Crisp Criticism - "Transformers: Age of Extinction", "Snowpiercer", "22 Jump Street", "Yves Saint Laurent"

by

Julien Faddoul

Transformers: Age of Extinction

Optimus Prime calls for all Autobots while hiding in repair within the garage of a Texas inventor.

It is astounding how, in the last 20 years of making movies, Bay has not gained a single ounce of intelligence. This time, he seems to be working in the vain of a denunciation of Republicans, surrounded by his usual dreadful tropes including haphazard fight scenes, unintelligible and/or risible dialogue, demeaning female imagery and illogical plot details (like the casting of Wahlberg as a Texan inventor). At least this time we are spared from Shia Labeouf’s screeching.

d – Michael Bay

w – Ehren Kruger

ph – Amir Mokri

pd – Jeffrey Beecroft

m – Steve Jablonsky

ed – Roger Barton, William Goldenberg, Paul Rubell

p – Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Ian Bryce, Tom DeSanto, Don Murphy

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor, Titus Welliver, Sophia Myles, Bingbing Li, T.J. Miller, James Bachman, Peter Cullen, Frank Walker, John Goodman, Ken Watanabe, Robert Foxworth, John DiMaggio, Mark Ryan, Reno Wilson

Snowpiercer *

In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine.

Dark, ludicrously over-the-top dystopian saga with many exemplary sequences typical of its director, working for the first time in English. Bong’s attempt at showing how unsustainable class systems ultimately are for humanity (Marxism, Capitalism etc.) never quite penetrates. It all seems hurried with too much concentration placed on bloodshed.

d – Bong Joon-Ho

w – Bong Joon-Ho, Kelly Masterson   (Based on the Novel by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand, Jean-Marc Rochette)

ph – Hong Kyung-Pyo

pd – Ondrej Nekvasil

m – Marco Beltrami

ed – Steve M. Choe, Kim Changju

cos – Catherine George

p – Jeong Tae-Sung, Lee Tae-Hun, Park Chan-Wook, Steven Nam

Cast: Chris Evans, Song Kang-Ho, Tilda Swinton, Ed Harris, John Hurt, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, Ewen Bremner, Alison Pill, Vlad Ivanov, Ko Ah-Sung

22 Jump Street **

The buddy cops from 21 Jump Street take on college.

Fast, at times riotously funny sequel to the surprise hit from 2012. It inhales an immense amount of pleasure from its cast until it makes the same mistake as its predecessor and becomes over-bloated in action and self-referential humor.

d – Phil Lord, Christopher Miller

w – Michael Bacall, Oren Uziel, Rodney Rothman, Jonah Hill   (Based on the Television Series by Stephen J. Cannell, Patrick Hansburgh)

ph – Barry Peterson

pd – Steve Saklad

m – Mark Mothersbaugh

ed – Keith Brachmann, David Rennie

cos – Leesa Evans

p – Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Neal H. Moritz

Cast: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube, Peter Stormare, Wyatt Russell, Amber Stevens, Jillian Bell, Nick Offerman

Yves Saint Laurent

A look at the life of French designer Yves Saint Laurent from the beginning of his career in 1958 when he met his lover and business partner, Pierre Berge.

Dull, shallow biopic of a familiar kind.

d – Jalil Lespert

w – Jacques Fieschi, Marie-Pierre Huster, Jalil Lespert (Based on the Booky by Laurence Benaïm)

ph – Thomas Hardmeier

pd – Aline Bonetto

m – Ibrahim Maalouf

ed – François Gédigier

p – Yannick Bolloré, Wassim Béji

Cast: Pierre Niney, Guilaaume Gallienne, Charlotte Le Bon, Laura Smet