In case you missed White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci's interview with The New Yorker, it is not here. Yeah, I can't. Because I'm trying to keep this blog PG rated. So I'll let Stephen Colbert go over it. Warning. Scaramucci aka "The Mooche" cusses worse than a sailor and discusses White House Adviser Steve Bannon's um... special talent. Funny stuff from Colbert. And here's applause to Jon Baptiste for playing Charlie Parker's "Moose the Mooche" as a motif for Scaramuci. President Trump's team of rivals is going to give us comedy everyday until Trump kills us. Laugh while you can, folks.
Monday, July 31, 2017
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Atomic Blonde review
Many of you probably don't remember The Cold War. It was a time when the communist Iron Curtain nations and the West fought each other through proxies and spies. The year 1989 marked the beginning of the end of communism. What would emerge and what will happen to communist spies? A new ideology will arise. It will be criminal greed. Atomic Blonde takes place in this new dawn. The film's arrival is relevant as we are currently in the middle of a Russian scandal of hacking our democracy that is not about old communism but greed.
Atomic Blonde is told through a series of flashbacks. The place where most of the action takes place is East Berlin. The East German government is about to fall as protesters take to the streets demanding freedom. Enter Bourne. Jane Bourne. No. How about Bond? Jane Bond. Nyet. Try Broughton. Lorraine Broughton. (Charlize Theron) She is a MI6 agent sent to Berlin to recover a list of agents that if exposed would endanger them and lead to continuation of The Cold War. Hold on. Isn't this the plot to Mission Impossible? Anyway, Broughton is to meet her British contact, David Percival (James McAvoy) who is a entrepreneur when it comes to forbidden Western goods like whiskey. Broughton must follow the trail of a dead agent to find out where the list is. There are other spies who want the same thing and they will resort to killing for it.
The movie has one hell of a cast. Joining Theron are also Toby Jones and John Goodman who play MI6 and CIA supervisors. Sofia Boutella plays Delphine, a sultry French agent who has an affair with Broughton. There is real chemistry between Theron and Boutella. Their bedroom scenes smolder and ignite the screen. James McAvoy is good as the sleazy MI6 agent. But it is Charlize Theron who turns in an Oscar winning performance. It's the small things that make up a whole. The good British accent. The cool and professional way she shoots a gun. And her bad ass fighting skills. She is a fury of punches and kicks. She takes pain and inflicts it. This is one brutal ballet of death. Yet with all the bruises, she still rocks stiletto heals and an evening gown.
Writer Kurt Johnstad adopted a graphic novel, The Coldest City to make Atomic Blonde. It's competent but could use a little more hints for the ending of the movie. But this film has the powerful dominance of its director, David Leitch. First, he drains the movie of much of the color. And when he does use it, the effect is that the color sticks out against the darkness. Theron's blonde heir. Red neon lights. Add to that, the expressionistic use of shadow and you have film noir or should I say spy noir. It's all pat of the mystery and moral ambiguity. . Furthermore, the use of eighties pop music also helps transport one to 1989. Good to hear 99 Luft Ballons again.
Leitch also knows how to stage action scenes. The fight scenes are carefully choreographed. Then instead of relying on editing, he shows full bodies in motion. I wish every film director would take Leitch's cue. Excessive editing leads to confusion and doesn't give you the idea of the dangerous struggle. The fight scenes though violent are exciting and simply marvelous.
Atomic Blonde is stylish. Thrilling. Sexy. Go see it. The grade is A Minus.
Atomic Blonde is told through a series of flashbacks. The place where most of the action takes place is East Berlin. The East German government is about to fall as protesters take to the streets demanding freedom. Enter Bourne. Jane Bourne. No. How about Bond? Jane Bond. Nyet. Try Broughton. Lorraine Broughton. (Charlize Theron) She is a MI6 agent sent to Berlin to recover a list of agents that if exposed would endanger them and lead to continuation of The Cold War. Hold on. Isn't this the plot to Mission Impossible? Anyway, Broughton is to meet her British contact, David Percival (James McAvoy) who is a entrepreneur when it comes to forbidden Western goods like whiskey. Broughton must follow the trail of a dead agent to find out where the list is. There are other spies who want the same thing and they will resort to killing for it.
The movie has one hell of a cast. Joining Theron are also Toby Jones and John Goodman who play MI6 and CIA supervisors. Sofia Boutella plays Delphine, a sultry French agent who has an affair with Broughton. There is real chemistry between Theron and Boutella. Their bedroom scenes smolder and ignite the screen. James McAvoy is good as the sleazy MI6 agent. But it is Charlize Theron who turns in an Oscar winning performance. It's the small things that make up a whole. The good British accent. The cool and professional way she shoots a gun. And her bad ass fighting skills. She is a fury of punches and kicks. She takes pain and inflicts it. This is one brutal ballet of death. Yet with all the bruises, she still rocks stiletto heals and an evening gown.
Writer Kurt Johnstad adopted a graphic novel, The Coldest City to make Atomic Blonde. It's competent but could use a little more hints for the ending of the movie. But this film has the powerful dominance of its director, David Leitch. First, he drains the movie of much of the color. And when he does use it, the effect is that the color sticks out against the darkness. Theron's blonde heir. Red neon lights. Add to that, the expressionistic use of shadow and you have film noir or should I say spy noir. It's all pat of the mystery and moral ambiguity. . Furthermore, the use of eighties pop music also helps transport one to 1989. Good to hear 99 Luft Ballons again.
Leitch also knows how to stage action scenes. The fight scenes are carefully choreographed. Then instead of relying on editing, he shows full bodies in motion. I wish every film director would take Leitch's cue. Excessive editing leads to confusion and doesn't give you the idea of the dangerous struggle. The fight scenes though violent are exciting and simply marvelous.
Atomic Blonde is stylish. Thrilling. Sexy. Go see it. The grade is A Minus.
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets review
There are movies when I watch them that make me ask myself, "Am I high?" Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is such a film. So many scenes were hallucinatory. While watching this movie, I wondered if it would be more enjoyable smoking a joint. Okay, I'm joking about the marijuana stuff. But wow, when you see this film, you will be asking 'What the hell is going on?"
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets takes place in the 28th century. Mankind has sent a gigantic space station into space and it being prime real estate attracts thousands of aliens to build upon it and live there. Then Vladimir Putin uses some of the buildings to launder stolen cash. Okay, the last part about Putin is not right.
An androgynous species lives in harmony with nature on the planet called "Mu", or was it "Mule?" They cultivate energy pearls. These pearls are created by space hamsters which sh%t them out. I am not kidding about the space hamsters. All right, maybe the space hamsters aren't sh%tting out the pearls but it seems that way or else they're really constipated. Anyway, a huge space ship crashes and destroys the planet.
Flash forward? Major Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) are agents of a human police force. They are given a mission by the defense minister (jazz pianist Herbie Hancock?!) to secure one of those space hamsters at a multi-dimensional market. Anyway, it seems other aliens want that space hamster because he's just so cute and he sh%ts energy pearls. All right maybe the cuteness isn't a factor.
Director and writer Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) has taken a French comic and with today's CGI created visually stunning science fiction universe. These are strange new worlds with new life and civilizations. Besson boldly goes where no director has gone before... um, sorry about that. But really, Star Trek could use a little of Valerian in the new life and worlds part. Anyway, Besson milks every bit or should I say byte of the computers of the special effects teams to create dozens of alien species, ships and future technologies.
But it's Besson's "particular set of skills" as a filmmaker that blind him. Yeah, he can create beautiful worlds, exciting action and even write some good jokes. However, he forgets to make a coherent movie. Confusion occurs often due to a lack of exposition and indulgence. During one part of the movie Laureline is forced to wear a dress by hostile aliens. Why? Don't know. Was it necessary to have a market in another dimension so that you had to wear special gear to shop in it? Let me explain this confusing concept further. Valerian is walking around in one reality while his projection or avatar is actually in another.
Besson also likes space divas in his movies. Remember the blue singer in The Fifth Element? This time he has a shapeshifter named Bubble. She's played by Rihanna. Yep, she sings here. What next? Are you going to tell be that fomer model Cara Delevingne is a singer also?
Oy.
After seeing Rihanna's bad acting and ridiculous character in Battleship, there should be a cinematic rule. No Rihanna. For the most part, Besson does a good job writing Bubble and controlling Rihanna's performance. But then there is Bubble's death scene. I know that may be a mild spoiler but Besson kind of wrote himself in a corner because the movie is about Valerian and Laureline. This ain't the Three Musketeers. Anyway, it's never explained how she received her fatal blow. Did a space sword pop her bubble? Don't know. We just see an emotional Valerian comfort her as Rihanna badly acts her way out of the movie.
So, what is the grade? Hold on. In the cast is the goddess Elizabeth Debicki. The grade is going up... must refrain from giving this crazy mess a high grade. Must remember space hamsters pooping pearls . Movie could be a future Mystery Science Theater 3000 project. But the stunning visuals and humor make it a guilty pleasure. The grade for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is B minus.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets takes place in the 28th century. Mankind has sent a gigantic space station into space and it being prime real estate attracts thousands of aliens to build upon it and live there. Then Vladimir Putin uses some of the buildings to launder stolen cash. Okay, the last part about Putin is not right.
An androgynous species lives in harmony with nature on the planet called "Mu", or was it "Mule?" They cultivate energy pearls. These pearls are created by space hamsters which sh%t them out. I am not kidding about the space hamsters. All right, maybe the space hamsters aren't sh%tting out the pearls but it seems that way or else they're really constipated. Anyway, a huge space ship crashes and destroys the planet.
Flash forward? Major Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) are agents of a human police force. They are given a mission by the defense minister (jazz pianist Herbie Hancock?!) to secure one of those space hamsters at a multi-dimensional market. Anyway, it seems other aliens want that space hamster because he's just so cute and he sh%ts energy pearls. All right maybe the cuteness isn't a factor.
Director and writer Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) has taken a French comic and with today's CGI created visually stunning science fiction universe. These are strange new worlds with new life and civilizations. Besson boldly goes where no director has gone before... um, sorry about that. But really, Star Trek could use a little of Valerian in the new life and worlds part. Anyway, Besson milks every bit or should I say byte of the computers of the special effects teams to create dozens of alien species, ships and future technologies.
But it's Besson's "particular set of skills" as a filmmaker that blind him. Yeah, he can create beautiful worlds, exciting action and even write some good jokes. However, he forgets to make a coherent movie. Confusion occurs often due to a lack of exposition and indulgence. During one part of the movie Laureline is forced to wear a dress by hostile aliens. Why? Don't know. Was it necessary to have a market in another dimension so that you had to wear special gear to shop in it? Let me explain this confusing concept further. Valerian is walking around in one reality while his projection or avatar is actually in another.
Besson also likes space divas in his movies. Remember the blue singer in The Fifth Element? This time he has a shapeshifter named Bubble. She's played by Rihanna. Yep, she sings here. What next? Are you going to tell be that fomer model Cara Delevingne is a singer also?
Oy.
After seeing Rihanna's bad acting and ridiculous character in Battleship, there should be a cinematic rule. No Rihanna. For the most part, Besson does a good job writing Bubble and controlling Rihanna's performance. But then there is Bubble's death scene. I know that may be a mild spoiler but Besson kind of wrote himself in a corner because the movie is about Valerian and Laureline. This ain't the Three Musketeers. Anyway, it's never explained how she received her fatal blow. Did a space sword pop her bubble? Don't know. We just see an emotional Valerian comfort her as Rihanna badly acts her way out of the movie.
So, what is the grade? Hold on. In the cast is the goddess Elizabeth Debicki. The grade is going up... must refrain from giving this crazy mess a high grade. Must remember space hamsters pooping pearls . Movie could be a future Mystery Science Theater 3000 project. But the stunning visuals and humor make it a guilty pleasure. The grade for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is B minus.
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Dunkirk IMAX review
There's an expression, "live to fight another day." Throughout history, armies have retreated or "strategically redeployed" and survived to fight another day. It is a viable tactic. Look at our American history. George Washington at New York. Now comes a British tale of retreat. It is director and writer Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk.
It's 1940, World War II. Nazi Germany has routed the British and French. What's left of their troops are now surrounded in a French seaside town called Dunkirk. If the British army is destroyed, it's over for the allies and Nazi Germany dominates Europe and perhaps wins the war. The United States at that time has not entered the war. The allies must escape across the English Channel or be destroyed.
Nolan's film follows three arenas of the battle of Dunkirk. First, we meet an English private named Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) who is seen literally running for his life through streets to the beach. Then there is Dawson. (Mark Rylance) He's an English civilian with a motorized yacht. With his son and a teenage friend, they take off for Dunkirk to help rescue soldiers trapped on the beach. The third part of the battle followed is in the air. A squadron of RAF Spitfires is deployed to protect the evacuation of troops. One of the pilots is Farrier. (Tom Hardy) Other actors Kenneth Branagh and James D'Arcy play British officers and provide exposition.
The movie tells the tale of the three in a non-linear fashion, i.e. the story threads intertwine. It also makes the conscious decision to keep its characters somewhat nameless. You won't hear a lot of other soldiers calling each other by their names. Perhaps, that's to demonstrate that the battle was a group effort of the British to prevail.
Performances are all excellent. Fionn Whitehead's Tommy is a scared soldier trying to survive as he's constantly bombed or fired upon. Mark Rylance shows us what the "stiff upper lip" of the English is all about. He's all about his mission to rescue soldiers in the face of trauma of war. I'm a fan of Tom Hardy. (Star Trek: Nemesis). His performance is handicapped by the fact that he must wear a flight mask during most of the movie. Hardy's brilliance is to show his emotions of desperation and determination without seeing three quarters of his face. You get it from his eyes, forehead, and body movement. And listen carefully. There's Michael Caine as one of the pilots. It's honoring Caine's appearance in The Battle of Britain. (1969)
Christopher Nolan has made a taut and riveting film about survival. Dunkirk is more about the individual stories than about big armies facing off with each other. You won't get huge shots of CGI ships and troops. What Nolan does show is that death comes from a faceless Nazi army. He accurately depicts German Stuka dive bombers with their shrill air sirens. When you see and hear them coming at the English soldiers, even being a filmgoer in the theater one is terrified. And that's the point of a Stuka's siren. Not only does it announce the coming of death, it also terrorizes and demoralizes surviving troops. While watching this movie, I never assumed that a character in the movie will live.
Dunkirk is a movie that looks gorgeous and epic on the screen. Fist, Nolan loves shooting on film versus digital video. I am not a disciple of either but film does have more warmth perhaps due to the imperfections whereas video tends to capture more detail. Anyway, Dunkirk radiates that warmth. And by not cramming the screen with thousands of CGI troops and ships, Nolan gives the picture wide open spaces.
There are minor flaws in Dunkirk. For the most part, Nolan stays away from sappy sentimentality, he does engage in a moment of Hollywood hype. I'm talking about a scene where a RAF pilot attacks a Stuka while gliding. Another thing is the overlapping story threads tend to interrupt each other.
Nolan tasks Hans Zimmer to compose the score. Zimmer who has worked on Nolan films (Inception, Interstellar etc.) before. He has a style that emphasizes atmosphere over melody. For the most part, Zimmer's dissonant score for Dunkirk works. This is a reflection of twentieth century conflict versus nineteenth century romanticism. But then he overdoes it with strange instrument combinations such as using electric stings, pulsating rhythms, dissonance and turning up the volume to disturbing levels. It can be overkill.
As far as seeing this movie in regular IMAX, let me point out that Nolan shot Dunkirk with 65 mm IMAX film. (Video belwo.) It was released in regular IMAX or what I call for my viewing digital IMAX. Nolan's preferred viewing is 70 mm film and IMAX film. (Variety)
Good luck finding a theater with a 70 mm projector. According to the article only about 125 exist nationwide. You see movie theaters have moved away from using projectors that use film to ones that use digital hard drives. So you are more than likely going to see Dunkirk on a digital print or regular IMAX, i.e. not IMAX Film. I do recommend IMAX regardless of version. IMAX always gives you better resolution. Add to that the gigantic screen. What you get with Dunkirk is a feeling as if you are there. You are present in a living painting. This is especially prevalent with the first person flying scenes.
Dunkirk is a stunning epic. Scary and thrilling. I can only hope that Christopher Nolan follows it up with a Battle of Britain movie. The grade is A.
It's 1940, World War II. Nazi Germany has routed the British and French. What's left of their troops are now surrounded in a French seaside town called Dunkirk. If the British army is destroyed, it's over for the allies and Nazi Germany dominates Europe and perhaps wins the war. The United States at that time has not entered the war. The allies must escape across the English Channel or be destroyed.
Nolan's film follows three arenas of the battle of Dunkirk. First, we meet an English private named Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) who is seen literally running for his life through streets to the beach. Then there is Dawson. (Mark Rylance) He's an English civilian with a motorized yacht. With his son and a teenage friend, they take off for Dunkirk to help rescue soldiers trapped on the beach. The third part of the battle followed is in the air. A squadron of RAF Spitfires is deployed to protect the evacuation of troops. One of the pilots is Farrier. (Tom Hardy) Other actors Kenneth Branagh and James D'Arcy play British officers and provide exposition.
The movie tells the tale of the three in a non-linear fashion, i.e. the story threads intertwine. It also makes the conscious decision to keep its characters somewhat nameless. You won't hear a lot of other soldiers calling each other by their names. Perhaps, that's to demonstrate that the battle was a group effort of the British to prevail.
Performances are all excellent. Fionn Whitehead's Tommy is a scared soldier trying to survive as he's constantly bombed or fired upon. Mark Rylance shows us what the "stiff upper lip" of the English is all about. He's all about his mission to rescue soldiers in the face of trauma of war. I'm a fan of Tom Hardy. (Star Trek: Nemesis). His performance is handicapped by the fact that he must wear a flight mask during most of the movie. Hardy's brilliance is to show his emotions of desperation and determination without seeing three quarters of his face. You get it from his eyes, forehead, and body movement. And listen carefully. There's Michael Caine as one of the pilots. It's honoring Caine's appearance in The Battle of Britain. (1969)
Christopher Nolan has made a taut and riveting film about survival. Dunkirk is more about the individual stories than about big armies facing off with each other. You won't get huge shots of CGI ships and troops. What Nolan does show is that death comes from a faceless Nazi army. He accurately depicts German Stuka dive bombers with their shrill air sirens. When you see and hear them coming at the English soldiers, even being a filmgoer in the theater one is terrified. And that's the point of a Stuka's siren. Not only does it announce the coming of death, it also terrorizes and demoralizes surviving troops. While watching this movie, I never assumed that a character in the movie will live.
Dunkirk is a movie that looks gorgeous and epic on the screen. Fist, Nolan loves shooting on film versus digital video. I am not a disciple of either but film does have more warmth perhaps due to the imperfections whereas video tends to capture more detail. Anyway, Dunkirk radiates that warmth. And by not cramming the screen with thousands of CGI troops and ships, Nolan gives the picture wide open spaces.
There are minor flaws in Dunkirk. For the most part, Nolan stays away from sappy sentimentality, he does engage in a moment of Hollywood hype. I'm talking about a scene where a RAF pilot attacks a Stuka while gliding. Another thing is the overlapping story threads tend to interrupt each other.
Nolan tasks Hans Zimmer to compose the score. Zimmer who has worked on Nolan films (Inception, Interstellar etc.) before. He has a style that emphasizes atmosphere over melody. For the most part, Zimmer's dissonant score for Dunkirk works. This is a reflection of twentieth century conflict versus nineteenth century romanticism. But then he overdoes it with strange instrument combinations such as using electric stings, pulsating rhythms, dissonance and turning up the volume to disturbing levels. It can be overkill.
As far as seeing this movie in regular IMAX, let me point out that Nolan shot Dunkirk with 65 mm IMAX film. (Video belwo.) It was released in regular IMAX or what I call for my viewing digital IMAX. Nolan's preferred viewing is 70 mm film and IMAX film. (Variety)
Good luck finding a theater with a 70 mm projector. According to the article only about 125 exist nationwide. You see movie theaters have moved away from using projectors that use film to ones that use digital hard drives. So you are more than likely going to see Dunkirk on a digital print or regular IMAX, i.e. not IMAX Film. I do recommend IMAX regardless of version. IMAX always gives you better resolution. Add to that the gigantic screen. What you get with Dunkirk is a feeling as if you are there. You are present in a living painting. This is especially prevalent with the first person flying scenes.
Dunkirk is a stunning epic. Scary and thrilling. I can only hope that Christopher Nolan follows it up with a Battle of Britain movie. The grade is A.
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Star Trek: Discovery trailer
Here's the Star Trek: Discovery TV show trailer. Star Trek belongs on TV. Let's hope it's true to Gene Roddenberry's vision. I love Alexander Courage's Trek fanfare at the end.
Trump wants Obamacare to fail which will cause people to suffer
Yesterday, conservative President Trump said, "We just let Obamacare fail... We're not going to own it, I'm not going to own it." (at the 25 second mark of the video below)
Now it's my turn. Hey Trump, "Bleep you. You piece of bleep." Millions of people will suffer and thousands will die if Obamacare fails. There are millions of people who depend on the healthcare provided by Obamacare. Trump you are a sadistic, selfish man.
Oh, by the way Obamacare is not a failure. Listen to Senator Cory Booker. (D-NJ) (Video below at 2 minute mark.) People with pre-existing conditions are covered. People are not suffering from bankruptuies because their medical bills are covered. More people are covered now than before. Yes, it's not perfect. But it can be tweeked and fixed. Booker calls Trump's comments sinister.
Sen. Bernie Sanders says letting Obamacare fail will cause people to suffer. He also wants a public option as a fix. He also argues for an eventual single payer plan. Video.
Now it's my turn. Hey Trump, "Bleep you. You piece of bleep." Millions of people will suffer and thousands will die if Obamacare fails. There are millions of people who depend on the healthcare provided by Obamacare. Trump you are a sadistic, selfish man.
Oh, by the way Obamacare is not a failure. Listen to Senator Cory Booker. (D-NJ) (Video below at 2 minute mark.) People with pre-existing conditions are covered. People are not suffering from bankruptuies because their medical bills are covered. More people are covered now than before. Yes, it's not perfect. But it can be tweeked and fixed. Booker calls Trump's comments sinister.
Sen. Bernie Sanders says letting Obamacare fail will cause people to suffer. He also wants a public option as a fix. He also argues for an eventual single payer plan. Video.
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Stephen Colbert on the people who were at the Trump Jr.-Russian meeting
It's Russia week at Late Night with Stephen Colbert. He's going to show footage from his trip to Russia. Check out the opening monologue about Trump Jr.'s meeting with the Russians. And if you're curious here's the list of the eight people in the meeting courtesy of Vox. Funny stuff.
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