Colossal

While primarily known as popcorn entertainment to modern audiences, the grand-daddy of all kaiju (giant monster) movies Godzilla was a metaphorical film about the dangers of destructive science with clear references to nuclear weapons. However, pretty much every incarnation since then has focused on escapism with a lead monster facing off against humans, robots, robots controlled by humans, and other monsters. Which is why Colossal, a movie that uses its leading monster as a metaphor caught my attention.

The film centers around Gloria, an unemployed writer and shameless alcoholic. After one drunken night too many and a fight with her boyfriend, Gloria returns to her childhood home and town to recover and avoid spending money she doesn't have. However, after reconnecting with a friend from her past, Gloria discovers a connection between her blackouts and the appearance of a giant monster in Seoul, South Korea.

First things first, yes this premise does require a bit of fantastical thinking for the audience to get on board. There's little to no explanation for why the giant monsters appeared in the first place, outside of a brief flashback or two that shows the first occurrence, so it's up to the audience to accept the premise going in. If you can't do that, then clearly the film isn't for you. If you can, this movie is a deeper than expected look at destructive behavior and relationships than you might think.

At first glance, Colossal's metaphorical connections between a drunken Gloria and giant Godzilla-styled monster destroying of a bunch of innocent lives in the process, feels as subtle as a slegdehammer to the face. Put another way, it's not a new perspective to say that one individual's addiction and substance dependence leaves a trail of destruction in its wake.

What's clever about Colossal is that Gloria's revelation doesn't signal the story's ending, because while seeing how her actions could affect hundreds of thousands of innocent people, it doesn't mean that she's free of the circumstances that create destruction around her. Saying much more will give up too many story details, but this goes into far deeper and darker territory than you might think and the movie is better for it.

As you'd expect, the movie is another home run for Anne Hathaway continuing to demonstrate her talent as an actress and willingness to play potentially unlikable characters. It's hard to pick apart a performance like this piece by piece but when your movie is about a single character's emotional journey from a parasitic drunk towards someone more benevolent, especially when they're connect to a giant monster, you need them to nail every step and turn, and Hathaway delivers.

The film's biggest surprise, however, has to be Jason Sedeukis who delivers a key central performance Gloria's old friend Oscar. While the movie is intentionally being coy about Oscar's intentions and using his extensive experience as a quip machine in comedies, what will really blow you away is how effective he is once things turn.

Plenty of credit should also be given to writer/director Nacho Vigalondo for a couple of excellent choices. My favorite is the inclusion of sound effects as Gloria stomps around the playground. Since the film is clearly operating with a lower budget than a typical Hollywood project, the scenes with the giant monster are somewhat limited and only show up during crucial points in the story. However, to ensure an audience connection to the carnage as Gloria prances around a park, an inherently funny image, the film filters in sounds of destruction including screams and explosions in time with her actions. It's a small element, but it makes simple things like a stumble towards the ground feel potentially world-shattering.

Most of the films faults are the result of some predictable plot turns and a noticeably slower third act. Unfortunately this does take some weight away from the finale, even if it is a natural resolution to the story.

Decidely unconventional and more thoughtful than you might think, Colossal is much more than a movie with a killer hook. Check this out.

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Free Fire

You know your filmography is an offbeat one when a movie like Free Fire could be considered your most mainstream movie. And yet, that's precisely the case for writer/director Ben Wheatley, the driving force between horrifying headtrips like A Field in England and Kill List or bleak black comedies like Sightseers and last year's High Rise. No unsettling premise or incisive social commentary, just a straight forward single location shootout movie with a cast full of name actors.

Taking place in 1970's Boston, the movie centers around a gun deal between a band of IRA fighters, South African gun runners, and a female intermediary (Brie Larson). Though initially tense, the deal appears to be good to go with smiles all around. That is until a violent connection between an IRA member and one of the gun runners is discovered and a massive fight for survival begins.

Free Fire is a difficult movie to review. Not only because the movie is a brisk single location thriller, but also because too much discussion might give away what plot points we do have. So instead of a regular breakdown I'll highlight what made this movie work for me.

Truly Chaotic Gun-play

If nothing else, Free Fire will standout for highlighting elements that most movie gun battles ignore. Instead of consistent fluid motion with the good guys and bad guys exchanging fire in equal rates, Free Fire's gun-play is all about confusion, non-lethal hits, and moving precariously in and out of cover.

There's still plenty of bullets flying on a regular basis, but this approach means that most of the shots are coming from guys who are still laying on the ground with shoulder wounds instead of barrel-rolling into a combat position and firing.

But that's not to say that everyone is inaccurate. In fact, most everyone in the film clearly has some degree of firearm training and is at least in the ballpark with every shot. No one has action movie hero aim, but you truly get the idea that anyone could be taken down at any moment.

Hell even the surroundings play a part as bullets fly through anything that isn't concrete or ricochet into targets on a regular basis. It's far from slick, but that's the point.

A Great Cast Having Fun

Movies like this are perfect for character actors because there's not a definitive protagonist and everyone is an exaggerated caricature (in the best possible way). The four notable names are Sharlto Copley, Cillian Murphy, Armie Hammer, and Brie Larson. Murphy and Hammer play two sides of the same coin with Murphy acting as the IRA band's most professional member who's over the gun fight as soon as it starts, and Hammer as an agreeable hired gun whose clearly the most competent fighter of the group. It's notably lighter tone for both actors usual roles and I was a big fan.

Though my favorites have to be Shartlo Copley and Brie Larson. Copley has played plenty of roles like this, Hardcore Henry comes to mind, but there's something truly unique and fascinating about his manic screen presence. His buffoonery earns most of the film's biggest laughs. And surprising no one Brie Larson is great as the disbelieving female of the bunch. Considering she's presented as loyal to no one and doesn't engage in gun-play until she's shot herself, her "you have to be kidding me!" attitude not only emphasizes how stupid the violent honor that starts the whole mess is, but also justifies her attitude from a story perspective.

General Absurdity

I feel like a lot of movies like this portray themselves as meaningful dramas where every bullet, death, or action is a world-changing revelation. But even from the get-go Free Fire's tone is rooted in absurdity. This is perfectly demonstrated by the characters who spend most of the gunfight trading barbs, cursing each other out, and trying to figure out who's on who's side. No one spends time moaning about their injuries and a number of deaths are played for laughs. As such the characters and the audience can remain detached and embrace the film's chaos.

Free Fire may be the textbook definition of disposable entertainment, but it's new approach to familiar movie elements gets it a recommendation. Check it out.

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Reel Talk: Bruce Lee's Legacy and Birth of the Dragon

In the modern cultural landscape, Bruce Lee is more myth than man. An icon on par Muhammad Ali, Lee's image, fighting style, and physical feats have been consistently celebrated, embellished, and idolized in everything from t-shirts, video games (i.e. Mortal Kombat and Tekken), and even completely fake videos that we share on social media (no he didn't actually play someone in ping pong using nun-chucks). Hell you could argue that the success of the Ip Man franchise is partially based on the real-life Wing Chun master's connection to Lee. As such, it makes sense that Hollywood would want to develop their own origin story about Lee and his legendary life.

However, even before its hit theaters the latest Bruce Lee inspired film, Birth of the Dragon, has hit roadblocks. Most of the criticism has been heaped upon the film's script which allegedly tells the story of Lee's rise in the martial arts scene from a white man's perspective. As I haven't seen the film I can't verify or deny this claim, but if this is the case that's a gigantic problem. Here's a couple of reasons why.

White Filmmakers Have A Biased Point of View

When Detroit was released early this month there was a pretty stark divide in reception between white critics and critics of color (not all on either side). While many white critics lauded Detroit for its hard-hitting story and emotional impact, many black critics felt the film had a detached perspective by focusing on police abuses and cover-up instead of the emotional impact of such violence and injustice. You could argue this is partially due to director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal's stylistic preferences, usually very procedural, but it's hard to imagine a black director or writer presenting police violence as a horrific outlier in American life.

Generally, I don't think film-makers are ill-intentioned when they make films about people of other races. But it will make plenty of people suspicious before they even see a single frame of your film, if your movie's subject is a person of color and the majority of your team is white. Because try as you might to put yourself in the person's shoes, a white man is ill-equipped to comment on the Asian-American experience in 1960s San Francisco.

Perhaps the team behind Birth of the Dragon took this into account and that's why they included a white character. However, when the subject matter is arguably one of the most iconic Asian-Americans of all time, someone behind the camera or writing the script with a similar background should be weighing in.

It Adds To A Long Cultural History of Colonialism

One of the remnants of European colonial expansion is fiction that features white men discovering things like hidden cities, natives with different customs, or individuals with seemingly inhuman abilities. Anything you can imagine Edgar Rice Burroughs or Rudyard Kipling writing fits this model.

Historically this played out in movies where a white man embraces another culture and becomes its champion or white savior (films as recently as The Last Samurai follow this model). But the white observer model isn't much better.

Not only because of the aforementioned bias in this perspective, but it implies that this story needed to be conveyed by someone else. Put another way, if Lee's martial arts origins are impressive enough the story would find an audience without its white translator.

Bruce Lee Pushed For His Voice and Inclusion

One of the reasons Bruce Lee remains an icon is his originality. There's so much about him and his persona that is instantly iconic. His fighting style, the noises he made when he completed moves, his training regimens, and nun-chucks are all immediately recognizable. And that's not by accident.

Lee left the U.S. to pursue leading roles in Hong Kong. After his two film deal he set up his own production company. Enter the Dragon was made in conjunction with the American Warner Bros. and Hong Kong's Golden Harvest studios. Be it a fight scene or a philosophical musing, Lee's films are full of his identity as a man and martial artist.

Which is why making a movie about him that's not from his perspective is not only bad form in modern cinema, it goes against the legacy of the man it's about.

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Alien: Covenant

There's a part of me that believes Prometheus would've been a better movie if it had no connection to the Alien franchise. You get all of the excitement from Ridley Scott revisiting sci-fi e=horror with modern graphics and film-making techniques, minus the expectations that comes with a prequel to a famous film and nothing that happens becomes a part of the series' mythology. Likewise, you can delve into the film's themes about creating, science, and discovery. But that's not what happened, and unfortunately Alien: Covenant decided the best course to take was to continue Prometheus story, and subsequently add to the Alien mythos.

About ten years after the failed Prometheus mission, a colonization-ship named Covenant, is traveling across the galaxy to habitable planet under the watchful eye of the stoic android Walter. However, when an unexpected accident damages the ships and kills a number of crew members, the remaining crew members stumble across an apparently human distress signal from a nearby planet that looks perfect for colonization. But the planet holds dangers none of the crew could have expected...

After Prometheus I think most people were hoping would Covenant would be a return to the claustrophobic or at least existential horror that made the first two films so engaging. Nameless, skeleton like creatures that can tear you limb from limb and kill you with their blood. And for the first third of the movie it looks like we've got a quality Alien clone. Small crew on a spaceship that's unwoken unexpectedly and examines a distress call and things go haywire from there. There's potential in that.

And then the movie dives headfirst into the mythology from the first film and disappears up its own expositional butt about the origin of the xenomorphs followed by full tilt action scenes instead of the horror film we had been watching for at least 40 minutes. *Some spoilers ahead*

I'm not going to spoil exactly where xenomorphs come from or what the early twist is, but needless to say it completely abandons the tone, themes, and style of the first portion and decides to go full Prometheus. The final thirty minutes is just a collection of set pieces that are all either bigger than anything in Alien or poor recreations of Aliens. As I said, this movie could've been a lot more interesting if it wasn't an Alien film.

But you have a distinctive image in mind where you hear Ridley Scott and Alien and this movie fails to deliver that. There was some scary stuff when the crew encounters small creatures called neomorphs that hop around and attack people's faces like honey badgers on PCP, but that's abandoned so quickly that it fails to build any tension. Tension is kinda important in a sci-fi horror movie.

The other problem is that the movie has no idea what it is about. Is it about creation? Is it about the dangers of curiosity and discovery? Maybe it's about artificial intelligence? The replacement captain talks about being a man faith so much that I thought we were going to meet Jesus....is that a thing? Sadly none of this is fleshed out enough to make any impact. And don't even get me started about all of the so-called plot twists because each one of them is so badly telegraphed I almost stopped watching the movie because I knew how it would end.

And it's all a shame because the bones of a good movie are here. Ridley Scott remains a masterful film technician, the effects are great, and Katherine Waterson and Danny McBride (yes that's Kenny Powers) put in effective performances. But in the confines of this plot, none of it works.

All in all, Alien: Covenant is further proof that monsters are far more frightening and interesting the less we know about them. You can skip this one.

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Top 5: Steven Soderbergh Movies

Director Steven Soderbergh has always done his own thing. After breaking out of the indie scene with Sex,Lies, and Videotape Soderbergh has spent most of the late nineties and 2000s making small stylish films with reasonable budgets and a stable of big name actors while earning enough good will and box office bang with the Ocean's Eleven trilogy. Now after a brief retirement, Soderbergh is back with the critically acclaimed heist comedy Logan Lucky. So as a refresher for Soderbergh's style and sense of humor we've picked five of the director's best.

#5 Side Effects

Twisty thrillers just aren't made by Hollywood studios nowadays unless you have a dedicated director with a killer script and Side Effects has precisely that. The movie centers around Dr. Jonathan Banks (Jude Law), a psychiatrist that attempts to help a young couple Martin and Emily (Channing Tatum and Rooney Mara) with the Emily's ongoing anxiety. What follows is a mystery about hidden intentions, corporate espionage, and physician responsibility that keeps the surprises coming until the film's end.

#4 The Informant!

This film gets a lot of divisive responses for two big reasons. First and foremost, this is an offbeat comedy about understatement and the darkly hilarious knowledge that this is based on a true story. The second reason is because this is actually a comedy about something. Matt Damon stars as the titular character, a lead executive at an agricultural firm, who intends to improve his position by ratting on his company's corrupt employees. Damon is pitch perfect as a man so awkward that people should spot him as a spy, but then again they might not notice a difference in his odd behavior. However the film's true appeal is in demystifying the idea that all whistle blowers are moral crusaders or heroic figures.

#3 Traffic

Soderbergh's style is never "epic" but this sprawling crime drama about the drug trade is as close as it gets. In it, an interconnected group of cops criminals and their families attempt to capture, evade, or simply stay afloat in a world where danger lurks around every corner. Featuring stellar acting from an Academy Award winning Benicio Del Toro to Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, the film does an excellent job at showing the shades of grey that populate drug trafficking and enforcement and the circumstances that create monstrous actions.

#2 Ocean's Eleven

A movie so effortlessly cool and fun it's not even fair. The premise is simply as it gets, a infamous thief is fresh out of prison and wants to pull in the score of a lifetime...and possibly get back his wife. Though the heist itself is beautifully planned and executed the movie's true appeal is in watching the team banter back and forth through all of their preparation with a diverse collection actors including heavy hitters like George Clooney and Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, and the Casey Affleck/Scott Caan duo bringing laughs, and a quietly menacing Andy Garcia.

#1 Out of Sight

Ocean's Eleven may be the Soderbergh's most enjoyable movie but Out of Sight is a pitch perfect version of what it sets out to be: a film-noir romance. After a chance meeting during his escape, a thief (George Clooney) begins a flirtation with a U.S. Marshall (Jennifer Lopez) that quickly blossoms into a forbidden romance. While the plot is driven by an ill-conceived heist involving a sinister Don Cheadle, the movie's driving force is the palpable chemistry between Clooney and Lopez including one of the sexiest scenes ever put on screen...and it doesn't even feature nudity. An underrated gem and a personal favorite.

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Top 5: Nazi Fighting Movies

As you're probably well aware, the American news cycle has been owned by the horrifying events in Charlottesville. And since I don't live in a bubble and can't express all of the rage I have at the Neo-Nazi and White Supremacists existence in this country, the murder of one and maiming of at least a dozen other counter-protestors with a car, and Trump's insistence that there are good people amongst white supremacists, I thought I would compile some movies that are great if you're in the mood to fight Nazis. Some fight with words, others with fists, and some with weapons, but these are all movies about fighting*Spoilers abound*

#5 The Great Dictator

This was Charlie Chaplin's first talkie and it remains one of the most painfully funny and powerful films ever put on screen. In an era where Hollywood was avoided Nazi Germany and promoted isolationism, Chaplin decided to make a movie that openly mocked Hitler, portrayed the dangers to minorities, and delivered one of the best and moving humanist monologues of all time.

#4 Inglourious Basterds

Revenge fantasies don't come much bloodier than this Quentin Tarantino joint about a vengeful Jewish cinema operator and a team of American Jews sent behind enemy lines to kill Nazis and eventually assassinate the entire German high command. Though there's arguably less Nazi fighting than you might like in a movie with this premise, there's something oddly satisfying about watching a pair of Jews overkill Hitler with machine gun fire.

#3 X-Men First Class

This one works exceptionally well because it's all about tracking down Nazis that are trying to hide. Though hiding is a bit hard when you're being tracked by a master of magnetism with a grudge. A great deal of this movie may be about team building, but the driving force for Magneto from beginning to end is revenge against the Nazis that killed his family and that knife scene in Argentina...*whistle*

#2 Raiders of the Lost Ark

I'm sure other people will choose The Last Crusade over the original film but I have to choose Indy's first ride against the Third Reich for the finale. Why? Because a team of arrogant Nazis is melted, blown apart, and electrocuted for disrespecting the Hewbrew God and daring to lay eyes upon the word of God. Hard to beat that...no matter how many nightmares it gave me in my youth.

#1 Captain America: The First Avenger

While you could argue that this movie doesn't feature too many fights against actual Nazis, Cap and friends are fighting H.Y.D.R.A., but the ideal American spirit and what it's willing to fight for is alive and well in this movie. Taking up the allied caused because "I don't like bullies," Steve Rodgers insists that he doesn't want to fight anyone, but he can't stay idle while evil men hurt innocent people. And thankfully for the audience, he gets the strength to stop the Red Skull and his goons from destroying that ideal.

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Fight Work: The Matrix's Lobby Shootout

When it comes to oversold action movies, The Matrix is at the top of the list. That's not to say the film isn't good or deserving of its legacy, albeit one slightly lessened by less interesting sequels, but this movie has been praised, analyzed, and pushed on every young action movie or sci-fi fan as a "must-watch" since its 1999 release. However, sometimes things are popular for reason, and part of The Matrix's mass appeal lies in its stellar/ground-breaking action scenes including today's scene: the lobby shootout. *Quick sidenote* It was tough to pick one scene from this movie so rest assured I may revisit this movie because the final 20-30 mins are masterful action film-making, but this is the first one that I think of when I think of this movie.

Setup:

The crew of the Nebuchadnezzar is in dire straights. They've barely survived a betrayal by one of their own, Cipher, and their leader Morpheus is being held by powerful Agents hell bent on breaking his mind and getting the codes to the human sanctuary Zion. Believing Morpheus' mind will be broken, Tank, Trinity and Neo prepare to unplug and effectively kill Morpheus to keep Zion safe. That is until Neo stops Tank and says he can bring Morpheus back before he gives up the codes. Armed to the teeth, Neo and Trinity enter the building where Morpheus is being held....and all hell breaks loose.

Why The Scene Works

We've all seen shootouts before, heck if you're reading this particular post I'm guessing you've seen more than the average person. And yet there's something different between this shootout and your standard bullet fest. What is it? Well it's got all of this going for it.

Phenomenal Use of Slow Motion

Slow motion is one of the most overused elements in action film-making. Overused, because it's frequently added to moments or images that don't need it. A final punch that looks blurry, a move that isn't that impressive, or a cool guy walking away from an explosion. A lot of these images and scenes would work without slow motion.

By contrast, this scene works because of slow motion.

Aside from being cool as hell, the slow motion have two distinctive advantages: it lets the audience take in the full scope of the action and it demonstrates the characters POV. Try for a moment to imagine this shootout in real time. In fact, check out the behind the scenes looks of this scene in real time. Not that interesting is it? That's because we can barely tell what's happening. There's so much debris, gunfire, and motion in this scene, that seeing it in real time is incomprehensible, even if Neo is doing a cartwheel with a machine gun and Trinity is flipping sideways to avoid gunfire.

But once things are slowed down we start to see and understand Neo and Trinity's movements. It also means that we see how impressive they are. We see how much gunfire they're dodging (thanks in no small part to the debris but we'll get to that), how accurate Neo is, and how good they look while doing it.

Some of the moves would also look silly in real time. The machine gun cartwheel, Neo's kick, or Trinity's flip all work really well in slow motion but don't look natural or fun when sped up.

The other benefit of slow motion is that we start to see the world from our heroes' perspective. While never expressed stated, it's clear that Team Morpheus moves, comprehends, and reacts faster than the average person or police officer. And as such, their point of view during a gun battle might seemed slowed down compared to the officers opening fire. 

The best example is when Neo leaves cover and begins dual wielding machine guns. When the camera is on Neo, his motions are in slow motion and we see him pick targets, hear individual rounds fire, and see the gun movement...and BAM we see the effects in real time on the police officers that are struck by Neo's bullets (a quick reveal of the officers perspective). It's a simple juxtaposition, but it does wonders for establishing Neo's skill set and how he views this gunfight.

Neo Unleashed

For all of the movie's talk about Neo being a chosen one, he spends the majority of the movie in a state of confusion. Sure he's downloaded a bunch of skills and started to show promise during his sparring match with Morpheus, but before he walks through that metal detector Neo has yet to contribute.

That's why his reveal in this scene is so effective. He may be confident, and Morpheus and Trinity seem certain that he's the "One," but if you were to tell me that this guy who awkwardly fired a handgun through a wall fifteen minutes ago was capable of handling a small army, I'd think you were crazy.

Thus when he arrives looking like he owns the place (the camera cleverly never shows his full attire until he reveals his weaponry) and begins to take down everyone in sight it's a pleasant and bad ass surprise.

Stellar Production With Practical Effects

It's hard to list all of the little details that enhance this scene...but I'll try

• The music selection is a perfect compliment to the scene
• Neo and Trinity ditching weapons after they've emptied the clips is a great reversal of Hollywood action movie tropes (endless clips in guns)
• The scene is shot in wider shots that let the audience see every bullet and blow
• The shots of the bullet casings dropping....is cool
• It's clear that Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Ann Moss are performing the scene (more on this)

However one of the scene's most underrated elements, especially in a film full of technology advances, is the use of practical effects. The lobby's columns exploding from gunfire adds an element of danger, tells the audience just how much duress Neo and Trinity are under, and in the case of Trinity's wall flip, adds tension to an already cool shot by having the bullet holes seemingly follow her steps. It even sets up a visual aftermath joke at the end of scene.

Even in 1999 this level of detail could be created with computers, but the fact that it wasn't enhances the scene's effectiveness.

Historical Perspective: A New Look For Hollywood Action

Though some fun films were released, the nineties were a stagnating period for action movies. In particular, action scenes were largely divided by type. A fist-fight was separate from a gunfight and visa versa. But this scene from The Matrix, along with others in the film, took inspiration from anime and Hong Kong cinema and started blending them.

Trinity defeats one enemy with a flurry of flips and kicks, before using a martial arts disarming move before using a shotgun. Neo starts his barrage with a kung fu palm to a security guard's chest, switches to gun firing, then does an impossible shoot-dodge before finishing the scene by climbing up the last cop and kicking him in the head. In era where Arnold was still firing big guns and throwing lumbering punches at his opponents this was, and is, a breath of fresh air.

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