Post Christmas Double Feature Short Reviews: 2014

Well folks, for the third year in a row, me and my co-panelist on ‘The Feature Presentation’, Matthew Goudreau, embarked on a cinematic double-header as we did our third straight post-Christmas double feature, as we went to go see a pair of potential award contenders yesterday, which has basically been the case with every film we’ve seen in this fashion since we started doing this. In 2012, we went to go see the musical epic ‘Les Miserables’ and Quentin Tarantino’s latest film, ‘Django Unchained’. Last year, it was Martin Scorcese’s hilarious, and in some cases rather underrated, black comedy ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ and ‘American Hustle’, the film that unfortunately I wasn’t as big a fan of compared to most critics; I was more in the line with the general reaction from most audiences. Like I did these last two years, I’m not going to do full reviews of these two films, only because I’m currently busy prepping my end-of-the-year ‘Best of’ list. So instead, I’m just doing a pair of quick short reviews for each of the two films that Matt and I watched yesterday. So, without further ado, let’s get started.

INTO THE WOODS

Disney has been known for some truly iconic movie musicals, from animated films like ‘The Lion King’ and ‘Frozen’ to live-action classics like ‘Mary Poppins’. Their latest musical, ‘Into the Woods’, certainly has quite the pedigree in terms of talent both behind and in front of the camera. It’s based off of the multi Tony Award winning musical of the same name by famous composer Stephen Sondheim and writer James Lapine. It’s directed by Rob Marshall, who helmed 2002’s Oscar-winning musical ‘Chicago’, and it’s got an all-star cast from top to bottom… and overall it’s a pretty damn good musical with stunning visuals and a nice light-hearted atmosphere that contrasts solidly with the darker turns of the second act. As some have joked, it’s sort of the fairytale equivalent of something like ‘The Avengers’ as it brings together many famous characters from classic fairytales, from Cinderella (Anna Kendrick) to Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) to Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk (Daniel Huttlestone). It’s primarily focused around a Baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) who embark on a journey to lift a curse of infertility that was set upon the Baker’s family years ago by an old witch (Meryl Streep) by bringing her four items; “a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold”. And while they’re on this journey, they come across all of the aforementioned fairy tale characters who just so happen to have the items that they need.

There’s been much talk about whether or not Disney would ‘tone down’ some of the darker parts of the musical, like the sexual undertones of the scenes between Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf (Johnny Depp, who I kid you not is literally in the film for only about five minutes). And it’s true that certain parts were definitely toned down to maintain a family friendly PG rating. But, for the most part, I think it’s for the better. While the story certainly does get dark near the end, this is, for the most part, a fairly light-hearted story with a lot of humor and some fairly over-the-top moments but it’s ‘over the top’ in a good way as it’s a fairly heightened reality being that it’s a fairy tale. The musical numbers are solid and the cast is spot on from top to bottom. A lot of people have been focusing on Meryl Streep as the Witch and while she is great in the role, I have to say the biggest standout of the cast would actually have to be Emily Blunt as the Baker’s Wife, as she provides a much more ‘down-to-earth’ persona compared to most of the other characters in the story. My only real complaint about the film is that sometimes it feels like the story rushes through some moments, like when Jack climbs the beanstalk. I mean, this was probably the case with the musical as well but I do kind of wish that we could’ve gotten to see some of these moments. Still, ‘Into the Woods’ is a solid musical and while I can’t really say how much it stays true to the original musical due to the fact that I haven’t seen it, I have the feeling that this film at least does it justice.

Rating: 4.5/5

THE IMITATION GAME

Then we have ‘The Imitation Game’, based on the true story of Alan Turing, the famous computer scientist who was one of the key figures in cracking the Enigma Code of Nazi Germany during the Second World War by developing a special deciphering machine known as the ‘bombe’ that could encrypt these secret messages much faster than any human can. This story is truly fascinating and in some cases fairly sad due to some key events that happen near the end. I mean, this was a man whose work saved countless lives during World War II and, as some have predicted, it shortened the length of the war by at least two years. And yet unfortunately, in 1952, he was prosecuted for being a homosexual, a way of life that was outlawed in the UK at the time. He died only two years later in 1954 on account of suicide, and it wasn’t until recently (just a year ago, in fact) when his work was finally given the proper recognition it truly deserves. With that in mind, this is without a doubt a must-see ‘true story’ film as Turing was a man who truly left a major impact on all of our lives. You know those devices that you and I use every day… computers? His work is what laid the groundwork for that technology and the fact that he was prosecuted just for being gay (which is just total BS) makes this film even more important in today’s society, where currently only 35 states in the U.S. (and the District of Columbia) allow same-sex marriage.

The main highlight of this film is easily Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance in the role of Turing. I can definitely see a bit of Cumberbatch’s version of Sherlock Holmes in this performance as both men have this sort of awkwardness to them. But while Sherlock is more confident in what he’s doing despite the fact that he seems awkward and strange to everyone around him, Turing is fairly shy in terms of his awkwardness, which makes sense due to the fact that he’s holding in a big secret from everyone around him. Keira Knightley is also superb here as well as Joan Clarke, a fellow code-breaker who Turing gets into a romantic relationship with before finally revealing his secret to her. Not only are the performances great, but the film is really captivating as we see Turing and his team in a race against time to break the Enigma Code as they only have a set amount of time each day to figure it out before it switches at the end of the day. All in all, ‘The Imitation Game’ is a well-acted and well-directed film that truly shines a light on a man who thankfully has begun to receive the recognition that he truly deserves and the struggles that he went through near the end of his life will certainly resonate for many people today.

Rating: 5/5!

Fury (2014) review

War films… can be brutal; there’s no denying it. I really can’t think of any war film (that I’ve seen at least) that wasn’t brutal in some way, shape, or form. I mean, would you ever make a lighthearted film based on some of the darkest moments of human history? Odds are you probably wouldn’t because ‘war is hell’ and we have certainly seen that through other famous war films like ‘Schindler’s List’, ‘Flags of our Fathers’, and arguably the most famous war film of the modern era, ‘Saving Private Ryan’. This idea of the horrors of war is also showcased in the latest war flick, ‘Fury’, the second major film of the year directed by David Ayer (most famous for writing the film ‘Training Day’) following the release of ‘Sabotage’ back in March. ‘Fury’ admittedly can be very brutal at times as is common with war films, and it is also very grim. In fact, this film is arguably grimmer than it is brutal. But even with that in mind, ‘Fury’ is still an extremely riveting war drama featuring a top notch cast of leads and some truly exceptional action sequences. Yes, it’s very hard to watch at times but many other war films have been as well. This one is no exception.

The film takes place in April 1945 near the end of the European Theater section of World War II as the Allied forces begin to make their final push into Nazi Germany. We primarily follow the five-man crew of a Sherman tank nicknamed “Fury” led by Staff Sergeant Don “Wardaddy” Collier (Brad Pitt), with the main crew consisting of himself, Boyd “Bible” Swan (Shia LaBeouf), Trini “Gordo” Garcia (Michael Pena), and Grady “Coon-Ass” Travis (Jon Bernthal). Their fifth crew member ends up getting killed in battle and is immediately replaced by Norman Ellison (Logan Lerman), a typist who had just enlisted a few weeks ago. Due to his inexperience in tank combat and his unwillingness/hesitation to kill any enemy soldiers, Ellison is initially mocked by the rest of the crew of ‘Fury’, who have all been together since the North African campaign. This results in “Wardaddy” having to get him into the ‘warfighting’ spirit as they head off on a mission behind enemy lines where they soon find themselves outnumbered and outgunned against the German army.

Some have said that this film is like having someone come up to you and yell “war is hell” at you for two hours and while I can definitely see where these people are coming from, ‘Fury’ hasn’t been the only war movie to do this. Yes this film is brutal and yes it’s very grim but despite that it does do a really great job at portraying the horrors of war, specifically through the eyes of Ellison, who’s clearly in way over his head due to the fact that he’s a ‘rookie’ of war compared to the rest of the crew of ‘Fury’. Ultimately, he too has to go to some very dark places because that’s what happens in war; Compassion won’t get you anywhere far. This film features some incredible cinematography and the action sequences are phenomenal, some of the best that I’ve seen from a war movie. This helps make it extremely compelling although there is one scene in the film around the midway point that really slows things down, and not entirely in a good way. The scene in question is when the main characters go into a German town and meet a young woman and her cousin in their house. Now for the record, this isn’t exactly a ‘bad’ scene as it does allow for some nice bits of character development, particularly for Wardaddy and Ellison. The problem, however, is that it just goes on for way too long. In what is a two hour movie, this sequence arguably takes up about a quarter of the runtime. Again, it’s not a ‘bad’ scene, but the film would’ve really benefitted from having it trimmed a bit.

One of the key factors to this film’s success relied on whether or not the five leads have great camaraderie with one another given the fact that they’re all cooped up in a tank and are basically the only people on screen for most of the film. Now unfortunately, most of the main characters come off as being rather unlikable at times, primarily due to how they initially treat Ellison, resulting in him being the main one you root for over the course of the film. Jon Bernthal’s character in particular comes off as being particularly dickish, especially during the aforementioned sequence in the German village. Heck, even Wardaddy acts a little extreme at times when he’s working to break Ellison’s innocence, like when he forces him to shoot a prisoner against his will. But as the movie goes on, we do see that there are still ounces of humanity in all of them. Again, that’s war in a nutshell… it turns you into something you don’t want to become but in the end there’s nothing you can do about it. The five leads do have superb camaraderie, resulting in a very effective and genuine sense of brotherhood amongst them. Pitt and Lerman in particular work off each other extremely well in the figurative roles of ‘teacher’ and ‘student’ respectively though LaBeouf (Who dare I say might just be the standout amongst the five?), Pena, and Bernthal all do fantastic jobs as well.

‘Fury’ is a film that isn’t really for the faint of heart. It’s brutal and also very grim in regards to its overall tone and atmosphere. But at the same time, the movie does manage to be an incredibly captivating war drama with some excellent action sequences and phenomenal cinematography. But at its core, the film’s greatest strengths come from how it does a great job at not only portraying the horrors of war through the eyes of an inexperienced soldier but also the brotherhood between soldiers as shown through the five members of the ‘Fury’ crew. Their camaraderie is superb and all five leads do a phenomenal jobs, with Logan Lerman and Shia LaBeouf in particular giving some of the best performances of their careers. It can be argued that this film is more brutal than it ultimately needed to be but really, when has a war film ever not been brutal/grim? That’s the whole point as these films convey to us how dark things can get in the time of war. ‘Fury’ is indeed a hard-hitting movie but at the same time it will also have you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end.

Rating: 4.5/5