Loosely based on the widely popular 1986 arcade video game of the same name, Rampage is nothing more than your basic Hollywood blockbuster full of cheap thrills and elaborate CGI action sequences with a story that does not really matter. Starring Dwayne Johnson as primatologist Davis Okoye, the flimsy plot revolves around genetically engineered animals who become destructive monsters after being exposed to a genetic experiment created in the labs of an absurdly villainous corporation. Working for a wildlife sanctuary in San Diego after serving in the military and an anti-poaching squad, Davis discovers that something is terribly wrong with his favorite gorilla named George after the animal becomes bigger and stronger overnight. Eventually, he teams up with Dr. Kate Caldwell, played by Naomie Harris, who used to work as a geneticist with the Energyne Corporation owned and operated by two malevolent siblings who are secretly trying to develop biological weapons of mass destruction. The United States government and military led by the mysterious and extremely exaggerated cowboy-like Agent Harvey Russell, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, becomes involved after George exhibits aggressive behavior and goes on a rampage indiscriminately destroying all sorts of buildings. As George becomes increasingly dangerous, the already ridiculous plot thickens with the appearance of a oversized wolf and crocodile also infected with the pathogen. The trio of fearsome monsters ultimately descend on downtown Chicago where Davis and Dr. Caldwell search for the antidote so that the animals are not killed by the gung-ho armed forces. Similar to the video game in which tanks and other war machinery are used to try and destroy the Godzilla-like creatures, much of the film is comprised of overwhelming action sequences intensified by CGI eye candy in which the animals are bombarded with all types of weapons to no avail. Overall, I found it to be exactly what I expected from a movie based on a retro arcade game and led by action superstar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson; it was a rather dumb story that was a vehicle for over-the-top mayhem perfect for a popcorn flick.
Based on the 1928 play written by R. C. Sherriff that has been adapted to film four previous times, Journey’s End is a gripping war film set in the battlefields of World War I that is effectively able to explore the psychological effects experienced by a group of British officers as a result of a truly outstanding cast. The story follows C-company of the British Army who are sent to the northern French trenches for a six-day rotation in March 1918 during a time when a major German offensive may take place. Clearly based on a theatrical production, the film is much more of a intimate affair in which the characters are immersed in emotional dialogue rather than a typical war movie focused more on the action sequences, and most of the story takes place in an underground bunker reserved for officers in the trenches. The unit is led by Captain Stanhope, played by Sam Claflin, who is clearly suffering from PTSD after witnessing the horrors of war and resorts to drinking to soothe his severe depression. Rounding out the all-star cast, Paul Bettany plays Stanhope’s best friend Lieutenant Osborne, Stephen Graham plays the more upbeat Second Lieutenant Trotter, and Toby Jones plays the officers’ cook Private Mason. Things change with the arrival of the very young new officer Second Lieutenant Raleigh, played by Asa Butterfield, who knows Stanhope from school and whose sister is in a relationship with Stanhope. Fearful that his tragic change of character will be revealed to Raleigh and thereby his love interest, Captain Stanhope is upset that Raleigh has been assigned to his unit and feels that he must try to put on a more hopeful façade. Throughout the movie, the characters try to distract themselves from their horrific situations by recounting their personal civilian lives and talking about their futures back home. Underscoring how warfare changes one’s psyche, the vibrant Second Lieutenant Raleigh rapidly becomes a shell of himself and more like the despondent Stanhope after he goes on his first raid across no man’s land to the German trenches in which several of his fellow man are brutally killed. Overall, I found it to be one of the more emotionally powerful films about World War I that brings to life the truism that war is hell and has a profound impact on those who serve.
Directed by Kay Cannon who was the screenwriter for the Pitch Perfect movie franchise, Blockers is a surprisingly sentimental and intelligent comedy that otherwise follows in the same vein of a vulgar teenage comedy about sex. The story involves three parents who try to prevent their three high school daughters from entering a sex pact to lose their virginity on their prom night. The group of girls have been longtime friends ever since they started elementary school and feel that they must have sex before college in order to be seen as adults. Unlike most teenage comedies in which a group of young men lust after beautiful coeds, the film focuses on the intention of the female protagonists to explore their own sexuality and therefore objectifies women to a lesser degree. Furthermore, much of the plot is about the parents: the single and overprotective mother Lisa, played by Judd Apatow-favorite Leslie Mann; the muscular and emotional father Mitchell, played by former pro wrestler John Cena; and the carefree yet absent father Hunter, played by Ike Barinholtz best known for 2014’s comedy Neighbors. After they hear that their daughters are not so innocent as they hoped, the heavily involved parents Lisa and Mitchell panic and decide to follow the girls on prom night to prevent them from having sex. Only later does the more lackadaisical Hunter join in on the hilarity that ensues as they embark on their ridiculous adventure to stop teenagers from being teenagers. Yes, the movie is filled with some rather inappropriate moments that are typically found in R-rated sex comedies, but the writing allows for the characters to be more fully developed and thereby humanize the process of entering adulthood. At the end, the parents learn their lesson to not be so obsessively protective of their children and instead engage in realistic heart-to-heart discussions about growing up and exploring one’s sexuality. Overall, I found it to be one of the funniest films of the year while at the same time astonishing me for taking a different and more feminine approach to the stereotypical vulgar comedy; underneath all the silliness, the story has a heartfelt message about modern-day parenting.
Directed by acclaimed first filmmaker Cédric Klapisch who is best known for 2002’s L’Auberge Espagnole, Back to Burgundy is a sentimental French film about a winemaking family in the French countryside of Burgundy. The plot follows three siblings who are reunited at their family-owned winery after the return of the prodigal son Jean, played by Pio Marmaï, when the father becomes gravely ill. From the beginning, there is tension between all of the siblings, especially Jean who has been away for many years working at a winery in Australia after having a falling out with the father. Juliette, played by Ana Girardot, is running the day-to-day operations of the family’s fledgling winery and remembers having a much better relationship with the father who taught her the winemaking business. She is occasionally helped out by the younger brother Jeremie, played by François Civil, who has problems of his own dealing with his strict father-in-law who owns one of the more well-known wineries in Burgundy. After the father finally dies, the three siblings must figure how to successfully run the family business at the same time that they are facing an insurmountable inheritance tax. The emotional maturation of the family is eloquently emphasized by showing time-lapse footage of the vineyards over the course of four seasons and the winemaking process that requires time and patience. Eventually, they all become closer to one another and come to appreciate the land that they are so dependent on as equal owners of a winery. Overall, I found it to be a sweet film filled with serious feelings and occasional comedic flair that makes for an enjoyable cinematic experience that leaves you appreciating family even through the inevitably difficult times.
Directed by Israeli filmmaker Samuel Maoz who is best known for the award-winning 2009 film Lebanon, Foxtrot is an emotionally searing drama about grief and the experiences of those affected by the military but brings levity to the depressing material by mixing in dark humor and rather bizarre situations. The movie is split into three different acts in which the audience follows a upper middle-class Israeli family living in Tel Aviv as it relates to the son Jonathan’s military service in the Israeli Defense Forces. The beginning sequence reveals the intimate details of how Michael Feldman, played by the talented Israeli actor Lior Ashkenazi, and his wife Dafna, played by Sarah Adler, learn about the tragic death of Jonathan while serving. Finishing out the first act, the couple are faced with a bizarre twist about their son that angers Michael while leaving his wife relieved. The audience is then immersed into Jonathan’s story as a soldier who works, along with three other young men, at a very remote Israeli checkpoint where the greatest challenge is surviving boredom. Rather matter-of-factly, the soldiers are shown passing the time by doing such mundane activities as watching a can roll in a rotting shipping container serving as their barracks and even almost inexplicably performing the foxtrot dance alone. Finally, the plot returns to Michael and Dafna who are undergoing even more intense grief, interspersed with brief moments of humor about the absurdity of their situation. Overall, I found it to be a well-crafted film that reaffirms life and the importance of not always taking things so seriously even at the darkest points in one’s life; at times, it can be uncomfortably odd while still delving into serious issues surrounding the military.
Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Wes Anderson who is best known for 1998’s Rushmore, 2001’s The Royal Tenenbaums, 2009’s animated Fantastic Mr. Fox, and 2014’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs is a beautiful stop-motion animated film with the trademark meticulous detailing and deadpan humor of a Wes Anderson project. The truly peculiar story revolves around the fictional Megasaki City in Japan that under the ruthless leadership of Mayor Kobayashi has removed all dogs and exiled them to a desolate island known as Trash Island. Kobayashi claims that all canines must be eradicated because they carry a particular disease that could spread to humans, and he even ignores the scientist Professor Watanabe who says he is close to finding a cure that would allow the dogs to live safely among humans again. Much of the film focuses on the adventures of a group of dogs living on the island: Rex, voiced by Edward Norton; Boss, voiced by Bill Murray; King, voiced by Bob Balaban; Duke, voiced by Jeff Goldblum; and Chief, voiced by Bryan Cranston. After the appearance of a young boy named Atari who is looking for his beloved dog Spots, voiced by Liev Schreiber, the dogs decide to help Atari travel across Trash Island despite it being full of dangers, including a rumored gang of cannibalistic dogs. As a stray dog who feels out of place with the pet dogs, Chief begrudgingly goes along with the plan, but eventually he becomes more fond of Atari and the other dogs, especially the show dog Nutmeg, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. Back in the city, a foreign exchange high school student named Tracy Walker, voiced by Greta Gerwig, is suspicious of Kobayashi and investigates him as the center of a conspiracy theory in which all dogs are purposely exterminated in order to favor cats. In an unusual twist, the film’s dialogue alternates between English, which all the dogs speak, and Japanese, which is presented without subtitles and is occasionally translated by the on-screen character Interpreter Nelson, voiced by Frances McDormand. As is the case with Wes Anderson’s other work, the most remarkable aspect of the movie is the obsessive detail that is put into the scene design and the painstaking lengths he takes in order to create a surrealistic depiction of the characters through the use of stop-motion animation. Overall, I found it to be a remarkable cinematic achievement because of its visionary use of animation and ability to tell an exceptionally creative and heartwarming story about persecuted talking dogs. It is definitely a weird film that will not appeal to all moviegoers but will delight fans of Wes Anderson’s unique style and dog lovers.
Directed by Brazilian filmmaker José Padilha who is best known for 2007’s Elite Squad and producing the Netflix series Narcos, 7 Days in Entebbe is a fairly routine crime thriller hampered by a slow pace but noteworthy for its retelling of a truly remarkable true story. The movie is about the 1976 hijacking of Air France Flight 139 from Paris to Tel Aviv by a group of terrorists sympathetic to the Palestinian cause against Israel. Its primary focus is on the German terrorists Wilfried Böse, played by Daniel Brühl, and Brigitte Kuhlmann, played by Oscar nominee Rosamund Pike, who decide to join several other Palestinians to hijack an airliner in order to make demands in favor of the Palestinians. After overtaking the plane, they divert to Entebbe, Uganda whose ruthless dictator Idi Amin is pro-Palestinian will harbor the terrorists and the 248 passengers and crew members taken hostage. The characters spend most of the movie waiting for a response from the Israeli government while also showing the ideological differences between the German and Palestinian terrorists. At the same time, the film switches to providing an inside glimpse into the Israeli response led by the hawkish Minister of Defence Shimon Perez, played by Eddie Marsan, and the more moderate Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, played by Lior Ashkenazi. Furthermore, it also follows a few of the Israeli Defense Forces soldiers as they go about their daily lives in preparation for the climactic raid on the airport to free the hostages that occurred on July 4, 1976. In a creative twist, the movie begins and ends with a very dramatic modern dance performance that metaphorically represents the delicate dance of negotiating with terrorists and the highly choreographed military maneuvers involved in the raid. Overall, I found it to be a rather disappointing film that I had high expectations for as a result of its fascinating story; unfortunately, it was rather lacking in providing a gripping and gritty account of one of the most publicized terrorist acts in modern history.
Based on the best-selling 2011 novel of the same name written by Ernest Cline, Ready Player One is entertaining science fiction fantasy that effectively recreates the video game experience with its frenetic pace and overabundance of CGI. The plot revolves around Wade Watts, played by Tye Sheridan, who lives in a futuristic Columbus, Ohio in 2045 and finds himself on an adventure in the so-called OASIS, a virtual reality world that most people tap into to escape their dystopian real lives. Wade whose avatar is named Parzival is what is known as a Gunter and searches for the Easter eggs that the creator James Halliday, played by Oscar winner Mark Rylance, hid within OASIS after his death. The person that discovers the three keys will become the sole owner and operator of the massive virtual world in addition to receiving $500 billion from Halliday’s estate. With the possibility of such immense power, the villainous CEO of the video game corporation IOI Nolan Sorrento, played by Emmy winner Ben Mendelsohn, enlists an army of indebted OASIS users to discover the clues left behind in order to take control. Wade races to discover all of the Easter eggs before Sorrento and eventually teams up with a group of other avatars known as the “High Five,” including the young and beautiful Art3mis whose real name is Samantha Cook, played by Olivia Cook, and Wade’s virtual best friend Aech, played by Lena Waithe who is best-known for her role in the Netflix series Master of None. The movie feels very much like the audience is alongside Wade as he battles through what is essentially an elaborate video game, with the telltale graphics of a modern first-person shooter and the presence of avatars and Easter eggs. Besides the spectacular and almost seizure-inducing special effects and action sequences, the film is remarkable for its nostalgia and homage to vintage and contemporary video gaming as well as past pop culture, in particular the 1980s and even to the director Steven Spielberg’s earlier movies. Overall, I found it to be a unique and creative cinematic experience that, for better or worse, feels like a video game nerd’s fever dream brimming with so much insider geeky knowledge to be almost too overwhelming for general audiences.
KEITH on Reels 