fatigue. This definitely gives us a refreshing look at the genre by changing the tone of it.
It will be interesting to see where they go with this as they have already announced a sequel for this and they make some interesting cross-over references that fans can have theories over for some time.

In the end, I completely loved it. This is definitely going high up in my best Marvel films of all-time, it could easily end up in my top 10 films at the end of the year and I will be quoting many lines and playing songs from the film forever more. It was one of my most anticipated films of 2016, and it showed why.

A couple of additional notes that will help with your viewing experience, there is the usual Stan Lee cameo, and it is a pretty cool one. There is also a post-credits scene that is worth watching and pays great homage to one of the best post-credits scene of all-time and gives it that Deadpool touch.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Trumbo

A film about an event in the movie industry would definitely make me curious.
But when a film like this is getting awards buzz, it definitely got my attention.

Even with a conventional structure to the narrative, I felt pretty entertained and was quite satisfied with a very pleasantly told story.

It tells us a very interesting story about the film industry during the 1940's that definitely needs to be told. Especially at a time when the industry nowadays is showing similar signs of that time right now.

There are plenty of positives. It explains the story pretty well and moves along at a nice pace that everyone can get on board with. One thing that I was surprised to experience, was the amount of laughs it got out of me throughout. The comedy is very good, especially for fans of film history.

The stellar cast gives us great performances that give them all at least one scene stealing moment. Bryan Cranston was great as the lead character. You definitely feel you were watching Trumbo and not Cranston. Helen Mirren plays one evil little thing and plays it so well. Elle Fanning was great for the short time she had on screen. John Goodman made me remember how much we need more of him. Especially after one brilliant scene involving a baseball bat.
So many other notable performances by the hugely underrated Mark Stuhlbarg, the always gorgeous Diane Lane, Roger Bart and Christian Berkel.
Two performances I had to mention were David James Elliott and Dean O'German for their great portrayals of John Wayne and Kirk Douglas.

The negatives strangely relate to the positives. The good stuff I'm afraid just is not strong enough to be seen as a great film. It does nothing extraordinary in terms of the story telling. That is just my demanding side coming out.
I would have liked the story go in more detail with the events going on within the film industry rather than focusing on the protagonists family. But I think that was expected as we see that in a lot of biopics.
I'll even be cruel and say that at times it does feel like a TV movie. That is not always a bad thing as there are a few exceptions, just like this one.

Trumbo shows us a story that we should definitely check out and I think it was portrayed in a very safe way that can appeal to the masses.
There is a lot to like. The story is interesting, well written and has solid funny moments from a stellar cast. But I think with the good stuff not being strong enough is the reason why is not as involved with the other awards contenders. You could say it lacked substance. But overall, it is a very pleasant movie that has great performances and tells a very interesting story that affected the film industry in a big way.
Cranston is worth the Oscar nomination as he is a fantastic lead and gives quite a transformation into one of Hollywood's greatest screenwriters.

Rating: 7/10