Ready Player One (2018)

Nostalgia: a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.

The word is used pejoratively quite a bit in response to Ernest Cline's novel and the film based on it. I can't speak to the novel as I haven't read it. But the film, challenges the idea that nostalgia is a weakness and makes it very much a strength. The idea that searching for missed happiness is somehow a less than noble pursuit is nonsensical. Ready Player One, the film, is a love letter to the idea of finding a misplaced contentment, a place of joy, and the things that speak joy to us. 

In the story of Ready Player One we are spoken to in a language of images, or ideas. If one just sees a series of "easter eggs" one is missing the point. The film uses these references as a means of communicating feelings, communicating tones, emotions. Because for fanfolks these touchstones of our lives are more than just trinkets. They are hallmarks of who we are, how we want to be, what we wish for. Ready Player One, the film, gets this. It tells a story in a way that is different from how most films tell stories, by evoking the pathos that these references can impart. 

But it isn't just the "easter eggs" littered throughout the film. It is the very nature of how Ready Player One is structured, how it was filmed, the way the characters come together. The film is made to convey a film making of a different time, a specific style of communication.  As I watched Ready Player One it became clear to me that no director could have made this film but Steven Spielberg. Sure another film maker could have made a Ready Player One movie. But only Spielberg could have made this movie. 

Spielberg has made some of my favorite films. He has made plenty of films which mean very little to me as well. But he also helped create a very specific language of film making, a language which was such a part of the films which turned me into a cinemaphile. Ready Player One is his return to that form. He has made some films recently which I respect (eg. Bridge of Spies) and others I could take or leave (ie. Lincoln) but there is a style of film he perfected which was a big part of why I love movies. Watching Ready Player One brought that into full focus for me. I was 10 again watching E.T. I was 12 and my dad was taking me to see Temple of Doom. I was a freshman in college going to a midnight show of Jurassic Park on opening night. I was having my mind blown, losing myself in the magic of movies. 

Ready Player One isn't just about remembering the past or evoking those feelings of our youth although I'll defend that as reason enough to enjoy this magical film. It is also about the future. Ready Player One is an indictment of the monitization of the public space, about resisting corporate power, about where and how we can connect. It is about how our identities shift and our control of who we are. It speaks directly to the issues we're struggling with today. 

Ready Player One is crafted of a specific aesthetic and the use of that is purposeful, it is deliberate. It is taking the past to get us to look at our future. And while doing all that it tells a great story, a fun adventure. Just like the films it is referencing. I truly enjoyed every moment of Ready Player One. And do I want to watch The Shining again? The Iron Giant? Back to the Future? Fuck yeah I do.

Ready Player One
Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Lena Waithe, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylanch, Simon Pegg
Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Zac Penn, Ernest Cline

I Kill Giants (2018)

The best "children's stories" are usually about something more than what they appear. For example Where the Wild Things Are is about children dealing with anger and emotions beyond their control. A Monster Calls is about children dealing with loss. Similarly, I Kill Giants is about a young woman struggling with her emotions around loss, around alienation, and powerlessness.

Director Anders Walter has made a beautiful film which taps into childhood pain and loss in a powerful way. Writer Joe Kelly has adapted his story into a screenplay which is smart and simple, tapping into truly powerful truths. His cast, lead by the strong Madison Wolfe, brings this story to life so convincingly. Barbara's journey facing her "giants" is a truly lovely and inspiring story.

But perhaps the best part of I Kill Giants is the way its story connects to the real life pain of its audience. "You mean I can't save her?" There are battles which can't be "won" at least not how they are won in stories and in the movies. I Kill Giants' story brings us to a truly honest place, a place which is painful yet inspiring. And Barbara is a true hero.

I Kill Giants
Starring: Madison Wolfe, Zoe Saldana, Imogen Poots, Jennifer Ehle
Director: Anders Walter
Writer: Joe Kelly

Sherlock Gnomes (2018)

Gnomeo and Juliet was a far better movie than it should have been. While nothing remarkable, the movie was far more charming and entertaining than the silly premise and clunky animation quality would suggest. The mix of Elton John showmanship and some clever plotting turned out a rather pleasant movie. Unfortunately any good will that film generated is pretty much eaten up by this cheap sequel which shows little to no originality.

Like many of these films, little kids may enjoy it anyway. But it is one of those films that will be tedious for their parents. The whole garden gnome shtick wears out completely and it feels like they just recycle the same Elton songs they used in the first film. Is it even an interesting Sherlock Holmes parody? Not really. It's just every cliche you can think of about Holmes thrown together.

This one is clearly a pass. There are honestly so many great films you can take your kids to that you have to ask yourself, sure my kids may not hate this but if they could truly enjoy something better then why bother with this one.

Sherlock Gnomes
Starring: Emily Blunt, James McAvoy, Johnny Depp, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mary J. Blige, Michael Caine, Maggie Smith
Director: John Stevenson
Writer: Ben Zazove

The Death of Stalin (2018)

The mind behind Veep and In the Loop has applied his sharp tongue to Soviet Russia in this hilarious and irreverent satire with a hilarious cast. Following the events (some real, some made up) leading up to and following the death of the Russian dictator, The Death of Stalin explores how incompetence and corruption can run a nation.

The Death of Stalin goes past the edge of absurd in a delightful way. His cast, which includes Jeffrey Tambour, Jason Isaacs, Simon Russel Beale, Michael Palin, and Steve Buscemi as Khrushchev, is clearly having a great time and allows us as the audience to as well.

The tricky bit of this film is how to find humour out of the horrors of the Stalinist regime. The film goes right for it, making jokes and exploiting the humour of the deaths of millions. But in the same way we found ourselves laughing at horrible things in his work in Veep, we find it here.

And perhaps the point is that we have to laugh or it will kills us. British writer/director Armando Iannucci's point is to tear it all down with humour. This sort of dark comedy is difficult for many but he has found a niche that he is good at and pulls it off.

The Death of Stalin
Starring: Steve Buscemi, Jeffrey Tambour, Jason Isaacs, Simon Russel Beale, Michael Palin, Paddy Considine, Andrea Riseborough, Rupert Friend
Writer/Director: Armando Iannucci (et. al screenplay)

Unsane (2018)

There was a time when people thought Steven Soderbergh was a defining film making voice. Is he trying to prove them wrong lately? Logan Lucky, Side Effects, Haywire, Contagion, The Informant!, I could go on and on. How many of these films were ever really entertaining? Certainly none of them memorable. Honestly how many of them do you remember? I have always felt he was overrated. His big films; Sex, Lies and Videotape, Out of Sight, Magic Mike; are fine but all overrated in my opinion. Even the one to punch of Erin Brockovich and Traffic were not high on my list. Sure he's not to my taste, but looking back at his resume I would challenge folks to be honest about how many of these films hold up after all.

And now he is back as his un-retirement continues with a film which almost got me, but left me feeling so frustrated. Like his experiment Bubble (which popped btw) Unsane has a gimmick. It was all shot on an iphone. Well this has been done and done much better (Tangerine) so it's not really a revolution. And even if it was it would need a story that made it a worthwhile experiment. Unsane didn't have that story for me.

I kept waiting for Unsane to be something more than just a run of the mill standard thriller. Woman gets locked up against her will in an institution and she begins to question what's real and what's not. Except we never do. The film is so straightforward, spoon-feeding us all the way along there is a never a question of what is real and what is not. The film ends up being just another woman-in-peril for our entertainment stories which hits each expected beat. Boring. Soderbergh just strings one thriller cliche after another (why does the heroine keep running into the danger instead of away from it as in every cliched thriller?) and it all feels so much like we've seen it before.

But here is what makes it so damn frustrating. The idea of gaslighting is a fascinating one, one that really could have been explored with this plot, with this fact pattern. I wanted to see a film which played with the way one's perceptions can be manipulated, the ways we can question our own credibility. But the film never even tries to get into any of that. Going back to my question, perhaps the film could have found a way to explore why she kept making things worse for herself, how the forces manipulating her were creating an untenable situation. But it doesn't. It abandons her to a tired plot that doesn't know how to finish in a way that is interesting. As it reaches its paint by numbers climax we are given no real sense of the pain of her journey. It just wraps up all quite conveniently, far too conveniently.

And it ends with a truly cheap maneuver, which undercuts her survival entirely, a survival we never get to feel authentically. Never did I feel this was Sawyer's story. It felt like she was a prop for us to enjoy.

Yes, I know I am simply not a fan of Soderbergh's work and perhaps there are those who do but I don't get it. I would love to understand why he gets the credit he does for making what are often so typically uninteresting films.

Unsane
Starring: Claire Foy, Jay Pharoah, Joshua Leonard, Juno Temple, Amy Irving
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writers: Jonathan Bernstein, James Greer

Pacific Rim Uprising (2018)

2013's Pacific Rim from Academy Award winning director Guillermo Del Toro was a straight up love fest of B-movie mania. Del Toro balanced the esthetics of the Kaiju film genre in all its absurdity, with the demands of a studio blockbuster franchise film to make a fun, if rather lightweight, adventure. The film took the desire to see giant robots fight gargantuan monsters and gave it a respectable home, a credible enough story, and a raging good time. Del Toro didn't shy away from the B-movie roots, embracing them proudly which was good news for fans of the genre.

This sequel may feel a bit derivative, but it proudly holds on to its B-movie credentials, embracing it all even more wholeheartedly. Uprising is pure, unadulterated genre B-movie mayhem which lets go of the restraints of respectability to just tell the rather silly yet damn fun story it wants to tell. It's lack of need to justify itself as a major tent-pole lets it tell the genre story it wants to tell. And that makes it, in some ways, more fun than the original.

At the heart of this is John Boyega getting to show us what an amazing screen presence he is. Yes he captivated us in Star Wars, but here is full on Attack the Block magical, oozing charm, charisma, and heroics. I could watch him do almost anything.

There is a thin line between the inane Hollywood eye candy and the deliberately campy genre fun that is Pacific Rim. This isn't a situation of so-bad-it's-good kind of film. It's more that it is just the embracing of a style which is to be appreciated differently. Spectacular, straightforward, and in the end fun, Pacific Rim Uprising is delightful candy to enjoy between more respectable cinema.

Pacific Rim Uprising
Starring: John Boyega, Cailee Spaeny, Scott Eastwood, Jing Tian, Adria Arjona, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman
Director: Steven S. DeKnight
Writers: Emily Carmichael, Kira Snider, T.S. Nolan, Steven S. DeKnight

The Party (2018)

Writer/director Sally Potter has crafted a wickedly tight commentary on post-modern politics and relationships in this ensemble dramedy which in its real time concise plotting feels like a filmed stage play. Her cast are all heavy hitters and her script is delightfully morose. It all comes together in a quick, enjoyable slap in the face.

The story combines the opportunity to discuss and debate issues while the characters dance around their passions and faults in a very entertaining manner. It's sharp and clever while always remaining entertaining. Potter deftly juggles it all and delivers a fun, if short film, which manages to be a jagged little pill at the same time. Sometimes she has her characters verbalize their inner thoughts a bit to obviously, but here it truly feels like it works, partially due to Potter's writing and partly due to the cast's expert performances.

While the entire cast is remarkable one can't help but single out Patricia Clarkson whose character is certainly the most engaging and who delivers a jewel in the crown of her wonderful career in this piece. Seeing good actors do some of their best work is always a treat. The whole cast gets to put their best feet forward but Clarkson especially shines.

This is the sort of party you know you should leave but its just too delicious to.

The Party
Starring: Patricia Clarkson, Kristen Scott Thomas, Timothy Spall, Cherry Jones, Cillian Murphy, Emily Mortimer, Bruno Ganz
Writer/Director: Sally Potter