The Hateful Eight

The Hateful Eight is more of a murder-mystery than anything else. In Tarantino's 8th film (coincidentally?) he brings in a lot of the same-old crew he loves so much: Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, and Kurt Russell (Lumping in Grindhouse even though it's not his) and blends them seamlessly with the excellent newcomers of Bruce Dern, Walton Goggins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Channing Tatum. The tale follows Russell, a bounty hunter known as the "Hangman" John Ruth since he brings in the accused to be hung, rather than the standard way of bringing them in dead, since it's much easier. He's travelling alone in a stage coach with Daisy Domergue, a $10,000 bounty. He comes across Sam Jackson, or former Union soldier Major Marquies Warren, and he comes aboard. With a blizzard coming they are quickly trying to make it to Minnie's Haberdashery for shelter and necessities. Roth and Warren are familiar with Minnie's and it's the last stop before Red Rock, WY, where they both intend to collect their bounties. They run into Goggins, who was a former confederate soldier and marauder who just happens to be the newly appointed Sheriff of Red Rock. He climbs aboard and they rush to Minnie's where they meet the rest of the motley crew of characters like a former confederate General (Dern), Hangman (Roth), a Mexican, and Tom Gage (Madsen). It becomes apparent someone is working to free Daisy from the Hangman and uncovering this mystery becomes a matter or life & death. Great cast, interesting story (not necessarily unique, but at least different), and a really great setting make this movie entertaining and pretty fun, though Tarantino really goes after the gross-out gore and monologues MORE than usual, which is a little unsettling and stomach churning. Bottom Line: 7.7 out of 10. It's a fun film shot in the super-rare 70mm, so it'd be interesting to see it as Tarantino intended, but it's an entertaining 165 minutes that I recommend seeing, especially if available in true 70mm in your area. Waiting until it hits rental/streaming isn't a bad option either.

Love & Mercy- Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys Story

A long time ago my dad mentioned that Brian Wilson was the heart and soul of the Beach Boys. I was excited when I found out they were doing a biopic of sorts with Paul Dano as a young Wilson and John Cusack for an older Wilson. The movie spends time going over the writing/creating process for Wilson in the earlier years of the Beach Boys, though after at least their first successful album and firing their dad as manager. Wilson is a musical genius who would know exactly what he wanted without having to ever write it down on paper. He could blend choruses and different musical instruments together in his head, but like most geniuses struggled to verbalize it to others. The difficulties with this are shown, and it delves into his mental issues that shut him down for three years and various times throughout his life. There is so much to cover in his 50+ years of music, so the focus was mental issues, Beach Boys drama, and a bit about meeting his current wife. It does a really good job of blending those themes and Cusack and Dano both do great jobs with the difficult issue of playing a genius with severe mental issues (which they never tell you what the proper diagnosis ended up being, though they know mention it is not paranoid schizophrenia). Bottom Line: 7.6 out of 10. Fans of the Beach Boys should absolutely watch this. It was a $1.00 rental on Amazon Prime and it's certainly worth the watch to just have a view into the Beach Boys creative process I felt.

The Force Awakens: Star Wars Part: VII

The newest installment of the Disney-era Star Wars movies has launched. It's killing it at the box office, but it felt like it was just a the first building block of creating a mega-franchise with off-shoots in a lot of directions. Without trying to give anything away because the film was as closely guarded as our nuclear codes the film picks up 30-40 years after Return of the Jedi, probably closer to 30 than anything. The Empire has morphed in the First Order lead by a Supreme Overlord and policed by Kylo Wren, a clear Darth Vader disciple. There is still a Galactic Senate ruling, but there exists a resistance, very similar to the Rebellion before it. They dust off some old characters, introduce a cavalcade of new ones, and hope they advance the ball far enough in this film to leave everyone happy and the potential for many more films, which it accomplishes. The CGI is excellent. Story is acceptable. Acting is very good. I was personally disappointed in the lack of Wedge Antilles, the true hero of the death star battles, but I'm probably flying solo on that one. Bottom Line: 8.5 out of 10. I'm a Star Wars guy, so I'm trying to be somewhat objective. I do like the new characters introduced and see them having successful careers stemming from this series. I'd see this in theatres, mainly because it's a cultural revolution apparently, but it's also very entertaining.

Creed: Was This a Rocky Movie?

I bit on Creed since I'm a huge Rocky fan and it was getting great reviews. Michael B. Jordan is going to be a star, if he isn't one already. He plays Apollo Creed's bastard son Adonis who, after a few stints in group homes and juvenile centers is adopted by THE Phylicia Rashad (Mrs. Cosby!), which it was great to see her acting again. You catch up with him as he's quitting his, assumingly, high paying job at a financial firm to focus on his passion of boxing, though his mom is violently against it. He leaves L.A. since nobody, including Duke's (Apollo's former trainer) son, played by Ed Woods (The Wire is all over!). He goes to Philadelphia knowing he wants Rocky Balboa and only Rocky to train him. If we forgot Rocky is just existing in a strange state of apathy/depression running Adrian's restaurant and doing very little. He is fast-tracked to the game by fighting a very good fighter in his first match. Jordan is very believable as a fighter and took the role very seriously, that is apparent. They toss in a love story because they had to. Across "the Pond" the light heavyweight Champion "Pretty" Ricky Conlan was recently released from prison and looking at the twilight of his career. In the weigh-in for his title defense he sucker punches the other guy, breaks his jaw, and ruins it. After finding out Adonis is Creed's son, a fact he tries to hide, he is given the title shot vs. Conlan. Conlan looks like a dude they rolled off the couch, which bothered me a ton. He isn't very believable as a fighter because I've never seen a boxer who isn't in good shape fighting for a title at light heavyweight. In any case you get your mix of training montages/scenes, the budding love story, the touching moments of personal growth, etc. from your standard Rocky film, but it didn't feel quite the same. Bottom Line; 8.1 out of 10. It's good, not great, though Jodran is excellent and Stallone really plays the aging Balboa very well. It's worth seeing in theatres, but it can wait.

Steve Jobs: Not the Ashton Kutcher Version

Steve Jobs attempts to tell the complicated tale of Steve Jobs' life through three different product launches for the Macintosh (1984?), The Cube (1988?), and the imac (1999). A good script from Aaron Sorkin and superb acting from Fassbender, Daniels, Rogan, and Winslet help carry the story. It deals a lot with his very complex relationship between his daughter, who he denies for several years, his baby mama, and his employees/coworkers, etc. The relationship between "Woz" (engineering genius Steve Wozniack) is interesting and complex. Daniels plays former Pepsi CEO and the Apple CEO who gets Jobs ousted John Sculley. Winslet and Fassbender's back and forth is superb. I think they should've pushed for more film dealing with his later years. I would've liked an ipod release, or something for his last 15 years. There is plenty to cover in Steve Jobs life, but I wanted more of the redemption story and the push to make Apple a giant again. Bottom Line: 8.2 out of 10. I'm a sucker for great acting and Aaron Sorkin's writing. I would again mention this will be out on video soon and that's totally fine to catch it when it's cheap or free. I do think Fassbender will get a nomination in another loaded Best Actor field. Dicaprio in the Revenant will be another seeming surefire nomination on top of Fassbender, Gyllenhall, another Eddie Redmayne Oscar-bait role in the Danish Girl, and who knows who else will fill the card.

Mockingjay Part II: The Conclusion

I needed to see this in theatres because I thought the previous three films were all excellent. This movie is a very different from the others in that it's actually pretty light on heart. The movie is an action movie similar to an Alien/Predator movie in that it follows a small task force led by Katniss and some other tributes and all-stars. It's very serious and a different feel for sure. The rebels are trying to take the capitol, kill President Snow, and complete their rebellion and win freedom for all. The capitol is heavily fortified and it gets ugly in the process of taking it over. Katniss is again at the forefront and her celebrity is utilized in ways she isn't a fan of. Her love triangle is still in the works, though Peeta is still a bit crazy and bloodthirsty at times from the brainwashing. Bottom Line: 7.4 out of 10. I was disappointed, but it's still a solid film. I was hoping for more in this final installment, but it gets the job done. You can wait until it's on video or cable.

Southpaw

I fell into the Black Friday madness and bought Southpaw for $9 knowing I wanted to see Gyllenhall's Oscar bid. The movie follows him as a boxer from the tough New York foster system. He marries Rachel McAdams, they live in a mansion, they have a daughter, and he fights UGLY. He is a brawler who is somehow 43-0 and holds a bunch of title belts. The movie follows him through another title defense and 50 Cent plays a promoter who is actually pretty good in the role. Gyllenhall defends the title at a pretty steep cost to his body, particularly his face. He retreats to the solace of his wife and daughter. There is another fighter looking to challenge for the crown and in a skirmish SOMEHOW Rachel McAdems gets shot and dies from it on the floor of a hotel. That sends Gyllenhall into a talespin and he somehow loses everything, which I refuse to believe is even possible. His violent tendencies cost him custody of his daughter and he has to rebuild from the bottom working at a gym and training with Forrest Whitaker, the damaged one-eye trainer. Bottom Line: 7.1 out of 10. Very well acted with the exception of his daughter (as bad as that sounds to bash a kid acting...). It's worth a shot when it comes to cable. Gyllenhall bulks up very well for the role, but it's tough to buy him as a bad boy still.

Spectre: The Newest Bond Offering

I was excited to see Spectre knowing the GOBS of hype, great cast, and solid track record from the other Daniel Craig Bond films, Quantum of Solace being excluded from the "solid" comment. This movie picks up with Bond tracking men to a hotel in Mexico City (By the way I missed the first 5 minutes, so I may have missed something important, etc. sadly). Bond hears of plans to blow up a stadium and he starts shooting guys, hitting the explosive device. After the huge scene he successfully kills everyone involved, takes off a ring with an Octopus symbol (SPECTRE's symbol) on it, and escapes in a helicopter. The attention gathered from the incident puts MI:6 and the "OO" program in serious jeopardy with Britain's new Joint Chief of Staff. Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, and Naomie Harris all come back to reprise their roles of "M", "Q", and "Moneypenny", which is great. Waltz is the new addition that I was incredibly happy about. He plays the classic role of "Blofeld", Bond's greatest enemy. Bond continues to search for SPECTRE fueled by a video recorded from Judi Dench's "M" letting him know to search out and kill Marco Sciarra. Monica Bellucci is very underused as Sciarra's widow. Bond begins to peel back layers of SPECTRE and finding out from Mr. White himself that SPECTRE is very serious and gives Bond information on the promise that Bond will protect his only daughter (insert Lea Seydoux). It's similar to most Craig-style Bond's, though Waltz is VERY underutilized as Blofeld and the primary villain. There's not enough screen time between Bond & Blofeld. This film is lacking in feeling too in my opinion. I liked Dave Bautista as the generic super-muscle. The story is stale in that it feels too similar to Skyfall. British Intelligence is compromised at the highest level, bad-guy has eyes everywhere, it's Bond vs. technology and the smarter bad guy. Bottom Line: 7.3 out of 10. I was far from impressed, but it was still a decently entertaining film. Seydoux's very good and I expect her to be around for a very long time. Hopefully she continues to do American films.

Run All Night

Seeing the cast of Ed Harris and Liam Neeson I knew I would eventually see this movie. It popped up on HBO and I was in. The movie follows Neeson's character "Jimmy", who was a hitman for Ed Harris' fledgling crime syndicate that is now the largest in the city, which I think is Boston or New York, I don't think they ever specifically say? Jimmy is an old drunk who does nothing with his life and Shawn Maguire (Harris) is the only person who cares about him anymore. Maguire's son Danny is trying to be a part of the family business, but instead just does a bunch of coke and is an idiot. He brings a deal to his dad where Russian's are going to send heroin to the ports he controls and he'll get a nice cut and a few million dollars up front. Shawn turns down the deal, his son freaks out and the Russians want revenge on Danny. The Russians randomly book Jimmy's son Mike, who drives limo, hates his dad, and trains children without father's to box in his spare time, so he'd be the "good guy" in this film. The Russians are shot by Danny, the last one in a side alley that Mike and one of the kids he trains to box see, and record on the kids phone. Danny then realizes he'll probably have to kill Mike, but he escapes, goes home, and his dad comes over to smooth things over. He hates his dad Jimmy, which they make apparent constantly, but realizing it's his best bet to stay alive, he listens. Danny, despite orders from his father to leave it alone, breaks in to kill Mike. Jimmy shoots Danny, and the movie finally starts to get more entertaining. Jimmy goes to war vs. Shawn Maguire and finally people start dying and this becomes a real film. Harris is underused, Neeson is solid, but unspectacular, I'm not a fan of Joel Kinnaman (new Robocop) who plays Mike. Story is one you've seen before, but it's still entertaining and done alright. Bottom Line: 6.2 out of 10. Nothing special here, but after the paragraph I wasted explaining the film you can fast forward, save 30 minutes and see the good parts finally.

Dope: Limited Budget Gold

Dope follows a group of "nerdy" kids in Englewood, CA. There are three in the group and they live 90's hip-hop style. High-tops that rival Will Smith's at his peak, but not quite Kid from Kid n' Play. They deal with the realities that to get to a good college it takes a lot. They start hanging out with a drug dealer who stuffs a backpack with two kilos of MDMA (Molly) and off the adventure goes. Great references to 90's culture and hip-hop is all of the place, so I dug that. ASAP Rocky makes a guest appearance and is great in his turn as the drug dealer they start hanging out with. Bottom Line: 8. 8 out of 10. Underrated hit this year that is well done throughout. It's worth watching and poses the great question of are kids in "rough" neighborhoods looked down upon (yes) during college applications and does their experiences in fact make them a better choice than white kids from privileged upbringings? Big fan and I hope this gets some love during awards season.