Tag Archives: Steven Spielberg

Movie Review ~ The Fabelmans

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The Facts:

Synopsis: Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, from age seven to eighteen, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a film director as he reaches adolescence. But he soon discovers a shattering secret about his dysfunctional family and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth.
Stars: Gabriel LaBelle, Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Judd Hirsch, Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord, Jeannie Berlin, Robin Bartlett, Julia Butters, Sam Rechner, Oakes Fegley, Chloe East
Director: Steven Spielberg
Rated: PG-13
Running Length: 151 minutes
TMMM Score: (7/10)
Review:  Let’s get this straight. To me, Steven Spielberg is the most outstanding director of all time. Stop right there. I don’t want you to get out your well-worn movie journals or pull up your bookmarked film history pages that point to other celebrated directors whose films helped shape cinema as we know it today. For this guy right here (I stopped typing and pointed to myself), Spielberg is just the #1; thank you, and goodnight. It’s not just the JAWS of it all (the best movie ever made, you’re welcome), but his career has taken him through many different genres and styles. His constant need to innovate and create has kept him at the forefront of film and made him a game-changer. We flock to see his movies in the theater because he makes them for that theatrical experience. He made the best film of last year, West Side Story, fulfilling his long-held desire to make a musical, and some argue it surpassed the Oscar-winning original.

It’s a shame West Side Story didn’t repeat that acclaim at the box office and with awards, but it was, to me, a culmination of his work up until that point. The cinematography, score, screenwriting, technical elements, and directing all came together into one cohesive unit to create that modern masterpiece. What could follow that? The answer is arriving in theaters in time for Thanksgiving, and it’s The Fabelmans, a sometimes loosely autobiographical and often strikingly accurate portrayal of Spielberg’s life growing up and his family’s influence, specifically his mother. There’s already a lot of churn that the film will earn Spielberg his third Best Director Oscar (his last was 1999’s Saving Private Ryan) and that it’s currently the one to beat for Best Picture. But…is it?

You’re talking to a hardcore Spielberg fan here. Someone that will fondly bring up 1989’s Always in the same conversation as 2002’s Minority Report and who thinks 1991’s Hook continues to be overlooked all these years later. So, take it from this fan when I tell you that as moving and laudable as The Fabelmans is, there’s something oddly formal about it that also kept me about ten paces away from it. Part of that emotional lengthening is wrapped up in the very plot of the film. Still, it goes beyond that to a more significant issue with the screenplay (co-written with Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner) and its structure which is episodic as the years go by yet strangely frozen in time.

Spielberg opens his movie with young Sammy Fabelman (Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord) having to be talked into a theater playing 1952’s The Greatest Show on Earth by his beleaguered parents. He’s at an age where theatrical movies are still intangible, he fears the big images about to tower before him. After, on the drive home, the wide-eyed boy has been changed for the better and sets out to recreate the film’s famous train crash with his Hanukkah gifts of toy train cars that form a large locomotive. That’s not enough; mother Mitzi (Michelle Williams, Venom: Let There Be Carnage) recognizes that. So, she borrows her husband Burt’s camera and lets Sammy film the crash so he can watch it repeatedly. And a filmmaker was born.

As Sammy grows up (eventually played for most of the film by Gabriel LaBelle, The Predator), he and his camera witness a tidal wave of change in the people and places around him. Family dynamics that went over his head as a child can now be replayed and reexamined frame by frame, driving a wedge between Sammy and his parents as a pair and individually. He trusts his mother to care for them but can’t reconcile a betrayal that goes unspoken, and he laments that his father (Paul Dano, The Batman) has blinders on for more than just what his children take an interest in. Joining a new suburban high school only intensifies his feeling of being an outsider, made more apparent when he’s targeted by bigots and begins dating an ultra-Christian girl that can’t keep her hands off him.

There’s a lot of movie to go around in The Fabelmans, so you can understand how audiences feel like they’ve walked away richly rewarded with various dynamic scenes and performances. And Spielberg’s eye for detail and knowledge of technique put the film on a completely different plane of existence. It’s beautiful to look at, and the production design should win the Oscar now and be done with it. Newcomer LaBelle is a true discovery as Sammy, taking us through complex emotional arcs without much set-up from Kushner or Spielberg’s script. No one is incredibly well served by some of the dialogue, which never sounds like anyone other than a Pulitzer Prize winner wrote it. There’s one scene between Sammy and his younger sister Reggie (Julia Butters, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood) that sounds like a conversation between two Central Park intellectuals on their way to a be-in. While it works better for Judd Hirsch’s (Ordinary People) hysterical cameo and some of Dano’s excellent work, Kusher’s phrasing doesn’t sound right coming out of teens/youngsters, and they occupy much of the latter half of the film.

The end of the finale credits for West Side Story had a simple message, “For Dad,” and it does not surprise The Fabelmans ends with a similar message to Spielberg’s mother. Williams is playing the cinematic realization of Spielberg’s mother, so a gentle touch is granted the character, even when confronted with behavior that may get a more dramatic hand if the story hadn’t been so personal. The extent of Mitzi’s close friendship with Burt’s co-worker Bennie (Seth Rogen, Sausage Party) is hinted at, but Spielberg stops short of clarifying or speculating too much. In many ways, that’s admirable. A son wants to honor his mother by telling her story but doesn’t want to create trouble in the telling. Williams is on board with this and gives Mitzi that inner glow that radiates into her castmates. It’s not the slam-dunk award-winning role I was hoping for, so her competition need not worry, but it’s yet another sign Williams will be one of our lasting talents.

I’ve sat with the film for a few weeks now and hoped I’d want to see it again immediately, but it hasn’t hit me yet. There’s not a Spielberg film out there I wouldn’t watch again (actually, sorry, Bridge of Spies is a pass), and I’m sure I’ll meet up with The Fabelmans again, and I hope next time I’ll come away feeling closer to them than I did the first time. For now, you go on ahead and see if you get along with them better than I did.

31 Days to Scare ~ Duel

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The Facts:

Synopsis: A business commuter is pursued and terrorized by the malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer.
Stars: Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Carey Loftin
Director: Steven Spielberg
Rated: PG
Running Length: 90 minutes
TMMM Score: (8/10)
Review:  With directing, as in any artistic medium, it often takes time to develop your craft and find your signature style. No amount of formal education can prepare you for the rigor of getting out there and doing it, working with a crew, and the logistics of the business of filmmaking. There are compromises to be made along the way in service to many people that sign on the dotted line, and how one navigates this process is key to their ongoing success.

Then there are those rare unicorns of the industry that are natural champions, who make it look easy from the moment they arrive on the scene. Maybe it’s because it was their pre-ordained destiny, or perhaps, they came along and filled a necessary gap at just the right time. Whatever the reason, they came out of the gate burning bright and blazing throughout their career. The peaks outweighed the valleys, and their eventual obit won’t speak of any setbacks but of the advances they made, contributions that will go on forever.

You must put a name like Steven Spielberg at the top of that list. Born in the late ’40s to a middle-class Jewish family in Cincinnati, OH, the stories of a 12-year-old Spielberg making his first film involving a train crash are legendary. (At least to movie nerds like me.)  Creating films into his teens and dreaming of making it in Hollywood, Spielberg eventually caught the attention of a Universal Studios vice-president, who gave him his first job directing for the television wing of the studio. Working with the likes of Joan Crawford on his first gig, Spielberg continued to impress with his exciting approach to using the camera to assist in telling the story.

This early work led to the TV movie that would change Spielberg’s career: Duel. Based on a short story from Richard Matheson (who adapted it for the 1971 film), it’s got the simplest of set-ups miraculously stretched to a nail-biting feature-length. A businessman (Dennis Weaver) is driving across the Mojave Desert and inexplicably attracts the ire of a tanker truck driven by an unseen individual. As he continues his trip, the businessman is stalked by this truck through the twisting mountain roads and dangerous terrain, seemingly actively trying to do more than just run him off the road. Whether the increasingly terrified man slows down or speeds up, the truck continues to stalk him until a showdown at the edge of a canyon gorge. 

Debuting on ABC on November 20, 1971, Duel scored so high in both the ratings and with critics that Spielberg was brought back to shoot more footage so the film could be released theatrically in the US and abroad. A new 90-minute Duel contained more scary scenes between Weaver and the terror truck and a few more character-establishing scenes for Weaver. You can tell what scenes were shot after the fact because these inserts almost signal a forced acceleration that doesn’t always pan out as the filmmakers wanted. That’s especially true in a poorly written scene with Weaver on the phone with his wife who awaits his return.

Those quibbles aside, when it’s just Weaver vs. the truck (so skillfully driven by Carey Loftin), it’s a breathless excursion that ratches up the tension with each new mile clocked on the odometer. Weaver is perfectly cast as a mostly bland everyman that starts to unravel with frenetic energy wondering why he’s being targeted. In the sublayer of Weaver’s performance, you get the impression his character may be a bit of a blowhard in his daily life, so the “why are you picking on me” vibe feels like divine retribution. Yet, the situation is so realistic it’s easy to put ourselves in his place.

The comparisons to Jaws are inevitable, and Spielberg used visual and aural elements of this finale in the conclusion of his 1975 summer blockbuster. You can almost draw a straight line from Duel’s man vs. machine showdown on the barren highway to the confrontation the three men have with the great white shark on the open ocean. That’s another reason shooting outside the studio was so crucial for Spielberg to fight for in both movies. While it can be humorous in Duel to see the same landmarks fly by repeatedly due to Spielberg and cinematographer Jack A. Marta having limited highway to work with, there’s an openness to the location shoot that gives the impression that our leading man is very much on his own. 

Telling its story from the moment the credits begin, Duel is a wonderful (and still menacing) film to look back on as an origin story for a director on the rise. Though he’d stick around TV for a few more years, he wouldn’t make his feature debut with the Goldie Hawn-led box office disappointment The Sugarland Express until 1974. Still, the good critical notices for that film and the strong reputation he’d built in television, especially in Duel, is why producers trusted him with Jaws. Without that, who knows where we’d be today and if the summer blockbuster would have ever existed?

Movie Review ~ E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial – 40th Anniversary IMAX Release

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The Facts:

Synopsis: A lonely ten-year-old boy summons the courage to help a gentle alien stranded on Earth return to his home planet.
Stars: Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore
Director: Steven Spielberg
Rated: P.G.
Running Length: 115 minutes
TMMM Score: (10/10)
Review: What more is there to say about Steven Spielberg’s 1982’s E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial that hasn’t already been covered in countless reviews since its release 40 years ago? Deservedly firmly ensconced on numerous “All-Time Best” lists, the four-time Oscar-winning film (three technical awards and one for John Williams’s unforgettable score) has seen several re-releases throughout the past four decades. A controversial “special edition” was released to theaters for the 20th Anniversary with additional scenes and digitally altered/enhanced effects to please the director more than anyone. While it wasn’t the worst director tinkering post-release until that point (George Lucas held that distinction), Spielberg realized his error quickly, and this edition where walkie-talkies replaced guns is now considered out of circulation.

For the 40th Anniversary, a Spielberg-approved IMAX release of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial in its original version is out, and I wouldn’t have missed the opportunity to see this Best Picture nominated treasure in the theaters again. I try to make my rounds with Spielberg’s canon every five years, and it was the perfect time to revisit his sensitive exploration of a relationship between a suburban California boy and a friendly alien marooned nearby. I’ve always had a strong emotional pull toward the film because it’s one of the first movies I remember seeing in a theater and then owning on VHS. It’s also a movie that brings back vivid memories of connecting the sentimental feelings a character is experiencing with how I was receiving them. As I grew older, the poignancy of the movie only intensified.

Perhaps it’s the gorgeous IMAX presentation that brings stunning new clarity to Allen Daviau’s cinematography and that glorious Williams music, but I found this showing of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial to be overwhelmingly affective (and, I suppose, effective). It’s stirring the way screenwriter Melissa Mathison highlights separation immediately after E.T. is left behind by his alien family as they flee from government agents tracking their visit. By chance, he wanders into Elliott’s garden shed in a nearby suburban development, where he’s discovered but treated with kindness by the boy (Henry Thomas, Doctor Sleep), that understands the need to be comforted. Still reeling from the recent separation of his parents, the youngster is too old to play with his younger sister but too young to fit in with the friends his older brother hangs out with. The mismatched pair find each other by fate but perhaps it was meant to be. Their symbiotic relationship goes more profound, and I appreciate their invisible link more with each viewing.

Instead of Mathison and Spielberg wasting time on fish-out-of-water antics, the focus remains singularly on Elliott. He takes it upon himself to help E.T. back to his family and make him whole again with the help of his brother Michael (Robert McNaughton) and sister Gertie (Drew Barrymore, Blended). Aside from a brief diversion to a school-day biology class that takes a stand against frog dissection, the movie never leaves the small world that Elliott knows. It also rarely shows the faces of any adult other than his mother, Mary (Dee Wallace, The Frighteners), keeping the movie’s perspective at a child’s level. When you’re a kid watching the movie, you don’t notice these subtle ways the filmmakers have engineered the film to speak to children by, in a way, taking a knee and looking them in the eye.

As an adult critic reviewing E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, I can only give this the highest of marks. The movie is truly a gift, and that it has held up for forty years with its lovely emotions intact, without ever feeling sappy or sentimental, is a testament to the care Spielberg and co. made it. The performances, especially the kids, mostly Barrymore, and unequivocally Thomas, are outstanding, and knowing that the Academy could have given out a special Oscar to Thomas for his work and didn’t is a real shame. Had this been released today, the kind of realistically heart-tugging acting Thomas is doing would have almost certainly landed him in the Best Actor conversation.

Reviewing this as a long-time fan, I urge you to make the time to see E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial in IMAX and bring your family and friends as well. It’s a tough movie for kids, I’m not going to lie, and I remember being emotionally distraught when I saw it originally. However, my parents used it as a way to talk to me about my feelings and encouraged me not to be afraid to show them. Waiting “until your kids are ready” is the choice of every parent, but this is one exceptional film your children will remember forever. After listening to and understanding their point of view, talking about it with them is imperative to open dialogue moving forward.

The Silver Bullet ~ JAWS (1975) – IMAX Re-Release

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The Trailer:

Synopsis: When a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it’s up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.

Release Date:  June 20, 1975 (original) / September 2, 2022 (Re-Release)

Thoughts: Even a casual visitor to this site would get a small inclination that Steven Spielberg’s boffo blockbuster JAWS from 1975 played a big part in shaping my young movie-going mind.  My idea of the perfect film, it’s a bona fide classic that I don’t need to defend because time has proven it was built to last.  I watch it at least once a year at home and make sure to catch it on the big screen any time it surfaces.  I knew this was arriving on IMAX, along with E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, and knowing that Spielberg had a hand in making it happen gives me even more confidence this will be a fantastic presentation of an already unforgettable thrill ride.  As a bonus, it’s also showing up in a separate RealD 3D conversion, though I can’t confirm if that will also be an IMAX experience.  Arriving right on time for the Memorial Day crowds, the men facing the gargantuan shark might need a bigger boat but audiences attending JAWS in IMAX shouldn’t need a bigger screen.  This trailer is well-edited and, aside from some chintzy font that makes it feel like a low-budget effort, will surely drum up some excitement from crowds watching it before current (like Nope) and upcoming releases.

Movie Review ~ West Side Story (2021)

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The Facts:

Synopsis: An adaptation of the 1957 Oscar-winning musical explores forbidden love and the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds.

Stars: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Rita Moreno, Ariana DeBose, David Álvarez, Josh Andrés Rivera, Corey Stoll, Brian d’Arcy James, Mike Faist, Ana Isabelle, Jamila Velazquez, Paloma Garcia Lee, Maddie Ziegler, Talia Ryder, Ben Cook, Kevin Csolak, Annelise Cepero, Kyle Allen, Kyle Coffman, Kellie Drobnick, Brittany Pollack, Yurel Echezarreta, Curtiss Cook, Jamie Harris

Director: Steven Spielberg

Rated: PG-13

Running Length: 156 minutes

Trailer Review: Here

TMMM Score: (10/10)

Review: Much like movie fans are oft-asked what their favorite movie is, musical theater aficionados get put in the difficult position of having to select their most beloved work from the stage and let me tell you…it does get hard to choose at times.  Any number of landmark pieces can be put into the top slots but in all fairness to the modern greats like Hamilton, RENT, HAiR, and yes, even London invasions like The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables, there’s nothing quite like what I feel are the crown jewels: 1959’s Gypsy and 1957’s West Side Story.  It’s no coincidence that both share several of the same creative minds, both were directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins and had lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Arthur Laurents.  It’s the music that sets them apart, though, and while Jule Styne’s tunes for Gypsy have stood the test of time, it’s impossible to imagine a world without the gorgeous West Side Story compositions from Leonard Bernstein.

The 1961 film version of West Side Story was a boffo hit, nominated for a mother-lovin’ load of Oscars (11) and winning 10, including Best Picture.  While it hasn’t aged the best in certain areas (some of the Puerto Rican characters were played by white actors in brown face), much of the movie remains a high-water mark in movie musical history for many film and musical fans alike.  Though it was itself a retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, set in the streets of what was then considered a gritty take on New York, sequences and images from the movie have been lifted in whole or in part for other projects over the years.  Revivals have even borrowed some elements but from what everyone reports, the magic of that original production (which actually lost the Best Musical Tony Award to The Music Man, another finely crafted work) has never been matched. 

Leave it to what many consider the best director working today to give modern audiences, really a new generation, their own version of West Side Story that isn’t a remake and isn’t a revisionist take on what has come before.  Oscar-winner Steven Spielberg has long wanted to direct a musical and the dream is fulfilled for him and us with this absolutely glorious re-interpretation of West Side Story that breathes new life into a show that’s well over 60 years old.  With a new script from Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tony Kushner (Lincoln) that fleshes out characters that once were barely one dimensional, the film is deeper, more dangerous, and therefore more courageous in its risks and greater in its ultimate reward for the viewer.

I must admit I was more than a little dubious when I heard Spielberg and Kushner were taking this on as a project, for a few reasons.  Why, of all the films to remake, would Spielberg (JAWS) want to go down this route and take Kushner along for the ride?  I’m to the point where I think the best case for a remake is only where the original was left lacking in major areas and therefore a fresh set of eyes/ears/hands could function as a way to fix it.  Admittedly the ’61 film lived in a kind of patina of my memory and I didn’t want anyone (even one of my favorite directors) to mess around with it. So…perhaps I was being a bit precious with it. Then again, it’s West Side freaking Story!

Why did I ever doubt that Spielberg had this type of movie in him?  From the moment (the very moment) the movie begins, with that shiver-inducing whistle, I felt something release inside me and I knew instantly this West Side Story was something special.  Kushner’s script doesn’t just improve upon the original screenplay, it enhances it to the point where it could function wonderfully independent of the songs that have had their Bernstein orchestrations masterfully retained.  Yet musically it remains tied intrinsically as a star-crossed tale of two sweethearts from opposite sides that meet by chance, fall in love by fate, and are united by the power of those that oppose their union.

In the Upper West Side of New York (given even more clever specificity by Spielberg, Kushner, and production designer Adam Stockhausen, The Grand Budapest Hotel), the Jets and the Sharks are gangs of hothead teenagers in a constant battle for ownership of their neighborhood.  The white American Jets don’t like the Puerto Ricans Sharks moving in with their families and taking over the shops that once belonged to theirs.  Systemic racism, likely passed down by their parents and reinforced by daily life, have developed the boys from both sides into hard-nosed youths forced to take on problems that far exceed their age.  According to Lieutenant Schrank (Corey Stoll, First Man), most of them will end up dead or in prison…but if this is the neighborhood where they will spend their days, both gangs want to be in control.

Reformed Jet Tony (Ansel Elgort, The Fault in Our Stars) has seen the worst of himself and vowed not to follow that path. Working for Valentina (Rita Moreno, Rio 2, an Oscar-winner for the first movie now playing a role created by Kushner, replacing the former one known as Doc), his focus is to get good, make right, and leave his former life behind.  Easier said that done.  When he’s convinced to join his friend and current Jet leader Riff (Mike Faist) at a mixer with a promised heavy Shark presence, he can’t know he’s about to meet a force that will change his life in unexpected ways. 

Maria (Rachel Zegler, making one of the more impressive debuts in memory) is a recent arrival to America, living with her brother Bernardo (David Álvarez) and his girlfriend Anita (Ariana DeBose, the role for which Moreno won her Oscar), a seamstress.  She’s tagging along to the dance with her date, Chino (Josh Andrés Rivera), but locks eyes with Tony in one of the musical’s more famous moments and what Spielberg turns into a real stunner.  That electricity the two feel seems to crackle right off the screen, making it easier for us to understand what’s happening for the soon-to-be-couple.  Of course, a boy from the Jets loving a girl from the Sharks is not acceptable and the consequences for such a choice extend far beyond the simple street brawls the teens have been used to.

Those that know the show won’t have to worry about their songs being messed around with too much.  Only several have been altered in any major way and I think the effect is more positive than blasphemous.  I won’t spoil it for you but one of the most famous numbers in the show, always a huge dance performance, has been given to a totally different character with their own agenda and it works so well because Kushner and Spielberg have done their work setting it up before we get there.  America, Gee, Officer Krupke, I Feel Pretty, etc, all are performed beautifully by a cast that vibrates with energy and freedom of spirit, and it doesn’t hurt they are easy on the eyes as well. 

Having seen the film often and even taken in the controversial Broadway revival back in 2020 (which, side note, I thought was incredible and should have re-opened in NYC so more people could have experienced its risk-taking changes), I was still an emotional wreck not just at the end but throughout the film.  Even knowing what will transpire I remained on the edge of my seat at all times, and I can’t remember the last time that happened while watching West Side Story.  What Spielberg and this extraordinary company of actors, musicians, and technicians have done is one for the record books.  I’m excited to see this one again with a larger audience to hear how it goes over and I have a feeling it could be a solid winner when awards are handed out – possibly even snagging the most Oscar nominations of the year.  How wonderful would it be for Moreno and the film to again take Best Picture.  And you know what?  They’d both deserve it.

The Silver Bullet ~ West Side Story (2021) 

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Directed by Academy Award® winner Steven Spielberg, from a screenplay by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award® winner Tony Kushner,
“West Side Story” tells the classic tale of fierce rivalries and young love in 1957 New York City.

Synopsis: An adaptation of the 1957 musical, West Side Story explores forbidden love and the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. 

Release Date:  December 10, 2021 

Thoughts: While Oscar night was abuzz with much anticipation over who would win, when the news leaked the teaser trailer for Steven Spielberg’s much-anticipated remake of the 10-time Oscar-winning musical West Side Story would premiere sometime during the ceremony, movie fans and Broadway nerds alike were dancing on their respective fire escapes. Delayed a full year due to the pandemic and the director’s desire for audiences to experience the film in a theater, up until our first look the jury was still out as to how much the world needed a remake of what many considered a treasured classic. True, looking back at the 1962 film there were some odds and ends that don’t sit quite right when viewed through a lens of racially sensitive casting and a number of the leading actors were dubbed when they began to sing. Still, it’s hard to argue that the legendary dances and indelible images were burnt into many cinema-lovers memories.
While a radically revisionist Broadway revival that barely got a chance to open before the health crisis shuttered theaters is likely to return sometime in 2021 (I was lucky enough to see it and it was goosebump-stunning excellent), Spielberg’s version appears to keep to the original and I think that’s wise. With just a little tease of singing (from Rita Moreno, an Oscar-winner for playing Anita in the original film, an executive producer of this version and appearing in a newly created role by screenwriter Tony Kushner), it’s a mostly visual preview and it achieves exactly what it should in the short span of a preview. If anything, I’m fairly certain it was able to create the kind of excitement that shows audiences who loved the movie that this isn’t straying far while at the same time hinting at a more visceral take on the musical update of Romeo and Juliet. I know I’m more comfortable with it all after seeing this…are you?

The Silver Bullet ~ The Post

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Synopsis: A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country’s first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented battle between journalist and government. Inspired by true events.

Release Date: December 22, 2017 (limited) January 12, 2018 (wide)

Thoughts: At the Oscars last year, buzz began to build around a rumored collaboration between Hollywood’s most favorite people. Director Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins), & Tom Hanks (Saving Mr. Banks) would team up to tell the story of the Pentagon Papers.  Over the next weeks and months, we would get a tidbit here and there but The Post has flown quietly under the radar.  Until now.  I’m sure a number of Oscar hopefuls woke up this morning to see the new trailer for The Post and felt their hearts sink a little bit because it looks like this obvious Oscar bait is going to snag quite a lot of attention.  With an honest-to-goodness all-star cast of A-Listers and well-respected character actors in supporting roles, this looks like a slam-dunk.  If Spielberg can keep this one trucking along (please let it come in under 2.25 hours!) there’s a chance The Post will be headline news during Award Season.

Movie Review ~ The BFG

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The Facts:

Synopsis: A girl named Sophie encounters the Big Friendly Giant who, despite his intimidating appearance, turns out to be a kindhearted soul who is considered an outcast by the other giants because, unlike them, he refuses to eat children.

Stars: Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill, Penelope Wilton, Jemaine Clement, Rebecca Hall, Rafe Spall, Bill Hader

Director: Steven Spielberg

Rated: PG

Running Length: 117 minutes

Trailer Review: Here

TMMM Score: (7/10)

Review: There’s something about a Steven Spielberg film that makes it instantly recognizable. I feel I could watch a film of his with or without a blindfold and know right away that the director of Jaws, E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark, or Close Encounters of the Third Kind was the captain of the cinematic ship. Lately, Spielberg has dug into more dramatic territory with the historical epics of War Horse, Lincoln, and Bridge of Spies with many of the muscles he used for his early flights of fancy going unstretched.

Long interested in bringing Roald Dahl’s 1982 book The BFG to the screen, Spielberg finally gathered the pieces together and I think that’s owed in no small part to the director finding a new leading man muse. After teaming with stage actor Mark Rylance on Bridge of Spies (which brought Rylance an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, surprisingly beating out odds-on favorite Sly Stallone in Creed), Spielberg has caught Rylance fever, casting the actor in The BFG and (as of now) his next two pictures.

In the not too distant past, a lonely orphan girl goes on the adventure of a lifetime one night when she’s plucked out of her bed by The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) and brought to his home in Giant Country. Not really a prisoner but not quite allowed to leave, the headstrong Sophie clashes at first with her towering friend. As she comes to know him better she recognizes the loneliness of this outsider as reminiscent of her own life and sets about to help him out from under the thumb of nearby giant bullies. Pretty soon there’s a trip to Buckingham Palace and a finale involving the Royal National Guard, with Sophie and The BFG bonding over dreams, sadness, and wishes for the future.

All of this is right up Spielberg’s alley and reteaming with the late Melissa Mathison on her final script, Dahl’s world is recreated from the ground up in a faithful adaptation. While other Dahl works like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Witches have had memorable their trips to the big screen, The BFG feels the most like it sprung from Dahl’s brain fully-formed. And that’s where there’s some trouble.

Dahl’s books are lovingly bonkers escapades with numerous tangential diversions along the way, almost feeling like curated episodes than one streamlined work. The BFG has several of these that don’t quite land the way I think Spielberg or Mathison (or Dahl for that matter) intended. Each moment of the film is beautifully shot by Janusz Kaminski (The Judge), gorgeously scored by John Williams (Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens) and skillfully designed by Rick Carter (Jurassic Park)  but the middle of the film seriously drags and it winds up a solid 20 minutes too long. Though the trip to meet the Queen (Penelope Wilton, The French Lieutenant’s Woman) is a nice lark, it goes on for an eternity as Sophie and The BFG have a spot of tea with Her Royal Highness before an extended sequence of fart jokes.

The whole thing is perhaps too sophisticated for its target audience and likely should be marketed more to adults than young children who will tire quickly of the talky nature of the piece. When Spielberg does give us something substantive, such as a knockout sequence where Sophie and The BFG catch firefly-like dreams, it can feel too heavy-handed and repetitive.

I’m not sure if any other actors were considered for the titular role but it’s hard to imagine anyone playing it quite like Rylance has. While the performance may be motion-captured, Rylance brings a special magic to the part, uniting the actor with technology to fairly stunning results. Many have felt that motion-capture performances should be recognized by the Oscars and you can be sure Rylance’s work here will be cited as an example of why.

Newcomer Ruby Barnhill is a real find, believably navigating a range of emotions that suggests a promising career as she matures. Wilton is a hoot as the Queen while Jemaine Clement (Men in Black 3) voices The BFG’s tormentor with a nice mixture of weirdness and humor. I’m not quite sure what Rebecca Hall (Closed Circuit) and Rafe Spall (Prometheus) are doing here, with their characters feeling exceedingly extraneous to the proceedings. Hall and Spall (hey, that rhymes) are pleasant actors but they seem to know they’re little more than human-sized props.

Any chance for Spielberg to make us feel like a kid again is a worthy experience in my book. While not on par with the best of the director’s works from the past, The BFG is a reminder of how good a storyteller he is when working with material that’s personal for him. I just wish he hadn’t been quite so precious with Dahl’s source material, I think even Dahl would say there’s opportunity to trim it down without losing any heart.

The Silver Bullet ~ The BFG

by Silver Bullet - Trailer Park • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Synopsis: The imaginative story of a young girl and the Giant who introduces her to the wonders and perils of Giant Country.

Release Date:  July 1, 2016

Thoughts: The works of Roald Dahl have found their way to the screen over the years, from a 70s take on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (and Tim Burton’s unwise remake thirty years later) to a splendid retelling of The Witches. Dahl even wrote the screenplay to You Only Live Twice, one of James Bond flicks that took major flights of fancy.  Now comes The BFG, Dahl’s celebrated tale of an orphan girl and the Giant she befriends.  The Disney production reunites E.T.’s director (Steven Spielberg, JAWS) and writer (the late Melissa Mathison) so you know it will have its heart in the right place. This nice teaser trailer creates some interest…but I’ll be interested to see the blending of live-action and CGI that will bring Dahl’s novel to life.

Movie Review ~ Jurassic World

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The Facts:

Synopsis: Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nublar now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, as originally envisioned by John Hammond. After 10 years of operation and visitor rates declining, in order to fulfill a corporate mandate, a new attraction is created to re-spark visitor’s interest, which backfires horribly.

Stars: Bryce Dallas Howard, Judy Greer, Chris Pratt, Ty Simpkins, Jake Johnson, Nick Robinson, Irrfan Khan, Vincent D’Onofrio, BD Wong, Omar Sy, Katie McGrath, Lauren Lapkus, Andy Buckley

Director: Colin Trevorrow

Rated: PG-13

Running Length: 124 minutes

Trailer Review: Here

TMMM Score: (8.5/10)

Review: The original tagline for Jurassic Park was “An adventure 65 million years in the making” and I can summarize my thoughts on Jurassic World with something quite similar: An adventure 65 million and 22 years in the making. After wading through two lesser-than sequels that were equal parts boring and silly, audiences finally are getting the sequel we’ve deserved for the last two decades. It’s not as ground breaking or awe-inspiring as the first film but it comes pretty darn close by going back to where it all started and creating a rarity in filmmaking these days…excitement.

Largely ignoring the events that transpired in The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III, Jurassic World feels like the direct sequel to Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film and mores the better because of it. Now the film is free from having to explain away “Site B” and the lame San Diego-set finale of the first sequel. From its opening title shot of hatching eggs leading into a clever nod to an iconic image from the original, the movie earns its stripes by introducing us to actual characters this time around, rather than walking meals on wheels destined to become dino chew toys.

Brothers Gray (Ty Simpkins, Insidious) and Zach (Nick Robinson) are leaving their wintery Wisconsin homestead for the warm weather and excitement of the Jurassic World theme park. Gray is a big dinosaur buff but it helps that their aunt Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) is head of operations at the dino-themed world of wonder. There’s some thin subplot with the boys and their bickering parents but the film largely forgets about it and so should you.

Claire doesn’t have much time to spend with them because she’s in the midst of securing sponsors for the park’s newest attraction, a genetic hybrid dinosaur cooked up in the lab (governed by B.D. Wong, the only returning character that isn’t from the prehistoric era) as a way to renew interest in the park. You see, the public is bored with dinosaurs now that they are so easily accessible so the park has to reinvent itself every few years to stay financially stable. There’s a heavy amount of product placement in the film but unlike other summer blockbusters the products featured here are there for a purpose, showcasing the rampant consumerism and sponsorship in marketing today.

Fears about the safety of the containment facility of the new species means that Claire has to call on rugged Owen for assistance. Played by Chris Pratt, Owen is a retired army man that has a bond with the four raptors he’s been training and doesn’t have time or interest in the financial stakes of the park. When the clever dinosaur manages to escape (in the first of several gruesome and gruesomely thrilling sequences), Owen and Claire work together to take down the beast on the loose before she makes it to the main section of the park where 20,000 tourists are enjoying fun in the sun.

Admittedly, the media hype surrounding the film has spoiled more than a few of the surprises the theme park has cooked up in the past two decades. From a gigantic water-based dinosaur to the pterodactyls housed in a mountain aviary, there isn’t much the film hasn’t outright shown or hinted at in the ads leading up to the release. But fear not, more than a little of the fun of the film is seeing how it all comes together…and don’t forget this is the island where the original took place so keep your eyes out for well-placed mementos of the past. The finale may borrow a bit from 2014’s Godzilla but I found it to be an adrenaline-fueled reward for those of us that have waited so long for the sequel.

If I’m going to knock the film for anything it’s the violence. Yeah yeah yeah, it’s a PG-13 movie and it’s not as gory as it could have been but it’s simply too frightening to take young children too. Many an unlucky soul is eaten and they don’t always go quietly so I’m urging parents to think twice before bringing their children along with them. The violence isn’t just to humans either and I was a little amazed at how visceral a reaction I had in several dino on dino battles.

I had heard some internet buzz that the CGI was poor in Jurassic World but that couldn’t be further from the truth. There’s some top-notch creations here and the effects team mixes computer animation and animatronic models with skill, once again blurring the lines between fantasy and reality. From a baby triceratops giving a ride to young children to the fearsome size of the genetically created Indominous Rex there are moments in Jurassic World where I was transported back in time to the first screening of Jurassic Park.

While I doubt any cast assembled could top the original, director Colin Trevorrow has cast the film with some unexpected choices. Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy) is a nice, meaty slick of bo-hunk that comes across better in the finished film than he did in a frightfully bad clip released a few months back. I’ve always found Howard to be a bargain basement Jessica Chastain and it’s true her blunt ginger bob is the most severe thing about her, but she too makes for a good female protagonist even if she’s forced to do it in a cream ankle-length sheath dress and high heels. Claims that the film has a sexist tone aren’t totally unfounded, but it feels like it comes from an old-school battle of the sexes place rather than a misogynistic one (helps that the screenwriters are husband and wife).

Making a huge leap from his first film (Safety Not Guaranteed), sophomore director Trevorrow seemed like a random choice when it was announced he was sitting in the director’s chair but credit producer Steven Spielberg (JAWS) with knowing talent when he sees it. Trevorrow keeps things tight and exciting from beginning to end, never letting the audience get ahead of the film and treating them to a bundle of scares and adventure along the way.

I’d waited over a decade for another Jurassic Park movie and wasn’t the least bit disappointed in Jurassic World. It not only honored the film that started it all but made a comfortable place for itself on the shelf next to Spielberg’s history-making effort.