Film

Tour de Force

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The new Star Wars doesn’t suck! The new Star Wars doesn’t suck! What a relief, right? In the time since Disney announced its absorption of the Lucasfilm Empire, some fans and cynics have speculated that the Mouse plus George could equate to shite. Then, the Mouse handed the reins of the Star Wars universe to that bespectacled guy who reinvigorated the Star Trek universe. How weird! Fret not, for director J.J. Abrams and crew have done exactly what they did with Star Trek, and created a fun movie that not only respects the blessed canon of a beloved franchise, but stands on its own as a piece of supreme entertainment. It is 2015’s most entertaining film, for sure, and a movie that stands up proudly in the realm of Star Wars movies. In many ways, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the best movie in the franchise. I won’t say it’s my personal, sentimental favorite. (I think The Empire Strikes Back still holds that post, but a little more time will tell.) The Force Awakens has solid storytelling, its special effects are first-rate, and the performances featured are, undoubtedly, the best the franchise has ever seen. That’s due in part to Daisy Ridley, an incredible talent who becomes an instant star for the foreseeable future as Rey, a scrappy scavenger on a Tattooine-like desert planet. I don’t think I’m overdoing it by saying she delivers the all-time, all-around best dramatic performance in the Star Wars universe in this role. I can say she does some of the year’s best “face acting,” and you’ll have to see the movie to find out what I’m talking about. With this new star at its center, the revitalized Star Wars universe takes life around her with a bevy of new characters and, of course, returning oldies.

Abrams and co-writer Lawrence Kasdan, who happens to be the guy who wrote Empire, collaborated on a screenplay that follows a lot of the familiar beats from past Star Wars films. They took over writing duties after Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) took a failed stab at the task. (Arndt still gets a credit.) by Bob Grimm The universe is being tormented by the First Order, an offshoot of the former Empire. bgrimm@ Rey, after rummaging around in a fallen Star newsreview.com Destroyer, discovers a lost droid—BB-8, who is adorable—and eventually finds herself on a 5 space adventure with familiar and new faces. That’s it. That’s all I’m saying about the plot. Harrison Ford, classically cryptic and snarky about his Star Wars pedigree in the past, returns as Han Solo, and his newfound enthusiasm for the part is infectious. Ford slips back into that laid back, charmingly sarcastic smuggler role with ease, and his old buddy Chewbacca has become some sort of comedian in the last 30 or so years. The old wookie scores some of the film’s biggest laughs. Seeing the pair together again is an invaluable movie gift to be treasured. As the movie’s central villain, Adam Driver is multi-layered and appropriately disturbing as Kylo Ren, a masked, obvious riff on Darth Vader who is a bit of a fanboy for the long deceased Sith Lord. I’m a Star Wars fan, and I have a few nice toys in my possession. Kylo Ren has the Holy Grail for Star Wars collectors in his chambers! John Boyega brings a new, welcomed dimension to the stormtroopers—there are actual people under those helmets!—while Oscar Isaac brings funny charisma to Poe, best pilot in the galaxy. OK, I think I got through this review with no major spoilers, so no Star Wars geeks will kill me. My life force will not be extinguished, and I will make it to next year’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Episode VIII, which is due in summer of 2017. Gone are the days when we waited decades for new Star Wars chapters. Oh, the spoils of Disney. Ω

Bad guy Kylo Ren uses the Force to cop a feel.

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2Concussion This is an odd, misguided movie. Will Smith plays Dr. Bennet Omalu, a pathologist studying the cadavers of former football players dying in mysterious ways. His studies eventually lead to the discovery of CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy), a brain disease resulting from repeated concussive hits to the head. Director Peter Landesman’s film makes the mistake of focusing on Smith’s character, and pushing the stories of the suffering football players into the background. Does anybody really care about Omalu’s love life when football players are killing themselves after retirement? For instance, the story of Pittsburgh Steeler Mike Webster (played movingly by David Morse) only gets a few minutes of screen time, while Omalu’s television habits and dancing prowess get more than one scene. The film goes for a strange emotional payoff regarding Omalu’s triumphant discovery rather than really focusing on the treacherous cover-ups by the NFL when it came to CTE. Again, a movie that pushes the stories and fates of the NFL players into the background in favor of giving a big Hollywood star a beefed-up role to sink his teeth into feels mighty self-indulgent. This could’ve been the incisive, important film the subject calls for, rather than a melodramatic excuse for Will Smith to try out a new accent.

4Creed Director Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station) and actor Michael B. Jordan (also of Station) resurrect the Rocky franchise with what amounts to the best Rocky film since the 1976 original. Jordan plays Adonis Creed, son of Apollo Creed (played in past films by Carl Weathers) and born out of wedlock. Adonis goes to Philadelphia and enlists the help of his father’s former foe and friend, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), to coach him into becoming a professional boxer. The story is a familiar one, and it’s told with style and class in rousing fashion. Coogler does some of the best fight sequences since Scorsese’s Raging Bull, including a first fight that plays like one take. The final bout between Adonis and overseas Irish villain ‘Pretty’ Ricky Conlan (Tony Bellew) is sports cinema at its very best. Coogler also finds a way to weave that iconic Bill Conti music into the score at perfect moments. Jordan proves a more-than-worthy new addition to the franchise, while Stallone delivers a career best performance returning to his most recognized role. Heck, the man could find himself in Oscar contention.

1In the Heart of the Sea There have been a lot of Moby Dick movie adaptations, the best one being the bizarre John Huston version with Gregory Peck going bonkers as Ahab. There just isn’t enough room in this world right now for another take on the Herman Melville classic. Strange, then, that somebody with a lot of money thought there was room in this world for a movie about the actual events that the classic novel was based upon. In the Heart of the Sea tells the story of the Essex, an actual whaleship out of Nantucket, Massachusetts that was sunk by a whale in 1820. The alleged culprit of the sinking was a sperm whale, and the ship sinking resulted in many days out at sea on lifeboats for the remaining crew, and eventual cannibalism. As Ron Howard’s film will have it, the whale that did the sinking pulls a sort of Jaws: The Revenge and follows the survivors as they float aimlessly in the sea eating crackers and growing beards. (The actual whale that did the sinking promptly disappeared into the ocean never to be seen again.) Chris Hemsworth, sporting an abominable Massachusetts accent, plays first mate Owen Chase, who puts a harpoon in a whale and pays a big price, eventually having to eat some of his crewmembers. Tom Holland (the new SpiderMan) plays the novice seaman who throws up a lot. The effects are sketchy, the story outlandish. Howard uses a strange framing device with Herman Melville interviewing an old survivor of the Essex as if the story were coming out for the first time. What happened on the Essex was revealed fairly quickly— Chase published his account of the tragedy one year after it happened—so the whole framing device rings false. This is not one of Howard’s better films. 3 Joy This is a goofy, uneven, yet entertaining showcase for Jennifer Lawrence, who delivers a fun and strong performance as the title character. Joy has a tough life, with a mother (Virginia Madsen) addicted to TV and her divorced husband (Edgar Ramirez) and father (Robert De Niro) sharing her basement. She’s working crap jobs, but an idea for a revolutionary mop gets her on TV and eventually changes her life. Director and co-writer David O. Russell reunites with his Silver Linings Playbook star, and the results are a bit strange to say the least. Lawrence puts the proceedings over the top with the sort of commanding performance that has become routine for her. De Niro has fun in his standard dad role. His roles in O. Russell films are his best in years. Isabella Rossellini gets her best role since Blue Velvet as De Niro’s rich girlfriend who finds herself bankrolling Joy’s mop scheme. Bradley Cooper barely registers as the TV executive who gives Joy her break, although that has more to do with his lack of screen time rather than the power of his performance. It’s a good ensemble in service of a movie that is a little beneath them, but it all comes together for something that is worth seeing for the talent involved.

3Krampus Horror fans have had a good year in 2015. It Follows, We are Still Here, Bone Tomahawk, Ash vs Evil Dead all did a lot of good for genre lovers. While director Michael Dougherty’s Krampus isn’t quite up to the level of those I just mentioned, it does do the Christmas horror subgenre proud in many ways. For starters, this sucker has a majorly grim attitude that it sticks with until the very end. There will be no happy Christmas message in the land of Krampus, so don’t take this one in if you have eggnog on your breath and are looking to get into the holiday spirit. It’s more of a film for somebody who pisses and moans when the Christmas decorations show up at Macy’s before Halloween. Max (Emjay Anthony) still believes in Christmas and Santa Claus, and he takes a lot of crap for it from family members. When a bunch of family come to his house for Christmas, his cousins taunt him, while his parents (Adam Scott and Toni Collette) deal with an annoying aunt and uncle (David Koechner and Allison Tolman). Throw evil Aunt Dorothy (Conchata Ferrell) into the mix, and Max’s family is in for one lousy yuletide season. They eventually must confront evil Christmas demon Krampus and his scary henchmen. It’s not a great film, but it qualifies as a fun, and nasty, diversion.

4Trumbo The Hollywood blacklisting that led to the imprisonment of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was a travesty, and it’s high time somebody made a movie about it. Director Jay Roach eschews his comedy-making skin for this riveting look into the tribulations Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) and fellow artists faced during the Red Scare days of the Cold War. Cranston does his best movie work yet as Trumbo, a confessed member of the Communist Party who did jail time and lost work due to his beliefs. He eventually started writing screenplays anonymously, even winning an Oscar under a different name. The film’s best scenes involve Cranston and none other than Louis C.K. as writer Arlen Hird (a fictional composite character), who marvel at the injustices bestowed upon them. The film does a nice job of capturing the paranoia of the times, with nice touches such as John Wayne (David James Elliot) throwing his weight around, and Diane Lane as Cleo, Trumbo’s very patient wife. The film does a nice job balancing truth and fiction, and Cranston is marvelous. Also, let it be said that C.K. continues to show surprising prowess as an actor. He’s building up an impressive resume for a guy who insists he can’t act.

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