Atomic Blonde - Movie Review

Starring Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman, Toby Jones, Sofia Boutella, Eddie Marsan, Til Schweiger and Bill Skarsgard.
Written by Kurt Johnstad.
Directed by David Leitch.

★★★

There is a fight scene in a stairway that lasts for over ten minutes, and it's all in one take. That alone is worth the price of admission.

This feels like a crime thriller that could have been a bad John Le Carre adaptation, but it's been amped up with stunts and swagger. Theron plays Lorraine Broughton, an MI6 agent sent to Berlin during the week in 1989 that the Wall is expected to fall. She needs to track down a spy who supposedly has a list of double-agents, and that could be dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands.

The soundtrack's full of 1980's goodness, and Theron knows how to combine sensuality and martial artistry. James McAvoy also has a good time in his very non-Professor X role as her contact in Berlin who may or may not be looking for an opportunity to betray her.

It's from the co-director of John Wick, and it shows.

Kong: Skull Island - Movie Review

Starring Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John Goodman, John C. Reilly, Tian Jing, Corey Hawkins, John Ortiz, Jason Mitchell, Toby Kebbell, Thomas Mann, Shea Whigham, Eugene Cordero, Marc Evan Jackson, Terry Notary and Richard Jenkins.
Written by Dan Gilroy, Max Borenstein & Derek Connolly.
Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts.

★★★

This is like a Jurassic World sequel in a good way. Assemble the crew, get them to the island, and then let the monster-movie hijinks ensue!

It's 1973. Vietnam is winding down. John Goodman gets things rolling as the man who's seen satellite photos of the mysterious Skull Island and wants to lead the expedition. He gets funding from a skeptical senator (Richard Jenkins). He finds some experts and a military escort to go with him. This movie actually borrows a lot from Vietnam movies in their looks, sound, and feel. Particularly Apocalypse Now. They have to helicopter through a severe storm just to get to the island.

They don't know what they'll find, but they're greeted by King Kong. Kong is the star of the show. He knocks their helicopters down and the survivors are forced to scramble and make their way to a rendezvous point on the other side of the island in three days. Along the way they meet a lot of other fantastical creatures. (I'm okay with a giant spider, but why was there only one giant spider?) They also meet a WWII pilot (John C. Reilly) who's been stranded there for 27 years.

Oscar-winner Brie Larson plays a photojournalist, Tom Hiddleston is top-billed as a survivalist/tracker, Samuel L. Jackson is the colonel who turns into Ahab after Kong kills so many of his men. It's a true ensemble effort. Straight Outta Compton's Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell are here, as two very different characters.

Bring on Kong v. Godzilla!

10 Cloverfield Lane - Movie Review

Starring John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Gallagher Jr.
Written by Josh Campbell & Matthew Stueken and Damien Chazelle.
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg.

★★★

First, I wish they'd called this movie something else. It doesn't really have anything to do with 2008's Cloverfield movie. But, I had a lot of fun watching this.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Live Free or Die Hard) plays Michelle, a young woman who has decided to leave her fiance. She gets hit by a truck and wakes up in a brick room, chained to a pipe, and with an IV connected to her arm. Her abductor Howard (John Goodman) lets her know that there was a nuclear attack and they are now safe in his bomb shelter. But Howard is clearly not mentally stable, so how safe can she feel? Was there really an attack or is she just kidnapped?

She soon meets Emmett (Newsroom's John Gallagher Jr.) who confirms that he saw an attack and he had to fight just to be let in before everything went down. So the three of them form this little unit, with Howard the imbalanced one who carries a pistol on his hip at all times, and Michelle who keeps trying to find a way out, just to get confirmation something really happened outside.

It's a tightly wound survival thriller. I think it's only about 99 minutes long. Loved the intense climax too. I'm glad that JJ Abrams has the clout to make these original mid-range movies.

Monsters University - DVD Review

Starring the voices of Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Helen Mirren, Nathan Fillion, Charlie Day, Dave Foley, Sean Hayes, Peter Sohn, Joel Murray, Alfred Molina and Aubrey Plaza.
Directed by Dan Scanlon.

★★★

Pixar must have had a hankering to do a college comedy, a G-rated riff on Animal House and Revenge of the Nerds, so they revisited the Monsters Inc crew.  I don't think if you took a poll of the Pixar library that Monsters Inc would have won "Which Movie Do You Most Want a Sequel To?" but it's entertaining in its own right.

Mike and Sully are rivals at college. They fight at first, but when they both get kicked out of the Scare program, they have to work together to get back in. I liked it more than their past couple efforts (Brave, Cars 2).

Argo - Movie Review

Starring Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Victor Garber, Clea DuVall, Tate Donovan, Kyle Chandler, Rory Cochrane, Chris Messina and Bob Gunton.
Directed by Ben Affleck.

★★★★

At this point, I'd have to say Ben Affleck is a must-see director.  The first three movies of his directing career - Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and now Argo - have all been fantastic.

This is the true story of the rescue of six Americans in 1979 from Iran.  When the US Embassy was overrun and all 50 Americans inside were taken hostage, six employees had escaped and hid in the home of the Canadian ambassador.

Affleck cast himself as Tony Mendez, the CIA operative charged with getting those six out.  He comes up with the idea of pretending he's a Hollywood producer doing a location scout, and pretending that the six are part of his film crew to get them out.

The Iranian parts are as suspenseful and tense as a prison-break movie, the Washington parts flow like a good West Wing episode, and the Hollywood parts are like any good satire.  And there's not one wasted moment.  It moves and crackles.

This movie seems a shoo-in for nominations for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay and a few others, and lest that makes the movie sound like stodgy homework, fear not.  It flies by.