Detour (2016)

The first scene in "Detour" sort of reminded me of "Drive" + I discovered Alison Goldfrapp as background voice (or at least the intro song got me...). The rest was so & so. We have an indie movie, where the action revolves around 3 characters - Harper is a law student coming from an upper-class family who hates his stepfather accusing him of putting his mother in a coma following an accident, Johnny is the typical no-good punk in the local neighborhood with debts to more important punks, and Cherry is a dancer in a bar - Johnny's girl and one of the ways he's rounding his income. Well, after the first two intersect at a whisky bottle and decide what should happen to the evil stepfather - opportunity for Johnny to make some cash, all this trio gets in a road trip to Vegas where the presumable victim should be located. Now, one of the issues of the movie is that's way too predictable, and since (obviously...) I don't have time to write much I'll stop here with the story. What's left to be said - the production varies from surprisingly well done scenes (yet again, it reminded me of the editing in "Drive" + we get some neo-noir references to an old noir from 1945 having the same name I guess) to parts where it shows that's an indie = the acting and directing have some flaws here and there. The major issue is, however, a subjective one - I don't like the ending. And more, you can foresee what's revealed in the final "twist" way, way ahead, so when it's delivered, but doesn't move further the feeling is of a loose ending. I can appreciate though the scene inserted after a couple credits roll :) brings a comic relief that feels needed and fits especially since it's missing completely through the rest of the movie... no spoilers...

Rating: 3 out of 5

Infinitely Polar Bear (2014)

Note - this is a post from April that somehow got "lost in translation" = forgot to press the publish button after writing the English version of my original Romanian entry ...

Families are complicated. That's almost an axiom. What we have in "Infinitely Polar Bear" is an example. Not too light, not too dramatic...

Sometime in the '70s... Cam Stuart, an ex-hippie from Boston, coming from a wealthy family is diagnosed with bipolar disorder = manic-depressive behavior. The problem is that he also has two daughters, and his wife, Maggie, decides it would be healthier to take them and separate. When her financial situation gets critical, and after he gets out of hospital, somewhat rehabilitated, Maggie decides there's no other way than an MBA in New York for getting a better job. And the only option for the kids seems to be leaving them with her husband. From here onwards...

We have a life drama with some comic accents here and there, some romance, and overall very settled I would say compared to what you would expect after the intro. Even too settled compared with what you might think after seeing the intensity of the bipolar disorder we see in the beginning. Based on this I would say it's an average family movie. On the other hand, I can appreciate the accuracy in several points that might not be that obvious... from tiny aspects like the periodic switch between a disorganized life and the need for some "order anchors", up to the pretty usual capacity of manic-depressive person of getting aware of having the problem. It's I guess one of the few cases that somehow moves over the paradox: "If I know I'm insane then it means I'm not insane". Conclusion: a bit too simple, but probably enjoyable :) ... Oh, and happy holidays ;) for what's still left of them ;)!

Rating: 3 out of 5

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

... or the reason why I'm sorry that I've been too picky with "Baby Driver" one week ago - how can you qualify the 2nd reboot in a 15 year interval when we had 5 movies from the first one in 2002? Well, I decided to ignore my mean answer of something like "the sheep is milked so often at Marvel that the shepherd doesn't know what type of cheese to do from the milk", and following the ratings above 7.5 out of 10 on 3 sites I decided to give it a chance... I kept however my expectations low for this latest Spiderman, hoping for the John Wick effect = that I'll be so pleasantly surprised that my feedback will be 180 degrees different from what I'm thinking. Reverse psychology self-applied = fail ...

I'm not in the mood of writing about Spiderman. It felt so bland that I decided to watch quickly another movie for having a blog entry this week. Since in less than 10 hours I must leave to somewhere on the northern coast of Germany (yep, I'm writing on the run again) I decided to try rewatching "Das Leben der Anderen" = 2 in 1 = a couple extra words besides "Guten Tag/Auf Wiedersehen" will come back to me and I'll also have a subject. Fail again... I don't know how much Deutsch I remembered but not that much. What's certain is that the movie, as good as it might be, felt even more depressing than 10-11 years ago, so I'm not in the mood of writing about this either... Ergo, back to Spiderman...

What's to be said? The only, unique, and way too single scene worth mentioning in this movie comes about two hours after start, and surprises us about a family relative of "the main villain", Which I have to admit I didn't expect. Everything's in the Marvel typical line of super-hero stories, but more mild than usual, with more educational purpose than usual, small jokes and violence within the PG-13 limit, very politically correct. A clear target on the 13-16 years old public. I have problems here and there with getting over the line in some movies, but the sensation it went through a censorship office is much worse (I think I prefer the other extreme of excess sex & violence). Even the negative character here has a social motivation, gets locked up and has issues with the impact on his own family. Besides that, Spiderman, at least in the first part, is quite close to become a sort of Robin for Iron Man = there's lots in the suit - web throwing modes, combat modes, etc. So the spider power is actually in the updated version a sort of electronically assisted super-power. I had some other view on this, but well.. gadgets are trendy...

To conclude, I don't know if the professional critics have any contracts with Marvel, but I didn't see anything here. Maybe I'm a bit subjective based on the image formed through the years on Marvel, but there are exceptions: GotG and Dr. Strange + I have some hopes after seeing the trailer for the latest Thor. For Spiderman, I don't know... another reboot? ;)...

Rating: 2 out of 5

Bady Driver (2017)

Remember "Matrix" and the trend it started for sunglasses? Well, I can't say for sure that "Baby Driver" will succeed in doing the same, but in 20 years, I think it's the closest I've seen having a chance in that.

Baby is a young guy in his early 20's who has a debt to pay to a local mobster, and he's doing that working as a driver for organized heists. And he's almost close in getting even with it. But, that's not a job to get out whenever you might want to... Let's give the movie a chance to tell you more on that.

If you've seen the series starring Simon Pegg - "Shaun of the Dead", "Hot Fuzz" and "World's End", then you pretty much know what to expect, because all the three had Edgar Wright as both screenwriter and most important as director. More, if you've seen "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" it should be 100% clear. The style is here. You can't miss it. As a small warning though, the comedy is there, but is not exactly the main genre here. Or more precisely, you might experience some confusing moment in which you might not be so sure what you're watching, because the comedy alternates with drama at the most serious level. You could consider that as a minus, subjectively speaking - because as in "Scott Pilgrim" and "World's End", the was maybe a bit too chaotic for me, switching the genre a bit too often for my tired brain.

Quite a while ago I've seen somewhere an analysis of the comic style in movies and I remember a part where an average Hollywood comedy = strictly based on lines was discussed for possible ways of context enhancement. The examples were almost all taken from Edgar Wright's filmography, not that rich at the time. What I want to say is that, I rarely have the opportunity to watch a movie so well put together in respect to directing. Maybe Guy Ritchie or Tarantino reach the level I've seen here - keeping the discussion around this genre. If I refer only to the soundtrack and the way this is mixed with the action it's already enough, but there's also the movement in the scenes and other stuff. Too much to write :)...

Rating: 4 out of 5 ( just being subjectively picky = was a bit too violent and chaotic for my taste ;) )

Summer-Fall 2017 Movie Preview - Part 2

If the summer was so & so (and more so...) for what's released, this fall is one of the strongest in the latest years. So let's see what's bringing...

September comes with "American Assassin". All I hope for is that the trailer doesn't give the whole story - maybe is a bit more than a radicalized revenge, and well... the usual: hoping also for less cliche... If it manages these, looks like a good thriller.

Let's keep the prefix, let's keep the genre, but let's change a bit the feeling towards something more lighthearted in "American Made". Where I think I trust a bit more the outcome.

And to give this month completely to this niche, we end it with "The Foreigner", a book adaptation with a subject sort of similar with the first above, but a bit different as context - a Chinese vs. IRA. I think I prefer this version... less sensitive, and more... :) exotic. Besides that, if you didn't see Jackie Chan outside comedy roles, you should - it's worth it ;)...

In October we have the title of the Fall - "Blade Runner 2049". I don't think there's need for much more intro, besides maybe that we have Denis Villeneuve on directing ("Incendies", "Prisoners", "Enemy", "Sicario"), who I guess was a better choice Ridley Scott based on what I've seen in the latest years...

Missing disaster movies? "Geostorm" is the first cinema entry where Dean Devlin tries directing. Who is Dean Devlin? - Roland Emmerich's half on the production of almost all stuff that guy released in his beginnings, until he got infected with the Michael Bay syndrome (= more explosions => more cash flow): Stargate" (the movie), "Independence Day", "Godzilla", "The Patriot". Well, now Emmerich is not involved, but still I'm not sure I trust this even so...

"Happy Death Day" is the horror version of "Groundhog Day". I have to admit that the idea is not totally unoriginal. Beside, Christopher Landon (director/writer) also wrote "Disturbia". Well... he also wrote a bunch of sequels for "Paranormal Activity", but "Disturbia" was nice ;) - and here as well as there (check "Rear Window") we have some sort of adapted source, so...

"Wonder Woman" was a bit disappointing despite the favorable critics, and also I think one of the most "Marvel movies" in the DC Comics portfolio. Even so, I still have some hope that "Justice League" will stick to the less dumb action/more solid story ratio, which was a bit better for DC. Anyway, I think Zack Snyder directing, with all the flaws he previously had, is at a different level than Patty Jenkins.

That's it... for now ;)