Monthly Archives: April 2014

May Prelude: ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’

Producers: Avi Arad (“The Amazing Spider-Man”, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”, “The Incredible Hulk”, “Iron Man”) , Matthew Tolmach (“The Amazing Spider-Man”)

Director: Marc Webb (“(500) Days of Summer”, “The Amazing Spider-Man”)

Screenwriter(s): Alex Kurtzman (“Star Trek”, “Star Trek Into Darkness”, Mission: Impossible III”), Roberto Orci (“Star Trek”, “Star Trek Into Darkness”, Mission: Impossible III”), Jeff Pinkner , James Vanderbilt (“Zodiac”, “The Losers”, The Amazing Spider-Man”)

Cinematographer: Daniel Mindel (“Enemy of the State”, “Spy Game”, “Star Trek”, “Star Trek Into Darkness”)

Composer: Johnny Marr, Pharrell Williams (“Despicable Me”), Hans Zimmer (“Rush”, “Inception”, “The Dark Knight”, “Gladiator”)

Cast: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Colm Feore, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Felicity Jones, B.J. Novak

Clips:

Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and Harry Osborne both (Dane DeHaan) reflect on, in a way, losing their parents.

Peter Parker, in this amusing clip, helps pursue a criminal (a.k.a. the Rhino, portrayed by Paul Giamatti) and tries to steal some items back from him.

Interviews:

Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, and Jamie Foxx in an ‘Unscripted’ Interview answering fan questions (basically, them being silly)

Questions:

To Jamie: If Electro had a theme song, what would that theme song be?
To Andrew: If you could have Spider-Man form an alliance with any other superhero, who would you pick and why?
To Jamie: What is the weirdest rumor you’ve ever heard of yourself?
To Emma: Does your professional connection (between Emma and Andrew) help you?
To Emma: What radioactive insect should Gwen Stacy get bitten by to make her a perfect match for Spider-Man?
To Andrew: Have you ever killed anybody? If you knew for sure that you would never ever be found out, would you?

For a more serious interview…sort of:

Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, and Director Marc Webb talk about the film.

Review: ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’: With a Great Budget Comes An Even Greater Responsibility

Gareth Evans shows his impeccable talents as a filmmaker in ‘The Raid 2: Berandal’

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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

May Prelude: ‘Belle’

Producer: Damian Jones (“The Iron Lady”, “The History Boys”)

Director: Amma Asante

Screenwriter(s): Misan Sagay

Cinematographer: Ben Smithard (“My Week with Marilyn”, “Alan Partridge”)

Composer: Rachel Portman (“The Duchess”, “One Day”, “The Manchurian Candidate”, “Mona Lisa Smile”)

Cast: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Matthew Goode, Alan McKenna, Penelope Wilton, Emily Watson, Tom Wilkinson, Sara Gadon, Miranda Richardson, James Norton, Tom Felton

Clips:

Lord Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) and his wife (Emily Watson) discuss Dido’s future and they’ll say once society finds out.

Dido’s uncle (Tom Wilkinson) and aunt (Emily Watson) must give her and her cousin some startling news.

Interviews:

Gugu Mbatha-Raw talks about her role and the story of Belle.

Director Amma Asante talks about how she came across the real story and how got ‘Belle’ off the ground.

Review: Belle: ‘Pride and Prejudice’ with a bit more attitude

May Prelude: ‘Million Dollar Arm’

Producers: Mark Ciardi (“The Rookie”, “Miracle”, “Secretariat”, “Invincible”), Gordon Gray (“The Rookie”, “Miracle”, “Secretariat”, “Invincible”), Joe Roth (“Alice in Wonderland”, “Snow White and the Huntsman”, “Oz the Great and Powerful”)

Director: Craig Gillespie (“Lars and the Real Girl”, “Fright Night”)

Screenwriter(s): Thomas McCarthy (“Up”)

Cinematographer: Gyula Pados (“The Duchess”, “Evening”, “Predators”, “Metallica Through the Never”)

Composer: A.R. Rahman (“Elizabeth: The Golden Age”, “Slumdog Millionaire”, “127 Hours”)

Cast: Jon Hamm, Lake Bell, Bill Paxton, Alan Arkin, Aasif Mandvi, Suraj Sharma, Madhur Mittal, Tzi ma

Clips:

Brenda (Lake Bell) tries to convince JB (Jon Hamm) to invest more in learning about the kids that he’s trying to bring into the big leagues.

JB (Jon Hamm) witnesses a player using a very unique way to pitch a baseball at high speeds.

Interviews:

Rinku Singh, the baseball player on whom ‘Million Dollar Arm’ is based, talks about the reality television show that led him to pitch for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

ESPN talks about the reality show in India, “The Million Dollar Arm”, more in depth and interviews Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel about their experience in the contest, their inexperience with baseball, and how far they’ve come to learning the game and American customs.

Suraj Sharma talks about his role as Rinku Singh and about the difficulties that come with the process of selecting pitchers.

Jon Hamm discusses what interested him in the script, playing JB, his young co-stars, and shooting in India.

Review: COMING SOON!

May Prelude: ‘Godzilla’

Producers: Jon Jashni (“Pacific Rim”), Mary Parent (“Role Models”, “Pacific Rim”, “Noah”), Brian Rogers, Thomas Tull (“42”, “Pacific Rim”, “300: Rise of an Empire”)

Director: Gareth Edwards (“Monsters”)

Screenwriter(s): Max Borenstein, Dave Callaham (story)

Cinematographer: Seamus McGarvey (“Atonement”, “The Soloist”, “We Need to Talk About Kevin”, Anna Karenina”, “The Avengers”)

Composer: Alexandre Desplat (“Moonrise Kingdom”, “Argo”, “Zero Dark Thirty”, “Philomena”, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”)

Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, Ken Watanabe, David Strathairn

Clips:

Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) tries to convince a master sergeant that he can be an asset to their team in order to board a train to help his family trapped in the city.

A great monster attacks the California coast and military personnel scramble to try to contain the beast.

Interviews:

Gareth Edwards explains to The Verge why monster movies matter, designing the monster, and making ‘Godzilla’ relevant.

Bryan Cranston Interview with “What Would Walter White Do?” and adding a few details to his character.

Review: ‘Godzilla’: Where the Monsters are more interesting than the Humans fighting them

May Prelude: ‘God’s Pocket’

Producers: Lance Acord, Jackie Kelman Bisbee, Sam Bisbee, Philip Seymour Hoffman , John Slattery, Emily Ziff (“Jack Goes Boating”)

Director: John Slattery

Screenwriter(s): Alex Metcalf, John Slattery

Based on: ‘God’s Pocket’, a novel by Peter Dexter

Cinematographer: Lance Acord (“Where the Wild Things Are”, “Marie Antoinette”, “Lost in Translation”, “Being John Malkovich”)

Composer: Nathan Larson (“Margin Call”, “Boys Don’t Cry”, “The Woodsman”)

Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christina Hendricks, John Turturro, Calev Landry Jones, Glenn Fleshler, Richard Jenkins, Eddie Marsan

Interviews:

Director John Slattery (“Mad Men”) talks about the challenges of being a new director and advice given to him by his peers about the filmmaking process.

Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, and the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman talk about the script, shooting ‘God’s Pocket’, and being scared of each other on set.

In this interview, they talk more in-depth about the story, small towns, their characters, and about John Slattery as a director.

Review: All is not what it seems in ‘God’s Pocket’

May Prelude: ‘Chef’

‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’: A Marvel Film Better than ‘The Avengers’

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While it does take some of its cues from ‘The Avengers’, its script is much tighter and provides the Captain America film that fans have long awaited.

After S.H.I.E.L.D is compromised, Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Sam Wilson as Falcon (Anthony Mackie) must fight against those within the organization and outside of it –i.e., the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), an assassin by the Russians with a metal arm and a rival to Captain America’s strength—to prevent a greater threat to the entire world from deep inside S.H.I.E.L.D’s facilities.

Directors Anthony and Joe Russo haven’t just given us a great Captain America film but have also brought us a political thriller in the form of a blockbuster. As they—along with screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely—address Captain America’s adjustment to the 21st century with a few comical scenes, Captain America, in his studies and in his interactions with Nick Fury, uncovers things being done in S.H.I.E.L.D that suggest flaws in foreign policy and the differences in each of their opinions as to what freedom means. It’s themes like these that make one think, especially about our own government’s policies involving security, threats and rumors of threats, and foreign intervention. While everyone may have his or her own opinions about these issues, it’s a little dose of reality and, therefore, much appreciated. Additionally, it only adds to that of Captain America’s character and makes him more of an interesting character (on top of all of the really cool moves for a guy who’s also equipped with a Stark-made shield).

Compared to the montages in ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ and a few shining moments in ‘The Avengers’, the action sequences involving the boy scout (at least, on the Marvel side), ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ blows these out of the water. Steve Rogers/Captain America takes more of a leadership role and, as attitude reflects leadership, he doesn’t just command, but he leads by example taking down many adversaries, repeatedly having to get himself out of extreme situations, and make quick, yet vital decisions. These new responsibilities only prove more difficult with the arrival of The Winter Soldier.

As seen from the trailer, The Winter Soldier’s combat skills mask that of Captain America’s and his hope for defeating him seem shattered when, he [Winter Soldier] catches Captain America’s shield (a big deal after seeing ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ and ‘The Avengers’). Close to halfway within the film, there’s a reveal surrounding the Winter Soldier that turns this action-packed, political thriller into a slightly psychological drama. While the bulk of his performance weighs heavily on menacing stares, yells, grunts, and the occasional lines, Stan’s role as the Winter Soldier is a surprisingly emotional one.

On top of additional action sequences under this franchise’s repertoire and some brilliant themes to take away from the film, we are introduced to Sam “Falcon” Wilson, a soldier, having spent 2 tours in Afghanistan, who is all too familiar with the hardships that come with serving one’s country, is a refreshing character. Falcon not only provides sufficient help when dealing with the corruption within S.H.I.E.L.D., but also with Captain’s shift into this “new world”. As Marvel continues to follow Captain America’s story arc beyond ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’, his character along with Cap’s, will be interesting to explore.

For the most part, ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ slightly surpasses ‘The Avengers’ in script, characterization (mostly, however, because it’s focused on one character), and entertainment. One of the subplots involving Nick Fury takes its cue from ‘The Avengers’, which seems more like a plot scheme rather than a necessary step to take in the story. Additionally, the CGI, while much of the film wouldn’t exist without it, seems to continuously make feats even more impossible that the last. Indeed, this is to be expected in a blockbuster, but as the film progresses, the CGI becomes more ridiculous taking our focus out of the film, if only for a moment.

As S.H.I.E.L.D. is technologically advanced, the tools utilized throughout the film is impressive, but at certain points (again surrounding Nick Fury’s subplot), it gets a bit too convenient in order to help characters get out of dire situations. It’s a trope that many science fiction, action/adventure, and fantasy films are known for doing. While understandable, it’s a bit lazy and far-reaching relative to the past, countless films that have suffered the same lapse in scriptwriting.

Despite these technical flaws, ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ is the proper start to this year’s blockbuster season and a great platform for this franchise. It’s a completely different film than its predecessor and a well made film worthy of a viewing in IMAX (or a few in standard screenings).

Jim’s Rating: 8.6/10