86 minutes doesn’t feel long when you’re watching a movie worth your time, but when that film happens to be Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Road Chip, it's an eternity of pain.
The holiday tentpole season usually guarantees at least one big offering for the kids and their parents to enjoy. Some years, you get a Disney musical or a Harry Potter related title to indulge in. Other years you get another sequel to Alvin And The Chipmunks and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. That’s the year we’re in right now, and let’s just say your choice at the box office this weekend is your typical “fish in a barrel” scenario, as Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Road Chip brings nothing new or exciting to the table.
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After three films of misadventure, Dave (Jason Lee) is settled into a serious relationship that seems to be going well. Well enough that it sounds like he’s going to pop the question to his doctor girlfriend (Kimberly Wiliams-Paisley,) dooming The Chipmunks (Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, and Jesse McCartney) to spend the rest of their lives with a hellish step-brother (Josh Green.) With sabotage on their minds, the would-be enemies team up to stop their parents from becoming a lawfully wedded couple. That is, if they can evade a maniacal air-marshal (Tony Hale) who has a beef with the Chipmunks.
86 minutes doesn’t feel long when you’re watching a movie worth your time, but when that film happens to be Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Road Chip, that time span crossed over into an eternity. With every botched joke, infantile plea for relevance, and pop culture name check assaulting your very ears, it’s as if the pain will never end. Surprisingly, there are jokes that manage to land where they should – a whopping three of them in the entirety of this film. There’s even one musical number that could have worked marvelously – except for the fact that you still had to hear the Chipmunks singing said number. All throughout this film’s run time, it trips over itself just as it manages to gain a little bit of footing.
What’s worse, this film doesn’t even feel like a film. For as basic and time worn of a story Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Road Chip tries to tell, it doesn’t really tell its audience anything. The tent pegs are there – mischievous hijinks #4, song #6, wrapped up with touching finale #24 – but there’s no connective tissue to say that this is a story you need to follow sequentially. Alternatively, you could wait until the movie comes to Blu Ray, watch select scenes, and return it back to Redbox the same night you picked it up. Even the characters are, for the most part, unneeded in the film’s course of events. You could have removed Bella Thorne’s barely there pop star character, as well as the equally absent Chippettes, and you’d have enough money and screen time to beef up the would-be plot. There’s time for a “pizza toots” gag, or a Redfoo cameo, but there isn’t room for an actual plot.
As proudly bonkers as it is visually stunning, Monster Hunt’s tawdry opening is hard to enjoy. But once you’re used to its world, humor and zaniness, it actually starts to charm and become enjoyable.
Currently the highest grossing movie in Chinese box office history, Monster Hunt’s success means that it has attracted interest from Western audiences. But for the first half you’ll be wondering what all the fuss is about. While its world – where humans exist alongside monsters in the distant past – is set-up quickly and the spectacular visual effects immediately sparkle and impress, Monster Hunt soon disintegrates into mayhem.
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You see, in Monster Hunt, while Humans and Monsters previously existed alongside each other, they no longer do so peaceful. The Humans have driven Monsters away to their own realm in order to have complete control over the land. After a civil war in the Monster Realm, the Monster King is usurped by a treacherous minister, who then sets out to capture the Monster Queen and her unborn baby. To escape, she flees to the Human Realm.
Once there she bumps into the nervous villager Song Tianyin (Jing Boran) and the burgeoning Monster-hunter Hua Xiaolan (Bai Baaihe), who protect the baby from the various villains of the Human and Monster worlds. Oh yeah, Song becomes pregnant with the Monster Queen’s baby too, which, because he’s a man, is rooting tooting hilarious. Apparently.
From the outset, Monster Hunt’s plot is muddled. Not only is it presented poorly, but it all unfolds at such a preposterous ferocity that you are immediately lost in a world that you rapidly start losing interest in. It also doesn’t help that the dubbed version features some truly abhorrent vocal performances, which lack any nuance and, when paired with the cheesy camp humor and atrocious dialogue, makes Monster Hunt seem antiquated.
Throughout it all, the visual effects remain stunning though, as the eclectic array of creatures seamlessly merge into the ancient Chinese locale. Because of this, even in its most confusing moments, your faith in Monster Hunt won’t fully diminish. It also helps that the film’s martial art fight sequences are meticulously orchestrated and, mostly, enthralling.
In fact, you soon start to become desensitized, and actually adjust to the mayhem. While Monster Hunt is proudly Chinese, it is also packed with American references and homages, none of which are subtle, and it has the vigor and ambition of a Hollywood production.
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It’s pretty clear that the filmmaking team has seen Michael Mann’s Heat at least a few times – but that’s only intended as a compliment.
There is a high level of expectation that comes with the ensemble cast packed within Triple 9. It is the kind of movie that is constantly surprising its audience with recognizable faces popping up in various scenes – “wait, they’re in this too!?” – and when that many high-caliber actors are saying yes to something, the natural assumption is that real quality is the explanation for why. The question then becomes whether or not the movie has the script and the style to be more than just a star-fest – and the exciting news is that the John Hillcoat-directed crime thriller has the goods.
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Now prepare for a lot of notable names in parentheses. Based on an original screenplay by Matt Cook, the story begins centered on an Atlanta-based crew of ex-military criminals and cops (Anthony Mackie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Aaron Paul, Norman Reedus and Clifton Collins Jr.) who find themselves under the thumb and pulling heists for the Russian Mafia – specifically the matriarch Irina Vlaslov (Kate Winslet), and her sister Elena (Gal Gadot). After pulling off a mostly successful bank job, they think that they’re out of the woods, but then they’re hit with one more seemingly impossible assignment: the theft of a file from a Department of Homeland Security building.
After deadly warnings demonstrate to the men that backing out is most definitely not an option, the crew begins devising a plan to pull off the mission that proves controversial amongst the group. They agree that the only way to get the time window they need to pull off the job is to set up a 999 call across town – the police code for “officer down.” It’s decided that the target will be placed on the back of Chris Allen (Casey Affleck) – a newcomer to the precinct who not only manages to get the attention of deadly local gangs within his first few days, but also happens to be the nephew of Sergeant Detective Jeffrey Allen (Woody Harrelson), the hard-drinking veteran who happens to be investigating the bank robbery the group pulled off.
Triple 9 works with the extreme challenge that comes with having eight lead characters, but it’s impressive ability to craft legitimate narratives and important moments for each one is really what makes the film work (obviously also supported by some fantastic performances all-around). Whether it's Ejiofor's Michael's desire to have more time with his son apart from his ex-wife, Elena; the struggle of Mackie's Marcus to orchestrate a job that will kill his new partner; or the investigation led by Harrelson’s Det. Jeffrey Allen into the heist team, the movie is constantly engaging with great character work, and largely does a wonderful job casting the ensemble in shades of grey – giving the audience the opportunity to understand each perspective. It’s not universal, as Gal Gadot and Teresa Palmer (playing Chris Allen’s wife) don’t really get all that much to do and only have a few lines of dialogue each, but it’s also not hugely surprising that supporting characters wouldn’t get a ton of screen time in a story with more than half-a-dozen topliners.
Credit for the movie’s impressive drama belongs to Matt Cook and the outstanding ensemble, but it’s John Hillcoat, cinematographer Nicolas Karakatsanis, and editor Dylan Tichenor who orchestrate Triple 9 as a tense and engaging ride throughout. It’s pretty clear that the filmmaking team has seen Michael Mann’s Heat at least a few times – but that’s only intended as a compliment, as the shot composition is magnificent, the action intense, and the choreography and movements of the military-trained team authentic. You can’t call it unique, but every shocking moment lands as it should, the audience feels every explosion, and fans of the genre will love it.
Balancing its multiple narratives, Triple 9 is surprisingly well structured and paced, though it does run into a few issues by the time the time the third act rolls around – specifically the big set up for the titular event. Without giving away anything, what unfolds is well-done, and works logically with the rest of the movie, but also isn’t quite as impactful as you would expect from all of the set up that precedes it. Rather than being a huge dramatic conclusion, the heist ends up functioning as the set-up for the final chapter, and it results in some of the wind being taken out of its sails.
Thrilling and engaging, though not quite exceptional, Triple 9 legitimately delivers on everything it promises – from a fully active ensemble delivering varied and interesting performances, to a heist story with plenty of twists and turns as the cops stay right on the clever crooks’ trail. It’s a well-made crime film, and a fun time at the cinema.
Concise, suspenseful, yet still playful and smartly orchestrated, 10 Cloverfield Lane leaves behind the secrecy surrounding its release to not just match but even outdo its predecessor.
10 Cloverfield Lane has had a preposterously short run from its January announcement to its March release date. Developed, shot and edited under the fake moniker of Valencia, the world only learned that there would be a follow-up to 2008’s Cloverfield two months ago. Being the follow-up to such a cult and discussed film obviously comes with undue pressures to not just live-up to the original but also somehow not be overwhelmed by it too. But after the opening 20 minutes of 10 Cloverfield Lane, these concerns are reduced to a distant memory, as it immediately establishes itself as its own commodity.
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The film's title and the looming unknown threat that’s teased but never verified mean that the links to Cloverfield are always in the back of your mind, but director Dan Trachtenberg and writers Josh Campbell, Matt Stuecken, and Damien Chazelle (Whiplash) use this to their advantage. While Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Michelle is constantly tempted to break free from the bunker that she has randomly found herself enclosed in, the dramatic irony is that what potentially lurks beyond the wall increases the suspense and tension whenever she looms near to leaving.
Michelle wakes up in the bunker after surviving a car crash thanks to Howard Stambler (John Goodman), an odd, emotional, physically imposing man who tells her that an attack has left Earth’s surface completely uninhabitable for at least a year – possibly two. It’s not just the pair of them, though. Emmet (John Gallagher, Jr.) a local who helped Howard construct his impenitible bunker, also headed to the shelter after the attack occurred. Can Michelle trust the two men? Has the world really been attacked? Or is the reality that it’s actually more dangerous inside the shelter than out?
These aren’t just questions that Michelle finds herself asking, but they constantly swirl inside the audiences’ mind as well. Wisely, Dan Trachtenberg keeps the viewpoint firmly on Michelle, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who is in every scene, works as perfect conduit as she increases the anxiety, tension and suspense through her performance.
John Goodman is the real reason why 10 Cloverfield Lane works so splendidly, however. As Howard, Goodman teeters on a knife’s edge between insanity and sweetness, selling each and every scene he’s in and adding more depth to mystery. It’s the kind of role that no-one else would have been able to play, as despite the loony conspiracy theory nonsense that he regularly sprouts, the audience also wants to believe him. Especially since we know what’s actually outside… Probably.
Kung Fu Panda 3 is the weakest feature installment of the series overall, but that ultimately says more about the quality of the Kung Fu Panda franchise than the failings of its most recent chapter.
The Kung Fu Panda franchise feels like an anomaly. On the surface, it probably shouldn’t work – mixing classic Kung Fu-style stories with silly animal characters, childish humor and sophomoric jokes – and yet the two previous movies released by DreamWorks Animation have been two of the best features the studio has made. Now directors Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni’s Kung Fu Panda 3 is here to close out the trilogy, and while the second sequel isn’t completely on the level of its predecessors, it is still a vividly entertaining adventure story with beautiful animation and a solid way to continue the arc of the titular protagonist.
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Once again based on a script by the duo Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, Kung Fu Panda 3 picks up shortly after the events of the last film, and finds Po (voiced by Jack Black) ascending to the next level of his training: the move from student to teacher. Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) wants to retire so that he can commit himself to the study of qi, and the silly panda also known as the Dragon Warrior is to be made the new trainer of the legendary Furious Five (Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, and David Cross). Obviously this is a tremendously high-pressure situation already, so it doesn’t help that the move coincides with both the return of Po’s long lost father, Li (Bryan Cranston), and the return of a villainous Kung Fu master bull named Kai, who has returned from the spirit realm to try and capture the qi of every warrior in the world.
The sequel most certainly takes a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach to the franchise formula, creating modern stories steeped in Chinese mythology while also expanding on Po’s journey and destiny to become the greatest warrior the world has ever seen… and it really works just as a result of this. In the last seven years, audiences have become invested in seeing the oafish, gluttonous eponymous panda overcome personal hardship and challenges to live up to his real destiny, and Kung Fu Panda 3 keeps that really going on a personal and professional level for the character, as he must both struggle against the greatest enemy he’s ever faced while simultaneously be torn between his biological father and the goose (James Hong) who raised him. It’s not overly complex storytelling, but it is emotional, affecting, and ultimately engaging on the right level to be seen as a (potentially) great capper for the franchise.
Kung Fu Panda 3 makes a lot of strides in the further development of Po as a character and a protagonist, but there is a significant downside that comes as a result – specifically a lackluster use of the fantastic ensemble that has helped perpetuate the series over all these years and has provided some of the three movies’ best moments. The members of the Furious Five are all represented and do technically play a significant role in the movie. But while the previous installments benefitted heavily from the chemistry between Po and the group as they faced down evil, a big part of that is definitely lost as Po goes on a journey of self-discovery and attempts to learn who he really is as a panda. Engaging and entertaining as the plot of the film is, it’s also distracting just how little advancement is done with Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Viper and Crane, despite the massively important roles they had in the last two films.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is impossible to hate because of its appealing cast and peppy script. But it’s just not dramatic or funny enough to be memorable. Instead, it’s just meh.
With a cast that includes Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, and Martin Freeman in leading roles, and Billy Bob Thornton, Chris Abbott, and Alfred Molina hovering around in support, there’s always something to savor on-screen in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Most of the film’s enjoyment comes from the casual dynamic between the characters and actors, with Robert Carlock peppering enough humor into his script to, at the start, keep Whiskey Tango Foxtrot engaging and a fun watch. But, despite this solid groundwork, any attempt to add a dramatic heft and intensity is underwhelming.
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It also doesn’t help that the tease of it being adapted from Kim Barker’s book The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days In Afghanistan and Pakistan, which suggests that the film’s plot will be grounded, ultimately proves to be very wide of the mark. Instead, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is almost obnoxiously predictable and melodramatic. Character relationships and plot points proceed in a safe and eventually underwhelming manner that’s the equivalent of a mother smothering their child with love.
In Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Tina Fey takes the lead role of Kim Baker, who, bored with her life in New York City, decides to become a war correspondent in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. Released from the shackles of her city life, Kim Baker embraces her new role, befriending English journalist Tanya Vanderpoel (Margot Robbie) and Scottish photographer Iain MacKelpie (Martin Freeman).
Having previously combined drama and comedy with her performance in 2014’s This Is Where I Leave You, Tina Fey takes an even bigger step toward the dramatic wilderness with Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. And, for the most part, she’s a success. There’s a genuine, consistent arc to Kim Baker’s plight, as she goes from bored and lost in a dead-end career to loving the glorious, adrenaline-fueled chaos of being a war correspondent.
But, as Whiskey Tango Foxtrot’s plot disappointingly plods into hackneyed territory that instantly feels derivative, the subtly of Fey’s performance and complexity of her role evaporates as she’s reduced to clichéd responses and is unable to solidify the drama.
Smart, gripping, and intense, Green Room is a potent thriller/horror hybrid and further proof of Jeremy Saulnier’s directing prowess, even if its ending can’t quite match the preceding excellence.
Green Room finds director Jeremy Saulnier in a supremely confident mood. And so he should be, because back in 2013, the stripped-down, taut, yet beguiling Blue Ruin established him as one of the most promising new American directors.
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With Green Room, Jeremy Saulnier sticks to his strengths. It’s sparse, no thrills and straight to the point -- like a B-movie, unfolding in a gritty and concise manner with sudden gory but painfully realistic bursts of violence to jolt audiences into a frenzy. But even when it dovetails away from these fights, it’s just as compelling in how it moves the plot along and builds its tension and suspense. Despite the similar style to his previous work, Green Room never feels tired. Instead it’s further, rousing proof of just how compelling and revelatory a filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier. Simply put, Green Room is terrific, potent storytelling.
In fact, you’re probably better off knowing as little as possible about Green Room before you see it. The only prior knowledge you need is that you’re about to be taken on a striking, whirlwind cinematic jaunt by a director who knows the best ways to keep you on the precipice of your seat. If you’re still inclined to learn about its plot though, then take a gander below.
Green Room starts off with punk rock band on tour, struggling for cash and gigs. They’re provided with both in the shape of a performance at a remote venue in the deep, dark wilderness for a group of white supremacists. But after their show, they stumble upon a murder, which the supremacists are intent on covering up.
Jeremy Saulnier has been vocal about how Green Room reflects his own past in the DC punk scene. And the story builds in an organic fashion that suggests it has come from a mind that knows this world well. Almost as if it festered, entertained, and then grew in Jeremy Saulnier’s mind as he tediously waited in countless green rooms before he performed over the years.
Jeremy Saulnier is subversive in how he allows Green Room’s plot to develop. He keeps you on your toes, and makes you laugh, wince, and shocked when you least expect it, while repeatedly raising the stakes to underline just how drastic the situation has become for the hapless band.
