Movies, Film, and Chili

Fullmetal Alchemist  is the live action rendition of the anime by the same name. Two young brothers search for the Philosopher's Stone in an attempt to correct a fatal mistake they made as children. Director Fumihiko Sori  did a good film back in 2002 called Pinpon. He even did the visual effects for Titanic. This film has really poor direction and visual effects which makes me believe that it was not he who made those other two movies anywhere near good. There are shots that could have been done better if the angles were appropriate. Those sort of details aren't noticeable though for the average movie-going audience. Ryusuke Yamada  plays the main character, Edward. He overacts like how someone would in an anime. It doesn't work in a live action and he was the biggest disappointment in the film. He does not live up to the anime character and tarnishes peoples opinions on the anime if they watch this film first. I do not recommend you do that. Watch the show first.

Fear what's inside.  Annihilation  is a film about an ex-military biologist who signs up to explore a phenomenon near a coast. Alex Garland  does some wonderful things with this film. Most of the shots are great and vibrant when inside the phenomenon. There are a few questionable shots like when the characters and moving through the forested area but at the corner of the screen so you get a wide shot of a beautiful landscape. The writing of each character while good, does have the feeling of just getting to know the character so they can get killed off. I'm so glad they gave Garland the screenplay for the Halo adaptation. Natalie Portman plays Lena and gives a class on how to give a variety of emotions throughout the film. Anger, sadness, depression, lostness. She is a completely deep character and it'd be hard to cast someone else as this role. Without her, the film would have fallen apart. I can't go into too much detail as that would spoil the ending. The oth

Die Hard with a Vengeance is the third installment of the Die Hard franchise and my second favorite Die Hard movie. The film is about Hans Gruber's brother, Simon, who comes back to settle the score with John McClane and likewise score with the national reserve. John McTiernan  the original director of the first Die Hard is back to continue the storyline of what happens with the unlucky but cunning John McClane. McTiernan is a legendary action director, something to which this generation is really missing. He has a new film announced and anyone who's a fan of Die Hard should be excited for whatever it might be. Between Predator, The Hunt for Red October, Last Action Hero, and the Die Hard franchise there's little evidence the next movie will flop. Bruce Willis does what worked in the first one again. He makes his character interesting, easily understood and allows us to empathize with his problems. Especially with the racial tensions at the time, people could really

Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters  is about a future where humans have left earth because of Godzilla. They return years later and because of time dilation, Earth has developed more dangerous monsters that dominate the planet. There are two directors of this anime film. One of which is a man named Hirouki Seshita , where you're probably wondering why he's important. He did the cutscenes for one of my favorite games of all time Final Fantasy X. He also did Final Fantasy VII and I imagine more people like that one but not myself. Cloud is a bit too melodramatic for my tastes. Th e other director is  Kôbun Shizuno . He worked on the Detective Conan movies which are pretty popular in Japan but not so much here in the States. The direction these two use to use the script to flow the animation is hit or miss in the beginning. I'm mostly just waiting for the diplomacy to get over with and Godzilla to show up. Then again that's pretty much any Godzilla movie. One of the

Bright is a film about a cop who is forced to work with the diversity hire Orc in a world where magic and high fantasy races all live together in disharmony. David Ayer does a decent job directing this film. There really isn't any problem with angles or choices in direction but with the writing itself. There are some memorable shots and then there are the opening scenes where it shows you the history of the world through oddly cartoonish graffiti. One thing that was really off-putting was the flow of the film. Oh and the elves...they were weird. Will Smith plays a disgruntled and abusive-towards-farries cop who treats the orc population like the way society typically show cops treating African-Americans. He even says the mantra of "black lives don't matter" when referring to farries. It's an odd choice and lands in the opposite intention than let's say Black Panther did. I like Joel Edgerton , that being said his Orc game is kind of lacking from the du

Constantine is about a supernatural detective who helps a policewoman with the details of her sister's death. The film is directed by Francis Lawrence  who has a new movie coming out called Red Sparrow that I'm excited about viewing. Constantine has great visuals and good CGI for the time. He has some great shots and gets some great moments with everything that this needs to have. This was a real challenge and John Constantine is one of my favorite characters in the DC universe. It's easy to name of Keanu Reeves movies but people tend to forget this one. Maybe it was just too weird at the time for the regular movie going audience to go see. Now, with movies like Guardians of the Galaxy with talking raccoons, this movie seems a bit tamer. Keanu is Keanu in this film. He doesn't really have the characteristics of Constantine but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Rachel Weisz , the girl from The Mummy, is in this and plays both Angela and Isabel Dodson. Her

Spider-Man: Homecoming is the homecoming of one of Marvel's favorite superheroes: Spider-Man. This time Falcon is after Spidey and Happy is not...happy about it. One of the reason's I'm writing this review is because of John Francis Daley  who you might recognize from Bones as Lance. He's got a new movie coming out this Friday called Game Night. Spider-Man: Homecoming had wonderful writing, there wasn't a dull moment and the flow of the movie went from scene to scene. I loved the dialogue too as a calling card of Spider-Man it's only expected that he has awesome lines. I saw a Jon Watts film before I saw this called Clown. It was creepy and well directed for a nearly straight to DVD release. I actually saw it in the theater because I was working in one at the time. Marvel is great about taking young almost no-name directors and giving them a chance at the big times. Or maybe the producers do so much of the work you don't know that the director doesn

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb  is a satire about the cold war, nuclear holocaust, and a war room full of people trying to stop it. Stanley Kubrick is a master at getting out the best of his actors and camera movements. Sure the movie has dated effects but Kubrick keeps the focus on the actors. Where he positions his actors in each shot and how he chooses to move the camera with the actors is clear that influenced great directors of today like David Fincher. There's this scene with Ripper and Mandrake where the first half of the scene has the conversation only at Ripper's back. Then once we see his face we get to see how much anger and passion he has towards dropping this bomb. Saving his acting and expression until he starts he speech is another example of why Kubrick is one of the best. He gives importance to Buck when he hasn't even been introduced yet by having his voice shout from a different room. Having someone else answer hi

Black Panther is another comic book movie although this time with an almost all-black cast and a message about isolationism. Ryan Coogler directs this film and does a wonderful job portraying a fictional afro-futurism. There are flaws with the CGI which isn't something I expected from a Marvel movie. There are some long takes and the dialogue is good. Some of the accents could have been directed better. Chadwick Boseman plays the Black Panther who is coming into his own as the ruler of a kingdom. His acting doesn't have any problems but there's just a hard feeling of realism to his performance. It's almost goofy at times. There were people laughing in the theater at scenes that I wasn't sure was meant to be funny. Maybe it's an inside joke. His interactions with his mother seem off but his relationship with his sister and girlfriend seem spot on. Michael B. Jordan  plays the antagonist Killmonger who holds a grudge against Black Panther's father for

Drive is about a stuntman and mechanic who also does a side job where he a getaway driver. Things get heated when he gets involved with the mob by helping his neighbor. The film is directed by Nicolas Winding Refn . He's worked with Gosling before when he did Only God Forgives a mediocre film but regardless very well directed. Refn directs one of the best performances from Gosling and Mulligan. This film also has one of the best car chases I've ever seen as well as the introduction of the main character. Everything has a place in a film like this, even a shot of the back of Gosling's jacket shifting. Ryan Gosling plays the Driver. He has one of the best examples of minimalist dialogue with only speaking 116 lines. He has intensity and emotion in his expressions and the delivery of his lines. There's a scene especially when he talks with his neighbor's kid and asks him how he knows who the bad guys are. It's great. Look deeper and you'll find gems. O

Ex Machina is about an inventor who has cracked the Turing test and needs someone else to validate his work and also so he can show off and dance with his fembots. Alex Garland  wrote and directed this film. He's part of the reason I'm reviewing this film. Part because the film is great and part because he's got a new film coming out called Annihilation. Considering this is his first film to ever direct he did phenomenal compared to other's firsts. Cue Emenim's phenomenal song. Before Ex Machina, he wrote 28 Days Later another solid movie and Sunshine which wasn't. Alicia Vikander  plays the main synthetic intelligence who believes that if she fails the Turing test that she will be decommissioned like previous failed attempts by the antagonist. I totally forgot that she wasn't an artificial person and was actually an actress. She's also got an upcoming movie called Tomb Raider coming out soon. Though you might recognize her as the girl from Jason B

Call Me By Your Name  is about a young Italian boy who falls in love with his father's research assistant who is also Jewish. Directorially the film has a few flaws, camera angles, positioning, lighting. This makes me worried about Luca Guadagnino doing the remake of Suspiria. There are dialogue direction problems that are textbook beginner problems, not that anyone will come out and criticizes this film, for fear of being called ignorant. He takes advantage of Italy's beautiful landscape to attempt gorgeous shots but anyone with an iPhone could recreate those shots with a passport. Timothee Chalamet plays the young Elio. I recognized him from Interstellar for which his role was minor. This is really my first time seeing him as the main character. At first, I disliked his character and then I started to just dislike the writing of his character rather than his acting. Some of the actions his character does are just unrealistic for a character like his. Armie Hammer pla

Draft Day  is about a general manager who has the opportunity to get a number one pick but sacrifices a lot to do so. Directed by the famous Ivan Reitman . Known for Ghostbusters I and II, Twins, Junior, Stripes, and of course Kindergarten Cop. This director has been around and so there are zero directorial flaws that younger directors make and he builds the story Scott Rothman and Rajiv Joseph wrote. They are relatively unknown writers and should get more work because of the writing in this film is great. It makes even mundane conversations without any action interesting and worth watching. Kevin Costner plays Sonny Weaver Jr. a general manager who is constantly reminded that he isn't as good as his father was and hasn't really had the chance to prove his worth. His character has depth and his relationship with Garner's character isn't too distracting from the storyline. I don't really watch that many Costner movies but this one stands out as my favorite. J

The Ritual  is about a group of friends who go on a hiking trip in Sweden only to get lost and encounter something sinister in the woods. Hylophobia plays a big part in David Bruckner 's film. He has done horror before with V/H/S and Southbound. This is easily his best work and best direction. Also, the writing and dialogue are much better than his previous work. The way the friends talk to one another and how they each feel different and layered is textbook writing. He's a relatively new director and with this film, I could see him getting work on a major production company's horror film. The main character is named Luke and played by Rafe Spall . At first, I couldn't shake the reminder that he was one of the "Andy's" in Hot Fuzz, but he was also in Shaun of the Dead, you know the one who says "You've got red on you." at the beginning of the film. I remember watching the director commentary on that film and hearing Edgar Wright say tha

The Mirror is an enigma, biographical, and very unorthodox film about early 20th century Soviet Union. Andrei Tarkovsky  has been a name on my list of movies I should watch for quite some time. It was recommended to me by a fellow movie buff a long time ago. I didn't know what I was getting into watching this film. This movie takes what you think is going to happen and throws it out the window both in what's happening and when. A woman sees a fire, walks towards a well, empties the water in the pail and then sits and watches the fire. Two children run to watch the fire but the camera focuses on the empty table instead of cutting to the fire just mentioned. It's throwing the viewer off their game by giving them something they don't expect and challenging you to watch the movie without expectations. The movie doesn't explain what's going on and lets you just watch and wonder. The sound effects are eerie and add to the feel of the film. Then the whole film

Locke is about a construction manager who makes a few phone calls during a midnight drive to a certain destination. Steven Knight  took a lot of risks in writing and directing a movie like this. Because it's a single location film the direction can take a few steps back and rely on the acting and storytelling. It was good that the film was able to keep the attention of the audience when the idea is so basic. He made construction site drama actually interesting. This sort of writing makes me excited for his next movie World War Z 2. I kinda hope that's not the title but whatever. Tom Hardy is the only person you see throughout the film and it's his expressions and behavior that really sell him as the lead only actor. Sure there are voiceovers for people that he's talking to, including Tom Holland. The frustration he has when dealing with work and the calmness that he musters during the conversations he has with his son are just spot on. The surprising thing is tha

Creed  is about Apollo Creed's son Adonis who is trained by former boxing World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa. Ryan Coogler  has a movie called Black Panther coming out soon and while this isn't his first time with Michael B. Jordan and it wouldn't be the last either. This movie has some great boxing angles and zoom-ins much like how HBO would have covered it. Then it goes back to traditional Rocky-esque camera angles. This movie was a risk to begin with since it's the seventh film in the Rocky film series. The first time Sylvester Stallone didn't write a film in the franchise either and it's still up there. There are some long shots that I loved. Michael B. Jordan has been good in everything that I've seen him in. Even if it was poorly written part, Jordan does a great job playing with what he has available. He and Coogler worked on Fruitvale Station before this. He takes the torch from Stallone and runs with it. While he's no Rocky, he's

Maze Runner: The Death Cure is the third and final film in the Maze Runner trilogy. Here we see Thomas try to find a cure for the Flare. Director Wes Bell hasn't done anything but the Maze Runner franchise but from what we've seen from this franchise he hasn't done too bad a job. There are some good shots with little technical issues and choices that I wouldn't have done. He's got a project upcoming with Jason Eisener (Hobo with a Shotgun) but other than that I suppose the production companies are just waiting for fan reception. Dylan O'Brien , also known for Teen Wolf, plays the main character Thomas in the film. He's a suitable and charismatic main character and will probably continue his career as main characters like in American Assassin which he's a chameleon in. The wonders of beards. Tammy One, Patricia Clarkson , plays Ava Paige one of the antagonists of the film and highest-ranking official of WICKED. Can we all acknowledge how ridiculo

Midnight Special is about a boy with special powers and a father that will go the distance to keep him from the government and cult that want him for his abilities. Jeff Nichols is becoming one of my favorite new directors. I saw Mud, a film written and directed by Nichols, back in 2012. The way Nichols sets up scenes and writes characters makes for a very interesting and different take on the superhero genre. Each character feels different as if they have personality. This is something I find lacking in films today. Michael Shannon plays the boy's father Roy and through and through he's phenomenal. Shannon has become used to playing the villain in movies and it's good to see him play the good guy for once and a while, see The Shape of Water, 99 Homes, and Kangaroo Jack. The interactions he has with his son are heartwarming and the dialog is perfect for a scared father. Before Stephen King's It, I saw Jaeden Lieberher in this film as the young boy Alton. That an

The Cloverfield Paradox  is a science fiction film set in the Cloverfield universe where scientists are trying to solve the energy crisis with a hadron collider in space. I had never heard of the director before today, Julius Onah , and after today I'd say he's competent. The shots he chooses to use are interesting and different. He uses classic shots like in the position of power the person should look down on the weaker and vice versa. Also, I didn't notice any problems with the shots used during dialog. The last shot of the film was the only moment where I tilted my head in wonder as to why he chose that. It posed a lot of questions, which is both good and bad. The writer is Oren Uziel. He wrote 22 Jump Street and Shimmer Lake and has proven that he can write both science fiction, crime, and comedy. Not many people can say they've done the same. The writing has some problems and I can't really get into spoilers but you'll find yourself asking 'How?

Six strangers are put in a Cube  within another larger cube and all these cubes are filled with traps. Without knowing how they got there or who put them there, they all try to escape using...math. From the director of Splice, Vincenzo Natali, takes a step in a weird direction with this film. It was almost as if the producers at the time were just going with whatever. It's hard to get performances out of anyone in a single location film. The cubes are interesting enough with the shapes and whatnot, as well as the traps that appear in rooms with prime numbers. For whatever reason. Nicole de Boer  plays the main character, Leaven, but you don't know that she's the main character till later. She's good at math, pretty, and in school. I think the director challenged her to become the next Sigourney Weaver, but I doubt there was an intention for a sequel to the film. You might recognize her from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Lieutenant Ezri Dax. Her character claims in

American Sniper is about a former Navy S.E.A.L. sniper who becomes a legend for the number of soldiers he saved, and about what happens once he returns home and how he deals with post-duty America. With a new Clint Eastwood movie coming out soon, I figured now would be a good time to go back and review one of Eastwood's best-directed movies. Eastwood captures the war in Iraq and Afghanistan in a light that seems so authentic that there is little doubt that what you are seeing is real and it feels that way. Eastwood transports you to war much the same Spielberg did with Saving Private Ryan. There are many roles that Bradley Cooper has done well, but this one surpasses them all by a landslide. He was great in Silver Linings Playbook don't get me wrong but he was robbed by Eddie Redmayne for the Oscar that year. One thing that many military people will probably notice is the mannerisms that Cooper did to make his performance more believable. There is not a scene in which I&

Groundhog Day  is about a weatherman who is reliving the same day again and again until he gets it right. The film is written and directed by Harold Ramis , the longtime friend and fellow Ghostbuster to Bill Murray. Comedy and direction aren't usually something people compare but Ramis allows Murray to fill out the role and put his whole shtick on it and it pays off. What he did with the writing is the reason this is one of my favorite Bill Murray/Harold Ramis films. Bill Murray has a certain kind of humor that most people think is great. He's a legend in comedy and his dry delivery in this film is perfect for who he plays and him as an actor. He's not the same as he was in Ghostbuster or Stripes either, but it still has his flare of Andie MacDowell plays the love interest to Murray. One of the problems I had with the film originally was that she didn't have many flaws and therefore made her less interesting of a character. She just serves the role of the attrac

Plan 9 from Outer Space  is aliens who come to earth to resurrect the dead and use them to kill all the humans to prevent them from creating the ultimate universe-ending bomb. Known for casting Bela Lugosi and Duke Moore, Edward D. Wood Jr. wrote and directed the film. He uses a lot of stock footage and silly visual effects for the flying saucers. Also, the dialogue is quite goofy but I suppose it was fitting for the time it was released. He generally uses medium takes with stationary camera placement, which was typical of the time. This movie does have the first time I've heard the phrase "Shoot first ask questions later." in it. So that's something. Bela Lugosi plays an undead monster again. He's not really a vampire but he does have his cape over his face in the impression that he is. He's probably one of the earliest examples of typecasting since he has been in tons of horror films as the villain, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Son of Frankenstein, and