Cinderella

Again with the Cinderella?

Only three months after she played a part in Into the Woods, Cinderella finds herself on the big screen again. This latest incarnation takes after Disney's 1950 animated film. It's the same old story done differently. How it's done differently gets my recommendation.

The familiar outline is the same. Cinderella (Lily James) is left alone with her evil stepmother Lady Tremaine (Cate Blanchett) and her evil stepsisters. The King holds a ball to find his son a bride. The Step-Family blocks Cinderella's path. Her Fairy Godmother (Helena Bonham-Carter) helps her get going. Cinderella catches the Prince's eye but she leaves at midnight. The Royals find her with her lost glass slipper.

The big difference in this version is story development. We see Cinderella's parents alive. We learn the origin of the name Cinderella. We see Cinderella meet the Prince before the ball. We see the Prince get an actual character. And we really see Lady Tremaine scheme to deny her stepdaughter a future.

Director Kenneth Branagh's Disney fairy tale cost $95 million. It's in many ways more subdued than the CGI-extravaganzas of Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent. But with sets by Dante Ferretti and costumes by Sandy Powell, it's still a colorful experience. Branagh's constant composer Patrick Doyle provides a suitable score for the emotional scenes. Stay to the end credits to hear renditions of two of the older film's standards.

This is a really great cast. Blanchett, as Lady Tremaine, is an over-the-top villainous who soon becomes vicious and bitter. Bonham-Carter's scene as the Fairy Godmother was welcome comic relief. And Lily James, as Cinderella, is a great ingenue who at times struggles to remain upbeat.

I say that this Cinderella is in the same league as the previous Disney film. It's a compelling story you've heard before. But it's still compelling. That's what a good redo ought to do.

A new musical animated short staring the cast of Frozen, Frozen Fever, precedes the picture. It should keep fans of that film happy before the actual feature-length sequel comes out.

Chappie

Chappie is not the best sci-fi film either this year or ever. But it's still a story with admirable intentions. Let's see what it's all about.

In the not so distant future, Johannesburg has its own robot police force. Engineer Deon Wilson (Dev Patel), who designed the robots, wants to do more. His ultimate goal is to create an artificially-intelligent robot on par with humans. His test subject is a broken-down droid.

Deon finds himself carjacked by desperate criminals. The criminals Ninja, Yolandi (played by the same-named members of the rap group Die Antwoord) and Yankie (Jose Pablo Cantillo) have one big heist in mind. They need Deon to shut down the robots to make it work. Once they see the robo parts in his van, they decide to have him build their own. That robot is Chappie (Sharlto Copley via motion-capture).

The rest of the movie is about Chappie's life-education. All the while, Chappie has to avoid scheming designer Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman) and his ED-209 lookalike, the MOOSE.

Director Neil Blomkamp expanded an earlier short of his, Tetra Vaal, to feature length. The end result makes good use of its $50 million budget. The CGI work blended well with the real footage. The cinematography and production design made good use of Joburg. One of the locations, a round high-rise, reminded me of the central location of Dredd, which was also filmed in Joburg.

Chappie is a likable android. His naive attempts to act cool provided the film's best laughs. Meanwhile, the character Ninja spends most of the movie completely unlikable. He wants to shoot either Chappie or Deon for annoying him. He takes advantage of Chappie's gullibility to make him do carjackings. It takes too long before he goes hero. A minor complaint is the minor villain Hippo (Brandon Auret). The film subtitles his dialogue even though most of it is intelligible English.

It would've helped Chappie if its main characters were better developed. I understand what they were trying to do, though. Let's hope this year produces much better blockbusters down the line.

Still Alice

It's almost time for the 87th Academy Awards and it took me this long to see Still Alice. Now that I've seen it, it's time for the review.

Dr. Alice Howland (Julianne Moore) is a respected linguistics professor at Columbia University. Her husband John (Alec Baldwin) and their three grown children are happy and healthy. Everything is normal for Alice. At least she thinks it is.

Alice begins to have periodic memory lapses. She's soon diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease. Her prospects look grim as her cognitive abilities fade away. But her family is there by her side. She won't have to get through the disease on her own.

Lisa Genova's 2007 novel was brought to the screen by married filmmakers Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland (The Last of Robin Hood). Glatzer himself suffered from ALS which made the film personal for them.

Julianne Moore's performance is what makes the movie work. As Alice, we know her first as a warm, caring person. It's awkward when the disease first manifests but it quickly turns nightmarish. All the while, we understand how someone in her position must feel. We worry about her safety.

Her on-screen family also stands out. They always mean the best even if their desires conflict with Alice's. John wishes to move to Minnesota for work and financial security. Alice feels comfortable where she is. John's decision isn't vilified; we sympathize with him too. Meanwhile, youngest daughter Lydia (Kristen Stewart) doesn't always get along smoothly with her mother. But she proves quite selfless in the end.

Still Alice is an inherently sad movie about a woman's decline into senility. It's also a hopeful movie about how one copes with dire circumstances. Its message is that it's possible to face a grim diagnosis with dignity and support. It's an all-around well-acted drama.

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

Nickelodeon's number one star SpongeBob SquarePants last made it to theaters in 2004. Things changed since then but the show's cast and 2D animation style haven't. One thing different? This big-screen entry, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, is available in 3D or Flatscreen.

It's the same as always in the undersea town of Bikini Bottom. SpongeBob is the fry-cook at The Krusty Krab restaurant, home of the Krabby Patty burger. Mr. Krabs keeps the Krabby Patty formula in his vault. Sheldon J. Plankton, restaurateur of the abysmal Chum Bucket, wants the formula for himself. Also in town are SpongeBob's best-bud Patrick Star, astronaut squirrel Sandy Cheeks and cynical Krusty Krab cashier Squidward Tentacles.

The evil pirate Burger-Beard (a live-action character played by Antonio Banderas) enters the scene. He acquires a magic book which realizes whatever text is written in it. The dastardly villain writes himself in-possession of the Krabby Patty Formula. The town descends into chaos and Mad Max aesthetics in a split-second. Really, it does!

Krabs accuses Plankton of the act but SpongeBob knows better. It's up to him to convince Plankton to help him find the formula before all is lost.

The film needs little effort to acquaint new viewers to the franchise. It's that kind of show. SpongeBob and Co.'s antics and eccentricities are sure to entertain young kids the most. I got a few good laughs from a few gags (including Burger-Beard's attempt to roll credits a half-hour in). If you know what you're getting into, you'll come out unharmed.

Once Burger-Beard steals the formula, he sits on the narrative sidelines until the SpongeBob cast comes to confront him. We don't even get much explained about his book. It felt like an extended segment of the show. At least it was 92 minutes, which meant it wasn't that long.

Antonio Banderas delightfully hams it up as Burger-Beard. Everything he says and does is with gusto. This pirate's bravado lets him look at danger and tell it to scram. One can tell that Banderas is having fun here.

SpongeBob's latest screen adventure is nothing but silliness. You'll get your money's worth if silliness is what you're looking for. But if SpongeBob's brand of overactive silliness isn't for you, don't fret. There's a few more family-oriented films on their way this year.

Seventh Son

The dark fantasy adventure Seventh Son fought a long fight to theaters. I've devoted a whole paragraph to it:

It was first scheduled for February 2013. It went to that October to give bankrupt FX studio Rhythm and Hues more time and resources to complete their work. It went off the schedule when production company Legendary Pictures moved from Warner Bros. to Universal. And now it's here. And it's average.

It's still better than dull.

Directed by Sergei Bodrov (Prisoner of the Mountains, Mongol), this is yet another rendition of a young adult novel. In this case, it's The Spook's Apprentice, the first of The Wardstone Chronicles by Joseph Delaney. The plot is on the next paragraphs.

Tom Ward (Ben Barnes) is an average farmboy. He's also the proverbial seventh son of a seventh son and that qualifies him to be Master Gregory's (Jeff Bridges) apprentice. Master Gregory is a Spook, the last of a knightly order of monster hunters. And he needs an apprentice who won't die like the others.

Master Gregory once left a dangerous witch, Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore), in a pit. Malkin breaks out and sets out for world conquest. She'll be all powerful once the "blood moon" appears. Gregory has to make a fine Spook out of Tom before that happens.

The visual effects get the job done. The CGI allowed for a few convincing monsters and shape-shifting effects. One of Malkin's goons was a four-armed swordsman and that was seamless. Only a few cases of CGI were far too obvious.

As Master Gregory, Jeff Bridges is reliably eccentric. He's a drunk who knows when to get to business. The weird voice signifies his eccentricity. Julianne Moore's evil villainess Malkin is subdued but still cruel. There's a deep history between the two, but Malkin is so wicked it's sometimes hard to feel sympathy for her.

Its story of destiny and evil rising were familiar. You might find nothing new with the story. There was one thing that kept me invested for the 102 minute runtime. That thing was the relationship between Master and Apprentice. There was so much tension between them that I was surprised the Apprentice either didn't quit or got sacked for the sake of plot. That was one thing right, I guess.

Seventh Son is finally here. It's worth-seeing at least once. If you wish to see it more than once, you're more than welcome. As per custom, it's on both Flatscreen and 3D.

Jupiter Ascending

It's real hard to come up with an overall positive for the space epic Jupiter Ascending. It was supposed to land last July but wound up here to give it more time in post-production. Maybe they should have spent more time in Pre-Production.

Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis) was born to a Russian mother and a dead father. Years later, she cleans houses in Chicago with her mother and aunt. No one on Earth thinks much of Jupiter. So imagine her surprise when everyone in the universe wants her dead or alive.

Jupiter is genetically-identical to the Queen of the Abrasax Dynasty, the biggest Royal House in the Galaxy. That means she's entitled to the Earth itself under Galactic law. The Queen's evil children don't want Jupiter to have it. And also, humans are the special ingredient of their immortality potion.

The evil prince Balem (Eddie Redmayne) sends some goons after Jupiter. The other prince Titus sends the half-wolf rogue Caine Wise (Channing Tatum) to bring Jupiter alive. There's also some other folks who have interest in keeping Jupiter alive. Good luck keeping track of those. And Jupiter finds herself attracted to Caine.

Did you get all that? I think I did.

There's no doubt that this is a good looking movie. Sibling directors/writers Andy and Lana Wachowski populate their movie world with wondrous alien worlds and creatures. The makeup department created many of the imaginative alien monsters and alien humans. One such alien human was a cameo by filmmaker Terry Gilliam, a fact I didn't realize until after the film. No complaints with the visuals.

But the script was dull. I didn't find myself invested in the plight of these characters. All. Of. These. Characters. It was quite hard, to say the least, to keep track of these characters and their motivations. Balem, whom the film presented as an entitled jerk, had a sympathetic backstory revealed in his last minutes. Most of the film's funniest moments were probably meant to be serious.

But it's 127 minutes long, which means it knows when to quit. It's a far cry from The Wachowskis' Speed Racer, which at 135 minutes, was far too long for a kids movie. But unlike this movie, Speed Racer's aesthetics helped me overlook its flaws.

2015 has a few more films held-over from the previous year yet to come. Let's hope any of them are better than Jupiter Ascending. Let's hope any of 2015's other movies are better than this.

Whiplash

It took forever before Sundance favorite Whiplash became available to me. It came out in way-limited release in October and will come to DVD this month. Now that I've seen it in a theater, here's the review.

Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller) is a first year at New York's Shaffer Conservatory school. Andrew wants to be the best Jazz drummer ever. He'll do whatever it takes to be great. And for this reason he makes the mistake of enlisting in Terrence Fletcher's "studio band."

Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) is Shaffer's most highly-regarded music teacher. Fletcher is affable in public but a tyrant during practice. Expect all sorts of physical, verbal and psychological torture when one practices under Fletcher. "It's all about pushing people beyond what's expected of them," Fletcher later says.

Andrew has to practice hard to reach Fletcher's ludicrously high standards. But will he crack before Fletcher's hard exterior does? Probably.

Writer/Director Damien Chazelle previously filmed a portion of the script as a short film. It also wowed Sundance audiences but cost the final film an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay (it's up for Adapted Screenplay instead). Technicality or not, it's still an excellent script. Its dialogue is memorable and the plot moves quickly and effectively.

Andrew's story is an excellent deconstruction of determinism. We want Andrew to succeed but not with great physical and psychological damage; and especially not to please a teacher who changes the goalposts each second. The audience can feel it as he strains under pressure.

J.K. Simmons is a formidable villain as Terrence Fletcher. All Fletcher wants is to drive his students to perfection. You'll earn his respect as long as you reach his high standards. But as the film progresses, and especially at the end, you'll question his good will. He's purely unpredictable and vicious.

Editor Tom Cross keeps the film going at a breakneck speed. The sound designers let you hear each instrument loud and clear. It's appropriate as it lets you feel what Andrew is thinking. You'll feel the tensity in his practice sessions. The final concert is an exercise in rising tension expressed in Jazz.

Whiplash is a pretty brutal movie. Look elsewhere if you want a calmer motion picture. Those who can stand it will be glad they did. It gets its points across with drum-smashing success.

American Sniper

Last summer, Clint Eastwood's generally fun-less musical Jersey Boys made its mark. This time, he's got the true life story American Sniper to tell. It's quite better than Jersey Boys but is it a masterpiece?

The American Sniper was Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper), a rodeo star turned Navy Seal. He accumulated 160 confirmed kills on his four tour of duties which made him the deadliest shot in US military history. He wrote a memoir that writer Jason Hall adapted into this film's screenplay.

And he was killed by an unstable fellow veteran.

Oh yes, there's more to this movie.

See Chris meet and marry Taya (Sienna Miller). See their family grow. See Chris deploy to Iraq in service of his country. See Chris do battle against Al-Qaeda's own deadliest shot Mustafa (Sammy Sheik). See Chris struggle a bit against PTSD.

The film neither condemns nor praises Kyle or the Iraq war. It just shows events in Kyle's life. And then it abruptly ends. Some might say it has no thesis, but I think "sense of duty" suits it well. Kyle eventually admits to a psychologist he wishes he saved more servicemen. In other words, "If I don't do it, who will?" It's a compelling theme but the film's distant tone keeps it from resonating.

Three of its six Oscar nominations went to the film's editors and sound designers. And with good reason. Their work is inseparable in portraying the dangers of war. It does especially well in portraying the misery of PTSD.

American Sniper focuses mainly on the "Legend" and not enough on the man behind the "Legend." I'm sure it's possible to do that without offending anyone on the right or left. I found it an OK war film overall. But at least it was the best of the three war films 2014 unveiled.

Foxcatcher

The dark wrestling drama Foxcatcher is another real life story told by director Bennett Miller. Don't be surprised if I allude to the endgame.

In 1984, brothers Mark (Channing Tatum) and Dave Schultz (Mark Ruffalo) both won Olympic gold for wrestling in Los Angeles. Three years later, Mark is an aimless young man while Dave is a successful high school coach and family man. They've been close since childhood but Mark feels overshadowed by Dave's success. Mark gets a phone call from a representative of a certain John E. Du Pont.

Du Pont (Steve Carrell) is the reclusive heir of his family's chemical company. He invites Mark over to his family's Pennsylvania estate Foxcatcher Farm. Du Pont is a huge wrestling fan and wants to sponsor the next U.S. Olympic wrestling team. Mark accepts the offer and joins Du Pont at Foxcatcher. Dave eventually joins the team as well. Meanwhile, the initially affable Du Pont devolves into an unstable control freak.

Steve Carrell certainly acts like a creepy old man. He's generous to his would-be protege at first. But that disappears when things don't go his way. His agitation is so subdued that you'd think he'd kill someone before the moment he does. The now Oscar-nominated makeup work lets Carrell look creepy as well.

Mark Ruffalo is even more unrecognizable as the bearded, balding Dave. He's also a likable family man and a good voice of reason. That makes the ending more painful to watch.

Channing Tatum perfectly plays Mark as the deconstructed idealist. All he wants is to do the best he can for himself and country. In one scene, he argues with his sister-in-law Nancy (Sienna Miller) when she doesn't greet Du Pont like royalty. It also leads him to trust in Du Pont's increasingly poor judgement. We might want Mark to succeed but not at a terrible cost.

The dark outcome of Foxcatcher might put off casual viewers. I found it an interesting morality play of the dangers of greed and idealism. So while tragic, the ending gives you a lot to think about.

Paddington

Paddington, the most famous literary immigrant bear, has a movie to call his own. Movie audiences now have the first great family film of the year.

The movie opens with a newsreel of sorts by explorer Montgomery Clyde. Clyde tells about his time in "darkest Peru." There, he met a family of talking bears who just love some marmalade. He tells them that they're always welcome to visit London.

Years later, the bears Lucy (Imelda Staunton) and Pastuzo (Michael Gambon) live out their golden years together. Their nephew (Ben Whishaw, who replaced Colin Firth last summer) also lives with them. An Earthquake strikes their home and kills Pastuzo. Aunt Lucy heads off to a retirement home for bears. Her nephew stows away on the first freighter to London.

He winds up in Paddington Station. The Brown family gives him a new home and name. Mrs. Brown (Sally Hawkins) loves Paddington's company but Mr. Brown (Hugh Bonneville) wants him out. Paddington proves a good companion to the Brown children, Judy and Jonathan. The wicked museum taxidermist Millicent (Nicole Kidman) wants Paddington for her collection.

It's not as stupid as the advertisements suggest. Paddington's heavily-advertised bathroom trouble is one scene out of many. The rest of it is delightfully deadpan (Mr. Brown's long but unpleasing euphemism for an orphanage) and punny (a gag with a Chihuahua). Julie Walters provides great comic relief as the eccentric Mrs. Bird. It gets serious when it needs to be and it's honest when it does.

Writer/Director Paul King shows what $55 million can create. Paddington is a well-animated CGI creation. He feels real even if you can tell he isn't. There's an inventive flashback scene set aboard a miniature train. The best effect depicts the Brown household as a dollhouse. The film's colorful production design brings out the best in London.

Paddington is a film kids and adults are sure to love together. Though be warned that some of it can upset the youngest of filmgoers. Still, its good humor makes it a fine introduction to Michael Bond's most famous creation.

Big Eyes

Big Eyes is, without a doubt, director Tim Burton's most subdued film in years. Yes, subdued. It's got bright primaries but his gothic stylings aren't there. It's all the more impressive for it.

In 1958, housewife Margaret Ulbrich (Amy Adams) leaves her husband Frank and begins life anew in San Francisco. She has no job experience but a lot of paintings. These paintings are of children and animals with big puppy dog eyes. One day, Margaret sells her work at an outdoor art gallery. That's when fellow artist Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz) shows up. They fall for each other right away.

Walter sells Margaret's paintings at a nightclub. Walter takes advantage of a few misunderstandings and starts taking credit for Margaret's work. He convinces her to go along with it despite her misgivings. Eventually, copies of Walter-but-really-Margaret's work is mass produced. Margaret feels powerless to stop Walter's misdeeds. She'll have to act as Walter's ego grows out of control.

As I said, the film emphasizes bright primaries. It has the brightest shades of red, green and blue possible. It easily evokes the suburbs of Burton's Edward Scissorhands. It also looked like a living painting at times.

The film is about Margaret learning to assert herself in life and art. As portrayed by Amy Adams, her arc is a compelling story. As Walter, Waltz is slick and charming as if to say "obvious con artist alert." He's scary once he drops the nice act. He's amusing again once we understand him as a pathetic loser. Among the supporting cast, James Saito stands out as the Judge of the Keanes' climactic trial who won't tolerate the family circus.

The music also scores good points here. Danny Elfman's emotive score is another memorable score. Singer-Songwriter Lana Del Ray has two songs which include a mesmerizing title track. It's also a great lyrical description of the story. Listen to it and you'll hear what I mean.

Those who can't stand Burton's usual styling may find Big Eyes more to their liking. Its true-life story isn't drowned out by the production design. It's a story you'll be invested in from beginning to end. When you look into the story, you're sure to find many interesting overlaps.

The Imitation Game

The Imitation Game opens with an effective fourth-wall breaking narration. It's addressed to a police officer, but it may as well address the moviegoers in the audience. "Are you paying attention?" the narrator asks. "If you are not listening carefully, you will miss things. Important things. If you cannot commit to this, then please leave the room."

Writer Graham Moore's foresight works. The screenplay might throw off people as it goes between three different time periods. But if you heed the advice and pay attention, you'll be amazed as the relevance of certain plot points is clarified.

Now I have to get to the movie.

1939-1945. War is declared. Prof. Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) is summoned to Bletchley Park for a secret mission. The British Army has an Enigma code machine in its possession. Alan's mission is to lead a team to crack the Nazi's code so the Army can get the drop on them. Alan works to create a machine to do the work, the ancestor of the modern Computer.

One of the team is Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley), who Turing likes but not in that way...

1920's. Young Alan is picked on by the older boys at Sherbone School. Christopher Morcrom is Alan's only friend and secret crush. But his fondness for Christopher was cut short...

1953. Alan is arrested for the crime of homosexuality (termed "Gross indecency" by the court). The government he dutifully served gives him a dreadful choice...

As Turing, Cumberbatch convincingly plays a repressed genius. He might seem arrogant, but he's someone who can't properly express himself. His inner torment is easily understandable. He'll surely have the audience's support as Cdr. Denniston (Charles Dance) threatens him with unemployment.

The crew assembled by director Morten Tyldum is also great. Composer Alexandre Desplat has another fine score to his name. Editor William Goldenberg keeps it moving as the Nazis and strict officials threaten Alan's progress. Cinematographer Oscar Faura provides subdued imagery to suit the thriller mood. And the sets and costumes evoke the time periods in style.

The Imitation Game does a great job telling a story not many have heard. Whatever Oscar cliches it may have, they didn't bother me as the story kept me interested throughout.

And speaking of Oscars, it's a few hours till the nominations announcement. Expect this to show up at least a few times. It earns its praise.

Selma

Selma is about yesterday today. One can't help see this movie without thinking of certain modern mass demonstrations today. I know as I witnessed one such mass demonstration during my latest excursion to San Francisco.

Selma opens with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo) accepting his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. Back home, he tries to convince President Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) to pass pivotal legislation guaranteeing the black vote. But Johnson wants to put it off until whenever. So King and his associates set their sights on Selma. From there, they and their supporters will march to Montgomery to demand equality.

The mission isn't easy. Racist cops and citizens will do anything to uphold their values. King's life unravels as spies reveal his secrets. Supporters start to wonder if the cause is worth it. The movement needs a leader and King is that leader. But King needs to persuade President Johnson to act if it's to succeed.

Its creative team is a great one. The names to remember the most are writer Paul Webb, director Ava DuVernay, cinematographer Bradford Young and editor Spencer Averick. Their movie's tone lets the audience understand the cruelty of injustice for themselves. Its depiction of police brutality is sure to provoke moral outrage in any viewer. A certain act in the opening is far too easy to see coming and its depiction is disturbing. The film surely succeeds in depicting a tough time in American history.

Its ensemble is made of great actors. You'll think of them as characters and not as actors on screen. Oywelo, as King, perfectly humanizes the legendary man. Kudos to the makeup team for making Oyewelo into nothing short of a dead-ringer to King. Wilkinson, as Johnson, antagonizes King, but is more exhausted by other matters than stubborn. Carmen Ejogo, as Coretta Scott King, has a test of faith that earns the audience's empathy.

Selma is subdued for an "Oscar movie." And that's a good thing. Its manner of story-telling gets its message across in its 127 minute run-time. That by itself is praise worthy.

Unbroken

Olympic athlete and war survivor Louis Zamperini's long life ended peacefully on July 2nd, 2014. Before then, Laura Hillenbrand documented said epic life in her 2010 book, Unbroken. That book is now the basis of Angelina Jolie's 2nd film as director, also titled Unbroken.

Zampeirini (Jack O'Connell) grew up the son of Italian immigrants. After a childhood of mischief making, his brother Pete (Alex Russell) inspired him to greatness. He successfully tried out for a regional track team and made it to the 1936 Olympics.

Those events above are flashbacks in the film's bigger story. In it, Louis serves his country in World War II as a bombardier. On a routine mission, Louis's Lemon plane goes kaput and crashes into the Ocean. Only two other crew members survive the crash with him. He and his friends survive in lifeboats on shark-infested waters for 47 days. Only one crew member survives with Louis by the time the Japanese navy finds them.

For the next two years, Louis and his other crew member (but mostly Louis) are prisoners of war. Their camp commander is Mutsuhiro Watanabe (Miyavi), a man who will find any excuse to beat up Louis. Louis has to stay tough if he's to survive the ordeal.

Four writers are credited on the film. It's more like three writers considering that two of the four are the always together Joel and Ethan Coen. The other two are Richard LaGravenese and William Nicholson. Their screen story is a juggling act about to collapse.

Let's start with some ending captions. It said how Zamperini had struggled with PTSD for years after his interment and eventually made peace with his captors. Why's that the ending caption? That's a great movie right there! The interment scenes, which make up a bulk of the film, should have been flashbacks. Kind of a missed opportunity.

And why did they give Watanabe a hint of sympathy near the end instead of anytime before then? He kind of wants Zamperini to respect him but the audience can't oblige him. His favorite tactic ("(Don't) Look at me!" *Whack!*) is so protracted it kind of turns into a running gag.

It was not all a loss. Alexandre Desplat has yet another good score, one which I had time to experience as my theater's sound system muffled quite a bit of the dialogue. The art department crafted incredible recreations of the 1940's. Roger Deakins' cinematography was rich and colorful as always.

Jolie personally knew Zamperini, which led her to this project. So while I may fault Unbroken for being a wobbly juggling act, at least it was a well-intentioned one.

Into the Woods

Into the Woods is far less controversial than The Interview by a wide-margin. Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's fairy tale mash-up, which originally premiered in my native San Diego in 1986, is now a feature film.

There's a nameless Baker and his wife (James Corden and Emily Blunt) who want a child but are unable to. The Witch (Meryl Streep) who cursed his family into barrenness decides to throw him a bone. She'll lift the curse if she gets some items in three days. But how will they get a white cow, a red cape, a yellow hair and a gold slipper?

They get the cow from Jack (Daniel Huttlestone) and give him magic beans. The cape comes from Little Red Riding Hood (Lila Crawford). The gold slipper belongs to Cinderella (Anna Kendrick). Rapunzel's hair looks just right.

These fairy tale characters all wish for things. They want a quick "Happily Ever After" and will do anything to get it. That just brings about a big problem onto the land.

Like the earlier Sondheim rendition Sweeney Todd, this is reasonably adapted for the screen. The alterations to the play's libretto lets it seamlessly run in one continuous act (rather than two). Any unfortunate changes were done for the sake of the film story. You won't get thrown off by the story. 

The artistic design isn't as garish as the advertisements suggested. In fact, it's a fine display of fantasy costumes and environments. There's magic in the visuals even in questionable spots. One might snicker at the Big Bad Wolf's (Johnny Depp) suit when he first appears. But he's legitimately creepy and unsettling once he starts singing. You won't be laughing much longer.

Into the Woods has an amazing rendition of its Sondheim score. Each tune is a memorable piece of music. The actors who sing the parts are well chosen. The dramatic numbers do their job well. Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen's (as the dashing Princes) duet is a highlight as it's a ridiculous dramatic number. Sondheim's trademark rapid tempo and lyrics don't overwhelm the cast at all.

This isn't a fun and fancy story, though it's nowhere near as Grimm as the play or its original stories. Keep that it mind when you go Into the Woods and you'll come out good. It really is a memorable cinematic fairy tale.

Special Report

And here it is, a film that I thought I'd never see. A film I thought no one would ever see. A film that certain people didn't want anyone to see. But against all odds, it's here. I am of course talking about The Interview.

Dave Skylark (James Franco) is the star of the talk show Skylark Tonight. His good buddy and producer Aaron Rapoport (co-director Seth Rogen) has seen the show through 1,000 episodes. Aaron's upset that nobody seems to take Dave seriously as a journalist. That all changes when he finds out that no less than Kim Jong-Un (Randall Park) of North Korea is a fan of the show. Aaron personally reaches out to the supreme leader for an interview and surprisingly, Pyongyang agrees.

CIA agent Lacy (Lizzy Caplan) decides the interview is the best chance to permanently deal with Kim. She ropes Dave and Aaron for the Mission Impractical. But since Aaron and Dave are idiots and Kim's cult of personality is strong, the mission looks like it's beyond impossible. How will anyone get out of this OK?

Rogen, co-director Evan Goldberg and their writing partner Dan Sterling certainly got a lot of attention for conceiving this premise. No need for me to explain that. As I see it, the guys set out to make a frat movie set in a politically unstable region rather than the next The Great Dictator. Their end result is stupid and proud of it. That honest tone is the best part of the film.

Franco and Rogen make for a likable pair of idiots. At worst, they're clueless and not overtly offensive. They're the least qualified men for the job and they know it. They get into mishaps along the way that understandably frighten them. All they want to do is party and be serious journalists. The audience will surely want them to at least get out of North Korea alive.

Sony's train-wreck of bad luck forced them to scale back The Interview's release. You can see it in arthouse theaters, the last places you'd expect this kind of movie to be in, or online, which I did. Depending on your choice, you'll see the same silly comedy that certainly dared to exist.

Wild

The last two movies I covered were the final installments to two dissimilar trilogies. The film I'm now reviewing, Wild, is a self-contained piece.

In June 1995, Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) was at the lowest point in her life. Her mother Bobbi (Laura Dern) died of lung cancer four years earlier. She sought the company of every man she met except her husband Paul (Thomas Sadoski). Now they're divorced. She decides to get over her misery by hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.

It took her three months to hike 1,100 miles. Her most trustworthy companion was her enormous backpack. A collection of kindly strangers helped her along the way. Natural and emotional challenges threatened to stop her trek. But she didn't quit. Her story became a best-selling memoir, which director Jean-Marc Vallée and screenwriter Nick Hornby now present on-screen.

Witherspoon carries the movie a lot easier than that backpack. Her sarcasm provides the film's best laughs (even the title cards get sarcastic at on point!). On a more serious note, we see her as an emotionally damaged woman. She knows she's messed up and wants to redeem herself. That's what keeps the audience invested in her long trek.

Speaking of damage, the makeup department provides many gruesome physical ailments. Its most shocking display is Cheryl's bloody foot in the first scene. Of that I'll describe no more.

Cheryl's trek took her across snowy fields, forests and the open desert. In each environment, cinematographer Yves Bélanger's presentation of the PCT is pretty. They look like nice places to visit if you can get around the wildlife. But don't go unprepared or under-prepared if this movie inspires you.

Wild is a good cinematic hike. Its lead character and involving storyline make it a film to watch out for in the coming months.

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

It took them five years, but now director Shawn Levy and star Ben Stiller bring another monumental adventure to screen. According to the advertisements, this latest Night at the Museum, subtitled Secret of the Tomb, will be the last.

Larry Daley (Stiller) has the best job possible at the New York Museum of Natural History. As security guard, Larry also supervises events with "living exhibits." Larry's secret is that the exhibits are alive, animated by the mystical tablet of Ahkmenrah. And it's corroding real fast.

The only one who can fix the tablet is its creator, Pharaoh Merenkahre (Ben Kingsley). His wax likeness stands comfortably at the British Museum of Natural History. So Larry and the series' regular exhibits head off to London for a talk. It's all easy until one British exhibit decides to ruin things.

The visual effects, which were shortlisted for Oscar consideration, are awesome. The CGI makes you believe that statues and dinosaur skeletons can move and interact with real people. The miniaturization of actors Steve Coogan and Owen Wilson (as figures Octavius and Jeb) is also well-done. The highlight was a battle inside M.C. Escher's Relativity. One amusing animated character was a mini Garuda statue (which makes sense once you realize who voiced it).

Anyone unfamiliar with the franchise won't get lost. You'll know what's up in these films right away. The details this film adds to the series actually make sense. For instance, it re-introduces the first film's villains in a cameo appearance. When it's revealed that one of the villains actually discovered the tablet as a lad, his actions are understandable.

It's a decent family adventure film. Its 98 minute plot progresses quickly and easily for kids and adults. Any bits of childish humor didn't degrade the film for me. The funniest moment of the film was a performance of Camelot which went awry. It easily got sentimental when it reminded the audience that this was the end. Never was this more evident when Mickey Rooney and Robin Williams, both of whom passed on this year, were on-screen.

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb ends the franchise pretty well. It may be the end, but it makes the most of it.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

What's it about?

Uh, something about Hobbits and the Dwarves who hire them. And Wizards. And creatures and five armies. And something else. I don't know.

Start again.

We finally reach the end of Bilbo Baggins's extended cinematic outing. FINALLY. Anyway, this is The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, previously subtitled There and Back Again.

The film opens with the evil dragon Smaug out to destroy a nearby town. And he's dead before the subtitle comes up. The heroic Bard the Bowman saved the day. But his villagers are homeless and the closest town is in prince Thorin's territory. He wants Thorin to honor his word about helping the people. And Thorin's like "Make me! Pfft."

So everybody comes to Thorin's place to take over. The Elves, the Orcs, humans of many dispositions, giant animals. It's all a mess. Meanwhile, Thorin tries to get a MacGuffin to certify himself king. The other, saner dwarves try to reason with him. Good luck.

There's also a Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo gets a hold of the MacGuffin and tries to reason with Thorin. That's pretty much it for him.

At 144 minutes, it's much shorter than either of its predecessors. But its main battle, which clocks in at about 45 minutes, goes on forever. It was hard to keep up with who was fighting who and why. The end result was like a food fight stretched to feature length. They don't even explain why they called it "The Battle of the Five Armies."

The visuals redeem this adventure a bit. Smaug looked great as always and he made the most of his minuscule screen-time. The giant creatures who participate in the epic battle were pretty good too. Sets, Costume and Makeup designs were also good. Nothing to complain about in this field.

As I think about it, this whole adventure should have been two films at most. The point of the first film was to find Smaug and he's quickly dispatched in this one. It really deflates his menace. We now have a film of little substance stretched over a long canvas. The best part of this installment is that it's the last one. I can breathe a sigh of relief now.

The Theory of Everything

Jethro's Note: As you may have noticed, my site is different.

An Oscar-winner for Man on Wire, director James Marsh now examines the life of scientist Stephen Hawking and his first wife, Jane. Jane's memoir, Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen. was the basis for the film called The Theory of Everything.

In 1963, Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) studies cosmology at Cambridge. Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones) is an arts student at the same college. The two meet at a party and fall for each other. Stephen's genius impresses instructor Dennis Sciorma (David Thewlis), who mentors him through his doctoral studies and beyond. Stephen's developing Motor Neurone Disease threatens to destroy his future. Nevertheless, Jane sticks with her eventual husband through thick and thin.

That pretty much describes the film.

Redmayne is wonderfully cast as Hawking. His first scenes endear him to the audience with likability and charm. His humor persists even as his mobility decreases. When he finally loses his voice and has to speak through a computer (the real Hawking), his spirit remains. It helps that his makeup job makes him the spitting image of the real man.

Jones's performance is also a highlight. She willingly defies Hawking's borrowed time by loving him. That alone earns her the audience's admiration. She earns the audience's empathy as she and Stephen mutually split.

Johann Johansson provides a magnificent and emotive score. Its pure serenity makes it the best part of the film. The set and costume design set the decades quite nicely. There are some great celestial and earthbound images from cinematographer Benoit Delhomme. The crew firmly establishes the film as a pretty movie.

The Theory of Everything is a great use of 123 minutes. Even if physics and what-not aren't your thing, the well-told love story might attract you. It's a definite crowd pleaser.

Home

Adam Rex's 2007 novel, The True Meaning of Smekday, introduced its readers to a brand new Alien holiday. This would have been the best time for its film version, Home, to come out.

But Dreamworks didn't see it that way. Home's coming got put off till March. Meanwhile, I have to review the film that was meant to come out that month, Penguins of Madagascar. And surprisingly, it was a bit better than I thought it would be.

Skipper (Tom McGrath), Kowalski (Chris Miller), Rico (Conrad Vernon) and Private (Christopher Knights), the flightless co-stars of the Madagascar films, have their own film now. They open the story by ditching their co-stars for a trip to Fort Knox. But they're not there for the gold bullion. They're here for the precious Cheese Dibble snacks in the vending machines. And somehow, Dave knew they'd be there.

Dave the Octopus (John Malkovich) used to be the star of the Central Park Zoo. But the Zoo moved him out when the Penguins moved in. The same thing happened at every other Zoo Dave moved to. And now Dave wants revenge on all of penguin kind. If only Skipper could remember his name.

The Penguins are saved by the North Wind, a crew of secret agent arctic animals. The leader (Benedict Cumberbatch), a wolf whose name is Classified, wants to stop Dave his way. Skipper and the Penguins want to stop Dave their way. They'll have to find the right way to stop Dave's revenge scheme.

The movie gets its first point for casting John Malkovich as Dave. Dave's an over-the-top villain with a ridiculously petty goal and Malkovich is surely having fun here. Dave sometimes earns the audience's sympathy with his bad backstory. He gets his chance at redemption at the end, but throws it away for "more revenge." He's that evil.

The technical aspects get the next point. The animated characters and scenery look great as does the camerawork. The best use of the camera was to show the Penguins make an aerial escape. It was an amazing, almost one take display of the Penguins free-falling from planet to plane and to the desert below.

Penguins of Madagascar is a good matinee. Its quick pace should entertain the kids and adults in the audience. Its sense of humor is fine even if there were a few groaners. It even knows how to make Dave be a legitimate threat. It's a harmless adventure and I'm fine with that.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part One

Cold Open:

EXT. DYSTOPIAN GOVERNMENT SQUARE

A non-descript future Dystopian society. Citizens are gathered around the square. A chief bad guy, The DYSTOPIAN LACKEY, steps forward. He's surrounded by his fellow lackeys.

DYSTOPIAN LACKEY

By order of the Hollywood money machine, all final films of all future film series are to be split into two parts. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part One shall be one of many of these two-part trilogies. Future servants include the final films of the Divergent and The Avengers film series. Any attempt to subvert our decree shall result in the offender getting laughed out of Hollywood.

Jethro promptly punts the Dystopian Lackey into orbit with a kick. The other lackeys follow.

JETHRO

Not if critics like me have anything to say about it!

The Review At Hand:

Yeah, what that guy said.

In the previous film, Catching Fire, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) cancelled the dreaded Hunger Games by destroying the studio. Evil President Sore Loser Snow (Donald Sutherland) responds by carpet-bombing Katniss's home District 12. Katniss finds herself in the underground District 13, which was long thought carpet-bombed too.

Katniss finds herself the Mockingjay, the symbol of the upcoming rebellion against the evil Capitol. The pressure from both sides threatens to crush her. It's especially so once she finds out what happened to her beloved Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson).

Yes, that's it in a nutshell. Why did it need to be two movies? I'd say profit.

It's easily the shortest of the films so far at 123 minutes. And the plot is rather slow. A few plot points and action scenes happen here and there, but that's about it. That's a contrast to the previous films which were quicked pace and at least twenty minutes longer.

It gets good when stuff happens. Katniss's stiff-acting in a series of District 13 propaganda videos is amusing. The action scenes that happen are suitably tense. The acting was pretty good, especially from the leads. The final plot twist was especially suspenseful (even if it wasn't the twist I predicted in the Catching Fire review).

The set, costume and makeup designs are much more subdued than the other films. But I appreciated the artistry behind them. If only there wasn't a year-long gap between this and the next part. There's so much stuff from the story I'm waiting to see done.

Birdman

Follow a bunch of creative egos and see what you think of it. That's one lesson you can learn from the new film, Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).

Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) was once the big-screen superhero Birdman. Years later, Riggan is flat broke and washed up. He aims to remedy his fortunes by bringing Raymond Carver's short story What We Talk About When We Talk About Love to Broadway. A comment from Carver to young Riggan inspired him to go to acting.

The preview phase is a disaster. Riggan decides to bring on celebrated Broadway star Mike Shiner (Edward Norton) to the production. Mike forcefully takes up the spotlight. A critic wants to tear the production to shreds on the basis of it even existing. Riggan's desire for perfection irritates everybody around him. And even worse, Riggan's grasp of reality is fading away. As his cinematic alter-ego taunts him in his mind, Riggan starts to believe himself greater than great.

What you'll notice the most is its camera style. Shot by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, the camera follows its actors along. When pieced together by editors Douglas Crise and Stephen Mirrione, the end result appears as one long take.

The story, by director Alejandro González Iñárritu and co-writers Nicolás Giacobone. Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo, is darkly funny. The show's production is one long comedy of errors. The audience can laugh fine at the set falling apart in one scene. But when the play finally premieres, Riggan's grand finale is shocking.

As Riggan, Keaton convincingly plays an artist on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Reality blurs so much that we often believe, as he does, that Birdman and psychic powers are for real. More often than not, we're made aware that he is hallucinating. It all leads to a last scene open to interpretation.

Birdman's tone isn't for all tastes. There are some great laughs out of it, but it turns dark once we understand its main character. As for me, I found it a good balance of humor and pathos. It's one of the funniest satires I've seen.

Big Hero 6

Ever since Disney bought Marvel a few years back, an animated film based on one of Marvel's properties was within the realm of possibility. The possible is now actual as Big Hero 6, Marvel's Animesque Super Team, has their own Disney animated feature.

The hero of Big Hero 6 is Hiro Hamada, a teen genius in the futuristic hodgepodge metropolis of San Fransokyo. His brother Tadashi attends the elite San Fransokyo Tech and encourages Hiro to enroll there. Hiro does so by demonstrating his new Microbots at the University science fair. A few hours later, Tadashi and famed instructor Professor Callaghan are killed in a fire at the school.

Hiro is miserable until he finds Tadashi's last invention, the medical balloon-bot Baymax. He also finds a masked villain using his Microbots. Hiro suspects the baddie of starting the fire and vows to catch him. Hiro upgrades Baymax into a fighting robot and enlists Tadashi's friends - tomboy GoGo, peppy Honey Lemon, uptight Wasabi and laidback Fred - to fill up the Big Hero 6.

The city of San Fransokyo may be fictional, but it's great. It's a bright, colorful animated environment which convincingly looks like both of its two inspirations. It especially appealed to me as I was in San Francisco twice this year (and expect to be there again next month). It felt like I was there again.

The Big Heroes of the movie have their charms. Baymax's cuddly design and soft voice should make him an instant hit with kids. Hiro is a likable, relatable protagonist whose youthful misbehaving never annoy the audience. Wasabi and Fred are good comic relief. Honey Lemon's enthusiasm endears herself to all. And GoGo's just cool (her catch-all catchphrase is "Woman Up!"). Overall, this was a great bunch of super heroes. Their final defeat of the masked villain involves some unique uses of their skills.

This super adventure differs a lot from its source material. But that's not bad. The story they devised was funny, meaningful, fun and quick-paced. Whether in 3D or Flatscreen, Big Hero 6 is a Marvelous adventure for all.

An animated short, Feast, opened the film. A story of a Boston Terrier and his love of human food, it was both cute and cringe-worthy at the same time. Stay tuned after the credits for a cameo from Marvel's legendary Stan Lee.

Interstellar

As I said in my Transcendence review:

One film I waited for this year was Interstellar, Christopher Nolan's thought-provoking sci-fi about a wormhole to another universe. What's on the other side?

We now know what's on the other side of the wormhole. It's a big, loud visual extravaganza that sure talks a lot about science.

In the not so distant future, Earth has no future. NASA has gone underground while society has gone agrarian. Crops are going extinct one by one. A new Dust Bowl has gone global. And it's just going to get worst before the end.

Former NASA pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) tries to keep his family safe from catastrophe. One day, he finds a "ghost" in his daughter Murphy's (Mackenzie Foy) room communicating in binary. The binary codes lead them to NASA's last base. The staff discovered a wormhole near Saturn; on the other side are a few potentially hospitable planets. Cooper, the only man left with space experience, is tasked with leading the mission.

Interstellar's visual expectations absolutely live up to the hype. The journey through the wormhole alone ought to warrant the film an Academy Award. Other visual highlights are a frozen planet (even the clouds are frozen!) and a journey through a black hole and eventually time and space. The film's comic relief characters, a pair of robots named TARS and CASE, are great animatronic creations.

The film's mammoth 169 minute runtime can definitely test a few attention spans. It explains all the quantum physics and stuff of its space travel but barely in layman's terms. At least one plot twist was introduced far too early to make it shocking. And the film's final plot twist had me going "huh?" A lot of simple plot details got lost in the shuffle.

Interstellar is a marvel of technical design. It deserves to be seen on the big screen. Its splendor alone is enough to make up for the overly-complex story.