Crisp Criticism - "Trainwreck", "Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation", "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence", "Da Sweet Blood of Jesus"

by

Julien Faddoul

Trainwreck

Having thought that monogamy was never possible, a commitment-phobic career woman may have to face her fears when she meets a good guy.

An overrated and judgmental film: It presumes a kind of conceited approach to its main character’s arc and its supporting characters’ view of her, relaying it as some kind of feminism despite none of it fitting any textbook example of the term. It expects its audience to follow its viewpoint around like dogs for fear of feeling stupid, all the while forgetting that in the cinema everything is about context. All this along with the gross over-length, flat humor and superfluous celebrity cameos typical of its director.

d – Judd Apatow

w – Amy Schumer

ph – Jody Lee Lipes

pd – Kevin Thompson

m – Jon Brion

ed – William Kerr, Peck Prior, Paul Zucker

cos – Leesa Evans

p – Judd Apatow, Barry Mandel

Cast: Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, Brie Larson, Colin Quinn, Vanessa Bayer, Tilda Swinton, LeBron James, Mike Birbiglia, John Cena, Dave Attell, Norman Lloyd, Ezra Miller, Daniel Radcliffe, Marisa Tomei, Jon Glaser, Randall Park, Evan Brinkman, Pete Davidson, Tim Meadows, Kyle Dunnigan, Amar'e Stoudemire, Matthew Broderick, Marv Albert, Leslie Jones

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation **

Ethan and team take on the Syndicate – an International rogue organization as highly skilled as they are, committed to destroying the IMF.

More plot-oriented than any previous film in the franchise, which is an issue due to the expected absurdity of it all. It delivers some exhilarating set-pieces, but it runs out of steam before the end.

d – Christopher McQuarrie

w – Christopher McQuarrie, Drew Pearce   (Based on the Television Series by Bruce Geller)

ph – Robert Elswit

pd – James D. Bissell

m – Joe Kraemer

ed – Eddie Hamilton

cos – Joanna Johnston

p – J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Tom Cruise, David Ellison

Cast: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, Alec Baldwin, Simon McBurney, Jingchu Zhang, Tom Hollander, Jens Hultén

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence **

Two hapless novelty salesmen embark on a tour of the human condition in reality and fantasy that unfold in a series of absurdist episodes.

Andersson has pretty well exhausted his approach to human annotation by now, this being the third in a supposed trilogy, with only 39 camera set-ups and characters and situations that lack any kind of verisimilitude. Some sequences are breathtaking, but the commentary remains slight.

wd – Roy Andersson

ph – István Borbás, Gergely Pálos

m – Hani Jazzar, Gorm Sundberg

ed – Alexandra Strauss

cos – Julia Tegstrom

p – Pernilla Sandström

Cast: Holger Andersson, Nisse Vestblom, Viktor Gyllenberg, Lotti Törnros, Jonas Gerholm, Ola Stensson

Da Sweet Blood of Jesus **

Two rich people become addicted to blood.

A cinematic alloy of its director’s susceptibilities, remaking the 1973 Blaxploitation film Ganja & Hess with funding from the global crowd funding platform Kickstarter. Part of it is inspired, part of it is embarrassing and much of it is disgusting.

d – Spike Lee

w – Spike Lee, Bill Gunn

ph – Daniel Patterson

pd – Kay Lee

m – Burce Hornsby

ed – Randy Wilkins

cos – Ruth E. Carter

p – Spike Lee, Chiz Schultz

Cast: Felicia Pearson, Zaraah Abrahams, Elvis Nolasco, Steven Hauck, Stephen Tyrone Williams, Lauren Macklin, Rami Malek