Mike Goes To Movies

Avengers: Endgame (2019) - Spoiler-Free This is it - the culmination of 11 years and 22 films - a wholly unprecedented achievement in cinema history of a story-line that began more than a decade ago and has since weaved its way through various franchises, characters and plot threads, all under the banner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This is the end of the Infinity Saga. And, in that, Endgame is a resounding success. As most of you know, this is absolutely a film to go into blind - there are many twists and turns that are obviously left unspoiled that will have you clinging to your seat and cheering out in the theatre (perhaps to almost-deafening levels by the true die-hards, as we evidently experienced last night). What makes this film truly special is that, unlike most of the MCU's previous films that always seem to be setting up the next film/character, Endgame is a love letter and a proper conclusion to all that has come before. Not only does this film end the narrativ...

Hellboy (2019) Like Hellboy himself, this film was clearly created in one of the deepest layers of hell... but, unlike the hero of Mike Mignola's universe, this film is completely devoid of any saving graces or shreds of humanity. Simply put, this film is an abysmal failure. Personally, I am a huge fan of the character and world of Hellboy, which makes this year's reboot really one of the greatest disappointments I have experienced at the theatre thus far.  Supposedly, there was quite a lot of drama going on behind the scenes during the making of the film - a power struggle between a few of the producers and the directors, re-writing by the actors while filming, firings, and walk-offs. This may account for a few final deficiencies, however, while watching this film, it is quite remarkable to see how this film failed to do pretty much anything correctly. The script is awful - there is no justification for the abundant profanity and gore, the plot feels like a string of unco...

Columbus (2017) One likely would not jump to architecture as a universal topic for one to build a film around, however, first-time director/writer Kogonada's Columbus is an utterly beautiful and contemplative film that most everyone should be able to connect with in one way or another. The film, taking place in "the Midwest Mecca of Architecture", Columbus, centres on two seemingly-different individuals - one, a recent high school graduate, working at a library while also taking care of her recovering mother, and, two, an older man who has come into town to visit his father who is in the hospital and whom he has not spoken to in over a year. The girl, Casey (Haley Lu Richardson), is an architecture enthusiast; she even has a long and detailed list of her favourite buildings in the city. The man, Jin (John Cho), states that he has no affinity for architecture, though his father is a professor and leading mind on the subject, and so Jin has a deep attachment for the s...

The Big Chill (1983) I have just arrived back home for a holiday weekend after quite a long time away and one of my first thoughts upon landing down was thinking back on my recent watch of The Big Chill. Driving through old neighbourhoods, I know that I'll soon be seeing friends, some of whom I haven't seen for a year or more, and I know that as soon as I see them it'll be like no time has passed at all. It's a feeling that's both cheesy and bittersweet, tied deeply into nostalgia and sentimentality. And thinking back on Lawrence Kasdan's film, I realize that he made a close-to-perfect encapsulation of this sentimentality - of old friends reuniting, catching up, and, in some cases, picking up where things were left off many years before. The plot of The Big Chill is very simple. A group of very close old friends reunite for the funeral of one of their friend's who has recently taken his own life. After the funeral all of the friends decide to stay on f...

The Sisters Brothers (2018) The Sisters Brothers is yet another illustration of the fickleness of the film industry. It is by all means a very good film - direction, cinematography, script, acting, and so on - however, it greatly under-performed on release and, since, has more-or-less disappeared from discussion. This really is a shame because The Sisters Brothers has all of the trappings of a classic dark comedy. I guess the one hope is that it bounces back in future years as somewhat of a cult film. As one can guess, the film is about the Sisters brothers - two of the most infamous hired-guns around - Charlie (John C. Reilly) and Eli (Joaquin Phoenix). The film revolves around the brothers meeting up with a man, John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal) who has been tracking another man, Hermann Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed), whom the brothers have been hired to kill. Along the way, the brothers run into and entangle themselves with an assortment of notable characters, dangers, and various plots...

Living in Oblivion (1995) This one's for those that enjoy off-kilter comedies and are interested in the film-making process, specifically that of indie films that have the tendency to have everything go on while filming. The film has less of a forward-moving plot and is more of a snapshot view into the filming of three separate scenes of an indie feature. It is quirky and absurd, entertaining and also interesting. As far as films go, this is really the only film I can think of that really goes into the minutiae and the technicalities of film-making such as light meters, terminology and call-out cues, blocking, framing, script supervisors, the many many takes that go into filming a single scene, and much more. It is quite fascinating seeing all of these elements woven into a comedy. The film is directed and written by former Jim Jarmusch DP, Tom DiCello, and is an early outing for a number of now-very recognizable faces including Steve Buscemi, Catherine Keener, Peter Dinkla...

Thoroughbreds (2017) This film is very much one of those indie-gems that flies under the radar but is absolutely worth a watch. It is a creatively-made dark comedy about two polar-opposite high schoolers who decide to of one of their horrible step-dads. Lily (Anya Taylor-Joy) is highly emotional, put-together and academic, while Amanda (Olivia Cooke) feels, literally, nothing at all, lacks motivation for school and has a dark and troubled past. They are old friends though, and, after a number of years apart, upon Lily beginning to tutor Amanda they reach the decision to send Lily's step-dad to sleeping with the fishes. To do so they decide to bring in help from another older and no-less troubled teen, Tim (Anton Yelchin). First-time director/writer, Cory Finley's, direction and script are both sharp, intelligent and captivating. Finley is a definite talent to keep an eye on and I foresee him having a long and successful career ahead. There is an exhilarating momentum that...

A visual showcase of some of the finest performances from the 2000's:     

Missing Link (2019) + Discussion with Chris Butler I am a huge animation fan, especially films/project that try to do new things with animation, and, as such, I am a devotee of animation studio, Laika. The studio's last film, Kubo and the Two Strings, is one of my absolute favourites  (as seen in my previous post, it is in my top 10 animated of all-time). This is why I was very excited to get tickets to a special TIFF screening of the studio's new film, Missing Link, with a special discussion / Q&A with the film's director/writer, Chris Butler. As with most of my experiences attending these special screenings, the discussion with Butler after the film was fascinating and delved deep into both the philosophy of Laika - to push the boundaries of animation, and specifically stop-animation - as well as Butler's own ideas on story-telling and how they were applied in Missing Link. To be completely honest, other than the gorgeous animation in the film (which one wou...

Pet Semetary (2019) God, cats are just the fucking creepiest... A second cinematic re-telling of Stephen King's classic 1983 horror novel, the haunting story revolves around the Creed family who have just moved into a rural home near the town of Ludlow. Upon arriving, the family discovers the titular 'pet semetary', an old graveyard where children have ritualistically been burying their deceased pets for many generations. As one can imagine, the 'semetary' is more than a little bit haunted... For those who are unfamiliar with the story, to go into further detail would spoil much of the plot and the horrors that befall Louis Creed and his family. Suffice it to say that the narrative, and the film's main theme, revolves around one of the truest nightmares that a family could suffer. Coincidentally, I actually read the original novel last year (not knowing that a film remake was already in the works) and so it was difficult not to compare this film with the...

Shazam (2019) I think we can all confidently say that it's nice to no longer have Zack Snyder spearheading the cinematic DCU. No offence to Snyder - he has a specific style that works for those dark and stylistic stories - but he is not the right man for the usually whimsical and optimistic tone that permeates much of the DC universe. Aquaman and the studio's newest entry, Shazam, have now both succeeded in effectively evoking that fantastically high-concept and family-oriented side of the DCU that has been missing for quite a long time. Overall, Shazam is a fun and entertaining superhero film. In this it is quite reminiscent of Donner's original 1978 Superman playing out with a lighthearted self-awareness. There were a number of children in the theatre when I saw the film who were audibly enjoying the film with laughter and cheering - a nice change from the morose and grimness of BvS (which those kids likely weren't even allowed to watch). The cast here are all g...

New TV Reviews (Early 2019) What We Do In The Shadows (2019) For those that enjoyed the film, the new TV reboot is an absolute success. It may not have any of the same stars on-screen but original creators, Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clemant (gotta love both of them), are at it once again with producing, writing and directing duties. The show, taking place in the same universe as the film, takes the same formula and transports this new family of vampires to New York City. The humour is both similar and fresh enough to appeal to fans of the original and newcomers alike. The core cast is fantastic - playing similar caricature-esque archetypes while also imbuing the world's lore with some new surprises, such as with Colin Robinson, the 'Energy Sucking Vampire' - 'we all know one of them'. There have only been two episodes released so far and therefore everyone still has time to jump on-board with this additional sure-to-be-hit by FX. The Twilight Zone (2019) ...

The Beach Bum (2019) Alright, alright, alright. If there is one filmmaker that might unleash Matthew McConaughey in going full-out... Matthew McConaughey, that person has to be Harmony Korine. From start to finish, The Beach Bum might act as a sort of view into what the actor's pre-McConaissance life may have looked at when he lived his much-discussed, high-falutin partying lifestyle. This film, in all regards, really is a party. An alternate name for it may have been FUBAR, however, that is already taken by a Canadian indie-gem (which,  everyone should check out if you haven't already seen it). The Beach Bum is no-doubt an entertaining film and you can see that in all of the cast who clearly had a great time making it. The question though is whether there is much more to the film than the base entertainment value of seeing Moondog (McConaughey) and his cohorts (which include, Isla Fisher, Snoop Dog, Zac Efron, Jonah Hill and, perhaps fittingly, Jimmy Buffet) partying i...

Triple Frontier (2019) Okay, so I had no really expectations going into this one, I was simply a bit bored the other evening and looking for something to watch and fell upon JC Chandor's Triple Frontier, one of Netflix's new marquee films. I did not see Chandor's previous, A Most Violent Year, but I did see All Is Lost, which starred Robert Redford and was actually quite excellent. At the end of the day, Triple Frontier is likely not going to wow anyone. It very much is what it is. It is the tried and true story of a group of old friends getting back together for one final (and dangerous) job. In this, the film boasts quite the remarkable cast in Oscar Isaac, Ben Affleck, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund and Pedro Pascal. Isaac is one of my absolute favourites of the 'new generation' of top caliber actors and, for the most part, he is the one who gives the film gravitas of any kind. In an apt move by the filmmakers, Hunnam and Hedlund play brothers in the film, ...

Us (2019) Yes, I am unfortunately a bit late to this party and, I only saw Jordan Peele's much-discussed, Us, last night... so, by this point, many of you have likely already read lots about this film. Nevertheless, I will try to elucidate the masses with my simple-minded thoughts on the film. My honest opinion is that, unless you enjoy a simple thriller for what it is, you will not board the Us-hype train until you have seen it more than once and read/talked about it for a length of time. That is my feeling at least. When I left the theatre after seeing the film, I had a lot of mixed thoughts rumbling around in my head and, surprisingly, none of them was that I loved the film. However, since coming home and beginning to sift through the myriad of opinion/analysis pieces out there and connecting them to the cryptic clues littered throughout the film, I am slowly getting on board the train. As most know, Us is about a middle-class American family that heads to their cottage ...

A visual showcase of some of the finest pieces of cinematography from the 1970's: