The Night Comes for Us Movie Review

Intense action, gore that's not for the squeemish (but occasionally also comical, yet not tone-killing), impressive / ridiculous choreography, lush and stylistic cinematography, atmospheric music, and excellent pacing make for a solid viewing experience.

The Night Comes for Us is incredibly focused and tight on its plot, which is done to elevate all of the incredible action and style that exude every scene of this movie. As well, there's a buildup towards the final fight that makes that payoff (the fight) so beautiful; also helps to be familiar with The Raid: Redemption.

While it won't be nearly as ground-breaking, this has enough elements for me to consider Night the Action-Thriller's (with a hint of Western) equivalent of The Matrix - the visuals, the characters and costume choices, the masterful direction and cinematography; plus a few love letters to other great movies.

Conclusion: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Currently streaming on Netflix

Dark City Director's Cut Review

I recently rewatched the Director's Cut of Dark City and hot damn is it a good, fun movie. I love the art direction, production design (seriously, the visuals are so cool) and especially the music by Trevor Jones. The general noir style is pretty great, though some of the trappings (misogyny) leave much to be desired (women aren't given great material, nor non-white characters).

This is the kind of movie I would love to make, as I think Dark City does a couple really cool things rather well:

1) Editing and pacing (and script) - The film only shows you enough, typically via quick glimpses, and yet its very effective at conveying the message, story and mood. Similarly...
2) Dialogue - Characters are able to say so much by saying so little. I particularly love a few of the dialogue choices with the main character, John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell), in that he knows something another character doesn't and either asks them a question or phrases his sentence in a specific way to not reveal anything; nicely done. It helps that the film is beautifully crafted, with a wonderful villainous turn by Richard O'Brien as Mr. Hand.

Not to mention, how many movies end with a really, really kick-ass telekinesis fight? Dark City features easily one of the best "psychic" fights ever filmed. Plus, the themes and ideas regarding memory and how that determines who we are? Very cool.

It's unfortunate that Dark City has become somewhat "lost in time." Had The Matrix not come out the following year (1999), I wonder if Dark City would have been more influential. Granted, something like The Matrix would have surpassed it at some point, because there's a bit more commentary and depth with The Matrix (more to the world and story that's relatable), but it could have been nice for Dark City to have had more of an impact.

To reiterate on one of the early points, it's a damn shame Trevor Jones isn't a more famous composer. His score for the film is perfectly atmospheric, suspenseful, exciting and action-packed - there are some great themes I just want to wrap myself in as if they were a blanket. I'd argue he's created at least three top-tier scores:

Dark Crystal
Dark City
Merlin

Excalibur may also be included, among others (Labyrinth).

While the Director's Cut is arguably the superior version to the theatrical, Dark City is easily HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Hopefully it's legacy will only grow with time. It's such a beautifully 90s movie that must be scene at least once.

The Mermaid (2016) movie review - STEPHEN CHOW!!

STEPHEN CHOW!!

The trailers (American?) did not do The Mermaid any justice, presenting it as more of a hard action movie. In actuality, this is more of a return to form for director Stephen Chow, returning to his 90's comedy-romance(-action) roots.

One could argue that if you've seen one of his 90's comedy-romance movies (whether he acted or directed), you've seen them all, but The Mermaid has a few nice differences.

For one, it feels more cohesive. There's a core story that flows very well, with each of the main characters feeling fleshed out and motivated.

Two, there are some great themes, such as the most obvious environmentalism, commentary on wealth and class, personal growth and love.

Three, while his 90's films typically feature an amazing guy who may be down on his luck falling in love with a "loser" girl (somewhat haphazardly), this one features a woman who isn't anything close to a loser. She's dedicated (to her family, friends, self), strong, funny, can fight and more. There may still be some cultural challenges, but it's a refreshingly different direction. The guy is still on the wish fulfillment side, though, but is also the protagonist who grows the most during the journey.

Long story short, it has some great visuals, GREAT comedic sequences (Chow would be a perfect choice for Looney Tunes), great themes and is a LOT of fun.

A solid RECOMMENDED (with a personal bias towards HIGHLY because it's Stephen Chow). Catch it as soon as you can.

The Mummy (1999) movie review

Stephen Sommers' The Mummy is a fun serial throwback rollercoaster ride with gun fun characters, good humor and good action. Is Rick a little too machismo? Is Evelyn a little too damsel? Perhaps, but they have enough moments to round themselves out, particularly Evelyn (while the film skews heavily male, it had some solid feminist moments that come across very naturally).

Yes it's a 90s movie, complete with cheesy CG, but the art direction works. The movie may have some cringe worthy moments with regards if you read into the social portrayals, but on the whole it works (it may lose some steam towards the end).

Also, solid soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith.

Very fun and recommended.

Top trilogy contender: Kung Fu Panda series

The Kung Fu Panda series is EASILY one of the greatest, well-rounded trilogies in cinema. They each provide a wonderful balance of great art direction, action, comedy, sentimentality, voice work, music, philosophy and, possibly most importantly, message/heart.

So rarely do I see movies that have clear messages and the KFP trilogy has a clear one: be you. Celebrate yourself and be supportive of each other. We're all different with our own backgrounds and circumstances that make us who we are and that's what makes us special.

Supposedly there are plans for an additional trilogy of Panda films, but I don't care. The first three movies are a wonderfully complete trilogy of heart, with so much focus on being yourself and relationships.

Sure, the villains could use more screen time/monologuing and John Powell is sorely missed in the third film, but they are a great, great, great set of movies.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND watching all of them. Check out KFP3 while it's in theaters.

Oblivion review - Shoots for the Stars, but Falls Short

Oblivion (2013)

One liner review: Not bad, but far from great sci-fi action romance.

With beautiful cinematography, amazing production design and a solid soundtrack, there's a lot to like in Oblivion. Director Joseph Kosinski did the rare feat of creating a sophomore outing that's better than his first (the visually striking, but incredibly boring and flawed Tron: Legacy); Oblivion is significantly more refined and better paced than Tron: Legacy, but it also has a lot of the same flaws for story and character.

Kosinski falls into the same boat of directors, that includes Ridley Scott and Zack Snyder, who go for style over substance (the degree of both is up for debate). It's particularly annoying because they often set up their films to seem like they'll have lots of substance, but just fall flat (looking at you, Scott).

Kosinski's biggest flaw is that he's not an actor's director, or at least not a character's director. Based on his two outings thus far, he doesn't seem to understand or care about good character arcs and how to have a really emotional audience connection. He lacks the storytelling prowess to put a character through certain beats of a plot to earn the proper emotional reaction, which is unfortunate because he actually knows how to create a nicely emotional scene (melding music and visuals). To put it another way, he tells the audience how they should feel, rather than showing them through the rest of the movie; there's no proper tension or buildup leading to release, resulting in some flat reveals.

On that note, Oblivion loftily tries to make an interesting futuristic sci-fi action-romance story, but because it tries for both with an underdeveloped script, it fails to achieve success on either front. It's not a particularly convoluted movie, but it does present a good number of plot holes. Once Kosinski learns how to create and work with a great script, he'll easily be on my list of must-watch directors, but I wouldn't give him another $100+ million for a movie to gain that experience.

Bottom line:
RECOMMENDED for those looking for something passively enjoyable with interesting ideas, good action, great production design and a melodic soundtrack (the credits track is almost worth the price of admission).

NOT RECOMMENDED for those expecting a more active experience that's intelligently scripted on either the story or character fronts.