From Deep: A doc about basketball and hip-hop

★★★--A basketball documentary. I’m a sucker for a basketball doc. In three parts. The first two parts were better than the third, which sort of went off the tracks. First part was a history of basketball and it’s connection to the black community. Second was hip hop’s roots and how it has always been intwined with the game. 

The third had the most potential and still requires the most thought and scholarship going forward. But it was also the most confusing, getting lost in the point it was trying to make. I think it was arguing that professional basketball players deserve more rights and to choose their employers via free agency without getting a bunch of crap. It also talks specifically about how the economic chasm between player and fan has never been greater. Just of sort of throws that out. 
 
Also gives a little bit of an apology for the LeBron James’ “Decision” from 2011. That’s when he had a television special to say he was leaving Cleveland. People I know from Akron and Cleveland are very protective of him, which is cool as I think he is a truly good dude. Tis true of him ass a teammate, father, politically active famous person, and so on. So I like what the doc says there, that the NBA and the city were making Lebron into a savior, which was unfair. It also talks some shit about Michael Jordan for being a corporate man in never taking a stance on anything political so he sells more Nikes, McDonalds, Gatorade, so forth. Jordan, that prick, did famously say “Republicans buy sneakers, too.” 
 
Overall, good but flawed and not super clear. Plus he sort of gets into dangerous territory when talking about African American culture for a weird looking Canadian. 

31 Days of Halloween: Silly Scares Night: A Self-Aware/Hilarious Twist on Horror Tropes

Tucker & Dale vs Evil - Eli Craig - 2010

 

★★★★★-Day 10 of the Nightmare on Film Street 31 Days of Halloween Horror Challenge. Silly scares night. One of my favorite genres. This is an old favorite. Nearly an annual watch. Partner loves it as well. 

Gist is two well-meaning hillbillies, Tucker and Dale, are mistaken for killers by a group of college-aged dipshits. While the bumpkins are on vacation at their dilapidated cabin in the woods, a series of misunderstandings lead the students to believe they are being hunted by roughneck psychopaths. The bumpkins, meanwhile, think the kids are in some kind of suicide cult as attempts to “rescue” their friend Allison results in a series of gruesome accidents.

Alan Tudyk and ­­Tyler Labine star as Tucker and Dale respectively. Tudyk is always fun and his performance in this film is no exception. I mostly thinking of him from this role and as Steve the pirate in Dodgeball which I fucking love. 

Labine, for his part, has this comedic horror lane locked down. He had a solid run in the 2010s, starring in a couple of my favorite shows with Reaper and Deadbeat, but it appears he’s had some health issues in the last few years and taken a little bit of a step back. 

Hoping director Eli Craig gets to make many more movies in the future. As of this writing it just this and another comedy horror flick Little Evil. It’s no Tucker & Dale, but it’s not bad. Has a movie that is supposed to come out next year based on the YA slasher novel Clown in a Cornfield. I am so seeing that flick. 

The college kids all kind of blend together and just there to pad the body count save for the group’s alpha, Chad, and Allison, she’s the one Tucker and Dale “kidnap”, played Katrina Bowden. She is the incredibly hot receptionist in 30 Rock. I have a bit of a weird connection to her. A girl I dated briefly 20 years ago dated her ex-husband before we got together. He is the frontman for this emo band Armor for Sleep. She occasionally talked to him on the phone while we were dating just to make me jealous. I, however, didn’t give a shit. Our relationship was fucked.

Chad, love that the college douche is named Chad, is played by one Jesse Moss. He is the group’s self-appointed leader and the film's main antagonist. He seems like your average frat bro but becomes obviously more mentally deranged as his suppressed psychotic tendencies and prejudices towards hillbillies start coming out. Hadn’t seen him in anything else, but he is great in this. You can tell he is having a good time. 

The film is absolutely spectacular, subverting horror tropes and effectively blending comedy with gory. A fun twist on the typical horror genre, with plenty of laughs and unexpected turns. 

31 Days of Halloween: Ghost Story Night: Gothic del Toro

Crimson Peak - Guillermo del Toro - 2015

 

★★★★-Day 6 of the Nightmare on Film Street 31 Days of Halloween Horror Challenge. Ghost story night. Crimson Peak. Would put this in mid-tier Guillermo del Toro. Still rocks though. Huge fan of his work. 

Gist is aspiring author Edith Cushing marries charming baron Thomas Sharpe, who has some weird shit going on with sister Lucille. She then moves to his remote Gothic mansion and uncovers various dark secrets behind the ghosts that haunt the massive, dilapidated home.

 

Cast is solid with great performances. Stars Mia Wasikowska in the lead as Edith. She has really had some canonical, literary parts in her years. She was Alice in the Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland flicks. Also, the title role for the Jane Eyre a decade back with Michael Fassbender as Rochester, Emma Bovary in a Madame Bovary adaptation, stars next to Robert Pattinson in the bananas film Damsel, and the part of Judy in Judy and Punch, which was also insane. She is pretty great. 

 

Others include the Loki man himself Tom Hiddleston as the baron, the always solid Jessica Chastain in her stabbiest role as sister Lucille who is completely out of her mind, and Charlie Hunnam as Dr. Alan McMichael, the other love interest. Also get Jim Beaver as Edith’s dad (he is Bobby Singer in Supernatural). And it wouldn’t be a Del Toro movie without a little Indiana native Doug Jones, he was the fish man in The Shape of Water as well as the fish man in the Hellboy movies. 

 

Love a gothic period piece. The production of this world is the best part about the movie. Totally giving off Hammer Film vibes in that respect, but with the del Toro style. Chastain steals the show with her subdued yet unhinged performance. Pacing and story could have been fleshed out a little bit, and the end is a little over-the-top. Not a classic like Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water, or The Devil’s Backbone, but it’s close. 

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - #31DayHorrorChallenge - Day 2: In a Cornfield

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - André Øvredal -  2019

★★★-I loved these books as a kid. Read them in third grade and every knock off I could get my hands on for the next several years before turning to Stephen King in sixth grade. Originally saw the film on opening day. It was minimally disappointing. So time for a rewatch. Fine, and likeable, but still slightly disappointing. Only slightly though.

Horror flick directed by Norwegian filmmaker André Øvredal who has some talent but is a bit inconsistent. He also did Trollhunter, The Autopsy of Jane, both of which were great, and most recently The Last Voyage of the Demeter, which was not. Based on the children's book series by Alvin Schwartz. The screenplay from the Hageman bros, Dan and Kevin, adapted from what the internet calls a "screen story" by Guillermo del Toro, the director, and Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. 

Gist of it is a group of naive teens ignore rule numero uno and read from creepy books you find in abandoned houses, and things get real. Kids, don’t fuck with creepy books you find in known haunted mansions. The home belonged to the infamous Bellows family, the rich folk that poisoned the town's drinking water decades before with their industrial bullshit. When young Sarah grows a conscience and threatens to tell the au-thor-it-ays, they lock her away and learns some curse or something and finds a way to pen terrifying tales that come alive. After being long abandoned, the kids show up and start unlocking evil willy-nilly in the year of our lord 1968. 

Cast is what I was led to believe were rising stars. The main kids are Zoe Colletti (the lead), Michael Garza (the love interest, draft dodger), Gabriel Rush (the tall geeky one), Austin Zajur (the short geeky one), Natalie Ganzhorn (the sister that's agraid of spiders), and Austin Abrams (the bully). Crazy to think there was a time not so long ago that you were a fugitive if you didn’t go to war. As a nonreligious pacifist, this is the scariest part about the movie for me.  

Only person I really recognized was Dean Norris, who played Hank Schrader on Breaking Bad. He's the lead's dad. The main girl reminds me of my favorite intern at the newspaper. She had some talent as a writer and photographer but had similar barriers in her way. Ended up alright though, is a commercial photographer for Sketchers. Had the same look, but more goth.  

Still waiting on that sequel. Supposedly in development still. Got about one or two years, and then they are going to have to start over or make the characters much older or whatever. Pushing it now even.  

Usually not one to stick up for cops in movies, but this guy is a real professional. Head comes bouncing down the chimney, says some crazy shit, drops his shit, says “are you shitting me,” and shoots the head in the brain. Doesn’t do any good, but he’s got the right idea. Still not the scariest thing to happen that night though. Nixon got elected and so started the decline of liberal democracy in the United States. That’s the realest horror story you are ever gonna hear.  

Overall, the film is pretty good to alright. Excellent use of the song “Season of the Witch.” Liked that it stayed consistent with the art, though I wasn’t crazy about that the first time around.  Brutal deaths for a movie sort of marketed at young people. Puking up hay as you turn into a scarecrow looks pretty awful. One poor bastard has a reoccurring nightmare he is afraid the evil is going to use against him. She does. Then there is the brutal stuff between Stella and her dad. No abuse or anything, just pain and regret. Also pretty real.

Vivarium: Grim, unsettling suburban horror - #31DayHorrorChallenge - Day 1: Trapped

Vivarium - Lorcan Finnegan - 2019  

★★ - I usually have an affinity for movies like this. Weird, mind-bending, unexplained, unsettling, a solid cast and stylish direction. But this one is too much. A grim, bleak, dark film. Not an enjoyable watch, but it's pretty good. Really interesting flick that works on a lot of levels. But, again, too grim for my tastes.  

Gist is a couple, portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots, find themselves trapped in a mysterious neighborhood after a creepy realtor abandons them. They are then forced to care for a creepy, abnormal child that is obviously not human.  
 
Pretty much the whole movie, if you are like me, you'll ask yourself at what point would you murder the child you've been tasked with raising. I would have killed the little freaky Alfalfa looking kid when he started mocking me in my own voice. Definitely when he starts that screaming. Eventually he grows into a little Jehovah's Witness or Mormon or something.  
 

Lot of metaphor here. Not only with the cuckoo at the beginning, but the whole thing. Getting a house, digging yourself in a hole (in this movie, literally), living there, paying it back, and then dying with your shitty, indoctrinated little shit of a kid soaking it all up before tossing you out on your ass.  
 
Eisenberg ends up getting some form of cancer, probably. Likely from the “dirt” from the digging. Shit is asbestos or some such shit. Dying on her is pretty messed up.  
 
Poots is outrageously cute. I love her name, too. She's been stellar in everything I've seen her in. I'm sort of surprised she isn't a bigger star.  
 
Overall, Vivarium is a suspenseful and gripping film driven by the outstanding performances of its lead actors that'll never watch again, nor recommend. Fans of really dark psychological thrillers and eerie, confined horror films may find the film enjoyable, but you've gotta be a different breed.  

Kill the Irishman: Men who take on the mafia should be wary of driving cars

Kill the Irishman - Jonathan Hensleigh - 2011

★★-Early on, I sort of questioned how this movie this got made. Has a Gotti quality to it. It did get better. Has some charm. Though the 62% on Rotten Tomatoes seems extremely generous. Figure it was funded by the mob or something. Just feels like everyone is kind of phoning it in. 

Crime flick based on the true story of Danny Greene, an Irish-American mobster who rises to power in Cleveland during the 1970s. Follows Greene's relentless quest for control in the criminal underworld, leading to fierce battles with rival gangs and corrupt officials. With each confrontation, Greene's reputation as a street tough that's not to be fucked with grows. However, his rise to power also attracts attention from law enforcement and the mafia, leading to what feels like a few dozen attempts on his life. 

The film kind of grew on me. Dude becomes a total legend in the world of organized crime for having a 50 Cent, hard to kill quality that is pretty admirable, I guess. Doesn't shy away from the guys that want to kill him either, going to meet them on their turf and what not. You'd think they'd be more careful getting into cars. Maybe get yourself a remote starter, or pay an underling to turn the key over for ya. Just spitballing here. 

The lead, Ray Stevenson, isn't that great of an actor. At least not carry a movie good. Only things I recognize him from are  Punisher: War Zone (he played the Punisher), the Thor movies, RRR, and Dexter. Screenplay isn't great either. I'm all for men in rooms talking, but it's got to be exceptional dialogue performed but exquisite actors. Not exactly an Aaron Sorkin screenplay, if you get my drift. 

Few notable performances. Notably Christopher Walken (who was probably on set for three days) and Linda Cardellini. Think of Cardellini mostly from her work on Freaks and Geeks, ER, and as Hawkeye's wife in the MCU. She sort of kills it then disappears. I don't know why she isn't an A-Lister, but it doesn't seem like it is going to happen for her. Val Kilmer is pretty solid as well, though he is underutilized. 

Others you'll recognize include Vincent D'Onofrio, Vinnie Jones from Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch,Paul Sorvino from every mafia movie ever, and Mike Starr from Dumb and Dumber. Steve Schirripa who played Bobby Baccalieri on The Sopranos has a decent part. Like this guy. Vegan, like myself. Has his own line of plant-based Italian foodstuff. Major points in my cool book.

He also directed The Punisher, the one with Thomas Jane as the Punisher, Welcome to the Jungle, and The Ice Road. Wrote Die Hard with a Vengeance, Jumani, The Saint, Armageddon, and this flick, among others. 

Some notes... Liked that they spliced real newscasts from the 1970s into the film. Brazenly killing a made man is usually not a great idea. Seems to work out fine-ish for Greene, but he tells the mafia to go fuck themselves. Also doesn't seem to be the best course of action. 

Only played in 21 theaters for whatever reason. Had decent returns for its limited release, but only in $1.19 million with a $12 million budget. So, yeah, it bombed. Seems about right. It's also too long. This ain't Goodfellas. 

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - A Marvel-ous animated adventure

 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman - 2018

★★★★★-I was more or less done with superhero flicks, but I kept hearing about how great this and the new one are. So here I am, back in the Marvel Extended Universe. And glad to be, as this film was great. 

Drawing inspiration from the "Spider-Verse" story arc and the debuts of Miles Morales in the Ultimate Marvel comics. Gist of the film is that Miles assumes the mantle of Spider-Man and joins forces with other Spider-People from parallel universes to protect his own reality from the villainous Kingpin, among other familiar foes. 

Computer-animated Marvel flick that follows the Miles Morales as Spider-Man storyline. Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman in their feature directorial debuts. Solid ensemble cast includes Shameik Moore as Morales, accompanied by the voices of Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, Luna Lauren Vélez, John Mulaney, Kimiko Glenn, Nicolas Cage, and Liev Schreiber. 

Nothing but positive things to say. Soundtrack was dope. Really felt the going from public school and quietly killing it to struggling at private school. Though I wanted to be there. Smart, rich girls was indeed where it was at. Great depiction of a father-son relationship. Pretty beautiful really. 

I loved all the Spider “People”. I'd watch a short about each of them. One of my favorite things about the flick. 

Overall take: Great story. The art looks great. Well acted. What sets it apart is the skillful balance it strikes between embracing its source material and cleverly satirizing it. From the very start, viewers are drawn into an immersive world, filled with vibrant colors and thrilling adventures. Probably my favorite animated film I've seen since Coco back when it was in theaters. Can't wait to see the new one. 

Inception - Christopher Nolan - 2010

★★★★★-Last movie from my Christopher Nolan rewatch before going into Oppenheimer. Saved my favorite, going in at least, for last. What a goddamned mindfuck of a movie. I LOVE Nolan. All of his films are spectacular. He is a true genius. One of only a handful currently making pictures. I believe this is his best movie. I watch it at a rate of every six years. Saw in the theater, in 2016, and just the other day. While I think I might understand it more, my brain can only take so much. That's what happens when we get dreams within dreams to the god knows what degree. 

The gist is Leonardo DiCaprio plays a professional thief who steals information by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets. He's an international criminal who is offered the job of implanting an idea into the subconscious of a target (played by Cillian Murphy). In exchange, he'll have his record expunged. 

That's the short gist, of course. The film is extraordinarily complex with the thieves entering dreams, within dreams, within dreams. Like six levels of this. This flick is the ultimate mindfuck.

Written and directed by Nolan, who also produced the film with his wife Emma Thomas. Ensemble cast includes DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Murphy, Marion Cotillard, Elliot Page, Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao, Tom Berenger, and Michael Caine. What a crop.

Won four Oscars (Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects) and was nominated for four more (Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Original Score) at the 83rd Academy Awards. Lost out to The King's Speech, one of the many miscarriages of justice, that film winning. Was up against what I think is the second best film of this century in The Social Network.

Could have lived with this film winning as well. Can read it in about 10 different ways. What it means, how it ends, so forth. I find it incredible that this isn't at the top of everyone's list of best Nolan movies. However, I will grant that his top three are all unquestioned masterpieces, and all of his films are great. Off the success of one of those masterpieces, The Dark Knight, the emboldened Nolan went full Nolan.

High-concept, big budget, character-driven art house film that was the culmination of everything he'd learned up to that point. A master craftsman at the top of his game firing on all cylinders making a superb film that requires multiple viewings to appreciate. I loved it the first watch, my first IMAX viewing. I have loved it infinitely more with each viewing, and it's been a different watch every time. Challenging and rewarding. This is a top five film of this century. It is genuine movie magic. 

Interstellar - Christopher Nolan - 2014

★★★★★-More Nolan. Hard rain today so I'm knocking out three of his flicks. Feels a little weird watching this one right after submarine disaster. But at least these adventurers have a noble goal in mind. This is an intensely captivating, stunning, thought-provoking film. I'll fight anyone who says otherwise. 

Gist of the film. It's 2067. Future: dystopian. Humanity is going extinct from a global famine caused by ecocide. Like we are starting to face now, really. 

A team of astronauts embark on a space mission to find a habitable planet for humanity as Earth faces an impending implosion. They traverse through a wormhole near Saturn to jump across the universe where they encounter mind-bending phenomena and race against time to ensure the survival of humanity. Thats the short of it. It also explores themes of love, time dilation, and the exploration of the unknown. 

Something I've thought long and hard about is this: How does one navigate a wormhole? I'd think you just get what you get. Best case scenario. You go in. It doesn't kill you or drive you mad. You get crapped out wherever you get crapped out in the universe. That seems to be the way it works in this flick. 

Anyway, dude loves his daughter. Barely remembers he has a son pretty much, but the son is sort of an asshole. Doesn't really listen to her or care about his opinion though. Goes on an obvious suicide mission, ignoring all the red flags and what not. So, I use the laughing/crying gif a lot for my sad laugh. But this movie is a gut punch. 

Stars Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway (my queen), Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn (the mom from The Exorcist), Matt Damon, and Michael Caine. This was the first thing I ever saw Jessica Chastain and Timothée Chalamet in.

At the start of the movie, for a minute, at least, it sounds like the government is actually figuring shit out in this future. But “freedom” and what not. Lot of books are banned. Moon landing was faked. Food is scarce because of the “wastefulness” and greed of the people in the 20th century. 

“This world is a treasure and it has been telling us to leave for a while now. Mankind was born here, it wasn't meant to die here,” McConaughey's character says. I agree with the first part, biology has determined the second part was a lie. 

Anyway, lot of sacrifice. Go to a planet where every hour is seven years. End up spending 23 Earth years. It's Nolan, so you gotta expect a little bit of time fuckery. Grandpa's dead. Kids have grown up. Poor guy left on the ship also experienced the time jump. Poor fucker. Requires a lot of faith for the people left behind. Plan A is to turn it around on Earth. Plan B is to go elsewhere. Decades go by and they are waiting to see if we have a place to go. How we get there is a good question, but you know. 

Speaking of, we aren't leaving this planet. We might get to Mars, but no where livable. Have about as much chance of that as time travel. Shit ain't happening. Once we finally fuck this planet up enough, that's it. Doubt it happens in my lifetime, but we're already seeing the beginning of the end.

Great wrist watch flick. Features the Hamilton Khaki Pilot Day Date and the Khaki Field (Murph). Both are great watches. Hamilton might not be as great as it was 50 years ago (mostly uses the ETA 2824 if you know anything about watches and is now Swiss owned), it is still a solid brand. My next watch will probably be a Hamilton. Maybe one of these. 

For me, this is a better, more accessible version of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which I hated. Ambitious, exceptionally beautiful, insanely complex, this is fucking cinema at its best. How people go to this and don''t fall in love, I have no idea. This film moved me. Nolan, again, is a master filmmaker. 

We're the Millers - Rawson Marshall Thurber - 2013

★★★-Movie about chosen family, how skeezy boyfriends can fuck your shit up, and how high level drug dealers are funny as shit. Torture, femicide, beheadings, always good for a chuckle. 

Gist is Jason Sudeikis is a small-time pot deal gets his drugs and money stolen and is in some shit with his college buddy (Ed Helms) whose a kingpin. Forces him to go to Mexico to smuggle a couple tons of weed. Turns out he is actually going down to rip off the cartel. This is a comedy, in case you couldn't tell. To minimize suspicious, Sudeikis gets a massive RV and assembles a fake family consisting of his stripper neighbor played by Jennifer Aniston (who has never looked more attractive, goddamn), homeless Emma Roberts, and this nerd played by Will Poulter from Midsommar and the new Guardians movie. Hijinks ensue. They also meet up with DEA agent Nick Offerman and his wife (Kathryn Hahn from Glass Onion and Bad Words) and kid (Molly C. Quinn from the show Castle), which complicates muling drugs, dontcha know. 

Directed by one Rawson Marshall Thurber who also Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (a personal fave), Central Intelligence, and Red Notice. Get cameos from Ken Marino, Luis Guzman, and Thomas Lennon as well. 

Funniest scene is when the nerdy kid is taught how to make out by his fake mom and sister while the fake dad films it when his love interest inevitably walks in, the chick he wanted to impress with his kissing ability. There is also a not unfunny scene that involves what some people think is a baby getting run over by a semi but it's just drugs. 

There is a scene when the fake fam wants to renegotiate with Sudeikis when they find out how much dude is making on the deal. He ends up leaving them at an RV campground. With the cartel on their asses, I thought that was probably the best thing that could have happened to them. Also, lot of cartel humor in this flick. That's something I've always thought of when thinking of the Mexican drug trade, the humor! No. 

All this said, it was alright although somewhat forgettable. Solid cast whom I mostly enjoy in everything, a couple of good laughs, and never boring fun. 

Dark Places - Gilles Paquet-Brenner - 2015

★★★ - Picked this movie at random from the crime section of HBO Max. Forgot that I read the novel it was based on a decade or so ago. Written by Gillian Flynn, liked it less than Gone Girl and Sharp Objects (still need to read The Grownup; she has some talent, this Flynn, and I'll keep reading as she keeps writing), but still liked alright. Early on, I kept thinking it seemed familiar, realizing maybe 20 minutes in that I read it and hated the ending. Similarly, thought it was good enough to finish but needed to be better to be remembered. I'm sure I'll forget I watched this in six months. 

Gist is one Libby Day is forced to confront childhood trauma. When she was eight, her mother and two sisters were brutally murdered in their rural Kansas farmhouse. Now, 30 years later, broke, she is contacted by a group of true crime enthusiasts. Sort of the type that tries to solve old cold cases and work to bring justice to cases they feel got it wrong. Such is the circumstance with her family's murder. They believe her brother, who was convicted of the crime, is innocent. Desperate for cash, she reluctantly agrees to open the dark door of her painful past, uncovering truths about the tragic night she was unwilling to contemplate. 

In addition to themes of trauma and violence, the movie touches on issues of rural American poverty, and the 1980s Satanic panic. Director Gilles Paquet-Brenner does a good job of packing it all in. He has made a career of taking dark novels to the screen with a style that is recognizably his. What he did with the Agatha Christie mystery Crooked House, which is crazy dark, and a French movie I saw 20 years ago called Pretty Things. Pretty Things was pretty fucked. Starred Marion Cotillard from Inception and The Dark Knight Rises. It's been forgotten though I remember it fondly. 

The movie stars Charlize Theron as Libby, the lovely Christina Hendricks as the murdered mother, and Nicholas Hoult (Beast in the newer X-Men movies) as the true crime obsessive. Cast also includes Chloë Grace Moretz (the little badass girl in Kick-Ass), Corey Stoll (the bald guy from Ant-Man), and Tye Sheridan (he played Scott Summers X-Men reboots as well and was the lead in Ready Player One and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse). Stoll and Sheridan play the Ben Day part. Stoll as the older version. Sheridan as the teenaged one. 

The approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes is an abysmal 23%, firmly putting it in rotten territory. I didn't think it was that bad, though. The consensus calls it “a mediocre thriller that gets tripped up on its own twists,” which is pretty fair. However, I thought Theron was stellar, and her character was complex and interesting. While she plays the part of a victim, she doesn't fall into the tropes. 

Overall, I'd call it average. I am a sucker for the people-going-from-place-to-place-to-solve-a-mystery format, as run-of-the-mill as that is. Where the film falls apart is the ending, which feels rushed and too convenient. Gets tripped up in its own bullshit, which is what I thought of the book's conclusion, too.  

Dunkirk - Christopher Nolan - 2017

★★★★★ - Christopher Nolan is an absolute genius. He is in my top five filmmakers of all time. I love all of his films. This might be his best.

Tells of the Dunkirk evacuation through the perspectives of the land, sea, and air. Chronology is all over the place before coming together at the end. Has what he calls a “snowballing effect” where everything connects but is made clear in the third act. This is something he does in most of his movies to great effect.

Stellar cast includes Aneurin Barnard, Kenneth Branagh, James D'Arcy, Tom Glynn-Carney, Tom Hardy, Barry Keoghan, Jack Lowden, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Harry Styles in his film debut, and Fionn Whitehead. Mostly character actors that you know, but not by name.

The film is the highest-grossing World War II film of all-time, which is nuts, earning $527 million worldwide. Dunkirk received praise for its screenplay, direction, musical score, sound effects and cinematography; some critics called it Nolan's best work, and one of the greatest war films. The film received various accolades, Received eight nominations for the 90th Academy Awards including for Best Picture and Best Director (Nolan's first directing nomination) and won three for editing.

What is crazy is Nolan conceived the film in the 1990s before ever making a feature film when he and his future wife Emma Thomas sailed across the English Channel along the path the small boats took in the evacuation. However, Nolan didn't set out to make it until he had acquired sufficient experience directing large-scale action films, wanting to do it right.

Features an economy of dialogue instead creating suspense from cinematography and music. Historically accurate, apparently, if you care about such things. However, the characters were fictional.

My overall takeaway was the film is truly breathtaking. Wish I would have seen it in IMAX. It might be my favorite WWII movie. I was glued to the screen the entire time.