Early word regarding the release today of the Tom Cruise starring The Mummy is decidedly negative. The film at this moment rates a low 20% positive among critics over at Rottentomatoes and, frankly, with each new trailer released, I’m finding myself less and less interested in seeing it… though I will grant you I was kinda “iffy” about catching it in first run/theatrical in the first place.
I’ll be curious to see, in the wake of the big success of Wonder Woman’s premiere last week, if this film manages to knock it off its #1 perch. My guess is it won’t.
The bigger question is: Will this film wind up being a flop?
Assuming this is the case (and, even if it is not), Tom Cruise already has a trailer for his next film, American Made. Here it is:
Now I don’t know about you, but this looks far more interesting, IMHO, than The Mummy. Looks to be along the lines of a Wolf of Wall Street-type film, ie the darker side of our Nation and capitalism.
Will I catch this movie in theaters? I don’t know. As interesting as this looks, I’m not that into watching these types of dark comedies. On the other hand, if the reviews are good…
I really liked Wonder Woman and would give it a solid “B” or 3 stars out of 4. As many other critics have said -and, again, I’m going with the flow here- the film has a few problems but overall its positives far outweigh its negatives.
Gal Gadot is simply the absolutely right actress at the very right moment for the role, an important thing given the fact that the film follows Diana/Wonder Woman throughout maybe 90% of the its run time. Even more intriguing -and shows the care Director Patty Jenkins had in the making of this film- is the fact that two other actresses also played Diana/Wonder Woman and, incredibly, both were also very good in the role: Lilly Aspell played the 8 year old Diana and Emily Carey played her at 12 years of age.
Further kudos have to be given to Chris Pine’s acting as Steve Trevor. He is at Diana’s side for much of the film and provides a welcome counterpoint/guide to her character while she navigates a world ravaged by the horrors of World War I. He’s never patronizing and more often than not takes her side while showing his growing affection and thrill at her displays of power.
But before we get to their adventure together, we spend time on Paradise Island, the home of the Amazons and of Diana and there we are presented its culture and characters. Standouts during these sequences are Robin Wright as the warrior Antiope (Ms. Wright’s come a long way since Princess Bride!) and Connie Nielson as Hippolyta, Diana’s mother (I just checked IMDB and it looks like she’ll be back in the role for the upcoming Justice League movie. Hurrah!).
Later in the film we’re also introduced to Wonder Woman’s quirky companion, Etta Candy, played delightfully by Lucy Davis. I swear this film is filled with so many interesting characters that I wish there was even more screen time afforded to them than ultimately was!
The villains, alas, are a little less interesting though I did enjoy the enigmatic turn of Elena Anaya as Dr. Maru, aka Dr. Poison.
As for the film itself, its story goes like this: Diana is a restless soul within Paradise Island even as a young child. After a fashion, she trains to be a warrior. One day, when she’s grown, the outside world intrudes upon Paradise Island in the form of Steve Trevor, a spy for the allies whose airplane crash lands just off the island’s coast.
Diana saves Trevor but a German warship which has been hunting him also makes their way into Paradise Island. A battle ensues and, afterwards, the Island folks are, via Steve Trevor, given an update on the world outside and the war being waged.
Diana decides she must venture forth and stop the fighting. She believes Ares, the Greek God of War, is behind all this and it is her duty to stop him.
She leaves Paradise Island with Trevor, and the rest of the film follows her as she encounters the “real” world of 1917 and its many perils.
Again, I give this film a very solid “B”. While it may not reach the heights of the original 1978 Superman, a film the makers of Wonder Woman clearly used as their guiding star, it does enough things very right to make us not only care for the characters, but to look forward to their further adventures.
One last note: The soundtrack to the film is awesome. Gonna buy it real soon.
What with all the gnashing of teeth regarding DC superhero movies and, to many, these same movies’ perceived failures, there was a lot riding on the release of Wonder Woman. The trailers looked terrific, but then again so too did the trailers for Suicide Squad, a film that even this defender of Batman v Superman couldn’t defend too hard (the plot of that movie was a complete mess, though I had to admit that if you were able to ignore this admittedly significant detail there was some entertainment to be had in the performances of the various actors).
When the Memorial Day Weekend box office turned out to be a bust, matching an 18 year low in terms of box office take, I felt it wasn’t too terribly surprising.
Audiences, I theorized, were perhaps burned by Prometheus and therefore not all that willing -without some damn good reviews/word of mouth- to give Alien: Covenant a try. This was most certainly my situation. Had I read good things about AC, I would have gone out to see it. But Prometheus, despite the beautiful look and some great acting by Noomi Rapace, left me cold. And when I found out what director Ridley Scott did with her character, the only character I liked in the previous film, I had no more interest in seeing it.
In the case of the latest Pirates of the Caribbean, I suspect that’s a franchise that’s gone on two or three films too many. It didn’t help that Johnny Depp’s bizarre behavior of late didn’t help the situation.
And though I love me some raunchy, “R” rated comedies, any interest I might have for the Baywatch movie was dashed when I saw the very lame NSFW red-band trailer of the movie. The trailer, to put it nicely, wasn’t funny at all. Indeed, it seemed to focus on the fact that the Rock gets to say the word “fuck” in several different permutations and audiences were expected to laugh. Again, I like raunchy comedies, but having a person swear an awful lot does not equal comedy gold.
As for Guardians of the Galaxy 2, that film was released a while back and, while it did very well at the box office, those who wanted to see it seemed to have done so and, therefore, the film was on its way out.
So, in my opinion, people were itching for something new and the three new films, plus this hold-over, just weren’t cutting it, which seems clear based on the weak box-office take. And that’s why I suspected the release of Wonder Woman the week after Memorial Day would provide plenty of reasons to smile for DC and Warner Brothers.
Now, understand, I’m far from a psychic and I can no better guess what’s going to happen in the next hour much less the next day or week.
Yet I nonetheless had a feeling Wonder Woman would do exceedingly well. In part this was due to the early reactions, before the review embargo was lifted, which were generally very positive. Once the actual reviews were released, they confirmed those early tweets. Like Suicide Squad, the movie’s trailers looked fantastic.
And add one more element: The current times and the fact that this was the first superhero film for this modern era (defined as roughly from when the first Iron Man was released) which features a woman as its main character.
So with audiences dissatisfied with the current slate of movies it seemed obvious there was a void. And given Wonder Woman was next in line and looked so intriguing and was getting such great reviews, it felt like a no-brainer to guess it would do exceedingly well.
And, it would appear, so it did.
According to estimates (here’s one from The Huffington Post) the movie broke records in its release. It most certainly is the biggest release directed by a woman and the $100.5 to $100.6 million it took in I’m sure did bring smiles to those folks at DC and Warners. There’s already word that director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Godot will return, quickly I imagine, for Wonder Woman 2.
I remain curious to see the film and hope to do so within the next day or two. I further hope it tracks as high with me as it does with so many others.
One of my favorite horror films is the original 1979 film Alien. I suspect most people out there know of this film, if only because this summer we’ve had the release of Alien: Covenant, the third sequel original director Ridley Scott made of his first film (the second being Prometheus).
I love, love, love Alien. There is almost nothing about it that was wrong, including the excellent -and super-creepy- theatrical trailer…
As much as I loved Alien, and also loved the first sequel to the film, James Cameron’s Aliens, unfortunately the films that have followed, including Prometheus, have left me wanting. In fact, so bummed out was I by Prometheus that I was hesitant to see Mr. Scott’s Alien: Covenant. After reading what he does to the character of Elizabeth Shaw, the protagonist of Prometheus, I have very little desire to see the film indeed.
However, this post is about writing and rather than dwell on the negatives of the more recent Alien films, I wanted to focus on the first and what a clever bit of writing the movie presented.
I’ll be getting into SPOILERS here, but I suspect most people by now have seen the film or know what its about.
Still, SPOILERS FOLLOW…
So in Alien, a group of “space truckers” carry their latest load to its destination. The ship they’re in is massive but the crew of the ship consists of only seven, plus one cat.
The crew are asleep for the long trip, in hyperbolic chambers, but are awoken well before their destination when the ship’s computer receives a strange signal coming from a planet they are flying by.
The crew is awoken and a decision is made to investigate the strange signal. When the landing party arrives planet side, they discover an eerie, massive spacecraft and a large, mummified occupant. They also, tragically, discover that within the ship’s cargo bay are hundreds of eggs.
One of the crew is attacked by the thing inside one of the eggs. It melts through his space suit’s face mask and entwines itself around the crew-member’s face. However, he’s still alive and the others bring him back to the shuttle.
It is at this point that I think the most brilliant bit of writing within the film occurs. What makes it so brilliant is that its a wonderful bit of misdirection, making us feel one way when we should have felt another. It lays out so much and we realize this only in retrospect, when the film is done.
Basically, the ship’s Captain, Dallas (Tom Skerritt) tries to bring the stricken officer, Kane (John Hurt), along with the rest of the exploration crew, back into the shuttle. Kane is still alive and he needs immediate medical help and orders those within the shuttle to let them in.
However, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), noting that Kane has been infected by an alien presence and therefore may well be a danger to the entire crew, refuses to allow the landing party back in. She notes that protocol dictates that Kane cannot be allowed back into the ship until he is deemed “safe” from any alien infection. To allow him in at this point, she states, could endanger everyone.
Meanwhile, science officer/medic Ash (Ian Holm), who is within the shuttle, can barely contain himself. He is anxious to see/deal with Kane and, realizing the stand-off between Ripley and Dallas will remain, breaks protocol and allows the crew, including the infected Kane, back into the shuttle.
The scene, as played out, makes audiences root for both Dallas and Ash and boo Ripley. While she is following protocol, it seems incredibly cold and inhuman for her to have the crew out there in the cold. Especially when it seems at least possible that Kane can be treated and saved rather than being left outside to die.
Yet that scene is beautifully realized because it is only in retrospect that we realize there’s far more going on than it appears.
First off, Dallas, we find, is a very weak leader. He’s one of those “good guy” bosses who wants everyone to like him and is too lax in following protocol. Ripley, it turns out, is the no-nonsense firm one. She knows protocol and, though her actions may be outwardly cold, she’s right while those who are following their emotions are wrong. Finally Ash, who appeared in that sequence to be following his emotions and choosing to “save” Kane, is revealed to be not interested in him at all. His actions carry their own dark motivations.
I point this sequence out because it is so (pardon my french) fucking brilliant.
We’re given three characters and their three reactions to this highly stressful situation. We’re presented with the very human emotion of trying to save a fellow from a fate that seems worse than death. We’re presented with a cold, too-regulated person who doesn’t seem to understand we’re dealing with human lives here. Then we have the third person, the one on the fence -we think- who decides for being “human” and saving the stricken officer.
And it turns out all our assumptions of that scene are wrong.
Dallas, while certainly wanting to save Kane, may also be wanting to save his own skin. He purposely ignores protocol and orders Ripley to let everyone into the shuttle even though this may well endanger everyone else.
Ripley, seemingly an automaton beholden to protocol and therefore a cold-hearted person audiences root against, turns out to be completely correct in her assessment of the situation. Yes, she may not approach this situation emotionally, but if Kane had been kept from returning to the shuttle as she wanted, none of what followed would have happened.
And Ash, who we thought was anxiously weighing both sides before ultimately siding with Dallas and hoping to save Kane, was doing anything but that. When it is later revealed who/what Ash is and how he already knew of the alien creature, audiences can’t help but think back to that earlier scene and realize whatever anxiety Ash showed was not because he wanted to save Kane. Kane, and the rest of the crew of the ship, were eminently expendable to Ash. What he wanted was the alien creature, to bring it back to his masters so they may use it for their own dark goals.
As I said before, this is a post regarding writing and in that sequence within the film, the writing is terrific, all the more so when the rest of the film plays out.
Too bad the same couldn’t be said of the writing of Prometheus.
We’re two days away from the official release of the Patty Jenkins directed, Gal Gadot/Chris Pine starring Wonder Woman film and, thus far, the aggregate of reviews presented over on Rottentomatoes.com are incredibly ecstatic…
As of this writing, the film sits at an incredibly lofty 97% positive. While I suspect this number will drop a bit when we reach Friday and the full forces of worldwide reviewers are heard, the film nonetheless already has 74 “pro” reviews, a fairly high number, and of those only 2 were “negative”.
Mr. Buckmaster gives the film a mediocre 2.5 stars out of 5 but his review is hardly a body slam against the film. His main criticism appears to be centered around the movie’s climax, which he (and, to be fair, a few others) felt was just another CGI effects-laden fight-fight-fight-fest as well as the fact that the film felt familiar to him, especially the “fish out of water” aspect of Princess Diana/Wonder Woman emerging into the real world of WWI, which he interestingly noted was not unlike what occurred in the movie Crocodile Dundee.
Mr. Rose, on the other hand, is far less impressed. Here’s some of what he had to say:
I had no shortage of excitement and goodwill towards this female-led superhero project, but in the event it’s plagued by the same problems that dragged down previous visits to the DC movie world: over-earnestness, bludgeoning special effects, and a messy, often wildly implausible plot. What promised to be a glass-ceiling-smashing blockbuster actually looks more like a future camp classic.
Ouch.
However, his appears to be the only really negative voice out there -so far anyway- and he ultimately gives the film a below average 2 stars out of 5.
At the risk of beating a dead horse, I’ve made my opinion of Batman v. Superman known plenty of times around here. I really liked the film and, further, thought the addition of Wonder Woman in it was a stroke of genius. She single-handedly spiced up the movie’s climax which, had she not been there, might have been a far duller affair.
This past Memorial Day Weekend proved a big disappointment to the theaters in terms of revenue. According to Emma Spencer at laist.com, the theater revenue was at an 18 year low (you can read the full article here).
Frankly, this doesn’t surprise me. Guardians of the Galaxy 2, which I had no interest in seeing (another dead horse: I didn’t like the first film at all, despite so many others liking it, therefore had no interest in seeing the second) plus the latest Pirates of the Caribbean, Alien: Covenant, and Baywatch were pretty much the “big four” films out there this weekend, and as far as I was concerned, none of them were interesting to me.
In fact, as I looked over the many films coming this summer, there were precious few of them that looked like slam-bang appealing works. When I wrote my original list, I was indeed curious to see Wonder Woman and was wowed by the trailers that had been released to that point.
Now, given the very positive reviews and what I’m assuming is interest in this film (and lack of interest in the others), I’m most curious to see this film…and see how it does.
Perhaps this is very much the right time, both in terms of box office and political tides, for a Wonder Woman film to be released.
While looking around the internet following reading the news of Mr. Moore’s passing, I found the following article by Maxwell Strachan and presented on Huffington Post:
The article is pretty much self-descriptive, though it seems Mr. Moore had a lifelong animus regarding guns that first developed when he was a very young man.
There will certainly be those who point out Mr. Moore was a hypocrite. After all, the most famous character he portrayed, James Bond, often was presented like this…
Or…
…or…
I believe you get the point, no?
Among many other things, James Bond is known for the weapon he carries, a Walther PPK. Along with romancing beautiful women, high wire escapes, a Martini “shaken and not stirred”, and sophisticated gadgets, the Walther PPK is one of James Bond’s trademarks, the gun the fictional secret agent carries.
I find it fascinating that Mr. Moore, while certainly not slamming the James Bond role that made him a world-wide superstar, nonetheless was quoted as stating:
I regret that sadly heroes in general are depicted with guns in their hands.
Now, as the headline above indicates, this is about “writing”, so how does this relate to my writing?
Because I had something of a same experience with regard to the first novel in my Corrosive Knights series, Mechanic.
When I first envisioned the story, we were just coming off a decade of some very macho -and heavily armed- heroes. You had Rambo. You had The Terminator. You had all the other action roles played by Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenneger.
These were next level action heroes who, it appeared, were influenced by Clint Eastwood’s action heroes of the 1970’s, particularly the Magnum brandishing Dirty Harry Callahan.
But as these things go, the spectacle has to be bigger and bigger and therefore the action/violence in many of the films released in the 1980’s and into the 1990’s were bigger and bigger as well…to the point where they made the original Dirty Harry film look positively quaint.
Into that time I first came up with what eventually would become my Mechanic story and the hero of the piece, the tough as nails Nox.
When I first envisioned her, it was through the veil of those heroes and their big guns.
But a curious thing happened on the way to writing the novel itself.
Yes, Nox carries a gun on the cover of Mechanic. She also carries a handgun on the cover of the fourth book in the series, Nox. But the character uses a gun very little in either novel.
In fact, the conclusion of Mechanic (MILD SPOILERS!) has Nox taking down those who she’s fighting against without “blowing them away” via heavy gunplay (to be fair, she does shoot one person down with a single shot).
This was done very much on purpose.
The fact is that, like Mr. Moore, when I got down to the business of writing Mechanic I’d developed something of a distaste for the idea of heroes wielding massive arsenals of weapons and engaging in equally massive shootouts.
Though there remain some shootouts here and there, after writing as many books as I have it occurred to me that I’d rejected using this type of resolution.
First, because its been done so many times before and second because I’m just not that into guns and it seemed silly to go there when I can try to be a little more clever with how villains get their just rewards.
I’m not saying that those who love guns and/or are writers/filmmakers/what-have-you who love to do elaborate shoot-outs are somehow creating works I feel are “inferior”, only that my particular creative writing path has taken me elsewhere.
I suppose the bottom line is this: If you’re a writer, write what you feel works for you. I’ve made many action/adventure novels and the temptation to have elaborate shootouts became, to me anyway, something I didn’t want to dwell on.
I feel the end result was something better, certainly in Mechanic and hopefully in other works as well.
Sadly, it seems tragedies are the order of the day.
Yesterday it was revealed that director Zach Snyder, best known -and made the object of much internet loathing for his Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice film- announced he would be stepping away from completing the Justice League film because his 20 year old daughter had committed suicide and he felt he and his family needed to take the time off to deal with this tragedy (you can read a little more about this here).
As I’ve mentioned far too many times before, I very much liked BvS and, frankly, found myself at a loss as to why so many on the internet were so negative both about the film and, especially, Mr. Snyder. The loathing, anger, and snipping he got were, in my opinion, way disproportionate to the film -whether you liked it or not- he delivered.
My deepest condolences and its a damn shame all that internet blather forced him to break his silence and announce the reason he was leaving the JL movie. Unfortunately, had he simply walked away and dealt with this tragedy in private, there’s little doubt many of the more nasty people on the internet would have openly speculated he was fired from the JL film or worse because of course it has to be a disaster.
To them, I can only hope they get over themselves.
Even if BvS were the worst film -much less superhero film- ever released, Mr. Snyder didn’t deserve half the crap he got for it.
Again, my condolences.
Next up, the passing of Roger Moore…
The first Bond film I ever saw -I think!- happened to be the first Bond film featuring Sir Roger Moore. Released in 1973, Live and Let Die is, to my eyes still, a fantastic piece of action escapism.
In time I got to see not only all of Mr. Moore’s Bond films, but also all the Sean Connery features. Overall I felt Mr. Connery’s films were stronger, but Roger Moore’s works, though far more tongue in cheek, were nonetheless quite good as well.
To me the biggest problem with Mr. Moore’s Bonds versus Connery’s is that it seemed every really good Bond film was followed by a far… lesser… one.
In order, Mr. Moore appeared in these seven Bond films:
Live And Let Die
The Man With The Golden Gun
The Spy Who Loved Me
Moonraker
For Your Eyes Only
Octopussy
A View To A Kill
It’s interesting, to me, how I love Live and Let Die and disliked The Man With The Golden Gun. I love The Spy Who Loved Me (many feel, and with good reason, that this is one of Mr. Moore’s all time best Bond films) and disliked Moonraker. I love For Your Eyes Only (my own personal favorite Moore Bond film) and love Octopussy (hey, two in a row!) but found A View To A Kill a sad finale to his Bond role.
Of course, Mr. Moore didn’t just do James Bond films. He was active in TV and movies and was equally well known for playing Simon Templar in the TV series The Saint.
He was also very capable of making fun of himself as evidenced from this scene from the film Cannonball Run. Easily the film’s funniest scene, where Mr. Moore plays spoiled rich brat Seymour, a man who thinks he’s the super-suave Roger Moore…
Rest in Peace, Mr. Moore. I can’t help but appreciate all the hours of great entertainment you’ve provided me.
Call the Resident Evil films one of my guilty pleasures. There are, with the one I’m about to review here, six of them. Arguably that’s at least three too many and yet…
I dunno.
I dig ’em.
Having said that, I’d also be the last person in the world to argue these movies represent some kind of high water mark in the annals of actions/suspense/horror cinema. Indeed, the second to last film in the series, Resident Evil: Retribution, I thought apart from an interesting setting proved to be pretty bad.
However, the first two films in the series, Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Apocalypse, were, again in my opinion, quite good at delivering on the promise of action and suspense along with apocalyptic zombie related gore.
Almost all these films were written and/or directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, whose wife happens to be Milla Jovovich, the movies’ star.
So, after all these years, what do I think of the supposed “final chapter” in this series?
I think its a decent enough film that never swings too high nor falls too low, which is something of a shame as I wish I could say this was a truly brilliant send of to this series and Ms. Jovovich in what is arguably her best known role.
The movie opens with Alice (Jovovich) emerging into a devastated Washington D.C. and facing off against some of the nasties that now reside there. Soon, she is contacted by the enigmatic A.I. which has alternately helped and hindered her. In this case the A.I. tells her she must return to Racoon City, where this whole mess started, and release a chemical which will neutralize the man-made virus that devastated the world. (Most of this is found in the video I’ve embedded below)
Only problem is that Alice carries this virus within her and while it hasn’t made her a zombie like all the others -in fact, it may have made her the bad-ass super-hero she is- if she releases the counter-toxin, she will likely die along with all the other zombies.
I won’t give away too much more of the story -not that there is all that much more story to give away- but Alice meets at least one old friend along the way back and, together, they face off against another pair of old foes.
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter does feel like a conclusion of sorts even though the film’s makers couldn’t quite bring themselves to ending it all. There is wiggle room for another chapter in the saga though news of a “new” Resident Evil film series (you can read about that here) indicates that perhaps this might well be the last rodeo for Alice and her particular company.
If this is the case, this six film series was, at least to me, a pleasant enough diversion while it lasted. Even if these works were never quite classics, they were entertaining and, sometimes, that’s the best you can hope for in a movie.
So, I raise a toast to Ms. Jovovich’s ass-kicking Alice.
If this is the last we’ll see of you, it’s been a fun ride.
Sometimes while scanning the various channels on your tube you run into something that intrigues and/or surprises you.
Such was the case with the 2015 Rebecca Hall and Jason Sudeikis starring, Sean Mewshaw directed/co-written romantic comedy/drama Tumbledown. I had never heard of this film before seeing it yesterday and I suspect not many others have, either. Here’s the movie’s trailer:
This trailer tries to emphasize the humor in the movie -and, as you see, there certainly is some- but the film to my mind is more a romantic drama than a comedy… and one that takes on some darker themes.
Without giving too much away, Rebecca Hall plays Hannah, a young widow whose husband Hunter released one folklore album with 12 songs on it before unexpectedly passing away. Jason Sudeikis is Andrew McDonnell, a New York bred and raised intellectual who teaches at a university and hopes to write a book about Hannah’s husband.
Hannah, though, is still in considerable pain and quite depressed because of the sudden loss of her husband. She is emotionally stuck in time, smart enough to realize she’s wallowing in her depression and wanting to move on yet unwilling and/or unable to do so. She devotes her time to writing for a local newspaper while hoping to write a biography about her husband.
Into town appears Andrew and, as the trailer above notes, their meeting is not all that pleasant.
I should stop right here and mention this is romantic comedy 101: The characters at first hate each other but eventually prove to be perfect for each other. I’ve written before how romantic comedies tend to have very formulaic plots and Tumbledown certainly checks off many romantic comedy elements.
Having said that, I’ll further state that the film could have used another draft. The fact of the matter is that the character of Curtis (Joe Manganiello), who is essentially Hannah’s go-to guy for sexual satisfaction and Finley (Dianna Agron), Andrew’s New York girlfriend, could have easily been cut from the film without affecting it too much. Not that they were bad in the movie, its just that as written they didn’t add all that much to the proceedings.
With that out of the way, let me say that while Tumbleweed isn’t perfect and in some ways it adheres to that formula, there was enough other stuff here to intrigue me and, ultimately, recommend the film.
What makes the film work is that both Rebecca Hall and Jason Sudeikis are quite good in their respective roles. Rebecca Hall presents a brave front but one feels the pain of her loss. Jason Sudeikis, too, delivers a fascinating character who -and I’m trying real hard not to spoil things here- the viewer thinks early on knows more than the others about Hunter’s death but, ultimately, is revealed to be suffering as much internal pain as Hannah.
The scene where he discovers this was, to me, devastating yet played out as most of the film, subtly and without huge fanfare.
As much as I personally liked it, Tumbleweed will not appeal to everyone. Those who want things to move more quickly may find their patience tried and those all too familiar with romantic comedy elements may wish the writers had eschewed some of them.
But for those who want a quiet drama with some comedic elements and a genuinely interesting plot, you may find the movie well worth checking out.
Got a list today of the major releases for this summer and was looking around for what appealed to me… and what didn’t. This is in no way a complete list of everything being released this summer, only the things that have stood out for me, for better or worse.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Those who have read my writings for any length of time know that I didn’t like the original GotG (you can read my review of the film here). I’m in a minority, I know, but the movie just didn’t work for me. So, unlike many, I’m not all that interested in catching GotG2. Maybe I’ll Netflix it somewhere down the line.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. This film, directed by the often very interesting Guy Ritchie, IMHO looks really weak. The trailers certainly haven’t sold me on the product. Quite the contrary, in fact, they’ve made me want to run away.
Wonder Woman. The film looks spectacular in its many trailers. I suspect I’ll see it in theaters and hope its as good as the trailers are!
Snatched. Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn star as a mother and daughter who venture into South America for a vacation and hijinks ensue. Unlike King Arthur, the NSFW trailers for this film look quite fun. I may catch this one if the reviews are positive.
Alien: Covenant. Ridley Scott returns to the Alien universe but, unlike the previously released Prometheus, this time around he is full on into the Alien creature(s) and horror theme. I’m curious to see the film but really, really hope they don’t just kill off the character of Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) in a lame flashback. Her character was just about the only good thing in Prometheus.
Baywatch. Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, and Alexandra Daddario in a parody version of the cheesy (but incredibly popular) TV show. Could be good, I suppose, but I’m lukewarm to this one. If the reviews are good, I might just have to see it.
Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Pity poor Johnny Depp. He became super-hot with his bizarre yet incredibly entertaining turn as Captain Jack Sparrow in the original POTC but of late he’s rolling snake eyes, both in the movies he’s been involved in and his private life. I gave up on the POTC series a couple of movies ago but the trailers for this film look interesting. Another wait and see for me.
The Mummy. Nowadays it seems movie studios are on the hunt for “shared universe” movies and in this Tom Cruise action/horror outing, we have the first of a promised “Universal Monster Horror Movie” franchise. Looks interesting. Sorta/kinda interested in it.
Rough Night. I like the cast, which includes Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer, Zoe Kravitz, and Scarlet Johansson. But the trailer for this… ugh.
The Beguiled. The original film, starring Clint Eastwood, remains the venerable actor’s weirdest, IMHO, feature. Mr. Eastwood played a wounded Union soldier who gets cared for within an all-girls school and the sexual tensions rise while he takes advantage of the situation. Will this remake, directed by Sophia Coppola and starring Elle Fanning, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, and, in the Clint Eastwood role, Colin Farrell, prove as fascinating as the original film? I don’t know, but I am at least moderately curious to find out.
Baby Driver. I’m a sucker for well done car chase movies and this film, directed by fan favorite Edgar Wright, looks interesting… though I really don’t like the “main character has to listen to music to get into the zone” thing.
Spider-Man: Homecoming. After catching Doctor Strange and finding it incredibly ordinary, I suspect I’m burning out on Marvel superhero films. Seeing the trailers for this film, what I see looks perfectly fine but doesn’t really grab me. Probably a Netflix for me.
Dunkirk. Big scale historical WWII film regarding the evacuation of troops in 1940 at (duh) Dunkirk. Christopher Nolan directs and I’m certainly intrigued but the trailers for this film have tried to show us as little as possible, which I find kinda bothersome. Still, I’m curious to see this one.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Director Luc Besson, if for nothing else, will be remembered for the wild sci-fi comedy The Fifth Element. He’s made plenty of other films, both good and bad and produced a lot more, but for Valerian he’s back in the director’s chair for a film based on a very successful European graphic novel series that never really clicked on this side of the world. I bought a few of the graphic novels back in the day and they were entertaining and, based on the trailers, I’m intrigued about this film as well. Looks like Mr. Besson is not only going back to his Fifth Element days, but what I see in the trailers also reminds me of the quirky Jane Fonda film Barbarella. Color me curious.
Atomic Blonde. Hadn’t heard a thing about this film until the kick ass NSFW trailer was released a few weeks back. Charlize Theron plays a stone-cold killer in the late Cold War years of the 1980’s. Looks really good. I may catch this one while its in the theaters.
The Dark Tower. I mention this film only because so many people have expressed interest in seeing this adaptation of Stephen King’s multi-book series. The film stars Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey and…I’m curious, though this one I’ll have to read the reviews before committing myself.
The Hitman’s Bodyguard. Ryan Reynolds plays a bodyguard who is assigned to take care of hitman Samuel L. Jackson. As with Atomic Blonde, this was a film I had no idea about until the trailer aired and… I’m so damn there. If the movie delivers on what’s on this NSFW trailer, I’m seeing this opening weekend.
So, for better or worse, there you have it. Four films, three of which I’ve presented their actual NSFW trailers and Wonder Woman, appeal to me. The rest are mostly wait and see.
