Turkey Trot 2016

Here's the race video from the 2016 Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot!  I was coming off of knee surgery and minimal training.  I managed to finish the race without stopping.  Hopefully I have better results next year... Enjoy!

I'm lovin' Michael Keaton's performance in The Founder

I think I've been in awe of Michael Keaton since the first time I saw him on screen.  As a kid, I think I watched Mr. Mom a hundred times and laughed just as hard during each viewing.  There's just something so relate-able about Keaton's performances.  He's a certifiable movie star, but he never once seems out of touch.  His characters are filled with warmth and realism, and every one who dons Batman's cowl is chasing Keaton's run as the caped crusader.  The Paper is also one of my all-time underrated movies.  Then a crazy thing happened... Keaton went away for awhile.  He took a few years off from full-time acting, appearing occasionally (his performance as a TLC-loving Bed Bath and Beyond boss is the best part of The Other Guys) in an occasional film from time to time.  It wasn't until his career-defining role in Birdman hit the screen that I realized how much I missed Michael Keaton in my life. 

While I'm glad that Keaton is back, it's also criminal that he's been overlooked in his work since coming back.  He absolutely should have won Best Actor for Birdman, which is a role that will stand the test of time (does anyone even remember Eddie Redmayne's performance in The Theory Of Everything?  I didn't think so.).  He's appeared in two straight Best Picture winners, but has been overlooked for his acting on both occasions.  That streak of Best Picture winners will end with The Founder, a shockingly overlooked awards season player.  The fact that Keaton isn't even nominated for his tour de force performance as McDonald's kingpin, Ray Kroc, makes it even worse.

The Founder tells the story of how a failed salesman went on to head one of the largest, most recognizable companies in the world.  Keaton shines from the very first frame, giving a building performance from nobody to tyrant without it once veering in to camp-style performance that any other actor could have taken it to.  When he makes a turn to the dark side, he does it with such subtlety that you realize he's been that way the whole time.  The audience falls under the Kroc spell just like the McDonald brothers did.

This is not a film without flaw.  The story structure feels, at times, like a tried and true biopic.  Laura Dern is vastly underutilized as Kroc's neglected wife.  I also would have liked to see more of the story from the McDonald brothers side.  Finally, I felt the story could have delved a little deeper into Kroc's motivation.  You get glimpses into his motivations (Self-help records, failed marriage, nobody believes in him), but nothing is completely fleshed out.  Maybe that was the purpose.  Kroc is such a mythical figure in American culture, that nobody really knows why he did what he did.  There is also the McDonald's story to tell, which eats up time that may have been used for more character development.

Ultimately, none of this matters because Keaton is such an ever-present force throughout the film.  It's a shame that he didn't make the Best Actor cut.  I hope he continues making these prestige films, and filling my screen with such wonderful characters. 

I'm giving The Founder 3 out of 4 stars (4 stars for the Keaton performance).  It's a fully satisfying film that deserves a bigger audience.

On a final note, a former Colby College classmate (and Newhouse alum!) of mine is an executive producer on this film.  Congrats to her on making the Colby community proud!

Fences and my preliminary top 10 of 2016

There are few actors on earth (or in history) quite like the phenomenal Denzel Washington.  His range, presence and overall ability are (in my opinion) unmatched in modern cinema.  I would say that his closest modern competitor would be Tom Hanks, but even Hanks hasn't reveled in his dark side like Washington.  I mention this because I just got back from the phenomenal Fences (based on the August Wilson play of the same name), and I have to say that Washington's performance is his crowning achievement.

Washington plays Troy, a deeply flawed Pittsburgh (The movie was filmed here too!  Woo Woo!) man, father and husband that has never come to terms with the fact that he hasn't lived the life he wanted.  Washington's presence is vibrant throughout this film (which he directed).  He plays it cool, angry, jealous, sad, proud and antagonistic at the same time.  Troy is a deeply flawed man and Denzel plays him without any of his usual pomp and circumstance.  He delivers such a raw, stripped performance in a way that we have never seen from him before.

You can tell that this movie was a play first in that it's shot as a play would be presented on stage.  There are very few location changes, and in fact, the majority of the film takes place in the back yard (where the titular fence is being erected).  Wilson's dialogue is delivered at such a high rate and with such conviction by the entire stellar cast (Washington in particular) that it's almost poetic.  I am a huge Aaron Sorkin fan, solely because he treats dialogue as an art form.  That is very much the case in Fences.  You get into an almost trance-like state watching this film.  I absolutely adored it.

Another reason to love this movie is the phenomenal cast... in particular the excellent work by Viola Davis as a woman who is trying to keep this flawed marriage together at all costs.  She delivers one of the must stunning "yelling" scenes that I have ever seen after she learns some troubling news.  I really hope she is a major player come awards season because she deeply deserves.

Ultimately, this is a movie about the fences that we erect, both physically and metaphorically, to present our lives the way we want, both publicly and privately.  Denzel is so great because he shows the lengths we take to get through our daily lives, warts and all.

4 out of 4 stars.  I can't recommend Fences enough!

Now on to my top 10 of 2016... with the caveat that I have not seen many of the major awards players yet.  This is just a list of movies that I have seen this year.  No Manchester By The Sea, Jackie, Moonlight or La La Land.  I hope to update this list again before the Oscars.

Before I get to my top 10, here's a list of films that just missed the cut.

Zootopia, Finding Dory, The Jungle Book - I'm lumping these together because 2016 was a particularly strong year for animation and these all deserve some special recognition... particularly the phenomenal Zootopia (a stunning allegory for race in America).

The Nice Guys - Director Shane Black returns to his LA noir comedy stomping grounds with this criminally underrated summer comedy.  Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe have a strange but wonderful on screen chemistry.

Doctor Strange - Marvel continues its winning tradition with this excellent origin story of Marvel's sorcerer supreme.

Star Trek Beyond - A great third film in the rebooted Trek series, and a rare quality summer blockbuster this year.  I hope they continue on in their journey through the final frontier.

My (preliminary) top 10 of 2016

10) Captain America:  Civil War - Marvel knocked this one out of the park bringing one of the most famous comic book series to life.  Extra kudos for breathing fresh life in to Spider-Man.

9) The Witch - In a great year for horror films, The Witch stands out for its beautiful, stark minimalism.

8) OJ: Made In America - 2016 was a weird year, so it makes sense that it was also the year of OJ Simpson.  From the incredible fictional series The People vs. OJ Simpson to this ESPN documentary, the trial of the century was presented in a complete and thorough way.  Made In America took it one step further, showing the rise, fall and further fall of the once iconic OJ Simpson.

7) Green Room - I loved this highly underrated thriller about a punk band being trapped inside a white supremacist compound.  Props to the phenomenal Patrick Stewart in an against-type performance for the ages.

6) The Birth Of A Nation - Another criminally underrated (and underseen) movie.  Director Nate Parker presents the story of the largest slave rebellion in US History in a deeply moving way.  Once thought to be an Oscar front-runner has sadly fallen by the wayside.

5) Hell Or High Water - A good old fashioned cops and robbers film that doesn't break any new ground, but feels fresh and invigorating at the same time.

4) 13th - A total gut punch documentary that presents how African-Americans have been treated and incarcerated (particularly males) since the passing of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.  A must see!

3) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - The Force is in good hands with the house of mouse.  This exhilarating standalone story perfectly sets up A New Hope.  I'm glad the rumors over its troubled production were just that.

2) Fences - The best acted movie of the year should be a major player this awards season.

1) Arrival - An alien invasion movie where the aliens are almost secondary.  It's my favorite movie of the year by my favorite new director (Denis Villenueve).  I look forward to seeing what he can do with the Blade Runner sequel in 2017.

I am not going to do a bottom 5, but there were a lot of stinkers this year that could easily make the list.  2016 may have been the worst summer blockbuster season in recent years.  I will present you with my most disappointing film of the year.

The DC cinematic universe - I'm going to cheat and include both Batman V Superman and the deeply disappointing Suicide Squad as one.  DC is behind the curve with Marvel on every level.  I have high hopes for Wonder Woman, but I think this cinematic universe is already doomed.

Rogue One... The Force Is Strong With This Star Wars Spinoff

Going in to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, I had a great amount of trepidation.  It was dogged by rumors or re-shoots and director/studio conflict... usually a death knell for a blockbuster of this magnitude.  Often times, a movie never recovers from those rumors (there are exceptions like World War Z).  I tried to avoid any and all reviews or articles about the film.  I wanted to go into this movie with as fresh a set of eyes as possible.  After viewing this thrilling Star Wars standalone film, I am happy to report that Rogue One is the Star Wars prequel we deserve.  It was full of all the life and emotion that made the original Star Wars movies so mesmerizing, and devoid of all of the pitfalls that ruined the Star Wars prequels.  It's gritty, thrilling, and humorous with some genuinely mesmerizing action sequences on par with any of the great moments in the Star Wars universe.

Rogue One started as an idea.  Director Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) and Lucasfilm took a question, "how did the rebels get the plans to the Death Star?" and turned it into 2+ hours of one of the best war movies of the last few years.  It catches the rebellion at probably its lowest point since the Emperor came into power.  Systems are falling.  Rebels are floundering, and there is no hope in the galaxy.  Couple that with the soon-to-be finished Death Star flexing its terrifying muscle and you have a galaxy devoid of human (or alien) spirit.  (It's also hard not to draw a parallel between what is happening in this film to where we could end up in the coming years in this country.)  Enter Jyn Erso, daughter of the chief Death Star engineer (played with full piss and vinegar by Felicity Jones), who is conscripted into the battle by the rebellion.  She was essentially orphaned by her father when he was forced back into the Empire to finish his work on the Death Star.  Her father, though working on a ship of great destruction, has purposely left it vulnerable (see Episode IV, A New Hope for full details), and it's up to his estranged daughter to convince the rebellion to go after the plans to destroy it.  This ultimately leads to a full scale assault on an Empire base (one of the best battle scenes in the last decade).

What separates this film from the other Star Wars films is it's brutality.  Lives are sacrificed, and not everything colored in the bright-eyed optimism of Luke Skywalker.  In order to gain an advantage, many must make the ultimate sacrifice.  Actions have consequences.  That's not to say that Rogue One is a completely lifeless movie.  It has some genuine humor sprinkled throughout to keep spirits lifted during times of trouble.  The real star of this film is the battle sequences.  The storming of the base by our rag tag group of rebels is a sight to be seen.

Rogue One is not a perfect film, either.  It (like a lot of big budget ensembles) struggles with character development at times.  For every strong character (Jyn Erso, the power hungry Director Krennic, and the humorous droid K-2SO), there are a few characters that don't get the same treatment.  I realize that there's only so much that can go into development in a two hour movie, but major characters need a little bit more development for me to get invest in (like Forest Whitaker's wasted character, Saw Gerrera).

Overall, I still really enjoyed this film and it will almost certainly make my top ten of the year list.  It was amazing to see Darth Vader on screen again (albeit in a limited role), and the fact that they were able to make a lifelike CG character of Grand Moff Tarkin from the first Star Wars film was amazing to see (the actor who originally played him died in 1994).  There are Easter Eggs to the original film sprinkled throughout this one, but they don't distract from this film in any shape or form.

This will also certainly be a stand alone film, as it leads directly to the events of A New Hope.  It also has me excited for future "A Star Wars Story" standalone films.  I hope they can fill in the blanks in the large, endless canvas that is the Star Wars universe.

I'm giving Rogue One 3.5 stars out of 4.  It has a great, multi-ethnic cast with a strong female lead.  It has something for everyone... Star Wars fans young and old.  Go see it!

Fantastic Beasts shows there's still some magic left in the Potter-verse

I'm not a fan of the growing trend where every film property needs to have a cinematic universe.  It feels contrived and the source material doesn't always warrant the expansion.  For instance, the recent Ghostbusters film was meant to be the opening of a larger universe, but it felt more of a retread of the original classic than a launching pad of a ghost busting world.  Every film that comes out now feels like it's trying to be the gateway to a larger series of interconnected films.  I get why studios are doing it.  Every executive around the world looks at Marvel and licks their chops.  BUT the one thing they fail to do is properly build their source material.  The Marvel Cinematic Universe because of its deep bench of superheroes and the fact that they can all appear together or separately depending on the film.  Not all franchises has this in their arsenals... which leads me to Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.  When Harry & Co. finished their fantastic run with the 8th and final film, it was a crowning achievement... it also felt like a finishing point to a wonderful story.  I am a huge fan of of Harry Potter (both book & film form), and am glad that they are expanding the Potter-verse to more films while resisting the urge to reboot the franchise (for now).

The Potter-verse doesn't end with Harry.  There was an entire world of magic for thousands of years before the boy who lived began his journey.  JK Rowling (making her screen writing debut) sprinkled little bread crumbs throughout the books, as well as the films.  This is where Beasts starts.  Set 70 years before The Sorcerer's Stone, Beasts tells the story of a wayward wizard (played delightfully weird by the always reliable Eddie Redmayne), who brings a suitcase full of magical creatures to New York City and proceeds to let them loose by accident.

Beasts is not a perfect film.  In fact, the first act feels like a bad comedy.  Beast gets loose.  Hilarity ensues.  Rinse and repeat.  However, about a third of the way in, the film picks up.  There is a darker subplot that brings this film out of comedic doldrums and makes it into an appealing film.  There is a group of anti-magic people (called the New Salem group), who are hellbent on exposing (and destroying) the magical world.  Our heroes get caught up in trying to stop a dark power that's unleashed upon the city that is somehow tied to this group.  There are some genuinely exciting moments in this film, but it often feels like a franchise starter film first and a movie second.  The Fantastic Beasts themselves almost feel like an afterthought at times, and some plot lines are introduced that will be resolved in future installments.  However, the excellent cast (especially "non-Mag," the American term for Muggles, lead played by Dan Fogler & and a wicked Colin Farrell) and the closing action sequence keep this film entertaining enough that you can forgive some of the lesser fleshed out portions of it.

If you are a fan of the Potter films, I would definitely recommend it for you.  You'll enjoy being back in this world and will look forward to future installments.

2.5 stars out of 4.

Arrival is a beautiful film

A lot of people are comparing Denis Villenueva's latest gem, Arrival, with Stephen Spielberg's 80s "aliens have arrived" film Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.  A lot of people love that film.  I am not one of them.  I always found it to be a rather lackluster entry in the Spielberg film canon.  I can't quite put my finger on it, but the film never really resonated with me.

Going in to Arrival, I did not know what to expect.  It had been getting stellar reviews, but I couldn't quite shake the feeling that it would be Encounters 2.0.  After viewing the film, I can happily report that my fears were completely misguided.  Arrival is a fantastic film that fully cements Vellenueva's status atop the Hollywood directing totem pole.  Both his last two films (2013's Prisoners & last year's Sicario) made my top ten list of the year, and both were criminally under watched and underappreciated.  This film appears to already be doing decent at the box office, so I hope more and more people come to appreciate his talents.

It's hard to discuss this film without giving away some of its secrets, so I'll have to be as generic as possible.  The basic premise of the film is that aliens have arrived and are trying to communicate with us through 12 different space crafts.  The US government hires a world renowned linguist (played superbly by the always great Amy Adams) and a physicist (the always reliable Jeremy Renner) to decode their language as quickly as possible in an effort to decipher whether these new out-of-world beings are friend or foe.  That's about as much as I can go into the plot without spoiling the big reveal in the film.

I loved this film because it resonates so well in today's toxic world.  It's about hope.  About the toxicity of "Us vs Them."  About understanding and compassion.  And, most importantly, about the importance of not rushing to judge those that we deem "other."

The cast is phenomenal.  The directing is superb.  I can't say enough about Villenueva.  It's not a flashy guns and explosions alien movie, but the amount of tension that he's able to generate with camera movement and music is incredible.  It's a thinking person's movie, and a welcome respite from the flood of horrible news coming across our screens daily.  I can't recommend this movie enough.  Arrival is the best movie I've seen this year.

4 stars out of 4!  Go see it.

Doctor Strange is another win for Marvel.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) gets knocked for being an assembly line whose only goal is to promote the next film down the line.  To a certain extent, I would agree with that statement.  However, the most recent entrees to the MCU (Guardians Of The Galaxy, Ant-Man, and now Doctor Strange) have all felt fresh and exciting.  I think it's perhaps because they are so far down the totem pole of superhero hierarchy, these movies can afford to experiment.  From the quirkiness of Guardians, to the humor of Ant-Man, each of the recent MCU films have a distinct voice while still fitting into the larger storyline.

Doctor Strange is no different.  Aside from a brief reference to The Avengers early in the film (and during the required post-credit scenes), you don't even think about the larger MCU during this film, which is quite refreshing.

Doctor Strange tells the story of how a brilliant surgeon (Strange) becomes the earth's mightiest sorcerer.  Stephen Strange is a surgeon without equal.  He's also a hot shot that believes his own hype, and picks and chooses his patients in order to keep his surgical record perfect.  Shortly after he rescues a patient from a bullet to the brain he loses the ability to use his hand in a car crash (don't text and drive kiddos!).  It is at this moment that Strange seeks a miracle cure that leads him to a far away land.  Here, he meets the Sorcerer Supreme (controversially played by Tilda Swinton) and learns the power of mysticism.  I highly enjoyed his training sequences, which were filled with humor stunning visuals.

Doctor Strange is at its strongest when it flexes its visual muscle.  That is not to say that the film only succeeds because of its visuals.  Quite the opposite, actually.  Benedict Cumberbatch is equal parts wit and (spiritual) muscle.  He shines with the most charisma this side of Tony Stark.  But, at the end of the day, this is a big blockbuster and the visuals do not disappoint.  By playing in different realms and spaces, Doctor Strange's visuals have to be seen to be believed.  I would describe parts of this movie as Inception meets Labyrinth.  It's like an M.C. Escher painting on steroids.  It does struggle with plot at times, but I was always glad that I was along for the ride.  Hopefully, future MCU films are allowed to have as much creative freedom as Doctor Strange... especially with these individual films.

There are some flaws in this movie.  The talented Rachel McAdams is pretty much cast to the side as a former flame of Stephen Strange, and the plot tends to get a little convoluted at times while the characters are talking about mysticism and alternate reality.  I do hope that McAdams gets more screen time in future Strange films because the chemistry between her character and Cumberbatch's was quite strong.  The few scenes they shared were some of the strongest in the film.  The final, and most controversial, flaw in this film was the decision to cast Tilda Swinton as the Sorcerer Supreme.  This isn't a knock on her performance, as it was quite strong, but rather it's Hollywood's umpteenth example of unnecessary whitewashing.  The director has lived up to it in recent statements, but it's still an unfortunate blemish on an otherwise superb entry into the MCU.

Overall, I would give Doctor Strange 3 out of 4 stars.  It's another excellent addition to the MCU, and opens the door for fun and exciting sequels.  Benedict Cumberbatch is excellent in the title role, and the supporting cast (whitewashing controversy aside) is excellent.