The Founder - Movie Review

Starring Michael Keaton, Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch, Laura Dern, Linda Cardellini, Patrick Wilson, BJ Novak and Kate Kneeland.
Written by Robert Siegel.
Directed by John Lee Hancock.

★★★

This has the plucky appeal of a Frank Capra movie that ultimately turns subversive when our hero Ray Kroc winds up being the villain.

Keaton plays Kroc, a middle-aged hustling salesman of restaurant products who comes across McDonald's in 1954. It's run by two salt-of-the-earth brothers (Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch) who have tried and failed to franchise their brand. Kroc begs and pleads to expand them, and they finally give in.

Kroc sees himself as a man living the American dream, and he does, but he is so driven, he doesn't care who he crushes to accomplish his goals, and in the end, he screws over the very brothers whose business made Kroc a success.

I came out admiring it, but with a bad taste in my mouth. It's a clever twist on determination and hard work. I wish the director had been able to stick the landing better, but I can see why there was a lot of belief that Keaton would get another Oscar nomination for this role.

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Other 2016 Movies I Saw

EQUALS (★★) Starring Nicholas Hoult, Kristen Stewart and Guy Pearce.

Sterile, dystopian film that never really explores new ideas. It's a future where all emotions are suppressed and everyone wears white while they do "work" on giant iPads. Two individuals fall in love, which is forbidden, so they must hide their love. It never goes to the next level with the story.

FINDING DORY (★★★) Starring the voices of Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks and Ed O'Neill.

It's bright and bubbly and contains several moments of Pixar magic, but it also violates the rules it had set up from the first movie. We accept anthromorphized fish, but they were kept within certain bounds. Remember how hard it was to escape the tank in the first movie? This movie the fish hop from tank to tank with no problem, and there's an octopus that apparently went through Navy SEAL training, because he can do anything. Why would an octopus be able to drive a truck? I liked it, but by Pixar standards, it's one of their weaker entries.

NOW YOU SEE ME 2 (★★) Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo and Woody Harrelson.

This movie takes what didn't work in the first movie and makes it worse. There's more CGI used in place of actual magic tricks, more contrivances to get characters from Point A to Point B, and an ending that falls even farther apart than the last one. In the first one, the fact that Mark Ruffalo's Dylan was revealed to be an ally didn't make sense. What they do with a character at the end here is even worse.

RISEN (★★★) Starring Joseph Fiennes, Tom Felton and Cliff Curtis.

One of those Christian movies that doesn't feel like it's pandering. It centers on a Roman centurion (Fiennes) who is ordered to find the body of Jesus, which disappeared from the tomb three days after his crucifixion. It's a part of the Christ story rarely dramatized - the post-resurrection part - but done so to decent effect here.

STORKS (★★★) Starring the voices of Andy Samberg, Kelsey Grammer and Jennifer Aniston.

It's got a thin plot, but the gags come fast and furious. A lot of your enjoyment will depend on how much you like Samberg's style of humor. I happen to be a big fan of Brooklyn Nine-Nine so I liked it.

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT (★★★) Starring Tina Fey, Margot Robbie and Martin Freeman.

This fact-based comedy-drama plops Tina Fey as a reporter in the middle of Afghanistan. These are the type of movies that are difficult to market, and while it's not great, it is good, and I'm glad movies like this can still get made.

The Conjuring 2 - Movie Review

Starring Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Frances O'Connor, Madison Wolfe, Lauren Esposito, Simon McBurney, Franka Potente, Benjamin Haigh and Maria Doyle Kennedy.
Written by Carey & Chad Hayes.
Directed by James Wan.

★★★

It might not be quite as good as the first one, but it's still effective in its own right. Director James Wan is a master at playing with shadows and dark corners, drawing out the tension, releasing it, and then jolting the audience.

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are back as Ed & Lorraine Warren, who investigate paranormal activity, usually debunking it, but sometimes they meet fierce opposition from evil spirits. The movie is able to claim it's based on a true story, and yes it is, but it takes a lot of liberties with the truth of the story for maximum scares. Which is fine. They can embellish another case for The Conjuring 3.

This time the Warrens are summoned to England, where a single mother and her four children are dealing with a possible haunting, especially daughter Janet (Madison Wolfe). Furniture moves on its own, a disembodied voice whispers in the dark, that sort of thing. In what came to be known as the Enfield Poltergeist, the evil spirit reveals himself, and from there, the Warrens need to figure out why he's there and how to make him go away.

In some ways, Wan goes bigger here. The third act has more CGI than the original, and one creation actually pulled me out. Too fake-looking to be scary. On the other hand, there are some long-lasting scenes. I still think about the scene where Lorraine is alone in Ed's office and what visits her there.

So while the real-life cases might not have been as spectacular as their movies, it's still a fun journey, well-crafted. Always best to wait until after the movie to look up what really happened.

Insidious Chapter 2 is #1

1.  Insidious 2 - $41.05 million - 1 wk (FD)
 . . . 3049 screens / $13,463 per screen
2.  The Family - $14.5 - 1 wk (Rel)
 . . . 3091 / $4691
3.  Riddick - $7.01 ($31.28) - 2 wks (U) -63.1%
 . . . 3117 / $2250
4.  The Butler - $5.58 ($100.04) - 5 wks (Wein) -33.6%
 . . . 3239 / $1723
5.  We're the Millers - $5.42 ($131.6) - 6 wks (WB) -29.6%
 . . . 3238 / $1672
6.  Instructions Not Included - $4.25 ($26.58) - 3 wks (LG) -47.8%
 . . . 933 / $4555
7.  Planes - $3.07 ($82.98) - 6 wks (BV) -25.6%
 . . . 2739 / $1119
8.  One Direction: This Is Us - $2.4 ($26.89) - 3 wks (TS) -40.7%
 . . . 2300 / $1043
9.  Elysium - $2.05 ($88.39) - 6 wks (TS) -34.7%
 . . . 1720 / $1192
10. Percy Jackson 2 - $1.83 ($62.04) - 6 wks (Fox) -24.8%
 . . . 1638 / $1114

Insidious Chapter 2 had the second-highest September opening ever.  Patrick Wilson and director James Wan really know how to make money together.  The Family was modestly budgeted so its opening isn't surprising. I'm sure megaplex chains wish they'd get more wide releases this time of year when stuff like Getaway can't leave theaters fast enough.

In limited release, a couple Christian titles (The Investigator, Final: The Rapture) did well.

The Conjuring - Movie Review

Starring Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Lili Taylor, Ron Livingston, Joey King and Mackenzie Foy.
Directed by James Wan.

★★★1/4

James Wan made his name with Saw, a clever, grisly indie that spawned several sequels with diminishing returns.  He then came back with Insidious, where he kept the scares within a PG-13 realm, and while it had numerous flaws, it did a great job with its primary goal - to be scary.

The Conjuring is similar to Insidious in that it goes for PG-13 scares with supernatural forces.  The MPAA rated it R simply because it was too scary.

The movie's based on a true story from Ed & Lorraine Warren, paranormal investigators who were also involved in researching what came to be known as the Amityville Horror.  Here, they're helping the Perron family, who've moved into a farmhouse that's apparently haunted by some former occupants.

What holds The Conjuring back is that notion that it's "a true story."  Even if you believe in spirits, it goes places where you just know they're embellishing for the movie's sake. I even tried looking up the "true story" and it wasn't easy to find.  The oldest daughter has since written a book based on her experiences from that house; I'm sure it may have been spooky for her but didn't come close to what the house manifests here.

Is it scary?  Yes. Especially in the middle, Wan and his crew do a great job with lingering camera shots, dim lighting, and playing with audience expectations and outsmarting them for effective jump-scares.  This movie is now the answer to "What film has the scariest hand-clap in cinematic history?"