Star Wars: The Force Awakens theories

Ever since the trailer debuted for Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens I've been watching it countless times. I seriously can't believe how much it has gotten me stoked. I mean, this is just a teaser full of money shots. You know, "Look X-Wings! Look a cool looking lightsaber! Look the Falcon!" But still I can't deny the fact that this has gotten me excited. I feel like a little kid watching the original trilogy on VHS for the first time. 

After watching this trailer over and over again I've started developing my own theories about the film. Let's start with the first thing to literally pop up in the trailer, John Boyega.

Now obviously we see him wearing a storm trooper uniform. My theory with him is that he's actually a spy for the New Republic and they're on Tatooine it seems so it could be that the Empire is invading there for some reason, it could have something to do with Luke Skywalker, and Boyega's character is an operative to help rescue him or something. I am sort of getting a, "I'm Luke Skywalker, I'm here to rescue you," vibe. This leads to the second person to pop up, Daisy Ridley.

Clearly she's on Tatooine as well and she could be anything. She could a member of the New Republic there to rendezvous with Boyega, she could a smuggler who thinks the Empire is after her (her speeder bike seems to be big enough to have cargo containers), she could a Jedi, she could be an Imperial scout. There's a lot of possibility with her and I'm fine with that. 

Then we've got Oscar Isaac. His part seems rather obvious as of right now, he's a member of the New Republic and an X-Wing pilot (by the way, this part was probably my favorite part of the trailer). Heck, he could very well be the new leader of Rogue Squadron. He could be Wedge Antilles's son or something. Okay, I'm probably reaching there.

But onto the moment everyone seems to be talking about, the medieval looking lightsaber. What in the heck is up with that design? I'll be honest and say that this is the one thing that made me tilt my head, those hilts seem so impractical.

 I did like the way it was revealed though. The lone Sith walking through the creepy, snowy forest and suddenly whipping out his lightsaber. Great work there. But who is he/she is the big question. It could be Domhall Gleeson, it could Andy Serkis (who as it turns out was the voice heard in the trailer). I'm guessing just based on that voice he used in the trailer that Serkis could be a Sith who is seeking a new apprentice to take down Skywalker and bring a new empire to power. I can only guess at this point. 

None the less, I'm still excited about this. 

Have you developed any thoughts or theories about the movie? Share them in the comment section. 

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All images belong to their respected sources. 

Jurassic Park & Star Wars trailer reaction

We've had two new trailers for two big franchises and I've got some thoughts for the both of them.

First up, Jurassic World:

This is the fourth installment of the fondly remembered Jurassic Park franchise. Just to give a quick summation of my thoughts of the previous films: Jurassic Park - awesome, The Lost World - it had fun bits but got too preachy for me, Jurassic Park III - disappointing. As for this film, it looks amazing! This movie really seems to be upping the horror aspect a little more which is pretty good in my book. Also, Chris Pratt action hero. I am all for this. Especially since he seems to have a velociraptor army with him. So yeah, I'm stoked.

Now onto, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

First up quick summation of my thoughts of the franchise:  Stars Wars 4-6, amazing and timeless. Star Wars 1-3, while clearly flawed they do have good moments in them and shouldn't be completely shunned away. I mean come on Ewan McGregor was great as a young Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Now I know this is just a teaser, and yes that hilted lightsaber did make me tilt my head a little but I can't help it I'm stoked for it. I seriously want a full trailer now. I mean right now! GIVE IT TO ME! Sorry, lost control there. 

What are your thoughts? Share in the comments.

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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 Review

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

D: Francis Lawrence

W: Peter Craig, Danny Strong

S: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland

This week we see the release of the last installment... I mean the second to last installment of the popular Hunger Games franchise. The story continues after the events of Catching Fire (a big 'no duh' there) as our hero, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) wakes up in District 13 which is the home of the growing rebellion against President Snow (Donald Sutherland). There she reunites with her friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth), her family, and meets the leader of the rebellion, President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore). Katniss was brought there not only for her protection but also because President Coin wants to make her the symbol for the rebellion, the Mockingjay. Katniss agrees as long as they make time to rescue the other competitors of the previous Hunger Games, which includes her friend/love interest, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson).

Before I share my thoughts about this film I'll share my thoughts about the previous installments. 

The first Hunger Games (2012, dir. Gary Ross) I thought was a pretty good film over all. It had some pretty good acting and some good commentary about the media. The only real down side was the relentless shaky cam. But it was still pretty good for a young adult adaptation. 

Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013, dir. Francis Lawrence) was surprising spectacular. While it did tread some grounds already covered in the first film it did give some sharp and rather accurate commentary on what it means to be a celebrity and what it mean to be in the spotlight. Making sure you always smile for the camera, stay prim and proper, don't go outside the norm, and so on. And it got rid of the shaky cam! Thank goodness!

But now onto this film.

The first thing I want to get out of the way that has been bothering me for a while and is this films biggest flaw: Taking the final installment of a book based franchise and making it into a multiple part film. Harry Potter, Twilight, and this film are doing something that doesn't need to be done. The worst example of this is with The Hobbit franchise. I enjoy those films in a way, but there is no reason to make it into multi-parter.  

While I understand what it wants to do, basically build up Katniss becoming the symbol of a cause and the pressures that surround it, but this given how the film's plot is also centered on rescuing Peeta it does make it a rather pointless sit through. This stuff could have been done in the first act of one movie. You've could have made this film roughly two hours or two and half hours long and it could have been fine. I haven't read the books so I don't know if this was how it was done there but still I don't see why it was necessary to make this into a two-parter. 

That being said the film does have good stuff in it, mainly the message and themes I brought up earlier in the film. Each installment seems to have comments about the use of media and what comes with stardom. The first film had Katniss and Peeta becoming reluctant love interests for their survival, the second movie dealt with what comes with stardom and the lack of privacy and their identities seemed to get shoved aside, this film deals with becoming a spokesperson for a movement. 

Both sides use a well known person to the rebellion and makes them speak for their side, almost reluctantly.  It really is something to think about and it is nice that it brought the topic up for discussion. 

The film also plenty of good performances from its all-star cast. Lawrence is great as always, but there are two people who don't get enough praise in my book: Elizabeth Banks as Katniss's stylist Effie, and Donald Sutherland as President Snow. Banks completely transforms into her character and is completely unrecognizable, which for me is a sign of a terrific actor, and Sutherland is perfect as Snow. He is completely menacing and threatening without going hammy and over the top. 

Also this particular bit of music great:

  

Lawrence's voice is pretty good in this. It also reminds me of chain gang songs in a way, and old folk songs, specifically old Irish rebel songs. Thankfully it isn't that Marty Robbins song. No I'm not posting a link to it. 

All in all it was okay. I didn't really see the need to split into two parts but it still had some good stuff in it that makes it worth viewing. If you're a Hunger Games fan, then go check it out in theaters, if you're mild fan or not much of one, then I'd say wait and rent it if you're curious.  

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Thank you for reading. 

Rest in Peace Mike Nichols (1931-2014)

The world has lost another legend of cinema. Mike Nichols, the multiple award winning director, passed away suddenly at the age of 83. This man was responsible for bringing us movies such as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Graduate (won the Best Directing Oscar), Working Girl, Silkwood, Catch-22, The Birdcage, and most recently Charlie Wilson's War. 

But he wasn't just a marvel behind the camera but he was also a man who worked magic on the stage and on television. Nichols won a total of nine, yes nine, Tony Awards for doing such shows as The Odd Couple and Spamalot. He also received critical claim for his work on the tv mini-series version of Angels in America. He is of a small group of people to have received an Oscar, a Tony, an Emmy, and an Grammy. 

He was a man of remarkable talent whose films, art, and personality will be greatly missed. Rest in Peace Mr. Nichols.

Double Feature Review: Birdman & Whiplash.

Another double feature weekend. This weekend was a real treat as I checked out two highly anticipated films that have been getting some real awards buzz, Birdman and Whiplash.

Birdman
D: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
W: Armando Bo, Alexander Dinelas, Jr., Nicolas Giacobone, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
S: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts

First up is Birdman. No, not the 60s Hanna-Barbera cartoon or Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. While this movie does involve a superhero character named Birdman, this movie is revolved around a washed up actor named Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) who is attempting to rejuvenate his career by producing, writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway play. As opening night approaches not only does Thomson have to deal with an egotistical actor (Edward Norton), his troubled daughter (Emma Stone), and countless production problems, he also has to battle his own demons and ego.

Right off the bat I must say that the way this movie was filmed was absolutely amazing. I have to give credit to all these actors, directors, producers, and other crew members for this. The movie is essentially shot in a series of single takes. Long, continuous, takes. I heard somewhere that Inarritu wanted to create a feeling that is similar to a stage play and if that was the case it succeeded. Matter of fact, I'd pay good money to see this on stage. Mainly because I'd want to see HOW they do it.

But obviously the real highlight and the one thing that has been drawling a lot of people's attention is the performances, more specifically Michael Keaton. Seeing Keaton again on the big screen in a leading role is an awesome site. To me, this actor, is a truly great actor. Keaton can take on any role and make it his own. Just take a look at his resume, he was Beetlejuice, Batman, provided the voice of Ken in Toy Story 3 (2010, dir. Lee Unkrich), and has even performed Shakespeare on the big screen. Never question his qualifications. He is able to display every emotion that is required of him and more. Frustration, anxious, qualm, quiet, collected, enraged, etc. etc. If Keaton doesn't at the very least get an Oscar nomination, I'll be upset. 

Of course he isn't the only person to give a great performance. Edward Norton fits in almost too well as an egoistical, arrogant, and pretentious actor. Emma Stone as always is wonderful. But one performer who remains unsung with this film is Naomi Watts as Lesley, a first time Broadway actress in the show and we see her battling her own fears and anxiety and her relationship with Norton's character. She is great in the film. 

Now there is one aspect that a couple fellow critics have found troubling and that is Lindsay Duncan's character who is a theater critic. While every character in the film is given some sort of depth and understanding no matter who despicable they can get she is the only character not given something outside of stereotypes of critics. But the more I thought about it, I don't think she's an actual person. No, she's just an amalgamation of Keaton and Norton's character's fears. Both of these characters are so afraid of being called fake or irrelevant that it has gotten to the point where they've created a fake critic. Given how Keaton's character mainly keeps seeing random stuff, mainly a younger version of himself in the Birdman costume, it wouldn't surprise me if this critic character wasn't an actual person. 

I think the only people who given less of a character are the paparazzi and reports like TMZ. Which... yeah go right ahead I don't think anyone is going to be that upset about that. 

This film has a lot going for it and is something that has to be seen on the big screen to be appreciated. 

But now onto the second film, Whiplash

Whiplash

D: Damien Chazelle

W: Damien Chazelle

S: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons

A young 19-year-old music student named Andrew Neyman (future Mr. Fantastic Miles Teller) is enrolled at the fictional Shaffer Conservatory in New York where he hopes to become the next Buddy Rich. He soon gets to join the studio jazz band as an alternate drummer under the direction of the infamous Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons). Why is he infamous? Because this instructor will chew up out, insult you, and even slap you if even do slightly out of tune. This guy can go from comforting and inviting, to being psychotic and furious. This guy would make R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket (1987, dir. Stanley Kubrick) sweat with fear. 

This guy pushes Andrew so hard and warps his mind to the point where Andrew cuts off social and family ties, and starts living in a practice room where he practices almost none stop. He pushes himself so hard to the point to where his hands bleed. Andrew himself represents the extremes a person will go to when pushing themselves to achieve something, especially in the arts. We see him cry, we see him dripping with sweat, and obvious he bleeds himself. His blood gets all over his hands, all over his sticks, and even on the drums. And while Teller does a decent job in the role, the real highlight performance goes to J.K. Simmons.

Simmons has always been a great presence in movies. Whether it's portraying a psychiatrist in Law &Order, or playing Peter Parker's boss in Spider-Man he is always amazing. With this film, he is amazing and he is truly, TRULY terrifying. I'm still debating as to whether he or Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler (2014, dir. Dan Gilroy) gets the prize of most terrifying performance of the year. 

I'm sure those of you who have seen the trailer have seen some pretty terrifying behavior from the guy, well that's nothing compared to what's actually seen on screen. Trust me, you'll be terrifying of him in every scene.

One thing this film does that I think will make it last throughout the ages is that this film makes us ask serious question involving art and the pursuit of art: What is the limit to pursuing a dream? If you're going to push someone how far is too far? Is okay to nourish someone? Is it just pandering to say 'good job'? Do the ends justify the means? Is it a good idea to cut ties? 

This is a great film. And I'll say for Simmons what I said about Keaton, if he doesn't get at least an Oscar nomination, I'll be upset. 

Any thoughts? What did you think of the films? Share your thoughts in the comment sections.

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Big Hero 6 & Interstellar: A Double Feature Review Part 2

Thanks for checking out part two as I take a look at Disney's latest animated adventure Big Hero 6.

Big Hero 6

D: Don Hall, Chris Williams

W: Robert L. Baird, Dan Gerson, Jordan Roberts

S: Scott Adsit, Ryan Potter, Daniel Henney, T.J. Miller, Jamie Chung, Damon Wayan, Jr., Genesis Rodriguez

Based on the Marvel comic book series of the same name by Man of Action studios, Big Hero 6 tells the story of 14 year old prodigy Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter) who forms a group of tech based heroes with a group friends and his big balloon buddy Baymax (Scott Adsit). 

Let me get this off my chest, I love Baymax. Much like Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy or Chewbacca in Star Wars, Baymax is someone who we would all want in our life. A charming, funny, and loyal companion who will stick with you to the very end. Baymax got the biggest laughs from me, there's no doubt about that. Seriously, you will love this guy. 

But now onto the plot. I won't lie that this movie does have cliches in it. Without revealing too much there is stuff like the hero's tragic background, the supporting characters kind of fall into archetypes, etc. etc. But the film has enough charm and character that I'm more than willing to forgive it. 

Sometimes the problem with a kid as a main character is that sometimes they'll be either too innocent/wonder struck or they'll be too quirky and "radical". But Hiro comes off as an actual kid. He's starts off as a little arrogant, full of himself, and since he graduated high school at a young age he thinks going to college would be pointless. But after seeing his brother's (Daniel Henney) school and friends he decides he wants to go. 

The one thing I really liked about this film was that it handles mature subject matters in a way that isn't pandering or sugar coats anything. Throughout a good chunk of the film Hiro is going through grief over a loss he has in the movie and Baymax, who was originally designed to be Hiro's own personal healthcare robot by his brother, attempts to help him through his grief. There also isn't some big long monologue about feelings and how friendship is magical and blah, blah, blah. No it lets the emotions come out naturally and gives a proper portrayal of it. Weird how the animated movie with a balloon robot in a fiction city called San Fransokyo has more believable emotions. 

Another thing I loved about the film was one of the messages it conveys; looking at a different angle. Earlier in the film when Hiro is trying to come up with an idea for a contest, his brother tells him to look at it from a different angle. Through the rest of the film the film has Hiro and the others get out their situations by looking at things differently. Whether it is getting out of a tight spot during a fight, or an emotional one. Which makes a big difference when compared to the villain of the film who it turns out his big motivation is revenge, he is blinded by this to the point where he only has a mind set on one thing and one thing only. 

 I'm not going to reveal who the villain is but it is a good twist with plenty of excellent foreshadowing.

So yeah in case you can't tell, I dug the heck out of this film and I highly recommend it. 

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Big Hero 6 & Interstellar: A Double Feature Review Part 1

This week I check out Christopher Nolan's latest film, the science fiction epic Interstellar, and I check out Disney's latest animated adventure Big Hero 6. 

Interstellar

D: Christopher Nolan

W: Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan

S: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn

The extremely popular director Christopher Nolan has decided that for his next motion picture to go out into the final frontier, SPACE. In the not to distance future (next Sunday, A.D.) the Earth has basically entered another dust bowl era as the environment makes it harder for people to harvest food and to live on in general. With the danger of extinction staring them in the face, a group of explorers go out beyond our solar system to find a new place for mankind to call home. Will they find it? Will they be able to return home and save the human race?

Now my history with Nolan has been a complicated one. While many find the man bold, innovative, and totally awesome, I have found just okay. Now that's not to say I think he's a "bad" director because he isn't. From a technical aspect he is great. He has a great visual style, he can direct an excellent action scene, and there are great themes of lies, deception, and responsibilities in his films. Of course one can't forget the some of excellent performances he can get in his films, the cliched example being Heath Ledger's creepy performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight. But my problems with him come with his execution of the movie. I feel like his dialogue, while funny and good from time to time, can be forced and almost unnatural. The plotting sometimes can have more holes than Bonnie & Clyde's death car. Then there are times when serious moments come off as rather silly, again the cliched example being Christian Bale's grizzly bear voice in Dark Knight films.

But what about this film? How does Interstellar hold up in my book? Well, from all of his stuff I've seen of his (the stuff he's directed I mean) this is his weakest, at the same level as Dark Knight Rises in my book. 

One of the big problems for me, outside of the extreme length, was that this movie was trying to be a hard science fiction film but then falls into what is called "science fantasy".

Now, this isn't a problem, many films/books/tv shows are technically science fantasy. Star Wars, Doctor Who, the books of Jules Verne, a good chunk of comic books stuff. But with Interstellar it's obvious that Nolan and company wanted to make this a completely serious sci-fi film, along the lines of  2001: A Space Odyssey (a film which Nolan got a lot of influence from),  War of the Worlds, Gravity, and even the Planet of the Apes films. Either one is fine but if you're going to do one make sure you stick to your guns. 

To get a better idea of these concepts check of Nash Bozard of Radio Dead Air's article which tackles the same subject: The Kid’s Table of Sci-Fi

This film starts out fine, it seems like something like this could happen, but as the film progress it then starts to going lop sided. Non-Spoiler Example: When the ship takes off from Earth when see what it take to just get a ship into orbit, something that's not too far off from how it's done in real life. But then every other time the ship takes off it becomes the Millennium Falcon and just blasts off. Now that's not the worst of it, without revealing too much it then starts to go into 'power of love' level type of stuff. You know the kind of stuff that made say to myself, "Really?!" Also they have, and I'm not kidding, a talking robot who has a humor chip installed. So yes, the have a sassy robot sidekick. Sadly he does not say, "bite my shiny metal ass." So it makes it hard to take this as serious or "adult".

 So, okay, the film wants to be more emotional based instead of science based, okay there's nothing wrong with that. I mean that's the whole concept of The Force in Star Wars, so why not? The problem is that the emotions come off as forced, to me at least. A good chunk of the emotional scenes come from the main character, the ship's pilot named Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), and his family. For the most part it's fine if not a little cliched, but then later on when Cooper is in space and after an small exploration of a planet a lot of time has passed as indicated through video messages from his now older son, Tom (Casey Affleck), and one of the crew members (David Gyasi) telling them it has been 23 years. As soon as the messages start playing we see Cooper bawling his eyes out. I have no doubt that a mission like this and getting a message from your now older child would be upsetting, especially since he hasn't been there to see him get married and have a child. But it's just so sudden to the point it comes off like "THIS IS EMOTIONAL! THIS IS A VERY EMOTIONAL MOMENT!" For me Cooper should have seen the messages without being told how much time has passed then slowly he loses control of his emotions. Then come moments that just get bogged down in Nolan's overly expository dialogue such as the ending but I don't want to spoil too much. 

Then comes some storytelling aspects. One of the biggest problems for me is that Nolan tries to put a lot of his usual themes of lies in it when it doesn't make sense. SPOILER WARNING. At one point the teams land on a planet where an explorer from a previous expedition is found, Dr. Mann (Matt Damon) betrays our heroes who have decided to return home instead of continuing the mission. It doesn't work for me because his plot line doesn't add to much the film. Then there's another one involving Michael Caine's character that to me doesn't make any sense. I'll hold off on the reveal for that one.

Now I've been doing a lot of criticizing, but there are still some good stuff in the film. First, some of the performances. Nolan always has an amazing cast in his films.  Not only does he get a lot of popular actors of today he also gets actors who sadly haven't been as mainstream popular as they should be in my book. One performance I enjoyed came from the awesome and underrated John Lithgow as Murph's grandfather. But the best is a three way tie between Mackenzie Foy, Jessica Chastain, and Ellen Burstyn who all respectively play Murph at different parts of her life. 

As I stated earlier Nolan knows how to film a movie. The cinematography and imagery in the film is dazzling and worth a view just on its own. 

So in the end did I personally enjoy it? Not really, I thought this could have been a lot better. But I'm sure if you're a big time fan of Nolan's work then you'll dig the hell out of this film. I'm sure I'm not going to be able to persuade you. 

Since this review went a little longer than I thought I'll make a separate post for my Big Hero 6 review. 

Feel free to share your thoughts in comments, share the review, and like the blog on Facebook.

Also, if you disagree with me please give me more than "you're just a hater" or "you just didn't get it" or just straight up insults. I've seen that comment come up one too many times in negative reviews of Nolan films.