Crisp Criticism - "Furious 7", "Get Hard", "Cinderella"

by

Julien Faddoul

Furious 7 *

Deckard Shaw seeks revenge against Dominic Toretto and his family for the death of his brother.

A once singular series of films have in their recent installments becomes frustratingly systematized by the Hollywood cinema that surrounds them. Its 7^th episode remains intermittently thrilling when not dealing with cheap proverbial character-turns or its rather poor villain.

d – James Wan

w – Chris Morgan

ph – Marc Spicer, Stephen F. Windon

pd – Bill Brzeski
m – Brian Tyler

ed – Leigh Folsom Boyd, Dylan Highsmith, Kirk M. Morri, Christian Wagner

cos – Sanja Milkovic Hays

p – Vin Diesel, Michael Fottrell, Neal H. Moritz

Cast: Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Paul Walker, Lucas Black, Michelle Rodriguez, Kurt Russell, Elsa Pataky, Jordana Brewster, Ronda Rousey, Djimon Hounsou, Tyrese Gibson, Nathalie Emmanuel, Iggy Azalea, Tony Jaa, Shad Moss, Ludacris

Get Hard

A bank manager facing a prison sentence hires the man who washes his car to toughen him up in his final days of freedom.

Feeble comedy with a particular fascination with rape and homophobic humor.

d – Etan Cohen

w – Jay Martel, Ian Robertsm Etan Cohen, Adam McKay

ph – Tim Suhrstedt

pd – Maher Ahmad

m – Christophe Beck

ed – Michael L. Sale

cos – Shay Cunliffe

p – Will Ferrell, Adam McKay

Cast: Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Craig T. Nelson, Alison Brie, Edwina Findley Dickerson, Ariana Neal

Cinderella

When her father unexpectedly passes away, young Ella finds herself at the mercy of her cruel stepmother and her daughters.

Straight, sumptuous retelling of the Perrault fairytale, specifically a remake of the 1950 animated film. The problem here comes from actualizing such somber absurdity which, when existing in the real world, displays actions and situations that not only make little sense but aren’t that particularly interesting anyway. Like all of the recent Disney live-action remakes, it’s more marketing than cinema.

d – Kenneth Branagh

w – Chris Weitz

ph – Haris Zambarloukos

pd – Dante Ferretti

m – Patrick Doyle

ed – Martin Walsh

cos – Sandy Powell

p – David Barron, Simon Kinberg, Allison Shearmur

Cast: Cate Blanchett, Lily James, Richard Madden, Helena Bonham Carter, Nonso Anozie, Stellan Skarsgård, Sophie McShera, Holliday Grainger, Derek Jacobi, Ben Chaplin, Hayley Atwell, Rob Brydon