Monday, August 17, 2015

Crisp Criticism - "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", "Fantastic 4", "Vacation"

by
Julien Faddoul













The Man from U.N.C.L.E. *

In the early 1960s, a CIA agent and a KGB operative participate in a joint mission against a mysterious criminal organization, which is working to proliferate nuclear weapons.
Perfectly charming for half of its runtime, this light, altogether inconsequential spy thriller, based on the 60’s TV series, then turns into the monotonous jangle of action that its director is addicted to.

d – Guy Ritchie
w – Jeff Kleeman, David Campbell Wilson, Guy Ritchie, Lionel Wigram   (Based on the TV Series by Sam Rolfe)
ph – John Mathieson
pd – Olover Scholl
m – Daniel Pemberton
ed – James Herbert
cos – Joanna Johnston

p – Steve Clark-Hall, John Davis, Jeff Kleeman, Lionel Wigram

Cast: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki, Luca Calvani, Sylvester Groth, Hugh Grant, Jared Harris, Christian Berkel















Fantastic 4

Four youngsters teleport to an alternate universe that then alters their physical form. The four must learn to harness their new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.
An unfinished movie: No characterization, bad special effects, zero stakes and another anti-capitalist plot stolen from other films. This is enough evidence anyone would need to recognize that the bubble of superhero cinema is about to burst.

d – Josh Trank
w – Jeremy Slater, Simon Kinberg, Josh Trank   (Based on the Comic Book by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby)
ph – Matthew Jensen
pd – Chris Seagers
m – Marco Beltrami, Philip Glass
ed – Elliot Greenberg, Stephen E. Rivkin
cos – George L. Little

p – Gregory Goodman, Simon Kinberg, Robert Kulzer, Hutch Parker, Matthew Vaughn

Cast: Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell, Michael B. Jordan, Tim Blake Nelson, Reg E. Cathey, Jodi Lyn Brockton, Chet Hanks, Jerrad Vunovich, Christopher Heskey, Don Yesso, Wayne Pére, Shauna Rappold, Adam Fristoe, Tim Heidecker














Vacation

A man takes his own family on a road trip to "Walley World" in order to spice things up with his wife and reconnect with his sons.
Appalling on so many levels, not the least of which is the mammoth amount of dead air in between the supposed “jokes” and with Helms reaching state-of-the-art levels of grating.

wd – Jonathan M. Goldstein, John Francis Daley   (Based on the Characters by John Hughes)
ph – Barry Peterson
pd – Baryr Robinson
m – Mark Mothersbaugh
ed – Jamie Gross
cos – Debra Maguire

p – Chris Bender, David Dobkin

Cast: Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Skyler Gisondo, Steele Stebbins, Chris Hemsworth, Leslie Mann, Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Charlie Day




No comments:

Post a Comment