Crisp Criticism - "Deepwater Horizon", "Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children", "Storks", "Hillsong: Let Hope Rise"

by

Julien Faddoul

Deepwater Horizon *

A story set on the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, which exploded during April 2010 and created the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Savage disaster film, focusing less on the environmental consequences of the oil spill and more on the men who lost their lives due to managerial corruptness. It works best when its director revels in workman-like sequences of the day-to-day operations. But in all the ultimate chaos and bravado, the film never reaches any reflective point; content to merely shake its audience with illustrations of catastrophe.

d – Peter Berg

w – Matthew Michael Carnahan, Matthew Sand   (Based on the Article by David Rohde, Stephanie Saul)

ph – Enrique Chediak

pd – Chris Seagers

m – Steve Jablonsky

ed – Gabriel Fleming, Colby Parker Jr

cos – Kasia Walicka-Maimone

p – Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian, David Womark

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O'Brien, Kate Hudson

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

A teenager finds himself transported to an island where he must help protect a group of orphans with special powers from creatures intent on destroying them.

Typical modern-era half-baked Burton film with plenty of pleasantly wacky imagery but no wit whatsoever. The plot is even duller.

d – Tim Burton

w – Jane Goldman   (Based on the Novel by Ransom Riggs)

ph – Bruno Delbonnel

pd – Gavin Bocquet

m – Michael Higham, Matthew Margeson

ed – Chris Lebenzon

cos – Colleen Atwood

p – Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping

Cast: Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Chris O'Dowd, Allison Janney, Rupert Everett, Terence Stamp, Ella Purnell, Judi Dench, Samuel L. Jackson, Callum Wilson, Kim Dickens

Storks *

Storks have moved on from delivering babies to packages. But when an order for a baby appears, the best delivery stork must scramble to fix the error by delivering it.

Too manic and tiresome to be successful, but funny and sincere animated feature for those in the mood.

d – Doug Sweetland, Nicholas Stoller

w – Nicholas Stoller

pd – Paul Lasaine

m – Mychael Danna, Jeff Danna

ed – John Venzon

cos –

p – Brad Lewis, Nicholas Stoller

Cast: Andy Samberg, Katie Crown, Kelsey Grammer, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Anton Starkman, Jennifer Aniston, Ty Burrell, Stephen Kramer Glickman, Danny Trejo

Hillsong: Let Hope Rise

Chronicles the unlikely rise to prominence of the Australia-based Christian band, Hillsong United.

Superfluous Christian documentary about a group of jejune musicians who desperately want you to like them.

d – Michael John Warren

ph – Richard Cause, Cameron Glendenning

ed – E.A. Bishop

p – Jonathan Bock, Ben Field, Matt Weaver