Movie Reviews

Dunkirk

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  • Title: Dunkirk
  • IMDb: link

Dunkirk movie reviewChristopher Nolan‘s Dunkirk is surprisingly bad for such an accomplished director. Set during the Dunkirk evacuation of mostly British troops surrounded by Axis forces during World War II, Nolan brings his talents to bear in crafting a visually impressive film. However it’s three-part story, amateurishly cut together in confusing fashion, featuring a migraine-inducing overbearing score (which the director has been infatuated with ever since Inception), without a single trace of emotional resonance, left me detached from both characters and events for most of its running time.

The film inter-cuts three separate plot threads of vastly different lengths creating all kinds of trouble when the threads have to be woven together later in the film. The shortest of these centers around Tom Hardy as a fighter pilot whose action takes place mostly far above the fray. The next, in terms of length, involves a civilian boat hired to help evacuate soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk. And the longest story centers around soldiers on the beach, most notably Fionn Whitehead and Aneurin Barnard, desperately searching for any way off the coastline before the German army arrives.

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Spider-Man: Homecoming

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  • Title: Spider-Man: Homecoming
  • IMDb: link

Spider-Man: Homecoming movie reviewSpider-Man: Homecoming presents a problem that Marvel and it’s tightly-connected Marvel Cinematic Universe has been able to avoid… until now. Having not yet relaunched any of the Marvel Cinenamatic characters, Marvel hasn’t had to deal with recasting and repackaging the same old stories. Working with Sony, there’s no doubt this is a MCU movie, and not only because of the appearances of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), and a cameo so good I wouldn’t think of ruining it here. For the most part, writer-director Jon Watts and his five (FIVE!?) other screenwriters succeed in building on the character’s small role in Captain America: Civil War.

Tom Holland returns as Peter Parker. Other than being a bit too buff, Holland’s take works well. Despite his good intentions and smarts, Peter continues to get himself in over his head (both in and out of costume) while failing to juggle his life as Peter Parker and as a web-spinning vigilante. And while I’m on the subject of webs, let me say that the comic nerd in me is happy that the new franchise has kept web-shooters as Peter’s creation rather than Sam Raimi‘s choice to go with organic web-shooters.

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The Big Sick

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  • Title: The Big Sick
  • IMDb: link

The Big Sick movie reviewWell, here’s an unique love story. Adapted from the true events of his own life, and co-written by his wife, The Big Sick stars Kumail Nanjiani as comedian and Uber driver Kumail whose relationship with Emily (Zoe Kazan) goes into a rough patch just prior to her being put into a medically-induced coma for an illness doctors struggle to properly diagnose. With Emily hospitalized, Kumail finds himself in the uncomfortable position of dealing with her parents (Holly Hunter and Ray Romano), and the expectations of his own parents (Anupam Kher and Zenobia Shroff) concerning his future.

Not as dark (or unconventional) as it sounds, The Big Sick fits pretty easily in the dramedy category with pieces of the real events exaggerated for either comedic or dramatic effect (or sometimes both). While it certainly has some romantic comedy leanings, the best parts of the movie come not from the conflict but the building of relationships, first between Kumail and Emily and later between Kumail and her parents. If you’ve seen the trailer you’ve seen almost all the film’s best jokes, but there’s still an enjoyable (if predictable) story to watch unfold.

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The Beguiled

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  • Title: The Beguiled
  • IMDb: link

The Beguiled movie reviewThe Beguiled is a remake of 1971 film starring Clint Eastwood as a wounded soldier brought into and tended by the residents of a Southern all-girls boarding school. Choosing to remake the film more from the perspective of the women rather than the male intruder in their lives, Sofia Coppola‘s version of The Beguiled is highlighted by strong performances all around but it’s sadly also the least-interesting movie of the talented director’s career.

The remake casts Colin Farrell as Union Corporal McBurney who is found by one of school’s tweens (Oona Laurence). With the bleeding soldier loosing consciousness on arrival, the headmistress Miss Martha (Nicole Kidman) chooses to tend to the soldier’s wounds. As he heals the charming man makes effort to separately woo the various women of the house (whose number also include Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning, Angourie Rice, Addison Riecke, and Emma Howard) winning them all over to his side. However, the soldier certainly can’t keep his empty promises to all the girls which leads to a dark turn and lots of conflict in the film’s final act as the women discover the fox they’ve let into their hen house.

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The Hero

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  • Title: The Hero
  • IMDb: link

The Hero movie reviewThe Hero is a fairly straightforward film about an aging actor coming to terms with his mortality after a troubling medical diagnosis forces him to reexamine his life. Western star Lee Hayden (Sam Elliott) is known really for only one role over his long career (which now consists mostly of commercial voice-over work for barbecue sauce). Elliot is well-cast, and makes the most of the character as he tries to mend fences with his estranged daughter (Krysten Ritter) and try to understand his new relationship with a younger woman (Laura Prepon) who walks unexpectedly into his life.

While not as ambitious as I’d like, director and co-writer Brett Haley delivers just what you’d expect from a film with this premise, ultimately The Hero fails or succeeds on the performance of Elliot who shoulders most of the film’s emotional weight. Thankfully he’s up to the task. I was a bit unsure about Prepon and her character, but her influence does drive some of the film’s best scenes which include Hayden’s audition won when his drug-controlled behavior at an awards show goes viral over social media. The Hero is a solid film. It won’t wow you, but like it’s leading character, it’s slow and steady. Sometimes that does win the race.

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