The Oscar Project Reviews
Long before director James Cameron took us on the most famous ocean voyage of the 20th century, he embarked on an undersea adventure that taxed everyone involved, but still manages to hold up over 30 years later.
The Abyss (affiliate link) features a small crew of Navy SEALs traveling to a deep sea oil drilling platform with the mission of finding a nuclear submarine that crashed nearby and retrieve the warheads before the Soviets can get to them. The team is led by Cameron regular Michael Biehn playing Lieutenant Hiram Coffey. Ed Harris is in excellent form here as the platform’s foreman, Virgil "Bud" Brigman alongside Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Dr. Lindsey Brigman, Bud’s estranged wife and designer of the special platform. After recently reading a book all about Cameron’s films and learning what went into making this film, I’m not at all surprised by how well the underwater photography holds up all these years later. True, there are a few instances where it’s a bit clunky and could be done better today with digital images. But the look and feel of all the underwater scenes are generally superb, owed in large part to the insistence by Cameron that most of them be shot in an enormous tank built specifically for the film.
The ending of the film feels a bit unearned by the rest of the story and the last five minutes of the film feel like Cameron just didn’t know how to end things and wrote “and they all lived happily ever after” on the last page of the script. The visuals and technology are a sight to behold even many years later, but all that doesn’t make up for a story that feels unfinished.
7 out of 10
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Did we really need another Jurassic Park/Jurassic World movie? Of course not. Are they going to keep making them throughout eternity because people love dinosaurs? Absolutely.
The big draw in this version of the story was always going to be the giant family reunion. We got a glimpse of Jeff Goldblum’s Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, (affiliate link) but this final film in the Trevorrow trilogy brings Laura Dern back as Dr. Ellie Sattler and Sam Neill as Dr. Alan Grant. Throw in a bit of a redemption story for Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong) and pretty much everyone that survived Spielberg’s original 1993 (affiliate link) film is here. Chris Pratt returns as Owen Grady, now in a full relationship with Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard). This time around they are tasked with protecting Maisie (Isabella Sermon), a young clone that nefarious people want to get their hands on. She is predictably captured in the first 10 minutes of the film, but proves to be resourceful as the rest of the cast joins forces to rescue her.
As with most franchises like this, the film sticks with the formula that has proven to work over the last three decades. In that respect, there is nothing new, not even any really crazy new dinosaurs. But if you love the dinosaurs, and let’s face it, who doesn’t, this will surely scratch that itch better than anything else out there.
6 out of 10
A tour-de-force of visual stylings, The Daniels (Scheinert and Kwan) deliver the best multiversal story of the year in Everything Everywhere All at Once (affiliate link).
By now, you’ve likely heard someone raving about this film and it’s definitely one I think everyone should experience. It is just that, an experience, and you need to be open to thinking about film in new ways, something that doesn’t happen that often in film. Everything Everywhere All at Once (affiliate link) is many things, and that’s what gives it broad appeal. It is an immigrant story, a family drama, a science fiction dimension travelling epic, and a kung fu action film all rolled into one. Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn Wang is the heart and soul of the film. She is not only the glue holding the film together, but similarly strives to hold together her family across time and space. Ke Huy Quan is similarly wonderful as Evelyn’s husband Waymond Wang. It was great to see him in a role completely different from his most famous roles as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (affiliate link) and Data in Goonies (affiliate link) even if Waymond retains some of the goofiness of those characters from Quan’s youth. Stephanie Hsu looks to be a star on the rise and her portrayal of Joy, Evelyn and Waymond’s 20-something daughter is spot on. The other star of the film is Jamie Lee Curtis as the IRS inspector auditing the Wang’s finances. She feels deliberately out of place in the film and is so much fun to watch as she changes characters based on which universe we see her in.
We need to talk about the rock scene. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more deep and emotional heart to heart talk between a mother and a daughter than when they are simply rocks on the edge of a cliff. Everything leading up to that moment has made the audience invested in the characters, that we absolutely believe that these two random rocks are the characters we have seen over an hour and a half. I also love the fact that the Daniels included actual footage of Michelle Yeoh as an actor on red carpets and such for the universe where Evelyn is a movie star.
Not to spoil too much, but I understand the “happy” ending that the film provides. Personally, I almost wish it would have concluded on a more somber note, but understand the decision to end it the way it did. I hope that the buzz about this film continues strongly enough as we head into Oscar season and it gets the recognition it deserves in categories like Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and Best Original Screenplay. I doubt that any of the acting will be recognized, but think it could be a long shot for a Best Director nomination and even perhaps Best Picture. 9 out of 10
A fun stylized look into a lesser-known corner of the Marvel world, Werewolf by Night delivers action, new friendships, and plenty of creepy monsters, just in time for Halloween.
I went into this fairly blind, not knowing any of the backstory to these characters from the comics and without even seeing any trailers or imagery aside from the poster and splash page in Disney+. I’m sure there were some subtle details that I missed, but having the Marvel name on it and the logo at the beginning, I expected a bit more in the way of defined connection to the MCU. Now, I understand that not everything with the Marvel name on it is required to connect to the MCU, but based on the release strategy of the last decade and a half, this felt like an outlier. Perhaps we will see more connections later on, especially with films like Blade coming into the MCU. The film was short at only 52 minutes and actually listed as a TV special on sites like IMDb. Gael García Bernal takes the lead as Jack Russell, a monster hunter who ultimately transitions into a werewolf himself. Laura Donnelly plays opposite as Elsa Bloodstone, a fellow monster hunter and daughter of the late Ulysses Bloodstone. I was a bit underwhelmed by Jack’s role, but thought Elsa stole much of the show. For their small parts, Harriet Sansom Harris’s Verussa Bloodstone (Ulysses wife) was splendid as was Kirk R. Thatcher as the Scottish monster hunter Jovan.
I mentioned earlier that there wasn’t much connection to the greater Marvel universe at the moment, but I did make one connection of the visual style to that of the Disney+ series WandaVision. The entire film is done in black and white, with the exception of the bloodstone itself which appears red. This is also a callback to Schindler’s List (affiliate link) which used a similar black and white technique with the only color element being the red coat of a young girl. WandaVision and Werewolf by Night both also use a transitional technique where the film resolves to color at a certain point when the actions allows for it.
The additional visual elements in the film are likely ripe for data mining by YouTubers and fans in the vast Marvel online community. There are plenty of monsters created for the film along with murals and carvings in the Bloodstone mansion, many of which probably have a connection to things I’m not familiar with yet. I will be interested to see what connections come from these elements in the background that most people will miss. In the final assessment, I was a bit disappointed with this initial Marvel Studios Special Presentation. I think the format has potential but needs to be better marketed. It also needs to decide if it will be an offshoot of the MCU, or if it will be something that runs alongside the MCU but doesn’t necessarily make those official connections. 6 out of 10
Deadpool 2 brings the return of Wade Wilson and all his wisecracks, this time teaming up with a group of mutants he calls X-Force to help save a young mutant named Russell who is being chased by the time traveling Cable.
This is the rare sequel that lives up to the original while at the same time furthering the story of the central character. Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) is up to his old tricks, fighting crime and living his best life with his now fiancé Vanessa (Morena Baccarin). When Vanessa is killed by a baddie that Wade didn’t do away with, he falls into despair and tries to end things in a fiery gasoline-fueled explosion in his apartment. Of course, his healing abilities allow him to come back even from that, and team up yet again with Colossus Stefan Kapičić), and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), both returning from the first film. After an abject failure in their first team-up, Wilson is thrown in a mutant prison with Russell/Firefist (Julian Dennison), a young mutant who had been abused at the hands of the staff of the “Mutant Re-education Center” where he lived. The prison facility is attacked by Josh Brolin’s Cable, taking a break from playing his better-known Marvel villain, Thanos. As Deadpool enters the MCU arena, it will be interesting to see how this is reconciled over the coming years.
What works for the first film, continues to work here. But while the first film is a true origin story, this sequel takes Deadpool in a different direction, shifting from trying to save his damsel in distress by himself, to working with others to save someone not so much unlike himself. I hope that the third film is allowed to work in this same way and not hamstrung by Disney and Marvel executives trying to fit it into the more traditional MCU mold.
7 out of 10
With the announcement recently that Deadpool 3 is in the works and includes a final(?) appearance by Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, I felt it was time to revisit the first two Deadpool films and deliver some official reviews. So, without further ado, my Deadpool review.
This was such a nice pallet cleanser after the Venom films I reviewed the last two weeks. Looking back, it almost feels like both Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage were trying to have the humor and wit of Deadpool, but couldn’t take the leap, stumbling in the process. That said, Ryan Reynolds is the straw that stirs the drink in this film. It doesn’t work with anyone else playing Wade Wilson/Deadpool, but you can probably put just about anyone around him, and it will work. That’s not to say that the supporting cast is bad. Just the opposite. T. J. Miller is great in a limited role as Wade Wilson’s best friend and Morena Baccarin’s Vanessa goes toe to toe with Wilson as their relationship grows through the film. Ed Skrein’s portrayal of Ajax is not as memorable, but sufficient as the lead villain. Further down the supporting cast list, Gina Carano as Ajax’s sidekick Angel Dust feels very one dimensional, and a bit of a wasted opportunity. On the other hand, Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) and Colossus (Stefan Kapičić) provide a lovely connection to the world of the X-Men, and feel like fuller characters than either of the villains.
If yours is a family that likes watching Marvel movies together, make sure to put the kids to bed before putting this one on. It earns the R-rating, but everything that contributes to that rating feels relevant. Some of the blood and gore could be a bit excessive, but it still serves to drive home the point of Deadpool’s physical resilience, even if he is a bit weaker emotionally. A well put together film and worthy of a place in the MCU once that connection is made.
7 out of 10
Last week I posted my review of the first Venom film from 2018 and made it a point to follow it with the sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, this week, hoping the series would improve. Sadly, I was disappointed, despite the best efforts of cast and crew.
The sequel was set up very obviously at the end of the first film with a credits scene, something Marvel is so well known for. However, in this instance, it didn’t connect to some other character or series, but rather simply foreshadowed the obligatory sequel for films like this, regardless of the quality of the original. Did we need another Venom movie? Probably not. Are we going to get even more after this one? Probably. When it comes to the character, I echo what I said for the first film that I prefer Hardy’s version of Eddie Brock/Venom to Topher Grace’s. I also appreciated the fact that Venom and Eddie became a bit more distinct in this film, with a few characters in the know addressing Venom directly, regardless of whose body he was in at the time. Michelle Williams ups her game in this film from the first despite her limited screen time. As far as the villains, I believed less in Woody Harrelson’s Cletus Kasady/Carnage and Naomie Harris’s Shriek than I did in the first film’s version of Riot. Don’t get me wrong, I love both Harrelson and Harris as actors, but this material didn’t quite suit them, and it never seemed like they really inhabited the roles.
While I never had a true problem with Ben Affleck’s version of Batman, I can see why many people claimed Pattison as the best Batman in a long time. However, I don’t share the feelings of the masses that adore this film above all others in the franchise.
It’s a good film, but it’s not a great film. Yes, it’s dark and brooding, just like it’s title character, but in that darkness, I get the feeling of being one dimensional. There are new takes on old characters that we all love, but that’s just the problem. It’s another version of the same stories we’ve been told with the same characters for years, decades even. Don’t get me wrong, the performances in this film are top notch. Pattinson inhabits The Batman with ease, but seems to struggle with Bruce. Granted, this is not the playboy Bruce we’re used to seeing from Christian Bale or Val Kilmer, but at least Bale was able to play both playboy Bruce and broken Bruce. Zoë Kravitz is the best of the film for my money as Selina Kyle and Catwoman. She is a less polished version of the character than we got from Michelle Pfeiffer or Anne Hathaway and she is clearly a broken character.
Again, my favorite plot points centered not around the battle of wits between Batman and The Riddler from afar, but the internal conflict of Kyle, first trying to find her missing friend, and then seeking revenge on her estranged father, Carmine Falcone. I wonder if the film would have been an even more effective crime drama if that had been the central point to be made.
At nearly three hours of running time, The Batman is too long and too dark (both visually and emotionally) for me to enjoy it as many do. I understand the appeal for some segment of the audience, but hope that the expected sequel takes a slightly different turn. 6 out of 10
Venom was one of the few gaps in my Marvel film viewing in recent years, and it was time to fill that gap.
I didn’t expect much from the film after it a tepid reception when it was released. But, since it did well enough to warrant a quick sequel, it was worth a shot. I loved Tom Hardy in the role of Eddie Brock, much more so than Topher Grace’s version in 2007’s Spider-Man 3. Michelle Williams role in the film was a bit understated, and I enjoyed seeing rising star Riz Ahmed, this time in a true villain role. The story itself is pretty typical for a comic book film. It was a bit slow to build the characters and even took some time to get Venom and Brock together. Fortunately, it wasn’t overly long, clocking in just under the 2-hour mark. I’d say it probably could have been about 10-15 minutes shorter, but I’m not sure how much shorter a film in this genre can be and still be viable at the box office.
When you’re looking through Netflix recommendations, and it suggests a Netflix original film that you’ve never heard of, it might be better to steer clear.
Interceptor tries to bill itself as an action film in the vein of classic Schwarzenegger or Stallone flicks of 20-30 years ago, but fills itself with so many plot holes, that it’s hard to even understand what the true motivations of the characters are. The conceit here is that the only remaining missile defense platform located somewhere in the Pacific Ocean is being taken over by terrorists working in tandem with someone in Russia to steal a bunch of nukes to fire at the U.S. This begs the question of why the U.S. only has two missile defense platforms (interceptors) and where all the other missile defense capabilities are during this film. Don’t we have planes, ships, etc. that could launch similar countermeasures against a nuclear attack? I digress. The star of the film is Elsa Pataky as JJ Collins, a Navy captain who has faced backlash for Me Too accusations against a high ranking general earlier in her career. You may recognize Pataky as Elena Neves, Dominic Toretto’s love interest in some of the more recent Fast and Furious films and she is probably the best part of this film, I just wish she’d been given a better vehicle to showcase what she could do in the action genre. Aside from Pataky’s performance, the only other real bright spot in the film comes from her husband and executive producer on the film, Chris Hemsworth. He has a cameo as an electronic store employee in Los Angeles who see the events on the missile platform broadcast live across the country and cheers Collins on as she fights the terrorists. Ultimately, you know how this film is going to end. There are no surprises along the way, at least not ones you can’t see coming 20 minutes in advance. A forgettable film that hopefully doesn’t kill the career of an actor with some great potential. 3 out of 10 |
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