Deadpool (2016)

Nothing has ever come close to a comic book movie as “Deadpool” has in its action, gore, and hilarious sense of humor. True he’s an antihero, but he’s so funny at being that! Tim Miller makes his directorial debut with this superhero film about a special operative named Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) who seeks revenge on the people who turned him into the creature that he is, Deadpool. It has every movie genre mixed into it. Every thing from action, revenge, comedy, and a love story. It’s a pretty good romantic comedy if you ask me.

Reynolds knocked it out of the ball park as Deadpool with his puns and sense of humor in the comic book genre. It is ten times better than his earlier rendition of the ‘Merc with a Mouth’ in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (2009) who gets his mouth sewn shut. That killed his character in every way possible. What’s funny is Deadpool references the studio’s mistakes and pokes fun at it! Deadpool also broke the fourth wall in ways that are both appropriate and funny. I had so much fun watching Deadpool do that to us-the audience. And I’ll add that I didn’t expect to laugh so much watching this. I laughed until my ribs hurt!

As a moviegoer, I’ve come to realize that not all audience members are created equal. So I’ll come out and say that I was not the targeted audience for this film. There is a lot of cursing, gore, and some nudity and sexuality in this movie. That drove me away from the movie a little bit as I watched it. I closed my eyes during the sex and nudity parts (Yes, I did close my eyes!). I don’t swear, go to strip joints, or kill people, and I don’t intend to. This film took a lot out of me emotionally, but am I going to change may habits and start swearing and turning violent? No. Movies don’t effect me that way. But always be aware that films like “Deadpool” have a place. I’m not going to buy this film when it hits stores, but I sure enjoyed myself.

Ryan Reynolds in “Deadpool”

Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015)

Friendship is the key focus for this simple story within a beautiful world of stop motion animation. Directed by Mark Burton and Richard Starzak, this film follows Shaun and his sheep-farm family traveling to the big city to find their lost owner. All of the scenes are funny and connected making for focused intersecting vignettes. I cared about the characters and everything they stood for. Shaun is adorable and smart who has to adapt to all of his situations-turned sour-because of all of his relatives being sheepishly curious. It’s pretty remarkable how the story makes all of them so lovable.

Something that really impressed me is there’s no dialogue. It’s practically an intertaining mimed movie. Some people might be turned off by the notion of no speaking roles for 90 minutes, but this film uses it to it’s advantage. I want to turn to “Mr. Bean” (1990-1995) for successful mime storytelling. He managed to use his expressions and mannerisms  to speak for him. It’s funny, and the success rested on the story telling and acting. “Shaun the Sheep Movie” is no different. The detailed animation, the music, and writing for this film worked giving all of the characters a wide range of emotions which gave myself, my wife, my three year old son, and my five week old daughter giggles and smiles.

“Shaun the Sheep Movie”

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Action packed to it’s core, “Mad Max: Fury Road” directed by Australian born George Miller surpasses everything I imagined could happen in an action film. It has grit, nostalgia, heart-wrenching moments, a tense and awesome score by Junkie XL, and incredible visuals-great ingredients for one of the best action films I have ever seen. I’ve been hearing non-stop good things about this film ever since it came out. I had to find out for myself if this film lived up to the powerhouse reviews and awards it’s been getting. I went to the store and rented a copy from a Redbox and watched it. After watching it, I said to myself, “Why in the world didn’t I watch this in the theater!”

“Mad Max: Fury Road” takes us along for a crazy ride with Max (Tom Hardy) and Furiosa (Charlize Theron) who are trying to escape Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Bryne) and his horde of vehicular henchmen. The way this vast cast works together is flawless. All of the actors, extras, and stuntmen in this film don’t hold back. They put in 100% effort into this film, which gave me an awesome and thrilling ride making me feel as though I was in the chaos with them. Every time a crazy action scene popped up, all I could say to myself was “How did they do that!”

This film has no fat on it! The editing by Margaret Sixel is so good and cut to precision making every scene and every cut count towards the action. What’s amazing is the action and the way this film is edited doesn’t deviate from the story. A lot of action films make a story around the action instead of the action revolving around the story. Miller was smart and sneaky with this film because he made the story as simple as possible and put the action on top of it – a lot of it. The whole entire movie is one long action scene and it works!

My last little applause with this film is it’s direction. Miller broke off from the franchise over thirty years ago with “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome” (1985) and didn’t do anything comparable to this genre. He managed to come back from doing children’s animated films and go right back into “Mad Max” and gave it steroids. Another 1970s director comes to mind who went back behind the camera after a few decades and attempted to make new movies for the franchise. To me it seemed very “forced.” Miller succeeded because he was never out of practice directing, and he knows how to find balance between action and story.

Tom Hardy in “Mad Max: Fury Road”

The Revenant (2015)

Alejandro González  Iñárritu hits us over the head with an amazing film about a mountain man who fights for survival in the frigid wilderness. This film is called “The Revenant”, and boy is it breathtaking to watch. All of the shots are beautiful making all frames into grand photographs thanks to cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki who gets amazing shots in places where you have to be crazy to get. The cold icy water is one of them. You can’t pay me to get in that water-as the actor or the cameraman!

Something in this movie I saw that really impressed me and love is there are very few cuts in each scene. The lack of cuts made me more involved and connected to the what I was seeing on screen. It reminded me of “Gravity” (2013), which Lubezki also worked on. And with Inarritu’s direction, we get a first person view of what life was like in the frontier in the 1820s. A period in American history that we haven’t seen on film too often. It was as if we went back in time with a steadicam! Inarritu is by far one of my favorite directors working today because of this film. He’s so good at film making.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s portrayal as Hugh Glass is downright intense. He defies the laws of nature by staying alive amid the freezing temperatures. His expressions on his face reflect what he’s going through physically. I couldn’t tell if he was really in pain or only acting. This kind of method acting is what DiCaprio does best to get into his roles. Having him go through everything we see him go through on film adds grit and ambiance to the protagonists making us root for him even more. This is by far my favorite role of his because of the physicality he puts into it. He has so many things trying to kill him. A grizzly bear, the Arikara, the French, the weather, and fellow trapper John Fitzgerald played by fellow method actor, Tom Hardy. DiCaprio doesn’t have that many lines, but it’s necessary to get the full emotions of him going through this crucible.

Just for fun, here’s a list of all the things Dicaprio as Glass does in this film:

1. Loads and fires a muzzle-loading rifle
2. Swims in ice cold rivers
3. Eats buffalo liver
4. Rides a horse up a mountain
5. Falls off a cliff
6. Guts and inserts himself in a horse’s carcass
7. Crawls through the forest
8. Crawls up a mountain
9. Climbs up a mountain
10. Climbs down a mountain
11. Catches and eats a fish raw
12. Seals a wound in his neck with gun powder
13. Gets attacked and fights off a grizzly bear
14. Speaks Pawnee
15. Gets his hand stabbed
16. Gets into a knife fight with Tom Hardy
17. Fights the Arikara

Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Revenant”

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Ten years after “Revenge of the Sith” (2005) and thirty-two years after “The Return of the Jedi” (1983) rolled into theaters comes a new Star Wars film, “The Force Awakens”-directed by J.J. Abrams-that brings both nostalgia and good movie making into the next trilogy. I saw “Revenge of the Sith” when I was a senior in high school ready to graduate and move on into adulthood. I guess I became an adult, but I still collect Star Wars action figures. The Black Series six inch figures are best. And I was still four years away from being conceived by my parents when “Return of the Jedi” came out. That got awkward. We’re talking about “Star Wars” so it’s okay. Ten years is a long time to wait for another Star Wars film.

“The Force Awakens” revolves around three new characters within the Star Wars universe. Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is the new baddie who wears black clothing, a sinister mask, and wields a deadly and unstable red tri-lightsaber. Finn (John Boyega) is a stormtrooper who wants to run away from his problems. And Rey (Daisy Ridley) lives as a scavenger on a desert planet called Tatooine-I mean Jakku. These three new and exciting characters plus an aged Han Solo (Harrison Ford) intersect with one another making for a lot of fun adventure, conflicts, and new story points making us the audience root for them. Yes, even Kylo Ren. He’s my favorite character in this film because he has the most conflict and layers underneath that mask.

The visual and practical effects and CGI in this film is absolutely astounding. Everything from the TIE fighters, the blaster shootouts, the aliens, and the lightsaber fights, which all make a ton of improvements for a spectacular movie watching experience. The story too matches the visual effects. Too many times can visual effects over shadow the story in a film like this. “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” (2009) comes to mind.

My last little bit of insight with this film is there is not an ounce of fat. What I mean is that it’s edited to the point where there is no wasted frame, shot, or line. Everything in this film goes so fast that I couldn’t even comprehend what was going on. It’s not a bad thing. When I first saw this film on December 17th-a Thursday- I was so overcome with excitement and joy that the movie went by so fast. I wanted more! I since then have seen this film two more times and I noticed Easter eggs, additional lines, and movie making galore. This film surpassed all of my expectations and gets better every time I see it. Episode VIII can’t get here fast enough!

Daisy Ridley (L) and John Boyega (R) in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”