jalkazar's Reviews

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)

9/10

Heavy in theme this confident addition inspires a new perspective on the Star Wars saga, although it won't come without controversy.

18 December 2017

Warning: Spoilers

I have many feelings about this film and I do not quite know how to arrange them or how they will evolve with time. It's a film that is dense with theme, legacy and character without drowning in them or looking backwards in order to find inspiration. If The Force Awakens was a celebration of what Star Wars was this one uses the legacy as a jumping off point to criticize, inspire and recontextualize parts of the Star Wars saga.

For me two themes ring the strongest - kill the past and the theme of toxic masculinity. The first one works in two ways. Partly it's a driving trait for characters in the movie trying to define themselves in new ways in new contexts without past actions or relations holding them down or limiting them. It's about strife as well as struggle. Kill the past is also about audience expectation and where the saga is going. Star Wars is no longer going to be something that simply celebrates its past heroes, it will also deconstruct them and criticize them. The Star Wars of the future is not the Star Wars of the past.

The second one is about toxic masculinity and I assume this is one that will get a lot of people riled up in the comment fields of the interwebs. The male characters in this movie constantly think they know better than their female superiors and choose to act on their own thinking it's for the good of the many when really they're acting according to their ego and a selfmade image of heroism. Early on in the movie this is often portrayed as heroic, although it's not entirely black and white, but as it progresses we are shown that this is not only short sighted but that it is also to their own detriment. Kylo Ren, Finn, Poe Dameron and Luke himself are all related to this theme in one way or another. One scene strikes me as especially strong, and subtle, when it comes to this theme (and thus will probably be overlooked) and it's when new character Rose and Finn both try to explain a plan to Poe Dameron. In this scene Finn interrupts Rose and moves in front of her in a way that completely obscures her. Here he chooses to take control in a room that did not require it and which limited the actions of his female counterpart. This is a theme between the two that will resonate later in the film as well.

However, the movie does not simply criticize men, although I'm sure some will claim that it will. Poe Dameron is a great example of this. Even though he time and time again goes against his female superiors choosing to not put his trust in them and their historic expertise that does not mean that he does not learn. By seeing how he made an error, and because they let him see it (not to be forgotten), he is changed by the end of the movie. He goes from impulsive and foolhardy to someone remarkably wiser by the end, mostly by the sacrifice of female characters but also because masculinity does not have to be toxic. The theme of toxic masculinity is not a dogmatic perspective but a pragmatic one.

The performances are strong across the board. I'm amazed by how Disney managed to cast each character so perfectly and I am especially fond of newcomer Rose. I have some criticisms to how Poe is characterized as a witty jokester early in the movie - it did not feel in tone for him or the movie - but his journey and the overall acting is good nonetheless.

Visually the movie is a treat as well. Simple motifs of red and white and red and black work as striking palettes for a surprisingly varied palette in a confident directors hand.

There are many, many things I have not commented on in this review and this is not a perfect movie. I thought that the first twenty minutes or so dragged a bit and that the scenes were cut off a bit too hard. A second viewing might have me reconsider my rating but as of now it's a movie strong in themes that resonate with me and that inspire confidence in future films - much like the very last scene uses a meta commentary and callbacks to inspire confidence in future generations.

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Mending Hugo's Heart (2017)

3/10

Bergström is fascinated by young adults but doesn't know how to portray them

20 October 2017

Much like "Holy Mess" this movie shares Bergströms basic misunderstanding of young peoples perspective on modern society and undeserved emotional moments. Where her previous film "Holy Mess" tries to play towards the diversity of todays Sweden and failing at doing so this film instead tries to approach the tough young adult years and failing to do so.

The young adult in this movie are not written in any credible manner. No twenty something has casually used the term "down with the boogie" in at least forty years. The pitch black back stories of seemingly every character is also handled embarrassingly without either depth or nuance and the way the characters overcome their issues is far from believable. Rather I'd argue that it's problematic how haphazardly psychological trauma is depicted and treated in this movie.

Okay, so the movie is problematic, but is it entertaining? Sure. Partly. But only in the way that a bad movie is. I laughed at how out of touch the script is with young adults, I laughed at how the movie treated the sexuality at one of its characters and I sure laughed when a bike crashed with a pig. But none of those moments were supposed to be funny. There were supposed to be touching, scary, dramatic and they are not.

Beyond all of this the movie relies too much on flashbacks accompanied with a poorly chosen camera filter and a very, very heavy handed symbolism.

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Annabelle: Creation (2017)

6/10

Annabelle: Creation provides competent scares but tries to be too many things at once

9 September 2017

Many good horror movies rely on a gimmick - the clap clap from the first Conjuring, Freddy existing only in your dreams from Nightmare on Elm Street etc. - and clear rules that the monster/creature/killer follows. The gimmick entices the viewer and gives us a hook or perspective on the story and the rules creates the foundation of this world and this is where Annabelle struggles.

First of all there's no clear hook or gimmick and much like how the second Conjuring decided to throw in the crooked man this movie decides to throw everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. It's also very unclear what the rules are since the "presence" (we'll call it that) is sometimes prohibited by mere physical obstacles but teleports around at other times as well as somehow being in two places at once with no explanation. I'm fine with a creature essentially teleporting but you can't mix and match features the way they do in this film without it losing some of what makes it endearing.

The child actors are mostly fine as are the whole crew but the writing does little to necessitate such a large amount of kids. We get to know very few of them and it's not like they're treated like cannon fodder for the presence either. Actually I think having so many kids somewhat subtract from the horror since I subconsciously know that are major studio won't run around killing children in their movies.

The ending of the movie is perhaps the worst part. It doesn't work because of three reasons. Since there's no set rules there's no clear end game scenario and the horror just kind of fizzles out because the run time needs it to, secondly the very last part of the movie just don't make sense to me and thirdly the beginning of the first Conjuring movie don't add up after what is set up in this movie.

With that said you'll get a few scares out of Annabelle: Creation and it's a perfectly passable horror movie that is going to rake in money and put further faith into The Conjuring cinematic universe even if it does very little to add any depth to said universe.

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

8/10

Hope and sacrifice are essential themes in this extension of the Star Wars saga

15 December 2016

Hope and sacrifice. These are the two themes that run through the veins of this extension of the Star Wars mythos and it is these themes that makes the movie greater than the sum of its parts.

Rogue One is the first installment in what is going to be a (probably endless) series of one off movies within the Star Wars universe and what Rogue One does right, and does so excellently, is build upon what is established and give the first Star Wars movie, A New Hope, an added sense of weight by telling the story of what preceded it. It's a prequel of sorts, but not one that going into the characters of the other Star Wars movies, but one that expands upon the sacrifice and struggle that made the Rebel Alliance success possible.

The film is not without fault however. The early sequences jump between settings and characters in a quick progression in order to set up all of the different moving parts. The individual scenes are often well acted but they seem to separated from the overarching theme of the movie, a theme of war, hope and sacrifice. This rush also loses what could have been important moments. There's a scene where a young girl is caught within the crossfire and it's meant to convey a moment in the story where one of the characters start seeing what the war does but some of the weight is lost when the scene plays out too fast without truly giving the audience a sense of the dread and chaos of the battle scene.

The characters in the movie work for the most part. Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Donnie Yen and Riz Ahmed all deliver memorable performances and it's great to see Star Wars embrace diverse and fresh talent. Other performances, Forest Whitakers for instance, fail to sell me on the characters and there's a certain CGI character that falls into the valley of uncanniness for me (even if the CGI passed some by without being noticed).

But Rogue One shines when it does what it does best. Expand upon and give weight to the story of A New Hope and I loved those parts.

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Daybreakers (2009)

6/10

The core concept fascinates but the movie never fully explores it

29 April 2016

I've returned to this movie once after it's initial release and I'd imagine that I'll find myself doing that more and more even though I don't rate it all that high. The reason for that is the movies incredibly strong core concept that puts a fascinating twist on a vampire dystopian mythos.

In Daybreakers vampires rule the earth and they are scavenging for the last humans in order to feed and survive. The story is told from the perspective of a vampire scientist working on a blood substitute but as the story unfolds it is clear that he's sympathetic to the human cause, which puts him in a minority amongst other vampires. Soon the vampiric society starts falling apart as the blood dries up and starving vamps go insane due to their hunger and turn into beings ruled by instinct rather than reason.

What makes Daybreakers a movie worth returning to are these ideas of a vampire society on the brink of toppling itself due to it's own greed and hunger rather than the vampires being a mythological minority. This makes for an interesting twist on classical human tropes of greed, justice and morality. Unfortunately, and this is what ultimately holds the movie back from being great, the writers never seized this potential and instead this is a run of the mill action movie that chooses to use cheap plot points for thrills and effects rather than the larger themes for afterthought and world building.

In a perfect world this movie would be slower paced and forty minutes longer where the plot isn't about Ethan Hawkes character Edward Dalton trying to find a cure and later survive, instead it's about Dalton slowly realizing his disgust with the way of the vampiric society as it's dark side becomes clearer and clearer as the blood starts to drain up. Willing human donors are quickly replaced by forced human donors and individual cases of blood charity becomes an industrialized farming. I want to see more of how the greed and desperation is a driving force and how that drives Dalton into exile and from trying to feed vampires through other means into seeing their greed as a road block that can not be solved without viewing vampirism as a decease.

I'm rambling now but lost potential will do that sometimes. I recommend this movie strongly to anyone that is looking for one of the good vampire movies that are out there and especially to anyone that is able to see the greatness that this could have been.

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Run All Night (2015)

5/10

Run All Night promises to deliver action and on that it delivers. But it doesn't leave any lasting impressions

22 December 2015

Helmed by Jaume Collet-Serra, director of Liam Neeson vehicles, and starring Liam Neeson, the greying headliner who found a late career resurgence in playing tough old men out for revenge. Unsurprisingly the movie turns out to be no more than just that.

Once again Liam Neeson plays a man with a particular set of abilities (but outside of the Taken-franchise) that is forced to use them due to events that he can not control. At his side he has his son Joel Kinnaman and opposite him is Ed Harris, who along with Neeson deliver on their parts. Well, as much as the script lets them.

But don't fool yourself. This is no character study of an old man looking for redemption through revenge and self-sacrifice - it's storyline driven by the need to find action set pieces and it manages to pull those parts off without any hinges.

Run All Night is a decent action stomper that entertains for the moment without leaving any lasting impressions. It delivers what it sets out to do but no more than that.

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Grand Piano (2013)

7/10

A thrilling exercise in sound used for suspense

22 December 2015

If sound makes up more than half of the movie experience then Grand Piano is as simple of a concept as it is brilliant. In Grand Piano the worlds greatest concert pianist is set to make his return to the grand stage after freezing and failing an epic piece a few years prior. He plans to make his return while playing the piano of his recently deceased mentor and this is where the movie finds the inspiration for its title. However someone has scribbled down threats in his notes and he is now forced to play every note perfectly if he wishes to stay alive.

Elijah Wood plays the main part brilliantly even though he seldom has anyone to act off of and his energy in playing the piano shines through and most of the time comes of as real rather than fake. Using the score in a two-fold meaning, both as a story mechanism and as a suspension builder, works great most of the time and it really showcases the talent behind the movie.

Much like many other movies that are based around simple concept or locations it struggles to keep things interesting throughout the entire running time and this plus some stereotypical minor characters unfortunately keeps the movie from being as great as it could have been. But as it stands its a unique, often thrilling, movie that dares to think outside of the box.

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Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)

8/10

Not as good as the originals, but light years better than the prequels

16 December 2015

Another decade has past and J.J. Abrams, resurrector of franchises, has come to take his swing at bringing back a sense of movie magic to Star Wars. Did he succeed? I don't know yet. It's hard to judge such a hyped movie after a first viewing and this one leaves me with mixed, but positive feelings after watching it.

I liked the new characters introduced in the movie and their acting was great (especially compared to the returning stars) and this fact leaves me with a lot of hope for the upcoming episodes. The movie also had a real sense of 'fun' to it which is good. Even if it's a dark subject matter at times it's also a fantastical and for many people uplifting story at the core of it. Sometimes I felt it was a bit too much fun but this is one of the things that will probably settle with further viewings.

Onto the things I did not like as much. I thought the movie lost some of it's pacing a bit into the story. This might have had something to do with the weight all the intertwined characters and personal developments placed on the movie, I think that was the case at least, but this is also something I think will improve in the upcoming movies.

In the end it's the Star Wars we probably needed right now. It's nowhere near the originals, but it's also light years from the prequels, and it sets us off on a journey towards a greater saga in episode eight and nine as well as within the extended universe.

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Blades of Glory (2007)

6/10

The best kind of ridiculous

28 November 2015

Will Ferrell has always been hit or miss for me. He's great in Stepbrothers and A Night At the Roxbury but just painfully bad in films like Get Hard. Luckily Blades of Glory is the perfect fit for him and he shines alongside Jon Heder in this ridiculous figure skating comedy.

The movie centers around a fictional figure skating culture where outrageous stars win the hearts of the audience with outlandish routines and acts. Will Ferrell plays the rock star figure skater who is forced to pair up with the classically trained Jon Heder in order to compete as the first ever male figure-skating pair after an incident forced them away from the singles scene. Opposite them is the sibling figure skate-match up of Amy Poehler and Will Arnett, each as funny and ridiculous as Ferrell and Heder.

Blades of Glory works because it revels in its made up figure skating culture and playing to the actors and themes strengths without going completely overboard. It's no comedy for the ages, but it is a comedy good for a lot of laughs.

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Cooties (2014)

4/10

Cooties never succeeds beyond its premise

24 November 2015

Cooties is a movie that is all premise and no plot. Having found a fun twist on the zombie horror genre the script writers seem to have settled for writing a passable script rather than to fully explore the concept that they had created.

Since the movie boasted such an amazing cast I was excited to see it, not expecting a masterpiece by any means, but expecting a light hearted and fun ride. Unfortunately I found myself getting bored a third into the movie when I realized that the characters where paper thin and that all the jokes could be spotted a mile away.

The largest problem in the movie is that there is no sense of fun even though it's centered around such a ridiculous concept. Some of this could be due to budgetary constraints, the action for instance, but other things can't be excused as easily. The characters are either old stereotypes that offer very little past their original introduction (the homosexual still in the closet, the conservative creationist, the socially awkward). Elijah Wood, the lead, has the unfortunate task of playing a failed author that had to move home to his mom. Not a very light hearted and fun character to place in the midst of this movie.

Cooties is by no means an awful movie and perhaps it's better watched with a lot of friends and enough beer to get past a few of it's lesser elements, but being taken for what it is it's no more than okay.

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She's Funny That Way (2014)

4/10

Too many coincidences, not enough comedy

4 June 2015

The setup for this romantic comedy is quite simple. A wealthy man meets a call girl one night while away from his wife and children. He offers her a large sum of money if she promises that she will never again have sex for money and he tells her to pursue an acting career. Ironically it turns out that he's a director and she attends a casting call to play a role role opposite of his wife, and from there on out the coincidences continue.

While the movies' premise should be ripe for comedy, even though it's hardly original, the story never gets past its own fascination with coincidences. The jokes that play out are either coincidences happening or characters enjoying the fact that they know about coincidences that others do not and that joke outlasts itself extremely fast.

Towards the end of the movie the director tries to tie up and connect all the characters in the film but unlike other romantic comedies that does this successfully, Love Actually comes to mind, it becomes a farce in this one, and I use that word in a negative way.

If you enjoy run of the mill romantic comedies I'm sure this will be good for a laugh or two from you, a lot of people laughed during the preview screening that I attended. But if you like me rarely enjoy romantic comedies unless they are inventive, deeply emotional or extremely charming this won't do it for you.

Two stars out of five.

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jalkazar

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