It’s that time of year again. Love is in the air, and if you were looking for a not so conventional love story then Old Fashioned may just be the film you need. Old Fashioned tells the story of a romance between a solitary man, Clay (Rik Swartzwelder), a woman with a passion for life, Amber (Elizabeth Roberts); however, instead of dating like people do now-a-days, Clay and Amber attempt to court each other instead, which means no kissing or anything beyond that.
Clay won’t even allow himself to be alone with Amber at all unless they’re in public or in what Clay might define as an “acceptable” situation. In fact, on their first official date Clay takes Amber to the local church where they have a pre-marital counseling session. Old fashioned, indeed! It’s a bit of an extreme approach to dating, and many of the other characters in the film agree. Clay spends most of his time defending his beliefs to those who are closest to him.
The get more viagra vs generic users have experienced significant enhancement in erection, penetration and sustaining erection for the longer period. Certain cases are less severe where the patients show no symptoms and never viagra in uk davidfraymusic.com really require any surgical treatment. Symptoms specific to men:- Erectile dysfunction Infertility Reduced sex drive Symptoms specific to women:- Irregular menstrual periods Lack of menstruation Milky davidfraymusic.com commander cialis discharge from the breasts 4. Working out is good for our health, we all know that, it is a natural viagra purchase canada condition that all women encounter as they start to age. There were some performances in Old Fashioned that felt a little rocky, but I have to say that Clay’s aunt Zella (Dorothy Silver) is now one of my favorite humans. She’s funny, sharp and anything but timid, which is nice to see in an elderly character in a film. Instead of being a “sweet old lady” or just an old person who swears repeatedly for comic effect, Zella is just a strong character. She lets Clay know exactly how she feels about his dating and other life habits without any filter. I really enjoyed every scene she was featured in. Go Aunt Zella! Rik Swartzwelder and Elizabeth Roberts have a very natural on-screen chemistry. The interactions between the two characters feels sincere.
What I enjoyed most about Old Fashioned is that it presents an alternative to how most people pursue relationships, but it also acknowledges that resisting every dating convention to an extreme can make it impossible to form a meaningful relationship. Like in the scene where Clay and Amber “get lost” (Amber’s idea for a date where they drive to a random destination) and Clay refuses to admit he wants Amber, and he resists her when she leans in for a kiss. Because Clay refuses Amber any sort of intimacy—even if it is something more conservative—she feels like Clay doesn’t really value their relationship at all. In a nutshell I think this film emphasizes the idea that most people move too quickly in relationships, but if one takes things too slowly in an attempt to have a perfect relationship it can be equally damaging. Overall, it’s refreshing to watch a film with this sort of outlook on relationships. Even if it is a view most people might not agree with.
After a six-month delay, the Wachowskis’ latest science fiction epic has hit theatres. Was it worth the wait? That depends on your suspension of disbelief.
A young woman (Mila Kunis) learns she is a member of an intergalactic royal family and has been targeted for assassination; however, a disgraced alien soldier (Channing Tatum) is determined to keep her safe at all costs.
(SPOILER WARNING!)
I’m a sucker for space operas. When I heard the Wachowskis’ were working on a film that looked to be equal parts Star Wars and Dune, I was intrigued. Well, perhaps “curious” is a better way to put it. The Wachowskis’ star—to use a space-themed metaphor—has been slowly falling since the release of the Matrix sequels. Even the first film of that trilogy, while revolutionary in 1999, has lost some of its luster and seems destined to be relegated to cult classic status despite its initial popularity. Regardless, I went into Jupiter Ascending with an open mind. Indeed, I wanted to like this film. Unfortunately, I find myself at a bit of a loss for words, but not because the film left me speechless.
As a speculative fiction aficionado and writer, I’m well-versed with the genre’s unique writing challenges. In particular, they require more exposition in order to explain its worlds and its rules. This is usually harder to do in a film because the format requires a more focused and streamlined story than, say, books, which have the advantage of being able to meander and explain things in more depth.
It’s in this department Jupiter Ascending falters. It constantly throws names, terms and concepts at the audience throughout its two-hour run time. Even for someone like me, I was a bit confused at points. Now, I was genre-savvy enough to figure out some things, and others were explained later. A small example: a character used the phrase, “Feed him to the void,” which baffled me until a few minutes later when another character was ejected out an airlock. With all the alien races, political factions and military organizations running about and their sometimes murky motivations and loyalties, it is easy to get lost. On one hand, it shows how expansive the film’s universe is, which is good. The best worlds in speculative fiction are ones that are larger than the stories at hand. It lends them a sense of verisimilitude. The problem is Jupiter Ascending gives the audience little time to process anything. Exposition is done best early on so the plot and characters take the forefront later (though with more exposition peppered throughout), but Jupiter Ascending spends most of its run time on exposition, especially in the first half. To its credit, it’s not so convoluted that the main plotline is indecipherable, but much of the minutia is confusing.
Like Steven Moffat does for his Doctor Who scripts, the Wachowskis stuff a multitude of ideas into Jupiter Ascending, but focus on only one; the rest are details. Unlike Moffat, the Wachowskis’ concepts aren’t as airtight. While it wasn’t necessary to explain everything, these details had so many holes it undermined some of this universe’s integrity. Case in point: after a harrowing mid-air chase through Chicago with alien spacecraft, the buildings are shown at a distance being quickly repaired. Caine (Tatum) explains that people’s memories will be wiped so as to perpetuate the illusion that nothing happened. While he said some would “slip through the cracks,” it’s assumed their stories wouldn’t be believed. Considering the particular aliens doing this looked like the infamous “greys,” the implication is that they inspired those stories. This raises too many questions that aren’t answered. What about footage on security cameras? How can they rebuild these skyscrapers this fast? How do they account for people who are injured or killed? Do they collect all the debris from their damaged ships? Simply repairing buildings and erasing (most) people’s memories isn’t enough to avoid detection. Ironically, the film illustrates this itself by having the “greys” overlook a photo taken by Jupiter (Kunis) with her smartphone when she spots them. Worse yet is there’s no clear reason given for the secrecy. It could be inferred that, given the Abrasax family’s genocidal plan for Earth (more on that later), it’s meant to avoid a rebellion, but given their vastly superior technology and supreme arrogance, it seems more likely they’d assume they’re unbeatable.
Another faulty idea is this concept called “recurrence,” which is essentially a scientific version of reincarnation. It’s said that on rare occasions a person is born with the exact same genetics as someone who has died, and this, apparently, entitles him/her to the same rights and privileges as the forerunner. Jupiter (Kunis) is being targeted for assassination because she is a recurrence of the Abrasax queen. This, the central conceit of the film, is ridiculous. I’m not a scientist, but by my understanding of genetics, the odds of the same set of genes coming together to make what amounts to a double of someone is near impossible, if not completely impossible, outside of identical twins or cloning. It’d be like making a naturally-born “reincarnation” of George Washington president by virtue of his genes. While the Abrasax siblings make frequent remarks about Jupiter looking like their mother and sometimes even ask if she has her memories, it’s clear that Jupiter isn’t the same person. What’s sad is this “genetic royalty” is the only thing that makes her special. Now, this intergalactic society places the highest regard on genetics and the manipulation of them, but this notion still borders on absurd.
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My apologies for spoiling a 1973 cult classic. :P
How this works is never explained. It wouldn’t have needed a detailed explanation, let alone a terribly scientific one, but I don’t understand why human beings are needed to make this substance or why it requires 100 bodies to make one bottle of the stuff. As it stands, it’s only a plot device to make some of the Abrasax siblings more villainous than others.
Also, bees were genetically engineered to sense royalty. Then why don’t they swarm the Queen of England? Or do they only detect “reincarnated” intergalactic queens?
Jupiter herself is a problematic heroine, though I use that term loosely. First, if I may nitpick, while her namesake is technically the planet, the name Jupiter is masculine. It’s the Latin name of Zeus and more or less means “shining father.” I suppose it somewhat ties into her true character, but even then it still seems mismatched. Regardless, the bigger problem is she hardly does anything despite being the intended protagonist. She makes a few choices that affect the plot and sort of joins the action during the climax, but for the most part she spends the film being the McGuffin, getting rescued and/or feeling useless. The supporting characters do most of the heavy lifting. I realize she’s a maid and not a fighter, but the Wachowskis could’ve done more with her.
It sounds like I absolutely hated this film, which isn’t true. There’s cool stuff here. The special effects are outstanding. Unlike the monochromatic Matrix trilogy, this film is full of vibrant colors. The creature, ship and technology designs are imaginative. The universe is lush with history and splendor. I’ve rarely seen this level of world-building in a film. In fact, the most recent example of competition I can think of is Avatar (and maybe the Wachowskis’ Cloud Atlas). The villains, as mentioned, “wear hats” ranging from gray to black. Eddie Redmayne gives the most interesting performance as Balem, the youngest Abrasax, by giving him a breathy, quiet voice that always makes him sound a little off-kilter (though it does sometimes get annoying). There are a few memorable lines, like Stinger’s (Sean Bean) advice to Caine, which gets the hero to rush in and save Jupiter. The action is well-done and exciting. Too bad these were buried under an overabundance of faulty ideas.
Ultimately, Jupiter Ascending is a flashy film over-encumbered by its gee-whiz ideas. If you suspend enough disbelief, it’s a fun ride. Otherwise, you may find yourself asking too many questions.
It’s about damn time. Wes Anderson and his dedicated crew have finally achieved the recognition they deserve with this year’s nine Oscar nominations for The Grand Budapest Hotel. I can’t say that I’ve been a life-long follower of Mr. Anderson, but in the few years that I have been following his career it makes me so happy to see his work get the attention it truly deserves. The Grand Budapest Hotel has already won the Golden Globe for best motion picture in a Comedy or Musical, and now it is up for nine Oscars including Best Picture, Cinematography, Costume Design, Directing, Film Editing, Makeup and Hair, Music, Production, and Best Screenplay.
If you aren’t already familiar with this film, The Grand Budapest Hotel tells the story of a young man named Zero (Anthony Quinonzez) who lands a job at the prestigious Grand Budapest Hotel and also becomes the protégé of the hotel’s concierge, M. Gustave (Ray Fiennes). The film is set in a fictional country in Eastern Europe in the 1930s, during the time between the two world wars. As you can imagine, the costumes are just as amazing as one could hope in a Wes Anderson film. They are incredibly intricate and colorful and assuming you’ve seen his other films, there are all of his usual camera tricks: the quick pan, tracking shots, close-ups of handwritten notes/characters’ faces looking directly into the camera. The only Anderson trope missing from the film is the ever present Kinks or Rolling Stones songs littered throughout the soundtrack. Instead, the soundtrack is comprised of entirely original/instrumental songs. Don’t worry. If you were hoping for a consistently Wes Anderson- style film, The Grand Budapest Hotel is your movie.
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There isn’t anything terribly offensive about The Grand Budapest Hotel that makes me hesitate to quite jump on board this Wes Anderson Oscar-bandwagon. Personally, I just don’t feel the same emotional connection with it as I do with most of his other films. That being said, I must also admit that I will support this film wholeheartedly in the Oscar competition, because I believe that Wes Anderson deserves the recognition not only for this film, but for all his other work as well. It may have taken this long and is not the perfect film for it, but Anderson and his team have finally gotten the love they deserve.
Big Eyes? More like big whoop! Sorry, that was incredibly corny, but that’s how I feel about Tim Burton’s latest movie. I have to agree that it is the best thing he’s made in years; however, that doesn’t make this biopic the best.
Big Eyes tells the story of a real artist named Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) whose husband Walter (Christoph Waltz) takes all the credit for her portraits of children with their signature big eyes. There ya go: that’s pretty much the gist of the action. Walter pretending to be the artist behind the big eye portraits happens very early on (assuming you already knew about this story before reading this review), but the majority of the film focuses on just that subject. It gets pretty dull after a while. In most cases, viewers already know what’s going to happen in a biopic especially if they follow a significant historical figure or event, but shouldn’t filmmakers be able to create an exciting story despite the historical spoiler? Yes they should, but unfortunately Big Eyes does not succeed in creating any sort of suspense.
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The wardrobe is the most enjoyable aspect of Big Eyes, which are beautifully done. Unfortunately, those costumes could not save the rest of the film. It’s an okay movie, but one I’d recommend waiting to watch through some streaming service. Good luck next time, Tim Burton.
The new year is upon us, and for moviegoers, there’s a lot to look forward to. Admittedly, it looks like a mixed bag right now, but that hasn’t stopped the anticipation and excitement.
So, without further ado, here are the ten films I think everyone should check out.
1. Jupiter Ascending Release Date: February 6
The Wachowskis’ latest film was originally slated to be released last July, but was delayed until spring 2015. In what might be the most anime-like film the Wachowski siblings (no longer brothers since one of them had a sex change operation) have made, other than their big screen adaptation of Speed Racer. A young woman (Mila Kunis) learns she is the heir to the throne of an intergalactic empire and has been targeted by the current ruler for assassination. It looks to be a good, old-fashioned space opera with mesmerizing visuals. Also stars Channing Tatum and Sean Bean.
2. Avengers: Age of Ultron Release Date: May 1
This is only one of Disney’s bevy of highly anticipated films, and it is easily Marvel’s biggest film release of the year (the Fantastic Four reboot looks like a flop). Everyone’s favorite superheroes reunite to battle a nefarious robot (voiced fantastically by James Spader) who, to no surprise, is hellbent on taking over the world. In other words, he’s Skynet and the T-850 combined (ironic given another film on this list). Joss Whedon is back in the writer/director’s chair to helm this sequel to one of the highest grossing films of all time. Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson—reuniting after starring together in 2014’s Godzilla—join the star-studded cast as Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, respectively. If that last name sounds familiar, it should because the character was also in X-Men: Days of Future Past played by a different actor. Dueling Quicksilvers, anyone?
3. Tomorrowland Release Date: May 22
Disney seems to be hoping to catch lightning in a bottle again by making a film based on a theme park attraction, like it did with Pirates of the Caribbean. A curious teen girl (Britt Robertson) and a former boy genius inventor seek a world that exists somewhere in time and space in their collective memories. Directed by the imaginative Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol), the film co-stars George Clooney and Hugh Laurie and looks to be jumping on the YA trend, except this film isn’t based on a book. With an intriguing yet mysterious trailer, it has a lot going for it amidst all the big franchises.
4. Jurassic World Release Date: June 12
After over a decade of being stuck in development Hell, the fourth installment of the Jurassic Park franchise will be unearthed this summer. Sadly, it seems to be fresh and old-hat at the same time. After finally establishing a dinosaur theme park, a new attraction is created to boost declining attendance, but it goes awry. It’s interesting that an operational park was finally opened, but beyond that it seems like a rehash of the original film. Hopefully Chris Pratt, a rising star thanks to Guardians of the Galaxy, can inject some life into the movie. Steven Spielberg, director of the first two films, returns once again as executive producer.
5. Inside Out & The Good Dinosaur Release Dates: June 19 & Nov. 25
After taking a year off, the ever-amazing Pixar will return with two releases this year. The first will be Inside Out, which looks to be its most imaginative and ambitious film in years. The characters are all personifications of the emotions within a little girl. The trailer was charming and delightful. It has the potential to rank as one of Pixar’s best films.
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6. Terminator Genisys Release Date: July 1
A more apt title might be Terminator 5: Wibbly-Wobbly-Timey-Wimey (the Whovians reading this are laughing in agreement). Kyle Reese is sent back in time to protect Sarah Connor, the mother of the man leading humanity’s war against tyrannical machines, but instead he ends up in an alternate timeline. With all the time-travel shenanigans going on, this film seems intended to be the J.J. Abrams Star Trek/Days of Future Past for its respective franchise: a sequel reboot. While Arnold Schwarzenegger reprises his role as a now aged T-850—somehow—it has the potential to anger fans by erasing James Cameron’s original films. And what’s with the misspelled title? That hasn’t been cool since the ‘90s, and even then it was kind of silly. This series should’ve stopped after Terminator 2.
7. Minions Release Date: July 10
You had to know this was coming. Those lovable little yellow dudes stole every scene in the Despicable Me movies, so it’s no surprise they’d have their origin story told. In this, they’re recruited by the fantastically named supervillain Scarlett Overkill (Sandra Bullock) to help her take over the world. Michael Keaton co-stars. Hopefully, it won’t be a retread of the Minion antics from the other films.
8. Ant-Man Release Date: July 17
This is definitely the dark horse on this list. Like Guardians of the Galaxy, it’s based on a lesser-known character from Marvel Comics’ pantheon. In this film, a con man (Paul Rudd) discovers a suit that allows him to shrink and must now use it to help his mentor, the scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) save the world. It’s suffered a troubled production—most notably the departure of director Edgar Wright over creative differences—but has somehow been able to stay on track. It will feature Marvel Cinematic Universe regulars like Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter and John Slattery as Howard Stark. I anticipate this will at least be a sleeper hit and, hopefully, a better follow-up to an Avengers epic than Iron Man 3. Oh how cute, an ant-sized teaser.
9. Mockingjay, Part 2 Release Date: Nov. 20
No official poster for Mockinjay Part 2, yet.
As per YA movie tradition, the final book of the series gets made into two films. The final film based on Suzanne Collins’ science fiction trilogy will see Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) lead District 13’s final battles against the Capital while trying to save Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) from insanity. If Part 2 follows the book as closely as Part 1, those who complained the latter was light on action will be happy to see several climactic battles. I knew as I read it that it would make for an exciting movie. Plus, the ending is a shocker, to say the least.
10. Star Wars, Episode VII: The Force Awakens Release Date: December 18
I’m not sure if this or Age of Ultron will be the biggest film of 2015. J.J. Abrams, having directed for both Star Trek and this franchise, can now compete with Joss Whedon as the “king of cool.” Little is known about the plot because, as usual, Abrams’ productions have secrecy that rivals the C.I.A. (perhaps they could learn a thing or two from him). What is known for sure is that it takes place 30 years after Return of the Jedi and several of the original actors—Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford, among others—are reprising their iconic roles. However, the story seems to be focused on a new set of heroes, so this will most likely be a passing of the torch. The 90-second teaser trailer, which showed little or nothing other than it draws more inspiration from the originals and not the prequels, has already sparked much talk in fandom because of its familiar imagery and the broadsword-style lightsaber. Now, if only longtime fans could forgive Disney for retconning most of the Expanded Universe out of continuity. Regardless, expectations will only grow as the release approaches. Hopefully, it will be a great Christmas present for moviegoers.
Are you looking forward to these films? What other 2015 films are you excited about?
What I enjoyed most about Old Fashioned is that it presents an alternative to how most people pursue relationships, but it also acknowledges that resisting every dating convention to an extreme can make it impossible to form a meaningful relationship. Like in the scene where Clay and Amber “get lost” (Amber’s idea for a date where they drive to a random destination) and Clay refuses to admit he wants Amber, and he resists her when she leans in for a kiss. Because Clay refuses Amber any sort of intimacy—even if it is something more conservative—she feels like Clay doesn’t really value their relationship at all. In a nutshell I think this film emphasizes the idea that most people move too quickly in relationships, but if one takes things too slowly in an attempt to have a perfect relationship it can be equally damaging. Overall, it’s refreshing to watch a film with this sort of outlook on relationships. Even if it is a view most people might not agree with.
