There is always something unique about Christopher Nolan's films and his latest, Dunkirk, is no different. He takes a look at the Dunkirk evacuation from three separate parallel stories that manage to tie together in an unexpected and yet completely organic way. Beyond that, his approach to telling the story is different than most war movies in that it drops us right into the middle of the action and keeps the viewers gripped for the entirety of it's 100 minute run time.
The story line that opens the film is one following young British soldier named Tommy (played by Fionn Whitehead) as he walks with a couple other soldiers through the town of Dunkirk, trying to salvage any supplies or water that they can when they are opened fire upon by enemy snipers. Ducking for cover, Tommy is able to escape back to the beach of Dunkirk, where he joins 300,000 other soldiers waiting to be evacuated while being picked off by German airplanes as they fly by. The Germans also drop leaflets from the sky illustrating that they surround the beach and there is no escape. Once there, Tommy meets two other young soldiers, Gibson (played by Aneurin Barnard) and Alex (played by Harry Styles) and the three of them try to figure out how to get off the beach anyway they can. Meanwhile, back in England, Mr. Dawson (played by Mark Rylance) is charged along with all the other area sailors to sail for Dunkirk to aid in the evacuation attempts. Not willing to let his boat be taken by the British Navy, Dawson sails off himself along with two young men from the village, his youngest son Peter (played by Tom Glynn-Carney) and another boy George (played by Barry Keoghan). In the air, two British fighter pilots, Farrier (played by Tom Hardy) and Collins (played by Jack Lowden), are dispatched to try and fight off the German planes bombing Dunkirk beach as well as the rescue ships in an attempt to allow the evacuation to go forth.
Christopher Nolan manages to juggle all three story lines really well and it's interesting in the way they intersect and overlap as we go from the fighter pilots duking it out into the air and then it switches to the soldiers on the ground, witnessing the same events from their perspective. This happens several times throughout the film and it was a bit jarring at first, but I was able to get into the groove of it. The film also drops us right into the action of the Dunkirk evacuation with very little pretense. The film focuses squarely on everyone trying to get the hell out of there and never once pauses for any of the usual character building scenes that can bog down films like this. Nolan keeps the film lean and forever moving forward, which I rather appreciated. I didn't need to know the life story or the hopes and dreams of Tommy or Gibson, Mr. Dawson's background or anything else with any of the other characters. I was already fully invested in these characters as we followed them through the events of the film. There are a few details here or there that come out in the course of the action, but that's it and frankly that's all we really need.
Christopher Nolan and his crew did a fantastic job recreating the Dunkirk evacuation down to the smallest of details. Everything about the film felt authentic and accurate. Granted, I am not a Dunkirk scholar but I do know a fair amount about World War II as well as Dunkirk itself (I read up on it after seeing Joe Wright's Atonement, where James McAvoy's character winds up at Dunkirk). While the main characters appear to be fictional, they do draw inspiration from real life figures, especially Mr. Dawson, who recalled real-life Dunkirk participant (and Second Officer of the Titanic) Charles Lightoller. The film strikes an interesting balance between fact and fiction where the characters are fictional but the events they interact with are actually quite accurate. It's an interesting choice by Nolan, who both wrote and directed the film, but also makes sense because it's easier to get to the emotional truth of what it felt to be there if they don't have to strictly remain true to real life figures.
Dunkirk is a bit atypical in terms of war movies, keeping it's focus squarely on what was happening on the water, on the beach and in the air in a very straightforward way that draws in the audience in a very visceral way. With great actors, the majority of them are rather unknown makes it feel more authentic than if we were watching more well known movies stars. Overall, this is a fantastic film that was very well made with some great decisions as to how it was made and presented. I highly recommend checking it out as this could very well be one of my favorites of the year.
I've long been a fan of writer/director Luc Besson, especially his films Leon: The Professional and The Fifth Element. When I saw the first trailer for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets I was immediately psyched. I knew I had to see this movie based on the stunning visuals alone. Does the finished film live up to the early promise of those trailers, along with Besson's previous films? Yes and no, sadly. There is a lot to love with this movie, but it does have a couple flaws as well.
The City of a Thousand Planets started from humble beginnings as a Space Station of Earth, but slowly grew as more countries contributed to it until one day it had it's first alien visitors. From there, other aliens came too and station became a place for different beings to come together to share ideas and technology with one another. Eventually, the station grew too large to remain in Earth's orbit and was sent off into space, becoming it's own city known as Alpha. The city is home to thirty million residents of over a thousand different planets, each with their own specialty that contributes to the functioning of the city. Hidden among the city residents are the last surviving residents of destroyed planet Mul and they are in danger because the person responsible for the destruction of the planet is seeking to wipe them out as the last witnesses to what happened. Tasked with finding out who that is and stopping them is Major Valerian (played by Dane DeHaan) and his partner Sergeant Laureline (played by Cara Delevingne).
Luc Besson wrote and directed the film, based on the comics by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mezieres, and brings it's universe wonderfully to life with some of the most dazzling and imaginative imagery I've seen on screen in a long, long time. It is very much in the same style as Besson's The Fifth Element in it's design, but on steroids (which makes sense since the Valerian and Laureline comics heavily influenced that film). In the well worn era of science fiction, Besson and his crew manage to come up with some genuinely imaginative visuals. There are some unique action sequences to, such as an extended action sequence where Valerian and Laureline have to infiltrate a giant marketplace, which exists in a seperate dimension, but through special glasses and trans-dimensional box, they are able to interact with the marketplace to retrieve an important object. It's a wild concept and something I greatly enjoyed seeing play out on screen. There is another sequence that is a chase through the city that really shows how this patchwork came together as Valerian is running through walls and running on top of various tunnels. Besson's unique, candy-colored style for this film more than anything is what people will remember.
Where the film falters is the storyline. It's not overly original and not something we haven't seen before. I didn't mind it so much because the film did sweep me up into everything fairly easily. But looking back, there isn't much there that I haven't seen elsewhere. The film certainly has a great cast starting with it's two leads, Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne. There is a problem with the two of them together though as Valerian and Laureline are supposed to be a romantic couple in addition to working partners but I never once bought that they were in the slightest bit in love with one another as Dane and Cara have exactly zero chemistry with one another. Valerian states at one point in the film he is ready to settle down with Laureline but she doubts him and I did to because there was absolutely nothing between them. It wasn't enough to wreck the movie for me, but it was a decided problem. I liked Dane and Cara a lot as their characters but they just didn't seem that romantically inclined. Then again, romantic subplots were never Luc Besson's strong suit to begin with. I never really bought Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich as a romantic couple in The Fifth Element either, aside from some initial lusting from Willis when he first meets Jovovich's character.
The film has a rather nice supporting cast that includes Clive Owen as Valerian and Laureline's commanding officer, Rihanna as a shapeshifting alien dancer who performs a private show for Valerian that was nothing short of mind-blowing. Much to my surprise Ethan Hawke pops up as the owner of the club she performs in. The film is also populated with countless alien species, all brought wonderfully to life by the various actors voicing them as well as the special effects pros creating the assorted creatures. More than anything, I think it's the assortment and depth of characters presented throughout the film that had me more engaged than anything. As a fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy, this was definitely well within my wheelhouse.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets disappointingly did not do well at the U.S box office, coming in at fourth place, which is a shame because despite it's faults I really did enjoy this film quite a bit. Yes, the plot may not have been the most original and the romantic chemistry between the leads was lacking but there is so much imagination on screen that despite it all this film really was breathtaking. That alone makes me want to recommend it as worth seeing on the big screen. It's a big, fun and wild Sci-Fi ride and it knows it too. It never takes itself too seriously and is content with just being great entertainment. As a summer movie, you can't ask for much more.
I have been a Simpsons fan ever since the first episode aired back in Christmas 1989 and have seen almost every episode of the series at least once, many more than once for the ones in the golden age of the series with the first nine seasons. It's hard to believe then that it has now been ten years since The Simpsons Movie graced movie screens. Still going strong as it edges towards season 28 and renewed through season 30, it seems as though there is no end in sight. However, I thought it would be fun to specifically take a look back at Springfield's first family's thus far solo theatrical outing.
Homer Simpson finds himself on the outs with the entire town of Springfield when he causes an ecological disaster so severe that the EPA, led by Russ Cargill (voiced by Albert Brooks), manipulates the President into covering the entire town in a thick glass dome. The entire town riots, causing Homer and his family (wife Marge, son Bart, and daughters Lisa and Maggie) to flee the town through the one exit out of the dome, a sinkhole in their backyard. From there, they decide to flee to Alaska, but when they discover that Cargill intends to destroy Springfield once and for all, they have to race back to try and stop him and save their beloved hometown, even if everyone there hates them.
The idea of a Simpsons feature length film had been floating around with the series creators for a long time as they tried to come up with a suitably cinematic plot for the film, while still remaining true to the characters countless fans had fallen in love with. Various plotlines had been bandied about until finally they came up with the one that became the film we have. With most of the series writers contributing to the script, the film manages to capture the irreverent humor of the original series, although it falls just a smidge short of being equal to the golden age of the series. Nonetheless, it remains a very, very funny movie that at times indulges in the fact that it is free of the T.V censors without celebrating it in a way akin to South Park.
The series voice actors all returned for the feature film and give great voice performances among the lot of them. The cast that includes Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer and Tress MacNeille voice hundreds of characters between them, which is all the more impressive since they are all such distinctive characters. Then they added in Simpsons guest star MVP Albert Brooks as Russ Cargill. Now, Albert Brooks (always credited as A. Brooks) has had some of the most notable roles over the course of the series. Whether it's as a bowling coach trying to seduce Marge away from Homer or as Hank Scorpio, the nicest super-villain to ever try and take over the world, Brooks' characters always made a memorable impression. Here, he's fantastic as well as the evil and conniving Russ Cargill seeking to destroy Springfield for it's heinous crimes against the environment and mad with power. The one thing that baffled me with the movie though is they have Cargill manipulating fictional President Arnold Schwarzenegger when the series has had the long established Arnold-esque Rainier Wolfcastle. It's a curious choice since the character in the film is essentially the same.
The film ups the ante in terms of animation, giving the film a suitably cinematic feel with more depth and detail to each frame, while also feeling like the series fans had known and loved. The film also opens with a special episode of the show within the show Itchy and Scratchy (about a warring cat and mouse) before revealing the Simpsons in a theater watching it as Homer mocks the other audience members (and us, in a nice meta moment) for paying to see something they could see for free at home before launching into a brand new opening in the style of the series opener. From there, both the animation and cinematography become much more ambitious than what they could pull off for a weekly television series giving the 90 minute feature a much more epic and cinematic feel.
In the end, The Simpsons Movie is a unique and fun animated film that holds up against the series while also more or less standing on it's own. Although, how well it holds up for non-fans is difficult to answer as I have been a lifelong fan. But, as a fan I have always had a soft spot for this movie. It really worked well and was the big screen adventure I wanted for my favorite T.V family. It doesn't quite match the golden age of the series, but then again, I suppose that would have been hoping for too much. As it is though, it's still good and proper Simpsons and that's not bad.
