Trev's Movie Dump: August - September 2016

Wowzers. Sorry. Forgot about these posts I was planning on writing a months ago. Don’t perfectly recall watching a whole lot of these films, but here’s a stab at recalling what I’ve seen.

Suicide Squad

Oh, God… Even the fog of memory doesn’t help this dumpster fire look any better now over two months from when it first came out in theaters. There was high hopes for this guy to save the other DC/WB mess that was Batman v Super: Dawn of Justice. I don’t even know where to begin on what was wrong with this film. How about we leave the mess of a story alone, and just quickly talk about the actors/characters.

Will Smith is great at being Will Smith. And, like always, he has great charism on screen. You'll likely get exactly what you expect with him.

Margot Robbie got big praise for her rendition of Harley Quinn, when, honestly… I wasn’t all that won over. She was fine, but it always seemed weird that amongst this rag-tag group of anti-heroes with obvious talents, her's seemed to be that she just swung a bat around. (They allude they she knew how to seduce her enemies at the beginning of the story , but that strength quickly goes out the door once our heroes start fighting mutant monsters throughout the bulk of the film.) Performance, though, I just don't know. I'm hearing there might be a standalone Harley Quinn movie in the future. I guess I would be open to that, but certainly not jumping up and down to see it. 

We could have easily done away with Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang and Slipknot (not that he’s in the movie for all that long). Point is, there’s a lot of people, a lot of pieces moving around in this story and it’s a little difficult to keep up with what’s going on or being able to focus long enough on one person to form some sort of emotional attachment to them.  

Then we have Jared Leto’s the Joker. I honestly don’t have much to say about this performance because the Joker was only in the movie a total of five minutes… maybe. I don’t even know what they were thinking about teasing the character like this. It’s as if they meant for it to be a larger role, than chicken-out at the last second. What I can say is that it seems like they’re moving far away from the Heath Ledger direction, and now the Joker is much more of a psychotic thug than this mysterious “agent of chaos” who’s performance earned an Oscar.

The last character we’ll talk to is Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. This was easily the best performance in the whole film. She was cold, chilling, and fun to watch. Leagues above everyone else.

There’s a lot more I could say about this film, most -- if not all -- bad, but at this point let me just leave with a statement to WB.

I couldn’t be happier that these films are being made. That I’m living in a world where I can see Deadshot at a standoff with Batman on the big screen. Please don’t stop bringing the heroes will love -- or will learn to love -- to theaters. But, for the love of Superman, simplify your stories! I feel like these films managed to incorporate every single note that was given from every single exec and studio head. Not all notes are good. Not every piece of material has to make it into a movie. Even if they has a 10-episode miniseries to tell these stories, it would still be challenging to capture everything. 

You’ve gone big and bold… twice, without much critical acclaim. Now try out making them smaller. Making them more intimate. Perhaps we’ll see some of that in the new The Batman. #BelieveInBatfleck

Kubo and the Two Strings

Visually stunning, yet the story leaves a little to be desired. Frankly, you can almost watch this movie for the imagery alone. I love stop-motion animation and want to pay it the respect it needs to ensure it stays alive in the industry. This film does manage to use the animation style to its benefit with imaginative characters and colorful settings -- like a giant skeleton that has swords imbedded into its skull to mimic hair. Really cool shit.

Unfortunately, cool shit doesn't save a film. The story felt a little flimsy, but, then again, it was more like a fairy tale, of sorts. Kind of like The Princess Bride, while a beloved and cult-favorite film, it was kind of a weak story. That's how I think of Kubo and the Two Strings. I can hope one day it will reach some level of cult status to make up being such a flop at the box office. 

The Lobster

Wow... I was not expecting what I got with this movie. I thought I was entering into this dry and witty, dark-comedy about a bleak future where if you're not in a relationship you get turned into an animal of your choosing. (Interesting, right?) The story ended up being sooo much darker than I thought. I mean, it's bleak as all fuck. I think I would have liked it more had I went into it with absolutely no expectations, but since I went into it wanting to laugh -- especially at the sight of John C. Reilly -- I was instead wincing in pain and sorrow. It's a bit of a tough movie to get through, and while certainly don't hate it... it's not one of my favorites of the year. Curious what others would have to say.