Reel Entropy

Sing Street a fun, lively jukebox musical, don’t expect even a little originality with the story

Posted on April 26, 2016 by reelentropy

Photos courtesy The Weinstein Company.

Steven James
@StevenLeeJames

Sing Street is an Irish coming-of- age jukebox musical that can be described in two words: fun and typical.

In Dublin 1985, 15-year-old Conor “Cosmo” Lalor’s (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) parents force him to transfer from his expensive private school to the free, state-sponsored Synge Street CBS. The family is suffering from major financial issues. Conor’s father, Robert (Aidan Gillan), and mother, Penny (Maria Doyle Kennedy), are in a crumbling marriage. Conor’s brother, Brendan (Jack Reynor), is a college drop-out who lives at home and spends most of his time getting high, listening to music and hanging out with his siblings. His sister, Ann (Kelly Thornton), is attempting to become an architect like her father, but with hopefully a more successful career.

Conor Lalor meets pretty girl and aspiring model, 16-year-old Raphina (Lucy Boynton), who lives across the street from Conor’s school in the local girl’s home and decides to form a band. He meets manager Darren (Ben Carolan), who shoots the band’s music videos, as well as bandmates Eamon (Mark McKenna), Larry (Conor Hamilton), Garry (Karl Rice) and Ngig (Percy Chamburuka), Sing Street’s Token Minority. Brendan convinces Conor to change Sing Street from a lame cover band into an edgy, rock ‘n’ roll group to impress Raphina, and to write most of his lyrics about her.

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The Möbius Strip: Jungle Book easily repeats, Dredd 2!!!

Posted on April 26, 2016 by reelentropy

Photo courtesy Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Leopold Knopp

Facing weak competition, Jungle Book easily repeated last weekend with $61.5 million. Main challenger The Huntsman: Winter’s War didn’t even top $20 million- Box Office Mojo

The success of Disney’s Jungle Book — Jon Favreau’s eighth feature film — and its announced sequel puts even more pressure on Warner Bros. and freshman director Andy Serkis, who is putting together and entirely separate Jungle Book for 2018- Entertainment Weekly

Winter’s War’s flop, following Blackhat and In the Heart of the Sea last year, could mean disaster for star Chris Hemsworth’s career- The Inquisitr

Scott Mendelson looks at the effect dropping Kristen Stewart, star of the original Snow White and the Huntsman, had on the film’s box office, positing that switching to a male lead could have alienated the movie’s primarily female target audience- Forbes

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Posted in The Möbius strip | Tagged #Age of Ultron, #andy serkis, #ang lee, #anna kendrick, #beyonce, #brewvies cinema pub, #chris hemsworth, #deadpool, #Disney, #dredd, #dredd 2, #green room, #james franco, #jay z, #jeremy saulnier, #jj abrams, #jon favreau, #joss whedon, #jungle book, #karl urban, #knight of cups, #kristen stewart, #lemonade, #marvel, #prince, #rian johnson, #ryan reynolds, #simon pegg, #snow white and the huntsman, #star trek beyond, #star wars, #terrence malick, #the force awakens, #the hobbit, #tribeca film festival, #warner bros., #winter's war, The Avengers | Leave a comment

Predictably, Huntsman is a colossal mess

Posted on April 25, 2016 by reelentropy

I still haven’t seen Frozen, but this is essentially Frozen, right? Photos courtesy Universal Pictures.

The Huntsman: Winter’s War is partially a prequel to Snow White and the Huntsman and partially a sequel. The plot has a timeskip in it, and the narrator — Liam Neeson, somehow — says “that entire movie happened in this spot.” It’s half-and-half. It’s a psreequel.

It’s a mess, is what it is.

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Posted in Entropy | Tagged #charlize theron, #chris hemsworth, #cinderella, #emily blunt, #jessica chastain, #kristen stewart, #liam neeson, #madagascar 3, #prometheus, #rupert sanders, #snow white and the huntsman, #sony, #the huntsman, #twilight, #winter's war, Spider-Man | Leave a comment

Midnight Special is just great

Posted on April 21, 2016 by reelentropy

With sparse marketing that was cryptic to the point of being confrontational, Midnight Special’s trump card is how instantly recognizable it is, from Alton’s piercing eye glow to the film’s uniquely relaxing piano theme. Photos courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.

In Midnight Special, the cult surrounding supernatural child Alton Meyer (Jaeden Lieberher) frequently takes communion by looking into his glowing eyes. When asked, members can’t describe what they see, only that it feels peaceful and they want to see it again.

That’s more or less the impression the movie leaves you with.

At the film’s start, Alton has been abducted from his adoptive father, Calvin (Sam Shepard), who leads the cult around the boy, by his biological father, Roy (Michael Shannon) and Roy’s childhood friend, Lucas (Joel Edgerton). The cult formed around Alton because of his many powers, one of which includes compulsively picking up and decoding satellite signals, which the cult takes as his gospel. Followers of Alton’s fits have determined a specific date, four days from the movie’s start, to be significant. Naturally, they’ve assumed it’s the apocalypse. However, Roy and others have determined that a specific location in Florida is also significant, and believes Alton needs to be there on the day in question. Roy, Lucas and Alton travel from the West Texas ranch to Florida pursued by the FBI, which has started investigating the cult at the same time, and two of the cult’s hit men.

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Posted in Entropy | Tagged #close encounters of the third kind, #every frame a painting, #fatherhood, #jeff nichols, #joel edgerton, #jurassic park, #michael shannon, #midnight special, #raiders of the lost ark, #steven spielberg | Leave a comment

Beautiful Jungle Book movie can’t handle its meaty themes

Posted on April 17, 2016 by reelentropy

Among its other themes, The Jungle Book as an interesting refrain of authority figures. Every animal the child Mowgli (Neel Sethi) meets represents a different kind of adult influence. There’s the wolf Raksha (Lupita Nyong’o), his loving mother figure; the panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley), a disciplinarian father figure; the tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba), a fascist who upholds the law of the jungle through fear; the snake Kaa (Scarlett Johansson), a sexual predator; the bear Baloo (Bill Murray), an aloof hippie; and the orangutan King Louie (Christopher Walken), a mobster. Photos courtesy Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

The Jungle Book follows Mowgli, a man-cub raised by the ruling pack of the jungle. But when Shere Khan, a giant antagonist cat with a scarred left eye, discovers his presence, Mowgli is driven away. After a scene involving a stampede through a ravine in which his guardian father-figure cat is presumably killed, Mowgli escapes the jurisdiction, and his scar-faced pursuer returns to claim the throne for himself. Mowgli is adopted by a fat stoner animal, and they sing a catchy jingle about nihilism. ~~Mufasa~~ Bagheera returns, and Mowgli learns that ~~Scar~~ Shere Khan is wreaking havoc on his home. He returns for vengeance, and the whole place conspicuously catches fire. The scar-faced cat is eventually thrown into a pit of flames and Mowgli is cleared of all wrong-doing.

In short, things are going to be pretty awkward between this movie and the live-action Lion King revamp that’s inevitably coming down the pike.

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Posted in Entropy | Tagged #bare necessities, #ben kingsley, #bill murray, #christopher walken, #Disney, #giancarlo esposito, #i wanna be like you, #idris elba, #jon favereau, #lupita nyongo, #mufasa, #neel sethi, #scar, #scarlett johansson, #the incredibles, #the jungle book, #the lion king, #wall-e | Leave a comment

Reel Entropy

Sing Street a fun, lively jukebox musical, don’t expect even a little originality with the story

The Möbius Strip: Jungle Book easily repeats, Dredd 2!!!

Predictably, Huntsman is a colossal mess

Midnight Special is just great

Beautiful Jungle Book movie can’t handle its meaty themes

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