Guardians of the Galaxy Review

The crew all together in prison in Guardians of the Galaxy

Photo Credit: Marvel Studios

Guardians of the Galaxy

B+

A review by Frederick Cholowski

The first prison break sequence of the latest marvel film, Guardians of the Galaxy, is pretty analogous of the entire film. The sequence involves our five heroes breaking out of a high security prison using a fun and wacky plan. The sequence works because of the characters and their interactions with one another, the sharpness of the dialogue, and the wackiness of all of it. Sadly the plot feels a little bit derivative, the sequence is a prison break after all. Guardians of the Galaxy as a whole is exactly that, a fun and cool romp through the galaxy with great characters that sadly fails in the plot and villain department in a big way.

The prime thing that Guardians gets right are the characters. The five main characters Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Rocket (Bradly Cooper) a talking raccoon, his talking tree/muscle Groot (Vin Deasil who gets to say one line all film), the tough guy that is on a mission of revenge Drax (Dave Bautista), and the alien daughter seeking revenge Gamora (Zoe Saldana) all get a certain amount of back story, however brief, and by the end of the film we not only get a since of who these characters are but also why they are important. This is especially true for Quill, whose character arc is really satisfying and moving, really giving a center to the film. Rocket and Groot are also super characters, Rocket provides most of the laughs with his snappiness, and Groot gets a lot of millage out of his one phrase “I am Groot.”

The other thing that co-writer and director James Gunn gets right is the snappiness of the jokes and the references. Quill’s constant references to 80’s pop culture, whether be it through the music or the awesome Footloose nod (which made me laugh way to hard), add a lot of fun to the film, as does the banter from the always funny Rocket. The film really seems to know its tone and everything including its climax follows that tone. If there is a complaint it might be it may take certain things a little bit too lightly. The climax of the film is quite funny but maybe doesn’t have the impact it could have had if it were taken more seriously.

The main problem with Guardians, though, lands squarely in the territory of the plot. The plot never breaks out of generic Marvel film territory, nor does it crack the problem of an origin story. The characters, like in many a Marvel film, are out for some strange galaxy ending Macguffin that if placed in the wrong (and in this film underdeveloped) hands could cause catastrophe. The film plays around with these plot ideas but never really escapes them in order to do something truly new. This is also an origin story which means there is a ton of exposition that at times feels forced. There are times where the plot is spoken directly to the audience unnecessarily because the goals of the villains are poorly shown and executed, causing myself to groan a tad throughout scenes of the film.

The true and ultimate revelation of Guardians of the Galaxy is Chris Pratt, action star. It’s not that Pratt hasn’t been amazing in the past (Parks and Rec has been a prime example of how lovable the man can be on screen) but never could I ever have envisioned him doing a role like this. Thankfully he’s awesome in the role, playing a little bit of a more rugged and funnier version of a Luke Skywalker. Bradly Cooper is practically unrecognizable as Rocket but still plays the role of the Han Solo character quite well. Dave Bautista does what he needs to do well, and that’s snare and be tough while getting to be the butt of a joke or two. Zoe Saldana is the weakest of the five but that’s mostly because she’s underused compared to everyone else and her character’s back story is a little rushed and underdeveloped.

Technically the film uses a ton of CGI, Star Wars Prequels levels of CGI, but ultimately manages to make it look decent enough. Rocket and Groot are magnificent looking creations with tons of detail and an extraordinary range of facial and physical emotion. The rest of the vistas look fine and the alien creatures mostly look like different colored versions of humans. The score is fine but it ultimately takes a backseat to the awesome 80’s soundtrack that while obvious, is used extraordinarily well throughout the film.

Guardians of the Galaxy is a good first crack at the obscure side of the Marvel universe. It’s a fun, wisecracking film that never quite escapes the generic superhero mold nor manages to rise above the origin story. As solid summer fun though it’s a blast, and a great way to put an end to the main summer movie season.

Boyhood Review: Life’s growing pains

A family portrait at Mason's high school graduation in Boyhood

Photo Credit: Mongrel Media

Boyhood

A+

A review by Frederick Cholowski

I’m 13 years old, trying to figure out exactly how my feelings work and what they mean. At the time I had constructed a crush for a friend when asked about during a strange sleepover session (one of many that would come up in our strange lives over the high school years); as what seems to be the case with many of my mental constructions I started to really get into and believe in the idea. Of course, given my awkwardness at the time, I allowed the crush to boil and the friendship with this person began to become increasingly awkward until it boiled over on of all things atop a Ferris wheel ride that we were on with another friend; easy to say it was an awkward ride on the way down. Years later this story is laughed about amongst the two of us (and at this point almost everyone I know to an extent) but at the time it was utterly horrifying.

Or cut to a year later, 14 years of age, an angsty mess of a stereotypical teenage boy. I wander the halls of my life, angry at the world for numerous reasons; everything from a messed up school schedule to two of my best friends, in my mind, ignoring my very presence during a short dating stint. I must have been a pain to everyone around me, including myself. I would spend years later rehabbing relationships that should have never been tainted by myself in the first place.

These memories and their feelings that amongst others seem menial now, like awkward games of truth and dare in a pool during elementary school, to moving to high school frightened and excited with a new slate; but they are things that whether I like it or not will live in hazy detail in my brain for much of the remainder of my life. No matter how insignificant they seem now they were important at the time and have shaped who I am as a person who is sitting here and typing this today.

Boyhood, the latest masterpiece from Richard Linklater, is the first film I have ever seen that captures the emotions of these kind of moments and their significance relative to the time they occurred. There are hundreds of American coming of age stories many of which capture something beautiful and complex about the character’s physical and emotional journeys, but nothing that captures as many of the near universal feelings of being a male growing up (or really of a family growing up together) quite like Boyhood. It’s a once and a lifetime film, a time capsule of what it is to grow up in North America in the early 2000’s and a capturing of the joys and pains of growing up in general.

It can be easy to say much of the love for the film is centered solely around its unique filmmaking story. The film is a near three hour conglomeration of the same actors filmed over the course of twelve years, something that has never been done before in a single narrative film. That critique might look good at first given this being the buzz around the film often pointing out that fact, but look any deeper into the film and it becomes a fallacy. Boyhood is not a simple chronicle of the life of the lead character Mason (Ellar Coltrane), but instead seems like a unique collection of memories, in a way like how I remember all of my childhood. It flows linearly from one time point to another, accentuating certain points and skipping over others just as people do with their own memories. For example we get a ton of the second husband (Marco Perella) of Mason’s mother (Patricia Arquette) but very little of the third husband (Brad Hawkins), lots of school in the early parts of childhood but little as we get closer to high school graduation. Sure part of this is that we are seeing these same actors across the various time frames, but the feelings presented are those of a great and understanding script and a simple almost a memory like clam and simplistic style of filmmaking. Following people for 12 years with a bad structure and little emotion is still a bad film; it takes a level of talent and true understanding to really get this right.

Richard Linklater also employs many beautiful and unique pieces of writing and filmmaking to keep the film flowing in such a beautiful and realistic way. The film never uses time cards to show what year we are in but instead finds little pieces of culture from each year to kind of set us in place (or you could always look at the haircuts and tell). Songs, movie references, sports, and politics all ground us in each particular era and really gives the since of what people were doing and feeling around North America during that time period. The device never feels forced or clunky instead adds a kind of since of specific time, place, and feeling to the film. There were many moments throughout the film where I went, “oh yeah my friends and/or I were into that at the time” (the best of these was when Mason mentions his three favorite films of 2008 so far being The Dark Knight, Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder and I completely imagined myself standing in and saying that dialogue at the time) and for me it gave a certain realism to the flow of the film (as in that’s how I kind of remember my growing up period to a certain extent).

Another great flourish is that Linklater really takes the time to develop the characters around Mason and give them twelve year arcs as well. The best of these goes to Mason’s long divorced biological father Mason Sr. (Ethan Hawk the man who doesn’t seem to age one bit over the course of this film) who goes from being a man stuck in childish ways to perhaps the most grown up person in the film, becoming a bad influence to a good influence for Mason over the course of the film. We also get to see Mason’s older sister (Lorelei Linklater, Richard Linklater’s daughter) Samantha grow up around us as well, giving us a little bit of a different perspective on Mason’s childhood as well as childhood in general (one of the films funniest and more heartfelt conversation involves Mason Sr. talking about sex when he hears of her first boyfriend). Mason’s mother is also a key component, a hard working lady who gets the perfect job but never the perfect husband or family bond, she gives a clear picture of what single parent family life is like, how hard it is, and how it shapes Mason and his sister.

The performances in the film are also stunning. This is Ellar Coltrane’s first acting performance and every bit of it is utterly stunning. Him growing up along with the film really makes every portion of the film seem real, from his great naturalistic acting as a kid to the incredible awkwardness of his teenage years where it feels like he really doesn’t want to be there, it all adds something unique and special to the film. Lorelei Linklater is just as fantastic as Samantha, really giving a great since of both the sibling bond between the two and the different stages of her growth as a human being. Patricia Arquette is also fantastic as we move through the challenges of motherhood and no one ever gets the most out of Ethan Hawke other than Richard Linklater. The biggest compliment I can give all the actors in the film is that each of their characters felt like real human beings and not onscreen constructions; that is a true filmmaking achievement.

I sit here now, 19 years old, typing this review, wondering where my path in life will take me while reflecting on the moments on the past that have defined that path so far. I sit here thinking of the joy and pain I’ve caused and what it ultimately will amount to in the end, if any of this will matter later on. I am a different person from Boyhood’s main character, I’ve had completely different life experiences in a different country; yet after the completion of Boyhood I sat reflecting on my own life experiences and how many of those feelings related to those presented in the film. It felt as if for nearly three hours I was watching a boy that I could have known, one who shared many of the general feelings of growing up that I did. No other film I’ve ever seen has captured this feeling, nor the since of realism or understanding of a generation quite like Boyhood. This is an achievement in filmmaking, and the best film I will see in 2014.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Review: Shakespeare of the Apes

Apes with attitude in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Photo Credit: 20th Century Fox

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

A

A review by Frederick Cholowski

See summer blockbusters can have souls as well. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the second film in the freshly rebooted Planet of the Apes saga proves that summer blockbusters don’t have to be a ton of flash with little to no substance. It’s a film of characters, emotional devastation, and sci-fi allegory first and action film second. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a success on nearly every level and after a dud of a film dominating multiplexes for the last two weeks, a welcome rejuvenation.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes picks up an unspecified time after Rise, with the virus introduced at the end of the previous film having wiped out almost all of human society. The apes led by their compassionate leader Ceasar (Andy Serkis) are doing just fine in these primitive conditions having created a peaceful society in a forest after the events of the first films. All seems to be going ok until a society of humans led by Malcolm (Jason Clarke) and Dreyfus (Gary Oldman) run into the apes and the two societies clash. Both seem to see the worst in each other and seem to want nothing to do with one another. But when the human colony requires the use of a dam to try and extend their power, the apes and humans have to try to work together which disturbs certain members of each society especially the warring ape Koba (Toby Kebbell) who despises humans and even considers an uprising agains Cesar to rid of all association with them.

The plot of Dawn plays out in the style of a Shakespeare tragedy. All the characters presented in the film, especially the apes, are all set up as fascinating and complex figures from the film’s opening frame providing a great backdrop for the action to unfold. The film also takes its time to set up all the different conflicts before the inevitable clash, letting the characters and the world take centre stage in order to make all the events at the end of the film cary extraordinary weight. 

That being said it’s not as if the film is devoid of action. Cloverfield director Matt Reves really stretches his chops throughout the course of this one providing one beautifully framed sequence to another. Reves uses long sweeping takes to accentuate the action and create a beautiful almost detached look to the film. While the film features many chaotic action sequences the direction decides to keep the camera movement big and calm allowing for a coherent and beautiful experience.

The CGI in this film also adds to this gorgeous experience. The apes in this film look amazing and almost humanlike throughout the film. The biggest compliment that I can give is that the facials and eyes of the apes managed to bring me into the experience even more. I believed that these apes could exist and emote in these ways. It never looked silly and never pulled me out of the experience and it allowed me to actually relate to these apes almost as if they were humans.

Not enough can be said about the amazing work of Andy Serkis. Sure he is represented by a CGI figure but that doesn’t make the performance any less extraordinary. Serkis really makes Ceasar as close to human as an ape character could possibly be as well as a great tragic figure. None of the other performances are nearly as extraordinary but they all serve their purposes very well and don’t necessarily have to be, Oldman is there to deliver big time speeches and dramatic moments, Clarke is there to be a relatable human character, and the CGIed up Kebbell provides the perfect villain. All the performances really centre around Serkis’ work though and the film is better for it.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the perhaps the best that 2014’s blockbuster crop has provided so far. The film puts characters and world building first and allows its elements to sizzle before anything boils. The film is also just an example of good science fiction filmmaking, great direction, a well put together allegory that can make you think and some great action. It’s a near great film and a reminder that despite a few duds the summer of 2014 has been memorable in good ways.

The Halftime Top 5 2014

An image from Like Father, Like Son one of the best films of 2014 so far

Photo Credit: Mongrel Media

It’s about halfway through the year (well give or take) so it’s time to see just how good of a year in film it’s been so far. These are the best of the best of what I’ve seen as of the end of June and I’ve got to say this is a decent list. Many of these films actually have a chance to be on the end of the year top 10 and I had a legitimately hard time pairing this down to just five. So lets get going here are my five favourite films in 2014:

Honourable Mention:

Her

Her is technically a 2013 film but it didn’t open in Vancouver until 2014 and thus I didn’t have a chance to see it at the end of last year. The film itself is a lovely and fascinating look at love of both technology and in a long distance situation. I love this film but decided to eliminate it from 2014 contention simply because it already had its awards moment and really is a 2013 film.

5. X-Men: Days of Future Past

The most ambitious of this year’s Summer Blockbuster crowd so far X:Men Days of Future Past managed to be the sweet spot of this Summer’s biggest films. The plot manages to work despite all of its intricacies, the characters are all well rounded and detailed, and it even managed to have some really cool action sequences. This is the best superhero film since The Dark Knight Rises and the best Blockbuster of 2014.

4. Locke

Tom Hardy driving a car while taking phone calls for an hour and a half doesn’t sound like a great film idea but Locke manages to make it work extraordinarily. The great performance from Tom Hardy and the fascinating character arc experienced throughout this film make it a true winner. Bring on some more great actor talking on the phone in a car films!

3. Under the Skin

Bold, beautiful, and fascinating Under the Skin is one of the strangest and most rewarding films of 2014. Anchored by a great performance by Scarlett Johanson, a truly devastating message about female sexuality, and beautiful technical filmmaking Under the Skin is a great example of thinking man’s Sci-Fi. Sure this film isn’t for everyone, on the surface it may seem like Johnanson walking around the countryside of Ireland picking up men, but look even slightly amount deeper and you’ve got something truly special in Under the Skin.

2. The Raid 2

A symphony of violence and the best action film I’ve seen in a number of years The Raid 2 is an absolute blast. This film features some of the best shot action sequences I have ever seen, from great one on one fights to the best car chase since the French Connection. But this film isn’t great entirely for its action, the film boosted the ambition with a fun undercover cop plot and some very interesting character arcs. That whole film culminates in a final hour that is one of the most intense and amazing sequences I have ever lay witness to.

1. Like Father, Like Son

A festival darling in 2013 Like Father, Like Son finally hit mainstream theatres in early 2014 and the results are dazzling. This film hit me on an emotional level that has yet to be topped in 2014 providing beautiful and challenging moments that could be devastating at one point and joyful at others. The achievement of this film is dazzling, taking a premise that might seem manipulative and melodramatic on paper and transforming it into a film that is beautifully grounded and strikingly emotional. Seek out Like Father, Like Son and don’t be afraid of the subtitles because the ultimate experience is well worth it.

Transformers: Age of Extinction Review: Robots and Explosions

Optimus Prime and his sword in Transformers Age of Extinction

Transformers: Age of Extinction

D-

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

Films are escapist entertainment. They are supposed to take you to places far away that are, most of the time, simplified versions of real life issues; I get it. My question is who the heck would want to take up nearly three hours of their lives to escape to the brain dead world of the latest Transformers film? It’s hard for me to grasp just how much money this atrocity is going to make around the world and it’s sad because without exaggeration that’s what the latest Transformers film is, an atrocity. Nearly nothing redeeming can be taken from Transformers: Age of Extinction which is an excruciating ride through the worst of American blockbuster filmmaking.

The plot of Age of Extinction is so convoluted and idiotic it might just not be worth describing. The story follows a Texas mechanic/inventor Cade Yaeger (Mark Wahlberg) and his daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz) as they become fugitives after finding a beat up Optimums Prime sitting in an abandoned movie theatre. They’re on the run from a special CIA squad funded by Billionaire tech mogul Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci)  who are tasked with ridding all the Transformers from the world five years after the events of Chicago depicted in the last film. While on the run they have to find the rest of the hiding Autobots and try to stop many different evil parties from gaining “The Seed” a device that can create a mass amount of material that the transformers are made from (named Transformium by the humans in this film) and has the potential to wipe out a lot of people if put in the wrong hands.

There is so much that attempts to go on throughout Age of Extinction and a grand total of zero of those things are done well. The plot feels as if it was taken from two separate films and none of it works at all. The family portion of the film is groan worthy because all of the human characters (especially the brutally annoying Tessa) feel like they come from a cookie cutter. The action in this film feels like an animated film there is so much CGI. I nearly fell asleep during the last hour of this film because it feels like at this point I’ve seen at least twenty cities blow up in the exact same way (heck even just a Transformers film ago).  There is nothing in this film that grabs the interest which make is hard to care about virtually everything that ends up blowing up near the end.

The other massive problem with Age of Extinction is that it is two hours and forty six freaking minutes long. Not only that but because it’s so dumb and dull it feels like it takes an eternity to get over and done with. At an hour and a half this film would have already excruciating and this film almost goes twice as long. By the end of the film the only thing that was on my mind was thank goodness I can escape this theater. Whenever that is the first thing on one’s mind at the end of a film it’s hard to call it a success on any level.

The acting (well if you can call it that) in this film is nearly non apparent. The Michael Bay formula is such that most of the actors job is to deliver a few lines of unfunny stinted dialogue and then stare at things whether through amazement, frustration etc. The one exception and the one dim light at the end of this terrible terrible tunnel is Stanley Tucci who gets to chew on some scenery and also gets the one good one liner of the film (that gets the token f-bomb of the film). The most excruciating piece of acting (although I am sure the script had more to do with it than the performance) is Nicola Peltz who plays the single most annoying female character in the history of film (ok maybe not but close) as she is as bad if not worse depicted than any horror film femme fetal.

The film doesn’t look particularly good either. There is an obnoxious amount of slow motion in this film to the point that it is aggravating. It seems like every second scene of this film uses the device and by the end of the film it is used so often that it has no effect whatsoever. As mentioned earlier the action sequences aren’t particularly great either as they all have way to much CGI and no one to latch on and thus I don’t care at all. Seeing this in IMAX was also distracting as well as some of it was shot in Digital IMAX and thus aspect ratio changes were a plenty. This doesn’t usually bug me in fact it often enhances a film but in Age of Extinction the aspect ratio seems to change every second scene. It seems that there was no plan to what exactly what was shot in IMAX or how the film would look when it would ultimately come together and that’s just lazy. Ultimately it seems that IMAX actually takes away from the film, something I don’t say too often.

Simply Transformers: Age of Extinction is just atrocious. There are so many reasons why that it begins to be a headache trying to list all of them let alone sit through the film. The most frustrating thing of all is that this terrible film is going to potentially 100 million dollars on its opening weekend. Why people are going to see this terrible terrible film is mindboggling and if you are even thinking about the possibility of doing so I have two words for you, do not!