Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice

Beetle….

Wait.  I should be more careful.

One of the most original and fun movies of the 1980’s was the Michael Keaton starring vehicle, Beetlejuice.

A young couple Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Geena Davis) purchased a new house and moved in.  Unfortunately, soon after, they were killed in a car wreck only to discover that they were now stuck in the house as ghosts.  They could not leave and could not be seen.  Then, the house was sold to a pretentious couple Charles (Jeffrey Jones) and Delia (Catherine O’Hara), who, along with their depressed daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder), arrived in the house, ready to renovate everything.

Adam and Barbara decide that they would use their ghostly powers to scare them out of the house, but Adam and Barbara discovered quickly that they were not the scary types.  Desperate, they found help from a spirit who they could only summon by saying his name three times:  Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton).

This film is one of the greats form the 1980’s as it blends some exceptional humor with some dark monstrous images.  The entire “Day-O” sequence of the film is just one of the most memorable musical moments in movies.

Michael Keaton is just tremendous as the troublesome Beetlejuice, funny, witty and rotten to the core.  You could tell immediately that Beetlejuice was not going to be helpful in the long run.

There are some great cast members here.  Moving past the main actors, Catherine O’Hara and Jeffrey Jones are fantastic as the snooty new owners of the house.  We get Glenn Shadix as Otho, Robert Goulet, Dick Cavett, Susan Kellerman, and Annie McEnroe playing smaller, but entertaining characters.

The special effects are a little dated, but for 1988, they were not terrible.  This could be updated in this area.  There have been rumors of a Beetlejuice 2 which would feature Michael Keaton returning.  Keaton is masterful in this role and I would love to see what he had to add to the story.

Beetlejuice is a classic movie that is a load of fun.

What happens when the found footage genre meets the super hero origin story?

Well, if you are Josh Trank, you have Chronicle.

I should rephrase what I stated, because, truthfully, Chronicle is not a super HERO origin story as much as it is a super VILLAIN origin story.

Three high school kids (Alex Russell, Dane DeHaan, Michael B. Jordan) come across a weird hatch in the ground outside of the party they were at.  The “radiation” from the strangeness gave them telekinesis powers.  It started as a fun time, but soon their powers started to lead to deeper troubles.

Dane DeHaan’s character Andrew was abused and tormented and that brought an anger to him and, once he gained his powers, suddenly had the power that he lacked to defend himself.

Andrew’s cousin Matt (Alex Russell) tried to get Andrew past his loathing of others and focus on the positives, but Matt’s good intentions did not seem to Andrew to be sincere.

The film was extremely realistic.  What I mean by that is, if this was actually happening to these high school aged boys, this is how things would go.  They would use their new skills in ways that are meant to make them more popular or to have fun and, when they realized that these powers made them dangerous, they would make a decision.  Andrew and Matt are the proverbial both sides of the same coin story that we see in comics on a regular basis.

The found footage technique worked really well in this film.  Found footage had been starting to show its failings about this time, but Chronicle was able to show a different way to approach the genre.  It allowed the characters to go deep inside themselves and show the sides that they may not have shown in a regular film.

Despite Andrew’s constant anger and his poor reactions, you feel bad for him.  He is relatable with the troubles that he faced.  We can all relate to being teased in school, being awkward around others, facing parental issues.  These are the traits that make him human, while his powers are what makes him fantastical.

This was an excellent use of found footage and presented us with some dark images and sad moments in the lives of these boys. Chronicle was a really well done film.

This was one of my favorite movies from 2013.  In fact, looking back at the top 15 list from that year, Captain Phillips was number one.

Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks), captain of the U.S. container ship Maersk Alabama, and, in 2009, his ship was hijacked by Somali pirates, led by a young man named Muse (Barkhad Abdi).  Phillips is then taken hostage on the ship’s lifeboat as the pirates try desperately to return to Somalia.

Tom Hanks is masterful in this performance, a performance sadly ignored by the Academy voters, and shows every range of the spectrum of emotion.  He goes from fear to anger to frustration.

Yet, the final 5 minutes of screen time for Tom Hanks, when Captain Phillips is safe and be examined on the navy ship, may be the greatest piece of acting I have ever seen.  Phillips is in shock and Hanks completely delivers that feel.  It is heartbreaking, completely raw and as powerful as you could imagine.

This is based on a true story and just watching the anguish and total uncertainty Captain Phillips is amazing at the resiliency of the human spirit.

However, the film does not just focus on Captain Phillip’s strength, but the emotions of Muse and his own fears and anxieties connected to what he was trying to accomplish.  He was desperate in his own way and reacted in a different way.  For much of the movie, there was almost like a chess game going on with Phillips and Muse.

The film is utterly tense and keeps your stomach churning, as if you were actually on the water.  I loved Captain Phillips when I saw it in 2013, and I loved it about as much this time through.

With this, the EYG 8 Days of Potter come to an end with the second part of the finale, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  Of course, we are not including the nearly miserable Fantastic Beasts films in our 8 Days of Potter.

Last year, one of the criticisms of Avengers: Endgame was that someone who had never seen another Avenger movie would have trouble jumping into the film. I always thought that was a silly criticism, but you could absolutely say that about Deathly Hallows Part 2 (even if you combined the finales).  Yet, I am not sure why you would start with the last film of the series if you were ready to watch a Harry Potter film.  There is no doubt that if you were unaware of the Harry Potter lore, you would not know what is going on or who most of these people were.

Having said that, this is a really epic conclusion to the Harry Potter franchise, providing the fans with a satisfactory end to the story.  The film wraps up the plot holes well and delivers answers to the lingering mysteries.  Splitting the conclusion into two parts yielded the filmmakers the opportunity to not spare the scenes.

Whereas Deathly Hallows Part 1 was more devoted to quieter character beats, Part 2 is loaded with action and battle.  Part 2 is a war movie.  Two sides gathering to fortify their sides and prepare to mount their offensives is quite powerful.  You knew there would be casualties and some of our favorites would not make it through this confrontation.  The feeling of inevitability washes over the audience and you find yourself holding your breath for much of the time.  When known characters appear on screen, you are holding tight that this would not be their final fate.

One of the problems of the film, which is also not a problem, is the fact that we lose so many of our favorites practically off-screen.  Fred Weasley (James Phelps), Remus Lupin (David Thewlis), and his wife.  I believe these characters, especially Fred, deserved a more noble death for as long as he was around.  Perhaps the idea is that this shows the senselessness of war and how death goes hand in hand.

The final confrontation with Harry and Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) was tense and brutal.  Since I had not read the books, I remember the first time I watching this movie not knowing what was going to happen.  It was a distinct possibility that any of these characters could have fallen.

The end of Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) was unbelievably satisfying.  After seven movies of not knowing his motivation or being sure which side he was on, we get a beautiful answer that checked off every box and made sense.  It did not feel forced.  Every question worked with the answer and nothing felt left out.  Alan Rickman was brilliant in his final spin as Severus Snape.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 certainly hits the landing for the end of a franchise finale.  I do have to say that the “deathly hallows” themselves kind of wind up being unimportant overall, kind of a side note in their own film, but that is a minor complaint.  The acting is top notch from the entire cast.  The audience is given several moments of joy and sorrow, emotionally potent and nostalgically relevant.  The tag on at the ending is sweet and leaves the fans with deep happiness and satisfaction.  Among a cast that we grew up with, Harry Potter concludes with a bang.

Robert Downey Jr. has remarkable charisma and it is on full display in his remake of the classic literature character, Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock Holmes gets himself involved in the capture of Lord Henry Blackwood (Mark Strong), a serial killer reputedly involved in the occult.  After the execution of Blackwood, the killer makes an apparent return from the grave to gain control of all of England.

Part of the charm of this film is the bromance between Robert Downey Jr’s Sherlock and Jude Law’s Dr. Watson.  They have tons of chemistry with each other and their banter and dialogue elevates everything that they do.

Of course, they have more than just their performances.  This story is smart and clever.  The way the film displays the notable ability of Holmes to make observations is original and creative.  The film takes us into Sherlock’s head as he plans through every move that he is going to make.

Guy Ritchie directed this film and there are a lot of Guy Ritchie touches here.  Those traits actually work very well in this film.

Rachel McAdams is here too as Sherlock’s dangerous flame Irene Adler.  McAdams is perfectly cast here and has a tremendous amount of chemistry with Downey Jr.  Of course, most people seem to have some kind of chemistry with Robert Downey Jr.

Sherlock Holmes is an iconic character and this film helped bring him into the new world of feature films.  Holmes and Watson truly brought the buddy adventure to Victorian England.

Who knew the story of the behind the scenes of a one-on-one interview would be as riveting as this?

Summer 1977, British talk show host David Frost (Michael Sheen) had a series of sit down interviews with former President Richard M. Nixon (Frank Langella) when Nixon spoke on the record for the first time since Watergate and his resignation of the Presidency of the United States.

Director Ron Howard gave us a film unlike any other Ron Howard films, and perhaps one of his finest.  The performances of the two lead stars, Frank Langella and Michael Sheen are powerful and utterly compelling.  Langella, in particular, is brilliant as Richard Nixon.  He received an Academy Award for his role.  He does not do an imitation of Nixon, one of the most imitatable person in history.  Instead, he embodied the former president and became more than just an imitation.

Langella portrayed Nixon with such a charm that you could forget that he was one of the most infamous figures in the U.S. political landscape ever.  You saw the complicated mindset of Nixon, from his desire to fight and battle to the guilt that existed behind his eyes.  He wanted to be loved, and that showed in the performance.

Much of the film was shot in a documentary style film, with key people from the story giving their opinions and their insight on the history that was unfolding before their eyes.

Both sides are represented here and that balance helps to prevent this from being nothing more than good vs. evil.  In fact, it is considerably more nuanced than that.  The battle that occurred within these interview sessions is something that would not likely happen again.

In these days of “FAKE NEWS” there is something refreshing about what we see here.  Frost/Nixon is a wonderful film dealing with two men talking.  I never expected to be as enthusiastic as I was about this movie.  It really is fanatsic.

The penultimate film in the EYG 8 Days of Potter is the first part of the finale, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  J.K. Rowlings’ final book was split into two films which, of course, immediately made Part 1 darker, more hopeless than you might expect, because everything is setting up for the final movie.

Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and his friends are in desperate hiding as the wizarding world is going crazy around them.  The evil Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and his Death Eaters are searching out his enemies, killing them to prevent any revolt.  Harry, Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) are separated from their support and family and head out to search for the mysterious horcruxes introduced in the previous movie.

During their searched, they remember the story of the Deathly Hallows, three mystical artifacts that was rumored to have tremendous power.

The film focused again on the relationship between the three main characters and how this constant and seemingly endless struggle with evil took a toll on their psyches and their constitutions.  There were some times when I felt it was like the scenes from Goblet of Fire when Ron was jealous of Harry, but this time they were on steroids.  The struggle threatened to tear Harry, Ron and Hermione apart.  This felt more earned in this moment than it ever felt in The Goblet of Fire.

This is not the type of film that Radcliffe, Grint or Watson could have done a few years prior, but they have come a long way in their careers as Harry Potter characters.  Their acting carries this film more than most.  The action here is limited, taking a back seat to the development of the characters and the creation of tone.

Director David Yates had done a wonderful job with that dark tone and creating a world of sorrow and despair.  With such a place, the light of these characters shines through, presenting us with the opportunity for hope where none appeared to be.

There is a tragic event near the end that did not bother me much, considering that I was never a fan of the character that dies.  Harry’s response felt too over-the-top as I did not feel the connection between these two.  However, that might be my own prejudices sneaking into my opinions.

Yates has done an exceptional job moving toward the finale and now we are there.

In 2002, Joss Whedon had a TV show on FOX called Firefly, and it was glorious.

It was short-lived.  Fandom cried out in anger and frustration.  Heck, they still are mad about it.  Firefly is one of those series that still has a backing behind it.

Then, in 2005, Joss Whedon was able to bring his space Western to the big screen and it, too, was magnificent.

Unfortunately, the film did not find the sort of success that would have brought it back.  All that was a shame, since the film was really good.

Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) commanded the ship Serenity on missions of “thievin'” and “misbehavin'” throughout the Verse.  During one of the trips, he and his crew ran into trouble from the Alliance, who were searching for the retrieval of River Tam (Summer Glau).  River’s messed up mind held a secret that the Alliance did not want revealed so they sent an assassin known as The Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to recalim her.

Serenity is one of the better science fiction movies you will come across from the last 20 years.  The inclusion of the cannibalistic Reavers creates an amazing monstrous enemy that provide tension and fear much like the Xenomorphs or the Predators.  Diving into the history of these creatures was a nice touch for the series.

While the movie puts an excellent bow on the end of the TV series, anyone who may not have been a fan of the Firefly TV show might have some issues knowing what is going on.  Joss Whedon has said before that this is basically the story arc of what would have been a second season of the show, so anyone who was unfamiliar with the characters might not have been as richly rewarded as some of the others.  If you have not seen the 14 episodes of Firefly, I would recommend them before you watch Serenity.  They are excellent anyway.

This is very much like a Joss Whedon film.  The dialogue is crisp and witty. There is humor and drama, and, just when you start to love someone, he pulls the rug out from under you and kills them off.  It does happen here so be ready with the tissues.

Mal is a complex character, very much at war with himself.  His very nature was a struggle for him as he tried to cover everything.  He matched up brilliantly with the cold and calculating Chiwetel Ejiofor as the villainous Operative.  The counter balance made for a strong conflict between the two men.  Nathan Fillion is a treasure too.  You cannot find a better roguish captain than him.  The twinkle in his eye tells you everything you need to know about Mal Reynolds.

Serenity was a great finale to the series, even if it was unfortunately, not a rebirth for it.

The EYG 8 Days of Potter continued today with day number six, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.  The Harry Potter franchise is all juiced up and ready to head into the final book of the series.  Of course, the films will split it into two films as a conclusion.

The Half-Blood Prince had some very strong elements to it and had some major turning points.  Unfortunately, the story itself seemed much like filler.  It was a film that lacked its own cohesive plot and was simply here to move everyone into the proper place for the Deathly Hallows.

That does not make this a bad movie.  In fact, I enjoyed much of it, but there can be no doubting that the narrative of the film was a bit lacking.

The next year of Hogwarts arrives with a greater uncertainty, if not fear, from all of the students because of the dangers presented by Lord Voldemort.  Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) recruits Harry to befriend former and once again teacher Professor Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent) in order to discover the truth behind a meeting years before between Slughorn and Tom Riddle (Frank Dillane).

Meanwhile, Voldemort’s forces are preparing Draco (Tim Felton) to become a Death Eater by assassinating Dumbeldore.  Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) makes a blood oath to help Draco meet his destiny and to protect the boy.

As this was going on, there was a ton of relationship drama going on between Harry and Ginny (Bonnie Wright), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) and a few other annoying students.  None of this romantic drama felt like it fit.  I do understand why it is included.  These are teenagers with raging hormones, after all, but it just did not carry the same weight as what else was going on around them.  I have seen other stories that have done a better job of making the characters seem as if they are teens where as these Potter characters seem more like wizards and warriors first and foremost.

Then there is the introduction of the concept of the horcruxes, which will become the driving MacGuffins in the Deathly Hallows.  This being introduced in this film felt like it was being tossed in at the end of the series as a way to help wrap it up.  I do not know if this was the intent from the beginning of the franchise, or if it were simply the answer when Voldemort arrived back, but these horcruxes appearing here worked as an add on.

The look of the film continues to be exceptional as the CGI and the special effects are outstanding.  There are some continually beautiful imagery contained in the whole Harry Potter series and these films directed by David Yates take that to another level.

One of the standout performances in the film belongs to Jim Broadbent as Professor Horace Slughorn.  Slughorn is a kindly person who has a memory of an event that he regrets terribly.  He has spent years denying this memory, leading him to nearly punish himself.  Broadbent provides a sad and very human performance of this many, broken by his own guilt and his weakness in being able to face it.

I have to say, when I first saw this movie, my memory was that there was more in the film focused on Draco Malfoy, but on this re-watch, I found him to be of less importance than I remembered.  I wish there was more to the character of Draco than what we have gotten over the years.  He has been written as nothing more than a sniveling, slimy jerk and I think the lack of human emotion from him makes him very non empathetic in these scenes where we are supposed to feel his inner struggle.   Why would I believe that Draco would ever struggle with doing what he was supposed to do?  He has never shown me any reason why it should bother him at all.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (by the way… what does the Half-Blood Prince have to do with anything? ) is a transitional film that has a lot of positives to it, but whose main purpose is to prepare for the finales.

This is another of the films that the Dan Murrell film club assigned its members to watch for the Month of May.  It was a pretty good assignment.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is highly considered the greatest Star Trek film in the franchise.

The crew of the Reliant is taken over by the return of the evil Khan (Ricardo Montalban) and he had plans for revenge.

Admiral James Kirk (William Shatner) was onboard with his own crew to inspect the training ship of the Enterprise, now captained by Spock (Leonard Nemoy).  On the flight, a confusing message came from an old flame of Kirk, Carol (Bibi Besch), about turning over Genesis, a top secret scientific project.  Kirk took over command and led the ship on its way to Genesis where they cross paths with Khan.

The film is fantastic.  It shows the relationships of the classic Star Trek characters perfectly and creates powerful emotions.  The third act scene between Kirk and Spock is a scene of legend.

The rivalry between Kirk and Khan play out exceedingly well, considering that neither actor actually appeared on screen with one another.  It shows how strong both men’s performances were as the characters tried to out smart the other.

There was the introduction of David (Merritt Butrick) was basically peripheral to the story as Kirk’s grown son that we never knew about.  However, as I mentioned, David and his mother Carol were not the important aspect of the film.  It was, at best, a secondary storyline.

This film was truly the connection between the original Star Trek characters, in particular Spock and Kirk, Bones (DeForest Kelly), Scotty (James Doohan).  We get more with new Vulcan crew member Saavik (Kirstie Alley) than we do with Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) or Sulu (George Takei).

And that scene still gets me.  Even after knowing the eventual outcome of what would happen, that scene ripped your heart out.  I think this is the moment when Star Trek became more than a cult favorite and became a massive franchise.

I still believe this is the best Star Trek movie yet to be made.