SPIDER-MAN: Far From Home (2019) – My rating: 7.5/10

Spider-Man: Far From Home is a superhero film based on the Marvel Comics’ character Spider-Man, co-produced by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It is the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and the twenty-third film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is directed by Jon Watts, written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Parker is recruited to face elemental threats from another dimension while he is on a school trip to Europe. I really had no interest in seeing this version of Spider-Man but wanted to write about the film hoping it would be of some interest. I didn’t love it;  see my thoughts explained in the last paragraph below.

Spider-Man: Far From Home opens in Ixtenco, Texas, with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) investigating an unnatural storm. While there, they encountered a horrifying creature, Earth Elemental. Quentin Beck / Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), a master of trickery and illusion who also claims to be a superhero from Earth-833 in the Multiversearrives, arrives and successfully fights off the creature.

Meanwhile, in New York City, the Midtown School of Science and Technology restarts its academic year to accommodate the students who were among those resurrected in “the Blip” eight months earlier. The school organizes a two-week summer field trip to Europe, where Peter Parker (Tom Holland), still distraught over Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey, Jr.) death, plans to confess his growing feelings for classmate Michelle “MJ” (Zendaya). Despite being forewarned by Harold “Happy” Hogan (Jon Favreau) that Nick Fury is trying to contact him, Peter, looking forward to his school vacation, chooses to ignore the call. Avoiding any communication with anyone from Stark Enterprises, Peter and his friends travel to Venice and are among those attacked by the Water Elemental, which proceeds to wreak havoc on the city. Mysterio arrives and destroys the creature while Peter secretly attempts to help.

When Tobey Maguire was featured as Spider-Man, the aura was more adult-oriented. With each change of the Spider-Man actor, the aura changed to reflect a more youthful audience.  While the film was full of adventure, excitement and well-acted, it’s gotten a little too youthful for me.  The silliness and cockiness, often a big part of being a teenager, no longer appeals to the likes of my generation.  The plot has more twist and turns than one could imagine.  I didn’t particularly like Fury’s attitude as he tried to convince Parker to be a man by stepping-up and participating, now that the world has changed as a result of “the Blip”.  I felt going after Peter Parker to help fight the Elementals was ridiculous, as he could have asked a different agent.  I’m sure the kids will love Spider-Man: Far From Home — it has grossed over $603 million worldwide, becoming the sixth highest-grossing film of 2019 and was positively reviewed, with critics calling it a “fun and satisfying sequel” and praising the performances of the cast, particularly Holland and Gyllenhaal. If you haven’t seen Infinity: Endgame, you should see it before Spider-Man: Far From Home, as many spoilers are through-out the film.  Check It Out!

 

LIFE (2017) – My rating: 8/10

An intense look at what can happen when meddlesome humans explore other worlds when their own world is far from perfected. I don’t mean to say we shouldn’t go where no man has gone before, I’m just saying beware of the consequences.  “Life” is an example of what can happen when you don’t know what you don’t know, when you don’t know!

A  six-member crew returning from Mars with a soil sample is tasked with studying the sample, which could prove to be the first evidence of extraterrestrial life. After extracting a single cell from the sample, British biologist Hugh Derry, an expert in exobiology is able to revive the dormant organism with atmospheric adjustments and glucose. It quickly grows into a multi-celled organism and reacts to stimuli. The crew discovers that each cell in the organism is a myocyte, neuron and photo-receptor, all at the same time. The Quarantine Officer Dr. Miranda North remarks that the organism is “…all muscle, all brain and all eye.” That should have been their first clue to abandon their research or leave it back on Mars but instead Dr. Derry tried to develop a relationship with Calvin (as it was named backed on Earth).  When Calvin appeared dormant, the doctor reached in the incubator where Calvin resided and gave it a mild stimuli which revived it but not before Calvin grabbed the doctor’s hand and crushed it.

From this point, “game on” — the crew started fighting for their lives.  Calvin grew bigger and smarter.  Life is a Science Fiction/Horror film with lots of intense scenes.

The six member International crew consist of:
Dr. David Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal), an American Senior Medical Officer

Dr. Miranda North (Rebecca Ferguson), a British Quarantine Officer

Rory “Roy” Adams (Ryan Reynolds), an American Pilot of the International Space Station

Sho Murakami (Hiroyuki Sanada), a Japanese System Engineer

Dr. Hugh Derry (Ariyon Bakare), a British Biologist

Katerina Golovkina (Olga Dihovichnaya), a Russian, Commander of the International Space Station Crew

Life is a well acted, well written movie with a huge twist for it’s ending.  Personally, I thought Life was very good — my jury is still out on the ending.  You’ll have to decide for yourself.  I’m leaning toward the downside of the hill.

 

NOCTURNAL ANIMALS (2016) – My rating 7.5/10

This unusual psychological thriller is a story within a story that takes you on a surprising journey. Not knowing what to expect, I was delighted by how well Nocturnal Animals kept the audience fine tuned into the events as they happened, despite the constant flipping between the novel and the real life story of the reader.

Susan Morrow (Amy Adams) received a manuscript written by her x-husband, Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal) along with an invitation for dinner during Edward’s upcoming visit to Los Angeles. Susan is currently married to businessman, Hutton Morrow (Armie Hammer) who is unfaithful and currently having an extra marital affair throughout the movie. During her marriage to Edward, Susan deemed Edward a failure as a writer and ended their marriage when she terminated their child by having an abortion without his knowledge, 20 years ago. She is convinced his novel, which he sent to her, asking for an opinion, was nothing more than revenge for her behavior when they were married.

As Susan starts to read the novel titled, Nocturnal Animals, she becomes so engrossed in the story she can’t put the manuscript down. Edward had sent the novel to prove that he was not a failure and that he was quite capable of writing a successful novel. The movie actually flips to the novel about a family man, happily married to India Hastings (Ellie Bamber) with a daughter on family vacation, when they encounter the Ray Marcus gang (Aaron Taylor-Johnson – gang leader; Lou (Karl Glusman – gang member); Turk/Steve Adams (Robert Aramayo – gang member), who forces them off the road. The three thugs beat Tony Hastings, (Jake Gyllenhaal) the family man in the novel, kidnap Tony’s wife and daughter then drive off with Tony and dump him somewhere along side the road, unconscious. With Tony’s wife and child missing, he eventually hooks up with a Lt. Graves (Graham Beckel) who helps him search for his family and the Marcus gang.

Nocturnal Animals continues to flip between the novel and real life showing us and Susan the terrible flaws in her character and judgement. The novel holds you to the edge of your seat and will keeps you guessing about what becomes of Susan, her husband and his affair. I was well entertained, surprised and thrilled — Nocturnal Animals is definitely worth seeing, great performances, great story.

{BTW, Aaron Taylor-Johnson won the 2017 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture,  for Nocturnal Animals!}

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SOUTHPAW (2015) – My rating 8.7

What I loved most about Southpaw was the absence of all the bells and whistles.  It was straight story telling at it’s best.  No extraneous, over-the-top scrap to glamorize the movie — they just worked hard to keep it real.  Performances by Jake Gyllenhaal who played Billy Hope and Rachel McAdams who played his wife Maureen Hope were brilliant.
A couple who came up through the system hit it big when as a professional boxer, Billy became the light heavyweight champion of the world, 43 wins vs 0 losses.  Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson plays Billy’s manager, Jordan Mains, who was into everything from fixing fights to getting $30M HBO deals.  All seemed well until tragedy hit and Billy lost everything, including his daughter to Child Protective Services.  Southpaw is about Billy’s journey back with the help of Forest Whitaker who plays Titus “Tick” Wills, owner of a gym where Billy decides to retrain and change his life around.  Southpaw is emotion packed, down to earth and well acted.  Eminem was originally targeted for the lead role of Billy Hope but decided to focus on his music so the role went to Jake Gyllenhaal.  Well done on all levels.  Check it out!

NIGHTCRAWLER (2014) – My rating: 8.5/10

What a great actor Jake Gyllenhaal has turned out to be.  For Nightcrawler, Jake lost 10 pounds to play his part and shows off his acting skills as he plays a dark, sinister character who is willing to do anything to be the best at what he does.  It’s a whole, different style of paparazzi we never think about.  A Nightcrawler goes way beyond paparazzi status because they don’t just film celebrities.  They film anything that interest the public and sells it to the highest bidder.  That means crime, accidents, fires and whatever shows pain and suffering when you are most vulnerable.  It seems the more privacy laws in affect, the less privacy we actually have.  Jake Gyllenhaal plays Louis Bloom to perfection.  He was down right creepy.  Rene Russo plays Nina, the News Director of the night crew of the LA TV station where Lou sells his videos.  Bill Paxton plays Joe Loder, another Nightcrawler with a better character.   Riz Ahmed plays Rick, Lou’s apprentice.  Nightcrawler is a thriller that’s well directed, well acted and has a plot that’s different enough to lead the pack in entertainment.  Of all the movies out right now, you’ll find this a refreshing change of pace.

[NIGHTCRAWLER is nominated for Original Screenplay (Writing)]

PRISONERS (2013) – My rating: 8.5/10

Prisoners is one the most suspenseful movies I’ve seen in a while.  Who done it?  You won’t be able to figure this one out.  There are so many suspects, twist and plots that you’ll be literally sitting on the edge of your seat.  Two little girls go missing on Thanksgiving day.  Their families are shaken to near collapse.  One father is willing to go beyond the call of duty to get his daughter back.

I have some mixed feelings about this movie because the guessing game goes a little too far for my taste.  I can’t really explain this without creating “spoilers”.  Despite any reservations I might have, there is some great acting in this movie.  Hugh Jackman gave a phenomenal performance  showing why he will go down as one of the great and versatile  actors of our time.   Performances by Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello and Terrence Howard were outstanding. One of my favorite was the performance by Melissa Leo who has done a lot of TV as well as “Frozen River” which you can find on this site as one of the highly rated movies I’ve reviewed.  Normally, I wouldn’t suggest seeing a movie with no special effects, dancing or science fiction on the big screen but this one is a “see it now” kind of movie so I suggest that you invest your time and the price of a ticket.  I rate Prisoners 8.5 out of 10 because it really gets you thinking while you’re also entertained.

[PRISONERS is nominated for Achievement in Cinematography]