LA Movie Review- Nightcrawler

Louis Bloom is a well-spoken, determined, smart individual who also happens to be a ferocious sociopath in need of a job. He finds one in recording accidents and selling the footage to a news station. After developing a taste for it, he travels the streets of L.A. with the intention of recording the most violent crimes the city has to offer. Dan Gilroy makes his directorial debut with this immensely electrifying thriller. Jake Gyllenhaal stars alongside Rene Russo and Bill Paxton.

Dan Gilroy makes a very impressive raw debut with this powerful story. He placed a heavy focus on realism which made for a gritty film. The tale he tells is a very dark, exciting one with just the right amount of satire to even things out. There is a sense of tension that grows as the movie goes on. You feel the sense of dread inside of you watching certain scenes because Dan Gilroy makes the movie feel so real. The story flows in a very engaging way by taking the audience on a ride The car chases in particular feel especially so because you have a beat on the danger of the situation. 

Jake Gyllenhaal is the reason to watch this film. His performance as the sociopath Louis Bloom is breathtaking. He captured the essence of a soulless human being in a way that I have not seen since Christian Bale in the cult classic, American Psycho. Both characters, Louis Bloom and Patrick Bateman, were driven by intense desire and greed. Gyllenhaal and Bale both portrayed absolutely insane men with nothing behind their eyes. 

Jake Gyllenhaal added many dimensions to the character, especially his eyes. Gyllenhaal’s eyes told a fascinating story. He allowed them to do most of the talking sometimes, including letting the audience know that he is just an empty vessel.  He goes to some very dark places in and always pulls it off. He showcases just how talented and powerful of an actor he truly is. Rene Russo has a supporting role as a television news director working with Bloom. She was a strong character in her own right and was a solid addition to the cast. Ruiz Ahmed played Louis Bloom’s intern, Rick. His purpose was to add to Jake Gyllenhaal’s character, so as a supporting actor he did his job.  Bill Paxton is an underrated actor. Bill Paxton is not in the film much, but he is great in everything he’s in.

Nightcrawler is a great character study in that of Louis Bloom. It is a fulfilling thriller and effective satire. Nightcrawler is a commentary on the current job market and the moral integrity of broadcast journalism. This film does so much right it’s hard to find anything wrong with it. It does however have some issues. The film felt like it was missing a scene between Jake Gyllenhaal’s character and Rene Russo’s character. Also, it felt like a few legal liberties were taken for the sake of the story. Despite this it has outstanding strengths. The direction was great, the score was engaging, and Jake Gyllenhaal was spark of insanity. Nightcrawler is a gripping thriller that kept me at the edge of my seat and I’m willing to bet it’ll do the same to you.

4.8/5

LA Movie Review- Chef

   A great chef decides to take his craft to the road to rekindle his creative spark. Joining him is his son who is in need of a father. Iron Man director Jon Favreau is a triple threat as he not only directs this movie, he also wrote it and stars in it. Starring alongside Favreau is Emjay Anthony as his son, Sofia Vergara as his ex-wife, Scarlett Johansson as his girlfriend, and  John Leguizamo, Robert Downey JR., and Dustin Hoffman in supporting roles.

   Jon Favreau is a hit or miss director for me. I really like what he did with the first Iron Man film, but I wasn't a fan of his work on Iron Man 2 or Cowboys vs Aliens. I think coming back with a smaller film was the right move for the director. Despite this being a smaller film, I imagine it must have been one of the tougher films Favereau has worked on. Wearing multiple hats while working on a movie is no easy task, but I imagine it must have fueled him creatively as it does to his character in the film. He has a good grasp on the direction of the film ad gets his message across. He also made a really good looking movie. Jon Favreau promised he would shoot the food in this movie like how Michael Bay shoots women in his movies. The food plays a big role in the movie and everything looks delicious. As good as everything looks, Faverau also cooks up a nice story about fathers and sons and what it means to express yourself. The characters are all handled well, and they serve the story nicely. 

Emjay Anthony and Jon Faverau

   Not only did Mr. Faverau do a fine job directing, but he is also a good actor in his own right. I really bought into his character in the movie. I bought into the character's struggles in his relationships, whether it be with his son, his ex-wife, or his co-workers and friends. If the child playing the chef's son was a bad actor then this movie would not have worked. Emjay Anthony works in this movie. His relationship with his father was the best part of the movie. This is also my favorite performance of John Leguizamo, who at times can be annoying, but not here. I personally would have liked to have seen more of Dustin Hoffman because he is good in the few scenes he has. Robert Downey Jr. is a lot of fun in the movie, and wasn't used any longer than he needed to be. 

   I like the style that this movie had. Everything from its look to the soundtrack added to the movie's own unique flavor. I thought the movie's portrayal of social media was effective. My one gripe with the movie is that it ends abruptly. A couple of character beats were going and then the movie ties them up as quickly as it could. It struck me as odd considering how up until that point the movie was really taking it's time. I would say Chef is a movie worth seeing at least once, but I don't feel a great need to ever revisit the film afterwards.

3.9/5

LA Movie Review- Maleficent

   A new spin on The Sleeping Beauty story isn't enough to describe Maleficent. No, this is more than that. This movie is a fairy tale where our protagonist is both hero and villain. She's someone who stood for good, was scorned and lost her way. But, just as Professor X taught us in X-Men: Days Of Future Past, just because someone stumbles, loses their way, it doesn't mean they are lost forever. Now it may seem like I wrote that in simply because I wanted to quote X-Men, and in a way you're right, it also applies to this movie in a surprising way.

   Making his directorial debut is Robert Stromberg. Robert came from a background in visual effects and he plays to his strengths with Maleficent. He creates this magical  fairy tale land for the characters to live in. He does go a bit overboard with the visual effects. For example, the fairies in this movie looked absolutely ridiculous. They looked like cartoon characters, and I know that seems paradoxical to say, but  they really didn't work well. Even worse was when the fairies transformed into humans, if every human was a member of the Three Stooges. I will hold off on the bad elements of the movie, so I can acknowledge the best part of the movie; Angelina Jolie. 

Jolie as Maleficent

   Angelina Jolie is really good in this movie. Her performance here was the definition of having fun with a character. You could tell Angelina Jolie was having a good time playing the character. She brought a lot of different emotions to the character and kept her from ever being a full on hero or a full on villain. She was a sympathetic character and one you could root for. Sharlto Copely played the true villain of the film. He has also played villains in his last few films such as Old boy and Elysium. Way to diversify Sharlto. He was fine in the movie. Nothing really stood out as good or bad in his performance.

Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora

   Elle Fanning didn't really have much to do in the movie. Her take on Princess Aurora was the one note, happy-all-the-time sort of girl. Sam Riley played Maleficent's right hand man in the movie. He was serviceable in the movie.

   This movie does it's job as a typical kid's movie. It entertains for an hour and a half and ends. I like that about this movie. It doesn't overstay its welcome by being longer than it needed to be. It isn't too painful to watch because of the run time. This isn't the best movie of the summer, but it isn't the worst either. Maleficent works as a family film. I enjoyed this movie for what it was, but I won't be running back to go see it.

3/5

LA Movie Review- A Million Ways To Die In The West

   A cowardly sheep farmer must find his courage when he is challenged by his ex's boyfriend and the deadliest gun-slinger in the west. Helping him in his quest, is a woman who is new in town, who happens to be full of surprises. A Million Ways To Die In The West is the sophomoric effort from director Seth MacFarlane. Seth MacFarlane also stars alongside Charlize Theron, Sarah Silverman, Giovanni Ribisi, Amanda Seyfried, Neil Patrick Harris, and Liam Neeson. 

  The movie is written by MacFarlane, Wellesley Wild, Alec Sulkin, the same trio of writers who brought the world Ted. Now, those three brought us a very funny film in Ted, but completely misfired here. The screenplay is bad, plain and simple. I don't have a problem with vulgarity in movies, as long as it serves some sort of purpose. For example, in The Wolf of Wall Street it added to the dimensions of the characters. It brought colorful life to their ways of speaking. Here it is just vulgar to be vulgar. It adds nothing to humor of the film. The dialog all feels the same as well. Perhaps bringing in another writer would have been a good choice, so they could add another voice to these characters. Seth MacFarlane's writing here doesn't really differentiate the voice between the characters. It almost feels as though he wrote for one character and then decided to split that character up into multiple versions of the same personality. His direction didn't help the film either. This movie was constantly uneven in tone. Something dark would happen followed by a fart joke. 

Seth MacFarlane misfires with A Million Ways To Die In The West

   Charlize Theron did what she could with the material she was given. She is the best aspect of the movie by far. Neil Patrick Harris has a funny moment in the movie and plays his part well. Amanda Seyfried. What a waste of her acting potential. Her character was the definition of bland in the movie. She had nothing to do and she is a very capable actress. I don't even see the point of casting her if MacFarlane planned to use her the way he did. Sarah Silverman plays a prostitute who is dating Edward, a virgin played by Giovanni Ribisi. I felt that a lot of their scenes didn't work together because their jokes weren't landing. Liam Neeson is not in the film very much. I wish his character was more fun so we, the audience, could have fun along with him. Instead his character was just kind of meh. Don't get me wrong, Liam Neeson isn't bad in the movie, but his character is a bad guy just for the sake of being bad. His character was very one-dimensional. Now onto the biggest problem in the cast, Seth MacFarlane. I thought he was really bad in the movie. All of his weaknesses as an actor are exposed here. His portrayal of the character was too sarcastic for my taste.  He had no redeemable quality that felt like he was worthy of being the titular character, or being a "good guy" even.There was too much winking at the camera going on from him.

Liam Neeson, Charlize Theron, and Seth MacFarlane

   This is a well made movie. All of the sets looked good and the visual effects were all neatly done. Together with cinematographer Michael Barrett, MacFarlane made a good looking movie. The problem didn't lie there however, it lied in its director.  Too many repetitive jokes from too similar characters, and a lead who just doesn't work can describe this movie. There are a few funny jokes in the movie, but surprise surprise, the best jokes are in the trailer. A Million Ways To Die In The West is a comedy whose director found a million ways to make this movie disappointing.

2.6/5

LA Movie Review- Neighbors

   A couple with a baby is put to the test when a fraternity moves in next door. Wanting to feel young again, the couple is at first welcoming of the fraternity and their leader. That all changes when the fraternity's nonstop partying disrupts the baby's sleep, leading to a war between the family and the frat. Seth Rogen, Rose Bryne, and Zac Efron star in this Nicholas Stoller comedy. 

   From the director of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him To The Greek, and The Five Year Engagement comes this new, fun comedy. Neighbors is a comedy that hits a lot of high notes. This movie has a great cast that work well together. Seth Rogen is coming off of his, in my opinion, best film last year in This Is The End. In that movie he plays the character he plays in most movies, which is Seth Rogen. If it isn't broken then there is no need to fix it, and in Neighbors it works as efficiently as it ever does. Rogen is very funny in the movie as a father who misses the ability to party. Starring opposite Seth is Rose Bryne who brings a lot of energy to her character. Rose Bryne and Seth Rogen's chemistry together is a big reason as to why this movie works as well as it does. Another big reason as to why this movie works is Zac Efron. This is my favorite Zac Efron performance. He isn't known for his comedic abilities and yet he hangs in there with Seth Rogen. 

Zac Efron and Dave Franco participate in a "Robert De Niro" party

   Zac Efron was really good in this movie and shows a lot of promise for his acting future. Dave Franco is funny and so is the underrated Ike Barinholtz as Seth Rogen's office buddy. Lisa Kudrow even makes a funny cameo in the movie. 

   There are so many memorable lines of dialog in this movie and funny moments. It is nice to see that some movies still believe in not giving away everything in a trailer. There are a few things in this movie that I did not enjoy. There is one scene that I really didn't enjoy, which I won't give away. It seems as though the purpose of that scene was simply to see if they could have gotten away with it and gross out the audience at the same time. The scene didn't really serve any purpose other than that. 

   Nicholas Stoller's film is a very funny one which had a hard job following Seth Rogen's last film, This Is The End. While I believe that he made a funnier movie than This Is The End, I don't believe he made a better movie. Still, there are plenty of laughs to be had in Neighbors, and I even caught myself repeating some of the movie's lines afterwards.

4/5

LA Movie Review- X-men: Days of Future Past

   In a desolate future, androids known as sentinels force most of the mutant population into extinction. In a fight for their race, the X-Men send Wolverine into the past so he can put an end to the events which lead to the creation of the sentinels. Simon Kinberg wrote the screenplay and Bryan Singer directed the film. Hugh Jackman leads the all-star cast also featuring Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, and Jennifer Lawrence.
   There are a lot of great superhero films; The Dark Knight, The Avengers, Iron Man, Spider-Man 2, and now X-Men: Days of Future Past can be added to that list. This is a perfect superhero movie in an era filled with greats. Director of the first two X-Men films, Bryan Singer returns to direct the seventh entry in the franchise. He sets the story in the early 1970's and fills the film's atmosphere with common tropes of the time. By doing so, he makes the movie feel as though it is taking place in an altered reality, complete with its own twisted version of our country's history. Singer's film is well paced and well made. This is a well edited film too. The film's 131 minute run time never feels too short or too long. Simon Kinberg's script takes care of past continuity issues in an incredibly effective fashion. No scene ever feels unnecessary or out of place. The special effects are all terrific and the cinematography adds to the 70's feel when it has to. Bryan Singer sets a fun yet serious tone and has many characters to play with.
   The time travel element of the film allows the combination of both, the cast of the original X-Men trilogy and the cast from X-Men: First Class. While he is featured prominently, Hugh Jackman's Wolverine isn't exactly the star of the show. He plays a huge role in the film, but it is a story centered on all of the prominent members of the X-Men, unlike what the trailers for the film would suggest. This is truly a team movie. Hugh Jackman is still great at playing Wolverine, a character he has been playing for fourteen years now. My favorite performance was that of James McAvoy and his take on the hopeless Professor X.

James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart

 The screenplay and acting add so much depth to the character, making him somewhat of an addict, and someone who is tortured by his abilities. Sharing the role of Professor Charles Xavier is Patrick Stewart, playing the older version of the character. While he isn't in the film much, he is a staple of the franchise. His wiser professor X is someone who can bring out the best of people. Ian McKellen is a great Magneto but Michael Fassbender makes the role his own. While McKellen's Magneto sees the need for peace and unity, Fassbender's Magneto is much more aggressive in his beliefs that man and mutant cannot coexist. Michael Fassbender is terrific at playing villains and what makes him so special here is the fact that you can understand his cause. Jennifer Lawrence is a much better Mystique here than she was in her last outing as the character. The character's inner struggle with right and wrong gives the twenty-three year old, academy award winning actress much to work with. Joining the cast is Peter Dinklage as the creator of the sentinels, Dr. Bolivar Trask, who commands the screen whenever he is on it. Ellen Page was great in her small, but important supporting role as Kitty Pride. Peter Evans stole the show as Quicksilver. His comedic timing was great, he was a fun character, and had the best scene in the movie.

Peter Evans as Quicksilver

   There are seven films in this universe, therefore there is a lot the audience should know going into this movie. To get the most out of the experience, I believe the audience should revisit the earlier films. Days of Future Past is an ambitious film with a lot of moving parts. It does a good job of cleaning up the mess that earlier X-Men films have made, but it also works as its own complete story.This film does benefit from multiple viewings and I encourage the audience to see it multiple times.This is a fun movie, this is a great movie, and this movie is my favorite of the year so far.

5/5

LA Movie Review- Godzilla

   Man's arrogance has lead them to believe that they are in charge of the planet. They are wrong. As nature fights back against the sins of mankind, the king of all monsters emerges. The film's title says Godzilla but he is not the main focus. The main focus of the film is on U.S. Navy officer Ford Brody, who is trying to reunite with his family while trying to stay alive. This ambitious reboot of the giant science fiction monster is directed by Gareth Edwards and stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

   This movie will divide audience members who come across it. Most will argue that Godzilla isn't in the film enough, and while that is a fair argument, I believe less is more. It is true that the giant lizard is not in the film as much as you would like him to be, but that takes nothing away from the presence he had while he was on-screen. Besides, how much of the screen time did the shark actually take up in Jaws? Putting the focus of the film on Godzilla alone would have just made for mindless destruction like the terrible 1998 version. Instead by placing the focus on the human characters we see Godzilla almost as a natural disaster. That film's mistake was exposing Godzilla too much, a mistake the director here didn't make. After all, no mystique big mistake. Gareth Edwards made a wise choice by keeping Godzilla's mystique. If Edwards can make you, the audience, care for the characters, you will be more engaged in the story. We see the film through the eyes of the human characters, making Godzilla feel larger than life. Striving for realism with a flare of campiness, Gareth Edwards did a good job directing the monster flick. Together with the help of screenplay writers Max Borenstein and Dave Callaham he was able to create an experience in the cinema. They took the character of Godzilla and made him into an anti-hero, a sympathetic anti-hero at that. The three crafted a film that has a genuine big movie feel to it.

Godzilla: villain or anti-hero?

   Aaron Taylor- Johnson was the lead of the film. His character was abandoned by his family when he was a child and is unwilling to do the same to the one that he has as an adult. Johnson is a good actor and he is good in the film but some of the creative choices made for his character were questionable, as his character is written with unbelievable luck. Bryan Cranston, fresh off of Breaking Bad has a minor role in the film. He gives a performance that echoes a type of stubborn desperation that we haven't seen from the actor recently. Ken Wantanabe plays Dr. Ichiro Serizawa who is one of the too few nods to the Japanese original. Elizabeth Olsen plays Ford Brody's wife, Ellen Brody. She is a solid edition to the cast but like the titular character, isn't in the film much.

Bryan Cranston (left) Aaron Taylor Johnson (left)

   On a technical level, the film is great. This movie has some breathtaking cinematography in it. The special effects are incredible as you see so much detail in the monster and the cities. Composer Alexandre Desplat wrote a score which breathes life into the allure of monster movies. His music builds up tension and helps scale the creature. The movie is 123 minutes long and it could have been cut down to below the two hour mark.
   Godzilla is almost the anti-Pacific Rim, a 2013 summer blockbuster revolving around giant creatures attacking the Earth and humans building giant robots to fight them.While that movie had a tremendous amount of action, the human characters were all flat and forgettable. The weight of the film lies on the shoulders of the humans in this blockbuster. They used just the right amount of action here, teasing you with glimpses of battles before delivering at the end of the film. Despite this, it does ultimately leave you wanting more from it. This movie will split audiences, but over time I believe people will appreciate this version of Godzilla, even if they don't right now.
4.4/5