BradWesley123's Movie Journal- June 2016

Bland, toothless and pointless; Special Correspondents is a satire with no understanding of anything it's satirizing. Outside of Vera Farmiga's performance, nothing in this movie works. In fact, the movie somehow pivots towards the end, and attempts to be heartwarming. Watching this, I get the sense that Gervais doesn't like being associated with narcissistic characters, and just wants people to see him as a nice guy. Making Special Correspondents will not help with that image.

Monthly Wesley AwardWorst Picture

Shakespeare adaptations really can't be reviewed as a normal film; all of them, for better or worse, often adhere so closely to the source material that they sort of blend together. As such, you essentially have to look at the way the story is being told, and the style with which it's told. With that in mind, Macbeth is a visually stunning yet poorly paced film. It's a technical marvel; from cinematography to sound to production design, it's exceptionally well made. The story, however, isn't told with much vigor; despite a great cast, it's often quite dull.

Monthly Wesley AwardBest Cinematography- Adam Arkapaw

While the plot does get pretty convoluted and it gets a bit more predictable as it goes on, The Best Offer nonetheless kept me hooked due to its calm pace, perfect handle on tone, and Geoffrey Rush's superb performance. The rest of the cast is solid too, but Rush carries the movie, with able help from the technical departments. The cinematography and production design are also great highlights.

Monthly Wesley AwardsBest Actor- Geoffrey Rush
Best Original Screenplay- Giuseppe Tornatore
Best Score- Ennio Morricone
Best Production Design

Takes a goofy premise and, more or less, goes the straight route, turning Pride & Prejudice & Zombies into a dull, mostly humorless slog. The costumes, production design and makeup are the few things to recommend here.

Monthly Wesley AwardBest Makeup

It does contain some of my greatest issues with indie-horror films (style and vagueness in place of character development and story), but it's made so well, with so many quality thrills and style, that its worth a look. The cast is strong, with Anya Taylor-Joy giving a breakout performance, but this is a director's movie and Eggers shows off quite well, even with the problems I mentioned.

Mild enough not to hate but dull enough to cause one to nod off, A Royal Night Out is a rather boring movie that is only saved when it focuses on its leading ladies. Gadon and Powley both give fairly fun performances that enliven the tedium of the proceedings; just not enough to recommend.

There are a few good set pieces, and the cast is fine, but The Saint's story is too muddled and convoluted to be effective. It's the kind of plot where there's not enough story, but it just keeps going on and on. Add that with a lack of character work, and the film is just a bland bore.

I wanted to love Anomalisa, but I ended up just respecting it. The animation is great and the storytelling is quite strong, as well as an excellent voice cast, but it felt oddly cold and detached. That's likely due to the story, its a story of depression and middle-age crises, but it just missed for me. The scenes with Jennifer Jason Leigh hit quite hard though, with enough passion and empathy to fill a whole movie. If only it had. Still very good though.

Congo is so ridiculous and poorly made that it is honestly pretty fun. If viewed in the right mood, it'll be a fun, "so bad its good" experience. As a film though, its quite bad.

It's respectably old-fashioned, but The Finest Hours replaces story and characters with nostalgia. Even for a Disney movie, it feels toothless, to the point where nothing really pops off the screen to make much of an impact. The cast is solid and its exceedingly well-made, but it just left me cold.

Monthly Wesley AwardBest Visual Effects

Honestly, I kinda enjoyed Gods of Egypt. It's by no means a good film, but it's bloated, so odd, so flat out stupid that I was having some fun. It's a mess of a film, with performances that range from not terrible, to outright embarrassing (Chadwick Boseman should have said no). Everything is so gaudy that you see every cent that went into the movie; its like a modern day Batman & Robin in that regard. Its truly a "so bad its good" film.

The Boy is surprisingly effective, until the bonkers last act. The slow build tension is quite good, as well as Lauren Cohan's strong central performance, but the last reveal is so hilariously odd that it zaps out the quality storytelling and replaces it with the stupidest of slasher-logic. Still, before the collapse, its pretty good. If they could've had a better ending, it would've workeed.

While I felt the tonal changes were a bit abrupt at times and the story a bit thin, The Princess Bride is still a fun send-up/reappraisal of fairy tale romances that manages to become of the more memorable of the genre.

Monthly Wesley AwardsBest Supporting Actor- Christopher Guest
Best Costume Design- Phyllis Dalton

How to Be Single is a surprisingly fresh relationship dramedy that upends expectations. While there are certainly plenty of issues with the story, including way too many characters (Brie's storyline probably could've been excised from the movie entirely and it wouldn't have lost much) and an episodic structure, but the film's central message, and it's solid execution of it, gives the genre a much-needed modern kick. The cast is also quite strong, and the writing (when it's on) gives their arcs a poignancy not allotted these kinds of characters. A delightful surprise.

While it does suffer a bit from the usual coming-of-age trappings, The Diary of a Teenage Girl is a fresh take for the genre. Benefiting greatly from a smart script, sensitive direction and a star-making performance from Bel Powley, the film's gender-flipped and sexually frank story give the film more insight than usually allowed in these films, as well as a more compelling narrative.

Monthly Wesley AwardsBest Picture
Best Director- Marielle Heller
Best Actress- Bel Powley
Best Supporting Actress- Kristen Wiig
Best Adapted Screenplay- Marielle Heller

45 Years is expertly made, evoking quiet emotion from every scene with subtle storytelling, and a few excellent performances, none more so than Charlotte Rampling (who is incredible here). It is a bit too slow at times, its one of those films that's almost too subtle, but its a worthwhile watch due to the film's numerous positives.

Rockwell and Kendrick are quite good here, and the movie's best movies result from their work, but Mr. Right is a romcom/Tarantino hybrid that presents itself as clever, when it's really more smug. When it tones itself down, it works, but too often the material mugs and oozes smarm.

Sure, there are ocassional moments of absurdity so broad that its hard not to be amuse, but 1998's Godzilla is just so fucking stupid. It's a dumb, lumbering Jurassic Park/Independence Day (nowhere near as fun as that sounds) hybrid/ripoff that so wants to please everyone that it repels in equal measure. Godzilla in Name Only, indeed.

Cube and Hart still heavy some decent comic chemistry, but Ride Along 2 is about as forgettable and bland as cinema gets. It's a movie that's been done before, in a way that has been done before. Ride Along joins a growing list of improbable franchises by sleepwalking.

As a searing account of one of modern history's most profiled events, it's about as rote as any other Middle East war flick. As an action movie however, 13 Hours presents some of the most rousing action of director Michael Bay's career. The story is a warmed over collage of historical inaccuracies, Hoorah(!) brothers-in-arms bonding, and snobs vs. slobs conflicts (probably the most damning aspect of the bunch). The action though, is some of the best that Bay has ever done. The way the bullets ricocheted and the missiles bounced off of buildings and cars kept me in constant awe. If it wasn't so long, it would get a rather glowing endorsement; as is, see it with caution.

Monthly Wesley AwardsBest Editing- Michael McCusker, Pietro Scalia, Calvin Wimmer
Best Sound