Crisp Criticism - "The Founder", "Bad Santa 2", "Your Name"

by

Julien Faddoul

The Founder

The story of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc.

Completely stolid biopic with a script so thin it could’ve been written in crayon. There is no evidence here that the story behind McDonalds restaurants was worth telling.

d – John Lee Hancock

w – Robert D. Siegel

ph – John Schwartzman

pd – Michael Corenblith

m – Carter Burwell

ed – Robert Frazen

cos – Daniel Orlandi

p – Don Handfield, Jeremy Renner, Aaron Ryder

Cast: Michael Keaton, Laura Dern, Wilbur Fitzgerald, Linda Cardellini, Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch, Patrick Wilson, B.J. Novak, Kabby Borders, Valeri Rogers

Bad Santa 2

Fueled by cheap whiskey, greed and hatred, Willie and Marcus team up again to knock off a Chicago charity on Christmas Eve.

Unnecessary sequel with very few jokes landing (those of which are mostly provided by Ms Bates). It is, however, relatively short.

d – Mark Waters

w – Johnny Rosenthal, Shauna Cross   (Based on the Characters Created by Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

ph – Theo van de Sande

pd – Isabelle Guay

m – Lyle Workman

ed – Travis Sittard

cos – Mario Davignon

p – Andrew Gunn, Geyer Kosinski

Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Kathy Bates, Brett Kelly, Tony Cox, Christina Hendricks

Your Name **

Two high school kids who've never met – city boy Taki and country girl Mitsuha – discover they can switch bodies.

Intriguing but somewhat confused celestial comedy that became a giant hit in its native Japan. Shinkai still finds technique to be more interesting than story.

wd – Makoto Shinkai

m – Radwimps

ed– Makoto Shinkai

p – Noritaka Kawaguchi, Genki Kawamura

  

Cast: Ryuunosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi, Nobunaga Shimazaki, Etsuko Ichihara, Tani Kanon