A Quiet Place (2018)

Tags

Drama, Horror, Thriller

Stop, do you hear that? I do, but do they?
The runaway rhythm of hearts in dismay,
It pounds ever harder and makes the rib cage
A tight echo chamber, a tremulous gauge
Of the worry of war that no man wished to wage.

Hide each hollow creak and conceal every crunch
From our foolhardy feet or an indiscreet lunch.
Outlasting this long is no right to survive
When one simple slip-up that fate can contrive
Might cut your luck short when the sentries arrive.

Each whisper so slight from beneath our caught breath
Resounds with regret as it promises death.
Escaping means nothing, nor hiding from view,
When stubbing your toe puts a target on you.
Stop, do you hear that? I fear that they do.
_______________________

MPAA rating: PG-13

Faithful readers may know that I have very particular tastes when it comes to horror movies. Generally, the more blood there is, the less likely I’ll enjoy it, because I’d much rather be creeped out by atmosphere and implication than by ever more nauseating murders. That’s why A Quiet Place caught my interest, and indeed it is exactly the kind of scary movie for me, the kind that plays with your nerves rather than your stomach and even gets you to care about the characters in danger.

The film begins several months into an apocalyptic proliferation of monsters who detect their prey by sound and who have effectively ended civilization as we know it, leaving the unnamed Abbott family to scavenge supplies and survive in silence. Over a year later, they’ve built a fairly stable and silent life in their monster-prepared country home, complete with warning lights and trails of sand to soften their footsteps. The father Lee (director John Krasinski) does his best to prepare both his deaf daughter (Millicent Simmonds of Wonderstruck) with hearing aids and his son (Noah Jupe) with survival experience, while mother Evelyn (Emily Blunt, Krasinski’s real wife) tries to make their precarious existence as livable as possible. Yet in films of this type, half the tension is waiting for something to go wrong, and even if those with little patience may be a tad bored by the wordless beginning, they only need wait for the shoe to drop…noisily.

As far as the plot itself, it’s honestly nothing I haven’t seen before. That’s because it is literally a combination of 2002’s Signs (mysterious creatures with a hidden weakness, two kids in danger, a cornfield) and 2015’s Hidden (a genuinely lovable and caring family living in fear of being discovered if they’re too loud). Luckily, I love both Signs and Hidden, and even if I could write a whole post on how similar A Quiet Place is to them, its combination is different enough to be worthwhile and adeptly made enough to make it far scarier than either earlier film.

Krasinski certainly has an eye for tension, and the sound design heightens the threat of even everyday items. Sometimes, you see the potential scream a mile away (one scene is particularly painful to watch), while others sneak up on you. Yes, there are plenty of effective jump scares, and keeping the creatures out of sight until late in the film adds to their mystery and threat. The fact that Evelyn is pregnant also contributes to the inevitability of sound, and with so much of the film lacking dialogue, the sounds that do attract the creatures are potently jarring for the audience as well.

Every performance is outstanding in its fear, grief, and familial love, with Krasinski and Simmonds (who is actually deaf) being the stand-outs. Even relying on sign language, they’re entirely believable as a close family, the kind that says grace together before meals, albeit haunted by the trauma of their situation, and their resourcefulness proves quite clever when dangerous situations arise. I kept wondering why they wouldn’t close doors to keep the creatures out, but then I remembered that a closing door would only cause more noise. Some may wonder how they could have built some of their safety measures without making sound (they’re shown to have canned much of their food, and the electricity must run off a noise-making generator), but if you can ignore those niggling critiques, A Quiet Place is the latest proof that an intensely scary movie depends more on the craft behind it than the body count.

Best line (out of not many): (Evelyn, to Lee) “Who are we if we can’t protect them? We have to protect them.”

 

Rank: List-Worthy (tied with Hidden)

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
582 Followers and Counting

 

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Opinion Battles Year 4 Round 6 – Biggest Acting Oscar Snub

Don’t forget to vote for what you think is the biggest acting snub at the Oscars! Whether they got a nomination or not, there are plenty of actors and actresses who deserved it more than the actual winner, at least in our impassioned opinions. I chose Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips, which continued the trend of his strong performances being totally ignored by the Academy of late. Take a look and see which snub you find the most egregious.

Movie Reviews 101

Opinion Battles Year 4 Round 6

Biggest Acting Oscar Snub

The conversation always comes up during Oscar season, who should have been given an Oscar nomination or even taken the win, we look to select the ones we feel should have been given this honour.

Next Round – Favourite 90’s Animated Movie – Closing Friday 6^th July 2018

Milo – Stuff and That

Uma Thurman – Pulp Fiction

https://giphy.com/embed/123Oe2wu6PNfTa

via GIPHY 

Considering my reasoning for my Round 4 pick, it shouldn’t be hard to deduce who I’m picking today. She just oozes aloof cool and I can’t believe, in one of the best performances of the 90s, she was booted for who? Dianne Wiest? In wha–? I can’t even remember.

 

Darren – Movie Reviews 101

Taraji P Henson – Hidden Figures

In the 2017 Awards for best actress we didn’t get too much competition, we also had two…

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My Top Twelve Films of 2017

Tags

Lists

I know, I know; it’s almost the middle of 2018, and I’m just now getting around to a list of 2017 movies? Yep, that’s right. I’ve never been the type to immediately see every movie out in the theater, even since starting this blog, and, except for certain blockbusters, I typically have no qualms about waiting for the DVD or a second-run showing.

On top of that, Oscar season is rarely as appealing to me as it is to many bloggers. I was impressed with the 2016 Oscar season and did the list for that year shortly after the Academy Awards ceremony, but 2017’s awards contenders didn’t hold as much interest for me, which is why you won’t notice as many Oscar nominees below. Boy, it almost sounds as if I don’t even like movies, but it’s not true, I tell you!

All that to say that I’ve taken my time catching up on 2017’s offerings, and, with 2018 shaping up to be a strong year as well, I think I’m finally ready for a 2017 list of my own, which perhaps reflects my geeky and less-than-critical tastes. All of the Top Twelve made it onto my Top 365 List, and several of the runners-up came quite close. Like last year, I’ll start with the lower films still worth seeing and work up to #1. Keep in mind that these are only my personal favorites and that there are plenty of films I’ve still yet to see, so feel free to recommend your own faves. Time for a walk down recent memory lane.

Runners-Up:

Pitch Perfect 3

Death Note

Kong: Skull Island

September Morning

The Zookeeper’s Wife

Split

Alien: Covenant

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

Lady Bird

The Man Who Invented Christmas

The Lego Batman Movie

The Mountain Between Us

Get Out

All Saints

Cars 3

Fits and Starts

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

The Breadwinner

Marjorie Prime

No Game No Life: Zero

Only the Brave

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

 

 

12. The Big Sick

R-rated comedies usually aren’t for me, but Kumail Nanjiani’s semi-autobiographical account of his romance with wife and co-writer Emily V. Gordon had plenty of heart and insight to balance out its needless profanity. Both Nanjiani as himself and Zoe Kazan as Emily bring an authenticity to the strain of a sudden medical crisis, coupled with Nanjiani’s struggles with his Muslim family, while Holly Hunter and Ray Romano turn in fantastic supporting performances as Emily’s stressed parents. I rather wish this had won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar.

 

11. Thor: Ragnarok

You might notice a partiality for superhero movies in this part of the list. True, 2017 wasn’t the strongest year for the genre, but its offerings were still consistently entertaining, even as popcorn fluff. Diverging entirely from the established tone of the series, Taika Waititi brought a uniquely absurd sense of humor to Thor, which may have cheapened some of the stakes but still made for a fun ride and a great addition to the MCU in Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie.

 

10. Wonder Woman

Well, DC proved me wrong. After I was largely unimpressed by the dreary Batman v. Superman, Wonder Woman showed a better side of the DC universe through a period piece a la The First Avenger. Gal Gadot effortlessly filled an iconic role and, with strong support from Chris Pine, showed us a moving superhero origin story to rival Marvel’s juggernauts. The overblown climax is a bit messy, but the scene at No Man’s Land alone was worth the price of admission.

 

9. Spider-Man: Homecoming

I’m honestly surprised that I liked Homecoming as much as I did, since I still consider Tobey McGuire the cinematic Spider-Man. But you could say that I don’t mind a new generation growing up with Tom Holland as the webslinger. Instead of the origin story we’ve already seen twice, Homecoming centers on the formative years of Peter Parker as a teenage hero under Tony Stark’s wing, and its high-school focus and light-hearted tone made it work as a different version of Spider-Man that I could still buy into (as long as that new generation still watches the original trilogy).

 

8. War for the Planet of the Apes

I got to catch up with the whole modern Planet of the Apes trilogy last year, and I was shocked that it was as good as everyone said. War for the Planet of the Apes may be the bleakest of the three, but the intelligence and nuance of the first two films are compounded here with Caesar’s apes facing a fanatical human threat. Its CGI is jaw-dropping and its battles and prison escape scenes keep it entertaining, but the moral themes of suffering and empathy are what make this resonate more than your typical blockbuster.

 

7. Dunkirk

Maybe revolutionizing the war genre is overstating it, but Christopher Nolan turned the evacuation of Dunkirk into an impressively mounted puzzle, split into time-dilated thirds. Seeing it in the theater, the sense of tension was almost constant, and even if the individual characters weren’t as developed as I would have liked, it was riveting to watch all the pieces come together so masterfully.

 

6. Chronesthesia (a.k.a. Love and Time Travel)

This one may be a bit of a cheat since it’s technically from 2016, but it was only shown at two film festivals in New Zealand and Austin, so 2017 was the first chance I would have gotten to see it anyway. I love films that weave together character stories in unexpected ways with a little bit of the supernatural thrown in, and that’s exactly what Chronesthesia does. Hayden J. Weal does triple duty directing, writing, and playing the misanthropic main character, who wakes to find mysterious messages that help him meet and connect with others. Despite not even having a Wikipedia page, it’s a beautifully human film that’s more about compassion, romance, and empathy than the mental time travel its name suggests.

 

5. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Everyone loves the first Guardians, but I think Vol. 2 was even better, aided by having an already established cast that received greater development on top of all the sarcastic banter, sci-fi coolness, and ‘70s throwback tunes. Kurt Russell made for a great antagonist, and Yondu’s role provided one of the most bittersweet endings in the Marvel canon.

 

4. Darkest Hour

Darkest Hour is more than just a showcase for Gary Oldman’s stupendous turn as Winston Churchill; it’s one of the best biopics I’ve seen, bolstered by transportive cinematography and a wittily cracking script. There’s a reason Oldman was a shoo-in for Best Actor, and he truly disappears into the role, showing Churchill at his worst, his best, and his most desperate. Coming out the same year as Dunkirk, it’s also cool to see the same events from a different perspective.

 

3. Coco

Even with the over-reliance on sequels in recent years, Coco proves that Pixar’s still got it. I was nervous since the story of a Mexican boy transported to the Land of the Dead seemed too similar to The Book of Life from three years earlier, but Coco is better in every way and far from a copycat. It’s a love letter to family, music, Mexican culture, and lost loved ones, and a stunningly animated adventure to boot.

 

2. The Greatest Showman

Have I mentioned that I love musicals? Every now and then, someone tries to remind Hollywood that there is a market for well-done musicals, and along with Les Misérables and La La Land, I can only hope The Greatest Showman will convince them to make more. This was one of those rare theater experiences where I loved every minute, from Hugh Jackman’s charismatic P.T. Barnum to the exuberant choreography to the brilliantly catchy songs by Pasek and Paul. Perhaps not the most historically accurate film out there, but I still loved it.

 

1. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

That’s right. If any Last Jedi haters are reading this, yes, I think The Last Jedi was awesome. Whoo, glad I got that off my chest. But seriously, I don’t understand the backlash this movie has gotten, because even after hearing a lot of mixed reviews, I went in and loved it. What amazes me even more is that they did to Luke exactly what I didn’t want a year ago, but the rest was so entertaining that I didn’t mind much, though my opinion still hinges somewhat on how Episode IX continues the story. Last Jedi had some of the coolest scenes in any Star Wars film, and I look forward to seeing what else director Rian Johnson is cooking up for his own trilogy.

 

 

So that’s the list. As I said, there are still plenty of movies yet to see, so this is still a work in progress. If I could redo my 2016 list, it would look rather different now that I’ve seen some more worthwhile gems (hmm, maybe I should update it), and the same will likely be true of this 2017 list. Let me know what you think and whatever recommendations from last year you might have, and I’ll be right here planning the list for 2018. We’re only halfway through the year, and it’s already looking good!

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

Tags

Action, Sci-fi, Thriller

There once was a rogue on the run
Who liked to shoot first with his gun.
He’d often cheat death
Without catching his breath
And make every danger seem fun.

The hand of a princess he won.
Have you heard of the famed Kessel Run?
You may know he’s tough,
But you don’t know enough
Till you see how his tale had begun.
___________________

MPAA rating: PG-13

Of all the opinions swirling around Solo: A Star Wars Story, there’s one thing everyone seems to agree on: It’s not a bad movie. That’s more generous than a lot of films get, but that seems to be the basis around which many are building their views. They may embrace it as a prequel done right or poke every imaginable hole in its plot and execution, but one thing’s for sure: It’s not a bad movie. I’ll go a bit farther than that, though. Solo: A Star Wars Story is a good movie.

Solo had the unenviable task of recasting one of the most iconic roles in cinematic history, and no matter who they picked for Han Solo, there’s only one Harrison Ford. That being said, Alden Ehrenreich holds his own as a younger and scrappier Han, not quite looking the part, not quite nailing Ford’s mannerisms as well as I’d like, but he still works as a believable version of the beloved rogue. Likewise, Donald Glover slips smoothly into Billy Dee Williams’ debonair shoes, and Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca is, well, the same Chewbacca we’ve always known, one of the perks of playing an alien in a full-body suit. The recasting isn’t quite a slam dunk like J.J. Abrams’ rebooted Star Trek cast, which was arguably a harder sell, but it comes close enough

Joining these familiar faces/characters are a host of other rogues, from Paul Bettany’s scarred crime lord, to Woody Harrelson’s smuggler and grudging mentor, to a group of Cloud Riders led by a masked pirate dressed suspiciously like Hiccup’s mother in How to Train Your Dragon 2. The title of best addition, though, goes to the always beautiful Emilia Clarke as Han’s childhood friend and love interest Qi’ra, whose three-year separation from him among villains leaves you constantly questioning what exactly her role and intentions are. Many of the characters don’t stick around long enough to leave much of an impression, often just to put more focus on Han, but they do their parts admirably. Oh, and I suppose some mention is deserved by Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s irascible droid L3-37, whose strident calls for droid equality shed a different light on the sentience and rights of robots in the Star Wars universe (and an odd, though unconfirmed implication of Lando’s romantic tastes). It’s funny how “sarcastic” describes most of the named droids of Star Wars, and she’s no exception, though I preferred K-2SO in Rogue One.

I’ll admit that Solo didn’t have the same hype for me that past Star Wars films had, perhaps because it’s been only six months since The Last Jedi, perhaps because the marketing made it seem like the least Star Wars-y movie yet, perhaps because of the publicized difficulties behind the scenes that replaced directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller with the ever-reliable Ron Howard. Yet anyone going in with low expectations is bound to have a good time, whether you want a series of well-fashioned heist scenarios and action set pieces or a geeky exploration of Han’s origins, complete with the Millennium Falcon, the Kessel Run, those golden dice I never knew about till Last Jedi, and how he first met Chewie and Lando. I do wonder what Lord and Miller’s version would have looked like, but my VC and I agreed that, even with its changes in casting and a poorly lit visual tone, this still felt like Star Wars, which is the least we fans can hope for as Disney continues to churn out sequels, prequels, and in-betweenquels.

I’m still not entirely sure whether I consider Solo and Rogue One to be 100% canon, even if they may be “officially.” With no George Lucas, Jedi, or Skywalkers involved, they’re more like big-budget fan fiction, and I’m okay with that. To my mind, there has still not been a bad Star Wars movie, and I like how new directors and storytellers have added their own distinctive style to the most recent installments while preserving what made this world so compelling from the start. These Star Wars Stories have managed to surprise me both in quality and narrative. (Solo has a late revelation that I’m surprised isn’t getting more buzz, though maybe that’s because I haven’t seen Star Wars: Rebels. I don’t think this film will be the one-off that Rogue One was, though its box office performance leaves some doubt on a sequel.) Whether it’s real Star Wars or just someone else’s version of it, it’s still darn entertaining and decidedly not bad.

Best line: (Lando, to Han) “I hate you.”   (Han) “I know.”

 

Rank: List-Worthy (joining Rogue One)

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
582 Followers and Counting

 

2018 Blindspot Pick #5: Sunshine (2007)

Tags

Drama, Horror, Sci-fi, Thriller

Some say because mankind began,
Someday we’ll meet our end.
It’s borrowed time we spend.

Now centuries or more before
That fateful day arrives,
We fear for future lives.

We doubt if such is simply fate.
Should we rage if we could
If that good night be good?

Inevitable it may be,
Yet life is valued right
By how its owners fight.

Is saving life postponing death?
Then may death hesitate,
However short the wait.
___________________

MPAA rating: R (for language and some violence)

I’m a little embarrassed to have fallen behind on my Blindspot series this year, only now getting to May’s pick. Though, in my defense, I have been busy graduating and looking for a new job in web design, so I think that’s a reasonable excuse. Oh, and I discovered a funny little show called Parks and Recreation, which has kind of distracted me from my typical movie-watching schedule. Even so, I’m trying to catch up this month, and Sunshine made for a welcome return to my Blindspot picks.

I was familiar with Sunshine’s music long before I had any intention of watching it, even placing it at #49 on my list of Top 50 Movie Scores. Much of the electronica from composer John Murphy and the band Underworld is complementary for a sci-fi film but unmemorable, yet “Adagio in D Minor” is an immortal cinematic track as far as I’m concerned, serving to heighten the emotion of two visually striking scenes.

There’s more than the score, though, to make Sunshine worth watching, not least of which is the diverse and recognizable cast, all astronauts aboard the Icarus II on a mission to save mankind by reigniting the sun with a giant bomb.  Cillian Murphy seems to be the lead as Robert Capa, a physicist in charge of the actual payload, while the rest of the crew include Michelle Yeoh, Benedict Wong, Rose Byrne, Cliff Curtis, Troy Garity, Hiroyuki Sanada (Lost alert!), and Chris Evans, who was between superhero roles at the time. Actually, it’s telling that five of those actors have made their way into superhero movies, and wait(!) Hiroyuki Sanada is supposedly cast in the next Avengers movie so it’s probably only a matter of time before Garity and Curtis make the leap too. The characters aren’t much more developed than the crew of the Nostromo in Alien (which wasn’t much when you think about it), but the actors do well in giving them distinct personalities and methods, though it was odd to learn that a lot of background information on each one was thought up yet intentionally left out.

I tend to enjoy the science fiction genre in general, and Sunshine had many of the ingredients I like, from intelligent problem solving in the face of disaster to a foreboding, often claustrophobic setting, plus a few creative subtleties, as when pictures of dead crewmen are momentarily glimpsed in the glare of flashlights. The script was also thought-provoking as it repeatedly put the characters in life-and-death positions in which the death option meant the death of mankind. As for the plot, it reminded me of a cross between the Firefly episode “Bushwhacked” (searching a derelict ship with a crazed danger on board) and  Alien: Covenant (picking up a distress signal that jeopardizes the mission, though Sunshine had a better reason for their following of said signal). I know some have criticized Sunshine for how the last third suddenly veers into slasher-style horror, but it didn’t seem incompatible with what came before and, if anything, strengthened the parallels to an Alien movie.

Directed by Danny Boyle, Sunshine has a lot in its favor, which makes its fate as a box-office failure even sadder, but it’s also far from perfect. It’s hard for me to fault the grand spacefaring visuals, but there were multiple scenes where I just wasn’t sure what I was looking at, whether because of the unique design of the ship or because the scene was drowned in sunlight or shielded in darkness. This is the only Blindspot I’ve watched twice, the second time with my VC, who had the same trouble but still enjoyed it, and I did find it easier to understand on the second go once I knew what was happening. Coupled with that objection is how the “monster” of the film was kept semi-concealed, not through shadowy editing but through camera distortions that just became overused.

In addition, for a film about the potential end of humanity, there’s very little spiritual dimension to it, only reminders of man being “stardust” and some religious ramblings of a madman. I always find it weird when disaster or apocalyptic movies seem to intentionally avoid or demonize religion, since that’s where many a mind goes when death draws near, and the fact that Cillian Murphy reportedly “converted” to atheism due to this film reveals how coldly unspiritual its underpinnings are.

Despite these qualms, Sunshine was still a sci-fi journey worth taking, buoyed by strong casting, effects, and music. You could almost say it’s a better Alien movie than most of the Alien sequels, and that’s without any aliens. While its fatalism can get heavy and its visuals require some thought to decipher, this is one more corner of science fiction I’m glad to check off the ol’ to-watch list.

Best line (showing writer Alex Garland knew his influences): (Mace) “We should split up.”   (Harvey) “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea….”   (Mace) “You’re probably right. We might get picked off one at a time by aliens.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
582 Followers and Counting

 

For the Love of Spock (2016)

Tags

Biopic, Documentary, History, Sci-fi

Ideas are born and met with scorn
More often than embraced.
It’s hard to tell what might do well
Or else end up disgraced.

That’s why the rise of one franchise
Can be a wondrous thing
When someone’s pitch can find its niche
And gain a following.

Ideas sow seed while sponsors lead,
But icons call for skill,
For one who spans the dreams of fans
To live and prosper still.
__________________

MPAA rating: Not Rated (should be PG-13 for 2 F-words)

I don’t typically watch and review documentaries, but as a lifelong fan of Star Trek, I couldn’t pass up a celebration of Leonard Nimoy and his most iconic role. Funding through Kickstarter, For the Love of Spock  is unique in that Nimoy himself was actually involved in its production until his death in 2015, and his son Adam Nimoy not only finished the doco but turned it into a moving retrospective of his father and their rocky relationship.

I love Spock. Who doesn’t love Spock? Whether it’s Nimoy in the original series and films or Zachary Quinto in J.J. Abrams’ reboots, the half-human, half-Vulcan science officer of the Enterprise is a both compelling and surprisingly lovable character, even with his famous emotional reserve. For the Love of Spock dives into the original man behind the ears, from his early acting days to his musical and artistic pursuits to how he and his family reacted to the sudden stardom that Mr. Spock foisted upon them.

Apart from Nimoy and his son, there are a plethora of celebrity interviews that provide commentary of Nimoy’s life, whether the experiences of co-stars like William Shatner and George Takei or the geeky influence he imparted to Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jim Parsons, and J.J. Abrams. It’s a brilliantly edited encapsulation of all that Nimoy and Spock have given popular culture and boasts the emotional resonance of the loss of a legend and some surprising stories of how that legend developed, such as the Jewish origin of Spock’s “Live long and prosper” hand gesture. (You probably can’t see, but I’m doing it right now.) Occasionally, it’s also very funny, as when it recaps Nimoy singing “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins,” which is possibly the biggest what-the-heck moment I’ve seen all year and which I had to include below.

As I said, I don’t often watch documentaries, but I’ve liked the few I’ve seen, with For the Love of Spock up there among the best. I use a simpler “Thumb” system for docos since they’re harder for me to compare to narrative films, but this is undoubtedly worth Two Thumbs Up. Perhaps certain periods aren’t covered in as much detail, like the original films or Nimoy’s first autobiography I Am Not Spock, but Star Trek geeks and semi-geeks alike will find plenty to enjoy.

 

Rank: Two Thumbs Up

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
582 Followers and Counting

Psychokinesis (2018)

Tags

Action, Comedy, Drama, Foreign, Superhero

A hero isn’t born, you know,
With all he needs to earn that rank.
All roles are blank
Until they grow.

He may have strength to break a chain
Or speed to outrun any train
Or powers to abolish pain
With snap of finger or of brain,
The likes of which man can’t contain.
But all of that would be in vain
If he viewed others with disdain.

It’s finding one worth fighting for
That makes a hero from a blank.
___________________

Rating: TV-MA (with several beatings, the content is much more PG-13, but there are a few F words in the English subtitles)

It took me longer than everyone else to jump onto the bandwagon praising Yeon Sang-ho’s South Korean zombie hit Train to Busan. One advantage to waiting was that I didn’t have to wait too long for his next live-action feature, this time tackling the superhero genre. Though not on the level of his earlier film, Psychokinesis is an enjoyable counterpoint to the big-budget Marvel movies to which we’ve become so accustomed, a decidedly smaller-scale adventure that still delivers the goods.

The film starts out a little confusingly, segueing from an advertisement about successful young restaurateur Shin Roo-mi (Shim Eun-kyung) to a night attack on her restaurant by a group of workmen, who try to evict her and accidentally kill her mother. Soon after, we meet her absentee father Seok-heon (Ryu Seung-ryong), an oafish security guard who happens to drink from a fountain right as it’s contaminated with energy from a meteorite and discovers he has telekinetic powers. Just reading back those two sentences makes this film sound really bizarre, and maybe it is at the start, but I’m glad I gave it a chance because it somehow does work by the end. After hearing of his ex-wife’s death, Seok-heon decides to use his power to reignite his relationship with the daughter who hates him and protect her from the villainous corporate developers trying to remove her and the other tenants who refuse to leave their shops.

Like Train to Busan, Psychokinesis is just as concerned with its human characters as its genre conventions. At first, Seok-heon is hardly the type to stick up for others and tries to dissuade Roo-mi from joining the rebellious shopkeepers. Much as the inconsiderate father in Train to Busan had his conscience pricked, Seok-heon ends up second-guessing his own selfishness and aiding them with his psychic abilities. Both Ryu and Shim are quite good as an estranged father and daughter (they voiced similar estranged roles in Yeon’s previous film Seoul Station as well), and those playing the villains are gleefully evil, especially Jung Yu-mi (the pregnant woman in Train to Busan) as a beautiful, power-crazed mastermind.

As for the superhero side of things, the effects are actually very well done, and their impact is gradually built up as Seok-heon progresses from floating lighters and ties to throwing bad guys around to almost flying. It clearly takes immense concentration for him, and his mental straining often verges on comedic. With some over-the-top reactions and simplistic motives, the film knows when to chuckle at itself and when to be serious, bolstered further by some genuinely cool superhero moments.

Psychokinesis may not be quite on the technical level of Marvel’s offerings, but with its Korean setting and surprisingly small body count, it’s a refreshingly low-profile member of an increasingly crowded genre. It’s also a sign that Yeon Sang-ho is a director worth keeping an eye on for empathetic family dynamics and quality genre fare.

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
579 Followers and Counting

 

All Saints (2017)

Tags

Drama, Family

The saints whose names are still revered
Were known for how they persevered.
Some kicked and screamed; some volunteered,
But was not God’s will done?

Yet does that mean their walls and woes
Came tumbling down like Jericho’s?
No, perseverance only shows
When clouds eclipse the sun.
____________________

MPAA rating: PG

I’m a devout Christian, but I must admit that most overtly Christian movies are not very good. Some are just low quality, but even the ones I enjoy and admire (Facing the Giants, Fireproof, Miracles from Heaven) are often too sincere for their own good, preaching to the choir and sometimes irritatingly so (God’s Not Dead). The secular critics are just as often harsh with these films, and that’s why it was such a surprise when a faith-based film called All Saints managed to net a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes last year. It took me till now to see it myself, and I now see why it earned such positive buzz. Biblical films aside, it may be the best faith-based film so far.

This based-on-a-true-story movie features John Corbett as Michael Spurlock, a salesman who becomes an Episcopalian pastor and is immediately assigned to close the dying All Saints Church in Smyrna, Tennessee. With only twelve members, the church leadership have decided to sell the property, but Michael has an inspiration when a collection of Southeast Asian refugees come begging for assistance. Led by God and against everyone’s advice, he decides to try saving the church for these displaced families by using them to turn the surrounding church land into a farm and pay off the church debt.

What I think sets All Saints apart is that it doesn’t feel designed to appeal only to Christians by getting preachy; it’s the classic rule of “show, don’t tell.” A movie can moralize all day about how God works in mysterious ways and how good can come out of seemingly terrible situations, but it means much more when we see those lessons in action. All Saints lets the story itself illustrate that wisdom rather than rubbing viewers’ noses in it. It’s more concerned with the existing faith of the characters rather than earning converts; at one point, a volunteer describes himself as Buddhist and his two friends as “apparently nothing,” and Michael responds that “some of my best friends are nothing.” Instead of finger-wagging, there’s a challenge to Christians and nothings alike to work together, and it’s inspiring.

There are still moments where the acting and script have traces of that faith-movie weakness, but they’re largely overshadowed by strong performances from Corbett, Barry Corbin as an irascible veteran church member, and Nelson Lee as Ye Win, the representative of the Karen refugees who speaks the most English and works hard to improve their situation. The story itself is also not as predictable as it may seem; sometimes things fall into place with George Mueller-style providence, while at other times, Murphy’s law rules, which always makes people with and without faith wonder where God is and what His will might be.

I hope it’s not odd if I point to Fall Out Boy lyrics (“Immortals”) as a good summation of the film’s major theme: “Sometimes the only payoff for having any faith is when it’s tested again and again every day.” Most of the characters are Christian and God is glorified, but there’s a real-life story of encouragement, sacrifice, and community here that I think is universal, one that earns its sincerity. Those who normally avoid “Christian movies” ought to give this one a try.

Best line: (Forrest, to Michael after a risky decision) “Did you let your stupid off the leash again?”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
578 Followers and Counting

 

While You Were Sleeping (1995)

Tags

Christmas, Comedy, Romance

A lot can happen while you’re sleeping
If you’re sleeping hard,
And if you’re not expecting it,
You might be caught offguard.

Your organs might be harvested
While you are unaware,
Or someone may invade your dreams
To plant an idea there.

You might awaken to a world
Infested with undead,
Or find that you’ve somnambulated
Miles from your bed.

And, though this is unlikely,
You might wake up one fine day
To find that Sandra Bullock
Has become your fiancée.
____________________

MPAA rating: PG

This is one of those movies I’ve been meaning to see for a while since it’s a favorite of certain romance lovers, and I just got around to it, partly because it sounded vaguely similar to The Big Sick (romance, coma, etc.). Well, it’s actually not very similar at all, but that’s probably best, and I also didn’t realize it’s sort of a Christmas movie. While You Were Sleeping isn’t about to go down as one of the best rom coms ever, but it’s a likable little morsel of ‘90s-era sentiment.

Sandra Bullock plays Lucy Moderatz, one of those ‘90s romantic leads that are so winsome and pleasant that you wonder why they’re not already married. Then again, Lucy’s not sure either, instead shyly crushing on a well-dressed regular (Peter Gallagher) at her train token booth. When she unexpectedly saves him after he falls in the path of a train, she accompanies her comatose dreamboat Peter to the hospital, and a series of misunderstandings lead his family to believe she is his fiancée, with no one to dispute it. Thus, Lucy must decide how far she should play along with this unintentional fib, especially when suspected by Peter’s handsome brother Jack (Bill Pullman).

To be quite honest, I’m still not sold on Lucy’s reasoning for not telling the truth up front. She supposedly fears that the shock might harm Peter’s sensitive grandmother (Glynis John, who played the Banks matriarch in Mary Poppins thirty-one years earlier), yet I don’t see how she thought she could keep up the charade. Even so, it works well enough for rom-com purposes, including coincidences and comedic reasoning to explain away potential inconsistencies in her story. Despite the untruth, it’s easy to see why she would want to stay with Peter’s family, even apart from her chemistry with Jack, since they welcome her with open arms from her dismal single existence.

I suppose the main thing that was missing from While You Were Sleeping was the laughs. In spite of the multitude of misunderstandings, I barely chuckled through most of it, so the script is hardly on the level of a Nora Ephron film, yet it still left me smiling with its semi-predictable romance. Almost everyone comes out with sympathy, and I liked the cast overall, from Peter Boyle to Jack Warden but especially Bullock. My VC thought it was “good, leaning toward mediocre,” but it was a better film than that, just not one that I’d consider a classic.

Best line:  (Jack) “I guess I don’t remember meeting you.”   (Lucy) “Well, that’s probably because we’ve never met.”   (Jack) “That could have something to do with it.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
576 Followers and Counting

 

My Top Twelve Avicii Songs

Tags

Lists

When it comes to specific artists, I tend to only do Top Twelve lists for my all-time favorites, such as Lindsey Stirling and Coldplay, and even without the sad news of Avicii’s death on April 20, he would have gotten a Top Twelve from me eventually. Due to his passing, though, now seems like the best time to honor this giant of EDM music. (That’s Electronic Dance Music, for the uninitiated.)

When celebrities die, it usually doesn’t hit me personally. It’s sad, and I have sympathy for those who are hit hard, but the grief that many showed over David Bowie or Chester Bennington wasn’t the same for me because I wasn’t a fan of theirs at the time. But in this case, I listen to Avicii’s songs on a daily basis so not since Robin Williams committed suicide has a celebrity death saddened my heart this much, and it’s even sadder that, after many health issues, Avicii reportedly took his own life as well, at only 28 years old no less. I’m not even the hard-partying type or one to go “clubbing,” but I know a jam when I hear it.

Avicii, or Tim Bergling, was a Swedish DJ and producer with a prolific discography of electronic hits. I’ve even turned my mom into an EDM fan thanks to his repertoire of electronic earworms. He had a talent for finding just the right combination of notes for a brilliantly catchy hook that gets the head bopping and that lives on in the memory. That’s where Avicii will live on through his music, and his talent will be sorely missed.

12. “Heaven”

 
Apparently one of Avicii’s last tracks, “Heaven” has still not been released officially, but it shows his talent certainly wasn’t waning at the end. The lyrics “I think I just died and went to heaven” make me suspect that he knew what he was going to do long before his death.

 
11. “Waiting For Love”

 
Avicii has a wealth of great lyrics, but I especially love singing/listing the days of the week in this toe-tapping jam.

 

10. “We Write the Story” (collaboration with Benny and Bjorn of ABBA, with choir)

 
When I heard this, I thought it sounded like the theme for an Olympic ceremony, and close enough, it boasted a unique rock opera grandeur as the opening anthem for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest (which I hadn’t heard of till recently but is apparently a huge deal in Europe, having been televised for the last sixty-two years).

 

9. “I Could Be the One” (with Nicky Romero)

 
Sadly, the head-banging climax at the end isn’t nearly long enough.

 

8.  “Without You” (featuring Sandro Cavazza)

 
This was #3 on my Top Twelve List of 2017 Songs, and it’s also special to Norwegian DJ Kygo (another favorite artist of mine), who played it recently at Coachella as a tribute to Avicii.

 

7. “Broken Arrows”

 
Between the inspirational music video, the endlessly catchy hook, and country-ish vocals from Zac Brown, this song should absolutely have earned more notice.

 
6. “The Days”

 
Sometimes Avicii’s songs end too soon, but with two verses and a climax, “The Days” feels like one of his most complete songs, at least to me.

 

5. “Lay Me Down”

 
Why the heck was this not all over the radio? Sung by Adam Lambert, it makes me want to find the nearest dance floor.

 
4. “Hey Brother”

 
I think I’ve come to realize that I really enjoy the genre mix called “folktronica,” and “Hey Brother” is an outstanding example. In 2014, it was Avicii’s last song to place in the U.S. Top 40 charts.

 
3. “Levels”

 
“Levels” is where Avicii and EDM as a whole started to earn some real notice outside their niche. Sampling “Something’s Got a Hold on Me” by Etta James (which has been sampled elsewhere as well), “Levels” boasts one of Avicii’s most recognizable riffs and my favorite video of his and is often ranked as his best work (and my mom’s favorite too).  Except for “Sunshine” with David Guetta, it’s also his only song to warrant a Grammy nomination, which doesn’t say much for the Grammies if they can’t award a song and artist who clearly deserved more.

 
2. “Wake Me Up” (with Aloe Blacc)

 
Not too long ago, this folktronica hit would have been an effortless #1, but it’s been barely edged out, maybe because I’ve heard it so darn much. This is easily Avicii’s most played song on the radio and placed #1 on my Top Twelve List of Head-Banging Songs.

 
1. “The Nights”

 
The more I hear “The Nights,” the more I love it! Written with and sung by Nicholas Furlong, it’s more progressive house mixed with folktronica and just a little bit of a Celtic lilt. The lyrics put it over the edge for me and carry even more emotional weight now that Avicii is gone. “One day, you’ll leave this world behind, so live a life you will remember.” He did, and we’ll remember for him.

 
Runners-Up (from next to least favorite and not counting remixes):

“Fade into Darkness”

“For a Better Day”

“Sunset Jesus”

“I’ll Be Gone” (still unreleased)

“Last Dance”

“Lonely Together” (featuring Rita Ora)

“Seek Bromance”

“City Lights”

“You Make Me”

“Faster Than Light”

“Somewhere in Stockholm”

“Sunshine” (with David Guetta)

“Dear Boy”

“Friend of Mine”

“X You”

“Taste the Feeling” (with Conrad Sewell)

“Liar Liar”

“You Be Love (with Billy Raffoul)

“Heart Upon My Sleeve”

“Stay with You” (with Mike Posner)

“Addicted to You”

“Dancing in My Head” (with Eric Turner)

“Silhouettes”

 

Farewell, Avicii. May you rest in peace.

For the end, here’s one man’s brilliant remix of Avicii’s biggest songs, showing how he’s still inspiring his fans.