Arrival

            Well, the year is almost over. Movie wise, 2016 was a let down. Mr. Remake and Mr. Childish Animation came over for dinner, but luckily left in time for the mature movies to happily come in. Finding Dory, Deadpool, and 10 Cloverfield Lane were all pretty good (Except Cloverfield’s stupid ending.) I saw The Jungle Book twice in theaters. Hacksaw Ridge was awesome. I didn’t have time to see Hell or High Water, but it’s on my movie list. I’ve heard Doctor Strange was good for a Marvel movie. I would’ve gone to see Fantastic Beasts if I wasn’t upset about it setting up another Rowling series. Moana was better than Frozen. Nocturnal Animals has an overall intriguing idea and premise. And speaking of Amy Adams! It is time to review my favorite movie of the year, Arrival.

            First off the movie starts out with an emotional punch to the gut. Louis (Amy Adams) is happy with her daughter and everything, until cancer kills her little girl off. It’s very well acted and seems like a short story in itself, and after I saw my mom tearing up from the scene, the movie has moved on to Louis teaching as a university linguist teacher. The rest of the movie is slow, suspenseful, and keeps sprinkling more conflicts and concepts to keep you oblivious to what’s coming next. Several scenes actually made me want to vocalize out loud how awesome they were. This director, Denis Villeneuve, knows what he is doing. He loves to drag out scenes so you can understand what is fully happening. Even the wide landscape shots give the viewers information on what is happening. The sound design is astounding. When the first aerial shot opens and the music lingers in with the exposition of the ship I shuddered. The music is creepy and ominous, just like the aliens. Called heptapods, these dark skinned aliens look like walking hands, literally the stuff of nightmares. These beings’ appearance do not help their cause when people start freaking out about twelve gigantic, supernatural ships hovering over the ground with tall, creepy, and hand like beasts inside that do not understand how to communicate with mankind. This is Louis’ job, to communicate to the heptapods and find out why they are on earth.

            Ian (Jeremy Renner) is the scientist that works with Louis. He is my second favorite character in this movie. He is super pro science, and very childish. When Louis and Ian first enter the research base in front of the ship there’s an emergency body bag that passes by them. Louis shows obvious concern because she’s a normal person, but Ian kept looking back to it like a kid that pissed his pants. Throughout the movie he is the silent and witty humor, with his charming childlike expressions and his fanatic scientific mind. The character is visibly shown through Jeremy Renner’s performance and it made his character almost as good as Louis, even though he wasn’t that important.

This is a beautiful and thought provoking movie, but there are some nit picks I have to mention. This film is not about the aliens. This film is about Louis. It is her experience of the aliens and the military that help her. The reason for the heptapods being there is answered, but kind of glanced over. This is because the movie also focuses on the reason for mankind’s unity over what the aliens wanted. Yes, I said it; the aliens’ reason for coming to earth is the third most important thing in this movie. That is my only problem with the movie. I understand why the director and writers wanted to go the direction they did, because it is an amazing story.  But don’t advertise the third biggest question on the poster and barely answer it.

In summary, this was the best movie I had seen in theaters, ever. I admit, I was crying in the end. The characters are well thought out and very well performed. The cinematography is beautiful. The overall moral is pretty good, and the ending is brilliant. It’s not a closed ending; the director leaves a window of thought and opportunity that the audience can guess what happens next. This film greatly receives 10/10 stars. I saw it twice in theaters and think it is one of the top 10 movies I have ever seen.

Rogue One

           Whelp, I saw Rogue One early. It was entertaining, but nothing special. I liked a lot of the characters. The acting was really decent. What killed this movie was the writing and fanfare. There were five writers for this movie, and I think all of them failed to reach the expectation this movie deserved.

            The Director, Gareth Edwards, tried his best. He had a lot of really cool shots. The action scenes were very well done, but I can’t take a war zone serious when everyone’s guns are going PEW! PEW! PEW! Stormtroopers drop like flies, literally. Twenty troopers are standing one second, and then dead on the floor the next. Gareth Edwards also tried to add his own creativity to the franchise, which makes sense because all of the other Star Wars directors have added little things, but Edwards’ additions don’t make any sense. One scene, there’s an army of stormtroopers with a tank. A tank! Not an AT-ST, but a clunky, wide, slow, and wasteful tank. It made no sense except for the scene. What’s worse is when the tank is destroyed an AT-ST comes in and does the tank’s damage to the rebels ten fold. Edwards added another type of Tie-Fighter, which makes no sense because there are already three different types. He also adds a bunch of useless aliens with boring home planets. Am I the only one who doesn’t like how every planet in this galaxy can support life?

            Felicity Jones is pretty good, she plays a strong role but not as important or effective as Ray or Luke. The guy character that is with her is pretty forgettable. Most supporting characters were way better than him. There’s a blind monk that is pretty fun, and his trusty big-gunned comrade is interesting as well. There’s a sarcastic robot, and the bad thing is that he was the most round character in the entire movie. A robot outperforming critically acclaimed actors is pretty upsetting.

            The writing was terrible. They wrote it like a playwright, not like a movie. If one single person was talking, even if they were an extra, not a single thing could interrupt them. The movie goes on and it’s like some lines were added in post as voice over and it does not fit at all. The blind monk gets a bag put over his head and he screams, “Are you kidding me! I’m blind!” Yeah it might have been funny if he said it on set with normal audio, but it’s blasted into your ears with a voice over feel.

            The last qualm I have is the fanfare. It’s all over the place. C3-PO is in this movie and that scene deserves the opposite of a ‘pat on the back.’ The two criminals that attack Luke in episode four, one of them gets their arm sliced off from Obi-Wan, bump into the main character on a completely different planet. This movie is supposed to take place a week or two before A New Hope, so why are all of those characters on these boring planets? Fanfare. That’s the only reason.

             What this movie did best, and I am praising this, is that they explained a lot of stuff that was iffy on A New Hope and The Force Awakens. There were several tie-ins with the death star and how it was built because it was actually the plot of the movie, and those tie-ins I really liked because they added something. I don’t want to explain them because they have a lot to do with the plot, but they were really well done. Darth Vader was in this movie, barely, but he’s in it. What a powerful guy he was too, he mopped the floor one scene and it was awesome. There is one scene where he’s force choking the main bad guy, because he’s a mopey wimp, and Darth Vader says a pun. I hated that line, but other than that Darth Vader was spectacular. I already referenced the action scenes being great. Several ‘turning points’ in the action were kind of dumb (look out for a hammer ship), but nothing too big to rant about.

            Over all, this movie was good. The only reason I would see it again was because I had front a row seat in the theater and had a bad view of the screen. 6.5/10 stars because they should have hired different writers. What is most notable about this movie is it makes A New Hope and Force Awakens that much better, and that’s great!

Hacksaw Ridge

            I am a huge fan of Mel Gibson’s Braveheart. I saw Hacksaw Ridge opening this weekend and I knew I had to see it. It was a big weekend for movies; a huge drought of let downs from the summer blockbusters led to a clearing of three big films in one weekend (Even more awesome movies after that with Arrival, Fantastic Beasts, Moana, and La La Land.) Doctor Strange is one of the Marvel movies and I have been oversaturated by Disney’s movie machine so I decided not to go see it. This review is only about Hacksaw Ridge. Warning, it’s a bloodbath with one of cinematographers’ favorite grandkids: Slow Mo scenes.

            Here is a quick summary about this film because I want to get into the review part. Hacksaw Ridge is a plateau in Japanese territory during the Battle of Okinawa and is necessary for the United States to invade Japan. Desmond Doss is a Seventh-day Adventist that does not want to use a firearm or kill the enemy in the middle of Hell on earth. Instead, he wants to be a combat medic and save his friends to prevent them from dying. Doss is pretty successful at this, even though everyone doubts what he can be without a weapon in a world of death.

            I am not putting this lightly when I say this movie is an anti-war gore fest. Death is the least of the soldiers’ problems when they are on Hacksaw Ridge. The people that survive the bullets, shells, fire, bayonets, smoke, and death are not in great shape. Japanese soldiers rampage against the American defenses by day, and rats and maggots eat the soldiers left behind by night. Only two or three main characters come out of the movie with all of their limbs and organs fully functional. This World War II movie is a combination of Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, and Full Metal Jacket, and good God does it work. Andrew Garfield’s character, Desmond Doss, is not mentally handicapped, but he is a little slow compared to the other people. One of my favorite character chemistry arcs in the film is Desmond Doss with Smitty Ryker (Luke Bracey). Ryker is first seen as a guy that likes to be the big alpha dog. He is mainly successful, and quickly judges Doss about being a waste of space on the battlefield. At the first night of their battle Ryker and Doss sit in a mortar crater together for shifts. This is my favorite scene: Doss and Ryker sitting in a hole talking about home and bonding. The acting is astounding and the lines are beautiful. Ryker confesses he is a jerk and that he was harsh to Doss back in America, and Doss tells him a personal tale of why he does not want to use a firearm. They bond overnight and realize that friendship is a powerful thing to have during war. The scene is complete banter, but it is heartfelt and realistic. I could go on about the action scenes, the silent filler in between, and the religion ideals being the icing on the cake, but I want to save most of the scenes for you to see for yourself.

            I have read several reviews about this film being stereotypical and having predictable events and bland characters. I do agree that it is a basic World War II movie where the main character will go into war thinking he will be a hero, and then only to be proven wrong with his first day in combat. It is that movie, but the story is unbelievable because these events really happened. Desmond Doss was a real war medic and received the Medal of Honor because of what he did, and this film proves it. Yes, the characters are a little textbook, but seeing most of them is till enjoyable. The main problem of this movie is the big name actors playing supporting roles. I liked Andrew Garfield’s portrayal; I thought it was a little weird and hillbilly until I actually saw pictures of the real Desmond Doss. Garfield has this cheesy smile throughout most of the movie and gives an uneducated English dialogue, but the pictures of the real Desmond Doss show that he is that person.

The actor that plays the Sergeant was not fit for that role. Vince Vaughn plays Sergeant Howell and seemed to be struggling. I might be reading too much into this, but when I saw Sergeant Howell I thought he was a man that tried to be something he could not. He showed guilt and sorrow when Doss was beaten senseless from the other privates because it was his fault. He felt sorry and was about to help Doss go home, but Doss denied selling out the men that beat him and continued his training. I would say Vince Vaughn was not struggling, but his character was. Sergeant Howell was given the duty to prepare a bunch of kids to be ready for war, and he sees a coward that does not want to touch a gun. He punishes the kid to make him realize the reality of the situation, and he goes too far. Again, I think that is maybe a stretch, but Mel Gibson has a ton of resources. If he wanted to have a real drill Sergeant (like in Full Metal Jacket) then he could get a real drill Sergeant. Another big name actor was Sam Worthington as Captain Glover. Yes, the guy from Clash of the Titans, Terminator Salvation, and Avatar. I have nothing against this guy, but if an actor disappears from big movies, sometimes for a good reason, and then shows up in a really good film years later, it can throw some viewers off guard. His performance was fine, not academy award winning, but critics have to realize that not every film is the holy grail of cinema. Some movies are really good and they do not need to have a depressed father, or drug addict, or a twist to throw you on your head. Movies need to be enjoyable, and I thought this was the best movie I have seen in theaters in a LONG TIME. This summer was a collection of let down blockbusters. I was about to give up on this year movie wise until I saw the list of baffling films coming out every week until January. It is insane, and this movie is the front of it. It may not be the best, Arrival had 100% on Rotten Tomatoes only three days before it came out, but that does not mean we should forget Hacksaw Ridge.

In summary, I thought this film was an experience. I was tensed up through most of the fight scenes because big characters were being shot down left and right. My favorite actors were the ones I had never seen before, and I hope to see them again in the future. Some shots were a little quirky. Dialogue during slo mo is infuriating, I cannot follow or take it seriously. Many scenes were also not necessary, but Mel Gibson made a fantastic film for a fantastic story. 8.5/10 stars because I know this film will be amongst Saving Private Ryan, Enemy at the Gates, Forrest Gump, Apocalypse Now, and Full Metal Jacket in a collection of war movies I can watch multiple times. If any book-to-movie readers/watchers are wondering, Hacksaw Ridge was better than Unbroken. Hands down, no questions asked (Mainly because I hated how Angelina Jolie directed it, the movie looked like a cartoon.) This movie is definitely in my top ten this year.