In the film world, telling any story is going to have its difficulties and setbacks. Telling or, in this case rather, translating a true story to the big screen is another matter entirely. But when a film touts those five notoriously nebulous words “based on a true story” it’s unclear how much of said events actually happened. Why is that? Well that’s because studios, screenwriters and directors can use very broad strokes when painting a live action picture. They take liberties when and where they chose if they believe it makes the translation more appealing. Nothing new there. But more to the above point, when a religious movie is based…
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G-S-T Review…Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Marvel Studios continues their hit steak of their Avengers-based films with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Following Chris Evans’s successful turn as Steve Rogers in Joe Johnston’s 2011, directors Anthony and Joe Russo trade old-fashioned heroics for a seemingly throwback ’70s themed spy film. This change in direction is refreshing and helps better align Cap with the other larger-than-life heroes in the Avengers line up – It’s also thrilling, suspenseful and action packed. Not just that but the film, with all the layers of depth (and secrecy!) to the story, and the execution of this very comic book styled plot are a fantastic second at bat for the character and the…
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G-S-T Review…Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel
Every great artist has a signature style or body of work that defines them. Like other great cineastes, Anderson has been approaching a masterwork such as The Grand Budapest Hotel for years. Life Aquatic, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Moonrise Kingdom were all exercises, just previews and the tip of the quirky iceberg that is Anderson’s talent. Anderson’s whole life has been leading up to this moment, this triumphant feature and The Grand Budapest Hotel is easily the best thing he’s ever done; it’s a Wes Anderson film on steroids. He takes everything he’s learned from his small but highly successful projects and channeled them into this gargantuan, and exceptionally detailed…
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G-S-T Review…Mr. Peabody & Sherman
Adaptations are always tricky animals because of the questions they raise: What are the rules? Who do you try to please? Is it possible to capture the magic and allure going from source material to another medium? Is there a sure-fire formula to successfully win fans and those new to the material? Many times filmmakers try to answer these questions and when it works, it works well. Other times however it’s an awful, awful mess. Well thankfully Rob Minkoff and DreamWorks, no stranger to adaptations or different mediums, know how to answer such questions. They have achieved the former and as such have another hit on their respective hands. But…
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G-S-T Review…The Attorney
If seeing history filtered through a melodramatic lens of dishonesty is your idea of a good time, then you may want to consider buying a ticket to The Attorney; you won’t learn very much about the events it depicts, but at least you’ll be entertained by the film’s almost completely decontextualized content. Or maybe you won’t. Anybody who has a weakness for moral courtroom dramas should find themselves thoroughly engaged by first-time South Korean director Yang Woo-seok, who appears to be merrily cherry picking his way toward crafting a thesis on the abuses of government corruption and the moral imperative of lawyers in a society tainted by it. Everyone else,…
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G-S-T Review…At Middleton
College films come in all makes and models; some are crafted for teens preparing to head off on their first jaunt into higher learning, some exist to indulge in the stereotypes and tropes of the college experience, and others still try to bridge that gap between highbrow and lowbrow by meshing frat comedy with coming of age narrative. At Middleton does none of these things. Unlike Animal House, Old School, Van Wilder, and the countless other films that mimic them (and which they mimic themselves), Adam Rodgers’ story isn’t about kids going to college as much as it is about their parents taking them there. Which is to say that At Middleton is about the…
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G-S-T Review…Gimme Shelter
Think of Ron Krauss’ Gimme Shelter as the next phase in Vanessa Hudgen’s plan to recalibrate her career; it’s the continued tale of how she’s graduated from high school musicals and shed her Disney skin in an attempt to become a bona fide Actress. Truthfully, Hudgens doesn’t really need to tinker with her image much further following her stint in last year’s lurid Spring Breakers, Harmony Korine’s transgressive cultural commentary on disaffected youth, but she nonetheless appears to have arrived at a point in her life where she’s no longer content appearing in disposable teenage romances and terrible Twilight clones. It’s time for her to get real. Therein lies the…
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G-S-T Review…Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
As an exercise in brand resuscitation, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit could be worse; the film does what films of its sort must, building its titular protagonist from the ground up and establishing a potential new franchise for the character going forward. Should the stars align (literally), we could see a Jack Ryan continuance in just a couple of years’ time, assuming Chris Pine can wriggle free from Star Trek‘s grasp and Kevin Costner isn’t busy playing the wise mentor figure to another young buck trying to figure out how to be a hero. This is malleable filmmaking. It necessitates very little by way of continuity. Of course, that particular element…
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G-S-T Review…Lone Survivor
Director Peter Berg sure does fancy his modern day war themed films. And why wouldn’t he? Barring Battleship, he has a knack for these heart-felt but hard-hitting and gritty stories. His true talent seems to be in these dense fish-out-of-water narratives focusing on a few key players set in a world they struggle to comprehend. With many parallels to his 2007 film The Kingdom, Lone Survivor, whether or not it was a true story (which it is), is a passion project for Berg and can almost be viewed as a companion piece. Lone Survivor, adapted from a novel of the same name (keeping the name of the book is a…
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G-S-T Review…The Wolf of Wall Street
After sitting through three hours of unrelenting, unrepentant debauchery, your first query regarding The Wolf of Wall Street might be one of genesis. How in the blue hell did this thing get made? Yes, yes, there’s a realistic and tangible answer to that burning question, and it’s only five words long: Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese. (Credit should go to Red Granite Pictures, too.) But none of that makes for satisfactory explanation as to how a mainstream Hollywood movie could be this explicit, this over the line, and this unapologetic all at the same time; most shamefully of all, it’s also a total blast, though you’ll probably want to take a…
