Daredevil: Season 2 Review

“One batch, two batch, Penny and Dime…”

(WARNING: There will be Spoilers!)

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) review

(Note: While the film has been out for at least two weeks now, I’m still going to maintain a ‘no spoilers’ mandate for this review in case some of you haven’t seen it yet.)

In 2007, J.J. Abrams, before he became known as the director who was responsible for reviving not one but three separate franchises (Mission Impossible, Star Trek, and Star Wars), debuted a secret trailer that ran before screenings of Michael Bay’s first Transformers film. This trailer, which centered around a going-away party in New York that was interrupted by a mysterious event occurring in the city, was noteworthy for not initially revealing the title for the film. It only listed J.J.’s producing credit and its impending release date of 1-18-08. It wasn’t until later when the film’s official title, Cloverfield, and the fact that it was a monster film was made clear. And when it was released that following January, it proved to be a pretty sizable hit, attracting solid reviews and a nice box-office haul on just a $25 million budget. The success of the film led to much talk about a possible sequel, with director Matt Reeves stating that there were many possibilities for follow-ups due to the fact that the events of the film probably weren’t the only ‘filmed’ events from that night. Ultimately though, for a few years it seemed like there wasn’t going to be a sequel due to both Reeves and Abrams moving onto other projects. However, just less than two months ago, Abrams pulled a fast one on us by unveiling a special teaser before, fittingly enough, another Michael Bay film; in this case, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. As it turned out, this ‘mystery film’ was pretty much the long-awaited Cloverfield sequel that fans have been waiting for; 10 Cloverfield Lane. However, as J.J. soon made it clear, this was only a ‘blood relative’ to that film and looking at it now, that’s definitely true. This is not meant to be a straightforward sequel to the original film. But even with that said, and save for some unanswered questions that come from the ending, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a very thrilling story that showcases the potential for where this series can go from here.

As the film begins, a young woman named Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) leaves her New Orleans home after getting into an argument with her fiancé Ben (who’s notably played, in voice only, by Bradley Cooper). But while driving through Louisiana, she suddenly ends up in a severe car accident. When she comes to, she finds herself chained to the wall in a small concrete room. She soon learns that she’s been brought to an underground bunker that is also being inhabited by Emmett Dewitt (John Gallagher, Jr.), a fellow ‘survivor’, and the owner of the bunker, Howard Stambler (John Goodman). Howard tells her that he brought her to the bunker following her crash because of an unspecified attack that has made the air outside toxic and has pretty much killed off everyone else save for them. With nowhere else to go, Michelle is forced to adapt to living within Howard’s bunker. But as time goes on, both Michelle and Emmett start to grow suspicious of Howard and fear that, despite his seemingly generous nature in regards to letting them stay in the bunker, he’s actually going to become a threat to them. As a result, the two begin working on an escape plan, which ultimately leads them to have to confront whatever the heck is going on up on the surface.

Back in January, I did a post on the trailer for this film and posed the question of just how much is it meant to connect to the original Cloverfield. Well, having now seen the film, I can firmly say that it actually doesn’t relate to it that much. In other words, this is not a ‘follow-up’ to the events of the first film. The monster from the first film does not appear at any point and this film is shot traditionally instead of in the ‘found-footage’ style that defined the first film. But at the same time, I do still see how this film is meant to be a ‘blood relative’ of Cloverfield. Both films are, at their very roots, stories of strange ‘events’ happening and how certain people respond to it. And whereas the first film was a ‘monster/horror’ film, this film is more of a claustrophobic thriller as it is almost entirely set within the confines of Howard’s bunker. And overall it does deliver on being a very tense thriller throughout, with the audience left in the dark just as much as Michelle is in regards to what’s going on. And because of it, you’re very much invested in wanting to know more just like Michelle. The film also benefits from a terrific trio of leads. John Gallagher, Jr., AKA the ‘general unknown’ of the three, is solid even when considering that his character Emmett is basically the least important of the three. Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Michelle is a smart and likable ‘avatar’ for the audience and it’s really cool how a good chunk of the film revolves around her and her attempts to escape, whether it’s using an IV rod in order to reach her phone or her starting a fire in the ventilation system. But the real star of the show is John Goodman in the role of Howard. Walking a fine line between intimidating and creepy, as well as seeming like he’s ‘not all there’ at times, Howard is a complete enigma throughout and this film reaffirms the fact that Goodman is quite simply one of the best character actors in the business.  

But while I was immediately hooked with the plot and was curious to see where this film was going to go, I’ll admit that I felt a little let-down by the ending. Now again, I won’t spoil what happens for anyone who hasn’t seen the film yet and for the record, it’s not like this ending was completely out of left field or anything, as I’ve heard some people claim. There are some allusions early on about what’s actually happening and of course whatever it is was responsible for what then led to Howard, Michelle, and Emmett being stuck in the bunker. And the conflict that emerges between Howard and Michelle is also clearly defined in regards to the former’s true intentions. However, in regards to “what’s coming”, as the marketing keeps stating, the film doesn’t really do much to explain it. Now I’m not entirely faulting the film for deciding not to delve too much into this ‘entity’ but at the same time, it would’ve been nice to learn just a little bit more about who this is and what they’re doing here. Also, there’s not much of a finality to Howard’s overall story arc. I’ve read about the film’s original ending and, obviously without giving anything major away, I do feel that this version would’ve resulted in a more conclusive ending to the conflict between Howard and Michelle. This ending also doesn’t feature the ‘entity’ so I’m guessing that part of the film was added in later, supposedly in reshoots. Either way, though, neither version really does much to explain what actually happened. At the end of the day, it’s more about what happens inside the bunker than what’s happening on the outside. 

Now despite my issues with the ending, I did still thoroughly enjoy 10 Cloverfield Lane. Because ultimately the most important element of the film isn’t ‘what’s out there’ but instead the characters within the bunker and everything that goes on while they’re in there. The first two-thirds of the film do an excellent job in regards to setting these characters up and establishing a terrifically suspenseful atmosphere within its ‘cozy’ confines, especially thanks to John Goodman’s outstanding performance as the incredibly eerie Howard. As someone who admittedly isn’t a ‘big, big fan’ of the original Cloverfield, I actually didn’t mind that this film wasn’t a 100% ‘direct sequel’ to it. There has been some debate over the overall decision to connect this film to the original Cloverfield, with some arguing that this was nothing more than Paramount cashing in on the Cloverfield name due to the fact that this film was originally known as The Cellar before Bad Robot took over the film’s production and connected it to the 2008 film. But overall I do very much get how this film can be seen as a ‘blood relative’ to the original Cloverfield because both films do share a similarly structured plot based around ‘strange occurrences’. This film also helps showcase the potential of what is apparently meant to be the beginning of a new ‘anthology’ series and a pretty interesting one at that, if you ask me. After all, as this film’s tagline states, ‘Monsters Come in Many Forms’, so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of ‘monsters’ J.J. Abrams and his team come up with down the road. Until then, I will say that 10 Cloverfield Lane is a well-made thriller with a great trio of leads and an interesting premise that keep me interested throughout even if it kind of unraveled by the end.

Rating: 4/5

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) review (400th Post!!)

In June of 1938, DC Comics launched its Action Comics series, which introduced the character of Superman, the ‘alien’ being from the planet Krypton who was sent to Earth by his father Jor-El when the planet was on the brink of destruction. Adopted by the Kents, Superman spent much of his childhood living in Kansas under the name Clark Kent before taking on the public persona of Superman as an adult. In doing so, he not only became DC’s ‘first’ major superhero but also arguably the most famous superhero of all-time. Just a little less than a year later, in May of 1939, DC debuted the character of Batman in the 27^th issue of their Detective Comics series. Batman, AKA Bruce Wayne, the billionaire playboy who took on the persona of ‘The Dark Knight’ after witnessing his parents’ murder at a young age, is arguably just as iconic as Superman if not more given all of the numerous adaptations of the character over the years from films to TV shows to video games. While DC Comics has created numerous superheroes over the years from Wonder Woman to the Flash to Green Lantern, Batman and Superman are easily the company’s most famous protagonists. That is very much exemplified by their track records on film because, to be perfectly frank, they are kind of the only major DC superheroes to find success in live-action on the big-screen. Superman pretty much kicked off the ‘superhero film genre’ with his 1978 titular film Superman, directed by Richard Donner, while Batman’s own titular outing from 1989, directed by Tim Burton, was another noteworthy entry for the genre. Both franchises experienced their own highs and lows over the years but they have also saw revivals in recent years. In the case of Batman, it was thanks to Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy while Superman got a Dark Knight style reimagining in 2013 with Man of Steel.

Three years after Man of Steel, DC now begins its journey into establishing its own cinematic universe, just like Marvel has done over the past eight years, with the follow-up to Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Man of Steel director Zack Snyder returns to direct as does the main cast of Man of Steel while Ben Affleck takes over for Christian Bale in the role of Batman. It is the first time that these titans of DC have appeared together in a live-action film so obviously there was a lot of hype surrounding the film because of that as well as the aforementioned fact that it’s meant to kick-start DC’s own cinematic universe. However, at the moment it is currently being slammed by critics, sporting only a measly 30% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (at the time I’m writing this). While this isn’t really that surprising seeing how Man of Steel also received mixed reviews from critics (that film has a 56% rating on RT) and was no doubt the most polarizing film of 2013, I assure you that this new film is nowhere near as bad as that RT rating suggests. Now don’t get me wrong as there are some issues with this film, namely in regards to the story and the editing. At the same time, though, there are genuinely some very good things about this film, particularly the visuals, the action sequences, and the performances of a few noteworthy newcomers to the DC ‘Extended Universe’ (that’s the term they’re going with for this new Cinematic Universe, from what I’ve heard). In other words, I’m certain that fans of the DC universe are going to be pretty satisfied with this long-awaited crossover involving the ‘Son of Krypton’ and the ‘Bat of Gotham’.

The film takes place 18 months after the events of Man of Steel, in which Superman (Henry Cavill) successfully prevented General Zod (Michael Shannon) from destroying the Earth in order to establish a new home for the people of Krypton. At the same time, however, Superman’s confrontation with Zod ended up causing a lot of collateral damage to the city of Metropolis. Because of this, Superman ends up becoming a controversial figure amongst various parties. One particular critic of Superman is Gotham billionaire Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), who of course as we know moonlights as Gotham’s vigilante Batman. Fearing that Superman, being an all-powerful alien, could pose a severe threat to the human race, Bruce begins an all-out defense against Superman, which soon sees the two superheroes coming into conflict with each other. At the same time, however, Metropolis tech mogul Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), who also views Superman as a threat as well as other ‘meta-humans’ currently out there, begins to experiment with both the remains of General Zod and the Kryptonian technology recovered from the battle of Metropolis, particularly the material known as Kryptonite, in order to combat Superman. Lex’s actions, which pose a threat to not just Batman and Superman but the whole world as well, soon force the two heroes to work together, serving as a precedent for future events in the DC universe.

So as far as this film’s primary issues are concerned, they mainly come from the story and the editing, particularly during the first twenty minutes or so. This film admittedly does start out on a bit of a rough note as the plot sort of goes in all directions in regards to what’s going on. Part of it does come from the editing, which can be rather choppy at times. In a way, that does sort of apply to the whole film; after all, this film does cover a lot of ground even in the fairly hefty span of 153 minutes. Not only does this film continue the story that began in Man of Steel but it also re-establishes the character of Batman while also setting up other characters like Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot). But ultimately, I did like how the film ‘set up’ the other characters. At the end of the day, this is still very much a Batman/Superman film and while I was worried that Batman was going to overshadow Superman in what was originally ‘his sequel’ (which I know some will deny but I do recall Zack Snyder stating at one point that he wanted to do a second Superman film before getting into anything Justice League related, and keep in mind that this was before it was revealed that Batman was going to be in it), the film actually is rather balanced in terms of their roles in the overall plot. Wonder Woman is basically the only other major DC lead superhero to have a ‘major’ role in the story but the film does feature some ‘cameo appearances’ from the likes of characters like Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and the Flash (Ezra Miller) and I do think that the film handled these ‘cameos’ well. They don’t overshadow Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman, but they do their job in regards to setting them up for future films without them actually playing ‘a role’ in this film’s story. Stuff like this did keep me invested throughout even if the narrative did become rather unfocused at times.

But these problems do sort of become less prevalent as the film goes on and this is where Batman v Superman really starts to shine, namely in regards to its visuals. There’s no denying that Zack Snyder is one of the best ‘visual directors’ in the business. That is especially true whenever Snyder does a ‘comic-book’ film, like he did with 300 in 2007 and Watchmen in 2009. It’s been very much shown that Snyder really does have a talent in regards to translating the imagery of the comics to the big-screen and that once again shows with this film. So even if you’re not a big fan of this film, there’s no denying that it has one hell of an awesome visual style. That also translates well into the action sequences. Admittedly most of the action sequences are reserved for the third act of the film but when they do happen, they’re pretty darn epic, especially the fight sequences between Batman and Superman and quite frankly any action sequences involving Batman for that matter. Like Man of Steel, this film has attracted a considerable amount of flak for its overall tone; in other words, these films have been criticized for being ‘too grim’. However, I don’t entirely agree with that because while it is true that these films are much more serious compared to the lighter-hearted efforts of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that doesn’t mean that they are completely ‘dour’. There are a few light-hearted quips peppered in here and there, particularly from Alfred (Jeremy Irons, who is, to put it simply, quite excellent in the role of Bruce Wayne’s trusty butler) and Perry White (Laurence Fishburne). Some of you might recall the rumor that DC was mandating a ‘no joke’ policy in regards to their upcoming films. Well based solely on this film I can tell you that this alleged ‘no joke’ mandate… was a load of bull.

Performance-wise, the returning cast of Man of Steel (Cavill, Amy Adams, Diane Lane, etc.) are as solid as they were in the first film. Ultimately though, the major focus for most people this time around was the newcomers; Affleck as Batman, Gadot as Wonder Woman, and Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. It’s pretty much guaranteed that any major superhero casting is going to be subjected to much scrutiny from comic book fans and Affleck’s casting as Batman is arguably the most controversial superhero casting of all-time. While Affleck has redeemed his career in recent years thanks to his directorial efforts with films like Argo and Gone Baby Gone, his previous turn in the superhero genre, 2003’s Daredevil, was clearly still in the minds of a lot of comic book fans. Thankfully, a lot of those critics are hopefully now eating their words because Affleck is superb as Batman. His take on the character is very much influenced by the older Bruce Wayne from Frank Miller’s iconic series The Dark Knight Returns and Affleck handles the role of the aged Batman perfectly. The controversy over Gal Gadot’s casting of Wonder Woman mainly stemmed from the fact that Gadot’s filmography prior to this film wasn’t necessarily that ‘illustrious’. But ultimately she is excellent in the role. Obviously she isn’t in it as much as Affleck or Cavill but once she ‘becomes’ Wonder Woman, man does she steal the show. And finally we come to Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, who of course attracted controversy on the grounds that some believed he ‘didn’t look the part’. As far as his performance in this film goes, it’s no doubt going to be one of the most polarizing elements of the film. Eisenberg does play the role in a fairly over-the-top manner. For some, this will be a bit ‘much’ but I will say that he does have some genuinely memorable moments from time to time and at the very least it feels like he’s at least doing something different in the role compared to what has come before.

At the end of the day, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice may be attracting a rather negative reaction from most critics but that doesn’t automatically mean that the developing DC ‘Extended Universe’ is in jeopardy. I have the feeling that the next two films in this franchise, Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman, are probably going to fare better with critics. Still, I do feel that some critics have been overly harsh on this film. Some critics will deny it but I assure you that I have some clearly biased reviews from people who kept s***ting on this film before they saw it; in other words, they went into it already intent on hating it and that’s just unfair. Anyone who’s been following this blog the past few years will know that I used to be pretty darn critical towards this film in the years leading up to its release, mainly after it was announced that Wonder Woman was going to be in this ‘Batman and Superman’ film. But ultimately I realized that I was being totally unjust towards the film by being overly critical towards it despite the fact that it wasn’t even out yet. I’ve made it clear that I’m a bigger fan of what Marvel Studios has been doing with their Cinematic Universe but that did not influence my thoughts on this film in any way. And ultimately I will say that I did like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Yes, there are some flaws, namely in regards to the film’s rather scrambled narrative. This is by no means a ‘perfect’ superhero film. But the things that this film does right truly are great, particularly the visuals, action sequences, and noteworthy performances from the likes of Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot, among others. A 30% on RT this is not… if you ask me, it should be in the same camp as Man of Steel and have a rating somewhere in the 50’s that represents the admittedly polarizing nature of the film. Ultimately though, I will say this… if you’re a fan of DC Comics, and if you did like Man of Steel I have the feeling that you’re really going to like this film no matter what the critics may say about it.

Rating: 3.5/5

2016 SXSW Film Festival Recap

Hey folks! So if you’ve been following me on Twitter and Instagram these past few days, you’ll know that I’ve spent the last week in Austin, Texas for the 2016 South by Southwest Film Festival. It was all part of a school trip that I went on that was being held by the University of Rhode Island. Suffice it to say, this was one hell of an experience. It was pretty much my first major ‘Film Festival’. For the record, I had actually participated in another film festival before, the Rhode Island International Film Festival back in 2013, but this was more or less my first ‘primetime’ film festival experience (in other words, something along the lines of Sundance or TIFF). I saw a lot of films, went to a few panels, and came across many interesting folks along the way. So today, I’m giving you folks a recap of everything that I did down in Texas this past week. Though actually, when I say ‘everything’, I’ll mainly be focusing on the films that I saw these past few days, from the event’s big ‘headliners’ to a few noteworthy documentaries.

DAY 1: MARCH 11^TH

Admittedly there’s not much to talk about for this first day. This was just the day I flew down to Texas. I departed from the TF Green airport in Providence in the early morning and made a quick stop in Tampa before flying into the city and getting there around 11:00 AM CST. For a while I thought I would get in later than usual because President Obama was flying in for a Keynote Speech and I heard that the airport was going to basically shut down all activity for his arrival. Thankfully I got in about two hours before he did. I wanted to get into Austin early so I could catch the Opening Night film which was…

EVERYBODY WANTS SOME

Everybody Wants Some is the latest film from director Richard Linklater and has been described as a ‘spiritual sequel’ to his 1993 classic Dazed and Confused. And that’s definitely a perfect description of it as both films are admittedly fairly similar in terms of their plots. Both films are basically just about a group of characters hanging out and getting into a whole bunch of shenanigans. But whereas Dazed and Confused was set in the 70’s, Everybody Wants Some takes place in 1980. I did watch Dazed before I went on this trip and overall I will say that both films are excellent. Everybody Wants Some is definitely one of those films worth seeing with a crowd. As noted, I saw this on Opening Night and the crowd at the Paramount Theater loved it, which is fitting seeing how Linklater is from Texas and was pretty much responsible for establishing Austin as a premier locale for filmmakers. While I’ll admit that sometimes the crowd was a bit too excited for the film to the point where some bits of dialogue were drowned out by audience laughter, I did still have a lot of fun watching Everybody Wants Some. It definitely is a very entertaining crowd-pleaser that is full of humor, primarily thanks to the cast’s great camaraderie, and of course has a great soundtrack just like Dazed. The cast is mostly made up of ‘unknowns’, with the biggest name being Glee alum Blake Jenner in the lead role of freshman pitcher Jake, but everyone in the cast is terrific. While admittedly the film isn’t very deep in terms of its story, this is still very much a really fun time to be had at the theater. Everybody Wants Some is set to come out on April 1^st.

Rating: 4.5/5

DAY 2: MARCH 12^TH

This was my first real day of getting to explore Austin and the various premier spots to check out during this year’s SXSW festival. My day started off with two ‘Conversation’ events featuring actors from some of the featured films that were premiering that night. The first featured Jake Gyllenhaal and was moderated by Pineapple Express director David Gordon Green, who is collaborating with Jake Gyllenhaal on an upcoming film called Stronger about Jeff Bauman, a survivor of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. It was a pretty packed event and it was pretty cool to see Gyllenhaal talk about his career and ‘the craft’ of acting while also showing that he’s quite the charismatic guy off-screen. Immediately after that, I then stuck around for another ‘Conversation’ event, this one featuring Joel Edgerton. Surprisingly there wasn’t much of a crowd for this event compared to Gyllenhaal’s panel but it was still a pretty cool panel, as Edgerton talked about his career as well as his recent efforts in regards to directing in the wake of his well-received directorial debut from last year, The Gift (which for the record I still haven’t seen yet but I promise I will soon). The rest of the day involved around me checking out the two films that Gyllenhaal and Edgerton starred in that were premiering at the Festival. First up was Joel Edgerton’s new film…

MIDNIGHT SPECIAL

Directed by Jeff Nichols (Mud, Take Shelter), Midnight Special stars Michael Shannon as Roy, a father who goes on the run in order to protect his son Alton (Jaeden Lieberher), who is revealed to possess ‘special powers’. They’re joined by Roy’s longtime friend Lucas (Edgerton) and Alton’s mother Sarah (Kirsten Dunst) all while being hunted by both a religious cult that had taken on the role of Alton’s foster family and the government. Overall I will say that this is a very fascinating film and I highly recommend you go into it knowing little about it. Though with that said, the film admittedly does sort of leave a few parts of its story unanswered. I’m not saying that there aren’t any strong themes and story beats because there are, especially in regards to the relationship between Roy and Alton. But just like Mad Max: Fury Road, it would’ve helped if there was just a bit more to the narrative so that the audience could get a better idea of everything that’s going on. Still, it’s fascinating to see where Nichols goes with this unique and original story of a special boy and the lengths to which his family will go in order to protect him. It’s also very much a performance-driven film, with excellent performances by Michael Shannon (who’s became a regular of Jeff Nichols’ films), Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, and Adam Driver, the latter of whom actually provides a lot of the film’s humorous moments as the government agent who heads the investigation into Alton’s ‘disappearance’. In short, Midnight Special is a very compelling sci-fi flick that held my interest throughout, even if the film could’ve benefitted from being just a bit more, though not too much, forthcoming in terms of its story. At the time I’m writing this, it is already in theaters for those interested in checking it out.

Rating: 4/5

DEMOLITION

I’ll just get straight to the point… Demolition was the best film that I saw at this year’s SXSW festival. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee, director of Dallas Buyers Club, the film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as an investment banker whose life is forever changed when his wife tragically dies in a car accident. The rest of the film follows him and shows how he handles the situation and to put it simply, he has a very interesting way of dealing with it. Despite the film’s dramatic storyline, the first two-thirds of the film are actually knee-slapping hilarious as Gyllenhaal’s character, Davis, pretty much goes nuts to the point where he literally writes letters to a vending machine company, which then leads to him befriending the company’s customer service rep Karen (Naomi Watts) and her son Chris (Judah Lewis), all just because one of their machines didn’t work for him one day. What then follows is a series of crazy shenanigans, including Davis taking apart various objects from his refrigerator to eventually his whole house, hence the title of the film Demolition, and Gyllenhaal shines as a result of his great comedic timing. But then when the film’s final act kicks in, suddenly it goes all serious and we see Davis finally reach emotional catharsis over the loss of his wife. These scenes do pack an emotional punch, especially those involving his wife’s father (Chris Cooper), and the end result is a very entertaining dramedy that’s two parts black comedy and one part emotionally resonant and it actually does come together very well. I’m actually surprised this film has only gotten mixed reviews so far because it went over extremely well with the SXSW crowd, who gave it the Audience Award for ‘Best Headliner’. In short, I highly recommend you check this film out when it’s released on April 8^th.

Rating: 5/5!

DAY 3: MARCH 13^TH

As part of the class that this trip was revolved around, we were required to meet with a professional ‘mentor’ from the industry and I was lucky enough to meet with a film critic, Gerald Peary, who used to write for the Boston Phoenix up until its closure in 2013. Currently he writes reviews for The Arts Fuse, ‘Boston’s Online Arts Magazine’. I showed him one of my reviews and he gave me some advice as to how to further my writing. His main suggestion? Condense my reviews, which I totally get seeing how most people probably don’t spend a lot of time reading written reviews. That’s definitely something I’m going to try to work on these next few months. Anyway, this day notably saw me experiencing my first ‘crowd incident’ at one of the screenings. At the very end of the first screening that I was at that day, someone in the audience was kicked out, apparently because he was distracting everyone by being on his phone (the nerve.). Anyway, that was at a screening for…

IN A VALLEY OF VIOLENCE

Director Ti West, who’s mainly been known for horror films like The Innkeepers and for directing one of the segments of 2012’s horror anthology film V/H/S, takes on the western genre with his new film, In a Valley of Violence. Ethan Hawke stars as Paul, a drifter who enacts revenge upon a group of deputies from the rundown town of Denton when they do something terrible to him after he provoked Gilly (James Ransome), the son of the town’s Marshal (John Travolta). What follows is a very engaging Western tale featuring terrific performances from Hawke, Travolta, and the rest of the film’s cast, which also includes Karen Gillan and Taissa Farmiga as sisters who run Denton’s sole hotel and Burn Gorman as a drunken priest who Hawke’s character comes across a few times during the film. But the most interesting aspect of the film is that the ‘finale’ features quite a lot of humorous moments. This film’s humor mainly stems from the fact that the characters are clearly shown to be way over their heads in regards to all of this and how they’re ill-equipped to respond to it. With great performances, a good sense of humor, a cool score by Jeff Grace that’s reminiscent of Ennio Morricone’s score for The Hateful Eight, and excellent cinematography, In a Valley of Violence is a pretty cool spin on the Western genre. It is set to come out on September 16^th.

P.S. The dog featured in this film, Jumpy (who some of you might recognize from YouTube), absolutely steals the show.

Rating: 4.5/5

HARDCORE HENRY

Hardcore Henry is a very unique spin on the action genre. It is an action film that is entirely set from a ‘first-person perspective’, centering on a cybernetically-enhanced man named Henry who fights through Moscow in order to rescue his wife Estelle (Haley Bennett) from warlord Akan (Danila Kozlovsky) with the help of his ‘friend’ Jimmy (Sharlto Copley). What follows is a film that I can basically describe as the equivalent of playing a game like Duke Nukem while on crystal meth… and that’s not necessarily a good thing, I might add. The action in this film is fricking insane and while I will give the film credit for the fact that the action is pretty impressive thanks in part to the film’s unique shooting style, it can get a little nauseating at times. This film is pretty much non-stop action throughout… and that definitely shows considering that this film is ultimately pretty damn mindless. Obviously the action is the most important element of the film but the plot is pretty much an afterthought and some things are never explained, like the fact that Akan is basically a Jedi because he has telekinesis. How did he get these powers? Never explained. The film does feature a pretty standout performance by Sharlto Copley in the role of Jimmy who, without giving anything major away, goes through numerous ‘iterations’ throughout the film. But ultimately, I was not really a big fan of Hardcore Henry. I will give it credit for its unique style which we haven’t yet seen in the action genre but ultimately the film ends up being a fairly juvenile affair. It’s by no means a ‘terrible’ film but not one I was particularly fond of either.

Rating: 2.5/5

DAY 4: MARCH 14^TH

To paraphrase Darth Vader, this is a day that, for me, will very much be long-remembered. First I went to a special screening that ended up being the premiere of a documentary about the making of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This documentary is going to be included on the film’s Blu-Ray release so obviously I won’t be giving it a rating for that reason. Still, what more can be said besides the fact that it’s a really awesome inside look at one of the best films of last year and it was cool to learn more about a film that for months was shrouded in secrecy. Heck it was even introduced by J.J. Abrams himself and R2-D2 made an appearance at the subsequent Q&A. Speaking of J.J., my main highlight of the day was going to a special panel titled ‘The Eyes of Robots of Murderers’ that featured both J.J. and filmmaker Andrew Jarecki, creator of HBO’s The Jinx. Basically the panel was a discussion about the advancements of technology and how it affects the film industry. J.J. showed off a sizzle reel from the new HBO show that he’s producing with Jonathan Nolan, Westworld, while Jarecki showcased his company’s video app KnowMe, a pretty cool app that allows its users to create unique videos to share online. But the real highlight of the panel for me was at the end when I was able to get J.J’s autograph. While I have definitely seen a lot of great films this past week, getting the autograph of quite frankly my favorite director in the film industry was definitely one of the best moments of this trip for me.

Later that night, I attended a special screening for an R-rated animated film…

SAUSAGE PARTY

This screening was particularly special because this was very much a ‘work-in-progress’ cut of the film. By that I mean not all of the animation was finished yet. There was even a scene that consisted of nothing but storyboards. This is something that quite frankly no one is ever going to see again save for the possibility of bonus material on the Blu-Ray. But what’s there is certainly going to lead to a unique animated film when it’s released this August and one that very much lives up to its distinction of being an R-rated animated film. Sausage Party is the latest film from the duo of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, centering on a bunch of food objects in a supermarket that dream of being chosen by ‘the gods’ (AKA humans) and being brought out into the ‘Great Beyond’. But soon they discover the horrible truth about ‘the Great Beyond’ which of course is the fact that the humans end up eating them, which does result in some gruesome food deaths that aren’t ‘graphic’ in the same way that most action sequences involving human characters are but are very much graphic from the perspective of food. And it very much lives up to its R-rating with its sexual humor and an ending that, without giving anything away, is something that has to be seen to be believed. It’s got a really nice voice cast; Seth Rogen, Michael Cera, and Jonah Hill star as some of the sausages, Kristen Wiig stars as the hot dog bun that Rogen’s character is attracted to, and Edward Norton goes full-on Woody Allen as a bagel, and that’s just to name a few. So because the film is not finished yet, I’m not going to give it an official rating just yet. But I will say that this is shaping up to be a very unique spin on the animated film genre and given the highly enthusiastic response it got from the SXSW crowd, it looks like this film is going to be a hit.

DAY 5: MARCH 15^TH

After two straight days where I had to wake up early in order to get to the events I wanted to go to, today was a more laid-back day for me. Both of my screenings were at the Alamo Drafthouse in South Lamar. This was the first time during this trip that I was able to see a film at an Alamo theater and for those who have never been to one of these theaters before, it is quite frankly one of the best, if not the best, theater chains around; great food, great movies, and great crowds in a chain that enforces a ‘no talking/texting’ rule. What more do you need? Anyway, today I saw two documentaries. The first was Newtown, which was a documentary about the Newtown shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012. As you might expect, the film is very emotional as it focuses on some of the families who tragically lost some of their kids in the shooting. I guarantee there won’t be any dry eyes when this film is watched.

Silicon Cowboys details the history of the computer company Compaq, who became famous in the 80’s for their personal computers that were compatible with software for computers from tech giant IBM. Basically this is a story of David and Goliath in which Compaq managed to compete with IBM and eventually overtake them to become the biggest PC supplier of the 1990’s and I always find tech-related films/TV shows like this very interesting. This documentary also made a few modern-day connections, including clips from current tech-themed shows like AMC’s Halt and Catch Fire and HBO’s Silicon Valley as well as noting some of the more recent advancements in technology. All in all, this was a very entertaining documentary that serves as a neat piece of nostalgia in regards to telling the story of how one company managed to make its mark in the personal computer industry.

DAY 6: MARCH 16^TH

Turned 21 today. WOOT WOOT! Anyway, today consisted of another back-to-back pair of screenings at the South Lamar Alamo Drafthouse. The first film was Miss Stevens, which stars Lily Rabe (The American Horror Story series) as the titular Miss Stevens, an English teacher who takes three of her students on a weekend trip to a drama competition. While there, she deals with some personal struggles all while helping one of her students, Billy (Timothee Chalamet), deal with some of his own problems. Overall it’s a really solid flick with some good humor and an excellent performance by Rabe (4/5). The second film I saw today was Don’t Breathe, the newest film from Fede Alvarez, who directed the 2013 remake of Evil Dead. Fittingly enough, this new film is also produced by Sam Raimi and stars Evil Dead lead Jane Levy in the lead role. This film centers on a trio of teens (Levy, Dylan Minnette, and Daniel Zovatto) who plan on breaking into the house of a blind army vet (Stephen Lang) who had recently acquired a large sum of money from court following the death of his daughter as the result of a hit and run. However, they soon realize that this old man isn’t as helpless as they thought. What follows is a very tense game of cat and mouse and there are some very suspenseful moments throughout, including a sequence set in the vet’s basement that is entirely in the dark. Levy does a really good job in the lead role while Stephen Lang steals the show in the role of the blind army vet. Admittedly it takes a bit to get going and is rather simplistic in terms of its characterizations but I will say it’s a very pulse-pounding thriller in just the right places (4/5).

DAY 7: MARCH 17^TH

Old St. Paddy’s Day started off with a very engrossing documentary called Tower. This film is a retelling of the 1966 school shooting committed by Charles Whitman from ‘The Tower’ at the University of Texas, in which 14 people were killed and 32 others were wounded. Tower is predominantly an animated film, utilizing a roto-scope style to tell the story from the perspective of some of the survivors of the event (portrayed in the film by actors). Ultimately though, the film does cut to the real-life people at the end as it progresses into the present day. There are mentions of almost every other infamous shooting from Columbine to Aurora as the film does address some of the political debate that has arisen over these incidents. But ultimately the film’s biggest achievement is how it highlights the heroism of some of those who were around the area when this happened, including a woman named Rita who comforted then 18-year old pregnant student Claire Wilson, who was the first shot by Whitman from the Tower which resulted in her not only losing her baby but also kept her stuck laying on the South Mall area of campus in the hot sun, by approaching her and laying down with her on the Mall even at the risk of being shot herself. Tower pretty much won all of the big Documentary awards at this year’s festival and rightfully so as it was very much an excellent retelling of arguably the most infamous moment in the history of Austin. For those interested, this documentary is slated to air on PBS sometime this year or the next. When it does air, I highly recommend you check it out.

That night, I attended the world premiere of a film that was slated to be released the following day. The film in question marked the long-awaited return of an icon.

PEE-WEE’S BIG HOLIDAY

In the 80’s, comedian Paul Reubens became known for creating the classic character with the child-like innocence known as Pee-Wee Herman, who debuted in 1981 on his own stage show The Pee-Wee Herman Show. While the show was geared towards older audiences, Pee-Wee later became a childhood icon with the 1985 comedy classic Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, which notably served as the directorial debut for Tim Burton, and the TV series Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, which ran for five seasons from 1986 to 1990. Now over two and a half decades later, everyone’s favorite ‘eternal child’ is back in a whole new adventure, Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday, which debuted at SXSW before being released on Netflix the following day. In this new film, Pee-Wee meets a cool stranger by the name of… Joe Manganiello; yes, Manganiello plays himself in the film. The two strike up a pretty fast friendship which leads to Joe encouraging Pee-Wee, who is established to be against the idea of ever taking a holiday and leaving his hometown of Fairville, to travel to New York in time for Joe’s birthday. This inspires Pee-Wee to finally leave Fairville and go off on a big road trip across the country. And of course, this then leads to a whole bunch of shenanigans that come from all of the places that Pee-Wee travels to and the people that he meets along the way.

Big Holiday obviously has a fairly similar road-trip premise to Big Adventure but instead of being a questionable retread, it still manages to be its own thing. Admittedly it does lack the surreal and quirky production design of Tim Burton but it still manages to be a very charming adventure featuring Pee-Wee and it’s clear that everyone involved in this film clearly had a lot of fun making it, including Paul Reubens, who slips back into his iconic role with ease, and Joe Manganiello, who strikes up a very nice camaraderie with Pee-Wee. At the end of the day, there’s no denying that Pee-Wee is such a lovable character and as the highly positive response from the crowd at SXSW showed, is still very much an icon in the eyes of many people even after some of the incidents that Paul Reubens got into years back. So in short, if you’re a fan of Pee-Wee, I have the feeling you’re really going to enjoy this new film. It’s a very pleasant return of one of the famous characters in pop culture history.

Rating: 4/5

DAY 8: MARCH 18^TH

My final day of screenings at SXSW consisted of yet another duo of documentaries at the Lamar Alamo Drafthouse. The first documentary was The Slippers, which, as you might have guessed, was based on arguably the most iconic prop in film history, the ruby slippers that were worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz. This documentary explores the journeys that various sets of the ruby slippers made over the years and the people who owned them at various points in time. This includes a pair that was stolen from the Judy Garland museum in her birthplace of Grand Rapids, Michigan, which unfortunately have yet to be found, and a more exotic-looking ‘test pair’ that was given to Hollywood legend Debbie Reynolds, who had attempted to set up a museum of film memorabilia but ultimately never got the chance to. In a way, the attention given to these slippers pretty much led the way to the art of film memorabilia collecting that many of us partake in today. All in all, this was a very interesting documentary that not only focuses in on an interesting side of the film fan community but also re-establishes how much of a classic The Wizard of Oz truly is. However, I will admit that it does suffer from one issue; it’s a bit overlong at just over one and a half hours. Still, anyone interested in collecting film-related artifacts will no doubt be interested in this one.

The second documentary I saw that day was Fantastic Lies, which was actually one of the 30 for 30 films that ESPN produces, which aired on TV on the 13^th. This documentary explores the 2006 Duke University Men’s Lacrosse team and the incident in which some of its players were accused of committing sexual assault against an exotic dancer during one of their parties. Now I’m going to be perfectly honest with you folks; while I was aware of this incident, I never really knew ‘much’ about it. I actually had no idea that the three specific players accused, Reade Seligmann, Colin Finnerty, and David Evans, were actually innocent, that the prosecutor involved with the case, Mike Nifong, had been withholding evidence from the court in order to paint the players as guilty, and how the media turned this whole incident into a frenzy through influencing people and their views on the entire lacrosse team based on things like race and privilege. It really opened my eyes as to how the legal system can sometimes fall victim to corruption and there’s quite a sense of satisfaction when the three players are finally proven innocent. Save for my current gripes with the network over how it handled a certain football-related incident involving my favorite team that I won’t repeat here so that it wouldn’t have to spawn any further discussion, ESPN has always done a great job with these 30 for 30 films and this one is no exception.

So that was my recap on my 2016 SXSW Film Festival trip. For those who were there as well, what were your thoughts on these films? For those who couldn’t be there this year, do any of these films interest you? Be sure to sound off in the comments below.

Agent Carter: Season 2 'Review'

(Due to the fact that I would basically be repeating myself over and over again with each successive season of the multiple comic-book TV series that I’ve already done reviews for, this ‘review’ of the second season of Agent Carter, as well as a forthcoming post on Season 3 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and basically any future post for a superhero/comic-book show season (save for the first season of shows like Supergirl and Luke Cage), will not be done in the traditional style in which I do my reviews. In other words, this is going to be more like a series of observations made in regards to what happened this season.)

(Also I will be discussing spoiler-heavy moments from this season so SPOILER ALERT!)

Amidst the midseason break of Season 2 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel Studios debuted their second big TV series in the form of Agent Carter. Set in the post-WWII era a year after the events of 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, the show saw First Avenger star Hayley Atwell reprising her role of SSR agent Peggy Carter, Captain America’s key ally and love interest. And thanks to its excellent period setting and production design, as well as Atwell continuing to be terrific in the role of arguably the best female lead in the entire MCU, the first season of Agent Carter was another solid success for Marvel Studios, keeping AoS fans like myself very much entertained until the show returned that March. And now, here are we again in the midst of a midseason break for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. with Season 2 of Agent Carter. This time around, everyone’s favorite ass-kicking SSR agent leaves the confines of New York for the glitz and glamour of the City of Angels, Los Angeles, as she combats a new threat in the form of Whitney Frost (Wynn Everett), AKA Madame Masque in the comics. So with that said, how did this show’s sophomore season turn out?

*Season 2 of this show, as expected, carries a lot of the same great elements of the first season. The period production design is terrific, with this season actually managing to outshine the first thanks to its Hollywood setting. The series also continues to maintain the same great light-hearted atmosphere and humor that has defined the MCU from the very beginning, primarily as a result of the ensemble cast’s excellent camaraderie. And of course, Hayley Atwell is once again terrific as Peggy as is the rest of the ensemble, particularly James D’Arcy as Jarvis. The camaraderie between Peggy and Jarvis is just as great as it’s ever been.

*On that note, Jarvis was quite frankly my favorite character from this season as he had one of the most emotional arcs of this season’s overall storyline. This season finally introduced us to his wife Ana (Lottie Verbeek), who unfortunately ended up getting shot by Whitney Frost in Episode 7, ‘Monsters’. While she does survive this, this also results in her and Jarvis not being able to have children. Definitely the most heartbreaking moment of the season, this leads Jarvis to seek revenge on Frost in Episode 8, ‘The Edge of Mystery’, but this ultimately ends up risking the mission when he and Peggy are captured by Frost and her henchmen after he tries to kill her. The argument that the two have afterwards in the next episode, ‘A Little Song and Dance’, while walking through the desert leads Jarvis to finally take responsibility for his actions, namely the fact that he keeps tagging along with Peggy because he’s clearly gotten bored with just being Howard Stark’s butler, to be there for his wife. And yet ultimately Ana comes to accept that Jarvis should be out there helping Peggy.   

*Whitney Frost is a pretty damn great villain for this season and Wynn Everett is excellent in the role. Frost is pretty much the perfect foil to Peggy as she too finds herself combating the sexism of the time as the actress wife of prospective senator Calvin Chadwick. She is also shown to be quite the engineering prodigy, something that wasn’t expected out of women at the time. But once she kills Chadwick in Episode 6 after he betrays her during a meeting with his organization, the ‘Council of Nine’ (better known as the ‘Secret Empire’ in the comics), she very much takes control of the situation, resulting in an excellent adversary for Peggy to face this season. Speaking of adversaries…

*While she doesn’t play as big of a role in the plot this season compared to the last, the scenes where Peggy interacts with Dottie Underwood are easily some of the best moments of the season, from their tussle in the first episode of the season, in which Peggy apprehends her during an attempted bank robbery, to the point where Peggy is forced to break her out of prison to help her deal with Frost. Just like in Season 1, Dottie serves as an excellent foil to Peggy, just like Frost this season, and it’s always great seeing Atwell and Bridget Regan work off of each other.

*While the show is still very much entertaining to watch, I do feel that this season suffered a bit of terms of its plot. I can’t really explain why but occasionally there were a few dull points in the story and even a bit of repetition in terms of how certain episodes played out. At the very least, this season impressively managed to get by without having to overly rely on the MCU films. The only real connection made to the films this season was the introduction of the substance known as ‘Zero Matter’, or as it’s known in the comics, ‘Darkforce’, which will certainly be featured in the upcoming Doctor Strange. I’m aware that some people are rather critical of this show and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. referencing the MCU films a lot but quite frankly I’ve never had a problem with it as I felt this helped these shows stay connected to the MCU films in a way that the DC films never do with their shows, though it should be noted that Arrow and The Flash do maintain a fairly strong connection with each other with their cross-over episodes.

*Also contrary to popular opinion is the fact that I wasn’t too bothered by this season focusing in on Peggy Carter finding a potential love interest. While she is very much one of those female leads that is in no way defined by a romance, at the same time that doesn’t mean that she’s hampered by a romantic relationship when she ends up in one. After all, the ‘romance’ between her and Cap in The First Avenger was so well done that they’re still the best ‘couple’ in the MCU in my opinion. Anyway, the relationship that forms between Peggy and scientist Jason Wilkes (Reggie Austin) was a pretty nice one as the show ends up combatting not just the sexism of the time but also the racism of the time as well. At the same time, a closer relationship starts to form between Peggy and Agent Daniel Sousa (Enver Gjokaj), which of course ends up forming a love triangle between the three. Again, I didn’t mind this because at the very least Sousa has proven himself to be the only major SSR male that Peggy frequently interacts with that does 100% respect her, especially when compared to Agent Jack Thompson (Chad Michael Murray), who of course spends a lot of the season conflicting with Carter, partially due to his friendship with his boss Vernon Masters (Kurtwood Smith in an excellent supporting turn).

*If I had to pick my favorite episode from this season, I would have to go with Episode 6, ‘Life of the Party’, for its premise in which Peggy is forced to work with her mortal enemy, Dottie Underwood, and all of the great dynamics that occur between characters in this episode, including Jarvis ‘manning up’ when he ends up partnering with Dottie while at a campaign event for Chadwick.

*Also, Episode 9 has a full-blown musical number. No I am not kidding. To be more specific, this was a dream sequence that Peggy had after getting knocked out at the end of the last episode. This moment features plenty of cameos from the rest of the cast, along with the brief return of Lyndsy Fonseca as Peggy’s friend Angie from last season. Admittedly this actually doesn’t contribute anything to the plot but as someone who is a fan of musicals, I didn’t mind this at all. Though I will admit it was still a very unexpected moment.

In Conclusion: Save for the occasional lull in the plot, Season 2 of Agent Carter is another highly enjoyable entry into the MCU canon thanks to all of the great things that made this series great in the first place, most importantly Hayley Atwell continuing to be terrific in the title role. The 40’s esque adventures of this show serve as a nice contrast to the modern-day exploits of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Unfortunately, low ratings and the fact that Hayley Atwell has recently signed onto another show for ABC may mean we won’t be getting a Season 3. And the thing is… Season 2 ends on a fairly big cliffhanger, as Agent Thompson ends up getting shot by a mysterious figure who then proceeds to steal what was meant to be a ‘damaging’ file on Peggy, so it would be disappointing if this is how the series ends.

(Note: Take this next statement with a grain of salt but despite what I just said about the unlikelihood of a third season, there are rumors that the series is going to be renewed.)

Season 2 Rating: 4.5/5