2016: The Year in Film: "Rogue One" Review

So surely at this point we can all agree that Disney buying Star Wars from George "Jar Jar Binks" Lucas was the best thing that could've conceivably happen for the franchise, right? Who (other than alt-right Pepe Nazis who are upset that women and brown people are in them now of course) could possibly have any complaints about the direction that the greater Star Wars universe has taken over the last 2 years compared to the unmitigated disasters that were the prequels?

With that being said, Rogue One is something new. To this point, all of the Star Wars  films have been episodes or chapters within a single long narrative. (Ignore all of the contradictions and continuity errors therein, please) Rogue One represents an effort to create a standalone story within the larger cohesive universe not unlike the way that say Ant-Man is in Civil War but Civil War is not an Ant-Man movie.

We're introduced to Jyn Erso, a young lady who finds herself at the crosshairs of the brewing conflict between the Empire and Rebellion. Set before the events of the original Star Wars (1977), this flick shows us a side to the universe that we haven't yet seen. Jyn and her companions are faced with trying to stop a new and horrible weapon - the Death Star.

The Good: part Dirty Dozen - style commando movie, part Saving Private Ryan - style war epic, this flick fits squarely within the Star Wars universe with all of its epic glory and idiosyncratic weirdness. I'll admit that I had some concerns about director Gareth Edwards following the dumpster fire that was the 2014 Godzilla but he turned out to be exactly the choice needed. Rogue One manages to both be completely and utterly recognizable as Star Wars and yet totally different from anything that's been done in a Star Wars movie thus far. The cast does everything they're asked to do and adds a few memorable contributions to the Star Wars mythos along the way. Felicity Jones is great as Jyn. The criminally underworked Diego Luna is memorable as well, but the real showstoppers are Donnie Yen and Wen Jiang, whose buddy cop act really brings levity to what is ultimately a pretty dark affair. Alan Tudyk's K2S0 steals every scene he's in. Ben Mendelsohn, Forrest Whittacker and Mads Mikkelson are all memorable, if underused in spots. Ultimately, the real draw of this flick is the intense plotting and smartly choreographed action sequences.



The Bad: there are a few plot holes and shortcomings that honestly seem amateurish in comparison to how good the rest of the flick is. The decision was made to plug in CGI characters and honestly, that seems like a mistake. The rest of the flick looked SO great that the CGI characters looked cartoony and cheesy. I also feel that Mads Mikkelson and Forrest Whittacker were underused. It seems like a shame to bring them on board to a Star Wars movie and not make the most of them.

In all though, I really enjoyed this one. By fitting squarely within the Star Wars universe but making pains to rely on wholly new, diverse and different characters, the film enriches what Star Wars is and can be. Serious kudos to Disney too for not pulling punches. If you've seen it, you know what I mean.

8/10

2016: The Year in Film: "Moonlight" Review

 There's a certain genre of film that's emerged in the last decade or so... let's call it the "issue" flick. Think, Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" on screen. They seek to draw attention to their issue through often emotionally manipulative means - I'm thinking of the likes of Crash or Dallas Buyer's Club here. Now it's a very specific thing - as films that have a greater reason for existing than merely exposing the issue at hand don't quite fit - 12 Years a Slave doesn't fit here because of the beauty of the filmmaking and the depth of character development. So when I first heard of and saw the trailer for Moonlight, my concern was that we'd be looking at another proud entrant into the school of emotionally manipulating your audience on the silver screen. Thankfully, that's not what we got here. Though no doubt this film touches on multiple issues of social concern, endemic poverty, sexuality, race, crime and more, it's not ABOUT any one or even all of those things.

In Moonlight we meet Chiron, a quiet boy living in extremely hard conditions in urban Miami. His mother's a drug addict, he's poor, friendless and struggling to find his way. We follow Chiron through three separate phases in his life, as a young boy, as a teenager, and as an adult man, and follow what it means to BE through his eyes.

 The Good: this is Barry Jenkins' 2nd feature film (and I've never seen his first) so I wasn't sure what to expect, but this film is gorgeous. The use of color, the framing, the score and the lighting lend the film a fundamental artistry that mark Jenkins as a filmmaker to watch. The use of different actors and different times means that this film rises above any one time and place and becomes much more personal, much more intimate as a result. We don't need to know every detail of Chiron's life. We see it. On his face. In his voice. In his relationships. (or lack thereof) It reminded me of Boyhood in its intimate and often whimsical tableau of life events and attention to detail. Fundamentally, this is a film about self, about love, about struggle and injustice, but mostly it's about one boy and his struggle to become a man. It's incredibly intimate, and haunting. It doesn't offer answers - merely observations, and sometimes that's all we can expect. Mahershala Ali (this dude is everywhere nowadays, and his charisma, physicality and screen presence have never served him better than they do here) was rightfully nominated for an Academy Award for his performance here - and his performance is truly transcendent here. In all, this is a personal and humanizing look at individuals who are often overlooked or painted in broad strokes. That can be more powerful than any statement of political purpose.



The Bad: there isn't much here - if I am to criticize it's that maybe the three actors portraying Chiron don't resemble each other all that much, but ultimately the film didn't require it. If anything, the film could have been longer. The ending is maybe not as satisfying as it could have been, but I'd argue that the vagueness fits with the... poetry of the film.

In all, this is one of the best films of the year. It was nominated for all those Oscars for a reason. It's haunting, gorgeous, perfectly crafted, well-acted and powerful. It's not exactly an uplifting time at the movies - but it's an important one.

9/10