Reel Entropy

Experimental Terrence Malick trilogy ends with a bang

Posted on March 28, 2016 by reelentropy

Photo courtesy Broad Green Pictures.

“Oh, you think Affleck is playing ‘Sad Batman?‘ I’ll show you Sad Batman” — Christian Bale, probably.

The past few years, film legend Terrence Malick has been turning out a semi-autobiographical trilogy of experimental films, starting with Tree of Life in 2011 and To the Wonder in 2012. This string of movies concludes with Knight of Cups, a tarot card-themed exploration of existential boredom in Hollywood. It’s divided into chapters, almost all of which are named after one of the major arcana and represent a person or relationship in the life of main character Rick (Bale), the eponymous Knight of Cups. They are The Moon, Della (Imogen Poots), one of Rick’s girlfriends; The Hanged Man, his brother Barry (Wes Bentley) and father Joseph (Brian Dennehy); The Hermit, Tonio (Antonio Banderas), a philanderer who views women as different fruit flavors; Judgment, Nancy (Cate Blanchett), Rick’s ex-wife; The Tower, Helen (Freida Pinto), a model who encourages Rick to stop living in his dream world; The High Priestess, Karen (Teresa Palmer), a stripper who encourages Rick to remain in his dream world; Death, Elizabeth (Natalie Portman), a married woman with whom Rick has an affair and possibly impregnates; and Freedom, Isabel (Isabel Lucas), the last woman he’s with in the movie.

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Posted in Entropy | Tagged #antonio banderas, #Batfleck, #batman v superman, #Ben Affleck, #brian dennehy, #cate blanchett, #christian bale, #Dawn of Justice, #freida pinto, #imogen poots, #isabel lucas, #knight of cups, #natalie portman, #sad batman, #sad ben affleck, #tarot, #teresa palmer, #terrence malick, #the dark knight, #to the wonder, #tony danza, #tree of life, #wes bentley | 1 Comment

Dawn of Justice surprisingly not unwatchable, but an extremely hollow adaptation

Posted on March 25, 2016 by reelentropy

Photos courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.

There seemed to be only two ways Batman v Superman: ~~Civil War~~ Dawn of Justice could go — completely awful and also incredibly sad and dull to the point that you couldn’t even laugh at it, or completely awful, but in a wonderfully over-the-top way that would see everybody have a decent time anyway. But miraculously, against all precedent, the backward creative conglomerate at DC has created a tolerable movie.

The film revolves around the discovery of kryptonite in the wreckage of the world engine, General Zod’s (Michael Shannon) terraforming device from Man of Steel. Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg — seriously, Jesse Eisenberg) first attempts to convince Senator June Finch (Holly Hunter) to legalize its import as insurance against Superman (Henry Cavill), then smuggles it into Gotham Harbor where Batman (Ben Affleck — no, seriously, Ben Affleck) steals it. Having seen the devastation in Man of Steel firsthand, Batman is similarly obsessed with killing Superman, but Superman has also taken notice of him for his turbulent resurgence in Gotham’s underworld.

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Posted in Entropy | Tagged #Batfleck, #Batman, #batman vs superman, #Ben Affleck, #civil war, #daredevil, #Dawn of Justice, #DC comics, #doomsday, #gal gadot, #green lantern, #harley quinn, #henry cavill, #holly hunter, #iron man, #jesse eisenberg, #lex luthor, #man of steel, #margot robbie, #michael shannon, #Netflix, #suicide squad, #superman, #the dark knight, #the dark knight returns, #the dark knight rises, #the killing joke, #the long halloween, #the matrix revolutions, #warner bros., #wonder woman, Captain America, Marvel | 2 Comments

Allegiant a terrible extension of a terrible series

Posted on March 21, 2016 by reelentropy

We’re going to talk a lot about this movie and the series interchangeably in this review. That’s bad form, but it’s appropriate here for two reasons — one, The Divergent Series’ movies are so uniform and so uniformly flawed that it’s difficult to distinguish between them in the first place, and second, this movie absolutely doesn’t stand on its own as a narrative, and viewers who haven’t seen the first two movies will be completely lost watching it. So, those movies also come into play. Photos courtesy Summit Entertainment.

The Divergent Series was doomed from the get-go when they cast cardboard cut-outs Shailene Woodley and Theo James in the lead roles, and despite respected veterans Kate Winslet, Naomi Watts and Jeff Daniels joining the cast in each subsequent installment, it was always clear they were only there to cash a check. Word got out that the first movie was kind of a Hunger Games ripoff, and it was such a massive Hunger Games ripoff on both a high conceptual level and low execution level that that’s all anyone saw it as. The creative bankruptcy only got worse in the second one, and this third one feels like it was produced on autopilot by the same automaton that made Insurgent. No one really gave this series a chance, and it never really merited one.

Looking back on the series with one more movie to go, it’s impossible to ignore how bad these movies are in the theater, but also hard to be angry. You kind of have to just shake your head in wonder.

The Divergent Series: Allegiant follows Tris Prior (Woodley) and her merry band, Four Eaton (James), Caleb Prior (Ansel Elgort), Christina (Zoë Kravitz) and Peter Hayes (Miles Teller) beyond the wall surrounding Chicago. After helping to depose Jeanine Matthews (Winslet) in the previous movies, Eaton’s mother, Evelyn (Watts) has taken power, and has sent her soldiers after the group for stupid reasons that don’t matter. Eventually, the heroes run far enough to discover the facility behind the Chicago enclosure and begin to unravel the mystery of their entire lives. It goes south, and the man in charge, David (Daniels), tries to kill everyone, once again for stupid reasons.

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Posted in Entropy | Tagged #allegiant, #ansel elgort, #divergent, #hunger games, #insurgent, #jeff daniels, #kate winslet, #miles teller, #naomi watts, #shailene woodley, #the divergent series, #the fault in our stars, #the spectacular now, #theo games, #whiplash, Harry Potter | 1 Comment

YOU GUYS! CLOVERFIELD 2!!!!

Posted on March 11, 2016 by reelentropy

Photos courtesy Paramount Pictures.

Well, not really.

10 Cloverfield Lane centers on Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who is rescued from a one-car accident by Howard Stambler (John Goodman). However, instead of a hospital, Stambler takes Michelle to his underground bunker and holds her there, telling her that a weapon of mass destruction went off while she was unconscious and he decided to let her stay in his fallout shelter for the next year or two, along with Emmet (John Gallagher, Jr.). Not believing Stambler’s story, Michelle unsuccessfully tries to escape, starting a game of cat-and-mouse that lasts almost the entire film.

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Posted in Entropy | Tagged #10 cloverfield lane, #cloverfield, #damien chazelle, #dan trachtenberg, #godzilla, #jeremy renner, #jj abrams, #john goodman, #josh campbell, #mary elizabeth winstead, #matt stuecken, #pacific rim, #spiritual successor, #star trek into darkness, #the cellar, #the hurt locker, #whiplash | Leave a comment

All I hear is politics inside my brain, someone help me!

Posted on March 10, 2016 by reelentropy

Zootopia images courtesy Walt Disney Motion Picture Studios. London Has Fallen images courtesy Focus Features.

At the end of Zootopia, the diversity hire cop turns to the camera and tells the audience that profiling and racism are bad, and we need to work together to eliminate them from our society. At the end of London Has Fallen, the black president turns toward the camera and explains that the doctrine of isolationism is false, and while some would say America is responsible for the violence in this film with its indiscriminate drone strikes, a lot more people would be dead without them.

There have been way too many primary debates this cycle.

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Posted in Entropy | Tagged #21 jump street, #aaron eckhart, #deadpool, #Disney, #drone strikes, #feel the bern, #gerard butler, #ghostbusters, #idris elba, #jason bateman, #london has fallen, #make america great again, #men in black, #morgan freeman, #tina fey, #whiskey tango foxtrot, #zootopia | Leave a comment

Reel Entropy

Experimental Terrence Malick trilogy ends with a bang

Dawn of Justice surprisingly not unwatchable, but an extremely hollow adaptation

Allegiant a terrible extension of a terrible series

YOU GUYS! CLOVERFIELD 2!!!!

All I hear is politics inside my brain, someone help me!

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