Avengers: Endgame (2019) Review

Title: Avengers Endgame
Year: 2019
Director(s): Russo Brothers
Country: US
Language: English

The first film to make over a billion dollars in its opening weekend, Avengers: Endgame has had over a decade of buildup (beginning with Ironman in 2008) to become such a bonifide commercial success. I was first impressed weeks ago when I tried to buy tickets and there was such a demand on Cineplex that it took over an hour to fully get through my purchase...even then there were less than 10 reserved seats left. This picture is a phenomenon and I'm intrigued to find out how much it will eventually make once its theatrical run has ended. 

The grave course of events set in motion by Thanos (Josh Brolin) that wiped out half the universe and fractured the Avengers ranks compels the remaining Avengers to take one final stand. 

In Endgame the devestation felt by audiences at the end of Infinity War is shown onscreen through a variety of grieving characters. The atmosphere feels apocalyptic and though we don't fully see the ramifications of an Earth that lost 50% of its population in an instant, we certainly can feel it. Their loss is our loss. This time Thanos cannot possibly come across as an anti-hero, we actively are rooting for the Avengers to, well, avenge the fallen. 

I'm certain that as more time goes by, a whole host of questions will come up. Endgame's time travel rules are "shakey" at best and, if you think about it for too long, might reduce your enjoyment. The film works best with a raised suspension of disbelief and enjoy is purely as a popcorn flick. Though the film is over three hours long, you will never feel like it drags at any pace. Each scene reveals a new progression of character and/or is complimented by some of the best CGI to grace the screen. 

Despite the fact that Thanos has been reduced as a character to a more traditional villain role, Endgame is a film that rewards its fandom and will meet the majority of expectations. Its not a particularly challenging experience, but the finality of Endgame gives it an edge over the other films (Captain Marvel, Ant Man & the Wasp) that felt like they were merely the appetizer to this 

So Dark the Night (1946) Review

Title: So Dark the Night
Year: 1946
Director: Joseph H. Lewish
Country: US
Language: English

Lately I've been browsing the Criterion Channel, a streaming service for a lot of arthouse and classic pictures that has been available since the beginning of the month. I've been viewing the Columbia Noir section after being greatly impressed by the terribly underrated My Name is Julia Ross (1945). Hopefully So Dark the Night (1946) would be seen as a hidden gem, largely ignored by a 2019 audience, as well. 

 A renowned and relentless Paris detective (Steven Geray) takes his first vacation in eleven years at a small inn in the French countryside. There he meets and falls in love with the hotelier's daughter (Micheline Cheirel), who had been betrothed to a neighboring farmer, but who hopes to marry him and move to Paris. On the evening of their engagement, both the fiancée and the farmer disappear.

So Dark the Night  (1946) is not an underrated classic; the very fact that this has not been lost in time is proof that it is very much over-rated. A mystery thriller that does not thrill nor is mysterious; this picture slugs along at a grueling pace due to the piss poor screenplay. The "twist" may have been fresh back in the 40's (although M from 1931 does it better) but now its insulting and lazy. 

Granted, I can't be entirely negative. The noir-style flourishes are intriguing, especially considering the film's extremely limited budget. We are treated with atmospheric photography, tilted angles, moody shadows, and shots that peer in or out of windows. The lighting and set design are remarkable; if we could judge a film based on visuals alone I'd give this an A+. 

So Dark the Night is a decent film for students looking to understand it from a purely technical perspective, but otherwise it should have been forgotten and abandoned decades ago. It was only an hour, but it felt like four. 

Time Bandits (1981) Review

Title: Time Bandits
Year: 1981
Director: Terry Gilliam 
Country: UK
Language: English

Throughout my teens and early adulthood, I didn't have much respect for Terry Gilliam's directing abilities. I didn't like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), was unaffected by Twelve Monkeys (1995) and loathed The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus (2009) I hated Gilliam's use of deep focus and extreme perspective distortion. Some of his scenes looked like we're meant to view them from the perspective of a fish bowl. Alas, I should have watched his earlier works first as I am now deeply impressed. 

In Time Bandits a young boy (Criag Warnock) accidently gets caught up in the antics of time travelling dwarves, who are jumping from era to era looking for treasure to steal. 

Produced by George Harrison, Time Bandits feels like an elaborate mix of Monty Python and C.S Lewis. It as much a timeless epic, seamlessly inspired by fairy tales of the past, as it is a comedy with a more modern sense of humor. Neither parts undermine one another; rather the comedy gives us a chance to catch our breath throughout this frantically paced odyssey. 

Gilliam's unusual directing style works well in Time Bandits, as much of the film is nonsensical and feels like we've been transported into a surreal alternate reality. Much of this picture asks us to suspend our disbelief, but the screenplay is so well written that we don't question the plot for even a second. Time Bandits is a wild and fun film unlike any other. 

Throughout the 1980's Hollywood tried to bring families to the theatre with a whole host of movies aimed at appealing to parents and their children (Goonies, ET, Sixteen Candles) but none prove as entertaining an experience as this. You can have your Labyrinth, I'll take my Time Bandits. 

Detour (1945) Review

Title: Detour
Year: 1945
Director: Edgar Ulmer
Country: US
Language: English

Detour (1945) had an extremely low budget for its time, even considering it was a B-picture (a small budget movie that would play alongside the main attraction in a "double feature") Luckily Edgar G. Ulmer was a resourceful director who shot the film in six days, with seven actors, one outdoor set and six minimally furnisheed indoor sets. Big cities, such as New York, are captured by small setpieces, like a fog enshrouded set-stage. 

In flashback, New York nightclub pianist Al Roberts (Tom Neal) hitchhikes to Hollywood to join his girl Sue. On a rainy night, the sleazy gambler he's riding with mysteriously dies; afraid of the police, Roberts takes the man's identity. But thanks to a blackmailing dame (Ann Savage), Roberts' every move plunges him deeper into trouble.

A great example of film noir; I actually watched this in my History of Film class at University of Winnipeg as part of a lecture of the evolution of crime pictures. Detour has everything that defines the genre; a femme fatale, shadowy cinematography, cynical narration and undetermined morality among other traits. It punctuates its dreary script by being perhaps one of the most nihilistic films ever made. 

A cult classic in Europe and North America, Detour is a taut gritty picture that certainly captures the pessimistic mood of the masses near the end of World War Two. One wonders if Roberts' feelings of torment were similar to the post traumatic stress disorder that soldiers either returning home or currently at war were feeling at the time. Such a chaotic time period is pefectly encapsulated in this film. 

Anne Savage, who I first saw in Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg (2007), is remarkable in her role. Her insults and nasty demeanor make you long for the days of great onscreen villains. She is a tremendous show stealer and the film is worth a viewing if only to see her acting. 

My Name is Julia Ross (1945) Review

Title: My Name is Julia Ross
Year: 1945
Director: Joseph Lewis
Country: US
Language: English

Back in the Golden Age of Hollywood, when movies were churned out like cars in a factory, studios had a quota of B-movies they could play alongside the big budget productions as a "double feature". Most were forgettable, but some mesmerized audiences and could be better than the main attraction itself. My Name is Julia Ross (1945), made for very little money even for a 1940's budget, was certainly a flick that had people glued to their seats. 

Julia Ross (Nina Foch) secures employment, through a rather nosy employment agency, with a wealthy widow, Mrs. Hughes, and goes to live at her house. 2 days later, she awakens - in a different house, in different clothes, and with a new identity. 

Women being domestically terrorized was a popular strain of psychological thriller in the 1940's. The most popular of these films being George Kukor's Gaslight (1944). Perhaps this is a product of post-war tensions between gender roles. In World War Two women stepped out of their husband's shadows and went to work in factories to be the breadwinners of their families. Once the men returned from war the women were largely reduced to domestic servitude once again. These films were a cry out that women wanted more in life than to be wives & mothers. 

My Name is Julia Ross has a tightly structured screenplay, believable dialogue and a string of fine performances all help to sell every twist as plausible. Joseph Lewis' directing is commendable, as his many camera choices (such as the use of close-ups) help cover the fact that this film had an incredibly small budget. Overall, a worthwhile film. 

Glass (2019) Review

Title: Glass
Year: 2019
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Country: US
Language: English

M. Night Shyamalan's Superhero Trilogy started with Unbreakable (2000), continued seventeen years later with Split (2017), and ends with Glass (2019). Since Unbreakable the film-maker's career has been a rollercoaster ride; making hits like Signs (2002) and devestating financial failures like The Last Airbender (2010). I went into his latest picture with a great degree of caution, as we could really get anything from this director. 

Security guard David Dunn (Bruce Willis) uses his supernatural abilities to track Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy), a disturbed man who has twenty-four personalities. They both find themselves trapped in a mental hospital, contending with a psychiatrist who is out to prove they are both mentally ill. 

My biggest issue with Glass (2019) is that it re-tells the story of Unbreakable, but in a much less exciting way. The story of Unbreakable is that Dunn has to be convinced that he's a superhero through miraculous discoveries. In this film a nurse asks "well how do you know you're a superhero? maybe you just have extraordinary abilities."

1. What is the difference between being a "superhuman" and having "extraordinary abilities"?
2. How does he know he's a superhero!? because of all the events in Unbreakable!

Split was a masterful picture because of its clear Hitchcock inspiration. The suspense of "what is the beast?" builds up to a terrifying climax. Glass is a great disservice to McAvoy's character as an little mystery left to the horde is whisked away by comedic misfires. The final "twist" of Glass feels insulting as very little effort was made to build up to it. Rather than an exclamation point, the finale falls miserably flat. 

Us (2019) Review

Title: Us
Year: 2019
Director: Jordan Peele
Country: US
Language: English

Jordan Peele's (Key & Peele) debut feature Get Out was a massive critical and commercial success when it hit theatres in 2017. Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and winning Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards, Peele's second feature would undoubtedly have a lot to live up to. Cut to 2019 and Us has promised to haunt audiences worldwise. Would it be as successful? 

The Wilson family takes a vacation to Santa Cruz, California with the plan of spending time with their friends, the Tyler family. That night, four mysterious people break into Adelaide's childhood home where they're staying. The family is shocked to find out that the intruders look like them.

Jordan Peele is clearly a fan of Twilight Zone and The Simpsons. Us feels clearly inspired by the doppleganger Twilight Zone story that aired in 1960 called Mirror Image. In addition, there are inspirations the Treehouse of Horror story The Thing and I, wherin Bart finds out he has an evil twin named Hugo. He re-invents these stories in fun and exciting ways however; often pushing the boundaries between horror, comedy and non-sensical surrealism. 

Us is a film that gets simultaneously better and worse the more one thinks about it. The plot can be frustrating, as this film requires a great suspension of disbelief, but ultimately the story is a great metaphor for classism in America. Us is multi-layered and part of the fun is pondering what is REALLY is about. 

Us is a very different horror movie compared to others made in the 2010's. While it is visceral and violent, it is also quite clever and comical. Where else can you see people being murdered by themselves to NWA's Fuck the Police? Also, I give praise to the cast for playing their own doppleganger. One forgets that Nyong'o is playing both Adelaide and Red because of how great her acting is.