Author: Keith Young

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

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Directed by Gareth Edwards who directed the 2014 Godzilla remake, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a well-crafted Hollywood blockbuster that blends the right amount of science fiction, explosive action, and hallmarks of the Star Wars universe to create a highly entertaining cinematic experience. Its style and narrative hark back to the original three films under George Lucas and is thankfully much better than the more recent prequels. Like its other Disney predecessor Star Wars: The Force Awakens from 2015, the movie is effectively able to recapture the original spirit and creativity that has made Star Wars such a wildly successful sci-fi franchise. Although within the same narrative universe of the other films, it is very much a standalone side project with a whole slew of new characters and planets and can be loosely called a prequel to the originals and a sequel to the prequels. In the movie, Oscar-nominated actress Felicity Jones plays a young woman named Jyn Erso whose absent father, portrayed by the fabulous Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, is a brilliant engineer forced to design a deadly weapon for the powerful dictatorship of the Galactic Empire. After being held captive by a Rebel fighter depicted by Forest Whitaker, she is allowed to join forces with the Rebel Alliance in the hopes of preventing her father’s weapon from being deployed by the Empire and Director Orson Krennic portrayed by the terrifically evil Ben Mendelssohn. She teams up with Captain Cassian Andor, portrayed by Mexican actor Diego Luna, and the wisecracking reprogrammed Imperial robot K-2SO to steal the plans for what we come to learn is the Death Star and find a way to disable it. As with any other Star Wars movie, there are plenty of dogfights between Imperial and Rebel starfighters in outer space, in addition to land battles involving phaser blasters and Stormtroopers. These skirmishes are beautifully CGI-enhanced but not too over-the-top in order to keep with the appropriate continuation of the earlier films from several decades ago. The filmmakers made the right stylistic choice to mimic the now antiquated CGI set designs and relatively low budget custom designs from the original 1970s versions. The now well-known Star Wars iconography and storylines are kept intact despite the addition of so many new characters. To the delight of both avid fans and casual viewers, there are cameos of many beloved characters, including a certain villainous heavy breather and some friendly robots. Overall, I found this latest installment in the Star Wars saga to be a highly enjoyable joyride that does not skimp on good storytelling and nuanced acting performances from up-and-coming actors. If this movie is any indication, I very much look forward to the future Star Wars films that have already been planned for years to come.

Lion

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Based on an incredible true story, Lion is a terrific film about the heartbreaking tragedy of a lost Indian child who overcomes his circumstances to attempt to reconnect with his loved ones. The first half of the movie follows a 5 year old boy named Saroo from an impoverished Indian village who is separated from his family after falling asleep on an abandoned train that ends up thousands of miles away in Calcutta. We witness his gut-wrenching search for his mother and brother in a foreign region without being able to tell authorities where he is from or how to contact his family. Reminiscent of the 2008 movie Slumdog Millionaire, the film shows the abject poverty and deplorable conditions of the very young orphans living on the streets in the densely populated slums of India. After several dangerous encounters, he is eventually placed with a white Australian couple, played by Academy Award-winning actress Nicole Kidman and David Wenham, who provide him the means to lead a successful life in Tasmania far away from India. In the film’s second half, Dev Patel, in his best performance since his breakthrough role in Slumdog Millionaire, portrays Saroo 25 years later who has a seemingly well-adjusted life in Australia and is in a long-term relationship with a young woman played by Rooney Mara. However, his sense of purpose is upended after discovering the newly released online tool Google Earth and realizing that it may be possible to find his family. He uses the software’s satellite imagery to retrace the train routes he took on that fateful day to locate his Indian home. Desperate for a long shot hope of reconnecting with his biological mother and brother, he spends countless hours meticulously combing through Google Earth and other online research material. Although ultimately an uplifting inspirational story about literally rediscovering oneself, the movie vividly recounts the heart-wrenching agony of a child being separated from his family and having to join a brand new family thousands of miles away. Furthermore, the filmmaker effectively underscores the story’s painful truth: despite tragically losing his family, his adoption allowed him to escape a life of destitution that would have been practically guaranteed if he remained in India. Overall, I found it to be one of the more poignant cinematic experiences that was both depressing and beautifully uplifting at the same time while providing the already talented young actor Dev Patel with a truly career-defining performance.

Miss Sloane

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Directed by John Madden who is best known for 1998’s Shakespeare in Love, Miss Sloane is a riveting political thriller about a high-powered Washington lobbyist who uses her sometimes dirty tactics to help pass a gun control bill. The terrific acting performance from Oscar-nominated actress Jessica Chastain is really what makes the movie shine. Chastain portrays the lead character Elizabeth Sloane whose ruthless reputation makes her a particularly well sought-after lobbyist at one of the nation’s leading lobbying firms, run by Sam Waterston’s character. Complicating the audience’s characterization of her as a spineless and greedy lobbyist, she rejects an offer from the extremely powerful gun lobby to help defeat a bill mandating universal background checks for gun purchases. Instead, she shocks everyone by joining a small lobbying group, led by Mark Strong’s activist character, whose intent is to pass that very law. The filmmaker makes the interesting decision to have the story be played out mostly through flashbacks as Sloane is being investigated at a Senate hearing whose chair is a hostile Senator played by John Lithgow. Reinforcing the notion that politics is a nasty business full of conniving characters, the film follows Chastain’s character as she commits morally questionable and borderline illegal activities for the sole purpose of winning. However, the viewer feels torn because her actions can be justified as being in the pursuit of a just cause. The final plot twist in the end really drives home the film’s central question of whether the end justifies the means. Overall, I found it to be an enjoyable political thriller that feels especially relevant in today’s toxic political environment and transcends the genre by having one of the year’s best performances from Jessica Chastain. 

Rules Don’t Apply

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Directed by Academy Award-winning director Warren Beatty, Rules Don’t Apply is a light-hearted film presenting a glorified look into early Hollywood through a fictionalized romance between a starlet and driver in the employ of billionaire Howard Hughes. Set in 1950s and 1960s Hollywood, the story follows the young and religious Frank Forbes, portrayed by rising star Alden Ehrenreich, who moves to Los Angeles in hopes of getting a wealthy benefactor to finance a real estate project. As the driver for many young actresses under contract with Hughes’ movie studio, Forbes falls in love with one of these women, a young and naive actress named Marla, played by the fresh-faced Lily Collins. While this budding romance, strictly forbidden by their boss, surreptitiously unfolds, we witness the hilariously absurd behavior of the notoriously peculiar Howard Hughes, played by Warren Beatty in his first acting role in almost 15 years. Over the course of the movie, Forbes, along with another driver played by Matthew Broderick, becomes a close confidant to the obscenely wealthy business executive, aviator, and movie producer who is evidently plagued with a whole host of mental problems. Much of the film’s charm comes from the zany and often laughable antics of Hughes, whether it be ordering several hundred gallons of banana nut ice cream or hiding away in a hotel suite. At times, the plot seems to be all over the place and too reliant on poking fun of Hughes. Although it looks nice on camera and is filled with a wide range of Hollywood A-listers, the movie does not feel as polished and satisfying as some of Warren Beatty’s other works. It comes across as more of a piece of nostalgia harking back to the pinnacle of Beatty’s career as an international sex symbol in the 1960s and 1970s. It also seems like a platform for many famous actors and actresses to simply have the opportunity to cameo in a movie alongside such a highly respected figure as Warren Beatty. Overall, the film does contain entertaining moments that work as cheap laughs deriving from the quirky nature of Hughes, but it ultimately falls short of the high expectations set by the return of such a talent as Warren Beatty. It should not be treated as more than a superficially amusing comedy whose greatest asset is Beatty’s depiction of the exceptionally strange historical figure Howard Hughes.

Nocturnal Animals

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Written and directed by famed fashion designer Tom Ford, Nocturnal Animals is a stylishly peculiar film noteworthy for its nuanced acting performances and cinematically stunning details. The movie stars Amy Adams as a wealthy contemporary art gallery owner living in Los Angeles who one day receives a draft for a novel written by her estranged ex-husband. As she reads the mysterious and violent manuscript late at night at her immaculate modern mansion, the viewer is transported to the novel’s actual story set in desolate West Texas. The main protagonist, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is driving with his wife and daughter in the middle of nowhere on their way to Marfa, Texas when they are unexpectedly confronted by a group of men led by Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s vicious character. As the story progresses, the movie switches back and forth between Adams’ character who has flashbacks to her ex-husband, also played by Jake Gyllenhaal, and the written narrative as the protagonist searches for his missing family. The always terrific and creepy Michael Shannon appears as the local detective investigating the disappearance and has no qualms with seeking justice outside the law. Amy Adams’ character becomes increasingly horrified with the feeling that her ex-husband’s writings may allude to their soured relationship and the possibly violent repercussions. Therefore, the film in both of its parallel story lines is at its heart a story of love and betrayal and is full of macabre themes emphasized by the strange qualities of the film. Clearly not for everyone, especially those disturbed easily, it is very much an artsy movie concerned with the look and feel and whose plot leaves you hanging at the end. The director Tom Ford’s career in high fashion is readily apparent in the way that he creates a beautifully shot film complete with sumptuous scenery and costumes. Overall, I found it to be a highly well-crafted movie with top-notch acting and cinematography but sometimes to be too weird and dark for most moviegoers.

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

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Directed by Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk is a rather unique war drama that disappointedly falls short of its lofty ideals and creative story structure. Based on the critically acclaimed 2012 novel written by longtime Dallas resident Ben Fountain, the film follows a young soldier named Billy Lynn, portrayed by Joe Alwyn in his first feature film, who is being celebrated as a hero at a football game in Texas. It largely takes place in real time as Billy and his fellow soldiers in Bravo Squad participate in a Thanksgiving Day halftime show for a NFL team clearly based on the Dallas Cowboys. As he is essentially being used as a patriotic prop alongside the pop group Destiny’s Child, he experiences vivid flashbacks to his time serving in the Iraq War where he was credited with saving other soldiers’ lives. The movie juxtaposes the horrors of war felt by many servicemen with the extravagance and frivolity of a highly commercial American sporting event. Although the spectators, including the wealthy team owner who is based on Jerry Jones and played by Steve Martin, speak words of praise for the military, their actions show a deeper cynicism in which soldiers are taken advantage of in pursuit of self-interest. For instance, Martin’s character unabashedly undervalues the soldiers by offering to pay them very little for the rights to their story to be used in a film. Over the course of the movie, Billy also must deal with his distraught sister, played by Kristen Stewart, who urges him to leave the army. By raising such issues, the film conveys the struggles that many in the military experience on a daily life. Unfortunately, the largely lackluster script and contrived acting performances do not do justice to the emotionally powerful source material. Overall, I found it to be a movie full of potential that was never fully able to overcome its shortcomings.

Manchester by the Sea

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Written and directed by noted playwright and screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea is a truly exceptional film about the powerful emotion of grief and is anchored by perhaps the best performance of the year from Casey Affleck. In a career-defining role perfectly suited for him, Affleck plays the somber character Lee Chandler who is stuck in a dead-end job as a janitor in Quincy, Massachusetts without much hope for the future. His lonely life dramatically changes with the death of his brother Joe, portrayed by Kyle Chandler, who worked as a fisherman in their hometown of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. Without any remaining immediate family in the area able to help, Joe’s teenage son Patrick is placed under the guardianship of Lee. Extremely hesitant throughout much of the movie to take over the parenting responsibilities, Lee is forced to return to the quaint sleepy fishing town of Manchester-by-the-Sea where he must face his tragic past. The director artfully paints the difficulties Affleck’s character experienced by seamlessly blending flashbacks with current events that bring back mostly bad memories. We are introduced to his ex-wife, played by the brilliant Michelle Williams, who is equally grief-stricken after their shared unimaginable family tragedy several years prior. Lee’s nephew Patrick, portrayed by the young Lucas Hedges, is a fully human character epitomizing the effects of grief. He rarely shows emotions typical of most teenagers and becomes much more rebellious after his father’s death. Patrick occasionally breaks down emotionally and his already weary uncle must somehow overcome his own heartbreak to support Patrick at such a time of crisis. The movie effectively underscores the characters’ emotional turmoil by setting the story in an economically depressed town during the unbearably cold winter. Although it is a charmingly beautiful New England on the North Shore, Manchester-by-the-Sea has a layer of despair emphasized by the harsh and dreary winter. Overall, I found the film to be a towering cinematic achievement evoking the raw emotions associated with being human and made powerful by the mesmerizing Casey Affleck who unquestionably deserves to win the Oscar for best actor.

Allied

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Directed by Robert Zemeckis who is best known for the 1994 Academy Award-winning film Forrest Gump, Allied takes an unusual twist on the World War II-set Hollywood blockbuster by making it a predominantly romantic movie. The film starts in Nazi-controlled French Morocco in 1942 where we meet a Canadian intelligence officer, played by Brad Pitt, who is on a secret mission to assassinate a high-ranking German official. As part of his cover, he works closely with a beautiful French Resistance fighter, played by the Oscar-winning French actress Marion Cotillard. Eventually, they fall in love and get married after moving to London several months after their operation. Besides the constant bombardment of London from German bombers, the couple leads a rather normal life and even become parents to a daughter amidst an air raid. However, things begin to go awry after Pitt’s character is informed by his British military intelligence boss that his beloved wife may in fact be a Nazi spy. Extremely wary of what he is told about the woman he loves, he breaks protocol and decides to take matters into his own hands by personally uncovering the truth. Over the course of the movie, there are several thrilling scenes resembling a traditional war film, especially during their mission and the bombing of London, but, at its heart, it is a love story. Although with much higher stakes, it is essentially about times when one’s relationships are tested and who can one really trust when several allegiances overlap. Undoubtedly two good-looking people who are international superstars, Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard lend the film a certain quality of sexiness, which makes their on-screen chemistry even more appealing. Overall, I found it to be an enjoyable cinematic experience that was surprisingly more of a romance than I expected from a movie about German spies at the height of World War II.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

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Written by J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter book series, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is the spiritual prequel to the hugely popular Harry Potter movie series but stands on its own as a technically marvelous cinematic experience about magic. It stars the Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, a British wizard who arrives in New York City in 1926 on his quest to discover and document the otherworldly magical creatures that live hidden in the human world. During a time when the so-called Magical Congress of the United States is attempting to neutralize threats from the wizardry world, Newt unwittingly befriends a desperate potential bakery owner named Jacob, a regular human without powers, known as a No-Maj. Jacob, rather comically, becomes Newt’s accomplice in trying to evade arrest from the powerful Magical Congress while becoming ensnared in a hunt for a malevolent force known as an Obscurus potentially destructive to all of mankind. Eventually, they also team up with a young woman trying to move up in the rankings at the Magical Congress and her beautiful young sister who can read minds. The special effects enhanced by CGI were beautifully crafted and help to create a highly imaginative world in which truly fantastical beasts look and feel real. The film was even more dazzling with its attention to detail and setting in the 1920’s, an era in American history marked by remarkable engineering achievements and a feeling of exuberance despite the Prohibition. The movie has one major drawback: it is sometimes overly complicated and uses lingo and concepts that may not be readily understood by nonreaders of the Harry Potter universe. Overall, it is an entertaining film full of technical wizardry and ripe with a vast array of characters and details that can be readily explored in future installments. It is an experience that will surely delight all the millions of Harry Potter fans in addition to casual viewers of fantasy.

The Edge of Seventeen

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Starring Oscar-nominated actress Hailee Steinfeld, The Edge of Seventeen is a surprisingly good coming-of-age movie about a teenage girl facing the typical pitfalls of an American highschooler. Steinfeld plays an insecure seventeen-year-old named Nadine who feels overshadowed by her handsome and popular older brother and has only one true friend. Like most teenage comedies, the film follows the often awkward and, in retrospect, laughable experiences that a typical teenager goes through in average American society. Feeling like she has no place especially after experiencing a personal tragedy several years prior, she tries to fit in with her high school peers by trying to become popular while grappling with her social awkwardness, sexuality, and emotional instability. Throughout the film, she turns to her rather dour yet ultimately motivational history teacher, portrayed by Woody Harrelson, who almost begrudgingly gives her advice on life, with a realistic perspective. She is unable to truly connect with her mother, played by Kyra Sedgwick, who seems to favor her older brother and has her own personal problems to deal with following the family tragedy. Nadine is particularly upset after she learns that her best friend is dating her brother and her crush appears to be completely oblivious to her existence. She appears to take actions that are completely out of her character as a means of coming to terms with her complicated life. Towards the end of the movie, she comes to a better realization of who she is and develops an unexpected bond with a fellow classmate. Overall, I found the film to be much more than your typical high school comedy as a result of its stellar performances and terrifically original screenplay. As other critics have remarked, it is strikingly similar to the classic 1980’s John Hughes films, including Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, and breathes new life to the teen angst comedy drama genre.