Movie Review Monster's Ball

Monster's Ball (2002) 

Directed by Marc Forster 

Written by Milo Addica

Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Heath Ledger, Sean Puffy Combs, Peter Boyle 

Release Date February 8th, 2002 

Published February 7th, 2002 

In my continuing effort to become a more well-rounded filmgoer, I have considered taking an acting class. It might be helpful in understanding just how difficult this craft truly is. After seeing Monster's Ball with Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry, I can save the tuition price. I simply need to purchase this DVD and watch it a few more times as this film is a lesson in what great acting is all about.

The story begins with prison guards preparing for an execution. Billy Bob Thornton is Hank the head guard. Hank has just hired his son Sonny, played by Heath Ledger, to be part of the crew and the execution of Lawrence Musgrove (Sean Combs). It will be the first he has ever taken part in. As Lawrence prepares for his execution he is visited for the last time by his wife Leticia (Halle Berry) and his only son Tyrell (Coronji Calhoun). Lawrence wants a meaningful goodbye but Leticia explains that she is only there so he can say goodbye to his son. In one of the film’s most touching moments Combs explains to his son that he is a bad man and that Tyrell is the only good to have come from his life.

As the preparations for the execution continue, Hank explains to Sonny a tradition known as the Monster’s Ball wherein guards sit with the condemned while he prepares to die. Yet again Combs has an effective bit of dialogue as he discusses the difference between drawing a portrait and taking a photo. The drawings will be important later in the film but not in the way you would expect.

After the execution, a shocking series of events leads Leticia into the arms of Hank, not knowing that Hank had taken part in her husband’s execution. The relationship between Hank and Leticia is complicated, not just because Hank is white and Leticia is black, but because of Hank's father Buck (Peter Boyle), a twisted old racist who has destroyed the lives of everyone he has come into contact with, with his hatred. There are also a series of tragic events that give Hank and Leticia more common ground, albeit a common ground based on pure sadness and desperation.

Both Thornton and Berry are outstanding, they put on a clinic for actors with their perfectly pitched roles. The romance between these two desperate and needy people is communicated by looks and gestures that are uncomfortable and tentative but also tender and longing. The supporting cast is equally good, especially Combs whose natural delivery brings a realistic depth to his character. Heath Ledger deserves extra credit for taking on this highly unglamorous role, his Sonny is skinny and desperately weak willed. Ledger sells it even with a suspect southern accent.

Director Marc Foster pores on the tragedy and sadness. At times it seems a little too much and yet he does manage to make a film that is surprisingly romantic and uplifting. Monsters Ball develops slowly but once Berry and Thornton come together the film lifts to amazing heights. I highly recommend Monster's Ball.

Movie Review: Collateral Damage

Collateral Damage (2002) 

Directed by Andrew Davis

Written by David Griffiths, Ronald Roose 

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elias Koteas, Cliff Curtis, John Leguizamo, John Turturro, Tyler Posey 

Release Date February 8th, 2002 

Published February 8th, 2002 

Is America ready? I'm not talking about is America ready for a violent action film so close to anniversary of 9/11. I mean is America ready for an Arnold Schwarzenegger that doesn't entirely suck. In Collateral Damage, Schwarzenegger is Gordy Breuer a Los Angeles firefighter who witnesses an explosion that kills his wife and child. Not only did he see what happened but also he saw the man responsible, a terrorist called the Wolf (Cliff Curtis).

Schwarzenegger characters are anything but passive, and Gordy is quick to dismiss warnings from government officials including Elias Koteas, the CIA Agent who was the target of the bomb that killed Gordy's wife and child. It doesn't take a genius to know Gordy is going to Columbia to find the Wolf and avenge the death of his family.

If it were that simple there wouldn't be much of a film. Director Andrew Davis (the lensman behind The Fugitive) expertly builds suspense by keeping the film’s pace clicking along quickly. It doesn’t hurt to use Schwarzenegger's previously established action persona to give the audience the feeling that anything could happen at any moment.

The film's special effects are surprisingly cheesy at times, especially the CGI sequences that look as fake as they are. And at 50+ years old, Schwartzenegger obviously can no longer do his own stunts, so it would help to find a stuntman that looks a little more like him.

Those problems aside Collateral Damage is exciting and suspenseful from beginning to end. The film has an especially good twist near the end that I honestly didn't see coming. Is America ready for Collateral Damage? Well they should be because on video and DVD and it's definitely a worthy rental.

Movie Review Slackers

Slackers (2002) 

Directed by Dewey Nicks

Written by David H Steinberg

Starring Jason Schwartzman, Devon Sawa, Jason Segal, Laura Prepon, Jamie King 

Release Date February 1st, 2002 

Published February 2nd, 2002 

Oh wow, another movie set on a college campus we haven't seen one of those in what... two or three weeks? To be fair Orange County wasn't entirely set on a college campus but I think you get my point about this being much tread upon ground.

Slackers, not to be confused with the Richard Linklater classic Slacker, stars Devon Sawa as Dave who with the help of his friends, played by Michael C. Maronna and Jason Segel, is the biggest scammer on campus. Despite the title, Dave and his friends actually work pretty hard on their scams to steal test papers and cheat on exams. They work so hard on them in fact it made me wonder if the title was an idea from the movie marketing department and not the writers director or producer.

I had a lot of time to ponder things like the title, the amount of salt on my popcorn and the calories in my Pepsi because I didn't spend any time laughing at this early worst of the year candidate.

Poor Jason Schwartzman, when last we saw him he was in the brilliant film Rushmore. In Slackers he portrays the most unlikable movie character since the babies of Baby Geniuses. Schwartzman spends the entire movie being the creepy stalker of Angela played by Model James King, collecting her hair and forming it into a doll and building a creepy shrine in his dorm room. Why anyone thought any of this was funny I have no idea. Don't get me wrong, I think anything can be funny if done right but if done wrong as it is in Slackers, it's just painful and hard to watch.

The saddest thing about Slackers though is its star Devon Sawa who I really like as an actor. He was fantastic in Final Destination and even in the God-awful Idle Hands. Sawa is charismatic and funny with a great deal of potential as a comedic leading man. Let's hope he can avoid movies like Slackers in the future. 

Movie Review: Birthday Girl

Birthday Girl (2002) 

Directed by Jez Butterworth

Written by Tom Butterworth 

Starring Nicole Kidman, Ben Chaplin, Vincent Cassel, Matthieu Kassovitz 

Release Date February 1st, 2002 

Published February 2nd, 2002 

I just read Roy's column about movies that are guaranteed to suck. In it, Roy asks how some movies get made. I have wondered that myself quite often. Not when it comes to Miramax films though. I know that if Miramax puts out an obvious piece of crap with a star in it, it is because said star probably owed Harvey a favor.

That is the only way to explain Nicole Kidman's starring in the dreadful English thriller Birthday Girl. As a Russian mail order bride named Nadia, Kidman acts as if she has a figurative gun to her head. Her every expression screams "let's get this over with quickly."

Ben Chaplin is John, Nadia's through the mail hubby. John is a shy, loser bank teller in a small English town. He explains in voiceover that because the town is small there are few eligible women. So rather than looking outside his own zip code, John jumps online and orders a mail order bride from Russia. (You know you can get anything on Ebay these days.)

Anyway let's try to forget that the likelihood of John's mail-order bride looking anything like Nicole Kidman; obviously she is more likely to look like someone named Nick than Nicole. Putting that aside, let's talk plot. Nadia speaks no English and she smokes like a chimney, two qualities John explicitly said he didn't want. But wouldn't you know it, he forgot to get a receipt so they won't take her back. (Always, always get a receipt.)

Oh right the plot. After trying to send her back she convinces him to keep her by taking off her clothes. She can't speak English but she is a hell of a negotiator. Soon it's her birthday and out-of-town relatives show up. Nadia's cousins Alexai (Vincent Cassel) and Yuri (Matthieu Kassovitz. He made this before Amelie so we forgive him.)

Well it turns out the cousins are actually partners in crime, con men who convince John to rob his bank branch in broad daylight by holding Nadia hostage. Now we must understand that John doesn't know Nadia is working with the con men. Still, in the robbery scene, his opportunities to put an end to the whole thing are numerous. One word to a coworker or any of a number of cops, or during the get away (or not ordering a Russian mail-order bride in the first place) would have enabled him to escape.

Birthday Girl is yet another film where one intelligent decision by either lead character would end the film in the first 30 minutes.

Would someone please wake Ben Chaplin before filming him please? Honestly, every film he has been in I've wanted to check his pulse, maybe hold a mirror under his nose to see if he's breathing. This guy makes Al Gore look like Carrot Top. What a surprise that Birthday Girl has been gathering dust since it's completion in mid 2000. It might have stayed on the shelf had Kidman not had the best year of her career in 2001 with two hit films and a best actress Oscar (which she won a mere five days before Birthday Girl opened.) One of those quirks in timing I'm sure. 

Movie Review: A Walk to Remember

A Walk to Remember (2002) 

Directed by Adam Shankman

Written by Karen Janszen 

Starring Mandy Moore, Shane West, Daryl Hannah, Lauren German, Clayne Crawford 

Release Date January 25th, 2002 

Published January 24th, 2002 

SPOILER ALERT! I'm required to say that because indeed I am giving away this film’s ending. Of course if you have seen this film’s marketing campaign and you don't already know how this one ends, then you need to buy my new book “Teen Movies for Dummies.” A Walk To Remember is yet another addition to the growing genre I have dubbed the “dead ingénue” movie. Cute, quirky chick rescues and reforms wayward male and then dies.

Pop singer Mandy Moore stars as a nerdy Christian outcast who tutors underprivileged kids, sings in the choir, stars in the school play and has a 4.0 GPA. Shane West from TV's Once & Again is her wayward hunk who, after nearly killing a friend of his is sentenced to community service and forced to star in the school play. If that's what you get for attempted manslaughter, what is the punishment for murder? Detention? Anyway our two stars meet while working in the play together, they fall in love, and then she's dead.

This film seems as if it were made for the WB network. With it's appealing young stars and 94 minute runtime it’s perfect for the two hour block right after Dawson's Creek, if you factor in commercials. Journalistic integrity forces me to admit that Moore and West do have an effective scene in her hospital room. The touching and well-written scene hints at a great future for West who reminds me of a smarter-looking Paul Walker.

As for Moore, well honey, don't quit your day job. If A Walk To Remember is anything to judge Mandy's acting skills, Julia Roberts doesn't have anything to worry about.

Movie Review Storytelling

Storytelling (2002) 

Directed by Todd Solondz 

Written by Todd Solondz 

Starring Selma Blair, Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, James Van Der Beek

Release Date January 25th, 2002 

Published August 3rd, 2002 

Todd Solondz is the brilliant auteur behind the blindingly funny Welcome To The Dollhouse and the endlessly disturbing Happiness. In his most recent film, Storytelling, Solondz attempts to combine the satirical and the disturbing and succeeds to a point.

Storytelling is two entirely different stories, one called Fiction and the other Non-Fiction. In Fiction, Selma Blair plays Vi, a disillusioned college girl who, after growing weary of insensitive freshman boys, begins a relationship with a freshman with cerebral palsy. She assumes he will be nicer than most because his options are far more limited. 

After finding him to be much like everyone else, Vi heads to a bar and is picked up by her creative writing teacher, a bitter African-American Pulitzer Prize winner, who takes revenge on racism by having sadomasochistic sex with young white girls. The teacher, played by Robert Wisdom, has the intense creepiness of Anthony Perkins and is easily the most disturbing character in the film.

Fiction is by far the more compelling of the film’s two stories. Fiction is challenging and confrontational with some shocking laughs. Sadly, Fiction takes up only 20 minutes of screentime, just enough to introduce its interesting characters and raise its challenging issues and then walk away before leaving an impact.

Non-Fiction is a somewhat aimless take on the suburbia Solondz so deftly dissected in his first two features. Here however, he doesn't seem to know what it is he's attempting to say. The lead of the story is Paul Giamatti as a wannabe documentary filmmaker who wants to document the disaffected youth in the suburbs. 

His subject will be Scooby Livingston, played by Mark Webber. Scooby is an aimless gen X'er whose goal is to become a talk show host. Also involved are Scooby's parents, the angry and intimidating Marty (John Goodman) and the meek and clueless Fern (Airplane’s Julie Hagerty). There is also a subplot involving Scooby's little brother Mikey and the family's maid Consuelo, played by Lupe Ontiveros.

Non-Fiction is as aimless as the subject of its movie within the movie. Scooby has no ambition and neither does the story. Admittedly there are a couple of good laughs and a strong cameo by Franke Potente, however, Non-Fiction is undercut badly by the unfocused story and the outlandish and ridiculous subplot. The culmination of the little brothers subplot involving hypnosis and revenge leaves one to wonder if the story was supposed to be satirical or serious.

There was a great deal of potential for Storytelling. That potential goes unrealized, but the attempt is respectable.

Movie Review The Mothman Prophecies

The Mothman Prophecies (2002) 

Directed by Mark Pellington 

Written by Richard Hatem 

Starring Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Will Patton, Debra Messing 

Release Date January 25th, 2002 

Published January 25th, 2002 

The words "based on a true story" have a way of stirring up controversy in Hollywood. Case in point A Beautiful Mind, where a few seemingly minor factual omissions have fueled all sorts of critical rants. Now comes The Mothman Prophecies based on the 1975 book of the same title by John Keel who investigated paranormal activity in the small town of Point Place, West Virginia in 1966.

The paranormal activities were said to be the multiple unrelated sightings of moth-like creatures including one by the author himself. Thus the "based on a true story" credit at the beginning of the film has elicited skepticism and even laughter from some reviewers, myself not included. Not that I believe in these supposed moth-like creatures, I just found the film itself to be so entertaining I don't care if it's true or not.

Richard Gere stars as Washington Times reporter John Klein who, with his wife Mary (Debra Messing), is involved in a car crash which both survive but leads to the discovery of Mary's brain tumor. The tumor is terminal and soon enough Mary passes away, but not before she draws pictures of the moth-like creatures which she claims caused the accident. Months later while driving to an assignment, Klein gets lost and winds up in Point Place, West Virginia where under very strange circumstances he is accused of stalking a local man named Gordon (Will Patton). Klein is released after meeting with the sheriff Connie Parker (Laura Linney) who explains that Gordon has been acting strange since experiencing strange visions that Klein finds are quite similar to those described by his wife. Gordon isn't the only person in town to have these visions and Klein decides to stick around to investigate.

The story is somewhat superfluous, but the first rate cast improves it greatly. Gere is especially good using his trademark stoicism to great effect as his character begins to meltdown. Laura Linney shows herself to be the heir apparent to Meryl Streep in the versatility department, and Will Patton continues to show himself to be the "go-to" character guy who can play anything and make it believable.

Let us not forget director Mark Pellington, whose supreme pacing and great eye for exciting visuals keeps the film moving at an entertaining clip that keeps the audience off balance all the way through. True story or not,The Mothman Prophecies is an entertaining story and that is what counts.

Movie Review Orange County

Orange County (2002) 

Directed by Jake Kasden 

Written by Mike White 

Starring Colin Hanks, Jack Black, Catherine O'Hara, John Lithgow, Schuyler Fisk

Release Date January 11th, 2002 

Published January 10th, 2002 

Jack Black is a star, anyone who saw High Fidelity and Shallow Hal knows it. The box office returns for Hal definitely show it, and the comparisons to John Belushi easily solidify his status. Like any star there are always missteps, films that were not quite up to par, anyone remember Saving Silverman I'm still trying to forget it. Orange County isn't nearly as bad as Silverman, it is in fact not that bad at all. But it isn't great either.

County stars Colin Hanks as Sean Brumder, a So-Cal surfer dude who after a friend's death finds his calling as a writer. Don't worry, the film isn't nearly as dark as the setup might lead you to believe. In fact the friend's funeral provides the visual joke of girls attending the beach funeral in black bikinis and the guys in black Hawaiian shirts. The scene also provides a glimpse into what director Jake Kasdan may have been going for as far as the film's tone. The rest of the story follows Sean's attempts to get into Stanford University to work with the writer who inspired him to write his first story.

Of course this won't be easy, if it were there wouldn't be a movie. Sean's attempts are foiled by his school counselor (the wonderful Lily Tomlin, always funny) along with his midlife crisis Dad (John Lithgow) and Mom (Catherine O'Hara) in drunken stupor mode. Again, somewhat dark but played lightly, and aided greatly by Jack Black as Sean's druggie brother who provides the film's biggest laughs with his amazing energy and comic timing.

Sadly, Orange County is yet another movie where the best jokes are in the trailer, especially Jack Black's jokes which seem on TV to have been censored but in the film are as tame as the commercials. It's all still funny but we've already seen most of them. Of course we've heard about the cast's pedigree. Jake Kasdan is the son of Lawrence Kasdan, Schuyler Fisk, Sean's girlfriend, is the daughter of Sissy Spacek and Colin Hanks is the stepson of Rita Wilson, oh and the son of the biggest box office star in the world Tom Hanks.

But even with a good cast and some solid laughs, Orange County is just a slightly oddly sweet film that longs to be edgy but ends up merely distracting. And If I may editorialize, I don't blame Jake Kasdan. Something about this film's marketing campaign and the fact that it is the product of MTV films leads me to believe there may have been some compromising. That is, for the sake of a more teen friendly PG-13 rating as opposed to the edgier R -rated film Orange County longs to be.

Movie Review Impostor

Impostor (2002) 

Directed by Gary Fleder 

Written by Caroline Case, Ehren Kruger, David Twohy

Starring Gary Sinise, Madeline Stowe, Vincent D'onofrio, Mekhi Phifer, Tony Shalhoub

Release Date January 4th, 2002 

Published January 3rd, 2002 

Four years ago, Dimension films began work on a science fiction film called The Light Years Trilogy. The film was to be 3 short films based on three separate Philip K. Dick stories. The project never fully came together though two of the three short films were produced. One of those was Impostor starring Gary Sinise and Vincent D'onofrio. The suits at Dimension liked the 30-minute version so much they ponied up the dough to turn it into a full-length feature.

They were better off with the half hour version.

Impostor takes place 75 years in the future, with Gary Sinise as scientist Spencer Oldham. Oldham is working on a top-secret weapon in the war against aliens called the Centaurians. Arriving at work after a weekend vacation, Spencer is arrested by the military police headed by Vincent D'onofrio. D'onofrio claims that Oldham is not who he appears, that he is in fact an alien cyborg with a bomb in his chest.\

In a scene reminiscent of the Salem Witch trials, Oldham is to be tied to an operating table while a laser drills into his chest. The theory is to get the bomb out and diffuse it. Essentially, if Spencer is an alien bomb they kill him and if he's not, the test will have proven he wasn't alien. Spencer will be dead but at least he's not an alien. Well of course Spencer escapes, there wouldn't be a move if he didn't, and thus begins a series of dull chase scenes through your typically post-apocalyptic cityscapes.

Sinise is well cast as is D'onofrio but they were likely better served in the original 30 minute version.

There are some interesting scenes in Impostor. For example, the first interrogation scene with D'onofrio questioning Oldham while his friends and coworkers look on has the feeling of a futuristic version of the 1950's communist witch hunts, and as I previously mentioned the Salem Witch trials. The ending does build some palpable suspense with a fun little twist.

But in the end, Impostor is, to paraphrase the band Sum 41, all filler no killer.

Movie Review Half Nelson

Half Nelson (2006) 

Directed by Ryan Fleck 

Written by Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck 

Starring Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, Anthony Mackie 

Release Date September 22nd, 2006 

Published October 23rd, 2006 

I knew when I first saw Ryan Gosling in the indie flick The Believer that he was destined to be an Oscar nominee. His fiery performance as a young jewish skinhead showed the charisma of a young Paul Newman with the range of a Dustin Hoffman. He maintained these skills even in mainstream puff pieces like Murder By Numbers, opposite Sandra Bullock, and the weepy romance The Notebook.

Those two films showed his star potential while indies like The Slaughter Rule and The United States Of Leland showed his acting chops. Now his career has reached the pinnacle that I, not so long ago, saw. Gosling is deservedly an Oscar nominee for his role as a modestly functional addict and teacher in Half Nelson.

Danny Dunne is one of those cool teachers. He's young enough to remember the trials of being a teenager and just old enough to be taken seriously when he gives out his history lessons. That he is also a cocaine addict is a sign; not of his cool, but rather of his astonishing ability to connect with the world while blasted out of his mind.

Dunne's biggest problem is that he simply hasn't hit bottom yet. As a 'functional' addict he is still in a mental state that allows him to believe he is in control of his addiction. Then, one night after coaching a girls basketball game, Dunne is caught by one of his students smoking crack in the girls locker room. Her name is Drey (Shareeka Epps) and her kind response to finding her teacher in this state is a function of her respect for him as a teacher and her own background which is surrounded by drugs, addicts and dealers.

Directed by Ryan Fleck, who also co-wrote the script with Anna Boden, Half Nelson delivers a story with obvious metaphors that yet manages to be deep and thoughtful. Ryan Gosling's Danny is a corrupted soul. Shareeka Epps as his student represents innocence and the potential to be corrupted. When Anthony Mackie shows up as Drey's drug dealing 'uncle' he represents the potential corruptor. Danny finds his salvation in preventing Drey from being corrupted.

It's rather simple really. That is where the incredible performances of Gosling, Epps and Mackie make the difference. The varying speeds and intensities of their individual performances are so precise they make you forget about the obvious metaphors until after the movie, when you've had a moment to reflect. While watching the film you can't help but be in the moment with these wonderful actors.

Ryan Gosling's intense, yet controlled performance is the perfect measure of a functioning addict. In denial about his problems because he is able to perform everyday tasks, Gosling's Danny will reflect the lives of many addicts who manage to make it to work everyday and interact with family and friends without, at least in their mind, letting anyone know about their addiction.

Shareeka Epps expertly captures the naivete of the preternaturally grown up child. Her experiences are those of an adult who has seen far too much but her perspective is still childish and precocious. This is not an easy balance to strike but Epps really nails it. It is a real shame she did not join Ryan Gosling in being nominated for an academy award because she was very deserving.

Ryan Gosling has truly arrived. But, Half Nelson is no revelation, at least not to me. I knew this kid was going to be great one day and that day has simply arrived. A riveting, emotional, turbulent performance that is never overstated, Gosling in Half Nelson paints a human portrait of addiction that illustrates all that is wrong with our drug culture.

Drug use is not a crime but rather a sickness. It needs to be treated with compassion not arrests. Half Nelson, and Ryan Gosling's performance teaches this lesson better than anyone in the office of National Drug Control Policy ever could explain why it should be a crime. The treatment of drug addicts in this country is a crime.

That really isn't what this movie is about but that is one the many emotions it evoked in me and one the many reasons Half Nelson is such a terrific film.

Movie Review Murder by Numbers

Murder by Numbers (2002) 

Directed by Barbet Schroeder

Written by Tony Gayton

Starring Sandra Bullock, Ryan Gosling, Michael Pitt, Agnes Bruckner, Ben Chaplin, Chris Penn

Release Date April 19th, 2002 

Published April 18th, 2002

Director Barbet Schroeder began his career as one of the leaders of the French new wave in the 1960's. Writing for Cahiers Du Cinema, Schroeder expounded a style-over-substance approach, a free form of filmmaking that was about artistry more than story and character. Since coming to America in the early 70’s, Schroeder's style has become much more generic. It’s been mostly straight thrillers with conventional thriller plots and characters that, while proficient, weren't the genre busting style he had developed early in his career. Murder By Numbers is Schroeder’s latest by-the-numbers thriller that, while proficient, isn't Earth shattering.

Sandra Bullock stars as a hardass detective investigating an unusual murder that seems to have no motive. What Bullock and her partner, played by the personality challenged Ben Chaplin, don't know is the murder was committed as part of a suicide pact between two overpriveleged teens who thought it would be fun to try to commit the perfect murder. The teens, played by Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt, gorge themselves on forensic science books and the study of investigation, careful not to leave any clues. Of course what fun is committing the perfect crime if you can't take credit for it, so the boys begin to tease the detectives by dropping little hints, all the while setting up someone else to take the fall. Gosling's character, while not wanting to go to jail, still would like to be acknowledged for his brilliant scheme while Pitt quarrels with his own guilt.

The plot is strong but the characterizations are a little thin, especially Bullock who delivers a good performance but her character seems somewhat hard to believe in the muddled narrative. She's supposed to be this tough cop who other cops think is one of the guys yet at the same time she is intimidated by Gosling, who is not exactly menacing. The motivation for her being intimidated is explained later but by then it has already disrupted the characterization and rendered her unbelievable.

The standout is Michael Pitt who is on his way to an Oscar nomination with previous performances in Hedwig & the Angry Inch and Bully. He is building quite a resume with Murder By Numbers, an effective foray into the mainstream. The film itself could have benefited from being a little less mainstream, a little darker. As it is, it comes off a little too slick and somewhat shallow. Murder By Numbers is an okay film but it’s best to wait to be seen on DVD.

Movie Review: Blue Valentine

Blue Valentine (2010) 

Directed by Derek Cianfrance 

Written by Derek Cianfrance, Cami Delavigne, Joey Curtis 

Starring Michelle Williams, Ryan Gosling 

Release Date December 29th, 2010 

Published December 30th, 2010 

"She sends me Blue Valentines

Though I try to remain at large

They're insisting that our love

Must have a eulogy"

The sad lyrics of Tom Waits' 1978 B-side Blue Valentines were one of the inspirations for the movie “Blue Valentine” starring Michele Williams and Ryan Gosling and they are appropriate. The film examines the beginning and, more thoroughly, the ending of a marriage and acts in effect like a eulogy to something once loved that has passed on.

The plot of “Blue Valentine” is fluid and mercurial, shifting back and forth in time from the sweet beginnings of Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy’s (Michelle Williams) relationship to the present where their marriage is ending. The ending is evident to us and to Cindy but not Dean who struggles to recapture the dying essence of their once effervescent love.

Like a freezing man desperately blowing on the embers of a dying flame Dean begs for every last moment of warmth. The last ditch effort comes on an Anniversary jaunt to a cheesy romantic hotel with themed rooms. In this ridiculous setting Dean will attempt to romance Cindy and the cold space between them will grow with Dean’s every effort.

Naturally, there are signposts early on that Dean and Cindy are starting on a troubled path. When Dean and Cindy met she was involved in an abusive relationship with Bobby (Mike Vogel) and when he finds out about Dean he and three friends seek out Dean and deliver a vicious beat down.

Cindy’s father Jerry (John Doman) is another trouble spot; he dislikes Dean from the very beginning. Jerry was also abusive but as he has aged he’s remained a presence in Dean and Cindy’s relationship and is a doting grandfather to their daughter Frankie (Faith Wladyka).

Much has been written about the sex in “Blue Valentine,” sex that nearly earned the film an NC-17 rating. The sex is intense for a reason; much of the basis of Dean and Cindy’s connection is a tremendous physical chemistry, something that all relationships need but not something you can build a sustainable relationship around.

Late in the film Cindy will use that physical chemistry against Dean offering him the sex he wants but holding back emotionally until his frustration can no longer be controlled. It’s a heart rending scene and one that may be good enough to earn Michelle Williams an Oscar nomination.

Not all of “Blue Valentine” is a downer; like any relationship Dean and Cindy’s relationship has good moments. The scene of Dean and Cindy’s first date which features a little dancing, a little singing and a ukulele is one of the sweetest moments in any movie in 2010. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are thrilling in this moment offering the audience all we need to know about why these two people think they love each other in this one exceptional scene.

But, did Dean and Cindy ever really love each other? Dean certainly loved Cindy but she is more mysterious. Cindy’s motivations for loving Dean or wanting to love Dean are less than healthy and Williams is expert at communicating the depth of Cindy’s psychoses and how they influenced her to marry Dean without fully committing emotionally.

“Blue Valentine” is as raw as Tom Waits’ gravel ridden voice and like Waits at his best is capable of deep sadness or biting dark humor. This is the first feature for writer-director Derek Cianfrance and it will be fascinating to watch this newcomer evolve his vision as a filmmaker. “Blue Valentine” is an exceptional start for Cianfrance who looks capable of something even more brilliant in the future.

Movie Review Jurassic World

Jurassic World (2015) 

Directed by Colin Trevorrow 

Written by Rick Jaffe, Amanda Silver, Derek Connolly, Colin Trevorrow 

Starring Christ Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D'onofrio, B.D Wong 

Release Date June 12th, 2015 

Published June 11th, 2015 

“Jurassic World” has been called ‘”sexist,” “anti-feminist” and, in one review, “gendered,” a new-to-me term for calling out a piece of pop culture for not living up to the ideals of modern pseudo-feminism. These accusations are aimed at the portrayal of the character Claire played by Bryce Dallas Howard, a career-oriented, driven administrator of the Jurassic World Theme Park.

Claire’s character arc finds her not enjoying the company of children, preferring the boardroom and not caring much for dinosaurs as anything other than the products that her company exploits for millions of dollars. These traits position Claire as something of a villain. However, they also position her to learn valuable lessons over the course of her character arc — you know, like a movie character.

As film criticism has evolved away from aesthetic arguments toward easier to write, and to read, socio-political commentary, movies are being held to a more and more impossible standard of standing in for every version of American culture and representing every political perspective so as not to offend anyone or let anyone feel left out. This transition threatens to legislate traits out of characters and limit the ways in which a writer can create unique characters that stand out on their own as individuals with inherent flaws.

One of the criticisms of Claire as an anti-feminist symbol is centered on her clothes. Bear in mind: We are seeing one very unusual day in the life of the park. On any other day, Claire would spend her time in board rooms or in her well-appointed office and not in the woods being chased by a dinosaur. Being chased by dinosaurs was, quite fair to say, not on Claire’s schedule EVER.

And yet we have critics calling Claire out for being dressed for meeting clients, which, by the way, was her original plan for the day before a massively, unexpectedly dangerous new dinosaur escaped its seemingly inescapable cage. Claire is being considered anti-feminist because she chose to wear high heels and a cream colored top and skirt ensemble on a day when she, as a character in a story, did not know she would be chased by dinosaurs.

The character of Claire is well established as being somewhat socially awkward. Claire’s comfort comes from achieving her ambition, which is to be rich and successful. Now, I realize that that is not the kindest character trait, but if we require every character in movies to be kind at all times and eschew ambition, then where will our villains come from? More importantly for Claire, where will the life lesson come from? If she begins from a place of fully evolved traits perfectly suited for both the board room and a dinosaur attack, then what is the dramatic arc?

Is it anti-feminist to wear heels and a skirt? Is it anti-feminist to not concern yourself with your clothing choices when a dangerous dinosaur gets loose in your dinosaur theme park? Some have asked why Claire did not go for a wardrobe change amid the chaotic escape of the dangerous and deadly Indominus Rex — maybe some running shoes and khakis. The film answers that question by simply thrusting Claire immediately into the action of first covering up the danger in her pre-evolved state of pure ambition, to then attempting to save lives. She was a little busy for a wardrobe change: There’s a freaking dinosaur on the loose.

Movie Review Tomboy

Tomboy (1985) 

Directed by Herb Freed 

Written by Herb Freed 

Starring Betsy Russell, Richard Erdman, Jerry DiNome 

Release Date January 25th, 1985 

Published January 26th, 2015 

“Tomboy” is a bizarre little time capsule of an 80’s movie. Ostensibly a typical 80’s T & A flick, “Tomboy” has an unusual feminist streak to it that plays almost as an accident. One of the first movies released in 1985, “Tomboy” illustrates why I chose to watch 30 year old movies: the wonder of the oddball hidden gem.

I came to “Tomboy” with my ironic smirk firmly in place and the film did not disappoint. First, there is a gloriously cheesy, unnecessary flashback/dream sequence that has little to no bearing on the rest of the movie beyond providing a minor inspiration for Tommy’s (Betsy Russell) being a ‘tomboy’.

Then comes a glorious theme song, a song so wonderfully, beautifully and unendingly cheese-ridden that it left me gasping through laughter. The song “Tomboy” sounds as if it were written as a parody by the team that made “Too Many Cooks” and the montage that accompanies seems to go on for a mindbending length of time ala ‘Cooks.’

Now, the way a movie like “Tomboy” is supposed to play, according to Hollywood conventions, is that our heroine Tommy is going to learn a lesson about how to be a girl. She may not give up being a greasy mechanic but she will embrace the pleasures of wearing pink, putting on too much makeup and perfume. Oh, and she will learn these lessons while falling for a “Hunk,” which is an 80’s term not unlike hottie and with a similarly short cultural shelf-life.

“Tomboy” however, rarely plays by the rules of your typical 80’s movie. Much of the credit for that goes to Betsy Russell who, while known for B-movies where she takes her clothes off, here plays a woman who takes her clothes off but not without a purpose. Russell plays Tommy as a surprisingly modern creation who can build a whizbang stock car inspired by her astronaut father and be a beautiful, sexually progressive young.

As played by Russell, Tommy isn’t merely a sex object, she’s an adult woman who owns her sexuality. The sex between Tommy and her love interest Randy Starr (Gerard Christopher) is legitimately sexy and adult. Even in the midst of puerile and unnecessary, even blatantly misogynistic displays of flesh in “Tomboy” Russell proves capable of being legitimately sexy without seeming exploited.

It’s a strange disconnect however because “Tomboy” isn’t a good movie. In many ways, the movie happening around Russell is a rather typically terrible drive in movie. And yet, Russell invests Tommy with a strength of character, a good heart and a strong sense of self. Even as I type this I am trying to find ways to take it back and recognize how campy and unimportant this movie most certainly is, but I cannot deny how compelling Russell really is as Tommy.

It seems very strange to say it but there is a seemingly accidental feminist streak to “Tomboy.” Tommy and even, to a point, her best friend Seville (Kristi Somers), are strangely progressive characters for an 80’s T & A comedy. Both get naked but there is an empowerment to the to display of flesh, they own the screen in these moments rather than being mere eye candy.

And still, the film holds a place of ironic, campy enjoyment. There is no way around how bad “Tomboy” is in terms of directing and dialogue, production design and editing. The movie is a slapdash disaster with zero pretension toward being anything other than a product meant to sell tickets to horny teens. This fact leaves me rather in awe of the subversive strength of Russell’s performance.

“Tomboy” is a fascinating movie of high camp and bizarre quality. Whether intended or not, the film has a progressive quality to its female lead that is unlike any 80’s comedy of its ilk. Did Betsy Russell really sneak a feminist hero into an 80’s teen comedy or have the shifting political and social tides of the past 30 years warped Russell’s performance into something unintended? The fact that a movie like this could inspire that thought is one of the reasons why I love movies.

Time for our re-casting of “Tomboy”

Tommy Boyd: played by Betsy Russell: Re-cast: Demi Lovato

Seville Ritz: played by Kristi Somers: Re-cast: Heather Morris

Randy Starr: played by Gerard Christopher: Re-Cast Skylar Astin

Movie Review Defense of the Realm

Defense of the Realm (1985) 

Directed by David Drury 

Written by Martin Stellman 

Starring Gabriel Byrne, Denholm Elliott, Greta Scacchi 

Release Date January 24th, 1986 

Published January 24th, 2016 

The age of the internet has made old-fashioned thrillers like 1985’s “Defense of the Realm” obsolete. This story of a crusading journalist wielding his typewriter for a just cause would only last about 10 minutes in this day and age with Gabriel Byrne’s heroic journalist posting his explosive expose of a government cover-up to the internet well before thugs could grab him and throw him in the back of a car to be potentially disappeared.

“Defense of the Realm” stars Gabriel Byrne as Nick Mullen, a slick, ambitious reporter who rushes headlong into a scandalous story about a politician, a call girl and a spy, failing to heed the warnings of a veteran journalist played by the wonderful Denholm Elliott. Needless to say, the stars in Mullen’s eyes prevent him initially from seeing the bigger, more dangerous story behind the scandal.

“Defense of the Realm” has a very old school charm to it. The quaint nature of a newspaper thriller is certainly part of that charm, we simply can’t make movies like this anymore. Modern audiences have a hard time accepting a story set before the time when their IPhone could have given Mullen’s explosive story a home online seconds after his editors conspired with the government to spike it.

Instead of having to play spy games with MI6 to get his story to the German and American papers, the Nicholas Mullen of today must simply hit send to send his story into the ether. A story like that of “Defense of the Realm” requires the kind of patience we no longer have today, the patience to wait and see what’s in the paper well after the news has happened.

Don’t get me wrong, modern Hollywood can still make a pretty good tick tock thriller but audience tastes now require a few more thrills than the site of Gabriel Byrne having a revelation over pictures in an old news story or clicking away on his beautiful old typewriter while knowing government spies are looking for any reason to bust down his door.

Director David Drury, then a first time director, now a veteran of British television, allows scenes to breathe unlike directors of today. Revelations are met with gasps and a flourish of score rather than camera and editing pyrotechnics. Everything about “Defense of the Realm” feels old school, and not merely because the film is now 30 years old.

“Defense of the Realm” was, according to TheNumbers.com, one of the first films released in 1985 and it was a great way to start a new year of 30 year movies. Be sure and check it out for yourself, it’s streaming on Amazon Prime, free to subscribers.

New this year in this 30 year feature, I’m going to attempt to recast these 30 year old movies for a more modern audience.

“Defense of the Realm”

Nicholas Mullen: played by Gabriel Byrne: re-cast: Eric Bana

Nina Beckman: played by Greta Scacchi: re-cast Julia Stiles

Vernon Bayliss: played by Denholm Elliott: re-cast Gabriel Byrne

Movie Review: X-Men First Class

X-Men First Class 

Directed by Matthew Vaughn 

Written by Matthew Vaughn, Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman 

Starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne, Kevin Bacon, January Jones, 

Release Date June 1st, 2011 

Published May 29th, 2011 

It's not a reboot or a re-imagination. Nor is it a sequel. "X-Men: The First Class" is that rare breed known as the prequel, a recap of events set prior to a previous story. In this case fans of the 'X-Men' movies get to go back in time and see where Professor X and Magneto came from and why they developed into mortal enemies.

A Traumatic and Dramatic Childhood

"X-Men: The First Class" takes us back to 1942 and recalls for us, as previous 'X-Men' installments have, Erik Lehnsherr's torturous childhood in which he survived a Nazi death camp. We've seen what happened when his parents were torn away from him, 'The First Class' shows us what happened next and the traumatic experience that created the monster Magneto.

Meanwhile, also in 1942, a young Charles Xavier, tucked safely away in his parents' upstate New York palace, begins to discover his talent for reading minds. It's a trick that comes in handy when a burglar somehow invades the home pretending to be Charles's mother. The intruder is actually a young mutant named Raven but we will come to know her as the assassin Mystique.

Erik Lehnsherr Nazi Hunter

Cut to 20 years later, Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) is a Nazi hunter torturing and killing his way up a list of Nazis on the run on his way to his long time tormenter, Dr. Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon.) Naturally, his search leads to Argentina, often thought of as a haven for ex-Nazis, and a scene for the former "Inglorious Basterd" Fassbender that evokes a little violent, Tarentino nostalgia, with the gore dialed down just a tad.

Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and his adopted sister Raven (Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence) are together at Oxford when Charles is approached by a CIA Agent named Moira (Rose Byrne) who accidentally stumbled across Dr. Shaw and his assistant, a telepath named Emma Frost (January Jones), plotting the start of World War 3 and a worldwide nuclear annihilation that only mutants could survive.

A Nod to the Faithful Fanboys

It would take far too long to detail what comes next with the discovery other mutants and their powers and the founding of the first X-Men team and to be honest, none of the young mutants is remotely as interesting as Professor X, Mystique or Magneto. This is their origin story and it doesn't help that of the other mutants in 'First Class' only Beast plays a role in the sequels and that is only a minor role.

The main flaw of "X-Men: The First Class" is too many characters and not enough interesting things to do with them. Director Matthew Vaughn in a nod of faithfulness to X-Men comic book fans, I'm guessing, has kept these peripheral young mutants in the story because they were part of the first troop of X-Men in the comic but the reality of the movie is, these kids only seem to get in the way of the action and bloat the film's run time to a butt-numbing two hours and 25 minutes.

Putting aside the film's flabbiness, there are enough effective scenes and compelling performances in X-Men: The First Class for me to recommend it. I mentioned earlier Fassbender's scene in Argentina, an effective and exciting bit of violence. Also excellent is the scene of Kevin Bacon's malevolent Dr. Shaw forcing young Erik to use his talent through torture and the astonishing aftermath of his cruelty.

McAvoy and Fassbender

Those and just about every scene between James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender elevate "X-Men: The First Class" above many other comic book movies. When these two exceptional actors stare each other down the air around them is charged, even during a friendly exchange. McAvoy's Professor X and Fassbender's Magneto are so perfectly matched that a whole movie of them talking to each other about revenge, morality and murder could be worth the price of a ticket.

I am recommending "X-Men: The First Class" for McAvoy and Fassbender and for the terrific atmosphere of early sixties paranoia and excitement created by director Matthew Vaughn. Yes, Vaughn should have been a little less faithful to the fanboys and spent a little more time in the editing bay but what he captured in the history of the 'X-Men' movie universe and in the relationship between McAvoy and Fassbender is really really terrific and highly compelling.

Movie Review: Winter's Bone

Winter's Bone (2010) 

Directed by Deborah Granik 

Written by Deborah Granik, Anne Rosselini 

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Dale Dickey, Garret Dillahunt, Sheryl Lee, Tate Taylor 

Release Date June 11th, 2010 

Published July 4th, 2010

In the meth soaked outer reaches of the Ozarks, where cable TV and cell phones are out of reach, there lives a culture that remembers the Hatfields and McCoys not as cartoon caricatures but as blood relatives. Blood has mixed beyond where it likely ever should have in this area creating some uncomfortable familial bonds but the barriers that exist between families are still deeply protected and immersed in this conflict through birth is Ree (Jennifer Lawrence).

Ree Dolly has spent most of her 17 years trying to ignore the drug addled world around her. Ree lives day to day struggling to survive in a world without money or the comforts that money can bring. She lives by charity and wit; the gifts of a loving neighbor are accepted not with bruised pride but with a grateful resignation while when charity is not forthcoming hunting squirrels is a proper alternative.

This could be Ree's life for good until she meets the right meth cooking dealer and settles into her own life of addiction and solitude. No time to think about the future however as Ree has problems in the present. Her meth dealing dad has put their house on the line to get out of jail and has now gone missing. The law informs Ree that if dad does not show up for court the house will be taken away as collateral for his bond.

Now it's up to Ree to search the deep black heart of the Ozarks forest for her missing father all the while overturning stones that many don't want turned over. What begins as an impoverished character study evolves into an odd detective story where an amateur gumshoe stumbles into trouble investigating a crime that no one wants to see solved but them.

“Winter's Bone” holds a good deal of fascination throughout its 100 minute run time. Star Jennifer Lawrence gives Ree a hard won determination that captures the audience and holds it enthralled and in support John Hawkes delivers a character with born to lose tattooed on his very soul. Hawkes plays Ree's meth addicted uncle Teardrop and brings such an authenticity to this raw souled wretch that you feel his every appearance on screen like sandpaper on your skin.

Writer-director Deborah Granik captures these performances beautifully and matches the stark portrayals to her stark visual style in a marriage of overwhelming ugly truth. The muted colors match the muted wants of the characters in its desolation. Ree’s motivation is simple and straightforward, she just wants to not be homeless, as are the motivations of the people preventing her from what she seeks.

The background, the decaying trees and icy, windblown exteriors of home and pick-up truck alike match the lives of these characters in both their simplicity and minimalism. These characters aren’t going anywhere and are resigned to that fact but Ree at least will make the most of what little she has. Ree’s sad existence beyond this pseudo-detective story is communicated in devastating fashion by the barren surroundings. This will likely be the only important thing Ree ever does and the downcast settings underline that fact and give the film an all encompassing melancholy.

Yes, “Winter’s Bone” is as bleak as my description but that does not prevent it from being a gripping story told with exquisite skill and determination. Jennifer Lawrence is a revelation while John Hawkes has been an actor on the edge of a breakthrough as a character actor guaranteed to one day win Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars. This might just be his year and indeed Ms. Lawrence’s as well.

Movie Review Like Crazy

Like Crazy (2011) 

Directed by Drake Doremus 

Written by Drake Doremus 

Starring Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones, Jennifer Lawrence 

Release Date October 28th, 2011 

Published November 12th, 2011 

My eyes welled up with tears when I first saw the trailer for the indie romance "Like Crazy." So, if even a jaded film critic can be this deeply affected by a movie trailer it's fair to imagine that this must be one terrific movie right? Wrong. "Like Crazy" is a mumbling, stumbling, indie bore-a-thon about two exceptionally uninteresting people going through one of the least interesting romances of the year.

Don't ignore your visa

Jacob (Anton Yelchin) and Anna (Felicity Jones) met at college when she left a note on the windshield of his car. She writes lovely poetry and he draws pretty pictures and together they have a chance to be a pretty couple doing pretty things. Jacob even makes pretty furniture for a living while Anna, in the US on a visa that's near expiration, is studying to become a writer. That expiring visa is an important plot point as are the vagaries of US immigration post-9/11 so pay attention.

Long distance relationship

As Jacob and Anna fall madly in love she decides to blow off the fact that her visa has expired and stays an extra three months to be with Jacob. It's Anna's suggestion that they spend the summer in bed and a cute, chaste montage shows them doing exactly that until Anna must leave the country for a family matter. Having overstayed her visa Anna is prevented from returning to America. The two lovebirds try to do the long distance relationship thing but this is a universe that is apparently devoid of Skype and the ability to figure out time zones and so they continually miss each other's calls.

Hey look, it's Jennifer Lawrence

Eventually, Jacob and Anna give up and start seeing other people. At about the 45 minute mark of "Like Crazy" Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence pops up, seemingly from another movie, and for a moment things improve. It's as if the producers realized the film was getting stale and shoved Lawrence in front of the camera to save the day. It doesn't work; Lawrence's Sam is a sweetheart who with great effort falls for Yelchin's banal romantic lead but she can't compete with the memory of Anna who Jacob runs back to and marries before giving up again after just a few months.

Soul sucking banality

Watching "Like Crazy" is like being trapped in an elevator with a pair of angst-riddled hipsters attempting to overcome apathy long enough to actually break up. Will their effort lead to a resolution? I will leave you to discover that you should go against my recommendation and suffer your way through "Like Crazy." After watching the remarkable trailer for "Like Crazy" I was convinced that this could be the 2011 version of "Once;" a modest, heart-aches little indie romance that converses with our romantic souls. Then I saw the movie and I felt my soul being sucked from body by the utter banality of "Like Crazy."

A winner at Sundance

In fairness, maybe the expectations I placed on "Like Crazy" were too high. I have never before been choked up by a trailer and I allowed that fact to color my opinion of the film. With that said, the film was still a disappointment, a boring, full of itself master-class of indie self-indulgence. "Like Crazy" was a big winner at the Sundance Film Festival. If that makes you want to check it out don't say I didn't warn you. This is one of those movies where the disconnect between the festival audience and the general audience is vast.

Movie Review Passengers

Passengers (2016) 

Directed Morten Tyldum 

Written by John Spaihts 

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Ray Liotta, Michael Sheen 

Release Date December 21st, 2016 

Published December 20th, 2016 

I really wanted to like Passengers, the new sci-fi adventure starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. I am a big fan of both Pratt and Lawrence, each of whom are veterans of the blockbuster genre having starred in Guardians of the Galaxy and The Hunger Games respectively. Unfortunately, Passengers sticks Pratt and Lawrence with one majorly flawed story choice that even their charm cannot overcome. 

Chris Pratt, dialing back on his usual Chris Pratt schtick to a welcome degree, plays Jim Spencer, a mechanic who has signed up to travel to a new space colony, a journey that is supposed to last 120 years. Jim is supposed to be in hibernation during the entire trip but a malfunction wakes him up after only 30 years. Alone, Jim at first tries to get his sleeping pod working again. When that fails he begins to get a tad stir crazy. 

With a robot bartender named Arthur (Michael Sheen) as his only friend, Jim begins to think about doing something terrible, waking up another passenger. He even has his eye on one in particular, Aurora, played by Jennifer Lawrence. After reading her file in the ship's archives, Jim begins to fall for Aurora but he knows that waking her up is basically a death sentence. 

I won't tell you whether it is Jim or some other circumstance that leads to it, but, indeed Aurora is awakened and after a short while of rehashing Jim's failed attempts at restarting the sleep pods, she resigns herself to Jim as her only companion and the two begin developing a relationship. Naturally, their idyll will have to be disrupted and when another pod fails we begin to find out just how much trouble our heroes are in for. 

The major flaw of Passengers is one that could have easily been avoided. A simple rewrite of the script, one simple decision by the writer or director, and a major flaw could have been corrected. Unfortunately, Director Morton Tyldum apparently preferred the forced and predictable drama of this flawed choice over something more satisfying and less damaging to one of our main characters. 

Sorry to have to dance around the problem so much but I don't feel it is my place to spoil this movie for people who still want to give it a chance. The film does still have two incredibly appealing leads and they are beautiful to look at, especially when they begin to fall for each other. There are other positives as well such as Michael Sheen's robot supporting player and the ship sets which have both a modern gleam and an old school Kubrickian-sci-fi majesty to them. 

In the end, Passengers is not a bad movie, just one that is ruined by one silly, kinda creepy, poor storytelling decision that leads to a lot of false, unnecessary and predictable melodrama, all of which could have been easily avoided. This movie could have played out in much the same way that it does without this one stupid plot contrivance.

Movie Review: Dark Phoenix

Dark Phoenix (2019) 

Directed by Simon Kinberg

Written by Simon Kinberg 

Starring Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence

Release Date June 7th, 2019 

Published June 6th, 2019

Dark Phoenix sadly, isn’t very good in the end. This latest adventure in the X-Men franchise has some quite good moments but the film fails in the end to sustain the good in the face of the bad. Former X-Men screenwriter and producer Simon Kinberg nails a few of the emotional beats, especially the bits about family, but his lack of experience with special effects and his often overly earnest beats are cringeworthy. 

Dark Phoenix picks up the story of the X-Men with the world in a form of detente between humanity and mutant-kind. The goals of Dr Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) have seemingly been achieved and mutants are allowed to live freely and thrive within society. Charles himself, even has a direct line to the President of the United States. Things look quite rosy indeed, even if Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) remains uneasy about the current peace. 

The story kicks in when the space shuttle gets trapped in some sort of energy field in space and slowly begins to be torn apart. The X-Men are called upon to save the astronauts on board and while Mystique finds the mission to be far too big a risk, she goes along with it for the good of the team. Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), senses her friend’s unease but heeds the call of Dr X anyway as lives are on the line and time is short. 

In space, the astronauts appear saved by the X-Men until they realize they had forgotten one of them. In returning to the space shuttle Jean Grey is able to provide the chance for the astronaut and her fellow X-Men to escape but finds herself engulfed by this bizarre and explosive energy form. Despite the power of this energy, Jean is able to absorb it and keep the rest of the X-Men from being harmed. That she emerges seemingly unscathed only serves to set up our real plot. 

Aliens. Yes, aliens are the real plot of Dark Phoenix. Why aliens? Only director Simon Kinberg and a few comic book fans know for sure. All I can say is, this is one of the many missteps of Dark Phoenix. There is zero need for aliens in this plot. Not one bit of the alien baddie played by multiple time Academy Award winner Jessica Chastain, is necessary to the plot of Dark Phoenix. The aliens are perfunctory and dull villains that even Jessica Chastain cannot render intriguing. 

The problem here is that Dark Phoenix already had a really great villain: Jean Grey. The desire to not allow Jean to be the big bad of Dark Phoenix is a huge failure. There is no need for aliens, Jean has all of the conflict, all of the power-mad vengeance, all of the deeply personal demons to explore. Make Jean Grey become consumed by Phoenix, let her wreak havoc and divide the X-Men into factions of Jean needs to be stopped for the good of the world and Jean is not really bad and can be reasoned with. 

That plot has all of the complex emotions necessary for a strong dramatic arc. Have Nicholas Hoult’s Beast join forces with Michael Fassbender’s Magneto in the kill Jean side of the argument and have Charles and Cyclops on the ‘there is still good in Jean’ sde of the argument and see where this plot goes from there. Chastain and her alien buddies merely muddy the water and get in the way. The plot does not need them and the superfluous nature of these unneeded villains drags down Dark Phoenix. 

The other thing that prevents Dark Phoenix from soaring are some seriously silly looking special effects. The effects in Dark Phoenix are rubbery and exist on the wrong side of the uncanny valley. The effect that allows Lawrence’s Mystique and Hoult’s Beast, to morphe endlessly from human and mutant comes off as cheesy in Dark Phoenix. The effect looks like something Windows Paint might have produced in the early part of this decade. 

I realize that Dark Phoenix is set in 1992 but that doesn’t mean the special effects have to look like 1992. Our eyes and our expectations for CGI and practical effects have become more keen, jaded, desirous of things that make a movie appear seamless. Dark Phoenix is far from seamless. The rubbery texture of the effects of Dark Phoenix make the movie look low rent and, at times, make the movie look like a parody of itself. 

I’ve been awfully hard on Dark Phoenix so let’s wrap up by talking about a few of the good things about Dark Phoenix. I really enjoyed the backstory and the developing traumas of Jean Grey. Sophie Turner has come a long way from her rough and uneven performance in X-Men Apocalypse. Given a meaty role to chew on in Dark Phoenix, Turner is impressive. The fierceness of her charisma sells the agony at the heart of Jean Grey. 

I also enjoyed the psychology of Dark Phoenix, the ways in which the film depicts trauma in Jean is very real and complicated and quite moving at times. When Dark Phoenix forgets about the aliens and focuses the attention on Jean and the growing tensions among the X-family, Dark Phoenix begins to get good. What a shame then when the lame effects and those darn aliens swing back into the plot and mess things up. 

I don’t have a strong dislike for Dark Phoenix, Sophie Turner is far too compelling for me to completely dismiss the movie. Sadly, I can’t recommend Dark Phoenix because too much of the rest of the movie is laughably unnecessary, especially those cheesy aliens. We already have mutants, why do the producers of Dark Phoenix insist upon aliens? The story is Jean Grey, not Jessica Chastain acting well below her remarkable talent and stature.