This is
a week about trust and faith. This week at the Movies we learned five different
things about trust and faith. We had faith in SIFF and its filmmakers, lost faith
in Fox and Big Sky Studios, gained some in Seth Rogen, and went down the rabbit
hole of giant over-done pointless explosions with Man of Steel.
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| Hermione Granger and George Michael Bluth steal the Apocalypse in This is the End. |
Movies Seen In Theatres This
Week: Epic, Drinking Buddies, This is The End, Man of Steel
Lesson 5. Epic
Fail
In trying to have a little
bit of faith in Big Sky Studios (the animation team behind all of the Ice Age films, of which one was good) I
saw Epic. I was hoping for a fun
family film with a strong female lead, but ended up being sad about what could
have been. Epic is the tale of a scientist
who believes that there’s a small society of people living in the woods and his
daughter who unwillingly becomes a part of that society. Epic is full of stunt-casting (with both Beyoncé and Stephen Tyler
having parts that are far too large), characters that have no depth, and predicable
moments that leave the audience wishing this highly creative concept and story was
in the hands of a better team.
Lesson 4. Sometimes You Have to
Step Up
This
lesson is a call to you, our dear readers. We need you to step up and defend
Zack Snyder if you like, because I have had enough. SNYDER IS TERRIBLE (more on
that to come in Lesson One, where I rant for days about Man of Snore). Here we’re talking about Snyder himself. WHY IS HE NOT
AS HATED AS M. NIGHT? Let me list the films of Snyder’s that I enjoy… Dawn of the Dead. Let me list the films
of Snyder’s that I bore me to death… 300,
Watchmen, and the last list of Snyder films that make me want to claw out
my own eyes… Sucker Punch, Man of Steel.
I’m DONE, I was already on the edge about him considering it’s been eight films
since I’ve liked anything he’s done. But this is my call to you, dear readers,
please answer this simple question. Why? Why do we keep seeing, paying for, and
“enjoying” the films of Zack Snyder? I don’t get it. Please leave a comment
below or on our Facebook page telling me why I should give Snyder another
chance.
Lesson 3. It Never Hurts to Have
a Little Faith
Jeff here! Last week saw the end of the Seattle
International Film Festival. The annual festival has been running for 39 years,
and runs two year-round cinemas in Seattle as well as a variety of educational
programs. I’ve had a great time participating in their programs in the past and
can’t wait to do more. Now that Nerd 5 calls Seattle home, we made it a point
to check out the festival and see at least one new independent flick. We made
it just under the wire, catching the afternoon showing of Drinking Buddies, starring
Olive Wilde, Jake Johnston, Anna Kendrick and Ron Livingston, on the
last day.
Drinking Buddies is a unique movie in that it was almost
entirely improvised. SIFF gave us the opportunity to hear from the Director and
“Writer” Joe Swanberg just after the showing, who explained that the actors had
a bullet-points understanding of the story and the individual scenes, but
within that were trusted to improvise their way from point A to point B. It’s a
daring way to make a film, especially since Swanberg explained that much of the
film, including pivotal emotional moments, were shot out of sequence due to the
practical limits of their small production. This could easily be the recipe for
a horrible, incoherent, film, but instead Drinking
Buddies was a smooth, funny, and ultimately heartfelt journey with a cast
of likeable and purposeful characters.
The moral: it can really pay to put your trust in programs
like SIFF. To reach out into your community and try something you wouldn’t
normally do. The result can be a great learning opportunity, a new friend, or
in our case, a little movie that we couldn’t have heard about elsewhere. In the
case of Joe Swanberg, it pays to trust your cast to create a compelling story
if you only give them the guidance and the room to do so. Drinking Buddies gets a theatrical release on
July 25 and if you get the chance, don’t miss it.
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| Did we mention that this is awesome? More to come... |
Jeff
and I saw This Is The End this week
and it’s safe to say we both enjoyed the film. Good on you Seth Rogen and
company. Just a brief mention here about the joy in this high-concept,
high-laugh comedy, then later Jeff and I will present a Talkin’ In The Movies: This Is The End! Enjoy the film, or check
back in with us soon for spoilers. For now, just know that Michael Cera is pure
comedy in this film.
Lesson 1. Metropolis
is The Land of Gratuitous Violence and Confusion
I didn’t like Man of
Steel, for many, many reasons. However, there were a few things that were
okay, and to be honest, a few moments that actually hit home. Other nice things
I can say about the film? Everyone beside Henry Cavill gives good performances
with what they’re given? That’s about where the good stops. I wish I could say
I liked this more, I really wanted to like it more. However, there were far too
many problems for me to enjoy this film, and most were with the filmmaking and not
the story of Superman (which usually bugs me. In fact I think the story they
told was very good, I just wish it would have been told better). Starting with little
issues of overuse of destruction, weak character development, inconsistent
pacing, and an overuse of Jesus imagery (including at the moment Superman
decides to save mankind – he falls from a spaceship arms spread as if on the
cross). It seems as if Snyder studied at the Michael Bay School of Filmmaking,
where style, visuals, and CGI are more important than substance and
storytelling.
Moving on to my two main issues: first, your audience has to
know what’s going on, and there is far too much gratuitous violence in Man of Steel. Let’s start with a quick
comparison to a recent film I actually liked, Fast and Furious 6. Why is Furious
6 better than Man of Steel? You can
follow the action. In each sequence you can follow your characters through the
fight. You know what their goals are, who they’re fighting, and where they are.
None of those things are true about Man
of Steel. On top of the fact that the fight sequences are confusing, long,
and have FAR TOO many civilian casualties, Snyder goes through fight sequences
like they’re going out of style. There is sooooo much needless destruction of
buildings, people, and entire societies, that by the time climactic fight comes
around everything was so overdone and overused that I couldn’t care less about one
more fight. LESS IS MORE MR. SNYDER! It’s especially sad when the villainous
General Zod (played to its absolute best by Michael Shannon) decides his only
option left is to destroy all humanity, the choice is undercut by the fact that
we’ve already seen him pointlessly do the exact same thing through the entire
film. The violence of this movie is needless and hurts the story, as well as
this audience member’s enjoyment of the film.
Box Office Totals
for the Weekend of June 7-9
Rank
|
Film Title
|
Weekend Gross
|
Total Gross
|
Budget
|
Weeks in Theatres
|
1.
|
Man
of Steel
|
$113.1
|
$125.1
|
$225
|
1
|
2.
|
This
Is The End
|
$20.5
|
$32.8
|
$32
|
1
|
3.
|
Now
You See Me
|
$10.3
|
$80.0
|
$75
|
3
|
4.
|
Fast
and Furious 6
|
$9.4
|
$219.5
|
$160
|
4
|
5.
|
The
Purge
|
$8.2
|
$51.8
|
$3
|
2
|
All
Numbers are in Millions and numbers are from of Box Office Mojo.com
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