The Descendants Review

George Clooney and Shailene Woodley on a road trip in The Descendants

 The Descendants

A+

A review by Frederick Cholowski

Alexander Payne seems to know a lot about the American man. He’s depicted lives on the downturn in About Schmidt and Sideways. This time around in the Descendants he takes mega star George Clooney and the beautiful island of Hawaii and does it all over again. What comes of it is a masterpiece about a human under extreme stress. It also blends together the best of both comedy and drama to create a truly compelling film.

Matt King (George Clooney) is going through hard times. His wife is in a coma and is dying from a boat accident, he has to take care of his two daughters who he had never spent much time with (Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller), and he also has inherited a large piece of land on the island of which he has to decide, with the pressure of his extended family breathing down his neck, what to do with. On top of all this his eldest daughter Alexandra tells him that his wife had been cheating on him before the accident. Matt, along with his two daughters and Alexandra’s idiotic boyfriend Sid (Nick Krause), begin to play amateur detective while driving around Hawaii telling family members of his wife’s condition.

The Descendants has a fantastic plot filled with rich writing and fantastic characters. This could have turned into an average road trip movie with a Hawaiian background. Instead it is a rich and detailed examination of a man’s life on the decent. This has a lot to do with the fantastic script co-written by the director Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash. It always seems to strike the perfect balance of comedy and drama. Another great thing about this film is its pacing. The film takes time to slow down and allow for great character moments while never bogging down the overall pace of the film.

This might be the best role George Clooney has ever had, period. Clooney tones it way down for this film and is subtle and mature. It’s a definite change of pace for and actor whose roles are usually large and flashy. Shailene Woodley also needs serious awards consideration for her role as King’s eldest daughter Alexandra. This is a quiet breakout for the young actress who shows off many sides of her emotional range in this film. The rest of the cast is also really solid, and by none of them really being familiar faces really sink into their characters.

Another large character in this film is Hawaii itself. The location is used quite well with beautiful shots spread out through the film. The best part about this is that Payne never overdoes it. Most of the shots blend in with the main plot itself and he never exploits the location, something that could have been very possible. The score mixes in some traditional Hawaiian with more modern music and is constantly there to bring us into the setting that these characters live in.

The Descendants is easily one of the best films of 2011. Its perfect mix of comedy and drama along with fantastic performances make it a much watch for film lovers. It also engages the brain, and hey any movie that does that in this age of film gets a glowing recommendation from me.

Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol Review

Tom cruse climes really high in Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol

Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol

B+

 A Review by Frederick Cholowski

After three films, the Mission Impossible franchise is reinventing itself again. This time with director Brad Bard at the helm, new members added to the crew, and about 20 minutes worth of footage shot in IMAX. The result is a fun action movie that feels more a kin to a James Bond movie than to the previous Mission Impossible films.

As in prior films MI4 follows Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) an IMS spy. This time after stylishly breaking out of Russian Prison Ethan and his team are framed for the bombing of the Russian Kremlin. This leads to the entire IMF being labeled as terrorists. His team this time round consists of the computer guy Benji (Simon Pegg), the tough female Jane (Paula Patton) and the “research guy” Brandt (Jeremy Renner). Their mission (if they chooses to accept it) it to hunt down the man who bombed the Kremlin, Hendricks (Michal Nyqvist), take the nuclear bomb codes away from him, and clear their names.

The plot is very standard for this kind of spy film and it allows for a lot of globetrotting and big action set pieces. The problem with the film is that it’s a little too long. The film starts to wear out its welcome in the last twenty minutes. As well the ending (despite the awesome final set piece) feels a little sloppy. Another small problem is that the film in its 133 minutes doesn’t give a lot of character exploration. What characters we get are subpar, and while I’m not expecting overly deep and complex characters in an action film I would like a villain who speaks more than about 6 lines of dialogue (poor Michal Nyqvist is terribly underused).

Acting wise this film is solid. Tom Cruise seems to be on autopilot here and is solid as Ethan Hunt. Paula Patton, who manages to get most of the emotional scenes, is fine here as well. Jeremy Renner acts as a kind of second super spy to Tom Cruise and Simon Pegg provides some welcome comic relief. As for the villain Michal Nyqvist, as mentioned earlier, is horribly underused and never has time to make Hendricks all that menacing.

The visuals are where this film truly shines. This film looks gorgeous in IMAX with the few key sequences that are shot in IMAX being the standouts. One in particular that takes place on the tallest building in the world in Dubai is absolutely stunning. I have never felt more tension and excitement in a single action. It actually feels like you’re up on the building with the character. The score is standard spy affair with a variety of different tracks to go with each location. It’s big and bombastic but never takes away from the film.

Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol is a very solid action movie. It is fast paced and a lot of fun from start to finish. Sure it is long and sometimes sloppy, but when the action scenes are this breathtaking and the set pieces so fantastic, the shortcomings can be forgiven; at least for most of the film.



Hugo Review

Hugo and Isabelle investigate an automiton in Martin Scorsese's Hugo

Hugo

A+

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

Martin Scorsese directing a family film, those are two things you don’t hear in a sentence very often. Yet here we stand in 2011 and the director of masterpieces such as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas is doing just that with his latest film Hugo; a visual treasure that takes its place among Martin Scorsese’s growing list of masterpieces.

Hugo follows title character Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield), a young orphan who secretly tends to the clocks of a train station in 1920’s Paris. His father (played in flashbacks by Jude Law) died in a fire and the last connection Hugo with his father is a broken automaton that they found at a museum. All the while Hugo must constantly escape the clutches of the station inspector (Sacha Baron Choen). Hugo soon bumps ways with the mean old man who runs the toy booth (Ben Kingsley) and meets his charming young god daughter Isabelle (Chloë Grace Mortz) whose heart shaped key may be the key to finding the message hidden inside the automaton.

There is not all that much plot to be had here, but what is works extraordinarily well. The story is the personal Martin Scorsese has directed yet as he injects some of himself into the protagonist. There is also a throwback to the silent film era, one that is near and dear to Scorsese’s heart. It is also interesting that the goings on at the train station are almost a little silent film in themselves and they create a colorful, sometime hysterical backdrop for the events that transpire. These create a sense of wonder while never taking away from the overall plot.

The overall plot in itself is quite slowly paced for a family film. The pacing feels more a kin to the traditional Scorsese drama than to the fast paced family films of today. This is welcome as the film takes its time to set up the atmosphere and the characters that are vital to the overall experience.

Martin Scorsese has had many great performances in his films. Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, Joe Pesci in Goodfellas and Jack Nicholson in the Departed just to name a few. In Hugo he gets spectacular performances out of Asa Butterfield and Ben Kingsley. Both performances are spot on and magical. The relationship both their character’s share is full of tension at the beginning but slowly eases off as the film moves along. As for the supporting cast Mortz is charming as Isabelle a wondrous child whose head is constantly in adventure books and Sacha Baron Choen often is great comic relief.

The true winner here though is the visuals. This is the best use of 3D in a major motion picture I have seen; even better than the 3D in Avatar. The attention to detail here is fantastic as the 3D is not used as a gimmick instead as an extension to Scorsese’s creative vision. Everything from the sweeping shots of Paris to the Goodfellas like tracking shot through the train station is jaw dropping. I could go on and on about different scenes in this film and how gorgeous they are. Evan the restored silent films peppered throughout look fantastic. Visually, this is Scorsese’s greatest achievement to date.

After so many years of being proclaimed a master of film it is refreshing to see Martin Scorsese continue to try new things. Hugo is a film that well pulls from Scorsese’s roots, is something radically different. Hugo is also a magical piece of visual art and storytelling. One that deserves to be held at the same level as Scorsese’s many great films.