Morgan - Movie Review

Starring Kate Mara, Anya Taylor-Joy, Toby Jones, Rose Leslie, Boyd Holbrook, Paul Giamatti, Michelle Yeoh, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Yare, Chris Sullivan, Vinette Robinson and Brian Cox.
Written by Seth Owen.
Directed by Luke Scott.

★★

It is the great misfortune of Morgan that a better version of it came out last year. That would be Ex Machina.

This movie is about an artificial intelligence that has grown in five years to look like a teenage girl. Morgan (Anya Taylor-Joy) had an incident with one of her doctors - she stabbed her in the eye - and so now Lee Weathers (Kate Mara) from "Corporate" has been brought in to determine if Morgan should be terminated, or if it's safe to keep her going.

Lee is the outsider who comes to the secluded study facility. Everyone has their job, and it's clear the staff is fond of Morgan. I enjoyed settling in with this cast. It's a good bunch of actors. I knew from the trailer where this movie was going to go, but I found it really unfortunate that it took some really dumb decisions by someone allegedly smart people to get us into the violent second half.

The movie's directed by Ridley's son Luke Scott, and while there's beauty to some of his shots, this felt like a conventional debut for him. I thought the atmospheric build was nice, but the emotional tension didn't work for me in the third act. It felt like the movie was going through its "this is how these type of movies need to climax" motions.

I enjoyed Taylor-Joy (The Witch) as Morgan. Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones' Ygritte) was interesting using an American accent. But yeah, hunt down and watch Ex Machina.

Turbo - DVD Review

Starring the voices of Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Pena, Maya Rudolph, Luis Guzman and Snoop Dogg.
Directed by David Soren.

★★½

It combines the fast pace of Cars with the singing slugs from Flushed Away. Heh. It's an okay animated film for kids. As an adult, I liked the voicework from Paul Giamatti and Samuel L. Jackson, and the actual animation is on the high-end of CG-quality. It just never captured my imagination. Maybe because I could care less about the Indy 500. A better movie would make me care anyway.

Saving Mr. Banks - Movie Review

Starring Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, Bradley Whitford, Ruth Wilson, B.J. Novak, Melanie Paxson, Annie Rose Buckley and Rachel Griffiths.  Directed by John Lee Hancock.

★★★½

I've never read P.L. Travers' original Mary Poppins book, but this film successfully filled me with desire to hunt down a copy. Seems like something my kids should read, familiar as they are with the Disney version with which Mrs. Travers had so many issues.  And if a movie makes you coming out wanting to read a book, that's a good thing, right? (I'm currently in the middle of reading 12 Years A Slave.)

This movie is a soft approach to the battles between Disney and P.L. Travers over her work, at least as far as the 1961 scenes go. It also keep flashing back to 1906, when Travers was a small girl, and those scenes inform why Mary Poppins means so much to Travers, and how protective she is of her work.

Colin Farrell, absent from the marketing save for his voice in the trailer and his name on the poster, has a substantial role as P.L.'s father, a banker who gets beaten down by life. His stuff is at least a third of the movie, and he and Ruth Wilson (as his wife) are very good in their very serious roles.

I'll admit I was moved by the end. Came together quite nicely, so when Travers (Thompson) had her emotional catharsis, I was right there with her.

John Dies at the End - DVD Review

Starring Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Paul Giamatti, Clancy Brown, Glynn Turman, Doug Jones, Allison Weissman and Daniel Roebuck.
Directed by Don Coscarelli.

★★½

The story of my life.  As far as I know.

I felt like I walked halfway through a lighter episode of Supernatural when watching this.  There's a lot of narrating in the main character's head, and since he's on drugs most of the movie, we get a twisted, distorted presentation of the story. He's not sure if what he's seeing is real, and therefore we never know what we're supposed to accept at face value.  Early on, a girl bursts into a pile of writhing snakes.

If you cross The Matrix, Buckaroo Banzai and all of Richard Kelly's movies together, you might begin to get an idea of this film's aspirations, even if it doesn't quite get there. If you play deadpan the whole time, why should I care about anyone's fate?  So what if John lives or dies.  He'll just shrug about it.

Random Movie Stuff - 1/28/13

- Anna Paquin (Rogue), Ellen Page (Kitty Pryde) and Shawn Ashmore (Iceman) will all be back for X-Men: Days of Future Past.  It features an alternative future for the mutants where they're all being hunted by Sentinels.  Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Patrick Stewart (Professor X), James McAvoy (young Professor X), Ian McKellen (Magneto), Michael Fassbender (young Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (young Mystique), and Nicholas Hoult (young Beast) will return as well.  Bryan Singer, who directed the first two X-Men movies, will be back.  It will open July 18, 2014.

- Paul Giamatti is in talks to play the Rhino in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.  He'd join Jamie Foxx, who's playing Electro, as the two villains Spidey must face.  Meanwhile Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) will play Mary Jane Watson and Dane DeHaan (Chronicle) will play Harry Osbourne.  Felicity Jones (Hysteria) is in an undisclosed role.  Andrew Garfield (Peter), Emma Stone (Gwen), and Sally Field (Aunt Mae) are returning.

- Since JJ Abrams has signed on to direct Star Wars 7, he won't be able to direct Star Trek 3 but will remain on as a producer.  Star Trek into Darkness opens this May.  Abrams will also produce Mission Impossible 5 with Tom Cruise.

- Lucasfilm has decided not to release Star Wars Episodes 2 & 3 to the big screen in 3-D.

Coming in the next few months:

- Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) is returning to his crime-drama roots with Trance, starring James McAvoy as an auctioneer named Simon who helps steal some priceless art for a mob boss (Vincent Cassel) but after getting knocked unconscious, Simon can't remember where he hid the art.

- Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) will next appear in Twelve Years A Slave, based on a true story about a mid-18th century New York educated free-man (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who was kidnapped and sold for slavery in the South.  Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Paul Giamatti, Alfre Woodard and Benedict Cumberbatch co-star.

- Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd will star in They Came Together, a parody of You've Got Mail and romantic-comedy trappings in general.  Michael Shannon, Ed Helms and Cobie Smulders co-star.

- This Is the End will open June 14.  It's written and directed by Evan Goldberg & Seth Rogen (Superbad).  It stars Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson as fictional versions of themselves, trapped in Franco's house after "a series of cataclysmic events" destroy Los Angeles. Something tells me at some point they all smoke pot.

The Ides of March - DVD Review

★★★

Starring Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright, Max Minghella, Jennifer Ehle and Gregory Itzin.  Directed by George Clooney.

I'm a political junkie, so it's fun for me to watch politically-based stories. When they're realistic or accurate, they can be exciting (Primary Colors), and when they're not, they still provide their own howling amusement (The Contender).

Based on a play, this movie focusses on the campaign managers, and the down-and-dirty politics they have to play for their guy to win in the primary. It's about Democrats but it could really go to either party.

Ryan Gosling plays Stephen Meyers, a highly-skilled campaign operative who's finally found an employer he can believe in - Gov. Mike Morris (George Clooney). But before he can win the presidency, Morris must win the crucial primary of Ohio. The movie is more about Meyers convening with campaign manager Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) than it is the actual candidate. Meanwhile the campaign manager (Paul Giamatti) for their opponent would like to figure out a way to get Stephen to switch sides.

I tend to like Gosling in everything he does, but when you have two heavywrights like Hoffman and Giamatti, I wanted to see more of them, wanted to see them face off.

Clooney's directing job is solid, but once the credits roll, it lingers more as a good movie than a great one.

Win Win - DVD Review

★★★


Starring Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor, Burt Young, Melanie Lynsky, Alex Shaffer and Margo Martindale.  Directed by Tom McCarthy.

Nice to see a middle-America comedy-drama come along that doesn't condescend and doesn't go for the obvious. Paul Giamatti plays a lawyer whose firm is in financial dire straits. He finds an opportunity to get some extra money by becoming the guardian of one of his elderly clients. Meanwhile he's a part-time wrestling coach. His plans grow more fragile when the grandson of his client shows up.

The movie's a nice balance between humorous situations and the dramatic fallout. It's a good showcase for Giamatti, and it makes for a pleasant rental.