Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! 

Have a wonderful holiday season. Eat a lot of delicious food, watch some awesome films and enjoy time with your family. 

Wishing you all the joy in the world. 
 

Trailerblazing -- High-Rise/Star Trek Beyond/Independence Day: Resurgence

High-Rise -- March 18, 2016 -- directed by Ben Wheatley -- starring Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans, James Purefoy

I love trailers like this one, those that set the mood and succeed in not revealing anything about the narrative. A satire about decadence run amok, based on J.G. Ballard's eponymous 1975 novel, this film boasts a terrific cast and an appropriately sterile aesthetic. Framed as a commercial, the trailer shows the fine line between convenience and chaos slowly beginning to blur within the symbolism of social issues. Paki Smith's (Batman Begins) brutalist sets and Mark Tildesley's (28 Days Later) stark production design are the first things that caught my eye. These are two of the aspects essential to this story's significance and I would not be surprised if Smith and Tildesley were in the running come award season. The same goes for the incredible cast -- some films truly impress with talent. A cinematic adaptation was being planned for over 30 years and, in my opinion, the global crises of the last few years have created the perfect context for this tale of excess and isolation. There is always room for something fresh in cinema, particularly when a story is timely and based on a critically acclaimed work of literature. If High-Rise is half as good as the innovative trailer, it could create a new drama subgenre or a new kind of filmmaking consciousness.  

Star Trek Beyond -- July 22, 2016 -- directed by Justin Lin -- starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Idris Elba, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin

The Enterprise and its quirky crew are back. This time, Fast & Furious 3-6 director Lin takes the helm from J.J. Abrams and creates a film that seems to be bigger on action than the previous two. The Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" is a cool trailer music choice and I have to wonder if it foreshadows an aspect of the plot, considering the scale of destruction shown. The effects and action sequences look stunning as always and the dialogue emits sparks as it should. I am not getting a sense of the plot from the trailer, though, and certainly hope that it does not take a backseat to the action, since it is the principal characters' adventures and dilemmas that make Star Trek fascinating. We have some new villains in Beyond and we can hear Elba's villain presumably threatening Kirk and Co. I am really interested in learning more about his character -- who, what, where and the rest of it. If the character is half as ominous as Into Darkness's Khan, the central conflict should be a treat. I am looking forward to the new journey.

Independence Day: Resurgence -- June 24, 2016 -- directed by Roland Emmerich -- starring Liam Hemsworth, Maika Monroe, William Fichtner, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum

   

There was nothing particularly original about 1996's Independence Day. The alien invasion story was not revolutionary, the characters were far from groundbreaking and the screenplay was well thought out, but not too inspired. It was the combination of the dynamic tale, mind-blowing effects and the cast's winning chemistry that secured its place in the blockbuster canon and earned the 'King of July 4th' nickname for the suddenly bankable Will Smith. I am not sure why the sequel took this long to produce, but it is coming out next year and the trailer makes the wait look worthwhile. We have a bunch of new characters saving the planet, including Sela Ward's president, a hotshot pilot (Hemsworth) and another pilot, Captain Steven Hiller's son (Jessie Usher). The filmmakers are taking the visuals up a notch, giving us invasion scenes that are even more epic and making the cinematography more somber. Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum and Judd Hirsch are back, and it will be interesting to reconnect with their characters after all this time. On that note, can anyone replace Goldblum or top his delivery? I do not think so. Roland Emmerich is back as well and it is always great to see that a sequel is being made by the same director. Resurgence looks like a perfect summer ride and I look forward to seeing what those pesky aliens are up to next. 

Trailerblazing -- X-Men: Apocalypse

X-Men: Apocalypse -- May 27, 2016 -- directed by Bryan Singer -- starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Evan Peters, Olivia Munn, Rose Byrne, Sophie Turner

Talk about a pleasant weekend surprise. Our favorite mutants are back! After the wondrous First Class and the time travel Rubik's Cube that was Days of Future Past, here is the trailer for what seems to be the darkest film in the new trilogy. This time around, the X-Men confront the very first mutant in existence, the ominously named Apocalypse (Isaac), whose abilities are about to become a genuine challenge for the team. What I have always liked about all of the X-Men films and what I also see in this trailer is the balance between the visuals and the narrative. The filmmakers never allow for CGI imagery to overpower the essentially human tales, fleshing out the principal characters' backstories and peppering the scripts with twists and symbolism. In my mind, this is what separates these two series from many other Marvel adaptations. The Apocalypse trailer shows crazy adventures galore, while hinting at new encounters between ultimate frenemies Professor X and Magneto and showing us Professor X's iconic look. We catch glimpses of Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) -- love those carvings! -- and Psylocke, played by Munn, an actor whose nerd cred is a thing of beauty. We also see Sophie Turner of "Game of Thrones" inheriting the Jean Grey role from the wonderful Famke Janssen. Even though I cannot help still seeing Sansa Stark, it is early days yet and I think that Turner is well cast as the delicately strong telepath. The film looks like another hit for the franchise and the excitement is starting to build. I look forward to paying another visit to the X-Mansion.  

Weekly Review -- Mind's journeys

Transcendence (2014) -- Ever since the 1980s, cinema has been buzzing with works concerning artificial intelligence. Was it the end of the Cold War and a worry that our own inventions might provoke the next great conflict between the major world powers? WarGames and The Terminator both handled these themes, the former with more dramatic flair and the latter with a wallop of science fiction. Was it the advent of the 21st century and a fear that machines might threaten and ultimately end humanity (note -- we do not need machines for that)? The Matrix and I, Robot pondered these ideas through juxtapositions of sterile futuristic environments and human frailty. Cinematographer and first-time director Wally Pfister's Transcendence comes on the heels of these and other films and, while boasting a fantastic concept, it fails to fulfill its potential.    

Leading A.I. researcher Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) and his wife and partner Dr. Evelyn Caster (Rebecca Hall) have been working on a technology that would revolutionize artificial intelligence and eventually give it awareness. When a radical anti-technology group poisons Will, a grief-stricken Evelyn is unable to let go and decides to upload his consciousness into their system. Of course, such a drastic development does not come without consequences...

The most intriguing question that Transcendence poses in terms of narrative is the identity of its villain. Even though the trailer suggests that Will is the main force of evil, I would like to propose the argument that the villain of the piece is Evelyn. Threading a fine line between agony and mania, she does not realize that she has become as fanatical as the group that had attacked Will. Yes, we understand in the beginning that she would do anything to keep the love of her life. Yes, we know that it is unfair how Will's life has been cut short in such a brutal way, yet Evelyn forgets one of the main rules of being human -- one is simply not able to do things for the sake of their own happiness and at the cost of other people's well being. In a way, Evelyn proves to be less in touch with humanity than her and Will's system is.

The problem with the film and the likely reason for its failure at the box office are the screenplay's implausibilities. There are too many holes in the script, some of which cannot even be rationalized through suspension of disbelief. The ridiculous second act is particularly culpable. How come no one, especially fellow scientists, hears of this "project" for years? Why does no one question Evelyn's non-existent ethics or contact the authorities about what she has single-handedly done? We are looking at a hundred charges here, including kidnapping, murder and who knows how many more related to cyber crime. Still, the biggest plot hole of all is: if Will is online, how come no one out of billions of Internet users notices something amiss? All that money stolen from a bank and not a peep from anyone? If real-life elements are interwoven with a fictional environment, their logic must be adhered to at least enough to justify the fiction. I do wish that the film had been better thought out, because its topic is fascinating. Finally, I cannot let this go without mentioning the worst line in recent memory, "We're not gonna fight them. We're gonna transcend them." Flashy lines that look good on paper almost always only look good on paper. Just... no.

And the cast... talk about terrific and wasted at the same time. Depp is engaging as ever and Hall is one of the most expressive actors working today. The problem is, there is barely any chemistry between the pair. Our understanding of their deep connection is perpetually on the cusp of believing; their loss never grabs us and pulls us in. We do not get to invest in it. If you want a truly tragic love story -- this one in the guise of horror -- please watch David Cronenberg's 1986 The Fly remake for the sake of all things cinematic. But I digress. Morgan Freeman and Cillian Murphy are barely given anything to do, except look stunned at one digital defeat after another. Paul Bettany manages to make Will and Evelyn's friend Max the moral compass of the story, but even he seems confused by the half-baked writing. R.I.F.T., the terrorist group that had murdered Will, come off as whiny rather than menacing and so does their leader, Bree, played by the usually solid Kate Mara. All of the actions by all of the characters feel ill-conceived, as though everyone is waiting for a development that never materializes. Assembling a cast this reputable and not letting them shine is the real tragedy of the film.

Transcendence is one of those films that you wait for with bated breath, then see it and immediately move on to something that actually delivers on its promise. It is not terrible by any means, but it could have been a lot more. It could have been debate fodder, it could have been controversial, it could have had depth. Instead, it leaves the viewer shrugging and wondering what was missing. Ironically, with all of its big talk about life, death, intelligence and emotion, the film is incapable of affecting the audience and incapable of transcending its own neutrality, proving that there is nothing quite like a missed opportunity. 

6/10