2 Films From The Wisconsin Film Festival: Nic Cage And A Star Wars Animator

 

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

Gillipedia Official Rating: Finally a film I can relate to

          The only sentence you really need to know about this film is this: Nic Cage plays Nic Cage. That’s right, Francis Ford Coppola’s nephew himself plays the role he was born to play. We know him from National Treasure, for his long hair in Con Air, and arguably his most famous film alongside John Travolta in Face/Off. And there are references to all of these and more. Nicolas Cage is also highly decorated; he won an Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas and was nominated for what I think was his best performance in Adaptation. And it’s the same absurd energy that writer Charlie Kaufman brings to all his scripts (think Being John Malkovich) that was brought to Adaptation. that is then carried over to this film. Because beyond the films, Cage has also had a very well documented personal life, and this movie is a celebration of it all. And it is glorious.

          We follow Cage around Hollywood as he is trying to land roles and find the comeback that he knows he’s destined for, and at the same time we see him place his career above his family and financial sensibilities. This leads to an offer from his agent (the great Neil Patrick Harris) to appear at a rich superfan’s birthday party for $1 million. The superfan is a suspected drug dealer, and naturally, Cage is recruited by the CIA to infiltrate the estate to find information on a kidnapped politician’s daughter.

          The best way to describe this film is if you ask the question, “Wouldn’t it be funny if Nic Cage…” and then however you finish that question, there’s a decent chance it happens. Holds conversations in his head with a younger version of himself (with some quality use of deep fakes)? Check. Does LSD? Of course. Not only are there really clever, funny situations the characters are constantly put in in this absurd world, but the real reason this film works so well comedically is the running gag aspect. Yes, it’s very meta and referential and wonderful for it, but from a technical perspective, we’re presented with funny situations, and then they are either given callbacks or built upon later on really effectively.

          The superfan and suspected drug kingpin is played by The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal. Where his character in Wonder Woman 1984 was too hokey, I would honestly describe Pascal’s performance as superb. He has this wonderful lightness to him that really makes you feel like every time he stares at Cage, he’s mesmerized by this celebrity. And even after the whole meta aspect of Cage, about halfway through the film, the two of them decide to write a movie together. A script that is character driven with an intimate relationship between the leads, only to give way to an action-packed third act that doesn’t make too much sense but gives the film a wider appeal. And yes, that’s exactly what we get out of this film and the whole plot dealing with the CIA. The film is very self-aware, but where the meta from The Matrix Resurrections felt contrived and forced, it fits in snugly in this absurdity of a film.

          Despite the CIA plot not meaning to be realistic by any measure, it’s still kind of stupid at parts. I enjoyed the whole direction of the film, but some might feel it wraps up a little too neatly at its conclusion. These are nitpicks of what amounts to a film where you can go in with little on your mind and leave very happy. It also inserts some heart into the film a bit too late in the game, but there is still heart and I really love the last shot of the film.

          When doing research for this review, it reminded me of just how extensive a career Cage has had in the industry. There’s the bizarre, the phoned in performances, the dramatic roles, and true classics that I hold in high regard. There are standout moments for better and worse from his career, but there’s also so much to truly celebrate as well. And since it is referential and I did watch this at a film festival, the audience response was really well received for many of the jokes; it might not play quite as well in a regular theater setting, but I’m confident it will still appeal widely to audiences. And besides, IT’S NICOLAS F*CKING CAGE BABY WOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

Mad God

Gillipedia Official Rating: It’s a movie about, um, well, some err—eh… It look pretty?

          Unlike the film above, Mad God does not have wide audience appeal. For starters this is a stop-motion film. There’s also not a single line of intelligible dialogue, and some of the images are quite disturbing and gross. “Gill, tell me more!” You scream as you read this review. I know, I know. Maybe this will catch your attention, and I mean it when I say: This is one of the most beautifully grotesque films I have ever seen.

          Mad God is the passion from the talented and creative mind of Phil Tippett who worked on the original Star Wars, RoboCop, and Jurassic Park as an animator. As Pixar has amped up to two films a year, Dreamworks is always putting stuff out, and Universal is milking the minions for as much as they can possibly squeeze, Mad God was a sporadic on-and-off again project over the course of 30 years—many being Saturdays of just a couple of people with a passion for the artform. And while Pixar has the Triple-A caliber and resources to be cutting-edge with technology, they still deal with budgets and serious time restraints. Every single frame of this film is carefully crafted with the upmost detail that can only be accomplished without the oversight of a timeline looming over you. Every. Single. Frame.

          The films that impress me the most are the ones where I truly have no idea how they could have possibly filmed that. I was in constant awe while watching this film. When I think of stop-motion, at best I think The Nightmare Before Christmas. But at worst, I think of the serious limitations in terms of camera placements, expressiveness, and framerate. And from the lighting to the reflection in lenses to the truly dynamic use of camerawork, I am speechless as to how this was possibly filmed. The sheer amount of work and preparation involved blows my mind. And to top it off, when you do have all the studio lights shining down on these stop-motion models, that’s when all the textures and details shine brightest. There’s always something to grab your attention, and even if your gaze isn’t in the vocal point of the shot, chances are something in the background is also happening that is equally as interesting. I can’t stress enough just how incredible the craftmanship is of every environment and creature.

          What came to mind for me while watching this is a videogame called Little Nightmares. Beautiful and frightening in design, this videogame also plays heavily with the associated shapes and sizes we know of objects and creatures and messes around with those in varying environments. Some of the more prominent characters in Mad God may seem regular, but they are giants over creatures and still tiny in comparison to others.

          I want to take this time to reiterate how disturbing this film can be. There’s some nasty stuff here. Be prepared to see some innards, some outtards, very brief life cycles of disposable creatures, lots of death, dismemberment, and things eating other things and stabbing more other things. It’s a lot. It will make most queasy, and I would venture the mast majority of people won’t enjoy this film.

          So what is it about? Well, um, that’s a great question. There’s not really a plot per say… And I do say. For a part of a film we follow this miner looking guy go down to the depths of some sort of Hell and watch the grotesque world around him. But there are a number of other strange creatures we follow, none of which with any real purpose or goal. Maybe there are some World War 2 themes going on? That’s honestly me thinking aloud, possibly completely wrong. You could really say just about anything and I’d be like yup, you got it—that’s what the movie is.

          So taking the very abstract concept of the plot into mind, this fits the definition to a T of an obscure arthouse film. I stand by my statement that this is some of the most beautiful animation I have ever seen. But it’s also hard to keep focus throughout the whole runtime when there really is so little to go off for a story. It’s many fragmented pieces in an overarching world, but it doesn’t come together, and there isn’t a real lesson to be taught by its conclusion.  From the very first shot with a sweeping structure and operatic music reminiscent of possibly Ben-Hur, the film has an incredible score and terrific use of sound effects. It’s nightmare fuel and not at all dinner and a date material. It’s artwork no matter how you slice it, but there’s simply not enough to grasp onto to rise above other animated films. For the sake of your sanity, I don’t recommend watching this. Unless maybe you’re Nic Cage on some LSD, then this movie for sure is a trip.

Morbius

 

Gillipedia Official Rating: I almost fell asleep at one point.

          When prompted by a friend on my thoughts after the credits rolled, the above rating was the first words out of my mouth. This isn’t an atrocious film, but as another friend remarked, it’s more like Snorebius. Ultimately, without character development and strong motivations, it’s hard to ever feel invested in this film. At least it’s under 2 hours.

          If you think of some of your top action films, what stands out to you? Some examples that spring to mind for me are the John Wick trilogy, Mad Max: Fury Road, and let’s throw the Mission: Impossible saga in there as well. John Wick was motivated by the loss of his dog from his late wife. Max develops a bond with Furiosa who is trying to save imprisoned women from the clutches of a diabolical warlord, and Tom Cruise is freaking Tom Cruise and saves the world and that’s enough for me. The point is that we are given these foundations, and through small moments of dialogue or looks the characters give, we become invested and have stakes in the game. And then the blood-pounding action provides thrills and genuine moments of suspense as we worry about if our heroes will come out on top. There’s not a single moment that made me feel that way in Morbius.

          I think Jared Leto is well cast as Dr. Michael Morbius; however, he’s committed to a monotone voice, so when he delivers the Marvel one-liners, the delivery is deadpan. There are some clever lines here, but in a packed theater, I didn’t hear a single laugh, and the root cause is the delivery. The sympathy we’re supposed to feel is from Morbius’ childhood where he is bed-ridden due to a rare blood disease, and he befriends a child in a similar situation, Milo who is played by Doctor Who’s Matt Smith when they grow up. Am I here to publicly say I don’t feel sympathy for these children with rare diseases that forces them to be on crutches for their entire lives? Of course not. But even the scenes where Milo is bullied and beat up by other kids feels stale and unoriginal. Morbius is presented as the gifted kid, so we flash forward to him researching away and saving lives with the invention of artificial blood that was somehow, and never really explained, funded by Milo.

          And if you’ve ever seen a movie, it won’t come as a surprise that after Morbius injects himself with his own antibody creation that is supposed to cure his disease (it’s bat DNA), he turns into the titular Morbius with an unquenchable thirst for babes and human blood—okay maybe only the latter. He kills and drains the blood of mindless mercenaries and realizes that he can keep things under control with artificial blood—but it’s only a matter of time before that wears off. He also is given superhuman strength and can sort of transport a bit Nightcrawler style. When Milo finds out, he ignores Morbius’ warning about how dangerous this is and how it’s really a curse, and Milo takes the injection as well. And from there they have the typical formula of bad guy basically has the same abilities as the hero, but here, Milo’s motivation is really lacking. Like it really feels like he’s just taking a night out on the town hunting down some juicy people liquids.

          Since The Batman is still fresh on the mind, I’ll also reference that. Throughout that film, we’re trying to figure out The Riddler’s clues right alongside Batman as the structure of Gotham’s democracy is crumbling. But Morbius has one scene where we wonder if Morbius was capable of killing a single mom nurse, and then after that, it’s just about ooOOoooo we’re running out of time better stop Milo. So the stakes and motivation never settled in.

          But with the 3 previous films I mentioned, I can distinctly remember plenty of insane action sequences or moments. Despite a subpar storyline, Morbius could still be saved by great action... But it doesn’t have that either. The first scene with the mercenaries is a discount version of Batman Begins where Batty stops that drug haul. In fact, a lot of this film is discount Batman Begins. There’s literally a moment in a cave where Morbius is on the ground and slowly rises as bats swarm around him to a score that is the discount Hans Zimmer. But I digress. The rest of the action scenes are all the same. There’s a cool particle effect they use where a blackish mist follows Morbius as he zooms from one place to the next, and it’s very frantic. If he’s fighting someone, occasionally it will go super slow-mo for us to see him do something lame like slap a dude’s face with his long fingernails. The scene with the nurse is the one attempt the film makes at horror, and even then it just felt impractical. And at the end when we get the killblow, it feels like, wait that was it? It’s a relatively short climax where Morbius and Milo hug each other for awhile while flying through the air. Basically.

          The effects are a mixed bag. Some aspects are pretty good, but it’s hard to get past Morbius’ face. They incave the cheekbones so much that all I could think of was Jim Carrey in The Mask. But when he uses his echolocation, there’s some cool, subtle stuff going on with his ears. That was a small detail that I have no idea how scientific it is, but it was cool.

          Despite my criticisms for a weak motivation, Matt Smith is easily the best part. It’s definitely by design, but him being the foil of deadpan Leto allows him to bring personality to the screen and go a little wild. Jared Harris plays the doctor that treated the two while they were growing up and is hence the father figure. I recently watched him in the superb Chernobyl mini-series, and he’s admirable here. Oh and spoiler, but Milo ends up killing him, and that still makes no sense to me except to show that oh hey, yeah Milo really is a bad guy here. We also have a female doctor that works with Morbius, and completely out of the blue, they’ll kiss near the end. There was zero build up to that. Tyrese Gibson is also here and takes his job too seriously as an agent.

          If you’ve heard that this movie really exists just to setup future films in this Sony-Marvel universe, you heard correctly. There’s a line from Gibson’s partner earlier on that references the events in San Francisco— aka Venom. And I’m going to save you some time here if you go watch. There are 2 end credit scenes, one after like the first 3 credits, and then another after the initial credits with the animations. They’re both related though, so I don’t know why they had to split it up. There is nothing after the long credits, so you can leave after the second scene that I’m guessing is referencing a possible Sinister Six. Actually, I’m going to save you some more time. Skip this movie, and just watch the end credit scenes online. There you go. You just got 1 ½ hours back. You’re welcome. Goodnight.

Will Smith's Oscar Winning Performance

 

Gillipedia Official Rating: We Will, we Will Rock you, sock you, polka dot you

          I feel like I owe my audience an introduction to this review. If you are active on social media, you’re more than aware of all the memes going around. I want to assure you that this review is purely academic. I have done the research. I have verified the sources. I have spoken to Will—we bonded 2 years back when he noticed that we shared a birthday. And that is why I dedicate this review to Sir Smith. After an Oscar nomination for the great The Pursuit of Happyness and then previously being snubbed of a win for Ali, Will won his Oscar. I am referring, of course, to After Earth.

          If you don’t remember, this was directed by Manoj N. Shyamalan back in 2013 and was his best film since directing that nature doc on Blue Man Group. People praised his restraint in not inserting himself into a pointless role, but that’s actually the one blemish I have for the film.

          After the riveting success of the previously mentioned The Pursuit of Happyness, Will begged Jada to let son Jaden star in another movie with him. She deferred judgement to Willow, and after a long negotiating battle among agents, lawyers, and aspiring DJs, After Earth was given the father/son greenlight.

          Story? Best Eva.

          CGI? Not as good as what I can personally do, but bearable.

          And the way the studio lights gleam off the green screens really create this organic look that simply can’t be replicated out in the wild. The way the camera goes one way, and then boom, zooms in—so cool. And trust me, I’m like a movie expert. Not by my own accord. Just ask around the community, y’know?

          But the real juicy substitute meat of this review is all in the performances. Will Smith was good. He was very good. But it wasn’t enough to put the Academy over the edge. For that, he had to rely on alleged son Jaden for help. Some people weren’t sure afterward if Jaden gave his character a lisp or was going for a British accent. I say it doesn’t matter because no matter which one you pick, he pulled it off perfectly.

          So the stage was set for a Jaden Oscar that we were all clamoring for. Only, he was ineligible. An anonymous source from The Academy let me know, and I quote, “Yeah, we don’t like Jaden.”

          You can interpret that however you want, but I like to look below, behind, and around the surface. The Smith family worked a deal out with the Academy to have Jaden’s performance nominated, but since he was ineligible, by the transferrable property, Will Smith ended up nominated for Best Actor for Jaden’s performance. And we all know what happened next.

          Penelope Cruz was the presenter of the Best Actor award having been recognized for her role last year playing Roger Federer’s mom. She made a joke about how she hoped this wouldn’t be another Moonlight situation—a joke 5 years too early for the audience—and held back tears as she announced Will Smith’s name.

          Absolute goosebumps.

          After thanking his local city council and his Jimmy John’s delivery guy for keeping it real, Smith accepted the award, nothing newsworthy happened, and this story was forgotten for 9 years. But I want to give it the recognition it deserves. It’s not much, but it sure feels good to do some honest work.

West Side Story + Oscars 2022 Picks

 

Gillipedia Official Rating: Much more a retelling than a reimagining

          I watched the original West Side Story back in high school and loved it. Easily a top 5 musical all time for me. To be honest I haven’t watched it since. Which made me all the more excited when I heard that it was in fact Spielberg who would direct this update. I had this film on my radar for awhile… And then I let it pass by even after glowing reviews when it hit theaters. I don’t think the marketing was nearly pronounced enough, but nevertheless, the film is considered a box office flop. But it's now streaming on Disney+ and is one of the most nominated films at the Oscars. So is it good?

          Well…

 

 

          It’s good.

          *cashes in that movie reviewing $$*

          Honestly, I came away feeling like somewhat of an opportunity was missed. Many of the Oscar nods are actually well-deserved, but this isn’t a film completely put together to blow you away—especially when there’s an amazing version already available decades ago.

          West Side Story feels for better and worse like an old-fashioned musical. There are some standout songs and the opening is classic. But my 2 biggest critiques go hand-in-hand: it’s a relatively slow pace, and some of the songs feel more obligatory than actually propelling the plot. Songs in musicals are often used to accentuate the emotions and inner thoughts of a character that simply aren’t possible through normal storytelling. And when this film is 2 hours 40 minutes, if a song doesn’t move the plot forward and doesn’t do much for character building and isn’t the catchiest of tunes, then it drags the film.

          It’s hard to see a film like La La Land come out and pay perfect homage to classic musicals while invigorating exciting contemporary values and not wish this film tried to do more of the same. Heck, even Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights is flawed but still has fun modern touches. It may seem a bit picky of me for a film that takes place in 1950s New York, but I wanted to see more creative liberties taken to differentiate from the original.

          Calling back to how some of the songs didn’t add much value, I have to talk about star Ansel Elgort. We all loved him in Baby Driver, but he wasn’t expressive enough and the best thing he had going for this film is his height. I wasn’t positive it was her, but it is sweet and impressive that the original Maria, Rita Moreno, returned to play Valentina, and Ariana DeBose of Hamilton fame carried the Maria torch with grace. It was fun to see Corey Stoll in the film; you probably know him as the villain from Ant-Man or possibly from one of the best shows ever Billions. Mike Faist has a standout performance as the smug Jets leader, but I have to believe that newcomer Rachel Zegler fit leading role Maria perfectly.

          It is at this point that I have to admit something. I don’t speak Spanish. And it’s an interesting creative choice to have a decent amount of the Shark’s conversations take place in Spanish without subtitles. It adds a layer of authenticity, but there were large enough chunks that made me feel like I lost a bit of what was said without having context, or subtitles.

          I was happy to see Spielberg nominated for directing, and for the costumes to be recognized as well. How the Jets are in a faded blue and the Sharks in reds and sometimes yellow, and then Tony and Maria frequently blend the two in purple either in their clothes or the basking light is a nice touch. There’s cinematic prowess at times and it’s where the biggest creative differences take shape. When you have large sets and many people dancing in the great costumes is when the movie shines brightest. West Side Story is enough of a classic to hold up, and having Spielberg and performances like Zegler’s adds dimensions to what could be a legitimate reason to update this film; but I feel like there could’ve been more contemporary updates in either song choice or length as well as the choreography to really grip an audience in the 21^st century. I’m happy to support the people that made this film, and you might see DeBose winning an award, but this doesn’t rise enough to be film of the year.

 

Oscar Picks

 

          Ratings continue to plummet. Acceptance speeches are less and less interesting. The Academy can’t figure out who should host or present or how to keep that prestige as the awards show while maintaining an entertainment value. And like many years in the past, I’ll tell myself there’s no reason to watch live since highlights and winners will be posted the next day, but in the end, I’ll probably still turn it on. Last year’s winner Nomadland left a terrible taste in my mouth, and none of the Best Picture noms this year will be a film I expect to talk about for years to come. But there’s still films to praise and it’s fun to see how aligned my picks are with the big boy Oscar.

Oscar Winner: Who I think will win

Gill’s Pick: Who I think should win

 

Best Picture

Oscar Winner: The Power of the Dog. All reports have this female-directed film as the front-runner, but CODA has been gaining traction as a family-friendly alternative. I can’t speak on the latter since I don’t have Apple TV, but The Power of the Dog has the dramatic and thematic elements that can be rewarded.

Gill’s Pick: The Power of the Dog. This is a very well made movie. Dune has purer entertainment and lasting value, but I still appreciate the filmmaking qualities of this Benedict Cumberbatch starring Western that takes place in Montana and was filmed in Jane Campion’s New Zealand. Not the strongest contender compared to years past, but I don’t think some of the other films here should’ve even been nominated.

 

Best Actor

Oscar Winner: Will Smith. This was an excellent performance from Smith in King Richard after he’s really faded in films over the past decade.

Gill’s Pick: Benedict Cumberbatch. I wish I saw Denzel’s film to judge that because I have an inkling that might change my pick, but I can only go off what I’ve seen. Smith’s performance is a bit flashier and is absolutely deserving of the nomination, but Cumberbatch showed true mastery of his craft in The Power of the Dog. I also wasn’t a fan of tick…tick…BOOM!, so despite my joy of seeing Andrew Garfield celebrated, I wasn’t impressed.

 

Best Actress

Oscar Winner: Kristen Stewart. Going for a dark horse pick in this category. Many say Chastain will win, but I heard enough rave reviews about Stewart for her performance in Spencer for me to pick her.

Gill’s Pick: Jessica Chastain. I’m breaking my previously established guidelines here of having to choose only by what I've seen because I’ve only seen Nicole Kidman in Being the Ricardos. She did a beautiful job transforming into Lucy. But I’m also a huge Chastain fan and would be delighted to see her win.

 

Best Supporting Actor

Oscar Winner: Kodi Smit-McPhee. This is another case of people thinking he was the front-runner for The Power of the Dog, but more recently, people believe Troy Kotsur will win for CODA. There’s many layers to what Smit-McPhee did for his role, so I think he will be rewarded.

Gill’s Pick: Jesse Plemons. I’m actually on the other side of The Power of the Dog. Plemons to me is one of the most unassuming actors out there and nobody knows who he is, but I can almost guarantee you’ve seen him in something. He was in Black Mirror, The Revenant, and the highly underrated Hostiles as well as the second season of Fargo. He brings a natural and organic presence to whatever he’s in, and I’m already happy to see the Academy recognize him with a nomination. I have zero faith that he will win, but a Gill can dream.

 

Best Supporting Actress

Oscar Pick: Ariana DeBose. See the above review.

Gill’s Pick: Aunjanue Ellis. This is tough between her and Kirsten Dunst who was excellent in The Power of the Dog. But similar of how Will Smith is in the spotlight for his role, so is the case of Ellis’ performance of the Williams’ mother in King Richard and all the work that goes into being a mother without always receiving the outside recognition for it. It was very touching without being the most substantial role.

 

Best Director

Oscar Winner: Jane Campion. If she doesn’t win for The Power of the Dog, I will be shocked.

Gill’s Pick: Jane Campion. Close to picking Spielberg, but Campion did a great job.

 

Best Original Screenplay

Oscar Winner: Licorice Pizza. I hate the title of this film, but I’m feeling like the Academy will reward Paul Thomas Anderson for his coming-of-age flick.

Gill’s Pick: King Richard. I think Don’t Look Up was pretty clever, but of the 2 films I’ve seen in this category, King Richard is better.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay

Oscar Winner: The Lost Daughter. Without any stats to back this up, it feels like in recent years a film that doesn’t win Best Picture is compensated with a writing award. Since I have The Power of the Dog as Best Picture, I wouldn’t be surprised to see CODA take this award either. Just be aware that I could have this flipped.

Gill’s Pick: The Power of the Dog. I was a big fan of Dune, but I’ll be giving it love in other categories.

 

Best Animated Film

Oscar Winner: Luca. Encanto is the clear front-runner here, but I think the Academy continues to show love to Pixar for this year.

Gill’s Pick: The Mitchells Vs. the Machines. I made sure to watch this just the other day in case it would be my pick here. And it is. From Phil Lord and Christopher Miller is another triumph of an animated film. I think Luca has a bit more heart, but this film is hilarious and embraces all of its quirkiness. It’s also another really well animated film from Sony.

 

Best Cinematography

Oscar Winner: Dune. This is a total guess on my part. You can make cases for at least 4 of these films. They could show Guillermo del Toro some love for Nightmare Alley, but outside of a couple of shots, the film and cinematography isn’t all that spectacular. The Power of the Dog brilliantly showcases New Zealand, but Dune is just a true spectacle.

Gill’s Pick: Dune. It’s not my favorite film in the world and might be slightly overrated, but there’s lots to love about this movie, and the cinematography is part of that.

 

Best Costume Design

Oscar Winner: West Side Story. I’m probably wrong on this one, but I’m feeling the Academy is drawn to the late 50s aesthetic.

Gill’s Pick: Cruella. The costumes are fantastic, and if it wins, it’s well deserved.

 

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Oscar Winner: House of Gucci. Not very confident in this pick.

Gill’s Pick: Cruella. It’s between this and Coming 2 America which has a real shot at the award.

 

Best Editing

Oscar Winner: tick…tick…BOOM! The editing is high octane and arguably the best part of the film.

Gill’s Pick: King Richard. Actually made tennis look interesting. That’s a joke, I apologize. I like tennis.

 

Best International Film

Oscar Winner: Drive My Car. Hey, here’s a crazy prediction. Let’s choose the one film in this category that’s also nominated for Best Picture.

Gill’s Pick: Drive My Car. I’d love to get around to watching this Japanese film or any of the other films. So this isn’t a real pick, yet.

 

Best Music

Oscar Winner: Dune. More love for Hans Zimmer.

Gill’s Pick: Encanto. It’s not my favorite animated film, but the music honestly rocks.

 

Best Original Song

Oscar Winner: “No Time to Die.” The Academy loves to award Bond films, and I don’t see that changing for Billie Eilish.

Gill’s Pick: “No Time to Die.” She’s not Adele, but this is still the best song. I don’t think even the best Encanto song was nominated.

 

Best Production Design

Oscar Winner: Nightmare Alley. This is the best part of the film, but West Side Story might pull it out.

Gill’s Pick: Nightmare Alley. I have many issues with this film but production design isn’t one.

 

Best Sound

Oscar Winner: Dune. There’s so much complexity to what was designed and invented for this film, and it will be rewarded.

Gill’s Pick: No Time to Die. I could easily say Dune, but No Time to Die’s sound is surprisingly strong.

 

Best Visual Effects

Oscar Winner: Dune. This is my most confident pick.

Gill’s Pick: Dune. The only other film that could rival this is No Time to Die. Other films had solid moments, but there were also issues of either rubbery physics or clear green screen usage.

 

Final Note:

I can’t even provide guesses for the other categories. Except I’ll say Summer of Love will win for documentary. But my knowledge basis for that category as well as the rest is too limited to provide reasonable picks.

The Batman

 

The Gillipedia Official Rating: This is The Movie

          I do not envy director Matt Reeves’ position. It was only a decade and a half ago when Christopher Nolan gifted the world with The Dark Knight. That entire Batman trilogy revolutionized what both superheroes and DC meant to the world. DC would lean too hard into their gritty visions and despite my personal enjoyment of most of their films, I also recognize the incredible lack of vision and subpar execution in presenting their Extended Universe.

          I even enjoyed Ben Affleck as Batfleck. But that vision of Justice League is moving on—while moving forward with some of the characters like Flash and Aquaman. So when the world has already been delivered the darker, more realistic superheroes and a confuzzled plan from DC, where does that leave Batman? You could take a page from Marvel and insert a formulaic brand, brush it off with some iconic characters, and call it a day. A perfectly competent Batman film will not only financially succeed, but it will satisfy a wide array of fans—myself most likely included.

          That is not the film Matt Reeves brought to us.

          Thank you, Matt Reeves.

          Yes, The Batman is even longer and darker than The Dark Knight. But for a film that has the impossible task of coming out of Dark Knight’s said shadow, The Batman is able to cast a spotlight (in the shape of a bat no less). I respect the absolute heck out of the vision for this film. With a 3 hour runtime, there’s plenty that can be talked about, so let’s stop Robin daylight and get to it.

          ^I make no apologies for that stretch of a pun. The first thing I want to mention is kudos to me. The film starts off with The Riddler spying on a family and finishing by killing the father who is running for office in Gotham. Afterward, we switch what felt like an opening to a Batman: Arkham videogame where our Batboy turned professional Batman narrates over an inside look at the underbelly of Gotham. A lowly criminal gathers courage to rob a family-run grocery store—Good Time Groceries. For our die-hard Gilligans out there, this is a clear homage to Robert Pattinson’s starring role in Good Time which motivated director Reeves to cast him as the Caped Crusader.

          There’s some good lines that Pattinson delivers in this narration that sets up our new Gotham without having to kill the Wayne parents yet again. From the trailer everyone knows that Pattinson says, “I’m vengeance,” but there’s another good one about criminals fearing what is inside the shadows, but Batman is the shadows. Anyways, Christian Bale normalized the iconic low raspy voice of Batman now to help hide his identity, and Pattinson keeps a low, monotonous tone but not that rasp. And what you’ll see as a common theme here is decisions made by cast and director about characters that make sense thematically as well as practically.

          This is absolutely the most emo Bruce Wayne has ever been. Without a doubt. I’m not here to say it’s the best iteration, and it’s hard to be worse than like Val Kilmer. What is implemented with incredible success is a unique take. I feel like it’s much easier to compare the 3 Spideys we’ve had since each is essentially the same character with new coats; our Batman here is a true apples to oranges to anyone else. The way Bruce is presented to us having gone through an isolated life and the traumatic loss of family, he’s not the playboy philanthropist we’re used to, and it works in this world.

          The same goes for the aforementioned Riddler. I was excited when I heard that Riddler would be a primary villain since the hokey Carrey version didn’t satisfy my desire for a clever villain with genuinely good riddles. And Paul Dano is one of the best casting decisions of this all-star performance. He’s not the most well known actor, but he brings qualities from previous roles in Prisoners and Twelve Years a Slave to a young man that knows he’s smart and just wants people to recognize that side in him. Where Batman is clearing the streets of criminals, Riddler has a goal of exposing a corrupt society. It’s a really well-integrated storyline to our contemporary times as well.

          We also have to talk about Colin Farrell as Penguin. With a New York accent and makeup techniques that reminded me of the transformation of Gary Oldman in Darkest Hour, Farrell is completely unrecognizable even if you know you’re looking at him. I will forever love Danny Devito and what he brought to Batman Returns, but this was the biggest surprise for me in terms of the cast. I’m a huge fan of Jeffrey Wright and am happy to see—broken record here—a new performance on Lt. Gordon. Andy Serkis (who worked with Reeves in the highly underrated Planet of the Apes trilogy) is the one character that I felt didn’t have enough moments. Perhaps I just love Michael Caine too much, but this isn’t a notable Alfred (but better than the Alfred that predicted his own death and turned himself into a computer, or whatever happened in that film I don’t remember). I can’t believe it’s taken this long into the review to mention it, but Zoe Kravitz is a perfect casting of Catwoman. I think Anne Hathaway was given a really strong arc in The Dark Knight Rises, so I don’t want to take anything away from that, but Kravitz is a great embodiment of this character.

          From Batman having a version of those flying squirrel suits to help him realistically glide to the homemade mask that Riddler wears throughout, everything is presented with intentional design. Even the color palette is well done. From the first teaser trailer to the title logo, a bright red was dominant. And the red along with the other primary colors are used to great effect in clubs and alleys. 

        Bruce Wayne rides a humble motorcycle for much of the film, but the Batmobile does make an appearance, and oh what an entrance it is. I really don’t want to spoil things for those that haven’t watched yet, but I will say that there’s a chase sequence which is the highlight of the film for me. In fact, it’s near this part of the film that has one of the absolute coolest cinematic shots I’ve seen—ever. I saw this film on a large screen and this shot alone made me feel validated. 

          One reason I think this film has been connecting with audiences and critics alike where other recent action films may have slipped is Reeves’ style. Like I mentioned with the motorcycle (Bat bike? That can’t be right.), there’s a surprising amount of like GoPro shots hooked up from the vehicle and we get to watch Pattinson drive through rain-drenched, trash-filled streets. We might be looking at green screen for all I know, but it feels like we’re actually maneuvering through this Gotham, and that my friends is the difference. When Batman throws a punch at a goon, we see the punch. We don’t see 5 cuts and then the aftermath of said punch. This is the result of careful planning and consideration, and Reeves deserves incredible props for it.

          And all this surrounds a solid noir film with Riddler guiding Batman along in unveiling corrupt officials and dirty cops. I can’t say how well this film will hold with multiple viewings necessarily, but it’s a great experience the first time through.

          But all that Bats is not black. This is a 3-hour film. It’s a lot. There’s a solid 20 minutes that could pretty easily be cut. I’d argue the opening scene of Riddler and his first victim is unnecessary. Start off with Batty patrolling the streets—a few scenes later we get the details of the crime anyways. And with that said, not everything was setup as neatly, like there could’ve been a bit of foreshadowing. I’m more specifically referring to the setting of the climax which felt a bit out of the blue, but I do also appreciate that it had blockbuster feel without suddenly dropping the practical and realistic side of things the film had been achieving the whole way through.

          I rewatched The Dark Knight for like the 5^th time just days before watching The Batman. For those that call The Batman the best Batman or superhero film ever, frankly speaking, you’re wrong. It’s not The Dark Knight. But that’s okay. It’s hard to imagine ever having that film again, and to the credit once more of this film, it makes no effort to be that film. The Batman manages to wiggle its way through the DCEU and be a standalone film that stands, er, alone in its lofty goals and achievements. This is a very dark and gritty take on Batman and Gotham. It’s not a perfect film, but boy was it good to go to the theaters and see my guy Bats on the big screen. Looking forward to what comes next.

Free Guy, Encanto, and The 355

 

Free Guy

Gillipedia Official Rating: I watched this movie for free, guy

          I always feel a little hypocritical when I say a movie is for free on Disney+. That of course is with the caveat of having a subscription. And yes, I am paying using my own subscription. Netflix on the other hand...

          Free Guy to me is like the poor man’s The Lego Movie. You have the every-happy protagonist that goes through the same routine every day without a care in the world. They spot their eyes on the girl of their dreams and try to follow them. This leads them towards a path of self-discovery realizing that they’re a part of a world that is out of their control. For our Free Guy protagonist Ryan Reynolds, that means being an NPC (non-playable character) inside a popular videogame. The movie is clever in making a quick distinction between players and NPCs by having players wear sunglasses. This also allows Guy to then take sunglasses and get a glimpse of the world from the player’s perspective. As he begins to understand his role in everything, the plot really begins of his quest to find the girl and figure out who he is.

          If I wasn’t clear enough before, let me reiterate: Free Guy isn’t as good as The Lego Movie. Where I consider the latter to be a laughs-a-minute, quick paced film with colorful characters and a nice familial theme, the former is entertaining with some laughs, but not much below the surface. The Lego Movie figured out how to tie in their clever concept with a family friendly message that plays out gloriously in the climax. Free Guy gets past the pitch meeting of, “What if our main character is the character that no one pays attention to—the NPC?” but can’t get beyond that. Guy’s goal is to -cough- be free from the constraints of his programming… And that’s basically it. It doesn’t get any deeper than that.

          But this isn’t a terrible film by any stretch. It’s actually pretty entertaining. They combine Guy’s narrative journey with the main plot involving the CEO of the company (Thor Ragnarok director Taika Waititi) behind the videogame having stolen some code from the two developers that initially programmed the game. It’s a smart approach to introduce conflict between the two worlds and how they can interact with each other. It will keep the movie moving forward, but don’t expect any major plot twists or anything.

          Sometimes the visuals are really impressive, and sometimes they’re the quality of, well, a videogame. Of course, some of this is completely intentional. I’m just not sure how much is. I think some of it runs into that rubbery physics quality whenever a person has to perform an action that a normal human can’t do, and it doesn’t feel right.

          Also, I was disappointed by the lack of variety. The overall game world feels like a toned down GTA which is perfectly understandable for a film that is mostly family-friendly PG-13 fun, but there aren’t too many locales beyond the cityscape where Guy lives and works. They had some fun like with a fight where the characters can only punch and kick in a couple motions—like how fighting programming would be—but there isn’t enough to really wow you.

          This film doesn’t take itself too seriously at all, and if you’re good with watching a movie that requires little brain power, then you’ll be perfectly entertained by Free Guy.

 

Encanto

Gillipedia Official Rating: The best thing to come out of Columbia since… uh… I don’t know enough Columbian products to make a clever comparison. So. Yeah, there you go.

          Not that it needs to be said, but I’ll be honest. This film came out and I let it pass by without much fuss. Now that it’s (paid subscription) free, I relented and watched. And my thoughts are mostly positive. This is by no stretch the best Disney film, but it’s still a solid showing.

          Lin-Manuel Miranda was heavily involved with the music, and it’s some of his best stuff. These songs are really catchy. I also appreciated the music video vibes the scenes were giving off. This movie plays around a bunch with colors and lighting, and it also excels in the physical animation both in how the characters move, but also how their faces express. This is truly some of the most nuanced character expressions I’ve seen in an animated film. Some of the dance moves may feel a bit Tik Tok-y, but it’s still very fluid and better than I can dance, that’s for sure.

          There’s also a lot of characters. And that first song was sung really fast. I did not catch every word and missed out on the introductions to plenty relatives. One thing that I have probably mentioned in the past and only very slightly alluded to in the Free Guy review is the fact that one of the easiest ways to obtain an emotional resonance from your audience is to have the plot revolve around familial conflict. It's one of the easiest and most effective ways to be relatable. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, but Encanto leans heavily into this. And you can tell they make a real effort for relatability. Our main character -gasps- wears glasses! And she’s not even a nerd! Groundbreaking, I know, but—also relatable.

          The issue Encanto runs into is the focus on the abilities of the family and Abuela’s insistent reminder to our hero that she doesn’t have a special ability so step aside to let the other people do their work. This leads to a predictable climax and theme, but it’s still well done. That’s not my complaint. My issue is that there’s not much more to the characters than their abilities. Girl that controls weather with her emotions has mood swings, mom that heals people with her cooking is always tender and feeding people, and so on. There is a character or two that shows more emotions down the road, but it’s played more as a plot twist than anything.

          There’s one other aspect I really want to touch on. Brookly Nine-Nine fans may be excited to see the very own Rosa, played by Stephanie Beatriz, voice the main character. And real fans will know that Beatriz’s real voice is way closer to what she does in Encanto than in the show. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean she has the best singing voice. And this is pretty consistent through the cast. Everyone is good, but I don’t think any voice shines. Despite not the best vocal talent, I do want to repeat that the songs are very catchy.

          I’d take Moana over Encanto any day. I’d also take Frozen 2. If people stop you in the middle of a hallway to let you know that Encanto is the best Disney movie, know that they’re lying. But colorful and technically exquisite animation and really catchy songs makes this a perfectly fine addition to the catalogue.

 

The 355

Gillipedia Official Rating: A confusing mess

          This movie sucks.

 

          The End

 

          Please don’t bother with this one. It has an awesome cast but one of the least logical scripts and a terrible director/editor. There are gaping plot holes and leaps in logic and nonsensical action scenes.

          So one rule of thumb I have when it comes to action is thinking to myself, “Is there a stunt that I remember from this movie?” And thinking back to The 355, nothing comes to mind. Except maybe for the fact that they play up that since the heroes are women and they fight a lot of men, they kick them in the nuts a bunch. But it also cuts away so frequently that you won’t see a single stunt completed to fruition in a single shot. Also, the gun shooting is incredibly fake. There’s no recoil, the bullets are endless, and the aiming is -insert stormtrooper metaphor- really bad. Also also, sometimes they take cover, but there are enough times that they shoot at each other in open space that you would think someone, anyone, would get shot. It's like when you're talking and say "um" while you think of what to say next. They shoot their little bullets, nothing happens, so they move on to what needs to happen next. 

          Going back to the cast, we have our star Jessica Chastain, the always amazing Diane Kruger, Penelope Cruz providing the best acting out of the bunch, Lupita Nyong’o, and let’s also throw Sebastian Stan in there too. The plot revolves around a new piece of tech that can do everything from crashing planes to blacking out cities to delaying Prime shipments by a business day on a Friday. The female leads mostly represent spy organizations for their respective organizations (Cruz plays the vulnerable of the bunch by declaring multiple times that she’s only a therapist); and they continuously foil the bad guys’ plans, but since they get in each other’s way, they beat each other up instead. Then, they kiss and makeup and become buddy buddy to go after the bad guys again.

          They’re all also incredible at finding each other and the bad guys. When there isn’t an action scene, it typically goes like, “Hey, this dude here is a bad guy. We need to find him and stop him.”

          And then they find them with no effort. This incredible tracking extends to the action scenes. There’s a lot of chasing that happens, and the characters always find who or where they need to go, first time every time. And just to linger on this further, there were entire sections of roughly 30 seconds where I legitimately did not know where a character was, who was fighting, or what was happening. You might get .5 seconds to see a character turn and shoot, then it cuts to the character being shot at that will duck, then they will dash to a new place, and then it repeats but in a new location. Possibly? I’m not sure. But I think that’s what kept happening.

          My disdain for this movie comes from a completely forgettable plot and atrocious action. The cast is superb, but outside of Cruz, the characters are pretty one-note and the poor writing and terrible directing all work against what these talented actresses can bring to the table. If you want to skip this film, I’m more than happy to summarize it for you: All men are evil, and the people go pew pew a lot.

The Role That Won Robert Pattinson "The Batman"

    Gillipedia Official Rating: How many puns can you think of about having a Good Time during this film

      

    When speaking of formulaic approaches in Hollywood, typically you’re referring to the formulas of a story, like the meet cute rom-com. But you can extend the definition further to actors’ careers. There’s the idea of being “typecast” and how all your future roles are affected. But when I think of formulaic, what first comes to mind is a child star growing up and turning to more mature and adult content to break their mold. In the similar vein of breaking a mold, it’s not surprising to see a star from a popular franchise turn to producing or indie films after the limelight and financial success. Such is the case with Robert Pattinson. If you watch interviews with the guy, you can tell that he enjoys success but also really doesn’t want all the attention. He’s a kind of weird guy who doesn’t have life completely figured out—like making weird spaghetti concoctions that catches on fire because he put foil in a microwave… But I digress. After his turn as sparkly vampire Edward from Twilight, Pattinson made every effort to move on from that franchise by taking on challenging roles in obscure films. And to be perfectly honest, if the intention is to showcase an acting ability that appeared lost from the infamous saga, I think he has succeeded to an incredible degree. He recently returned to more blockbuster status in a great performance in Tenet, but he spent the last half decade in films like The Lost City of Z, Damsel, and The Lighthouse. All of those I’m sure attributed to the process as well, but The Batman director Matt Reeves has already spoken about wanting Pattinson to play the Dark Knight after seeing him in Good Time.

          Good Time is the film the Safdie brothers did before the anxiety-inducing and highly regarded Uncut Gems starring Adam Sandler. You can expect more of that freneticism, deeply flawed characters, and anxiety from this film. We start off with one of the Safdie brothers playing Nick who is somewhere on the autistic spectrum. He’s in a session with a psychiatrist trying to diagnose him when Pattinson’s character Connie, who is also Nick’s brother, interrupts and takes him out. Immediately, there’s a sense of Connie wanting to do right by his brother, but he also makes some remarks about not needing Nick to be there in the first place and putting into question if Connie knows what’s really best.

          This is followed up by the scene that really puts the story into motion. The brothers go into a bank disguised and calmly demand the teller hand them money. They pull it off and make their escape with a driver, but the bag is set off by a dye pack and causes the car to crash. This forces the brothers to make their escape on foot. Eventually, Nick falls behind and is captured by the authorities while Connie gets away. The rest of the movie takes place during that same day and night as Connie frantically tries different ways to figure out how to bail out his brother or sneak him out of a hospital.

          There’s a classic trick used in action films that I’ll refer to as good news, bad news. A problem is presented, and the good news is that the character has the solution, but the bad news is that solution has created a new problem, and so on. It creates tension and manufactures new obstacles that our protagonist has to overcome on the fly. Good Time elongates this concept into the length of the film. It reminds me of how the tagline for Joker was all about how one bad day can change a man; this is more like how one bad decision can completely derail a situation. Connie goes to his crazy lady friend played by Jennifer Jason Leigh to help out with bond money for his brother, but her mom’s credit card gets declined. When he comes back later, he learns that his brother has been moved to a hospital due to a fight that broke out and left him injured. Good news is that he finds the hospital, bad news is that it’s guarded by police. He finds a way to break his brother out, but now he needs to find a ride somewhere. And after that another problem arises, and it continues.

          This is a terrific performance from Pattinson. In nearly every situation, he requires the aid of someone else to help him out. He charms his way into the conversation, and then it’s a small ask at first. Once they start pushing back, he pleads to his dire situation and how it’s only a small favor that he needs. They relent, and he continues to ask for more and more. It’s that charming persona that holds those underlying manipulative qualities of a desperate man. Connie is a really interesting character, and Pattinson plays it perfectly. He interacts with other highlight characters like Ray who just got out of prison but immediately goes back to his habits of selling drugs because that’s all he knows. He tells a story during the film that reminded me of Michael Pena during Ant-Man. Ray is played by Buddy Duress who appeared in the Safdie brothers’ previous film and then went to prison soon afterward, so it’s interesting to draw that parallel. Pattinson also has a run-in with Barkhad Abdi who you probably know as the guy from Captain Phillips who tells Tom Hanks, “Look at me, I am the captain now.”

          Now as you’re most likely aware, Connie isn’t a great guy. At first you think he has this love and bond for his brother, but it’s not as simple as that. All of his interactions play out with relatively similar results, but it follows through with the gritty reality this film shows. There’s some heavy synth in the score, and I think it works, but I also hold some mixed feelings about. The cinematography, however, is quite intimate. Like in that opening scene where Connie pulls Nick out of his meeting, Connie holds him close and reassures Nick in the elevator. The camera is up brutally close to the two, bringing the audience into this world while providing no room to breathe either—something that will continue throughout the film.

          I wasn’t a huge fan of Uncut Gems largely due to how unappealing Sandler’s character remained and a very dark ending. Now don’t go expecting a happy time in Good Time, but I really think the Safdie brothers nailed the vibe of this film, and I thoroughly enjoyed the quick pacing. There’s some underlying heavier things and this isn’t a casual watch, but this is a well-acted film with a dark tone that is a finished product through and through. With the PG-13 rating, I don’t think The Batman will ultimately draw too much from this film, but if you are still somehow someone that hasn’t put Pattinson past his Twilight days, then you should check this out and see his range as a performer. I think it might be leaving soon, but at the time of writing this review, you can still find Good Time on Netflix.