entertainment

Ep101: Don’t Breathe In the Hype

don't breathe

You can also download this podcast episode on iTunes and Stitcher.

This week on Now Conspiring, we review Don’t Breathe and discuss what it’s like to be on a podcast that is officially past its 100-episode prime. Plus, Jon and Adonis have a racially sensitive discussion about Telemundo for some reason, which somehow relates to the Mary Jane Watson casting rumor/controversy everyone finds interesting (except for Sam).

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: What movie (or movies) should Jon add to his DVD bookshelf?

Go on…Ep101: Don’t Breathe In the Hype

Review: ‘Don’t Breathe’ Lives Up to Its Gimmicky, Yet Suspenseful Premise

review don't breathe

It might seem odd for audiences to root for a group of bumbling burglars, which is why Don’t Breathe is the rare thriller that provides tense moments no matter which character you consider the protagonist. Just don’t expect it to last.

Directed by Fede Alvarez, who last helmed the underwhelming Evil Dead remake, comes Don’t Breathe, which is essentially his remake of Panic Room, with some Green Room and 10 Cloverfield Lane thrown in as well (2016 has a thing for funhouse peril, it seems). But this time, Alvarez seems to have found a more consistent step in suspenseful thrillers, as the premise and marketing of Don’t Breathe suggest.

Set in a rundown segment of Detroit (think last year’s It Follows without the synth-pop), three teen cat burglars are just one big score away from finally getting out and going west for a better life. Rocky, played by Jane Levy in her most effortless role yet, yearns for a life in California with her sister. Alex, played by Dylan Minnette, is the brains of their group, though his heart obviously yearns for Rocky. And Money, played by Daniel Zovatto, is the thug who ribs both of them along the way. After a few successful smalltime robberies, their next mark is a house owned by a retired army vet who’s rumored to be sitting on $300,000. Oh, and he’s blind.

review don't breathe

Believing the house to be an easy target, the kids subsequently break in and start searching for the cash, but to their horror, the owner (played by a monstrous Stephen Lang) is a more formidable opponent than they expected. Armed with a gun and a keen sense of hearing and smell, the blind man begins a hunt for the burglars, first by boarding up every entry way to ensure there’s no escape.

What might come off as a gimmicky premise actually works incredibly well as a 90-minute thrill ride, thanks to superb directing from Alvarez and graciously spacial establishing shots, complete with a steadicam tour of the house that instantly familiarizes you with where the characters are in relation to each other. And it helps that Don’t Breathe never lets up on its various narrative developments, including a surprisingly haunting revelation concerning the blind man when it comes to the privileged wealthy. Don’t Breathe makes no concessions on its location, after all.

Not everything in Don’t Breathe is airtight storytelling, unfortunately. Characters often defy contextual plot points, the “powers” of the blind man go back and forth between realistic and Matt Murdock, and the camera is sometimes a little too helpful in setting up surprising moments. But chances are, you’ll be too enthralled to notice, perhaps holding your breath as much as the burglars.

review don't breathe

The experience of watching Don’t Breathe in a theater “surrounded by strangers” (as Alvarez puts it) is probably the best way possible to watch this well-made B-horror movie. And if you’re willing to put the time in, there are even a few meaningful messages to decipher from the chaos.

Grade: B+ 

Extra Credits:

  • Don’t…watch the trailer.
  • Originally titled “A Man in the Dark.”
  • Stephen Lang in a “monster” movie as the monster is some of the best casting this year.
  • I prefer 10 Cloverfield Lane and Green Room, which are both more special films to me. But for a late-August summer movie, Don’t Breathe gets the job done.
  • Jane Levy is simply fantastic in this movie. Expect to see a lot more from her, hopefully in more independent films.

    Thanks for reading this. Seriously. You can subscribe to my posts by clicking “Follow” in the right sidebar. 

    Or just say hello on Twitter: @JonNegroni

Review: ‘Hell or High Water’ Is the Modern Western You Didn’t Know You Wanted

hell or high water review

Believe it or not, the best westerns in filmmaking history have been more than action movies. They’ve been more than thrilling shootouts and chase scenes on horseback. As Hollywood gradually replaced the more bombastic side of the western genre with new tiers of disaster, comic-book, and pulp movies, the general consensus has become that the golden age of westerns has long been over.

But the best westerns have always been about something, a lesson painfully unlearned by Favreau’s Cowboys and Aliens, yet gratefully grasped by the Coen Brothers’ True Grit remake. And Hell or High Water, directed by Starred Up‘s David Mackenzie, also stars Jeff Bridges in this present-day western about bank-robbing brothers who have high aspirations for petty thieves. Well, one of them at least.

Bridges plays a Texas Ranger in search of the crafty bandits, joined by his half-Native American partner Alberto, played by Gil Birmingham. They’re after the Howard brothers, played by Chris Pine and Ben Foster, who’ve been robbing small banks belonging to the same Texas branch in towns all over the state. This might sound like a dour crime movie set within a western backdrop, but it’s a actually a more lively affair than its close cousin, No Country for Old Men, yet as somber and beautifully shot as last year’s Sicario, which writer Taylor Sheridan also produced the script for.

The combinations and comparisons don’t end there. Hell or High Water is also a talkative film that brazenly explores the painful consequences of the Great Recession, paralleled with how the 21st Century has both changed and been passed over in these small towns across west Texas. In other words, this is a western that actually has a lot to say when the bullets aren’t flying.

hell or high water review

Despite all of its obvious inspirations, Hell or High Water manages to be an unpredictable experience, never resorting to obvious plot contrivances that would manufacture tension between Foster and Pine, who have one of the more unique brotherhood dynamics in recent cinema. Pine is very much the straight man, while his brother is essentially the Joker without face paint — an agent of chaos with a surprisingly sober backstory to lend credibility to his madness. Watching these two actors play off each other is a high point of the film, enhanced by how similarly compelling the relationship is between the rangers, Bridges and Birmingham, who are constantly after them.

Hell or High Water is slow in parts and often methodical in how it wants you to absorb its scenery and frequent allusions to “Debt Relief” signs and shots of working-class Texans who are either packing heat or know someone nearby who is. This could be wrongly perceived as preachy storytelling or an obvious “Robin Hood” spin on the west, if it weren’t for the complex and animated Bridges, who lives by a code of justice that is as sympathetic as the supposed protagonists. Yet just as horrifying.

In short, it’s no 99 Homes. The world of west Texas is easy to disappear into once the first shot is established, as you’re forced to wonder if this is some sort of post-apocalyptic version of the U.S., despite the setting being quite true-to-life and accurate in terms of how massive sprawls of the country have become lawless, apathetic wastelands due to financial greed. It’s probably one of the most interesting “fantasy” worlds created for the big screen this year, and it’s not even fabricated or dolled up with CGI.

hell or high water review

There are a lot of words that describe Hell or High Water in a satisfying way. It’s cynical, yet humorous.  Brainy, yet simple. Mischievous, yet noble. Depressing, yet beautiful. Touching, yet tragic. Straightforward, yet ironic. It’s the masterful combination of these juxtapositions, complemented by well-rounded performances across the cast, that elevate what should have been a B-list movie into one of the best (and most relevant) westerns in years.

Grade: A

Extra Credits:

  • David Mackenzie, who is Scottish, shoots Texas like a true European. Mostly flat shots of the land and wide landscapes to impress upon the magnitude of the state. This is something a lot of American filmmakers tend to take for granted. Though to be fair, this film was mostly shot in New Mexico.
  • “What don’t you want?”
  • This might seem obvious, but a lot of the extras in this movie are “real” people they filmed on location.
  • Seriously, if the idea of Jeff Bridges playing a Texas Ranger on the verge of retirement doesn’t draw you in to see a movie, we need have a discussion in the comments below.
  • The tracking shots are a lot better than the more gimmicky “one-shots” you’ll see in standard films. Each one is simple and elegant, getting the moment of the scene across, rather than bragging about the lack of cuts.

    Thanks for reading this. Seriously. You can subscribe to my posts by clicking “Follow” in the right sidebar. Or just say hello on Twitter: @JonNegroni

 

Ep100: Kubo and the Silly String

kubo podcast

You can also download this podcast episode on iTunes and Stitcher.

For our 100th episode of the Now Conspiring podcast, we decided to…review Kubo and the Two Strings!

OK, that’s not all we did. To celebrate this arbitrary milestone, we started a new tradition: a variation of the Now Conspiring Game Show — introducing the Now Conspiring Movie Quote Trivia Challenge!

Also, we make lame jokes, talk about how much we like each other (and movies, I guess), read your comments from last week’s show, play the Now Conspiring theme song on ukulele for some reason, and talk about what’s coming soon to theaters this coming week.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: At what point did you start listening to Now Conspiring, and WHY?

Go on…Ep100: Kubo and the Silly String

‘Don’t Think Twice’ Is a Surprisingly Heartfelt Comedy About Improv

don't think twice

A feature film that centers around the life and times of an improv group in New York City definitely sounds like something a screenwriter in LA would pitch to his bosses at least once a year. That’s because you can make a decent film out of just about any idea, but it can be very challenging to craft a relatable film from a singular art, especially one that’s literally built around the idea of people “making things up as they go along.”

We can expect this kind of specific storytelling from a talent like Mike Birbiglia, one of the most understated comedians in the industry, as well as an exciting director and writer. His last film, Sleepwalk With Me, was a dramatic retelling of one of his most famous standup routines, an emotional (and funny) story about how his desperation to avoid marriage and commitment drove him to sleepwalking through a window and out of a building.

Don’t Think Twice is a stronger and more humorous film overall, but it still follows Birbiglia’s pattern of choosing one critical, uncomfortable plot point and driving the rest of the narrative around it. In this case, he’s going after the jealousy that forms from when someone becomes rapidly successful, and how that alters the lives and relationships of his closest friends (even the tagline drives this home with “the spotlight is not for everyone”).

This just happens to involve a popular improv group made up of six friends with immediate comedic talent as improvisation performers. They get on stage each week and play out improvised situations, always leaning off of the audience support of someone who has had a particularly hard day.

don't think twice

Don’t Think Twice kicks off in the middle of some harder times for the group, and it’s pushed further when Jack (played by Keegan-Michael Key) gets an audition for Weekend Live, the movie’s version of Saturday Night Live. Though his friends initially support him, it becomes clear that Jack’s newfound fame isn’t doing anything to improve his current relationships, including his romantic relationship with Sam (played by the true star of the film, Gillian Jacobs).

What follows from there is a deeply involved dramatic comedy that pits each improv member against each other and themselves, always decrying the “need” for selling out, while simultaneously working to make sense out of how Jack’s success says more about them than it does him. Jack’s 36-year-old teacher, Miles (played by Birbiglia), is the biggest culprit, as he can’t seem to understand why he hasn’t been able to reach the heights of his own students, moments after he’s lured another student to his “dorm room” apartment to have some fun.

The rest of the cast has less to do than Key, Jacobs, and Birbiglia, but they’re all as crucial to the film’s emotional punches as they are to the fictional improv performances they take part in. Chris Gethard as Bill gets a few small scenes that feel mostly servant to how his life affects the core members, even though he garners some of the biggest laughs from the film’s staged improv scenes. Tami Sagher gets even fewer attention, and tragically so, as she’s the only one in the group who is financially secure, despite losing her job and relying mostly on rich parents.

don't think twice

Kate Miccuci is certainly short-thrifted here, getting even fewer chances to have much of an impact despite her tremendous talent, but the saving grace is that Don’t Think Twice works best when the group is together on stage, at their favorite bar, and back at the shared apartment. Though not everyone gets their due, that’s sort of how improv tends to work, anyway. And as a result, Gillian Jacobs as Sam gets to shine in one of her best performances to date, culminating in a single scene toward the end of the film that is one of my favorite movie moments of 2016.

If you’ve ever had to deal with how friendships can always feel a little tense and competitive, which should be just about everyone, then Don’t Think Twice has something brutally honest to tell you, but it’s not a hand-wrung comedy. If anything, it excels more at being a vague, even loose passage of events, rather than a cohesive narrative that drives a single purpose that the audience must consume and accept all as one. In other words, it’s one of those few, modest films that actually has something for everyone.

Grade: B+

Extra Credits:

  • I love Sleepwalk With Me, but if you truly want a great intro to Mike Birbiglia’s comedy, check out his standup routine that the movie is based on.
  • Also, here’s a somewhat interesting fact. Mike Birbiglia is the first mainstream comedian I’ve ever seen live.
  • According to Birbiglia, the cast actually received instruction from a professional improv coach because Gillian Jacobs and Kate Miccuci had never actually performed this type of comedy before.  Makes sense, though, when you consider that Jacobs went to Julliard.
  •  Birbiglia has also stated that the premise behind Don’t Think Twice mimics how Judd Apatow reacted when his roommate, Adam Sandler, was cast on Saturday Night Live decades ago, before either were famous. The pair have collaborated on a movie together: the 2009 dramedy, Funny People.

    Thanks for reading this. Seriously. You can subscribe to my posts by clicking “Follow” in the right sidebar. Or just say hello on Twitter: @JonNegroni

 

Review: ‘Pete’s Dragon’ Both Reinvents And Recaptures Classic Disney

pete's dragon review

I wrote a full review of Pete’s Dragon is on Movie Pilot, which you can read here. Overall, I loved the movie and had a blast watching it, thinking about it, and of most of all, writing about it. I’ll be chatting about the film more in length for Monday’s podcast, along with even more thoughts on Sausage Party, which I also reviewed this week.

Here’s a quick excerpt from my review of Pete’s Dragon:

There are a lot of intelligent, aspirational elements at play within Pete’s Dragon, as it sets up the forest as an idyllic setting that needs to be cherished, but not ignored. Like the dragon himself, there’s something beautiful about man and nature coming together, but the obvious message about environmentalist values you might read into here is one thing the movie smartly downplays, instead accepting that man’s role in the world doesn’t have to be a passive one.

Pete’s Dragon revels in its simplicity and digestible themes, which is why it’s such an easy film to immerse yourself in, at just about any age (and not just because Robert Redford steals all of his scenes). For that reason, it’s the best family movie of the year and among the best films in 2016, overall.

Thanks for reading this. Seriously. You can subscribe to my posts by clicking “Follow” in the right sidebar. Or just say hello on Twitter: @JonNegroni

Review: ‘Sausage Party’ Should Have Been a Lot More Satisfying

sausage party review

Sausage Party is an adult animated movie that’s been in the works for six years, and it’s a concept that’s been swimming inside the head of Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill since as far back as 2007. And their original conceit for the film has lasted through the majority of the marketing, narrowed down to one interesting question: what if our food had feelings?

Lambasting the “secret life” trope that computer animated movies have been breezily reproducing since Toy Story (coincidentally coming full circle with this year’s Secret Life of Pets, the most brazen copy of Pixar’s first film yet), Sausage Party positioned itself as the Deadpool of animated movies. It was a much-needed satire that could let us reflect on the good and bad of modern animated comedy, cleansing our palates for whatever comes next.

Instead, the film is more like God’s Not Dead, but for atheists.

Set in a grocery store to the tune of a musical number straight out of whatever Disney movie you watched last, Sausage Party focuses on the lives of food, jars, containers, bags, and pretty much any inanimate object the plot chooses to put a face on (which is by itself a humorous parody of Toy Story). The food “people” of Shopwell’s are convinced that getting bought by “gods,” i.e. people, sends them to the “Great Beyond,” or Heaven in case you thought that wasn’t overt enough.

sausage party review

After a mishap that separates some of the main characters, we watch a series of disparate subplots unfold. One group of the food learns the truth about how horrific it is to get eaten, while another group wanders around the grocery store engaging with racist stereotypes of other food, segregated into their own “aisles.”

There are three critical flaws in Sausage Party that make the film an overall disappointment. First, the film is a confusing mess when it comes to narrative. The pacing of the trailer (a dramatic unveiling of the food quickly realizing that getting bought is their version of hell) works for comedic effect because it’s a focused story that gets to the good stuff, quick. In the actual film, the humor of watching food get massacred is almost a side note, occurring later into the movie away from most of the characters you care about.

Watching Sausage Party, you’ll notice that there’s a lot of meandering with its plot and characters. Scenes linger a little too long on uninteresting subplots that shift the humor toward food puns, existential hand-holding, and some of the laziest race jokes you’ve seen outside of films like Disaster Movie. In fact, this is probably the closest any of us will ever get inside the mind of Carlos Mencia.

sausage party review

This wouldn’t be as big of a deal if it weren’t for the second critical flaw of this movie, which is the humor. While Sausage Party has its fair share of well-crafted jokes, they’re unfortunately buried under weightless paragraphs of juvenile expletives, inevitably registering as vocal filler by the end of the first act. It’s almost as if the writers inserted f-bombs and s-bombs into a finished script simply to remind the audience that it’s fine for them to be watching what is otherwise a cheeky animated film that looks like it should be for children.

The final fatal flaw of Sausage Party is its message, or plurality of ill-conceived messages. At times, Sausage Party says something genuinely insightful about what it means to believe in something without proof, and whether or not it’s worth living life if you’re convinced there’s no possibility of hope. For many atheists and agnostics, this could have been a meaningful, even thoughtful representation of their frustrations within a world that mostly rejects their naysaying of a literal God or afterlife.

But Sausage Party is far too illogical and inconsistent with its message to be anything but a superficial bullet list of clichéd beliefs, about as substantial as junk food. It’s the animated equivalent of sitting through a conversation with a college stoner who loves to hear himself talk and inspire fear through self-prescribed fatalism, even though none of his metaphors or analogies hold water.

sausage party review

If all this weren’t enough, Sausage Party is also lacking in much entertainment in between the big moments. Sparse dialogue between characters is just barely passable, if not a little off-tone from the rest of the film’s irreverent attitude. And minor visual gags are about as intellectually satirical as a bumper sticker saying “DIXAR” instead of Pixar. Get it?

Ultimately, Sausage Party is a wasted opportunity of a brilliant idea. What would have worked as a dark, thought-provoking short film was stretched into a dumbed down think piece about how awesome and satisfying humanism would be if everyone was on board for one crazy day.

Grade: D

Extra Credits:

  • A few things kept me from marking Sausage Party with a straight “F.” First, it did make me laugh at times, though about as often as this year’s Ghostbusters did. But the main reason is that I felt completely deceived by this purported “satire” of animated films. It hardly is, and we deserve better.
  • Another thing I did like, most of the time, was the film’s willingness to recreate classic film scenes with food. Unfortunately, none of these homages ever amounted to much, save for the Saving Private Ryan scene you can see in the trailer.
  • This is Seth Rogen’s first screenplay for an animated film, and it’s the same team from This is the End (with many actors from that film lending their voices for this film). While that film felt quite original and frequently insightful, Sausage Party is almost its polar opposite in terms of a tight script and unique ideas.

    Thanks for reading this. Seriously. You can subscribe to my posts by clicking “Follow” in the right sidebar. Or just say hello on Twitter: @JonNegroni