#they do very well with their action scenes a la framing and choreography

[consumeronionbulletin]

Eve (2022)

I wanted to like this show. I did not like this show. I will still watch anything with Seo Yea-Ji as a lead.

The world in this show is twisted and corrupt. Maybe it harkens back to the dictatorship days in Korea, I don't know enough history to tell you that. The main drive is revenge, and I think with a smarter group of writers it could have been great. But they didn't do that for me.

The show is still remarkable in the costumes, the choreography, and the way each scene is staged. It feels very much like a high end luxury advertisement or a good musical.

As for the not so good, I think my biggest complaint is how the writers treated Lee La-el/Kim Sun-bin. Her motivation--to get revenge on the powerful people who killed her parents--makes sense. But the writers seemed to enjoy making a spectacle out of her.

The scenes in the past, which showed all the terrible things that happened to her and her family, felt like violence without a purpose other than making the evil people seem more evil. Her plot for revenge mainly involves seduction and espionage. But the people she has to seduce are all accomplices to the people who murdered her parents to begin with.

This is supposed to be dramatic and to show that Lee La-el is willing to do anything to get revenge, but it feels gratuitous on screen, and it actually cheapens her actions. Lee La-el using innocent people to get her revenge is a more interesting choice than having her "sleep with the enemy", when we know she'll probably get back at them at some point in the future.

The seduction scenes with the evil CEO guy are shot very well, but the two leads don't have alot of chemistry together. This could be an interesting choice if we see Lee La-el working to force a relationship that she doesn't really want, but the framing at the start of episode one, where everything is a flashback and the two of them are at least "together" means that this isn't the story they end up telling.

I guess the TL;DR version: this show is all about spectacle, and it fails to make the characters work in a way that interests me. It feels much more like the Sin City school of revenge shows, rather than Kill Bill or even John Wick.

[plush-anon]

you have seen 4 and half minutes of random low quality clips from a three hour movie. The Russo's are 3 for 3, and all test audiences have been raving about what they've seen from Endgame. You need to calm down until you actually see the film lol.

guess you missed that part huh friend

(also one of my tags literally read ‘plush rants’, that doesn’t necessarily mean calm and collected response. this is a post i made to vent about possible outcomes for Endgame based off of my own concerns and opinions about what came out in the Clips. literally a ‘Dead Dove Do Not Eat’ kind of post)

On the Russo’s being 3 for 3, I’m gonna have to disagree there friend just bc... lord knows there are a LOT of issues with poor writing, plot contrivances, and plot holes with both Civil War and Infinity War that came directly out of their creative choices and views on the characters they are responsible for portraying.

For example, in Civil War:

When Ross was grilling the Avengers over what happened with New York, how is it that no one mentioned that the government outright TRIED TO NUKE NEW YORK CITY? There was a portion of the movie with Tony Stark flying the nuclear missile sent to destroy everything and everyone in one fell swoop - literal millions of innocent civilians - into the alien wormhole. How is it that no one tries to argue this on Team Cap’s team?

Who the heck hired Crossbones in Civil War to fcuk up the shit in Lagos? Was he still working for some fragment of HYDRA? What was his purpose there, what was his plan? He wanted revenge on Cap, but what was his plan to achieve that? Did Zemo hire him?

How is it that the Winter Soldier found the one place on an abandoned road where there was a convenient security camera showing him killing Tony’s parents in a way that there was no doubt those were the two people he was killing in the 80s/90s? did HYDRA put it there to watch it like a sports game, and if so, how did they tell Bucky that so he knew where to pull over, and how did they know the Starks’ travel plans to the point they could predict exactly where to run them off the road to that specific camera?

What was the point about the Five Winter Soldiers subplot, except to get Steve, Tony, and Bucky in one room together to watch the video tape of the Starks’ brutal murder? If the whole point was to turn the Avengers on each other, why not first split them apart, frame Steve as protecting a man who blew up the UN (even if it wasn’t him, the gen public still thinks this), then publicly release/show the video verifying that yes, this is a dangerous criminal and Cap is protecting him?

Does Zemo have a Crystal Ball to tell him everything that’s happening, in order to predict how everything fell perfectly into place? He orchestrated the UN bombing to frame Bucky, but how on earth did he account for the Lagos incident with Scarlet Witch, or the Sokovia Accords’ creation, or Black Panther’s involvement? How did he perfectly predict the fall of the Avengers and the stressors needed to force a split, to where Tony, Steve, and Bucky would be in place for him to bring them to the Tape of Dismay?

What was the point of including Ant-Man apart from the fight scene? Scott Lang’s entry into the MCU focused entirely on him trying to prove that he’s not a criminal and wants to do the best possible by his family and the world around him... only to throw it all away to break the law, fight with Captain America, and immediately get thrown in jail for it.

Maybe he didn’t fully understand what he was getting into, but what about Hawkeye, who has a wife and three kids? At the end of AOU, he was hoping to retire and live a peaceful life with his family, which was the whole reason Quicksilver died. Now his kids have no dad bc... why, exactly? He got bored? He wasn’t involved in anything leading up to the Accords like the Lagos explosion, why would he come back now? He knew full well what he was getting into when he joined Steve, and got arrested for it.What was the point except to flatten out the roster?

Why did Howard Stark decide to transport the Super Soldier Serum without any form of bodyguards nearby, ESPECIALLY with his wife in the car? Was the plan to transport it as quietly as possible while a heavily armored decoy distracted whoever was after it? If so, 1.) what danger/risk was there that required this method? 2.) did no one think to put a tracker on the Starks’ personal car while they were doing this, to ensure no bumps or hiccups? 3.) if there was a suspected leak at SHIELD, why would Howard endanger his wife needlessly under the guise of a normal drive out? (short answer: he’s a dick, but I digress) 4.) Who the heck were they trying to fool by driving around on back roads in the middle of nowhere? Where was their destination? (This branch of questioning I do recognize as not having enough time to flesh out, but the whole scenario raises a shitton of questions in general).

During all of this, where was Maria Hill? She was a higher up with SHIELD, and she was still free and alive. Fury was still presumed dead at large, I’m assuming, but wouldn’t she have tried to speak up, or was she keeping her head down?

And now, for Infinity War:

Why is it that when Thanos showed up, Loki didn’t use the Tesseract to open up a Portal to help all of the Asgardian refugees escape directly to Midgard, or even a nearby planet? Thor and Loki used it to transport back to Asgard at the end of Avengers: Assemble, and Thanos used it to teleport between planets effortlessly; while it cannot open massive wormholes on its own, it could still be used to transport people in between space, which Loki is known to excel at.

Why is it that, as Thanos was leaving the ship with Thor still alive, that Loki decided to call out to him, calling attention back to himself when they could have reconvened and sought out the Avengers to make a plan, all to try to stab him with a tiny knife?

Why didn’t Hulk show up before when Thanos was destroying/slaughtering the entire ship of Asgardian Refugees until Thor was captured and Heimdall was killed - why did he wait?

How did Bruce know to warn about Thanos, when he’s never shown any sign of being able to recall knowledge he learned as Hulk or memories during his time as the Hulk before now?

What the heck happened to Nova when Thanos went to retrieve the Power Stone? Wouldn’t the Guardians have been alerted when Nova attacked, given both their experience with the Stone and Gamora’s past with Thanos? How about the fact that StarLord can actually wield the stone somewhat? Wouldn’t they be a strong contender to stop Thanos, based on power and knowledge of him?

How about Rhodey suddenly deciding to turn his back on everything he fought for in Civil War without any sort of precursor than ‘he looks annoyed at Ross’ when Cap walks in?

What the heck are the logistics of Red Skull being the Ghost of Infinity Stone Past protecting an Infinity Stone he never encountered? Did the Tesseract transport him there as a protector, and if so, why doesn’t Thanos use the Tesseract to travel instantly to where the other stones are located? Why did the Tesseract transport the spirit of Red Skull to protect/conveniently explain the terms & conditions of the Soul Stone to anyone who came looking for it?

What was the point of killing half of all life to “preserve resources” or bc there weren’t “enough resources” for the populations when you kill half of all plants and animals in the universe as well? Did none of this occur to him as he was making the plan?

Doctor Strange said in Thor 3 that he keeps a watchlist on potential threats to Earth, which is how he knows about Loki - so why doesn’t he know about the Mad Titan with massive armies seeking the Infinity Stones at the beginning of IW?

For that matter, why didn’t Doctor Strange trap Thanos in a time loop like he did with Dormammu? Without the Time Stone, Thanos couldn’t escape, so why didn’t that come into play?

Also, what about Doctor Strange’s portal creating sling rings? If he had an issue with Tony Stark or Peter Parker being on the space ship, why not sling them back to Earth (or do they only work on Earth)?

For that matter, why not cut off Thanos’ hand with the Gauntlet USING these portals once they have him pinned? Could Thanos control his hand even as it was severed from his body?

Where the fcuk did the whole Wanda/Vision relationship bloom from, when they were on very opposite sides in Civil War, and Vision contributed to keeping her under house arrest? Where did romance even pop up there?

The Infinity Stones are supposed to be indestructible, as outlined in both GOTG and Thor TDW - how is it then that Wanda can destroy one now? Was it weakened by Shuri’s removal process (which was never aimed at destroying the Stone, only separating it from Vision without killing him)?

Vision was willing to sacrifice himself to destroy the Stone in his head and keep Thanos from winning, yet Steve goes ‘We don’t trade lives’, even when that wouldn’t be his decision to make - it’s Vision’s and he’s willing. Then they go to Wakanda to have the stone removed, and potentially hundreds of soldiers die bc that’s where Thanos’ armies landed down. They all knew that Thanos could track Vision (given that Steve and Natasha come to rescue him from the Black Hand at that subway station), so why risk the lives of thousands in Wakanda on the chance that he survives having it removed, only to have to destroy him anyways AFTER gods know how many have already died?

How was the Black Hand powerful enough to kill/maim/capture a host of Asgardians (who have been proven to have much higher durablity in regards to injuries in general) along with Thor, Loki, Heimdall, Hulk, and presumably Valkyrie, all of whom (save Hulk), have literal CENTURIES of fighting experience under their belts - and yet struggle and lose to mildly superpowered humans with far less durability to injuries than Asgardians (who live on average for 5000 years at a time, and have accelerated healing, as seen in both Avengers Assemble and the Agents of SHIELD tv series, which does share a level of canon to the main MCU)?

How could Thor withstand the full blast of a DYING STAR and be up again by holding his axe summoning the Bifrost’s power to heal him (????), yet not be capable of breaking out of Ebony Maw’s iron bars holding him in place in the first ten minutes of the movie?

How did Thor know exactly where to beam in via his Bifrost-wielding axe to Wakanda? Did the axe come with a GPS on finding ‘big ass battles’ to join in, or can it track Infinity Stones? If he stopped somewhere else to find out where to go, where did he go to and who told him? The Avengers didn’t exactly publicize the Infinity Stones or Thanos’ arrival, or leave too many people behind that Thor could easily touch base with.

For that matter, Thor arrived on Midgard before Thanos - with his Bifrost-powered axe, why not go to Titan where the rest of the Guardians are? He’s already with Rocket and Groot, so being able to track them down should be relatively simple to do on their end - why not meet up with them again? Why go to Midgard when he could have gone to face off against Thanos BEFORE HE GOT ALL 6 STONES?!? In fact, wouldn’t it make MORE sense to meet up with the rest of the Guardians than Midgard? They know about Thanos, they planned AFTER MEETING THOR to retrieve the Reality Stone - why wouldn’t Thor go back to them on this one?

And that’s just off the top of my head. Go looking in any Infinity War Critical tag, and you will find a thousand more.

If you mean 3 for 3 in terms of profit, definitely. Their upcoming movie outright crashed ticket ordering webpages for hours on end, to the point that to order tickets online, you had to wait your turn. As far as strong writing though? I would argue against that, based off of everything listed above and then some.

Fans on all sides have issues with pretty much every character’s portrayals, actions, and reactions, along with how the plot ultimately progressed. Steve Stans, Tony Stans, Thor Stans, Loki Stans, T’Challa Stans, Scarlet Witch Stans, Guardian Stans, Spider-Stans, Strange Stans, Hulk Stans - a lot of people looked at this film and found it lacking for all of these characters and their arcs, portrayals, their inconsistent capabilities after literally 20 films showing us everything they can do.

So while the Russos have done well financially for the MCU (and admittedly, made Civil War much less of a mess than it ever was in the comics - which is saying something about how absolutely fucked up the comics were), in terms of delivering satisfying conclusions for these characters, they’ve been found lacking again and again. Their idea of groundbreaking character work is to destroy or take away everything they love in absolutes, or to kill off characters to fuel Emotional Pain.

Thor didn’t have to lose everything to have an arc - neither did the Guardians. And while death will inevitably be a part of any Infinity War story, it’s extremely telling that the only deaths that left an impact are two of three that were NOT a result of being dusted - the ones we Know can’t be reversed so easily: Gamora and Loki. Characters that have suffered endlessly and received no happy ending with the people they cherish, after having lost so much already. The only characters dusted that people feel viscerally upset about that I’ve seen was Groot and Shuri, and the latter was only revealed recently in the Twitter campaign posters (and is also complete bullshit to pull on the audience - "randomly” kill off half the world, my ass, you killed off how many people in Wakanda and then some?!? No).

No one else’s death has left as much an impact in a story where half the world dies - and when the primary ending of your tragedy, having been built up to over a goddamn decade of films, leaves mostly a ‘meh’ feeling? You have failed to make people care, and failed as storytellers.

[arrowdaily]

This season of Arrow has taken the series’ already awesome action and stunts to a whole new level. With Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) in prison, things have been incredibly brutal, but what we’ve seen so far is nothing compared to the action of episode 7, “The Slabside Redemption” which airs tonight.

After last week’s triumphant takedown of Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo) things look like they’re finally getting better for the team, but at the start of this week’s adventure, Diaz neatly escapes his captors and heads into Slabside prison to take down Oliver, before the former vigilante’s release. What follows is a full hour of action, combining a tense cat-and-mouse between Oliver and Diaz, unlikely alliances, shocking betrayals, and jaw-dropping stunts.

There is no B story; there is no villain of the week—just wall-to-prison-wall ass kicking. On our recent trip to Vancouver, BC, we talked to Amell, along with director James Bamford and fight coordinator Jeff Robinson (correction: an earlier version of this article erroneously named fight coordinator Curtis Baconnier), about how this extraordinary episode came together.

“Seven... they just turned the stunt department loose,” Amell said of the episode. “It was the shortest script that I’ve ever read, because it had so little stage direction. It was basically [Showrunner Beth Schwartz] going to James Bamford and saying, “This is the through line of what happens to Oliver from start to finish; do what you can in the time that you have. Go.’”

No one could have directed this episode but James Bamford. Bamford—also known as BamBam—has stunt credits too numerous too name, a bronze medal in karate (!) and a well-earned reputation as one of the best stunt performers and coordinators in Vancouver. Since season 4 of Arrow, he’s added to his resume as a director, and has been a producer on the show since 2017.

This season, he directed the “Elseworlds” crossover, as well as several other episodes of Arrow. He was also a correctional officer back in the day, who used his own experience working in a prison to bring veritas to the Slabside plot line this season.

Bamford was part of the original conception for this mini action movie. “The episode was born of a conversation Mark Guggenheim and I had,” Bamford told us. At the time, Guggenheim suggested doing an episode with “three words, and the rest of it is action!” He upped the ante, suggesting the idea that the entire episode was one shot, a la Birdman.

That concept proved a tad too outside of the box for a network show, but the idea of what Bamford called “a giant oner with no words” evolved, and eventually the creatives came to the concept of “The Slabside Redemption.” The episode plays out almost in real time as one long fight between Oliver, Diaz, the guards, and the rest of the prisoners let loose (including Michael Jai White’s Ben Turner, a.k.a. Bronze Tiger). It was a true collaboration between writers, director, stunts, and actors.

One goal of the episode was to take full advantage of the multi-story Slabside prison set, which Bamford thought had been under-utilized in the top of the season. The fact that the set was built in-studio allowed fight coordinator Robinson to rehearse with his team extensively in the space before the shoot.

This came in extremely handy for the centerpiece of the episode: a single continuous shot that moves through multiple levels of the Slabside set, just aas Bamford and co. envisioned. The shot was accomplished with a technocrane, as well as hours of rehearsals by the stunt men and actors. Even within this long shot, there were many “cowboy switches,” where a stunt double will step into frame as an actor steps out, or vice versa, and stunt men and riggers doing setups out of frame while the camera was rolling.

And it’s seamless. “We’ll rehearse the whole dance, then on the day, we do multiple rehearsals with camera,” said stunt coordinator Eli Zagoudakis (correction: an earlier version of this article attributed this quote to the fight coordinator). Then there’s the actual day of shooting, where Bamford cued every stunt and movement of camera, while the crew, stuntmen, and actors went at it.

“It took about six or seven takes,” on the day, Bamford said. The “second-to-last one is the one you see in the final cut.” The stunts in this episode are so hot that a stunt man literally gets lit on fire in what Baonnier described as a “one of the coolest gags we’ve ever done.” The preparation for such a stunt was meticulous, as well. First, they set just the stunt man’s arm on fire, then more, then the full body, and eventually we see him on fire, being thrown off a ledge. And it’s awesome.

While this episode is staggering in terms of stunts, it’s just one of the many challenging and ultimately extremely entertaining risks the show has taken this season. The premiere episode saw a very naked Oliver fighting for his life in a brutal shower brawl.

“It’s not often that we get an opportunity to do something like that,” mused Amell. “This was obviously incredibly unique insofar as—we’ve had a couple fights in the history of the show where we just can’t double me. This obviously had to be me.”

Bamford incited giggles discussing how “the biggest challenge” was keeping Stephen Amell’s modesty intact and “staying on network television.” That led to a long phone call with the network about what they could and couldn’t show, but also a lot of creative filmmaking.

Another unique element this season has been the presence of The Silencer (Miranda Edwards), a member of The Longbow Hunters who can turn off the sound in a given area.

“Those were very difficult,” Bamford said of the noiseless fights. “It’s a really large challenge to have an action scene come off successfully without hearing a thing, because action sequences depend on the sound just as much as they depend on editing and the choreography and performance. It was a huge challenge and a gamble to actually execute that. I think it turned out really well.”

One trick to selling a silent fight? “It helps when there’s hair,” Bamford shared, a trick learned from Jackie Chan.

“The Slabside Redemption” is a great example of how good television is about collaboration between so many departments and skilled performers. That single long shot is breathtaking, and it came together thanks to the hard work of stunt people, camera men, lighting riggers, set designers, costumers, actors, post-production geniuses, and more who often go unrecognized and underappreciated.

“We’re not going to get nominated for a stunt Emmy,” Amell lamented, “but we should.” What they will receive is major appreciation and admiration from fans, and it’s also well-deserved.

[smokeybrand]

Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Blunderland

I’ve been trying to watch Kate since it released on Netflix a few weeks back but there ha been just too much content available to check out. Brand New Cherry Flavor, the second season of Slime, Star Wars: Visions, the good Netflix He-Man, and that’s not counting older stuff like running back through the James Bond franchise and Matrix franchises. Suffice it to say, Kate gt lost in the shuffle. The thing is, i actually like Mary Elizabeth Winstead. She’s in some of my all-time favorite films. 10 Cloverfield Lane, Scott Pilgrim, and Sky High are absolutely incredible films and she has a substantial role in all of them. What she’s never really had is a star turning vehicle for herself. Kate attempts to provide that but, so soon after Gunpowder Milkshake, is it too much too fast?

The Good

The first thing i noticed is how visceral the physicality is in this movie. You feel the impact of these fights. You see the wear on MEW as the film progresses. It’s not as intense as John Wick but it’s definitely there and arguably the best thing about this movie.

Speaking of the physicality, i have to give a proper nod to the actual fight choreography. These are solid examples of pretty satisfying donnybrooks. I didn’t expect such ambition fisticuffs out of a full Netflix production but, for the budget and style of this movie, they were very well executed.

Speaking of style, the look of this film is very vibrant. Neon drench grime and vibrant urban decay is kind of my sh*t, I'm a sucker for all thing cyberpunk, so i really dig the looks of this film. It’s not a cyberpunk by any means so don’t expect those themes but it does nail the look.

the camera work in this thing is pretty good. Absolutely breathtaking panorama shots as times, great used of how the camera moves, solid choices in imbuing life with shot framing. You can tell there was definitely a vision here and the director, Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, really goes a long way to delivering those ideas. Dude is no James Wan behind that viewfinder, mind you, but he does a good job.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead is pretty good in the title role. This is definitely her film. MEW does everything to sell her character and, for the most part, it works. There are times when she’s monstrous, times when she’s incredibly vulnerable, and you’re never at a loss believing her performance. The actual content kind of let’s her down though and we’ll get to that in a second.

The Meh

The plot to this film is corny. It’s a sub-genre on it’s own now, the femme fatale/AWOL Female Secret Agent and you an only do so much with that. Sometimes, you end to get creative around the narrative but Kate really doesn’t do that. This is Gunpowder Milkshake but with a “tragic” ending.

That writing i talked about earlier is aggressively derivative. This whole movie is basically just Leon the Professional but worse. The f*cker even has an “Everything!!” moment and , as you can imagine, it underwhelmed. That’s the writing in a nutshell: Underwhelming.

The pacing is a little sus. There’s a lot of fat on this rind that needs to be trimmed and you feel it. Kate is almost to hours long and this narrative does not need that breathing room at all. I keep coming back to the John Wick films because they are the benchmark now. The first John Wick is comparable in run time and there are no lulls. That thing moves, getting you from set piece to set piece. Hate doesn’t do that. It wants to be a more character driven, introspective, outing but the writing isn’t there which makes the film uneven as f*ck.

Woody Harrelson is in this flick playing Kate’s handler and primary antagonist, but you wouldn’t know it. That’s actually a big problem as he’s the name of this movie. Of course, this is MEW’s film, it lives and dies by her,but Woody is what sells it. Dude is a massive star and currently at the forefront of the cultural zeitgeist because of the new Venom flick. You’d think he’s play more than a passive riles in this one if you cast him in such a pivotal role. What we did get is, of course, excellent, but it’s more a bite than a meal.

Kind of in the same vein, the main supporting character and catalyst for the films entire conflict, Ani, is forgettable. Portrayed by Miku Martineau with a decent amount of skill, the character, herself, is paper thin. She has a much presence in the plot as a ghost fart. It’s weird because she’s in a lot of scenes but it definitely doesn’t feel like that at all.

The Bad

The plot is mad derivative. It’s like the bare bones template for this kind of film. I’ve already sighted a few examples of other movies in the genre. It’s only bad if this is a genre you actually enjoy, like me. Some of my favorite movies are in this sub-genre and seeing it done so xerox-y is a frustration.

Some of these effects are outright broken. There’s a car chase scene that’s straight up PS2 cutscene levels of jank. You can tell Netflix opted not to put up more lot for the budget with that one scene. They’re not ready for the big leagues if they can shoot that scene practically. What the f*ck is even the pint of that studio out in New Mexico is you  can wreck cars on the backlot?

After seeing that crash, i immediately understood that Nate didn’t go far enough with its aesthetic. It’s so f*cking jarring how out of place this one scene is compared to the rest of the film. Like, if all of it looked like that, i think it would have been a much better viewing experience. That stylized nature could have distracted from all of the pitfalls within the narrative. Or, it could have gone the other way and stuck to a more gritty, more realistic take on the narrative and had the same results. Kate chose to try and split the difference, suffering for it.

The Verdict

Kate isn’t bad. Not good by any means but not terrible. This movie really could have been something special. This thing, one hundred percent, feels like a Huntress solo attempt, but it didn’t go far enough. I liked some of the visuals and MEW was good in it. Her material was sh*t and a few of the effects were REAL jank, but the fight scenes and neon drenched sets kind of make up for that. This felt like Cyberpunk Noir and we all know i have an unrelenting boner for all things Cyberpunk, so i might be giving this thing more credit than it deserves. Ultimately, this is nothing burger of a film. It's derivative, forgettable, action fun. You've seen this movie done before and done much, much, better. Atomic Blonde, The Long kiss Goodnight, and La Femme Nikita immediately come to mind. I didn't hate my time with Kate but i won't be spending anymore on it. I can see this being a pretty special franchise if Netflix fronts more money but I'm not holding my breath.

[chicagoindiecritics]

New from Every Movie Has a Lesson by Don Shanahan: VINTAGE REVIEW: The Untouchables

(Image: vanityfair.com)

THIS RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW AND ANALYSIS WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 FOR 25YL AS PART OF THEIR BRIAN DE PALMA TRIBUTE AND RETROSPECTIVE SERIES.

THE UNTOUCHABLES— 4 STARS

At the turn of the late 1980s, lauded filmmaker Brian De Palma needed a commercial win, the kind of score that filled his bank account and raised his cache to make more of his own artistic interests. He got that in 1987 with The Untouchables, a pet project of producer Art Linson who loved the gangland folklore possible with Paramount’s full rights to the characters. Buoyed by a 50% female audience dared into a violent picture, the film returned triple its budget after what would be the 6th highest debut of the year. Featuring all the director’s bells and whistles singing a new tune, The Untouchables returned bankability and creative acclaim to the career New Yorker. 

For The Untouchables, De Palma came to the writer’s turf of The Windy City to update and redefine the tropes of gangster film “The Chicago Way.”  Bounding with all of the swagger and toughness of David Mamet’s script, The Untouchables amplifies and dramatizes the Prohibition takedown efforts of famed U.S. Treasury agent Eliot Ness against Chicago Outfit leader Al Capone previously serialized by the 1957 television program starring Robert Stack. Kevin Costner was the reluctant final pick for the lead from the pool of Miami Vice’s Don Johnson, a busy Mel Gibson, and a declining Mickey Rourke to play the lawmen pitted against De Palma’s insisted choice and transformed muse Robert De Niro, and all his peccadillos, as the worshiped crime lord.

With steep dramatic license for silver screen flair, the movie Hollywoodizes the story of the diligent crusader Ness coming to City of Broad Shoulders and getting the tutelage of a brash pair of those in the form of an aging Irish beat cop named Jimmy Malone, played by screen legend Sean Connery in his lone Academy Award-winning role despite what an Empire magazine poll voted as the worst movie accent of all-time. Mamet and De Palma condense the historical Primary Ten into a composite squad of four when Ness and Malone recruit rookie sharpshooter George Stone (Andy Garcia, getting to play a hero after being the heavy in Hal Ashby’s 8 Million Ways to Die) and elevate D.C. bookworm agent Oscar Wallace (the welcome amount of comic relief from Charles Martin Smith). Looming next to De Niro is an army of ne’er-do-well underlings covered with overcoats, fedoras, and Tommy guns led by his Outfit #2 Frank Nitti (Pale Rider’s Billy Drago, after Garcia was approached and moved to Stone).

Playwright hitmaker David Mamet showers these actors with outstanding lines, from long rants to rapid-fire conversation. While he may revise a heap of history, Mamet and his “Mamet Speak” give these actors steak to chew on and De Palma tension to shoot. Even with Connery’s rough accent brimming all over and Costner’s genteel baseline, there’s still not a clunker moment of line delivery all movie. All of it sizzles with cigar smoke mixing with spent gunpowder and lament and heroism teeter-totter strides with the moody and brassy pomp of Ennio Morricone’s top-shelf score. 

The high style and period detail are on display in all areas of the movie’s big and clean production values. Many people go straight to the sleek and Oscar-nominated Giorgio Armani threads from costume designer Marilyn Vance (quite a step up from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) and they would be keenly right to be impressed. Surfaces like costuming and the equally Oscar-nominated production designs of Amadeus’s Patrizia von Brandenstein, comedy specialist William A. Elliot comedy specialist, and Disney live-action veteran Hal Gausman drape, bath, and decorate pulpy antiquity out of the genuine Chicago locations. 

From this Chicagaoan’s eyes, Eric Schwab, De Palma’s longtime location scout and manager (and a future second unit director on six of the man’s films), outdid himself with the rich finds and recreations that sought lurid decadence. From Roosevelt University standing in as the notorious Lexington Hotel, Frank Lloyd Wright’s The Rookery used as police headquarters on historic La Salle Street, the Tiffany Dome of the Chicago Cultural Center (and original city library) to those climactic Union Station steps and every church steeple in between, Chicago has rarely look better or more ominous. 

Furthermore, the cinematographer and editors are part of what makes Brian De Palma and The Untouchables look so damn good and pop with visual storytelling. That success comes from successful and extensive collaboration. Cinematographer Stephen H. Burum would go on to work with the director for eight films. Editors Bill Pankow and Gerald G. Greenburg add nine and five trips, respectively, with De Palma to that teamwork tally. For more detail, Burum was highlighted by a nice interview piece in American Cinematographer for his work on The Untouchables last year. One fun fact is that the studio quickly talked him out of shooting in black-and-white. Be glad he was because the color always pops. The outstanding widescreen framing from Burum and the suspenseful sense of pacing from Pankow and Greenburg sharpen and highlight De Palma’s entertaining and engaging moves. 

And those chops!  As for what we’re celebrating here on 25YL, the real talent is Brian De Palma and his endlessly studied and glorified filmmaking prowess and visual trademarks. His tricks of the trade are applied to a ballsy, dramatic adventure that bleeds buckets of crimson underneath all those aforementioned surfaces.  Let’s talk angles first.

In many establishing shots, including catching street signs and the high angle zooming straight down from an opening card of history notes to a character introduction of De Niro’s Capone getting pampered and nicked in a barber’s chair, De Palma uses canted angles. De Palma and Burum also enjoyed low angles that highlight height or the towering setting, like the Tiffany Dome presiding over the wide spectre looking up to Capone later. One stellar example of viewing location is the creeper sequence of Malone’s home invasion, where the low angle and the POV steps set up tension and surprise. 

The most celebrated clinical example of angles comes from the “di-opt” split focus used during the blood oath church scene between Malone and Ness with that great “Chicago way” proverb. A half convex glass, one part near-sighted and one part far-sighted, kept both the two heroes in focus as well as the lofty and gorgeous church ceiling behind them. The stillness and depth of that scene, boosted by Mamet’s words and the mettle of the performances, are a very good foil to the pace of the rest of the picture.

The next visual feast of De Palma’s craft from the film are the movements. The amount of slow-sweeping pans and tracking shots of precise choreography are impressively mind-boggling. Long takes rule as the average shot length of The Untouchables is 5.7 seconds, a stout eternity by today’s thriller standards. Capone’s stalking baseball bat table circle monologue has a few cutaways for potential swing victim identification, but the circular pan from the low angle is gorgeous for both the hulking fear and finery on display. Even a shorter sequence like the Steadicam use following Wallace escorting a witness through the police hallways to his grave ending in the elevator are a long single-take marvel. 

The piece-de-resistance of editing and motion married together is the movie’s storied gunfight climax set on lobby steps of Chicago’s Union Station. It’s a scene De Palma reduced from a moving train sequence for budget and shot on the fly in substitution. Out of necessity, De Palma mixed a source of homage, the Odessa Steps sequence from Sergei Eisenstein’s The Battleship Potemkin, to create his own holdout sequence where hurdles block the protagonists’ path for a necessary task. This classic scene also presents the best use of De Palma’s penchant for occasional slow-motion while amping up the sound work of the intersecting chess pieces. Pankow and Greenburg’s editing assistance really shines. Replica or note to Eisenstein, the result is brilliant and better than what some big-budget train chase would have been. De Palma would get that checkbook-busting chance again in Mission: Impossible nearly a decade later.

History and popularity have been kind to Brian De Palma’s crime movie achievement. The American Film Institute nominated the movie in five categories (Movies, Thrills, Hero, Villain, Film Score, and Gangster Film) during its “100 Years” series last decade. Then and now, The Untouchables earned a city’s pride and spurred new popularity to the Capone legend. Its success also fueled a star’s rise (Costner), secured another’s lasting legacy (Connery), and reminded audiences just how sharply talented its steward was. Once the end credits hit and Morricone plays us all out, you can also feel Brian De Palma channeling tough-guy Jimmy Malone with a “here endeth the lesson.”  The hitmaker never lost his edge.

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[recentanimenews]

Creating the Kaleidoscopic Visual Style of PROMARE

PROMARE, the first feature film from anime studio Trigger, has been, ahem, lighting up theaters in the US for about a month now with its high-octane firefighting action. In many ways the film is a culmination of years of work from its creators, combining their manic storytelling style with innovative new animation techniques and making use of virtually everybody who’s anybody at the studio. (If you haven’t seen it yet, you may want to check out our review of the movie!)

Whenever I’m at a convention with the staff from Trigger, I always make a point to sit down for an interview, and I had another opportunity this year at Otakon 2019. In attendance were the film’s character designer Shigeto Koyama (a freelance designer who you might know from Heroman, Inferno Cop, and the robots in Star Driver and Darling in the Franxx), producer Hiromi Wakabayashi (Kill la Kill, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt), and the director himself, Hiroyuki Imaishi (Kill la Kill, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Panty & Stocking). The three are longtime friends and collaborators, and often refer to themselves collectively as “Geek Boat.”

Our interview covers the production of PROMARE, its connection with the wider “Trigger-Verse” that (extremely loosely) connects their works, and the creators’ thoughts on a movie that, like PROMARE, successfully marries 2-D and 3-D visual styles: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Thank you to Otakon guest and press staff, as well as interpreter Tatsuru Tatemoto, for the opportunity. Enjoy!

Going All Out on PROMARE

Ani-Gamers: Mr. Imaishi, you’ve had some prior experience with CG directing, but in PROMARE it feels like you really went wild with it. There’s a lot of dynamic camera work and choreography. What was the directing like for that? Did you do anything differently from usual?

Hiroyuki Imaishi: In the first half of the movie, I incorporated long shots of actions, like one minute or longer scenes, without a cut. Usually in animation, action scenes don't last that long, especially on television, because they get exhausting, but since we are incorporating CG and PROMARE is a theatrical release, I went all out with all these long action scenes.

Ani-Gamers: It actually kind of reminds me of Dead Leaves, in a good way. It’s so packed with action.

Imaishi: You’re quite keen with your observation...

Left to right: producer Hiromi Wakabayashi, director Hiroyuki Imaishi, and designer Shigeto Koyama.

Ani-Gamers: Another thing that's brilliant about PROMARE is the way it uses flat colors in both the 2-D and 3-D sections. It fixes the common problem in anime where the 2-D and 3-D stylization doesn’t match. How intentional was that?

Shigeto Koyama: Actually, I talked with Mr. Imaishi, and we tried something similar in Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt in the past. We think it was quite successful in rendering the two aspects together, so we definitely incorporated it because it was successful in Panty & Stocking. So I believe the majority was intentional.

Ani-Gamers: The 3-D animation is made primarily by Trigger’s sister studio Sanzigen, but there are a bunch of other studios that worked on it too, like Khara. How much did you micromanage the particulars of the 3-D and how much did you leave up to the other studios?

Imaishi: There are four portions in the movie: A, B, C, and D. The A part and D part are the portions with the most amount of action. So for A and D we asked Sanzigen to do most of the animation. For B and C we generally asked outside studios to help out with them.

However, there were a few scenes for B and C where Sanzigen already had previz [EDITOR’S NOTE: “previsualization,” a process of figuring out the staging of a scene with rough assets]. So for those scenes we just went with Sanzigen as well since [those scenes] were just a little bit more technical or more difficult to execute.

Ani-Gamers: In the Sanzigen scenes, did you provide a lot of corrections or did you rely on a unit director who handled most of the CG?

Imaishi: We did have a unit director for the 3-D parts, but we generally reviewed the scenes together. In terms of revisions, it really depended on who was doing the particular scene. Some animators were very experienced, very talented, and there's nothing that I could really say; it's an immediate “OK.” But there were some less-experienced animators, where we had to completely draw over what they turned in. It's a case by case thing, I can't really say for the entirety of the movie.

Ani-Gamers: Near the end of the movie there's a kiss scene, or as you like to say, a “rescue” scene. It's probably too much to ask for confirmation on whether—

Tatsuru Tatemoto: Are you asking if they're gay?

Ani-Gamers: Yes.

Hiromi Wakabayashi: Let’s say that you have a friend who’s unconscious and you had to give him CPR. Would that make you gay? Definitely wouldn’t in my book.

Into the Trigger-Verse

Ani-Gamers: Lucia, one of the members of Burning Rescue, looks a whole lot like one of the Trigger Girl mascots, Spring-chan. When are we going to see Lucia turn into Spring-chan?

Wakabayashi: You haven't had the opportunity to see this yet, but we have these two short prequel episodes to the film called “Lio-hen” and “Galo-hen.” For the Galo one, there is a hint that you might notice if you pay attention. There's an Easter egg in one of the monitors. So when it does get released, people who are fans of the Trigger-Verse should watch it frame by frame so you won't miss out on it.

Lucia from Promare (left) and Spring-chan, one of Studio Trigger’s mascot characters (right). Trigger-chan, another member of the mascot trio, was previously revealed to be an alter-ego of Luluco from Space Patrol Luluco.

Ani-Gamers: I've also heard there's an Inferno Cop reference in the movie. There’s an “ICOP” mug that Remy drinks out of at one point. It's obviously an IHOP reference, but is that supposed to be an Inferno Cop reference too?

Wakabayashi: No, that's just our take on IHOP. It's not that easy. I'm the one who put the Inferno Cop Easter egg in, but I have to admit it's pretty hard to find it while it's in motion.

Ani-Gamers: I'll consider it a challenge.

Koyama: Once you see it, it's pretty clear though.

Spider-Man and PROMARE

Ani-Gamers: I know all three of you are big Marvel fans. Have you all seen Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse?

All: Yes.

Ani-Gamers: It has a lot in common with PROMARE in terms of its combination of 2-D and 3-D. Has it inspired you at all in your own work?

Imaishi: Especially for people like myself who started as an animator and became a director, the ultimate goal is to achieve something where the actual film feels like the image boards. I'm pretty positive that the people who worked on Spider-Verse were trying to go for the same thing.

And it isn’t just image boards. Even if it's adapting a manga or a visual novel, it’s very hard to maintain the vibe of the initial drawings. It's hard to replicate the same information that the still visual provides. At least for animation, that’s the image board, which is the original concept. For an adaptation it might be images from the manga or the comic or the visual novel. It’s hard to bring that into the film, and I feel that both us and the folks at Spider-Verse were trying to go for the same goal, to bring the same thing from the image board to the motion.

Ani-Gamers: Well I think you did it on PROMARE.

Imaishi: Thank you.

Koyama: I personally know the character designer for Spider-Verse, so I think I can relate very deeply with them. However, we had a lot less budget and staff on our film. Though I feel like we did quite well for what we were provided.

Wakabayashi: I think it’s safe to say that Spider-Verse is at the top of the entertainment department right now, and we’re going for the same composition: a straightforward story, but we really go all out on the visuals. And I think that kind of means that we’re quite ahead of the times in comparison to the other Japanese studios.

I do feel like Spider-Verse had a storytelling approach that was more accepted by general audiences, so I feel that they did a better job at reaching a larger audience … disregarding the IP part.

Ani-Gamers: It helps a lot to be Spider-Man!

Wakabayashi: Well yeah, right? I do feel like, again disregarding the IP, PROMARE was a little bit more of a niche film. We pretty much did what we wanted to do, whereas Spider-Man is more widely accepted. People can relate to Spider-Man’s story a little bit more than what PROMARE is about.

But still, we feel like PROMARE was our most widely accepted, easily accessible project, even more so than Gurren Lagann, at least among Imaishi’s works.

Creating the Kaleidoscopic Visual Style of PROMARE originally appeared on Ani-Gamers on October 29, 2019 at 4:10 PM.

By: Evan Minto

[kcaruth]

Movie Mania 2016: Most Memorable Shots

Before we close the book on 2016, let’s take one last look at an aspect of film that does not have an Oscar category: best shot. There were plenty of breathtaking shots to choose from in 2016, but I’ve narrowed my favorites down to the following list. I’ll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, but in some cases they are essential to describing the shot. Now without further ado, enjoy!

Honorable Mentions

Captain America: Civil War — Airport Battle

This is it. This is the moment fans have been waiting for since the very first Iron Man. Marvel does these big hero shots really well (see Avengers: Age of Ultron or The Avengers), but this took things to a whole new level as our heroes chose sides and faced off against one another. Did they end up pulling a lot of their punches throughout the battle? Sure, but that does not take away from this awesome shot of all of our heroes on screen together at the same time, including ones you never thought you would see in a Marvel universe film. (I’m looking at you, Spider-Man.)

Kubo and the Two Strings — Kubo’s Origami Wings

I am still amazed at the amount of behind-the-scenes work that went into every single frame of this film, and this shot is the perfect example of all of that hard work paying off. The 3D stop-motion animation, the 3D printing used for the character models, the color palette, and the origami all come together to form what looks like a modern version of a Japanese woodblock print combined with a classic ink wash painting. Paired with Dario Marianelli’s fantastic score, this shot perfectly encompasses the wondrous scale of the film. And to think that this epic fantasy adventure film was made entirely on a 12-foot-long table top.

#5: Arrival — First Look at the Alien Spacecraft in Montana

Director Denis Villeneuve really knows how to capture the mood of a shot. Add on Jóhann Jóhannsson’s beautifully haunting, otherworldly score with Bradford Young’s focused cinematography, and you have got a home run on your hands. The landscape of the shot is both gorgeous and mystifying, just like the alien spacecraft. Although the setting of the shot is the plains of Montana, it has an alien quality to it. This shot does a tremendous job of building up the suspense as the film’s main characters and the audience prepare for their first encounter with the aliens.

#4: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story — Darth Vader Faces Off Against the Rebels

Hands down, this was the best scene of the entire film, and it all starts with this terrifying shot, which comes at the end of the film. Put yourself in the rebels’ shoes. Imagine seeing this figure appear out of the darkness. Yeah, you probably peed your pants in utter terror. With the alarm siren blaring and the electricity failing due to the space battle raging outside the ship, there are echoes of boots walking slowly at the end of the hall before an all-too-familiar breathing fills the air. Suddenly, the darkness gives way to the red light emitted from the dark lord’s crimson red lightsaber, and a feeling of absolute dread takes over. What follows is the Darth Vader scene fans have been waiting for ever since they were first introduced to the evil Sith lord.

#3: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them — Jacob in the Rain

Apparently, it is extremely difficult to find images of key shots from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, so this image will have to do. One of the best parts of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is the scene towards the end of the film after the confrontation with Grindelwald and Credence. Newt releases the Thunderbird to erase the memories of the New Yorkers who witnessed the magical destruction of the city. Jacob, a No-Maj, is forced to step into the memory-wiping rain, and what follows is a poignant shot that serves as a fitting farewell to a character the audience has grown to love over the course of the film.

#2: La La Land — Los Angeles Freeway “Another Day of Sun” Opening

Right off the bat, La La Land draws its audience in with a dazzling opening music number, “Another Day of Sun.” In the midst of dreary traffic jam on a Los Angeles freeway, the people in the traffic jam refuse to stay in one place and be stuck in their lives, so they burst from their cars, filling the screen with youthful exuberance and bright colors. What makes this shot even better is that it is not CGI. Director Damien Chazelle managed to convince California officials to shut down an E-Z pass where Los Angeles’ Interstate 105 connects with Interstate 110. The expansive scope of the shot, the remarkable choreography, and the catchy musical opening make for one of the most joyful beginnings of any film in recent history.

#1: Hell or High Water — Marcus Hamilton Takes a Walk

I knew as soon as I saw this shot in the theater that it would be one of my favorite shots of the entire year. Coming in around the midpoint of the film, the audience has become familiar with all of the characters and has learned their motivations. Unlike other Westerns, Hell or High Water is not afraid to sit back and relish in the simpler, quieter moments. There is no guns-blazing action in this shot; rather, it is a portrait of a tired but determined Texas Ranger, played by Jeff Bridges, on one last grand chase. Above all, this shot’s artistic quality is what takes the cake. From the color palette to the wind blowing Marcus’ outfit, everything looks perfect. Cinematic morsels like this shot are what make Hell or High Water one of the top films of 2016.

[brendanmoviedate]

“This is the dream! It's conflict and it's compromise, and it's very, very exciting!”

It’s time for another one of these end of the year best of lists. Last year the process wasn’t too difficult to navigate, as there was a clear number one in Mad Max: Fury Road that couldn’t be touched by any of the other releases in 2015. With no obvious front runner in 2016, and with my ridiculous increase in movie-going this year (see my next post for more on this), narrowing down my list to 10 and ordering them appropriately was a gruelling process that left some films I truly love off the list. Though I did see a lot of films this year, I’m only human and haven’t seen everything, so films with a lot of buzz surrounding them, like Elle and Silence, won’t be on my list because I haven’t seen them yet. Others, like Green Room and The Lobster, were released theatrically this year, but I included them on my best of 2015 list, as I saw them at last year’s Vancouver International Film Festival.

While obviously this or any other list is by no means objective, films that are emotional, beautiful, well acted, funny, and re-watchable are ones that tend to place highly, while those that are “important,” but stilted, or “challenging,” but glacially paced, tend not to, as I doubt I’ll ever revisit them and can’t whole heartedly endorse them. 

10. Dheepan

Dheepan was one of the earliest films I saw this year, but its powerful look at Sri Lankan refugees settling into a French tenement complex was compelling enough to keep it on my list all year. That it straddles the line between family drama and crime thriller earns Dheepan a lot of points with me and will have me coming back to watch it more than a straightforward refugee story would.

9. Nocturnal Animals

A lot of buzz surrounded this sophomore film from fashion director Tom Ford after his universally praised debut, A Single Man. And while a lot of that attention died down after it failed to match the acclaim of its predecessor, Nocturnal Animals is still a great film that looks good and provides some great acting from leads Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal. 

It’s a film about ambition, relationships, grief, and revenge as Amy Adams’s character Susan reflects on her past as she reads her ex-husband’s debut novel, a thinly veiled allegory for how their marriage ended. While the framing story is contemplative, lushly shot, and immaculately designed, the meta-narrative is grimy and violent, and features a scene-stealing performance from Michael Shannon that was good enough to warrant the film’s inclusion on this list alone. Seriously, he’s that good.

Also great: Isla Fisher plays the novel version of Susan, vindicating my earlier confusion of her and Amy Adams when they first broke out around ten years ago.

8. Hell or High Water

From director David Mackenzie and writer Taylor Sheridan, who wrote the incredible Sicario last year, comes Hell or High Water, a western/heist thriller that’s solid all around. It has a great script, beautiful cinematography, and the best performances to date from both Ben Foster and Chris Pine. Jeff Bridges is game for a new twist on his gruff mumbly voice for a truly great performance. 

I don’t have a lot else to say about this film, other than that I’m excited to see what Sheridan has up his sleeve next, as he’s 2 for 2 so far, and look forward to what’s next from David Mackenzie.

7. The Witch

The Witch still has the distinction of being the best horror film of 2016 and has joined the list of all-time horror greats for its incredible atmosphere and the deeply unsettling goat, Black Phillip. 

6. Embrace of the Serpent

Embrace of the Serpent is a beautiful, funny, contemplative, and sad film following two different explorers chasing the same mythical plant 30 years apart. The film examines the effects of colonization on the cultures of South America and the knowledge lost as a result. It’s imagery is so beautiful that I still think about it long after I’ve forgotten the specifics of the plot.

5. Moonlight

Spanning three stages in the life of Chiron, Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight is a poignant and powerful coming of age story of a young, gay, black man. It’s three-part structure is quite brilliant as it allows us to see Chiron’s life at different pivotal moments, shaping not only his own identity, but also forming and depicting the relationships with his mother, his surrogate family, and most importantly his friend Kevin. While the first two acts are powerful for the depiction of the struggles of Chiron’s relationship with his mother and the bullying he endures in school, it’s the third act that has the most impact, with its quiet, subtle reconciliation. 

All three actors playing Chiron do a great job, but it’s Trevante Rhodes that has the difficult task of having to depict the entirety of Chiron’s emotional baggage with nothing more than a glance. The point where he’s able to finally release that burden is one of the most emotional moments in film in 2016.

Mashershala Ali is great as the young Chiron’s surrogate father figure, while Naomie Harris is transformative as his unreliable, drug-addicted mother.

4. The Handmaiden

The Handmaiden was my favourite film at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Having recently rewatched it, everything I loved about it the first time around is heightened, as I didn’t need to pay as much attention to the plot. The humour is even more apparent beyond the surface level gags, the set design and cinematography are more controlled and beautiful than upon first viewing, and the little incongruous details stick out more and add a perceived backstory beyond the main narrative.

3. La La Land

I had the hardest time getting into this movie. It was sold out at every theatre in the same way that a tentpole blockbuster would be. After 4 missed attempts (I’m usually too disorganized and impulsive to buy my tickets ahead of the time), I finally got to sit down and enjoy La La Land. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are wonderful in this pastiche musical about the struggles of balancing a relationship and a dream. 

While some of the dancing is a little underwhelming and Gosling’s vocals aren’t the greatest, the direction is at a high level for Damien Chazelle, a young director with only one other feature to his name (the even better Whiplash). He has a very confident focus and the musical numbers are mostly single camera continuous shots that rove around the dancers with as much choreography as the performers themselves. Cinematographer Linus Sandgren, who worked with David O. Russell on his last two films, is obviously deserving of a lot of credit for these numbers and for the rest of the brightly, colourfully shot film.

La La Land might not be as culturally important as a number of the films on this list, but it is an extremely well made movie that serves as a fun piece of escapism with incredibly catchy songs that you’ll be signing for days. 

2. The Nice Guys

I raved about The Nice Guys when it first came out in May, and my excitement for it hasn’t died down since. It’s a refreshing take on the buddy cop action comedy with perfect against type casting. It’s my favourite Ryan Gosling movie and my favourite Russell Crowe movie, and yes, I’m aware they were in Drive and L.A. Confidential, respectively. It’s too bad this is unlikely to spawn a franchise in the way that Black’s Lethal Weapon did.

1. Arrival

Arrival is the best movie of the year. It was the best looking, the most emotional, and it showed up just when we needed it too. It’s the rare film that exposes the problems of the world by depicting a solution to them (even if it’s a fantastical one), rather than just confronting you with them. I left the theatre broken down with the hope that this divided world we live in could be whole. We’re obviously further from that now than we’ve been in decades, but that’s all more reason we need films like Arrival to blindside us with that hope.

Honourable Mentions

There were a number of films that left me heartbroken that I couldn’t include them on the list, including Sing Street, The Wailing, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, Swiss Army Man, and Manchester by the Sea. On another day, I easily could have switched out films 10-8 with any of these.

While they may not be top ten material, a number of films were surprisingly better than they had any right to be, including Ouija: The Origin of Evil and the live action remake of Pete’s Dragon.

2017

Though I still have a few lingering movies from 2016 to check off, I’m fully excited to move forward and dive into the huge slate of upcoming films. Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner is at the top of that list, but I’m also excited for Bong Joon-ho’s next film, Okja, with Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal; Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk; Alex Garland’s followup to Ex Machina, Annihilation; Ben Wheatley’s latest Free Fire; and Duncan Jones’ Mute.

Even the blockbuster line-up looks promising, with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-man Homecoming, Logan, Wonder Woman, Kong: Skull Island, The Lego Batman Movie, War for the Planet of the Apes, and John Wick: Chapter 2 all suggesting something more interesting than what we got this year. Along these lines, Star Wars: Episode VIII and Thor: Ragnarok are the two I’m most excited about. Rian Johnson is one of my favourite directors, proving himself on the big screen with bonafide classics Brick and Looper and the small screen with some of the best episodes of Breaking Bad, including the climatic episode “Ozymandias.” I’m excited to see what vision he brings to the space opera franchise. Similarly, Taika Waititi has a masterful grasp of both drama and irreverence, with his most recent films What We Do in the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople being some of the best offbeat films of the past few years. He’s taking Thor to space and bringing Jeff Goldblum, Cate Blanchett, and Sam Neill with him. If any of the Marvel movies needed a creative rejuvenation, it’s the Thor series; I can’t think of a more perfect director for the job.