Into the Woods review

INTO THE WOODS:

DISNEY MAGIC OVERLOAD SET TO STEPHEN SONDHEIM SONGS, MERYL STREEP AND JOHNNY DEPP’S ACTING, AND A NEW TAKE ON OUR FAVORITE CLASSIC STORIES!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

DISNEY

Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, MacKenzie Mauzy, Lilla Crawford, Emily Blunt, and James Cordon as Cinderella, Prince Charming, The Witch, The Big, Bad Wolf, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, The Baker’s Wife, and The Baker in Disney’s Into the Woods

            Hey kids, who wants to see a Disney movie? Who wants to see a Disney fairy tale movie? Well how about a Disney fairy tale movie with all of your favorite fairy tale characters together. You name it, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, sounds like a match made in heaven, and it is.

             Disney and director, Rob Marshall (Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) bring us their latest musical fantasy, Into the Woods, based on the Stephen Sondheim musical of the same name.

            I’ve never seen Sondheim’s musical, but I think this movie convinced me to check it out, especially since I’ve been a long time admirer of Disney’s movies. For many children, this is a dream come true, their favorite fairy tale characters in one movie, it’s almost like The Avengers of Disney…if Disney didn’t already own Marvel.

            The story begins in a village far, far away, where a young Baker (James Cordon-Starter for 10, Begin Again, All or Nothing) and his wife (Emily Blunt-The Adjustment Bureau, Looper, Edge of Tomorrow) dream of having a child together, unfortunately they just can’t seem to make one. That is until they are visited by an old, ugly, witch (Meryl Streep-The Devil Wears Prada, The Iron Lady, August: Osage County) who once put a curse on the bakery where the Baker’s father worked after he stole from her, preventing them from ever having a child, due to the loss of her beauty.

            She tells them in order to lift the curse, they must bring her four things, a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold. So the Baker and his wife are off on a journey to find the items needed to lift the curse.

            While that’s going on, a beautiful maiden named Cinderella (Anna Kendrick-Scott Pilgrim VS The World, 50/50, Pitch Perfect) dreams of going to a festival ball where she can get her “Happily Ever After”. Unfortunately her evil stepmother (Christine Baranski-The Birdcage, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Chicago) and stepsisters, Florinda (Tammy Blanchard-Rabbit Hole, Moneyball, Blue Jasmine) and Lucinda (Lucy Punch-Ella Enchanted, Hot Fuzz, Bad Teacher) forbid her from going to the ball and leaves her at home with a lot of chores to do.

            So she flees into the woods where she finds her Fairy Godmother and makes a ball gown with gold slippers for her and off to the ball she goes. While there she meets her Prince Charming (Chris Pine-Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, Rise of the Guardians), dances with him, and constantly flees from him due to her claiming that she doesn’t belong with royalty.

            Meanwhile, a young girl with a red cape is on her way to grandma’s house, also coincidentally in the woods and she encounters a foul creature known as the Big, Bad Wolf (Johnny Depp-Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) who at first seems nice and glad to meet Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), but unfortunately the wolf inside emerges when he eats her grandma.

            Also Prince Charming’s brother (Billy Magnussen-Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet, Happy Tears, Twelve), who is also a prince rides into the woods (Just like everyone else in this movie!) and finds a tall tower which houses a young maiden named Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy-The Bold and the Beautiful, NCIS: Los Angeles, Forever), with very long hair as yellow as corn, who also happens to be the “Daughter” of the Witch (Okay, if you want to go ahead and make connections to Tangled, you go right ahead because this movie is just asking for it!). Rapunzel’s prince guarantees he will see her again; let’s certainly hope he does.

            Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood eventually run into the Baker and wife and agree to help them lift the curse, with the help of the white cow’s owner, a young boy named Jack (Danie Huttlestone-Les Miserables) who previously met the Baker and had his cow traded for a bag of Magic Beans (Gee, what do you all think happened?).

            So the Baker, his wife, and their newfound friends must bring all the items together, lift the curse, and make sure everyone lives “Happily Ever After”.

            Overall, Into the Woods is a very solid Disney fantasy, although I’m not sure how closely it follows Sondheim’s musical, but as a Disney movie, it pretty much does everything you would expect from Disney, but also throw in a few surprises along the way. The cast does a wonderful job portraying these iconic characters we all know and make them into something different and original, especially Meryl Streep as the Witch and Johnny Depp as the Wolf.  

            Streep does a fantastic job portraying the Witch and like most of the films I see her in, they always end with me asking “How does she do it?” which is a very good question. Johnny Depp, who previously worked with Tim Burton on an adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street back in 2007, despite having limited screen time in this movie is very entertaining as the Wolf, you can tell just how creepy he is, but also very charming and cynical at the same time, truly the act of a talented man.

            Besides the acting and directing, the writing and humor are very witty as well, especially when they poke fun at the fairy tales they’re referencing, the humor definitely resembles films like The Princess Bride, Shrek, and Disney’s 2007 hit, Enchanted.

            So if you’re a fan of Disney, fantasy, or musicals, chances are you’re going to love this movie. It’s like going to Disneyland except you don’t need an airplane to get there, just a local movie theater showing Into the Woods.

            I’m very glad I checked the movie out, it certainly is a unique but altogether wonderful Disney fantasy. Just don’t be surprised if Once Upon a Time makes an episode based on this.

            

Top 20 Best and Top 10 Worst Films of 2014

Top 20 Best Films of 2014

1.     Birdman

2.     Whiplash

3.     Gone Girl

4.     Life Itself

5.     Boyhood

6.     Guardians of the Galaxy

7.     Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

8.     Edge of Tomorrow

9.     How to Train Your Dragon 2

10.  Snowpiercer

11.  The Wind Rises

12.  The Lego Movie

13.  The Imitation Game

14.  Interstellar

15.  Captain America: The Winter Soldier

16.  John Wick

17.  The Grand Budapest Hotel

18.  Nightcrawler

19.  Foxcatcher

20.  Wild

 

Honorable Mentions: 22 Jump Street, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, American Sniper (Watched in 2015), Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie, Bears, Big Eyes, Big Hero 6, The Book of Life, The Boxtrolls, A Brony Tale, Cavalry, Chef, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, The Equalizer, The Fault in our Stars, Fury, Get on Up, Godzilla, The Good Lie, The Hundred-Foot Journey, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, Interstellar, Into the Woods, Love is Strange, Lucy, The Maze Runner, Million Dollar Arm, A Most Violent Year, A Most Wanted Man, Mr. Peabody & Sherman, Mr. Turner, Muppets Most Wanted, Neighbors, Noah, Oculus, Penguins of Madagascar, The Purge: Anarchy, The Raid 2, Selma (Watched in 2015), The Skeleton Twins, St. Vincent, The Theory of Everything, Top Five, Veronica Mars, A Walk Among the Tombstones, X-Men: Days of Future Past

Movies I Liked That Were Not Well-Received: 300: Rise of an Empire, The Interview, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, The Judge, Maleficent, The Monuments Men, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, RoboCop, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, This is Where I Leave You

Top 10 Worst Films of 2014

1.     I, Frankenstein

2.     Annabelle

3.     The Expendables 3

4.     Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

5.     Need for Speed

6.     Transformers: Age of Extinction

7.     Dracula Untold

8.     Dumb and Dumber To

9.     A Million Ways to Die in the West

10.  Horrible Bosses 2

Dishonorable Mentions: Annie, Divergent, Exodus: Gods and Kings, The Gambler, Into the Storm, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transcendence, Unbroken

The Gambler review

THE GAMBLER:

DECENT PERFORMANCES BY MARK WAHLBERG AND JOHN GOODMAN, BUT IT LACKS JAMES CAAN!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** 1/2 out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Mark Wahlberg is The Gambler

            Marky- Mark himself, Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter, Ted, Transformers: Age of Extinction) and John Goodman (The Big Lebowski, Monsters, Inc., Flight) join forces with director, Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist, Rise of the Planet of the Apes) in his third film as a director, The Gambler, remake of the 1974 James Caan classic of the same name.

            For a remake, it’s a decent attempt, the film is well acted and put together, and the intense drama is gripping. Unfortunately it lacks the Golden Globe nominated James Caan performance as a gambler who steals from his mother to pay gambling debts, and manages to be a likable character.

            Wahlberg’s performance is pretty solid as well, he managed to take James Caan’s character and made it his own, and for the most part I think he pulled it off. In some of his previous films, he looks like the type of man who would have a gambling addiction, especially in Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain from last year (2013).

            The film focuses on English professor, Jim Bennett (Wahlberg) who has a serious gambling problem. He bets lots of money he stole from his mother (Academy Award® Winner, Jessica Lange-Tootsie, Blue Sky, Big Fish) in poker tournaments that backfires colossally when he realizes he’s in debt to gangsters who he borrowed money from, and a fat shirtless thug named Frank (Goodman).

            While that’s going on, Jim is developing a bond with one of his students, Amy Phillips (Brie Larson-21 Jump Street, Short Circuit 12) who’s at the top of his class, because he’s teaching a bunch of students who honestly have no interest in what he’s teaching them. He also helps an African-American slacker in his class, Lamar Allen (Anthony Kelley) become a basketball player on the school’s team, the Wildcats (No, not that kind of Wildcats!).

            Jim’s life keeps getting worse when the head gangster (Michael K. Williams-12 Years a Slave, The Purge: Anarchy, Inherent Vice) threatens to kill Amy if he doesn’t give him the money he owes. So we can all hope, he makes the right decision and turns his life around for the best.

            Overall, The Gambler is a pretty entertaining crime drama; there are enough intense and gritty moments, solid acting, and decent writing to satisfy. And of course Mark Wahlberg’s performance as Jim Bennett is very convincing, seeing how he was once a rapper before becoming an actor and I wouldn’t be surprised if he did any gambling during his time as a rapper.

            However the one who really steals the show is John Goodman as the fat thug, Frank. His performance is very similar to his roles from The Big Lebowski, Argo, Flight, and The Hangover Part III; he’s big, mean, but also pretty funny, not to mention he taught me about the “Fuck You Positions”.

            Even though I enjoyed Wahlberg and Goodman’s performances, they don’t top James Caan’s performance from the original movie. He really looked like the Gambling type in that movie, not to mention he was also casted in The Godfather, if that’s not an accomplishment I don’t know what is.

            But I’m just nitpicking here, take the remake for what it is, if you liked the original Gambler or other gambling classics like Casino, chances are you’ll find something to enjoy about this modernized re-imagining, but if you want something more powerful and smarter, I’d say watch the original or Casino.            

Unbroken review

UNBROKEN:

DECENT EFFORT FROM DIRECTOR ANGELINA JOLIE, BUT THIS WAR FLICK IS MOSTLY FORGETTABLE!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** 1/2 out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

Jack O’ Connell as Lou Zamperini in Unbroken

            Angelina Jolie (Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Salt, Maleficent) makes her second feature film as a director, the first being 2011’s In the Land of Blood and Honey. This time she’s taking her directing skills to World War II with Unbroken, based on the true story of war prisoner and Olympian runner, Louie Zamperini (Jack O’ Connell-Eden Lake, Harry Brown, 300: Rise of an Empire).

            For a second film as a director, Angelina definitely put a decent amount of effort into the movie; unfortunately there are a lot of moments that feel like rehashed scenes from films like Saving Private Ryan, Full Metal Jacket, and Chariots of Fire; not to mention the film has a few scenes that drag on longer than they should, and some of the emotional dialogue is rather cliché and often predictable.

            The film follows Louie and two other crewmen surviving in a raft at sea for 47 days after a plane crash in World War II. The three war heroes get caught by the Japanese Navy and sent to a Prisoners of War camp where they are tortured and forced to work for the Japanese or be executed.

            Louie and his airmen, Phil (Domhnall Gleeson-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, True Grit, Calvary) and Mac (Finn Wittrock-The Normal Heart, Winter’s Tale) must fight their way out of the prison camp, win the war, and make it home so Louie can pursue his dream of becoming a runner in the Olympics.

            Overall, Unbroken is a passable Angelina Jolie directed film, it has a gritty war atmosphere and some of the emotional drama can be powerful at times. But compared to other war films like Saving Private Ryan, Inglourious Basterds, or Full Metal Jacket, there’s not enough war action or original moments to make it count as a cinematic war classic.

            With that said, the acting for the most part is pretty solid, Jack O’ Connell does well as Louie and seeing him go through the cruel elements of war; you want to see him fight his way out. However if there’s one performance throughout the entire film that was worth watching was Japanese actor, Miyavi in his English film debut as the brutal Japanese camp guard nicknamed, The Bird, he’s really hamming it out and you can tell he’s having fun with the performance.

            It’s nice there were enough elements in the film that I enjoyed, even if the movie isn’t entirely good. Jolie’s directing is solid, the acting is great, and there are enough intense war scenes to keep you on the edge of your seat. But it’s a shame the dialogue and emotional drama is cliché and not very original, if more effort was put into the writing to balance out the war action and acting I’m sure the film would have held up better.

            I’m just nitpicking here, if you’re all about war themed movies, you’ll probably like the movie, but if you want a really smart and gripping war epic, I’d say you should see Fury again, or just pop Saving Private Ryan or Inglourious Basterds into your DVD player instead.