Quick Movie Reviews: The Shape of Water, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Bright, I, Tonya, Pitch Perfect 3

The Shape of Water: Guillermo Del Toro is the only director on the planet that is capable of making a movie about a woman falling in love with a mysterious sea monster this warm and moving. The specifics of the plot are often nonsensical (Secret government projects! Russian spies! Regular people committing elaborate kidnapping jobs!), but the stunning visuals/production design, excellent acting (Sally Hawkins should be a strong contender for Best Actress) and del Toro's unrivaled knack for creating magical, fairy tale-esque atmospheres makes The Shape of Water a captivating, completely unique viewing experience.
4/5 Stars  

Star Wars: The Last Jedi:  This holiday season's most controversial movie left me in a state of relative indifference. In its attempts to distance itself from the "IT'S A RETREAD OF THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY" complaints that surrounded The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi ends up feeling like a soulless product of Disney focus groups. Cringeworthy, out-of-place Marvel-esque humor, "cute" creatures that seem like they're only there for merchandising purposes (the kids of the world need a plush toy to snuggle with after all) and a collection of shoddily-constructed story arcs that purposely go out of their way to disregard a vast majority of the events of The Force Awakens make the proceedings of this film feel almost comically inorganic. The Last Jedi's savior from reaching Phantom Menace/Rogue One-levels of tedium comes in the form of its terrific action sequences and the performances of Daisy Ridley as Rey (aka the only protagonist that remains interesting this time around), Adam Driver as the moody, conflicted Kylo Ren and Mark Hamill as an emotionally-and-physically drained Luke Skywalker. With writer/director Rian Johnson not being involved with the next chapter of this saga, it'll be up to sci-fi guru J.J. Abrams, who helmed The Force Awakens, to decide the legacy of this suddenly divisive trilogy.

3/5 Stars   

Bright: After spending much of the last two years building an original film library centered around quirky indie fare and Adam Sandler comedies, Netflix has successfully dove into the world of blockbusters with the deliriously entertaining Bright. David Ayer's latest project turns his signature gritty LA-based cop movies on its head with an injection of fantasy mythology. Adding orcs, elves and magic into a movie about a pair of constantly-clashing police officers (Will Smith and Joel Edgerton, who have one hell of a rapport) could've easily turned this into a jumbled mess, but the mythology is so interesting and well-realized that it seamlessly fits into and bolsters the police procedural part of the story. Hopefully the success of Bright will help Netflix emerge as an oasis for filmmakers to make experimental, unsanitized blockbusters without having to deal with the burden of profit-conscious studio heads meddling with the final product. 

4/5 Stars

I, Tonya: Making an unbiased biopic about a controversial figure like Tonya Harding is no easy task, but director Craig Gillespie and writer Steven Rodgers pulled it off beautifully with the sensational I, Tonya. Gillespie, Rodgers and their actors led by Margot Robbie in a career-best performance treat Harding as the human being that the 24-hour news cycle never bothered to. While I, Tonya certainly doesn't bury the former figure skating champion's slew of character flaws, the film does an excellent job of detailing who Harding truly was underneath all of the negative media attention as well the extent of her involvement with the Nancy Kerrigan knee-clubbing incident that derailed her career. This boldly objective point of view combined with a sharp, clever script that delicately weaves bursts of dark comedy into Harding's largely tragic backstory and awards-caliber work from all four of its primary actors (Robbie, Allison Janney, Sebastian Stan, newcomer Paul Walter Hauser) makes I, Tonya a tour-de-force of fact-based filmmaking.     

4.5/5 Stars

Pitch Perfect 3: Was Pitch Perfect 3 a necessary sequel? Probably not. Did that fact prevent me from having a good time with it? Not at all. The immense likability of its ensemble cast, another round of rousing musical numbers and a surprisingly heartwarming climax is enough for the final installment of this unlikely smash hit franchise to overcome its smaller volume of laughs and a bizarre, completely off-brand subplot involving Fat Amy's criminal father (John Lithgow, rocking a weak-ass Australian accent).

3.5/5 Stars

Quick Movie Reviews: Inside Llewyn Davis, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, I, Frankenstein, Her

I've caught quite a few films in the past few weeks, but I haven't really had the time to write full-fledged reviews for them. Here are my thoughts on Inside Llewyn Davis, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, I, Frankenstein and Her.

Inside Llewyn Davis: The Coen Brothers strike gold once again with Inside Llewyn Davis. The film serves as a powerful character study of Llewyn Davis (Oscar Issac), a talented folk musician who just can't catch a break in New York's Greenwich Village in 1961. Davis's inability to make it seems to be karma's way of getting back at him for treating everyone around him like absolute shit. He knocks up his friend's wife (Carey Mulligan), loses another friend's cat and heckles other performers at the famous Gaslight Cafe without even a single ounce of guilt. The film's simplicity is beautiful as it doesn't follow a traditional plotline and makes Davis's life the sole focus of the film. Despite it's straightforward storytelling, Isaac's strong performance, brilliant dialogue and depth of Davis as a character give this film a deeper core than a lot of films with more intricate narratives. The overall tone is certainly melancholy, but amidst the bleakness the Coen's profess their love for the Greenwich Village folk scene. The Greenwich Village folk scene is pretty much forgotten in the modern era and the Coen's bring the whole scene back with the somber atmosphere and raw emotion that folk music captured while also recognizing just how much of an impact the movement had on the overall landscape of music. Inside Llewyn Davis has all the dark humor, excellent acting and cynicism you've come to expect from the Coen Brothers film. I still can't believe the Academy all but completely ignored this film.
4/5 Stars 

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit absolutely is Mission Impossible lite, but it still manages to be a service spy flick despite its lack of originality. The story is engaging and the cast headlined by Chris Pine as the titular character and Kenneth Branaugh (who also directs) hamming it up as the villainous Russian CEO/terrorist Ryan has to track down, give spirited performances. Ironically, where Jack Ryan stumbles is in the action scenes. Branaugh's eye for action he displayed on Thor is not duplicated here as he opts for cuts that are so quick you can't tell what's going on most of the time. Thankfully Jack Ryan is refreshingly low on action relying on the strength of the story and cast to carry the film. I probably won't remember Jack Ryan come the time summer starts, but for an early-year spy flick, this will do pig.
3.5/5 Stars

I, Frankenstein: I, Frankenstein is a completely absurd film. The demon/gargoyle war plotline is pretty muddled and every single actor delivers their lines with such stone-faced seriousness you would think this was a Jane Austen period piece. In spite of this, I, Frankenstein never gets boring. Writer/director Stuart Beattie know his way around an action sequence and the pacing is appropriately breakneck. There's something oddly commendable about a film that manages to get so many things wrong and remain mildly entertaining. Kudos to I, Frankenstein for defying the odds of what traditionally makes enjoyable cinema.
3/5 Stars

Her: Writer/director Spike Jonze deserves a lot of credit for taking a concept that could've been so pretentious and stupid and making it a truly beautiful film that captures the state of relationships and human attachment to technology in the present day with honesty and grace. The script is pretty consistently sharp with a lot of heart-wrenching monologues and moments of pure hilarity to break up the film's serious message. Jonze's vision is enhanced by brilliant performances from Joaquin Phoenix as the vulnerable, depressed recent divorcee Theodore and Scarlett Johansson, who manages to give an emotionally affective with just her voice as the operating system that Theodore falls in love with. The script from Jonze is strong, but it's performances of Phoenix and Johansson that really give Her its soul. The ending is overly sappy and the film does a drag a little bit at times, but for the most part Her is a highly intelligent reflection on modern romance that resonated with me long after the credits rolled.
4/5 Stars