Baby Driver (2017)

I'm a fan of Edgar Wright's work, but Baby Driver was a movie that caught me by surprise.  Judging from the advertising alone, I was convinced it was a generic heist movie, and thought nothing more of it.  After a while, I kept hearing more and more about how great it was, and finally decided to see for myself.  I was pleasantly rewarded for taking that chance, and will never doubt Edgar Wright again.
Baby Driver centers itself around the tale of a young, yet gifted getaway driver (played by Ansel Elgort) who calls himself Baby, appropriately enough.  While he enjoys driving, Baby wants to escape his secret life of crime after one last job, but his boss Doc (Kevin Spacey) is intent on keeping him under his thumb.  As the story progresses, Baby falls for Deborah, a local waitress (Lily James), which causes trouble for just about everyone.
I make no exaggeration when I say that this film will likely be studied by future film students.  There are some incredible stunt driving sequences, whip smart dialogue, a delightful attention to colour, and some of the best editing I've seen on screen in a long time.
These elements alone are enough to make Baby Driver a classic, but the soundtrack is what will solidify it into your memory.  Baby is a character with a deep connection to music, and as such, there is barely a moment that goes by that isn't punctuated with some sort of music.  This isn't simply music for music's sake, either.  It's clear that this soundtrack was very carefully curated, and has enough variety to suit any taste in music.  The songs featured range from The Beach Boys to Young MC to Simon and Garfunkel, and not one feels out of place.  The songs serve to enhance the action as well as add some extra emotional context for the characters.
Speaking of character, Baby Driver has a wealth of talent from start to finish.  Ansel Elgort's acting is reserved, but perfectly attuned to the other personalities in this film.  It helps that this rising star has some excellent backup in the supporting cast.  Lily James plays a perfect girl next door, with Eiza Gonzalez as Darling, her criminal opposite.  Jon Hamm plays the mercurial Buddy, who steals a fair number of scenes with his simmering performance.  Finally, Kevin Spacey ties everything together as the fatherly and tyrannical crime boss.
With Baby Driver, Edgar Wright has combined eye-popping action, an impressive soundtrack and an extremely memorable cast to make a film that will be remembered long after it's gone from the big screen.   

Read This! - Symmetry (Vol. 1)

In today's age of technology, we all like to be connected to our devices, whether it's at work, at home, or even in our cars.  But what if this connectivity was something we had from birth?  This is the starting point of Symmetry, written by Matt Hawkins and illustrated by Raffaele Ienco.
Symmetry tells a story very similar to Brave New World, in which the world's population is kept heavily medicated and connected to their AI system at all times.  The people are also a homogenous society, even to the point that all races are kept completely separate.  When disaster strikes and disconnects a small segment of people from their AI system, a man named Michael discovers Maricela, the first black woman he's ever seen.  The two fall in love while working together to survive the new terrors of life without AI assistance.  Meanwhile, the administrators of this 'utopia' race to rebuild their society under the guidance of a mysterious AI whose ultimate aims are unknown.
Co-creator Raffaele Ienco illustrates this book with clean lines and sharp colours, but the main attraction here is the storytelling of Matt Hawkins.  While it starts out simple enough, there are a lot of complex ideas under the surface here.  Symmetry deals with ideas of segregation, morality, and our relationship with technology.  While I personally was hoping for something a little more complex, it appears that Symmetry's story does unfold further in following chapters.  Hawkins and Ienco have mixed elements from sources like Brave New World, The Matrix, and the long-term thinking of Frank Herbert's Dune novels to deliver an interesting take on the sci-fi dystopia genre.  Go check it out for yourself today at The Gauntlet Comics and Games!

Alien: Covenant (2017)

Alien: Covenant, the follow-up to Prometheus (2012) begins with a disaster on board the colony ship Covenant, bound for a new and distant planet.  Many of the colonists and crew are killed, but there is a glimmer of hope in the discovery of a much closer Earth-like planet.  The crew decide to examine the planet closer, and make some startling discoveries.  After some horrifically disastrous contact with a dangerous alien spore, the Covenant's crew are taken in by the android David (Michael Fassbender), last survivor of the Prometheus.  The crew discovers that in his time on the planet, David has become something of a Dr. Moreau type, experimenting with the title creatures and refining them into the fearsome killing machines we see in later films.  After this point, the movie follows some familiar patterns, as the crew on the planet fight to survive while the others still aboard the Covenant desperately try to make contact with them.
As befits Ridley Scott's return to the Alien franchise, Alien: Covenant contains a good helping of thrills and tension, as well as a few gruesome shock scenes.  While the crew of the Covenant don't have the deepest characters in cinema, there is enough detail to make them distinctive and memorable.  In particular, I enjoyed watching Daniels (Katherine Waterston), who seems built for a crisis situation, and shares many personality traits with the more famous Ellen Ripley.  Also notable is acting-captain Tennessee (Danny McBride), who goes through a range of emotions over the course of the movie.  Finally, Michael Fassbender gives a very impressive performance, playing both David and the Covenant's android crew member Walter.  Although the two characters are essentially the same, Fassbender plays them with enough variation that they appear different in subtle ways.
The visual effects are about what's to be expected for an Alien film, although it does seem to lean a little more on the side of CGI effects over the physical element.  That being said, it makes the scary moments no less scary for it.  This atmosphere is helped along by the moody, synthetic sounding score of Jed Kurzel.
There are some philosophical and religious undertones to Covenant, but they seem to serve as a framework that the film is built on rather than communicating any sort of deeper message. (apart from the obvious 'don't play God' themes)  This is a welcome relief and contrast from the uproar Prometheus caused in some political/religious groups back in 2012.
If you were to ask me if Alien: Covenant is a good movie, I'd say yes.  However, if you were to ask me if it's better than Alien, I would question the reasoning of your comparison.  The fact is, there is never going to be another movie that matches the tone and style that Alien created, as much as some fans might want that.  Alien: Covenant is a good piece of sci-fi horror, and an interesting addition to the Alien canon.  Of course, if you'd rather just see Alien again, I suggest you stay home and let other people enjoy the movie.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

The movie that got us all 'hooked on a feeling' in 2014 is back!  This time around Peter 'Star Lord' Quill (Chris Pratt) and friends find themselves on the run from a golden-skinned race known as the Sovereigns after they discover a small theft by Rocket (Bradley Cooper).  During the chase, they are rescued by a mysterious man known as Ego (Kurt Russell) who reveals himself to be Peter's father.  The Guardians are invited to his home planet, where we discover his surprising motivations for searching out his son.  Meanwhile, Yondu (Michael Rooker) and his space-pirate crew the Ravagers have fallen on hard times, resulting in an internal power struggle.  Eventually Yondu's crew catches up with the Guardians, but by this time, their situation has changed dramatically.  Banding together for the greater good, the Guardians, along with Yondu and Nebula (Karen Gillan) face off against an unexpected villain in a fight that will determine the safety of the entire galaxy!
As is expected with any Marvel film, Guardians Vol 2 is full of eye candy, from the excellent makeup to the outstanding visual effects.  Thankfully, the quality of writing is just as good as the effects.  Every character gets a good amount of screen time.  Peter and Gamora (Zoe Saldana) continue their indecisive attempts at romance, Rocket and baby Groot (Vin Diesel) get numerous chances to explode people, and Drax (Dave Bautista) begins to understand the nature of love, as well as having some of the funniest moments in the movie.  I also appreciate that this sequel put a spotlight on the 'villains' from the first instalment, giving them some very complex new depth of character.
It would be irresponsible of me to talk about a Guardians film without discussing the soundtrack.  Once again, the music is made up of various hits and one-hit-wonders of the disco era, but something about this soundtrack doesn't feel quite the same.  It still has some very well chosen songs for the big moments, but overall, it doesn't seem nearly as vibrant or memorable as the first movie.  After some reflection, I think this has something to do with the context of the first film.  Guardians of the Galaxy started from a deep emotional place, which imprints itself on an audience very strongly.  As well, the first film was our introduction to these characters we now love, so those musical moments become even more ingrained in our unconscious, much in the same way we associate John Williams's Imperial March with Darth Vader, for instance.
As is the case with any Marvel movie, there is a small collection of post-credit sequences.  A few of them are chuckle-worthy, but unless you're well-versed in Marvel comics lore, there's not much worth sticking around for.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is full of action, laughs and adventure.  But more than this, it has a serious emotional story to tell.  Ultimately, it's a story about family.  We don't get to choose our relatives, but we do get to choose who we call our family.  Guardians explains this to us in a very clear and poetic way, and is a big reason I think it improves on the original.  If you're a fan of the original, or just like Marvel movies in general, I highly recommend you see this while it's still in theatres!

The First Three - Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (2016)

Produced by Netflix and BBC America, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency chronicles the strange investigations of the title character (Samuel Barnett), and his unwilling assistant Todd (Elijah Wood).  The disarmingly friendly Dirk Gently differs from most detectives in that he uses a 'holistic' method of investigations.  In practice, this means that he doesn't interview witnesses or look for clues.  He simply goes about his business until he inevitably stumbles onto whatever clue unlocks the entire mystery.  He meets Todd under some very bizarre circumstances, and decides Todd will be his new assistant; the Watson to his Holmes, as it were.  Todd wants nothing to do with Dirk initially, but circumstances keep causing the two to cross paths, so Todd eventually resigns to his sidekick role.  At the same time, another pair of real detectives, Zimmerfield and Estevez (Richard Schiff and Neil Brown Jr.) are trailing Dirk and Todd, since the pair seem to be connected to some very bizarre cold cases.   Meanwhile, across the country, electrician/part time hacker Ken (Mpho Koaho) is abducted by 'holistic' killer Bart Curlish (Fiona Dourif).  Her life's mission is to kill Dirk Gently, even though the two have never crossed paths.  Dirk and Todd spend their time solving bizarre mysteries and avoiding death/capture, while the rest follow the trail they've left, in an exciting and strangely funny series.
For a series this unusual, the writing has to be spot on to keep the tone consistent, and it doesn't disappoint.  The writers have a clear appreciation for the original Douglas Adams novels.  The dialogue and plotting has all the earmarks of Adams's work, from silly arguments over semantics to odd speech patterns and out-of-the-blue weirdness.  The mysteries themselves are densely layered, but manage to have surprisingly coherent solutions in spite of their outlandish nature.  The production design goes a long way to helping the audience accept the strangeness of Dirk Gently's world.  Everything feels just a bit off-centre from regular life, and eventually, we're drawn into the strangeness and we begin to think like Dirk Gently would.  For instance, the idea of a shark attack on dry land becomes more of a brain teaser than a flat-out impossibility.
The pure strangeness of this show is brought to life by Samuel Barnett's portrayal of Dirk Gently.  While the show is set in America, Dirk is English through and through, which is a nice nod to the original books.  As mentioned above, Dirk is almost always cheerful and friendly to everyone, even in the middle of a grisly crime scene.  It's amusing to see other characters trying to decide how to respond to his friendliness.  Elijah Wood's character is very similar to the one he played in Wilfred: Todd is constantly frustrated with Dirk's actions, yet consistently winds up advancing the action whatever decision he makes.  The rest of the cast are excellent as well and provide good contrast with the main players.  Detectives Zimmerfield and Estevez don't have as much screen time, but they share some of the most amusing moments in the series with their hard-boiled dialogue and deadpan reactions to all the weirdness around them.  For me, the standout performances belong to Mpho Koaho and Fiona Dourif as Ken and Bart.  Ken seems to be a nice guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  His fear of Bart feels very real, and it's very interesting to watch that fear fade away as the two become uneasy friends, of a sort.  Despite first appearances, Bart is a fascinatingly complex character.  Fiona Dourif manages to make Bart scary, yet shows a certain sensitive side at times.  Even though Bart is ostensibly the villain of this story, she becomes likeable in the strangest way.
If you like a good mystery, but are tired of the same old predictable stories, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is the right show for you.  Dirk Gently combines sci-fi elements with solid mystery structure and comedic punctuation to create a very entertaining show that defies expectations.  If you haven't seen it yet, it's worth a look!

Tusk (2014)

Tusk, the second horror feature for director Kevin Smith, follows the story of Wallace Bryton (Justin Long), a shock/lowbrow podcast host.  When a lead for an interview in Canada unexpectedly falls through, Wallace investigates a mysterious flyer he comes upon by chance.  The advertisement leads him to one Howard Howe (Michael Parks), who has a strange, yet fascinating life story.  Soon enough, it becomes clear that Howe is not the man he seems, and is using Wallace as his latest test subject to create some sort of human/walrus hybrid.  Meanwhile, Wallace's partner Teddy (Haley Joel Osment) and his girlfriend Ally (Genesis Rodriguez) realize something is very wrong.  They team up with detective Guy Lapointe (Johnny Depp) to track down Wallace and find out the horrific truth.
Initially, I was drawn in by Tusk's expertly crafted trailer.  Unfortunately, the film itself is not nearly as serious as the trailer makes it out to be.  Tusk is one of those peculiar films that is hard to classify in terms of genre.  It's not quite scary enough to be a true horror film, but not quite funny enough to be a comedy.
For me, I think a lot of the emotional disconnect comes from the characters themselves.  Although one does feel some amount of sympathy for Wallace in his situation, it never really goes beyond a surface level.  Ultimately, Wallace is not a very likeable guy.  It's also difficult to piece together his personal feelings, since he spends the final half of the film shrieking incoherently.  This further complicates the intended audience reaction when we come to the revelation that Ally is cheating on Wallace with his podcast partner Teddy.  There is some initial shock, but it wears off quickly.  Even though the two are obviously doing wrong, Teddy seems to be a genuinely nice guy (perhaps even a better man than Wallace), so it becomes a bit of a mental exercise to imagine him being the villain.
Speaking of villains, the greatest performance in Tusk absolutely belongs to Michael Parks, who also appeared in Smith's previous horror film Red State.  Much of his screen time is taken up with storytelling, and it's here that Parks shines.  His words cast a kind of dreadful hypnosis on the audience, and then, in the blink of an eye, the kindly old Howard Howe has transformed into a raving lunatic.  It's a change that's all the more terrifying because we realize that we were fooled as much as Wallace was.
Johnny Depp's part in Tusk highlights all of my issues with the film.  Depp chews the scenery as the almost cartoonish Quebecois detective Guy Lapointe.  It's funny for a few moments, but then we're subjected to a very long, almost pointless story of how Lapointe unknowingly encountered Howard Howe some time earlier.  It's a long time to wait for exposition that isn't truly needed, and really drags down the pacing of the film.  Guy Lapointe is really nothing more than a plot device, and not a very good one at that.
Another issue the film has is with the effects makeup/prosthetics.  While the suit is well crafted, it's so outlandish and grotesque that it's nearly impossible to take seriously.  But, perhaps it was never meant to be serious in the first place.  
While I didn't have the luxury of research going in, it does help to understand that Smith made this film more or less for a laugh.  Tusk was the product of a bizarre conversation from Smith's SModcast program, which he ultimately decided to make into a film, just because he could.  Knowing and understanding this is key to the enjoyment of a film like Tusk.  Tusk doesn't work as a true horror film, but if you put it into the same category as, say, Creepshow, or the Tales From The Crypt series, it becomes quite obvious the tone Kevin Smith was aiming for, and you'll be able to enjoy it without focusing on the flaws.  

Moana (2016)

Disney takes a trip to the South Pacific in their latest animated feature, Moana.  The film tells the story of a young woman named Moana (voiced by newcomer Auli'i Cravalho), who serves as chieftain of her small island.  When problems begin appearing in the local plant life, Moana sets off on a dangerous journey to find the exiled demigod Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson), who holds the power to restore the island to its natural state.  After a rocky introduction, the two eventually join forces, and return home to set things right.
Moana is delightful visually, filled with vibrant colours and interesting character designs.  The animators make great use of the iconic images of Hawaii, and have outdone themselves with the level of detail presented.  Everything you see on screen, from flowers to rope fibres, to the ocean spray itself, feels authentic and draws you further in to Moana's world.
Moana is not only visually pleasing, but it's a treat for the ears as well.  This is in part due to the contribution of Broadway darling Lin-Manuel Miranda, writer of the Oscar nominated song 'How Far I'll Go'.  The songs are very well written and composed, and are as memorable as any Disney film that came before it.  Thankfully, Miranda has a great support for his music with the voice talents of young Auli'i Cravalho.  Even Dwayne Johnson gets his own moment in the spotlight, and it turns out he's a decent singer as well!
The story of Moana, based in Hawaiian legend, reminded me somewhat of Disney's Hercules.  Considering directors John Musker and Ron Clements worked on Hercules back in the 90s, this doesn't come as too big a surprise.  It's clearly the kind of story they love to tell, with lots of action, a few laughs, and a big heart.  While some may say it's not as complex as a movie like Zootopia, I think Moana still has a lot of value.  Moana is a great movie for kids and adults alike.  It has great music and visuals, a wonderfully strong female lead, (with not a prince in sight) and it has some important lessons to teach us about courage and reconciliation.