Arrival - Movie Review

Starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker and Michael Stuhlbarg.
Written by Eric Heisserer.
Directed by Denis Villenueve.

★★★★

Denis Villenueve (Incendies, Prisoners, Enemy, Sicario) is quickly becoming one of my must-see directors. Actually, he's already there. I'm excited for where he could go.

This film is about an alien invasion of Earth, but it's really about Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams). In the beginning we watch her with her daughter. We watch her daughter grow to be a teenager and then die from disease. The next time we see Louise, we see the sadness in her eyes, and we see the semi-lonely existence she's carved out for herself as a college linguistics professor. But as she goes to teach, most of her class is gone. Why? There's been an invasion.

Due to previous work she'd done for the government, Louise is at the top of the list for the military to seek as a linguistic expert. The aliens are making sounds, and they want her to determine if Earthlings can somehow communicate with them.

The movie takes a slow, reverant approach to the reveal of the aliens. (I'm really glad the previews never spoiled what they fully look like.) Once she sees them, she goes through the process of trying to figure out how they communicate.

The movie is about the process, about finding common trends or signals in order to establish communication. There are 12 alien ships hovering over different parts of the globe. Each country that has one is trying to determine the best course of action. Should we preemptively strike in case their intentions are malevolent?

This movie is the antidote to Independence Day: Resurgence's summer stupidity. It's smart sci-fi that you hear about from time to time.

The Last Stand - DVD Review

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Forest Whitaker, Johnny Knoxville, Rodrigo Santoro, Peter Stormare, Jaimie Alxeander, Luis Guzman and Genesis Rodriguez.  Directed by Kim Jee-Woon.

★★

Ever wanted to see Rio Bravo remade for Arnold? Well, you're in luck.

Arnie's looking old and stiff these days, at least he does here. Now I didn't think this'd be a modern classic; this movie aspires to be an average 1980's action movie. If that's the mission, it's accomplished.  Goofy sidekick characters played by Johnny Knoxville and Luis Guzman help Arnie rig the town as they wait for an escaped criminal to zoom through their town on the way to Mexico.

Out of the Furnace - Movie Review

Starring Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck, Zoe Saldana, Forest Whitaker, Willem Dafoe, Sam Shepard and Tom Bower.  Directed by Scott Cooper.

★★★

This is a movie that takes a basic story - a very, very basic story - and shows that it can be a quality product if done right.  The plot sounds like one of those Patrick Swayze revenge movies, but this has more on its mind. Director Scott Cooper gives each scene time to breathe, and good actors come through for him.

Bale and Affleck play brothers from a small town hurt by the bad economy.  Bale's the older brother who works in the mill, Affleck the younger Iraq War vet who wants to break out of their poverty-stricken life, and he earns money quickly by bare-knuckle brawling.  When he starts to get mixed up with some dangerous people, Bale goes a quest for answers/revenge.

Story-wise it didn't go anywhere surprising, but by taking action-movie tropes and applying them to a somber drama style, it made for a richer experience.

Lee Daniels' The Butler - Movie Review

Starring Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, James Marsden, Robin Williams, Alan Rickman, Jane Fonda, John Cusack, Liev Schreiber, Lenny Kravitz, Vanessa Redgrave, Clarence Williams III, Alex Pettyfer, Elijah Kelley, Minka Kelly, David Banner and Mariah Carey.
Directed by Lee Daniels.

★★½

An impressive all-star cast gathers for this Forrest Gump journey through the civil rights movement.  It's inspired by a true story but they change so much of it, it might as well not be.

Forest Whitaker is great as Cecil Gaines, a humble man who becomes a butler in the White House during the Eisenhower administration and works there through the Reagan years. We see the changes in the country through his eyes, but also through the eyes of his older son Louis (David Oyelowo), a civil rights activist who happens to be there for pretty much every milestone event.  He's there for the lunch-counter protests where they're assaulted by patrons, for the bombing of the freedom bus, best friends with Martin Luther King, the rise of the Black Panther party. I'm surprised he didn't happen to be on the very bus where Rosa Parks refused to move.

A parade of stars wander through to play the presidents.  Robin Williams is gone before you have time to think if he's convincing as Ike or not.  James Marsden is all boyish sincerity as JFK.  Liev Schreiber's pretty funny as LBJ.  John Cusack is John Cusack as Nixon.  Alan Rickman and Jane Fonda got the mannerisms right as Ronald and Nancy Reagan, but the way the movie craps all over Ronald yanked me out of the movie.

Then I remember the movie was written by Danny Strong, an actor who's quickly made a name for himself demonizing Republicans with his scripts for HBO's Recount, about the Bush-Gore 2000 election told through Gore-colored glasses, and HBO's Game Change, where he cut out all the parts of the book on Hillary, Obama, John Edwards, so he could just focus on Manchurian candidate Sarah Palin, who was about 1/5 of the book.

The movie's over two hours and it's overstuffed with melodramatic coincidences, subplots that meander, and it culminates with angelic voices swelling at the election of Obama.  It's also always watchable.  Not only is Whitaker mesmerizing as Gaines, but Winfrey, Oyelowo, Gooding and Howard all give stand-out performances too.

Butler wins weekend

1. The Butler - $25.01 million - 1 wk (Wein)
 . . . 2933 screens / $8527 per screen
2. We're the Millers - $17.78 ($69.51) - 2 wks (WB) -32.7%
 . . . 3325 / $5347
3. Elysium - $13.6 ($55.91) - 2 wks (TS) -54.4%
 . . . 3284 / $4141
4. Kick-Ass 2 - $13.57 - 1 wk (U)
 . . . 2940 / $4615
5. Planes - $13.14 ($45.09) - 2 wks (BV) -40.9%
 . . . 3716 / $3536
6. Percy Jackson 2 - $8.38 ($38.9) - 2 wks (Fox) -41.8%
 . . . 3080 / $2719
7. Jobs - $6.7 - 1 wk (OR)
 . . . 2381 / $2814
8. 2 Guns - $5.57 ($59.22) - 3 wks (U) -50.5%
 . . . 2471 / $2255
9. The Smurfs 2 - $4.6 ($56.91) - 3 wks (Sony) -50.7%
 . . . 2349 / $1958
10. The Wolverine - $4.43 ($120.46) - 4 wks (Fox) -44.9%
 . . . 2058 / $2150
11. The Conjuring - $3.91 ($127.86) - 5 wks (WB) -41%
 . . . 2001 / $1954
12. Despicable Me 2 - $3.78 ($345.99) - 7 wks (U) -36.1%
 . . . 1818 / $2080
13. Paranoia - $3.5 - 1 wk (Rel)
 . . . 2459 / $1423
14. Blue Jasmine - $2.36 ($9.49) - 4 wks (SP) +.6%
 . . . 229 / $10,301

I know its official title is Lee Daniels' The Butler, but that's only because Warner Bros. decided to be jerks about rights to the title.  The Butler is a showcase for Oprah Winfrey (reminding us all she was an actress first) and a parade of extended cameos portraying Presidents and First Ladies through the decades. I haven't seen it yet, but at best, this is Forest Whitaker's Remains of the Day opportunity.

This is a summer where half the sequels are just not living up to their predecessors.  Kick-Ass 2 swapped Nicolas Cage for Jim Carrey, but Carrey decided a few months ago he's had a change of heart about violence in film and therefore wouldn't promote the movie.  Percy Jackson 2 and Smurfs 2 are also films where their business isn't justifying their greenlighting, but I suppose they rely more on families buying the DVDs or renting VOD to make their money back.  Red 2 can't leave theaters fast enough.

Jobs wound up being a trifle.  Paranoia completely squandered the talents of Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman.  These movies might have fared better opening in September.

In holdovers, We're the Millers is the surprise hit of the summer and could make its way to $100 million.  A 32.7% drop in week 2 is a sign that audiences are disagreeing with critics.  It occurs to me that it reunites two of the stars from Horrible Bosses (Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis), the slightly less surprising hit from its summer.

Neill Blomkamp's Elysium isn't quite doing the business of District 9.  Its going to need to be a hit overseas if it wants to make a profit.

Planes had a mere $50 million budget, so it's proving to have been worth a theatrical run.  In fact, Planes: Fire & Rescue will be hitting theaters next summer.

In limited release, Austenland had a $10,650 per screen average on 4 screens.

Anne Hathaway as Fantine, Shia's A Giant, etc.

- Anne Hathaway will play Fantine in the big-screen treatment of the musical Les Miserables. Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) will direct. Hugh Jackman will play Valjean and Russell Crowe will play Javert. According to IMDB.com, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter are rumored to be up for the Thenardiers. Rush played Javert in the 1998 non-musical movie.

- On the day TMZ released footage of Shia LaBeouf getting beat up outside a Vancouver bar, Universal has announced he'll play a 20-foot giant in Gil Kenan's A Giant.

- Forest Whitaker and Johnny Knoxville has joined the cast of The Last Stand, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

New TV Shows

CRIMINAL MINDS: SUSPECT BEHAVIOR (CBS) - I've never seen an episode of the regular Thomas Gibson-starring Criminal Minds, but I thought I'd give this one a look. This one is obviously relying on the viewer to already be familiar with the tropes of this franchise. There was no attempt to define characters; it was 100% procedural. Forest Whitaker adds gravitas to whatever he attempts, but he has to be thinking, "I won an Academy Award. What am I doing here?"

MR. SUNSHINE (ABC) - Seen a couple episodes now and it's not really working for me yet. I love Matthew Perry and that he's on a comedy this time, but he doesn't have the ensemble to bounce off of just yet. Andrea Anders is her peppy self, but her presense reminds me that the brilliant Better Off Ted gave her more to do. Nate Torrence and James Lesure, meh so far. I do like Allison Janney as his boss Crystal. I hope it picks up, but Cougar Town's a better show.