Director Gareth Evans not only brings us a better film in the sequel, but schools us all on how to shoot a proper martial arts film. ‘The Raid 2: Berandal’ is a film worth seeing based on the fight choreography alone. At the risk of sounding cliché, it is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced on screen (and more so than its predecessor).

Rama (Iko Uwais) goes undercover to develop a case against the gangs, crime families, and corrupt police officers alike connected to the tenants that occupied the very apartment he was instructed to bring down in ‘The Raid: Redemption’.

When people state that visual or special effects in a film are “out of this world”, it is usually met with apathy and sarcasm as the phrase is overused. Describing the fight choreography in this film with that phrasing, however, is completely justified.

Firstly, many of the actors and stunt people performing these bouts use choreography different from each other. Typically, we see fighters using the same choreography as their opponents. However, with ‘The Raid 2: Berandal’, this is not the case. It’s a refreshing thing to notice onscreen that not all techniques are created equal. Each person has a unique way of using their whole bodies or things surrounding them in a room. There is a scene in which one man gives his opponent his own version of “batting practice”. (Basically, this man puts “The Bear Jew” from ‘Inglorious Basterds’ to shame.) His partner-in-crime is a woman whose use of two hammers is viciously extraordinary.

Secondly, the camera in each of these fight sequences, moves in an untraditional manner. Not only are these scenes shot in many different angles, but the viewers are given enough time to process what’s going on in each move and counterattack before moving on to the next shot as opposed to relying on shaky cam and quick cuts. Another small, but considerate thing that ‘The Raid 2: Berandal’ does is that once an opponent is knocked down, there’s time allotted for them to recover before they get back up to help their fellow attackers fight their opponents. Although this small detail will most likely be overlooked, it’s a bit of a shift away from the typical fight sequences in Hollywood, featuring a more realistic take on how fighting scenes might play out naturally.

While ‘The Raid 2: Berandal’ features gratuitous violence (more than the first film), most of it has a purpose. Our hero, Rama, has a 10-min kitchen brawl with someone that could be his equal physically that also takes a slight turn for the psychological. The fighting here starts out with Rama’s opponent playing little mind games with Rama in his short counterattacks. The two men aren’t quick to start, but more divisive in how they approach each other. It’s a nod back to intelligent fighting in classic action films (i.e., Luke Skywalker and Lord Vader’s fight in ‘Empire Strikes Back’).

Besides the excellent fighting, ‘The Raid 2: Berandal’ has a very interesting story with a subplot that plays out very much like a Greek tragedy. It is a film that resonates much with ‘The Godfather’: a son wanting a higher position within his family, threats of mob wars, and back dealings among crime families and law enforcement. It’s a familiar story, but with a martial arts edge.

The acting is also very well done, especially from Iko Uwais and Arifin Putra (Rama and Uco, respectably). Uwais, specifically in scenes regarding his family, approaches the role in a very dedicated manner. Although most of his scenes call for some form of anguish, it’s a scene about his son where the audience can truly appreciate the actor’s range.

Although Uco’s character development is a little rushed (despite the film being almost 2 and a half hours), Putra, in showing the transformation in his character, gives a great performance as the foolishly ambitious, young man desperately trying to prove his worth as a leader to his father.

‘The Raid 2: Berandal’ stands firmly on its own with a strong, well-structured story and combat action sequences that films cannot yet match.

Jim’s Rating: 8.7/10

‘Noah’ is Darren Aronofsky’s interpretation of the popular Biblical story of a man in Earth’s earliest days tasked with a great purpose told in a fanciful manner packed with impressive production design, visual effects, and acting performances by Russell Crowe and Emma Watson. Unfortunately, without a strong script, ‘Noah’ doesn’t fulfill its heavy purpose.

Noah (Russell Crowe), through various visions and signs, is instructed by God (or, “the Creator”) to build an ark to protect his family and all of the animals from a storm he’s sending to destroy the Earth due to mankind’s wickedness.

As ‘Noah’ is entrusted to build this great fortress to helm all of these creatures, his faith in the Creator is tested. The world of Noah is that of a seemingly vast wasteland met with the occasional hill or mountain presenting the idea that building such a fortress would be an impossible feat. Nevertheless, the sequence that follows his initial agreement to take on this task is truly breathtaking as trees, grass, streams, and many of the resources needed for the task sprout from the ground. While we’ve gotten quite used to the idea of being surrounded by forests and trees (unless you live in a big city), the way this wildlife just appears out of nowhere is almost like seeing it for the first time. In this sense, the visual effects department for ‘Noah’ provides its audiences with a way to look at our Earth in a different light.

To add to the mundane task of sitting and waiting in the ark for the rain to stop, ‘Noah’ tells his family the story of Creation starting with a burst of light and describing each day according to the Bible. As he tells this story, the screen goes dim and immediately immerses us into this young and growing universe. Like many of the images flashing across our screen emphasizing the Earth’s beauty, we get a glimpse into how the Creator constructed everything. Cinematographer Matthew Labitque speeds up time to use as many images of wildlife, bodies of water, and animals as possible to beautifully illustrate each day as it’s described in Noah’s retelling.

Production Designer Mark Friedberg has conceptualized an impressive ark for this feature. Although we get glimpses of the vessel from the trailer, viewing it fully in the film only enhances its majesty. The production crew for ‘Noah’ is to be commended for their great efforts.

As ‘Noah’ sets the bar high this year with visual effects and cinematography, Editor Andrew Weisblum was clearly having a field day with cutting this film together. A theme that resonates throughout the film is mankind’s evil and barbaric nature. In a sequence in which one man strike’s another man with a rock, we see the same sequence repeated, but by different silhouettes representing the time period and/or countries fighting against each other. It is a well done and hard-hitting (pun unintended) wave of images showing our nature from the beginning of time.

In regard to acting performances, Russell Crowe’s and Emma Watson’s performances are powerful and reflect that of Aronofsky’s direction as well as their individual talents. We see Noah’s progression from subtle family man and gentle husband to a crazed servant as decision after decision in doing what he feels is just in God’s eyes is made. Crowe’s delivery in reflecting this shift in character is timely and effective, especially in scenes where he says very little.

If the most recent film that you’ve seen Watson in involves her attendance at a little place called Hogwarts, do not (by any means) enter ‘Noah’ with those films as the basis for her acting abilities. Her performance, especially in the climax of the film, is emotionally moving. Despite her condition, Ila sets an example of strength, and in the end, gets Noah to see something that he’s missed entirely. Given her performance here, she has a bright future in film ahead of her.

Although Aronofsky takes the basic story from the Bible, ‘Noah’ deviates quite a bit from the original story solely to add drama. However, to a certain extent—particularly with the character, Ham—this deviation backfires causing the story and, therefore, script logic altogether to fall apart. Like most young adult children, Ham doesn’t quite see eye-to-eye with a lot of Noah’s decisions, which only creates chaos. Since Tubal-Cain (Ray Winstone) was added to the story to account for this extra dose of entertainment, this move was unnecessary.

Additionally, it would have provided fewer problems at the end when his character does something even more nonsensical. ‘Noah’, while ending on a bittersweet moment, doesn’t quite conclude on a logical note. The earth having just been wiped out completely, with the exception of those who’ve inhabited the ark, presents a further problem for the state of mankind. The solution to this problem still remains as to—related to how it ends—how they’ll be able to do this very task. Again, this could have avoided had Aronofsky included additional minor detail from the original story (In ‘Genesis’, Noah’s three sons have wives. In ‘Noah’, not all are quite so lucky). Additionally, it might have also saved us some time as it is a 2 hour and 18 minute movie.

As spellbinding as the visual effects, cinematography, and some of the editing are in ‘Noah’, the story falls flat in parts towards the beginning when there seems to be a lack of direction as far as where the story is headed and towards the end leaving the experience of watching the film a bit incomplete and a little disappointing. ‘Noah’ is a film to experience for its dedication to physical presentation, but its script suffers from a lack of flow and maintenance.

Jim’s Rating: 6.5/10

Producers: Darren Aronofsky, Scott Franklin (“Black Swan”, “The Wrestler”, “W.E.”), Arnon Milchan (“12 Years A Slave”, “Broken City”, “Man on Fire”, “Runaway Jury”), Mary Parent (“Pacific Rim”, “Role Models”, “You, Me and Dupree”)

Director: Darren Aronofsky (“Black Swan”, “The Wrestler”, “The Fountain”, “Requiem for a Dream”)

Screenwriters: Darren Aronofsky (“The Fountain”, “Pi”, Requiem for a Dream”), Ari Handel (“The Fountain”)

Cinematographer: Matthew Libatique (“Black Swan”, “Cowboys and Aliens”, “Iron Man 2”, “Iron Man”)

Composer: Clint Mansell (“Black Swan”, “Moon”, “Definitely, Maybe”, “Last Night”)

Cast: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Douglas Booth, Nick Nolte, Mark Margolis, Kevin Durand, Leo McHugh Carroll, Marton Csokas, Madison Davenport

Clip:

Noah, after receiving a message from God, shares with his family what they must do.

Interviews:

As outlined before the actual video, here are the topics of discussion from Russell Crowe about ‘Noah’:

• Working with Darren Aronofsky and how he pitched ‘Noah’
• Imagining the world of Noah
• How Noah finds his purpose
• Seeing the Ark
• Working with Jennifer Connelly
• Ray Winstone’s character, “Tubal Cain”, and working with him

As outlined before the actual video, here are the topics of discussion from Darren Aronofsky about ‘Noah’:

• Why the story of Noah appealed to him
• Why Hollywood’s interested in Biblical epics now
• His approach to the story
• The Noah story, the darkness in the story of Noah, and the miracles in it
• Casting Russell Crowe as Noah, Emma Watson as Ila, Noah’s three sons, and working with Jennifer Connelly
• Anthony Hopkins’ character, Methuselah
• Ray Winstone (“Tubal Cain”)
• The set that was built for the Ark
• Shooting in Iceland
• The satisfaction in making the movie
• Bringing the Bible to Life
• Visual Effects
• Research he did to make the film
• The decision to create the animals with visual effects

Part 1:

Part 2:

Review: ‘Noah’: A curious interpretation for your consideration

Book fans finally get a film that caters to them, unfortunately, at the risk of alienating those who haven’t read it.

After taking an aptitude test to determine which faction she will settle into for the rest of her life, Tris (Shailene Woodley) must try to avoid being discovered as a Divergent—a person regarded as dangerous to society. Jeanine (Kate Winslet), the leader of the faction, Erudite, which values knowledge and education, seeks to overthrow the government already charged by the selfless faction, Abnegation, of which Tris’ family originates.

Heroes are only as good (or entertaining) as their villains. This is particularly true of ‘Divergent’ since Jai Courtney as Eric outshines the rest of his castmates. First-in-command in training the Dauntless initiates, Eric is a sly and cold character. Although Eric and Four (Theo James), second-in-command and Tris’ love interest, share the same passion behind instilling Dauntless values, Eric has a more animalistic approach. Every moment that he’s onscreen, he’s the most interesting to watch as he takes these newcomers through increasingly brutal tasks.

‘Divergent’, based on the novel written by Veronica Roth, is, for the most part, spot on with the book and stays true to what makes Tris so distinctive in being divergent and also with how she must disguise these factors to avoid being discovered by Jeanine. Still, some of these changes made to express the storyline in a way that could be translated easily from the book to the screen make the characterization and script suffer as a result.

Events and people are put in Tris and Four’s way to face and to overcome, but their development is more of a leap than a gradual process. Woodley’s acting is okay, but not enough to give the audience a sense of her true feelings regarding her situation over the length of the film. ‘Divergent’ is ultimately about Tris discovering what she’s capable of and who she really is. However, there’s nothing in her demeanor that fully justifies her decision to go from hiding her true identity to accepting herself; this turn in character, instead, happens in an instant. Likewise, Four is a harsh, but smart leader, yet his interest in Tris seems to go from complete rejection to infatuation in two consecutive scenes. Had there been more narration, communication amongst characters, or even more scenes spent in either character’s minds, there might’ve been more concern about our protagonists succeeding in their difficult mission.

Nevertheless, the idea behind each faction and what they represent to the government is a well-conceived notion that echoes throughout the film. Additionally, the Dauntless training exercises and a few intense action scenes provide for adequate entertainment. Hopefully, with a tighter hold on the characters themselves, ‘Insurgent’ will provide its audiences with a fuller experience (and Summit Entertainment with an alternative franchise for teens to Lionsgate Entertainment’s ‘The Hunger Games’).

Jim’s Rating: 6.3/10

Producers: Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson (“Moonrise Kingdom”, “Fantastic Mr. Fox”), Steven M. Rales (“Breathe In”, “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World”, “Moonrise Kingdom”), Scott Rudin (“Captain Phillips”, “Inside Llewyn Davis”, “The Social Network”)

Director: Wes Anderson (“Moonrise Kingdom”, “Fantastic Mr. Fox”, “The Darjeeling Limited”, “The Royal Tenenbaums”)

Screenwriter: Wes Anderson

Cinematographer: Robert D. Yeoman (“The Heat”, “Moonrise Kingdom”, “Bridesmaid”, “The Darjeeling Limited”)

Composer: Alexandre Desplat (“Philomena”, “Zero Dark Thirty”, “Argo”)

Cast: Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Tony Revolori, Mathieu Amalric, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Lea Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson

Clips:

Monsieur Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes) first meets his new lobby boy, Zero (Tony, Revolori).

A funny clip in which, Monsieur Gustave H, upon being accused of murdering an elderly woman–a regular guest at the Grand Budapest Hotel–responds in the only way he deems fit at that time.

Interviews:

If you’ve seen the trailer, you know that this cast is incredible (well, that’s really a matter of opinion, but…it’s quite the cast whether or not you agree that they’re incredible).

The actors, themselves, discuss being around by all of these people and working on set in a very friendly work environment under Wes Anderson.

Because who wouldn’t want to tour the town with Bill Murray? (Crazy people…that’s who.)

Review: Wes Anderson offers all yet another one-of-a-kind film in ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’