Suburbicon (2017): Review

I have never been to a movie when immediately after the movie all of the people in the audience come together and connect by saying "what the hell did we just watch" and all feel that the movie made absolutely no sense and in the bad way.  Suburbicon was strange, in the boring bad way, not in the cool or funny way. I didn't realize it was suppose to be a comedy until one of my fellow audience members said that it was not the comedy that he was expecting it to be. Thinking about it I can see that it was going for being a dark comedy, but the comedy did not come through and the movie was bad and overall boring. If I wasn't trying to understand how everything came together, it would have been completely forgettable.



Suburbicon is new Coen brother's movie and I really need to start paying attention to who is making the movies I am watching and not just deciding to go see them based on teaser trailers. I try to not watch too many trailers or final trailers as it annoys me to see third act clips which can spoil the storyline, but I may have chosen to see another one of the movies that I am interested in right now if I realized it was a Coen brothers movie. Anyway to the plot. Suburbicon is set in a sort of Stepford Wives world where this area is suppose to be wholesome and a great place to live. It starts by the town getting upset that the first African American family, the Mayers, has moved in and a sub story is the escalating hate that this family receives. It then focuses on Gardner Lodge's, played by Matt Damon, family. Gardner owes money to the mob and his wife Rose is killed.  His sister in law Margaret, played by Julianne Moore (she also plays Rose) has been helping out the family and takes over the role of mother to Gardner's son Nicky, played by Noah Jupe, and everyone has to deal with how the family is affected by everyone's actions and the situation they are now in. Although the movie is chronological it feels like it jumps around a lot and there is no real back story or lead in to the different characters, they are just there and you as an audience member have to figure out who they are and how they fit into what is going on.  Some characters are there and it feels like they will become part of what is going on and that the movie is hinting at something that will be tied together but then nope.

Going into this movie I thought it would be more focused on Matt Damon's character, but it seems to equally focus on Gardner, Margaret, and Nicky, but slightly more on Nicky. It also jumps to the Mayers family and the hate they are experiencing in this neiborhood. Nicky has some interactions with Andy, played by Tony Espinosa, the Mayers' son as they are neighbors. It is really hard to describe what is happening because their isn't a main focus or a true story.  It feels like part of a story, without motivation, lead up, or resolution that leaves you feeling satisfied in any way. 



There is no real development of any of the characters and the lack of any real plot or motivation of anyone really leads to a movie that doesn't really have anything going for it. I was bored throught the majority of the movie and was just waiting for somehtig to happen to draw me in. The only really enjoyable part was the insurance claims investigator, played by Oscar Isaac, and he was only in the movie for a few moments. This movie didn't really seem to know what it was going for but it was trying really hard to do something. I wish a specific person or a few people were focused on and that there was an emphasis on what was happening to or around the person and their motivations/ dealing with it. There were a few moments of this but since nothing seemed to connect with each other, the movie didn't deliver. If the shift was more of Nicky it would have been better, or given background into any of the main characters.  Hell, even focusing more on the mob guys would have worked.

It seemed as if the main emphasis on this movie was style not substance. The actors are good and you can tell that they are giving it their all, so for me it seemed more like directorial choices and decisions the failed. There is a high production value in this movie and the town/ environment is rich in details and I could tell lots of effort and time was spent on it.  The cinematography and staging was good, and in the style of the Coen brother. I just wish their was more of a story to follow or a some sort of journey/ real resolution for any of the characters. As I said there were glypse of what could be and moments with some of the characters (Mitch, played by Gary Balarama, Nicky's uncle was also one of the more interesting characters). It might just be a type of movie that I don't connect with and I just don't understand the true target audience. If you enjoyed it, let me know what was good about it?

 

Basically no reason to go see this movie, as it doesn't make sense and was very strange. Where this can be done in a fun and great way, this movie was pretty bland for what the set up is, and bored me.  I wouldn't even recommend watching it when it comes out on video. I would only reccomendd it to people who see and enjoy every Coen brothers movie.

My Rating: 1-

  

Geostorm (2017): Review

I am pleasantly surprised to say that Geostorm was much better than I excepted it to be. That is not saying that it was good or anything exceptional but it was enjoyable and I wouldn't mind seeing it again. I can easily see myself gladly watching it should it come onto television in the future.



Geostorm stars Gerald Butler as Jack Lawson, a brilliant person (I cant seen to remember specially what he was good at but know it at least included mechanics) who assisted and lead the development and operation of a world wide satellite net which counteracted extreme weather. If a tsunami or hurricane would destroy some part of the world the satellites would do their magic and prevent the cataclysmic weather event from causing damage or loss of life.  Due to his assholishness and insubordination Jack is removed from leadership of the satellite net, which is run from the international space station, by his brother Max, played by Jim Sturgess.  Three years later there are problems with the net and the satellites themselves are malfunctioning which looks like it might create a geostorm which would destroy the world. Jack is brought back in to find the glitch and discovers that it appears to be sabotage. Jack and Max have to figure out how to save the world while not knowing who is the saboteur working with them. Also staring: Abbie Cornish as Sarah Wilson, Max's girlfriend and secret service agent; Alexandra Maria Lara as Ute Fassbinder, the new leader of the satellite net; Andrew Garcia as President Palmer; Ed Harris as Secretary Leonard Dekkom; Zazie Beetz as Dana, Max's tech support; and Euginio Derbez as Al, Amr Waked as Ray, Robert Sheehen as Duncan, workers on the space station.

First off there were several things that I found very distracting throughout the movie and just took me out of the experience. I don't know why the makers of this movie insisted on calling the net "Dutch Boy," yes, they give a reason for it in the film, but with this movie that is spouting other technical terms it was very weird hearing the term Dutch Boy over and over throughout the movie. I thought that this was just stupid and it could have been a much better name.  Also there were some weird hair styling choices, Max's haircut was bad and distracting. I don't get why someone just didn't style it better. He is suppose to be a man who is good at working the system and getting people to allow him to run the net but he has this really bad hair cut. He is an attractive man, it would have just been better if that extra hair by his collar was shorter. There were times where Ute's hair was up at some points and down at some points. I don't understand why the leader of the space station didn't have her hair consistent or in a style that consistently looked like she was maintaining regulations.  These points are not big, they were just distracting.

I liked the cast and thought that all of the characters where well cast but there was no connection between the different characters. I don't think I have seen a movie where it didn't seem like people who have a strong history and relationships with each other just didn't have the chemistry come across on screen. On their own I really enjoyed most of the characters, I just wish that they would have played off of each other. Zazie Beetz and Eurginio Derbez were the best examples of doing a great job but having the responses of the others on screen with them were off and just as if they couldn't keep up with the great job these two were doing. I think the decisions on how to play Max were off, i don't think it was Jim Sturgess it seemed more like a directors choice. He just seemed really squirrely. As i stated above, he was suppose to be this government man who can put out fires and was given control of the satellite net. He just seemed really jittery and didn't have any polish that I would expect with a man who holds this type of position in the government.



The plot was very simple and straight forward and there wasn't anything unique about what was happening, but it was a story that made sense and had a flow to it. I didn't go into watching this movie expecting it to be something that kept me on my toes or where I didn't know what was going to happen. I liked that it keeps it going and had a good pace and that there was a try at having a surprise, "oh no, I didn't see it being that person(s)." What was going on and the decisions each person made sense although there wasn't any development of the cast. People expecting something shocking or super exciting wouldn't like it, but if you are looking for just an entertaining stupid flick, they will enjoy it.

There were several instances of shaky came and shots that were too close in, which is filmmaking that I do not like or want to see, but there were not too many of these. It was strange how at times, it seemed like the movie didn't care about killing lots and lots of people but then want you to care about select people for just a moment. It was hard to tell which characters I was suppose to care about being it situations where they might die or when i should just accept that this person is dying to further the plot and the characters i am suppose to connect with. Having lots of secondary characters made this more difficult as there wasn't much development or screen time spent with them.

 


The CGI was inconsistent throughout the movies, at times I was quite impressed by it, while at others it was bad.  I wasn't really expecting it to be that good at all so I was pleasantly surprised. That was the theme of my experience with this movie, I wasn't expecting much, so it being able to pull out an adequate movie, I quite enjoyed it. I would watch it again, but it would never be my favorite. I preferred this movie to many I have seen and never desire to see again, but can understand how it is going to fade into obscurity because there is nothing special or outstanding out bit.  It was enjoyable to watch and got me to engage in the story and care about how it was going to come together so I cannot regret spending the time watching it.

My Rating: 2

The Mountain Between Us (2017): Review

The Mountain Between Us is based on the Charles Martin book of the same name which was published in 2010.  Earlier this year I read, the book to fulfill one of my reading challenge categories (a movie being published this year), so I have been anticipating watching the movie version of the story. I enjoy reading romance stories and enjoyed this book in its own right. I was drawn into the interactions between Ben and Ashley (name changed for the movie) and it being very easy to read, which I want in my romance novels.  I wasn't expecting having as much difficulty separating the book story from the movie story but I feel like there were changes that were unnecessary and as there isn't a whole lot going on in the story I found it quite distracting.  If you haven't read the book it wouldn't be a problem for you but if you are a lover of the book it will be annoying, especially as the things that were changes would have worked perfectly well in the movie.



The Mountain Between Us is about Doctor Ben Bass, played by Idris Elba, and Journalist/photographer Alex, played by Kate Winslet.  They are trying to fly out of an airport that is being shut down due a snow storm coming in, Alex to get married the next day and Ben to preform a surgery.  They charter Walter, played by Beau Bridges, to fly them out but Walter suffers a stroke and they crash into a snow covered mountain with Walter's Dog.  Both are injured and have to work together in order to try and get off of the mountain. During this trail, they experience hazards of being stranded on the snow covered mountain and getting to know each other.

This movie really relies on the interactions between Kate Winslet and Idris Elba and for how good of actors both of them are I was extremely disappointed in their lack of connection and chemistry. I usually love Winslet and don't really care for Elba but this was reversed in this movie. There was nothing compelling about Alex and moments that you could have really been pulled into her pain, I just wasn't. I did enjoy Elba as Ben and at least could see his journey a bit better. There was no connection or chemistry between these two, both when they were at odds or relying on each other. The situation pushed the feelings not the actors in the situation. 

For this review, I am very much being the annoying person who says the book was better or they changes too many weird things as the movie. But I found it very strange that they changes Ben's Wife's name from Rachel (book) to Sara (movie). Like why change it? all it did was create a distraction from those who know the book. Also there were moments added to create drama in the story that were unnecessary and didn't add anything to the point of the story which is the relationship between Ben and Alex and how they depend on each other for different reasons. The aspect that I did like was that the movie was more evenly focused on both Alex and Ben instead of it being more heavily on Ben.

The pacing and editing was strange, and thinking back on it, many of the things I didn't like seems to be related to directing and production. It seemed like there were two or three different people with different visions that pasted the movie together. The ending was filmed weird, when it could have focused on both of them interacting it jumps to close up face shots when they are suppose to be having an emotional conversation.

The landscapes and moments where the mountain is shown are great and I could see how when they were at different spots on the mountain the environment they were at was different in accordance to changes when elevation is dropped.

The dog was adorable but how could he not be.



I fell like I knocked this movie more than it really deserved. It wasn't that great and a lot of the problems I had with it were unnecessary changes from the book to movie, but it was still an okay romance movie. I wouldn't be opposed to watching it again but it is not worth watching in theatres.

My Rating: 2-