Hail, Caesar!

    This last spring I was lucky enough to sit in for a Q&A with Joel Coen. The Coen Brothers are one of my favorite directors and I reference them often in this blog. So when asked about his next project and Joel described a movie called Hail, Caesar! about George Clooney being abducted by a group of extras, I was thrilled. I finally saw Hail, Ceasar! last weekend on a Valentine's date with my Mom. I was not thrilled.

    So let's get this clear. The movie is not awful. It's not Battleship or some other Hasbro garbage. But is not a good movie for them and is one of my least favorites by them. I like the visuals, the jokes, and the acting. But there were some key story elements that did not happen. For example, there's a plot line that involves a dastardly act George Clooney's character did on his first Hollywood film. The act was revealed at the end of the movie in an offscreen conversation and written out quickly. Additionally a lot of the characters don't have purpose or a desire, other than create work for Josh Brolin's character Eddie Mannix.

                                                            Mannix is the protagonist of this twisty, seemingly meaningless comedy-drama. That description in itself shows how scattered the characters are. Huge stars like Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, and Scarlett Johansson pop in and out of the story with very little to do and loose ends that get tied up by a simple walk and talk with Eddie Mannix in the last five minutes.

The only actor who is given any other meaningful screen time is Alden Ehrenreich who gives a marvelous performance as country good ole boy Hobie Doyle. Hobie is a stud with horses but is brought into a adapted play directed by Ralph Fiennes' Lawrence Lawrence. The scene provides the only true moment of comedy of the whole film with an endearing Hobie and the artist Lawrence. 

  

     Now at the Q&A I learned about Hail, Caesar! before while it was shooting. This could be me only hearing what I wanted to hear but I could have sworn that Joel Coen said that Hail, Caesar! was going to be a musical.

     It fits with the current cut of the movie. There are large musical interludes with Channing Tatum, Scarlett Johansson, and Alden Ehrenreich and music and old Hollywood is a big theme. Additionally the explanation of major off screen plot points through dialogue would make sense if these were originally supposed to be shown in a musical number. Channing Tatum's character is given a full length musical number and then has no dialogue until what seems to be the climactic scene. And this climactic scene has absolutely no context. 

     I think Hail, Caesar! was supposed to be in a musical and somewhere in the production that was cut. What was left was a hodge podge of actors, characters, and story lines tied together by Eddie Mannix and Roger Deakins.

Shailene Woodley: Rising Star

Shailene Woodley. You may not recognize the name, but you definitely know her face. I first knew her

Shailene Woodley

as the annoying pregnant teenager from "The Secret Life of the American Teenager", an ABC Family show that went on too long and ruined Molly Ringwald for me forever. At first the show was a guilty pleasure of mine, until I came to actually dislike it, mainly because of the character Shailene Woodley portrayed. Then, "The Descendants" came out. I almost didn't watch it, but when I heard it had George Clooney in Hawaii, I had to put aside my prejudice. 

I loved the film, and surprisingly one of my favorite parts was Shailene's performance as Alexandra. Woodley played the exact opposite of her "Secret Life" character, instead showing us her more rebellious and brash side, while still evoking emotions and connecting with the audience. I was impressed, especially as she was thrown side by side with one of the most iconic actors of our time. After "The Descendants" I was hooked, and couldn't wait to see what she would do next.

What I love about Shailene Woodley is her flexibility. She can bounce from a TV show, to an indie movie, to a blockbuster, one right after another, and fit in with almost any style. My favorites are her indie films. I was blown away by "The Spectacular Now", a film about two seniors in high school who fall in love and force each other to explore the people they've become. I'm a huge fan of Miles 

Teller and Woodley from "The Spectacular Now"

Teller already, so I was shamelessly biased to see this movie. I was enthralled by the rawness of the actors' performances and the strange chemistry that somehow worked for the film. This was no typical high school romance story, and Woodley and Teller really sold it. 

After seeing "The Spectacular Now", I found out Woodley was starring in the new movie "Divergent". It peaked my interest, but I was mostly just happy to see her in another big film. I haven't gotten around to seeing it yet, but from the what I've heard, I predict Woodley's future will only increase steadily in success. And recently I discovered that she is starring in Josh Boone's new film, "The Fault in Our Stars", an adaptation of John Greene's famous novel. I'm extremely excited to see it, as I believe Woodley's talent has only grown, and we'll see another side of the actress we've never seen before. 

The film will be released this upcoming summer. I'm excited to see what moves this promising actress decides to make next.

The Sound of Gravity

The movie Gravity, written and directed by Alfonso Cuaron elevated the standard for how things should sound in outer space entirely. Although their have been so many brilliant films located in space, such as Star Wars, and Alien, Gravity set a more realistic version of space's ambient tone. Because in space sound cannot be transmitted throughout the atmosphere, essentially nothing can be heard. But because of brilliant audio engineers, and Cuaron's artistry the sound comes from the perspective of the actors interaction with elements. If the actor grabs or touches something the vibration will travel into their ears. For people who haven't worked on sound, or know very little about it, this means all of the sounds you hear in the movie DOES NOT come from recordings on set, it is entirely recorded separately.

If you haven't seen the movie, which I recommend you do the film is about shuttle explorer STS-157, on which Dr. Ryan Stone (played by Saundra Bullock) who is on her first mission. She is accompanied by Matt Kowalski (played by George Clooney) who is on his last expedition. During a spacewalk mission control channels the Explorer (the name of the shuttle) that there has been a Russian missile strike and the debris is headed their way. Minutes later a cloud of debris hits the shuttle and detaches Stone leaving her drifting alone throughout space.

What I find so fascinating about the movie, is because it comes from the actors perspective, who is flying around in space, the music and the sound are constantly traveling around you. Cuaron and the engineers composed the sound to surround you and pan into different speakers. What this did was it built up the emotion and fear into being lost in a completely different world, and made you feel like you were there. For sound nerds like me, the plug-in the engineers used to pan the sound and the score is called "Atmos" which is located in Pro- Tool 7. Whats so cool about this plug-in is most of the panning is automatically tuned by the program itself. According to the re-recording mixer Skip Lievsay who worked on No Country for Old Men, Fargo, and No Country For Old Men, most of the scenes were autopanned with Atmos.

The love and the passion that Cuaron puts into the cinematic experience of the movie encourages me  as I enter the beginning stages of my career. It proves that with countless hours of work, very little sleep, and a lot of drive you can create anything. I sincerely hope this movie lives up to its potential at the Oscars. For 90 minutes I was convinced I was lost along side Saundra Bullock traveling with nobody in outer space. And the music and sound had me on the edge of my seat during this terrifying situation.

Gravity: A Movie Out of this World

 
Cut to black. Credits roll. I usually stay through the credits when I see a movie. I mean, I want people to stay through the credits when my name is up there. But I didn't just stay through the credits. I stayed about ten minutes after the credits ended, until the man trying to clean up asked my friends and me to leave. The words spoken between us were few in that car ride home. We were actually speechless, completely shocked by what we just experienced. We needed to take it all in.

I knew Gravity would be incredible, but I did not expect to leave feeling the way I did. To be truthful, I've never left a movie theater feeling that way. I imagine it's how audiences, back in the start of cinema, felt when a train went by and they thought it was going to hit them. Or possibly how the audiences at the first Star Wars film felt. But this, this was unlike anything I have ever seen.

The story was nothing we haven't seen before. Astronauts up in space. Something disastrous happens. Stuck up there, trying to survive. Even down to the George Clooney character, Kowlaski, of the veteran astronaut in a state of nostalgia on his last mission to space. Nonetheless, I was sucked into this world. Completely captivated by the world Alfonso Cuarón created within minutes, I can only really describe the experience as an hour and a half long anxiety attack...in the best way possible, of course.

The movie is easily Sandra Bullock's best work. I so quickly felt connected to her character, Stone, despite barely being able to see her face through her spacesuit. Cuarón pushes her to new levels that we've never seen from her as an actress. She has my full support for the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. But I could go on about how incredible Gravity is forever. So I'm sticking to the opening shot. The 17-minute take is an absolute masterpiece, shot by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki. Beware: spoilers of the first 17 minutes of the film lie ahead.

The film opens to a shot of earth from space, which is the most realistic earth I have ever seen. Slowly, signs of life begin to emerge, as we hear faint radio chatter and a distant space shuttle, satellite, and astronauts enter into frame. While Kowlaski jokes around with mission control, Stone clings onto the telescope, having minor health issues and struggling to fix a component. The camera weightlessly glides from each character, almost as if it drifts along in space with everything else.

The tranquil scene is disrupted when mission control tells them to abort the mission, explaining that debris from a broken satellite has created a domino effect. Before they get the chance to make it back to their shuttle, the debris arrives bringing a deadly hail of missiles towards them. The camera pans to the astronauts who try to evacuate, with debris flying past them, so realistic that I flinched.

When something big crashed into the shuttle, it starts spinning, bringing Stone with it. The camera watches as she spins around and around with earth in the background. When something else crashes into the shuttle, the arm attaching Stone to the shuttle breaks off. The camera fluidly focuses in on Stone and begins to spin with her, close up on her terrified face. Then seamlessly, the camera turns, as if moving naturally in zero gravity, making its way behind Stone's glass. Now inside her space helmet, we see the background turn from space to earth to space to earth as we move with her. Over the radio, we hear Kowlaski tell her to detach herself before she gets too out of reach, so she does and the camera breaks away from her as she tumbles away from earth. She gets smaller and smaller until finally the camera cuts.

The genius of such a long, cinematically fascinating shot is that it brings the audience directly into the story. First, we are slowly introduced to the environment and then suddenly shifted right into the action. The cinematography of the long and thorough shot made you feel as though you were right there with these characters, experiencing this horror with them. Absolutely brilliant.

If you haven't already, you need to go see this movie. It is a revolutionary cinematic experience with groundbreaking special effects. Gravity might just be the most technologically impressive films ever made. It isn't often that you can walk out of a movie thinking, "How in the world did they do that?" You can place you bets on Gravity for all major awards in the categories of cinematography and visual effects. Go see it, and see it in 3D.

Lastly, the only negative reviews I have read of the film are about the scientific inaccuracy of some of the events. It almost angers me how stupid that is. If you're looking for a science lesson on space, go watch some informational documentary or rent a book or something. Nobody's going to this movie expecting to leave understanding outer space. This movie is made for entertainment. And truth be told, it is one of the greatest pieces of entertainment that society has ever seen. Gravity is out of this world. Pun intended.

Gravity

Let's talk about Gravity.

No, not the law discovered by Mr. Newton in the 1680's, but the film directed by Alfonso Cuarón coming out this weekend. 

Critics are going crazy for this film. IMDB has given it an 8.5/10, Metacritic– a 97/100, and Rotten Tomatoes a 98%. So what are they loving so much about it? I'll have to see it to know for sure... but I'm guessing it has something to do with it's stunning visual effects, non-stop intensity, and rumored 17-minute opening shot.

With such stunning visuals, I feel like this may finally be a film worth seeing on the largest screen possible and, dare I say, 3D? I know there are a lot of haters out there for 3D, but if there's an environment that could put it to effective use it would definitely be outer space. It's clear that Cuarón thought long and hard about how to immerse the audience in the beauty and terror of being hundreds of miles above earth.

Before I go any further I recommend you watch the trailer. There have been a few different trailers made, but I think the first one they made is most effective:

DON'T FORGET FULL SCREEN

Not everyone loved this trailer, but it hit me on the spot. When I first saw it I thought it was some sort of space documentary, and I think that's exactly what they wanted. Then all of a sudden BOOM – NOT SO MUCH. Although they have sound effects of destruction in the trailer, I've heard that the film is scientifically accurate and contains no sound because there is no sound is space. All you hear is their voices over the radio and possibly

some dramatic music at certain times. I also think this will be one of the more impressive performances by Sandra Bullock. I know some people are skeptical, and I get that, because how great of a performance can she really give while strapped into a space suit while spinning in circles through space? But when something is stripped down to it's basic elements is when it has the opportunity for huge success. In this case, it's Sandra Bullock's vocals. Curón and Bullock worked for hours on how to capture the terror of flying through space with just the sound of her breath. When I re-watched the trailers with this in mind, I really think she nailed it. And what's so spectacular about it is that it doesn't stand out. I can't see her eyes or the sweat on her forehead but I know she's terrified. I'm not thinking about how I know she's terrified, I just know she IS.

The other element I really like about this film is the characterization of earth. Although it seems like there are only two main characters, George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, I see it as three. The earth is moving, living part of the film and it's instrumental to the orientation of the camera. Very few films, if any, have done this before.

So in case you haven't figured it out yet I'm very excited to see this film. It has a fantastic director, quality actors, and state of the art visual effects. I'm quite sure it's box office sales will orbit above everything else this weekend, and it deserves it.

As a final piece to enjoy... The Onion made an entertaining review for the film:

9.81 m/s^2

If you have been to the movie theater recently you have probably seen the trailer for Gravity, a new film starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney coming out October 4th. This movie looks intense and you should definitely see the trailer below to see what I mean. It places a medical engineer, played by Sandra Bullock, on her first shuttle mission. When things go wrong she must fight for her life with her commander, played by George Clooney, in the depths of space with limited communication with Earth. With no practical rescue, they realize the only way they have a chance at getting home is to travel further into space. Check out the trailer below.

I want to be pleasantly surprised by this film, I plan on going to see it opening weekend. I do not know how it would make sense for the astronauts to travel deeper into space to get back home. If I had to guess I would bet they lose sight of the ISS and are going to have to attempt to get back in contact with it. I can see myself either loving or hating this film, but either way the visuals and action in space will thrill me for sure. Since the next blog post is due the day this movie comes out, I plan on checking back by next week and reviewing the movie. 

Based on a True Story

For as long as I can remember, I have always been entertained and attracted to movies that are based on true stories. I know many of them tend to change or over-exaggerate the story line from what actually happen, but when I watch true story movies For as long as I can remember, I have always been entertained and attracted to movies that are based on true stories. I know many of them tend to change or over-exaggerate the story line from what actually happened, but when I watch true story movies I find myself interested in the life of the individual or group of people the film is portraying. I especially tend to be attracted to true stories about history like movies about wars, presidents, conspiracies, etc. Below are a few of the many true stories that grabbed my attention, and that I enjoyed watching.

The Blindside got my eye because it's a sports movie and it had a number of actors/actresses that I love to watch. It's the true story of Michael Oher, who didn't have a home, a mother who did drugs and abandoned him. He was a warrant of the state who had no such records to his name. He became under the guardianship of Sean and Leign Ann Tuohy, graduates of the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). A sensitive young man, who knew nothing about football started playing left tackle for his high school. Attracted by many colleges for his athleticism including Alabama, Tenessee, South Carolina, and many more, he became an all-star athlete. Today you can see him on the Baltimore Ravens as he was a pick in the 2009 NFL draft. It's a heart warming story that will leave audiences both happy, but can be a tear jerker. 

The Perfect Storm was another movie that got my eye that was based on a true story. Directed by Wolfgang Peterson, it's the story of a sword fishing boat called the Andrea Gail captained by Billy Tyne (George Clooney) and his crew of 5 men who went under during a fishing trip and was caught in the middle of a Hurricane (known as the perfect storm). 

The most recent true story I have seen is Lawless, which the true story about Forrest, Howard, and Jack  Bondurant, who were members of the Moonshine Conspiracy in Franklin Virginia in 1931. The Brothers were in a successful boot-legging business during prohibition. This movie kept me on the edge of my seat and the story was well written. I definitely recommend this movie to anyone who loves action, suspense, and none than other TOM HARDY.  

Spy Movies

I loved The Debt. 

The Debt (2010) is about three retired spies and a fatal secret from their past resurfacing. The cinematography: excellent. The plot: engaging. The acting: top notch.

Helen Mirren executed her lead role flawlessly and convincingly.

But rather than review this movie. I'd like to talk about spy movies. I love spy movies. As a kid, my brother and I watched every James Bond movie and even classics like Where Eagles Dare.

I'm not exactly sure why, but I can feel a distinct style developing for recent espionage movies. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Debt, The Bourne Trilogy (Quadrilogy now?), Taken, The Good Shepard, and The American are all movies that come to mind when thinking about the recent trend of slow-to-start, cold, gritty and beautifully shot spy movies.

All of these blockbuster spy movies rely heavily on star appeal. Stars like Colin Firth, Helen Mirren, Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, and George Clooney are all cast in hopes of Academy Nominations.

The lead spies are usually rogue intellectual types, with either a moral or selfless mission. Spies are never meant to be self serving. If they were, the film would simply be labeled as a gangster or crime movie.

This recent trend I'm referring to runs counter to the old kind of spy movie which placed an emphasis on the luxury, the gadgets, and traditional war movie. In the past, James Bond was watched by people envious of his lifestyle. Now, spies are more often depicted as living on the run or with some kind of deep internal conflict. It's less about good v. bad, and more about internal struggles.