Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Crisp Criticism - "Central Intelligence", "The BFG", "O.J.: Made in America"

by
Julien Faddoul











Central Intelligence *

After he reunites with an old pal through Facebook, a mild-mannered accountant is lured into the world of international espionage.
At times funny – certainly more than anything its two stars have done before – but ultimately hesitant action comedy on homoerotic relationships.

d – Rawson Marshall Thurber
w – Ike Barinholtz, David Stassen, Rawson Marshall Thurber
ph – Barry Peterson
pd – Stephen J. Lineweaver
m – Ludwig Göransson, Theodore Shapiro 
ed – Michael L. Sale
cos – Carol Ramsey

p – Peter Principato, Scott Stuber, Paul Young

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Aaron Paul, Amy Ryan, Danielle Nicolet, Ryan Hansen, Bobby Brown, Megan Park, Timothy John Smith

Friday, June 24, 2016

Crisp Criticism - "Independence Day: Resurgence", "Louder Than Bombs", "Everybody Wants Some", "Genius"

by
Julien Faddoul











Independence Day: Resurgence

Two decades after the first Independence Day invasion, Earth is faced with a new extra-Solar threat.
As atrocious as a blockbuster can get: A noisy, incoherent mess in which nothing on screen is even remotely believable, either thematically or aesthetically. It attempts to differentiate itself from the original while remaining in every instance completely derivative, with the most cynical of endings.

d – Roland Emmerich
w – Nicolas Wright, James A. Woods, Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich, James Vanderbilt   (Based on the Characters by Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich)
ph – Markus Förderer
pd – Barry Chusid
m – Harald Kloser, Thomas Wanker
ed – Adam Wolfe
cos – Lisy Christl

p – Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich, Harald Kloser

Cast: Liam Hemsworth, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Patrick St. Esprit, Joey King, Jessie Usher, Chin Han, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Maika Monroe, William Fichtner, Vivica A. Fox, Sela Ward, Brent Spiner

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Crisp Criticism - "Warcraft", "Me Before You", "Miles Ahead", "Sunset Song"

by
Julien Faddoul











Warcraft

The backstory of a video game.
Atrocious, laughable, dumbfounding piece of pulp fiction based on a video game that makes the catastrophic choice to treat everything with the utmost seriousness. The result is a riotous exercise in ridicule, from the characters’ appearance to the juvenile narrative.

d – Duncan Jones
w – Duncan Jones, Charles Leavitt   (Based on the Characters by Chris Metzen)
ph – Simon Duggan
pd – Gavin Bocquet
m – Ramin Djawadi
ed – Paul Hirsch
cos – Mayes C. Rubeo

p – Stuart Fenegan, Alex Gartner, Jon Jashni, Charles Roven, Thomas Tull

Cast: Paula Patton, Travis Fimmel, Ben Foster, Robert Kazinsky, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ben Schnetzer, Daniel Wu, Clancy Brown, Ruth Negga, Daniel Cudmore, Callum Keith Rennie, Ryan Robbins, Burkley Duffield, Donnie MacNeil

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Finding Dory (2016/US)

by
Julien Faddoul












*** (3 stars)


d – Andrew Stanton
co-d – Angus MacLane
w – Andrew Stanton, Victoria Strouse
ph – Ian Megibben, Jeremy Lasky
pd – Steve Pilcher
m – Thomas Newman
ed – Axel Geddes

p – Lindsey Collins

Cast: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Hayden Rolence, Ed O’Neill, Kaitlin Olson, Ty Burrell, Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy, Idris Elba, Dominic West, Sigourney Weaver, John Ratzenberger



Like many cinephiles, my obsession with cinema began as a child. That’s when I first secured grasp of its language, its rhythms, its cadency and its philosophy, as well as the confidence that cinema is a living thing that is constantly evolving, creating an amalgamation of all the images and all the sounds of all the movies. It was also during childhood that I discovered that not everyone felt this way. Not only did they not understand what I was talking about, they didn’t want to. This led to the speculation of “Well, what do they feel when they see a film”?

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Crisp Criticism - "Now You See Me 2", "The Conjuring 2", "High-Rise"

by
Julien Faddoul














Now You See Me 2

The Four Horsemen resurface and are forcibly recruited by a tech genius to pull off their most impossible heist yet.
About as dumb as a movie can get, with ugly scenarios, nonsensical developments and a cast who all look embarrassed to be there.

d – John M. Chu
w – Ed Solomon, Pete Chiarelli   (Based on the Characters by Boaz Yakin, Edward Ricourt)
ph – Peter Deming
pd – Sharon seymour
m – Brian Tyler
ed – Stan Salfas
cos – Anna B. Sheppard  

p – Bobby Cohen, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci

Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Dave Franco, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Lizzy Caplan, Daniel Radcliffe, Jay Chou, Henry Lloyd-Hughes

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Crisp Criticism - "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows", "Money Monster", "Hunt for the Wilderpeople"

by
Julien Faddoul











Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows *

As Shredder joins forces with mad scientist Baxter Stockman and henchmen Bebop and Rocksteady to take over the world, the Turtles must confront an even greater nemesis: the notorious Krang.
Agreeable, at times even engaging piece of schlock that certainly eclipses its predecessor in everyway. It achieves this by substituting ersatz grit for simple cartooniness. Despite this, it still remains unsatisfactory due to its reliance on expected bombast and crassness.

d – Dave Green
w – Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec   (Based on the Characters by Peter Laird, Kevin Eastman)
ph – Lula Carvalho
pd – Martin Laing
m – Steve Jablonsky
ed – Bob Ducsay, Jim May
cos – Sarah Edwards

p – Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Bradley Fuller, Scott Mednick, Galen Walker

Cast: Megan Fox, Stephen Amell, Will Arnett, Laura Linney, Pete Ploszek, Alan Ritchson, Noel Fisher, Jeremy Howard, Tony Shalhoub, Tyler Perry, Brian Tee, Gary Anthony Williams, Stephen Farrelly, Alessandra Ambrosio, Brad Garrett