A young man ekes out a meager living in an underground fight club where, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask, he's beaten bloody by more popular fighters for cash. After years of suppressed rage, he discovers a way to infiltrate the enclave of the city's sinister elite. As his childhood trauma boils over, his mysteriously scarred hands unleash an explosive campaign of retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him.
Rated R for strong bloody violence throughout, rape, language throughout, sexual content/nudity and drug use.
Runtime: 1h 53m
Review:
Dev Patel's directorial debut, Monkey Man, has a kinetic energy that propels the blood soaked, revenge thriller through some of its more uneven sections while managing to leave a lasting impression. On its surface, it'd be easy to categorize this as little more than a John Wick knockoff but clearly Patel has much more on his mind than mindless mayhem. The action here is much more brutal and less cartoonish than Wick's gunplay heavy style which gives the sequences a certain level of grimy authenticity. The action is hard hitting and chaotic, occasionally to a fault, as Patel tries to put you right in the middle of the action. Some set pieces work better than others, but you get a definite sense that Patel feels more comfortable directing these portions of the film. The quieter moments prove to be a bit more of a mix bag as it grinds the film to a halt which makes the whole thing an uneven flow, making it feel longer than its actual runtime. Dev Patel is committed throughout in front of the camera as his character is believably focused on his revenge journey. He brings a lot more depth and nuance to the character thanks to his talent as an actor which allows him to overcome some of the script's underwhelming characterizations. The supporting cast doesn't get much more to work with as many of the characters are one dimensional type instead of fully realized people. Pitobash and Sharlto Copley in particular seem to be begging for meatier roles as they chew up scenery in their limited screen times. Issues aside, there's plenty to appreciate about Monkey Man's approach and overall style showcasing Patel's talent in front of and behind the camera
King Arthur's headstrong nephew embarks on a
daring quest to confront the Green Knight, a mysterious giant who appears at
Camelot. Risking his head, he sets off on an epic adventure to prove himself
before his family and court.
Director: David Lowery
Cast: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel
Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury, Sean Harris, Ralph Ineson
Release Date: July 30, 2021
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Rated R for violence, some sexuality and
graphic nudity
Runtime: 2 h 10 min
Review:
David Lowery’s deconstructed Arthurian tale
is a methodical pensive take that’s moody and visually stunning. Lowery’s film isn’t going to be for everyone
since his pacing is deliberately slow as he lets visual and moments linger on
screen for an extended amount of time. Everything
moves at a slow simmer allowing the thematic meaning to seep into your
mind. It’s the opposite of a blockbuster
film since it asks you actively digest what’s being presented on screen. Dev
Patel leads the film ably in a understated but thoughtful turn as Sir Gawain as
he tackles destiny and life during his journey. Patel’s dialogue is sparse but
he communicates a books worth of emotions via his eyes. The supporting cast is equally effective with
Alicia Vikander making the biggest impression in a duel role one of which
leaves her nearly unrecognizable. David Lowery’s film fits nicely next to John
Boorman’s classic Excalibur and much like that film it’s a visual feast that
will leave you thinking about it long after the film is over.
Dearest Blog: After missing out last week, this weekend it was off to Marquee Cinemas for four--yes, FOUR--big-screen blasts.
Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know or have guessed from the trailers.
First on my agenda: Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.
Alice makes a last(ish) stand against the Umbrella Corporation.
With this ostensibly "final" chapter of Resident Evil coming so quickly on the heels of Underworld's potential finale, for me it was inevitable to draw comparisons between the two badass-broad-fronted movies. I think Resident Evil comes up on the short end, but it's still a fun watch.
Like Underworld: Blood Wars, RE6 kicks off with a refresher on how we got to where we are. In both cases, this proved a waste of time. These movies do a good enough job of (over)explaining themselves as they go along that a person wouldn't be too lost to enjoy, regardless of what he did or didn't remember. It's to Milla Jovovich's benefit that acting chops are immaterial, as she acrobatically faces off with living and undead. Iain Glen is about as subtle a baddie as Snidely Whiplash. Though it's hard, these days, not to see him as the perpetually-friendzoned Ser Jorah Mormont, he does his best to prove himself a Wicked, Wicked Person here. The 2D effects are nothing to write home about, and certainly nothing to recommend the 3D upcharge and headache. There's some nice disaster footage (think Deepwater Horizon, if everybody hated the undead instead of the planet), and some truly wacky stunts, but much of the action is so dark all you can do is cross your fingers and hope your favorite character is still standing when it finally gets light again. Clumsy storytelling makes the film feel overlong. There's a nice thank-you message from director and star before the show, and, if it turns out this really is The End, it's a satisfying--if hokey--finish.
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter runs 106 minutes and is rated R for "sequences of violence throughout."
The premise is less interesting and the cast less enjoyable than Underworld, but Resident Evil: The Final Chapter is big, dumb fun. Of a possible nine Weasleys, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter gets four.
Next on the docket, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage.
The original Triple X is back in business.
Well, dear reader(s)... Now. We. Are. Talking. Were you in the market for a great, fun actioner? Well, you found it! xXx: The Return of Xander Cage is filled with absurd stunts, good-natured humor, pretty faces, and hardbodies all 'round. The plot obviously won't tax those little grey cells too much, but there are a few nice surprises wrapped around edge-of-your-seat action and a truly likable cast. And did I mention ridiculous stunts? Over the top in the most fun way. Vin Diesel knows his niche as well as any actor, and, while there may come a day when I no longer get a kick out of watching him do what he does, it is not this day.
xXx: The Return of Xander Cage clocks in at 107 minutes and is rated PG13 for "extended sequences of gunplay and violent action, and for sexual material."
It's not brain surgery, but The Return of Xander Cage is about as much fun as I can imagine having at the cinema. Of a possible nine Weasleys, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage gets seven.
Movie Catchup Day Two kicked off with Gold.
Against all odds, a down-on-his-luck prospector and a geologist strike gold in Indonesia.
Initially, Gold appeared to be another potential awards goldmine (see what I did there?) for Matthew McConaughey, but his loony performance doesn't help this too-talky tale get off the ground. McConaughey underwent another extreme physical transformation to portray Kenny Wells, a doughy dude with a receding hairline, and nothing says "Oscar bait" like a handsome actor who looks nothing like himself in a based-on-a-true-story role. Sadly, neither the performance nor the picture is very memorable, and Wells' appearance is played mostly for mean-spirited laughs. Edgar Ramirez is the film's highlight, understated as Wells' partner Michael Acosta. The picture moves slowly and is never really that interesting, thanks to unlikable characters and twists that can be seen a mile out. Ultimately it's a nasty little tale about greed and willful cluelessness, The Wolf of Wall Street without the gripping relevance.
Gold runs 121 minutes and is rated R for "language throughout and some sexuality/nudity."
Gold is a dull, disappointing movie with little to recommend it. Of a possible nine Weasleys, Gold gets four.
Fangirl points: An Iron Maiden t-shirt is pretty prominent in one important scene. This is not a drill: an Iron Maiden t-shirt is in the movie!
The final installment on the weekend's busy schedule: Oscar hopeful Lion.
A young man who was lost as a child in India, then adopted by an Australian couple, searches for his birth family.
Lion is a moving true story of love and, if we're being honest, not a little good fortune. The film points out that over 80,000 children go missing in India each year, but this is a story about one of the lucky ones. Lost and miles from home, Saroo faces many threats to his well-being before being adopted by a childless, loving Australian couple. The setup drags on too long, and, for my money, the film would have been better served if it were trimmed a bit and/or spent more time on the young man's search for his birth family and less on the travails of his younger self. Having said that, newcomer Sunny Pawar is delightful and absolutely heartbreaking as the younger Saroo, owning the screen like a seasoned pro. Early scenes of his time on the streets are tense and uncomfortable, but effective. Nicole Kidman and David Wenham are almost too good to be true as the boy's adoptive parents, challenges touched on but mostly airbrushed like an unfortunate wrinkle before botox. (Sorry, Nicole.) As grownup Saroo delves ever more deeply into his search, Dev Patel is brilliant; eager and terrified, desperate for information, but hiding his intent from even those who might be able to help. It's a testament to the power of this story that, in an age where everyone seems to have forgotten how to behave appropriately at the cinema, there was nary a peep from my audience for the duration.
Lion clocks in at 118 minutes and is rated PG13 for "thematic material and some sensuality."
Lion is a sobering but uplifting tale of love and luck. Of a possible nine Weasleys, Lion gets seven.
Neill Blomkamp expands on his 2003 short film Neill
Blomkamp in this futuristic sci-fi saga written in collaboration with
screenwriter Terri Tatchellmore
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Cast: Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Jose Pablo Cantillo,
Sigourney Weaver, Hugh Jackman
Release Date: Mar
06, 2015
Rated R for Language, Brief Nudity and Violence
Runtime: 2 hr. 0 min.
Genres: Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Review:
Chappie is a worrisome film, not because it’s an awful
film by any stretch but because it lays bare Blomkamp’s flaws as a
director.Chappie is filled with big
ideas but mired by substandard execution and cartoonishly drawn
characters.Casting South African rappers
from Die Antwoord is an odd choice made even worse by the fact that they are
main characters.If they’d been
supporting characters it might have worked out a bit better for everyone
involved.Dev Patel, Sigourney Weaver
and Hugh Jackman (who’s sporting Wolverine’s hairdo in reverse) are saddled by
poorly drawn characters who are types instead of well formed characters with
depth.As for Chappie himself, he’s a
well formed creation even though he leans a bit too much on the cutesy side
than he should.When all the explosions
have ended and the film has run its course you can’t help but wonder if you’ve
watched sub par Short Circuit remake.
Dearest Blog: Yesterday it was off to the cinema--or, as it's more
rightly called this weekend, "The Dev Patel Film Festival"--for a pair
of unlikely bedfellows: Chappie and The Second Best Exotic Marigold
Hotel.
Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.
First on the agenda, Neill Blomkamp's latest, Chappie.
In
the not-too-distant future, human police in Johannesburg have been
replaced by a robot force. A young programmer poaches a decommissioned
police droid and creates the world's first true A.I.
Chappie is no
District 9, however hard it might be trying. With that out of the way,
it's not the disaster some early notices would have you believe, either.
Starting
with the positives: The robot looks great...beautiful motion capture
work, with natural movements that should be the envy of those ridiculous
Apes movies. Sharlto Copley turns in a fantastic performance as
Chappie, completely sympathetic even when he's behaving like the world's
most annoying toddler. The story is entertaining, even though it's
never too hard to guess what's coming. As a "message" movie, it's a bit
ham-handed, but as an A.I. movie, it's waaaaaaay better than
Transcendence. (Talk about backhanded praise!) Dev Patel is his usual
wide-eyed, earnest self, perfect for a role like this, and Sigourney
Weaver...well...especially when it comes to sci-fi, I guess having
Sigourney Weaver is always better than NOT having Sigourney Weaver, and
at least she hasn't been saddled with a random weird accent (lookin' at
you, Jodie Foster!). Hans Zimmer provides a fantastic score, and the
interspersed Die Antwoord tunes are ideally suited to the movie's harsh,
ugly landscape.
On the negative side, I have to start with Hugh
Jackman. Yes, THAT Hugh Jackman, arguably one of the world's most gifted
all-around performers. Can we actually be meant to take him seriously
here, a silly one-note baddie, stomping about in a mullet and goofy
shorts, shooting the camera his best Snidely Whiplash looks?
Did he
really read this script and think it was a good idea? I can't imagine.
The movie throws a ton of screen time at Die Antwoord's Ninja and
Yo-Landi, relying heavily on viewers finding the two super cool and
awesome. In fact, they are anything but...unless you're a 14-year-old
boy who is endlessly amused by vulgar t-shirts and tattoos of tiny men
with giant penises, then, hey, they're super cool and awesome. In fact,
all the characters are essentially caricatures of what they're meant to
be, and the movie would have done well to dial everyone back a tick.
Finally, though the movie never lost my attention, there's no denying
the story is predictable and derivative, with a terribly contrived
finish that left me rolling my eyes.
Chappie clocks in at 120 minutes and is rated R for "violence, language, and brief nudity."
It's got more problems than a calculus textbook, but I still kinda liked it. Of a possible nine Weasleys,
Chappie gets five.
Next up was The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
(Or, "The further adventures of Heaven's Waiting Room.")
The
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was a fantastic film, sweet and sincere,
with more feels than the average teenager's Tumblr.
Did it need a
sequel? Of course not.
Did it do well enough for everyone to know it was
getting a sequel? Well, hey, when this whole group is still kicking
three years later, you gotta take it as a sign, eh? There's nothing I
can say about the Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel that you don't
already know, whether or not you've seen it. The movie features more
wisdom from Mrs. Donnelly, more adorableness from Mr. Ainslie, more
cougaring from Mrs. Hardcastle, and more well-intentioned shenanigans
from Sonny. The age jokes never get old (see what I did there?), and the
beautiful colors of India make it a joy to watch. If we're being
honest, of course, you could take all that away and still there'd be no
going wrong with this cast; they are the most perfectly perfect bunch of
perfect to ever grace the silver screen. Special perfection marks to
Maggie Smith and Bill Nighy; minus her deadpan delivery and his lovable
awkwardness, the movie would definitely be missing its most special
pieces.
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel runs 122 minutes and is rated PG13 for "some language and suggestive comments."
The
Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a charming, funny, moving film,
and, if it never takes a turn you didn't expect, maybe you never wanted
it to, anyway. Of a possible nine Weasleys, the
Second Best Exotic
Marigold Hotel gets seven.
Until next time...
I may look harmless, but I'm taking over your cinema!!
