SNAP REVIEWS – PART III

The last couple snap reviews, which you can check out here and here, were more independent, unknown movies.  Here are some of the bigger Hollywood releases that I have seen over the last month.  Some pretty great films are on this list.

You can watch each movie’s trailer by clicking on the title.

 

The Assassin (Hsiao-Hsien Hou)

I had such high hopes for The Assassin.  After winning Best Director at this years Cannes Film Festival and with a beautiful trailer, The Assassin looked like it could have been the next Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).  Unfortunately, due to a molasses pace and limited action, The Assassin is one of the more disappointing films of 2015.

An assassin (Nie Yinniang) is sent on a mission to kill a high ranking political leader while also confronting the family who abandoned her years before.

The film is jaw-droppingly beautiful.  Every shot is like a screensaver on a computer.  Tons of color contrasts, epic landscapes, and intricate set designs make this a dazzler.  The fight scenes, when they do occur, are well choreographed and exciting.  However, they are few and far between.  I’m pretty sure they show all the fights in the preview.  The film is also extremely vague and dense and needed a few more expositions or lines of dialog to help make the film flow a little more.  The Assassin isn’t a bad movie, but it is one I expected more from.

MY RATING – 2.5/4

 

Bridge of Spies (Steve Spielberg)

Bridge of Spies is filmmaking at its finest.  Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks have teamed up yet again and made one of the years very best movies.

During the heart of the Cold War, lawyer James Donovan (Tom Hanks) is chosen to defend a Soviet spy (Mark Rylance), much to the dismay of his family and America.  He then must help negotiate an exchange with the Soviets to trade the spy for a captured American pilot.

Spielberg continues to prove why he is one of the greatest directors of all-time.  Every shot is perfect, every performance is great, and it is technically amazing.  Like Spielberg’s last film Lincoln (2012), he has a knack for making movies with limited action exciting.  He paced the film like the actual Cold War.  At any point, something can go off.  It keeps us on the edge the whole time.  Hanks is perfect, giving one of the year’s very best performances.  He is this century’s Jimmy Stewart in that he perfectly conveys the every-man who is thrown into extreme situations.  And Mark Rylance will surely get awards recognition for his stoic, darkly funny performance.  Bridge of Spies is one of the year’s best.

MY RATING – 4/4

 

Crimson Peak (Guillermo Del Toro)

If Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and Beauty and the Beast (1991) had a baby and raised it in a haunted house, you would get Crimson Peak, a beautiful, gothic love story.

After a family tragedy, Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) marries Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) and goes to live with him and his sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain).  However, Edith quickly realizes that the house is haunted by ghosts and that they all might be connected.

Del Toro builds atmosphere and tension perfectly.  This movie is so eery and intense, with scenes of shocking gore and violence.  But at it’s core, it is a love story like that of an old school Disney movie, which adds layers to the film that you wouldn’t expect.  It is a visual stunner too.  The mansion is beautiful, the colors pop, and the cinematography is top notch.  Hiddleston is charming and mysterious and Chastain is very good as usual.  I was not expecting to like Crimson Peak as much as I did, but it is eye-popping, creepy good movie.

MY RATING – 3.5/4

 

Hotel Transylvania 2 (Genndy Tartakovsky) 

The first Hotel Transylvania (2012) was quite the surprise.  It was sweet, funny, original and probably the best thing Adam Sandler has done this decade.  With the sequel, the gang returns to give us more laughs, though not without some weirder, darker themes.

Dracula (voiced by Adam Sandler) and his friends attempt to bring out the monster in his half human, half vampire grandson Dennis so that his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) and her husband Jonathon (Andy Samberg) won’t leave the castle.

The movie is very enjoyable and has a lot of laugh-out-loud moments. Dennis is adorable and we get a few new characters who fit right in.  One of the major themes that I liked in the movie is how today’s culture looks at classic monsters like Dracula and Frankenstein as more jokes than scary, which is the exact opposite of  what it was like back in the day.  What weirded me out about this movie was the theme of racism.  The idea of a society not accepting Dennis because of what he is is really racist and something I think everyone overlooked.  Besides that though, Hotel Transylvania 2 is a fun film for the whole family.

MY RATING – 3/4

 

Truth (James Vanderbilt)

Truth takes on one of the most controversial stories of the 21st century.  However, this isn’t exactly about the story.  This is about the people who found the story.  It is about the reporters who fought for this story until the bitter end.

In 2004, CBS and 60 Minutes took on a story detailing the military record of then President George W. Bush.  The story led to a slew of controversy about the legitimacy of the reports, which effected the careers of producer Mary Mapes (Cate Blanchett) and anchor Dan Rather (Robert Redford).

Cate Blanchett continues to prove that she is the best actress working in Hollywood today.  She is dynamite as Mapes, showing full range as a woman who is fighting for her team, herself, and for journalistic integrity.  Redford is also very good as Rather, a man caught in the middle of this scandal, but still follows what he believes.  Truth is a tightly spun newsroom thriller that captivates the entire time.  It is a film that doesn’t sway to one side, but lets the audience think for themselves about what was right and what was wrong in this situation.  It also has the luxury of getting the approval from Rather himself that this is historically accurate, which makes it that much better.

MY RATING – 3.5/4

 

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