Movie Review: Disclosure Day

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A-

Steven Speilberg fully in his element. ''

Spielberg returns to one of his most successful themes here, that of humans meeting extra-terrestrials. It may be hard to think of how in today's day and age, anyone (even Spielberg) could create something new or original out of such a premise but Spielberg and screenwriter David Koepp (writer on the Spielberg films, Jurassic Park (1993), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), War of the Worlds (2005) and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)) do just that. Instead of focusing on the aliens themselves, this film is more concerned with the humans. In fact, we only see the aliens briefly here and mostly in "archival footage," rather than the present day. What this movie really looks into is how people would react if conclusive proof that aliens were rea suddenly came to light. With so many conspiracy theories of the government hiding information about aliens from us, this is a fascinating concept to truly explore. It raises truly great and thought-provoking questions as to how such information would affect our entire understanding of the world. I especially loved how this movie looked at whether or not people's belief in God would be challenged by such a discovery. Taking a look at human nature, this film avoids the pure pessimism that would overtake the movie in the hands of many filmmakers. Rather this is a movie that is willing to see both the good and bad in people. The movie also explores the idea of whether the truth should be told regardless of possible consequences, a question that has no easy answer.

Being directed by Spielberg this movie also of course features top-notch filmmaking throughout. The action scenes are truly wonderful here, full of the great excitement and fun that only the director of the Indiana Jones movies could bring us. The larger-than-life scenes of fantasy storytelling are also incredible here. They capture some of the same sense of joy, wonder and awe that we had when we first watched E.T. Even with some obvious and unconvincing CGI, these scenes feel like a return to the Spielberg that helped so many of us fall in love with movies. Of course, John Williams' (who has worked on most of the great director's masterpieces) musical score helps bring this sense of magic as well. 

The characters may not always be incredibly complex, but they do their jobs quite well. The main characters are not only likable, but they are also relatable to the point where we find ourselves very this sci-fi fantasy through their eyes, making it all the more real. Great performances by Emily Blunt and Josh O'Connor help a great deal in this department.  

A must see for fans of classic Spielberg.      

Movie Trailer: Gatto

 

Movie Trailer: Heart of the Beast

 

Movie Trailer: Moana

 

Movie Review: Power Ballad

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

A pretty good dramedy. 

In this movie, a former boy band member who is struggling to create a solo career (Nick Jonas) spends a night jamming with a wedding band singer (Paul Rudd). The wedding band singer sings a chorus of a song that he wrote himself. Months later, the former boyband singer records that song and doesn't give any songwriting credit to the wedding singer. When the song becomes a massive hit, it causes the wedding singer to go on a downward spiral. 

With a movie about songwriting, naturally the songs are very important to if the movie works. While the songs here may not be as incredible as they are sometimes treated, they are quite good. They are very nice and pleasant to listen to and while the lyrics may lack much depth, they aren't bad. I can picture How to Write a Song Without You becoming a hit song and people singing along to it. Though I actually admit I prefer the other songs the former boy band singer wrote himself (and which didn't become hits). However, I often find my favorite songs on albums to be the album tracks, so this probably says more about me. The songs themselves are co-written by Gary Clark and the film's director (and co-writer) John Carney. The duo had previously written songs for Carney's previous film, Sing Street (2016). Incidentally, Clark had been a member of the 1980's pop band, Danny Wilson, and Danny Wilson is the name of the boyband singer here. 

The movie does a great job of exploring the two main male characters. There is quite a bit of depth to them, and Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas give truly great performances. Though these characters often do the wrong thing, we relate to them and understand what makes them do it. This keeps a strong emotional connection to these characters throughout the film. 

Unfortunately, the other characters are very underdeveloped. We know pretty much nothing about the other members of the wedding band or the wedding band singer's wife and daughter. This becomes a major problem as the film goes on. It becomes clear that much of the heart of this movie is supposed to come from the love he has for his daughter. Unfortunately, his daughter receives little screen time and in the screen time she has we barely learn anything about her. Because of this, the emotion that is supposed to comes from the scenes revolving around this relationship often simply isn't felt by the audience.   

For a dramedy, this movie also is never that funny. Some of the humor made me smile or chuckle but I never once really laughed, while watching this. 

While I won't give anything away, the ending is fantastic, hitting all the right emotional notes. 

Movie Review: Scary Movie

 

Movie Review: B-

While it may not fully live up to the hilarity of the first Scary Movie (which is still a wonderful comedy), this is still a very enjoyable comedy.

With this sixth entry into this franchise (just one behind Scream, which the first movie was a parody of), the Wayans Brothers, who starred in and wrote the first two films, return here as both stars and writers. 

This film is just what you have come to expect from this franchise. There is simply one joke after another with no time to rest between them. These jokes are dumb, crude, violent and self-referential. With the sheer number of jokes from start to finish, it is only natural that not every joke hits. However more of them hit then don't. There are many moments here that made me laugh out loud. Some of the horror movie parodies are truly hilarious. The Weapons parody was especially hilarious. There is also some very funny slapstick humor here. All the scenes in the hospital are top notch slapstick. However, there are still gags that simply fall flat. Some of these gags go on for much too long. The church scene starts off kind of funny but loses steam as it goes on along. By the end, what started off as a funny scene simply stops being funny long before it ends. There are also times when this movie tries too hard to be politically incorrect or offensive. These gags are rarely funny and simply seem to be just there for shock value (the ICE gag is admittedly funny though, as is one "offensive" murder scene). Considering this franchise was always more concerned with making fun of horror movie tropes and being quite crude rather than actually being offensive, this feels especially unnecessary. 

The ending really didn't work for me here. It is not only not funny, but it seems simply like the Wayans Brothers venting, making it too bitter and mean spirited for this type of comedy. The storyline can also be a bit of mess (some scenes really make no sense in hindsight), but no one is watching this for the story, so that is a minor flaw. 

The first entry is still the best film in the franchise (I am also a fan of the second and third entries) but even if it can't fully live up to that movie, this is still a fun comedy.  

Movie Trailer: The Cat in the Hat