MOVIE REVIEW: Star Trek Beyond

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Directed By: Justin Lin

When Into Darkness came to an end three years ago it promised something in the future that longtime fans of the franchise had been looking for; adventure and exploration of the unknown. At the end of the second JJ film we see the crew of The Enterprise setting off on a five year mission to explore the unknown reaches of space. This left fans hoping that the next time we saw these guys on screen that it would be at some point in that exploration and that we would see them take on adventure rather than the apocalypse. Apparently the fans were heard, and although this films stakes may still be too high it still succeeds as a true adventure film.

After two movies with this crew their characters have been fully established and this time around we are popping in on them smack dab in the middle of a five year mission. The crew answers a distress call that they think will be a simple rescue mission but quickly turns into something much larger and life threatening. The call leads them to a mysterious and abandoned planet where they find themselves ambushed and most of their crew abducted. Now Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), and a handful of other popular crew members must find a way to save their shipmates and escape this planet and the people who hold it. Unfortunately for them the force in control of the planet has other plans for the crew of The Enterprise. 

I should let it be known that I did not grow up a fan of Star Trek, my dad is a lifelong fan but his love of Star Wars struck me more as a young child. Over the years, and thanks to JJ's films for making the property more accessible to me at the time, I have come to really enjoy the franchise (though I have yet to dive into the shows) so I was always slightly confused by much of the vitriolic hate for his two films. After seeing Beyond I can at least understand where they are coming from now. In a time when every blockbuster is an "end of the world" scenario it is refreshing to see something operate on a much smaller scale.

A large reason this was able to happen was a shake up in the writing and directorial duties this time around. Rather than Roberto Orci writing and JJ Abrams directing (as it was the first time films) they went a different route and got long time Trekkie Simon Pegg (who plays Scotty in the films) to pen a script that captured the essence of the classic shows and films and Justin Lin, who is best known for the Fast & Furious movies, to direct. This may seem like an odd pairing but when you see the finished product you know it was the best match. Pegg's knowledge and love of the franchise paired with Lin's ability to make a huge movie revolving around a small story (that's really what most of the Fast movies are) allowed them to craft a film that is pure adventure and intrigue. 

Aside from those changes much of the remainder of the crew stayed the same. Everyone aboard the Enterprise reprises their roles just as good as ever. They give some more development to Sulu (John Cho) and a handful of other smaller characters as well which was simply good world building. The main additions to the cast were Idris Elba as Krull, the powerful force holding the planet, and Sofia Boutella as Jayla, an alien creature who has been living secretly on the abandoned planet. Both are great in their roles, even under all their make-up, and I am excited to see more of Jayla in the future.

I'd like if more science fiction movies of the future take note of some of the things this movie does phenomenally well. For example: This film takes place entirely off of Earth, which becomes key to why the story is so spell-binding. I find it much easier, and more entertaining, to engage in an adventure story revolving around space exploration when that story doesn't actually take place on our planet at all. It allows us to buy into the world they have created, showing Earth every fifteen minutes is just a reminder that everything we are seeing is just fiction and that's no fun. 

I wish I could tell you more about how this flick captures the essence of the old shows or movies or how this story compares to those of the past, but I can't. As someone who doesn't know the property nearly as well as its countless die-hard fans all I can tell you is that in a summer where so many blockbusters have been disappointing, Star Trek Beyond exceeded my expectations by far. Its a purely fun space adventure that succeeds off of our deep love of science and science fiction. It's hard to believe many trekkies haven't gone to see this yet but to anyone else looking for great summer entertainment this should be at the top of your list. 

** It is also worth noting that, as one of his final performances, Anton Yelchin was once again fantastic as Chekov. That guys charisma was like none others.

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!

MOVIE REVIEW: Lights Out

Lights Out (2016)

Horror

Directed By: David F. Sandberg

If you go back and watch David F. Sandberg's 2013 short film that led him to this job you can easily see why he was picked to turn it into a feature film. The short runs just under three minutes and doesn't really have much of a plot to speak of, but he builds a scare like a pro and anyone capable of doing that these days is valuable to the genre. Fast forward three years and his feature length film based upon the short of the same name, Lights Out, is finally here to re-establish our childhood fears of the dark. 

After the sudden and unexpected death of his father, Martin (Gabriel Bateman) begins to experience the same paranormal occurrences that plagued his step sister Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) years ago when her father left. Every time they turn the lights off they see a mysterious woman standing in the shadows, and she doesn't appear to be friendly. Though they believe it to just be a weird psycho phenomenon they soon realize that the horrible things happening to them are directly related to their mothers (Maria Bello) decaying mental state brought on by the death of her husband. It's up to all three of them to find a way to break the hold this entity has on their family before it gets too close. 

Lights Out may not offer us much in the way of new and original material but it operates on familiar ground in an impressive way. Instead of trying to reinvent the genre they went and tried to just make a really good version of what we already know, with a few new plot twists we maybe haven't thought of. The idea of a demon who can only be seen with the lights out proves to be a brilliant angle when you realize this creature can really attack at anytime of day, if the lighting is right. That makes this a tense movie throughout, once this realization sets in you understand that at any moment they could find themselves in a dark space and with the wrong company. 

The movie admittedly operates much of the time in setup of a big jump scare, but they are always earned. I know plenty of people like to complain about them nowadays but jump scares are a huge part of what created and fueled this genre for so long and when they are done properly they can make a movie a hell of a good time. That's exactly what this flick was for me, a great time at the movies. The great jump scares and high tension make this one of the better horror movie theater experiences of the year. Plus, it isn't afraid to throw a few crowd pleasing moments in, one of which earned an impromptu round of applause mid-movie at my screening. 

At a brisk eighty-one minute run time it is hard for me to complain about any of the small missteps the movie makes because as soon as you think to complain about it the movie has already moved on and forgotten about it all together. The story moves quickly, never wasting time on silly exposition but instead having faith in its audience to be competent enough to pick up on subtle cues that further the characters and their stories. 

I'm not sure how the flick will hold up on repeat viewings, as much of this is based in jump scares I will be interested to see if they still land a second time around. Regardless of that the movie is a great time at the theater and with all of the high tension and big scares you are sure to have a blast seeing it on the big screen. I'm quite happy to see this be given a theatrical release before hitting VOD and other outlets, it's a horror flick that begs to be seen as big and as loud as possible (there is one specific sound effect that I know is still creeping my brother out). The only real complaint I have is that I don't get to go back for another round in October.

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!

MOVIE REVIEW: Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters (2016)

Comedy, Sci-Fi, Fantasy

Directed By: Paul Feig

Let's get this part out of the way fast. If you have bought into the immature and disgusting hate surrounding this film for the better part of the past year, just stop reading now because this movie isn't, and never was, for you. That is the biggest mistake any fan over the age of 21 made when they first heard of this movie, they thought it was for them and them alone. When Sony made the bold decision to reboot the beloved Ghostbusters franchise, and with an all women cast, they did it to capture a whole new audience of fans. Where the motives clearly financial? obviously, but for one of the first times in Hollywood history those money driven motives put four kick-ass, hilarious women front and center in one of the most iconic properties of all-time, and that is really freaking cool if you ask me. 

Even better, they went and got one of the best comedy writer/directors working in the business today, Paul Feig. For a while it was unclear whether or not Feig's movie was going to be a sequel or a total reboot to the franchise so i'll tell you here and now that this is a total reboot of the franchise. We open on a world where ghosts are still believed to be myths and no human has ever dawned a proton pack in hopes of capturing the supernatural...yet. 

Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) and Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) are old childhood friends who have dedicated their lives to science in order to try and prove the existence of ghosts, well, kind of. Erin has taken a "leave of absence" from the paranormal to pursue a legitimate career in physics, but when strange paranormal events start happening all around New York she finds herself back in the company of her old friend Abby as well as the brilliant engineer Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), with full intentions of capturing a ghost. When one of their first jobs brings them together with NY subway worker Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones) they quickly find their fourth member of the team, and although she may not be a scientist she knows more about the history of NYC than the buildings themselves. Together the four become the only people in the city that can do anything to stop the horrors that await them. 

When we look at movie reboots one of the biggest aspects we examine is whether or not the film made any updates or changes to the original. A shot for shot remake is almost always a total waste of time so we hope that whoever is taking us back to a world we are already familiar with has some new tricks up their sleeve. Obviously Sony made the big change by making the leads all female, but this movie has so much more new and awesome things to offer beyond just that. From updated, and cool technology that adds a new level of ghost hunting beyond "stand still and shoot particle beam", to much scarier and better looking ghosts this film does plenty to allow it to stand on its own. 

All the new changes and additions are a refreshing change of pace for the series and help to keep the audience engaged, but it's the chemistry between our four leads that really drive this flick. Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy do a fantastic job playing weird, science geek, childhood friends who have strayed away from each other. McCarthy is actually more dialed back than usual, delivering plenty of laughs without raising her voice too much and Kristen Wiig is so wonderfully charming I couldn't help but smile every time she was on screen. Leslie Jones does what she does best and brings tons of raucous laughs throughout and more than proves why her character deserves to bust ghosts along these scientists.

Then there is Kate McKinnon's Jillian Holtzmann, go see this movie if only to see Kate McKinnon as Jillian Holtzmann. She has brought to life one of the wackiest, boldest, and downright awesome movie characters maybe ever. Playing the brilliant nuclear engineer she is the one creating and designing all of their awesome toys and let me tell you, her excitement for these things is the stuff dreams are made of. It appears Feig just let her do her thing this entire film and it translates to one of the most lovable, badass movie characters I've ever seen. Oh yeah and Chris hemsworth shows up in some scenes and makes you piss your pants laughing, so there's that to look forward too as well. Unfortunately the cameo's of our old-time favorites don't stack up as well, I guess that's what fan service gets you.

Can this ever match the magic of the original film? probably not, but that's just because we aren't adolescents anymore. It's near impossible to recapture a magic we felt as children twenty or thirty years later, but I can tell you this will be a whole new kind of magic for an entirely new generation. What does it matter what a bunch of thirty something dudes think of a movie when it will capture the imagination of countless young children in ways we could only dream of? I can only hope we get at least one more of these movies so these ladies can actually try and bring together a worthwhile Ghostbusters sequel (Ghostbusters II is not good) and also because I just like to see fun movies. In a year of quite a few lackluster franchise films I am shocked this is the one getting all of the vitriolic hate when it's such a happy movie. 

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!

MOVIE REVIEW: Swiss Army Man

Swiss Army Man (2016)

Adventure, Comedy, Drama

Directed By: Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert

One of the many great aspects of film and storytelling in general is the ability to be able to tell a simple story through extraordinary means. We often see films that center on a simple idea but tell it in a way we aren't used to, the blending of familiar and unfamiliar is a great way to show an audience something from a new angle and get them to appreciate it in a whole new way. The new film from writer/directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert titled Swiss Army Man aims to do just that, appropriately dubbed the "farting corpse" movie this flick uses creative fantastical elements to remind us of what it means to really be human. 

Hank (Paul Dano) is stranded on a remote island and with no help in sight he decides to take the coward's way out and hang himself. That is until a mysterious (and gassy) body (Daniel Radcliffe) washes onto shore and gives him one last glimmer of hope. Though the man is dead Hank quickly discovers that this corpse has more value than one would assume when it's farts allow him to ride the corpse like a jet ski across the water. This is just the first of many special abilities hank finds his new friend has but when this friend starts to speak one day and begins asking the why and how of human life Hank finds a new meaning for his own existence, bringing this man back to life completely. 

It is difficult to put the plot of this film down in words as there is so much going on that we have never really seen before. These filmmakers, who as a collective call themselves "Daniels", have used one of the wackiest stories I've seen in a long time to remind us all of what it actually is to be human. Most of this comes from the brutal honesty of Radcliffe's character, since he has no memory of life before he died he has no filter and no idea of what is "ok" for him to say or do. Not only does this lead to some wonderfully funny moments but it also allows the film to send you a message point blank. 

The movie lays its cards on the table in the opening scene and if you aren't dialed in immediately you will be lost for the entire film. If you not only survive, but thoroughly enjoy the first montage of corpse farting (as I did) then you are in for what I believe to be one of the best films of this year. Using a totally original idea and blending it with absurd comedy they have created a cinematic experience that both hits every mark we've come to expect from a film like this while also doing it all in a way that we have never seen before. 

Aside from the wild originality of the film the main draw to see this is the acting put on display. With the majority of the film centering around just two characters, and with one of them being a dead corpse, this movie had to have great performances to carry itself through ninety minutes. Paul Dano gets the bulk of the work as Hank, the mysteriously depressed guy who wants to kill himself. His performance is wonderful as is always the case with him, Dano is easily one of the most underused and underappreciated actors around. 

As amazing as Dano is though it was Radcliffe's performance as the "farting corpse" that really surprised me here. I honestly wasn't expecting much from the part but by the time the credits rolled I had more love for him than almost any other character in film this year. Having to act with literal dead eyes for an entire movie couldn't have been an easy task and he totally nails it. I love all these oddball parts he has been taking since finishing the Potter movies, he's quickly building a rather unique resume.

The final thread in making the movie a total knockout for me was the music we hear throughout most of the film. Done by Andy Hull and Robert McDowell, the music does a perfect job of elevating the highs and deepening the lows of the story in wonderfully creative ways. The music actually blends into the scene more than a few times with Dano and Radcliffe singing along with the joyous tunes. Just like the rest of the movie, the music is totally unique to the experience and unlike anything we have heard this year. 

Swiss Army Man is most certainly a divisive film, when you open on a dead body uncontrollably farting you are sure to lose some viewers in the first five minutes. That being said, even if you are someone who found the quirkiness of the film to be a drawback, once you reach the final scene of the movie and have seen where it all led I think most people will have a sizeable amount of appreciation for what this film aimed to do. This is easily the most heartfelt and honest movie about the human condition I have seen in recent memory and it's done in the most fantastical of ways. If you are interested in seeing something that's easily relatable yet totally insane don't hesitate to catch this one in theaters. 

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!