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Travis Hopson’s Top 100 Movies Of The 2010s (Part 1)

By
Travis Hopson
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If in 2029 I start talking about doing another Top 100 of the decade, feel free to smack some sense into me.

This was tough! It nearly broke me. When I did this in 2009, Punch Drunk Critics was barely a year old. The number of movies I saw, while still quite a lot, was nowhere near what I’m seeing now and that made widdling a couple of thousand down to 100 a painful task. I spent an entire day just to kick out the final two, which turned out to be The Great Gatsby and Wind River. I REALLY wanted those in here.

Unlike others which have a roundtable of critics plucking out and negotiating which films make their list, this is all me. My favorites. I don’t presume to call them the “best”, but they do speak to me for whatever reason. If a film made the cut, it’s one that has lingered on my mind and had some personal impact. In the case of 2010’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, no other movie captured both my love of video games, in particular fighting games, and my complete misunderstanding of women. The Raid films, both of them, encompass everything I’ve ever wanted from the genre. The toughest part was figuring which movies had really slipped off my radar over the years, and which had risen in my esteem. We Bought a Zoo, a movie I absolutely adored in 2011, is nowhere to be found and never got close.

So what’s changed over the decade? The explosion of superhero movies for one thing, although there are few that actually made the list. Also, the arrival of Netflix and other streaming platforms as major forces within the industry. There are simply more movies than ever and that means more content to dig through. It also means film has more of an impact, more of a presence than ever before. I want to avoid getting into the broader view of what cinema stands for during this chaotic time, but for me it’s helped get me through a myriad of tough times. Sometimes the right movie can pull me out of the darkness, other times they are a glimpse at a future I hope to create, or a guide to becoming a better person.

Let’s just do this thing then. Below you’ll find part one of my favorite 100 movies of the 2010s. Feel free to chime in with your choices because I’m genuinely interested in knowing which films made an impact with others. Thanks for reading!

100. Killing Them Softly (2012)
Director: Andrew Dominik
Cast: Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins, Scoot McNairy, Ray Liotta, Ben Mendelsohn

The economic crisis, 2008 Presidential election of Barack Obama, and mob rule collide in Andrew Dominik’s brilliant, soulful crime flick. A cautionary tale about greed and the dangers of capitalism, the film goes against title, hitting like a shotgun blast of violence and dark humor. When I think of how underrated Brad Pitt was and continues to be to this day, it’s his quietly charismatic performance here as eloquent hitman Jackie Cogan that springs to mind first.

99. Blue Ruin (2014)
Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Cast: Macon Blair

My love affair with Jeremy Saulnier began here (I was late to the Murder Party), with a revenge thriller that made me look at the genre in an entirely new way. Starring Saulnier’s pal and creative muse Macon Blair, Blue Ruin begins where most of these movies end. Vengeance has been achieved…and now what? The cycle of violence keeps rolling along in ways that are brutal, hilarious, totally unexpected. Saulnier throws you into unfamiliar waters and you can either sink or swim.

98. The Hunt (2012)
Director: Thomas Vinterberg
Cast: Mads Mikkelsen

One thing you won’t find a lot of in a Thomas Vinterberg film? Laughs. His latest harrowing personal drama The Hunt returns to the familiar theme of sexual abuse, explored in his breakthrough film The Celebration fifteen years ago. Teaming with co-writer Tobias Lindholm, who appeared on this list earlier for A Hijacking (these guys just don’t do funny), the film features a Cannes Best Actor-winning performance by Mads Mikkelsen as a small town teacher falsely accused of molestation by a young student. The firestorm that sweeps the village engulfs his personal and professional life, while internally he’s reeling with the incredulity that his claims of innocence are falling on deaf ears. It’s a harrowing, surgical look at how only a few small words can reduce a person’s life to ashes.

97. Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)
Director: Travis Knight
Cast: Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, Ralph Fiennes

“If you must blink, do it now’ warns the one-eyed protagonist of Laika’s stop-motion masterpiece. But why would you ever want to look away from the acclaimed studio’s most spell-binding film, that tells an epic tale rooted in horror and Japanese samurai folklore?

96. Five Star (2015)
Director: Keith Miller
Cast: James “Primo” Grant, John Diaz

A little authenticity goes a long way, and the incredible performance by gangster-turned-actor James “Primo” Grant in this gritty tale of street legacy is what separates it from the more polished urban dramas. I don’t know what happened to Primo, but considering he hasn’t acted since I’m assuming he decided Hollywood wasn’t for him. That’s a shame, because as a member of the Bloods guiding the son of his slain mentor, Primo’s imposing presence belies a deep humanity.

95. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2014)
Director: David Zellner
Cast: Rinko Kikuchi, Nobuyuki Katsube, David Zellner

David Zellner’s oddball crime fantasy twisted my brain so much it took me months after attending its Sundance premiere to finally pen a review. This strange walk through the Coens-verse is based on an urban legend of a Japanese woman who believes everything in the movie Fargo was real, and if she just went to the right spot she could find a satchel of money. The Zellner’s take this loopy idea and run with it, giving the confused (?) protagonist an imaginary bunny sidekick. What unfolds is a surreal, offbeat look at the American heartland from an outsider’s perspective, while also offering a sobering peek at what happens when one’s imagination consumes their reality.

94. The Hunger Games (2012)
Director: Gary Ross
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks

Remember when The Hunger Games was thought to be too big for Jennifer Lawrence, at the time a rising star with a few impressive performances under her belt? Three movies later and she was one of the biggest stars in the world, and this is the movie that really started her ascension, and ushered in the YA boom…for what that was worth. It is largely due to Lawrence that the dystopian, Battle Royale-esque world of The Hunger Games connected with us so deeply. Lawrence evolved the heroic Katniss Everdeen into a symbol of rebellion and female strength that transcended both the novels and the blockbuster movie franchise.

93. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie

I hesitated to put very many 2019 films on this list but it would be dishonest not to include the ones that deserve. Tarantino’s love letter to a turbulent era in Hollywood history is the director’s eccentricities boiled down to their essence. He indulges in cinematic details like none other, gives actors like DiCaprio and Pitt room to breathe in fictionalized, heightened portrayals, and can’t stop himself from the occasional controversy. Its meandering pace, colorful violence, and frequent diversions aren’t for everyone, but at this point in his career who would want Tarantino to change? I certainly don’t.

92. Mommy (2014)
Director: Xavier Dolan
Cast: Anne Dorval, Antoine-Olivier Pilon, Suzanne Clement

I’m still sore the Academy didn’t nominate this for an Oscar. In truth, I wasn’t sure I would be able to tolerate breakout star Antoine Oliver Pilon’s performance as Steve, a walking powder keg fresh out of jail and into the life of his ill-prepared mother, Diane, played by Anne Dorval. But this is a film that defies expectations on a character and technical level, with emotions that literally stretch beyond the boundaries of the screen. While Xavier Dolan’s toying with the aspect ratio may come off as a cheap ploy it proves a crucial element, and paired with an impeccable soundtrack (“Wonderwall” has never been used better. Ever.), Mommy was a huge leap forward for the oft-controversial filmmaker.

91. The Shape of Water (2017)
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Shannon, Octavia Spencer

Literally flooding over with raw sensual power and Guillermo Del Toro’s gift for the macabre, The Shape of Water is (for now) his crowning achievement. An exotic love story about a mute woman and merman at the height if Cold War tensions is somehow more honest and real than a thousand generic rom-coms. Maybe hasn’t aged as well as it should, but it’s undeniable the passion that Del Toro put into this movie.

90. mother! (2017)
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer

Oh, how I drank of the haters’ tears over this one! The more people complained about Darren Aronofsky’s divisive home invasion thriller/religious parable the more I liked it. mother! had the entire damn Internet up in arms trying to crack the code of this insane flick, which I think Aronofsky intentionally designed to be polarizing, which makes me appreciate it even more. I’ve come to the conclusion it’s the twisted work of a mad genius, fueled by Jennifer Lawrence’s go-for-broke performance.

89. Let Me In (2010)
Director: Matt Reeves
Cast: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloe Grace Moretz, Richard Jenkins

A perfect example why remakes shouldn’t be dismissed automatically, Let Me In is an improvement on the great 2008 Swedish film, Let the Right One In. The story of a bullied 12-year-old boy who befriends his neighbor, a girl who appears to be his age but is actually a long-lived vampire, is fleshed out in ways its predecessor simply did not. Add in Reeves’ skill with action and horror (he directed Cloverfield and later the Planet of the Apes sequels excellently) and you have the strangest little story of puppy love that works in making you want to see more. Sadly, other than a comic book prequel we never got to see where this tale went, although a circular narrative is implied.

88. Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation/Mission: Impossible-Fallout (2015, 2018)

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Cast: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Vanessa Kirby, Alec Baldwin

Tom Cruise, who hasn’t aged over the last ten years, gave up an ankle for you people! He leaped from a freakin’ plane for you people! Henry Cavill kept his mustache for you people! Christopher McQuarrie transformed Abu Dhabi into Paris for you people! And the result? Not only the best back-to-back movies of this two-decade-long franchise but one of the best action movies, from start to incredible finish, that we’ve had in years.
It’s no coincidence this comes as Cruise is joined by Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust, the first female character who can hold her own alongside Ethan Hunt and interesting enough to carry her own movie.

87. Victoria (2015)
Director: Sebastian Schipper
Cast: Laia Costa, Frederick Lau

Those who claim Victoria is a one-trick pony, that being its 2-hour-long single continuous shot, aren’t acknowledging HOW FREAKING AMAZING THAT ONE TRICK IS!!! No seriously, rare is the cinematic feat quite like it (only 1917 truly compares), but I also fell for the arc of the central love story which goes from Before Sunrise to True Romance at the drop of a hat.

86. The Place Beyond the Pines (2013)
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Dane DeHaan, Emory Cohen, Ben Mendelsohn

Forget what Derek Cianfrance would later do with The Light Between Oceans (*shudder*), and remember his sprawling epic, The Place Beyond the Pines. Not only does it feature one of Ryan Gosling’s many great performances this decade, totally overshadowing Bradley Cooper in the process, but the film is a truly ambitious look at the legacy of violence wrapped in complicated narrative structure few directors would even dare.

85. Burning (2018)
Director: Lee Chang-dong
Cast: Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun, Jeon Jong-seo

Class resentment, loneliness, repressed violence, and ego make for a toxic but fascinating brew in Lee Chang-dong’s Burning, a slow-burn thriller that features The Walking Dead’s Steven Yeun as you’ve never seen him before. You’ll never think of him as Glenn again.

84. Inside Out (2015)
Director: Pete Docter
Cast: Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling, Richard Kind

Finally, a movie that attempts to tell us guys what exactly is going on in a woman’s head! Surprise! The whole thing’s an amusement park.  A crumbling amusement park. Pixar needed this stroke of brilliance after a few years afflicted with “sequel-itis”, which they sadly returned to soon after the failure of The Good Dinosaur. But that doesn’t diminish what was accomplished here; an adventurous roller coaster that teaches us that all of our emotions are valid and should be embraced.

83. Winter’s Bone (2010)
Director: Debra Granik
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Dale Dickey, Garret Dillahunt

The Jennifer Lawrence breakout began here, with Debra Granik’s hilltop thriller/coming-of-age film set in the poorest of Ozark communities. As noted elsewhere on this list, Lawrence would eventually go on to command much bigger franchises on her way to becoming an A-lister, but it was her Oscar-nominated performance as the strong-willed Ree Dolley that showed us what she’s made of. Small in scale but epic in its look at crime and the desperate state of rural America, Winter’s Bone would serve as the template for Granik’s later work.

82. Whiplash (2014)
Director: Damien Chazelle
Cast: Miles Teller, JK Simmons

I’ll never forget attending the world premiere of Whiplash at Sundance. The insanely physical, adrenaline-fueled film had the Opening Night audience in a cold sweat, gripped to the edge of their seat as Teller’s ambitious drummer pushed himself to the limit and beyond, Simmons’ domineering instructor screaming away. It’s a film as much about blind ambition as it is about striving to be the absolute best. By the time it was over, we were all exhausted but we also knew we had just seen the rise of a director we’d be wanting to keep a close watch on. Chazelle made a statement with Whiplash and he hasn’t let us down yet.

81. Parasite (2019)
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Cast: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Chang Hyae-jin, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam

The thing about any movie by Bong Joon-ho is they are very rarely what they appear to be on the surface. Parasite is absolutely a film you want to go into knowing as little as possible because it takes so many twists and turns, reorienting itself on a dime so you don’t know who you’re supposed to be pulling for. Is it the poverty-stricken family of grifters? Or the naive and out-of-touch family of wealth? After a tense game of cat and mouse orchestrated beautifully by Joon-ho and cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo, you won’t know which way is up and feeling of unpredictability is extremely satisfying.

 

DC Readers: Attend A Free Early Screening Of ‘Just Mercy’

By
John Nolan
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We’re happy to offer our DC readers the chance to attend a free advance screening of Just Mercy, starring Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, and Brie Larson in a powerful true story.

SYNOPSIS: A powerful and thought-provoking true story, “Just Mercy” follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson (Jordan) and his history-making battle for justice. After graduating from Harvard, Bryan had his pick of lucrative jobs. Instead, he heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned or who were not afforded proper representation, with the support of local advocate Eva Ansley (Larson). One of his first, and most incendiary, cases is that of Walter McMillian (Foxx), who, in 1987, was sentenced to die for the notorious murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite a preponderance of evidence proving his innocence and the fact that the only testimony against him came from a criminal with a motive to lie. In the years that follow, Bryan becomes embroiled in a labyrinth of legal and political maneuverings and overt and unabashed racism as he fights for Walter, and others like him, with the odds—and the system—stacked against them.


The screening takes place on Monday, January 6th at AMC Mazza Gallerie at 7:00pm. If you’d like to attend, simply go to the Warner Bros. ticketing site here. Please remember all screenings are first come first served and you will need to arrive early to ensure seating. Enjoy the show!

Just Mercy opens January 10th 2020.

Review: ‘Spies In Disguise’, Will Smith & Tom Holland Carry A Good Message But Fail To Soar

By
John Nolan
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They are everywhere in Washington D.C. On every street corner, in every square, crowding around outside museums, picking through trashcans. I am of course talking about pigeons and though they seem to inhabit every single city in the world, this holiday they are taking over movie screens in the new animated film Spies in Disguise. Despite classic toilet humor and an insane plot involving a spy being turned into a pigeon, the film works best when its complex message, people are more than just good and bad, gets to shine through. 
Lance Sterling (Will Smith), the greatest spy in the world, has it all. He’s on the top of his profession, taking all the glory and action that comes with it. He’s eager to fight and beat anyone who stands against him, labeling any adversary as “the bad guy.” When Lance’s arrogance finally gets the best of him and is turned against his own agency and government at the bionic hand of Ben Mendelsohn’s Killian, Lance is forced to accept the help of gadget guy Walter Beckett (Tom Holland), a young man who believes there’s good in everyone and everyone deserves a hug. Instead of creating tech that will blow bad guys out of the water, Walter is known for creating gentler gadgets, including a pigeon serum that allows the drinker to turn into a pigeon. With the government beating down his door, Lance accidentally drinks the serum, propelling himself, as a pigeon, and Walter around the globe to clear Lance’s name and save the world. 
 
The premise of this movie is ridiculous. The comedy in this movie is over the top, borderline toilet humor. There’s a scene with a giant fat samurai-looking arms dealer whose body is liquified that I could have done without.  However, there are some genuine sincere and sweet moments interspersed throughout the film. Some of this stems from Holland’s innocent yet endearing vocal performance, providing enough emotional weight to get invested into the character’s storyline. Do we ever find out why this kid is obsessed with pigeons? No, not really but that doesn’t really matter. As the heart of the film, he pushes this idea that the “bad guys” are still human with feelings and thoughts and families, a message that doesn’t get stressed too often in children’s media. 
If you are a parent and are forced to watch something over the holiday, this isn’t your worst bet. It’s original with a much-needed message that kids can easily pick up on. 
 3 out of 5

Review: Greta Gerwig’s ‘Little Women’ Is A Brilliantly Crafted Ode To Sisterhood

By
John Nolan
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 It’s the coming of age story that is almost injected into every young American girl growing up. Written in 1868 by Louisa May Alcott and known as the quintessential novel for young girls ever since, Little Women has seen many adaptions on screen over the years including the 1994 Susan Sarandon and Winona Ryder. This newest version feels like the optimal version, with a modern feminist spirit woven throughout the piece and Lady Bird director Greta Gerwig in the writer/director’s chair. Set during and after Civil War, sisters Beth (Eliza Scanlen), the quiet musician, Amy (Florence Pugh), the precocious and annoying youngest sister, Meg (Emma Watson), the beautiful put together oldest sister, and Jo (Saoirse Ronan), the independent hot temped middle sister, help their mother Marmee (Laura Dern) scrape by during wartime by feeding the sick and donating food. Each sister has a dream that propels them into their futures, Jo with her writing, Beth with her music and eventual illness, Amy with her painting and Meg wanting a family and a stable financial situation. Capturing their lives over an 8 year period, from Jo’s first love Laurie (Timothee Chalamet) to Amy’s painting in Paris under the watchful eye of her Aunt March (Meryl Streep), Gerwig is able to capture a modern sensibility in the classic story of coming of age. 

If Lady Bird was known for epitomizing the mother/daughter relationship than Little Women should be known for epitomizing the sister relationship onscreen. Many of the previous adaptions, focused more on the romance between Meg and John Brooke or Jo and Laurie, and while they are certainly a part of the story, Gerwig’s script focuses on creating an authentic relationship between the sisters in a way we haven’t seen before. There’s a timelessness to Gerwig’s dialogue, speeches that could be said a hundred years from now or even in 1868. 
While the script emphasizes sisterhood in ways past productions have not, this new adaption does underplay some of the personal lives of the other sisters. Though it’s really Saoirse Ronan’s movie, played brilliantly by the Irish actress, Emma Watson, Laura Dern, and dare I say, Meryl Streep, get washed into the background. The movie doesn’t suffer for it all, but it does seem like a waste for all that star power to not be used to its full potential. 
Ronan brings a larger than life authenticity to Jo, recognizable in any young woman with a passionate dream. You feel every heartbreak and joy Jo feels and that is impart to Ronan’s brilliant ability to present layers of character through a single eye roll and grimace. Florence Pugh also delivers a heartbreakingly real performance as Amy, the sister hopelessly in love with her sister’s best friend who also dreams of being the best painter in the world. “I want to be the best or nothing,” she laments to Laurie. It’s this passion, the “all or nothing, I have everything to prove” attitude that encapsulates so many young women today, proving the importance of this adaption. 
It’s a crime that Greta Gerwig was not nominated for a directing Golden Globe for this film. Not only does her directing amplify the best in her actors and her own script, but everything you see onscreen feels cohesive. She is able to create a slice of life that still feels so current and important, whether it’s indicating the passage of time through lighting or Jo using the perfect word to punch down Amy after she burns her book. Gerwig makes a film that could easily be seen as trite and less than because it’s considered a “female” story, seem dire, important and vital. Easily one of the best films of the year, in a year where female directors flourished more than ever before, Greta Gerwig proves that a woman can make breathtaking, art-house quality cinema and make it mainstream and accessible. I’m calling it now, Greta Gerwig could make Joker, but Joker director Todd Phillips couldn’t do what Gerwig does with Little Women. 
4.5 out of 5

‘1917’ Interview: Sam Mendes And Krysty Wilson-Cairns On Their Groundbreaking War Film

By
Travis Hopson
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World War I doesn’t often get its due on the big screen, but Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes and writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns change that in a major way with 1917. The groundbreaking war film stars George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman as soldiers sent on what amounts to a suicide mission, to cross the dangerous No Man’s Land and prevent British troops from rushing into a German trap. If they fail, nearly 2000 troops will be slaughtered, including the brother of one of the two men.

Based on stories Mendes was told by his grandfather, 1917 is both intimate and sprawling, putting you there on the frontlines and into the trenches of war too big to fathom at the time. This is no ordinary story, and Mendes and Wilson-Cairns devised it to be shot in an extraordinary way. With the aid of the great cinematographer Roger Deakins, the film was shot in a  single continuous take, a grueling technique that pays off in a visceral, thrilling experience.

I had a chance to talk with Mendes and Wilson-Cairns about 1917, their decision to shoot in a single take, her apparent WWI geekdom, and the trajectory of Mendes’ directing career. He talks about starting off with his Best Picture-winning American Beauty, and the influence his experience in the James Bond franchise had in choosing 1917 as his next project.

1917 is in theaters now. You can check out my review here and listen to the interview below!

Listen to “1917: Sam Mendes And Krysty Wilson-Cairns On Their Groundbreaking War Film” on Spreaker.

David Ayer Explains How James Gunn’s ‘The Suicide Squad’ Differs From His Film

By
John Nolan
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When James Gunn was brought in to write and direct The Suicide Squad, there was some confusion about whether his film was a direct sequel to David Ayer’s 2016 film, or a total reboot. It didn’t seem to make sense for it to be the latter given that most of the principal cast was returning, but that seems to be what Ayer has confirmed in a series of tweets.

Responding to some Twitter users, Ayer calls Gunn’s film a “reinvention” that won’t continue the prior story at all…

I don’t know if this actually cleared anything up. Nobody thought Gunn was looking to continue the story Ayer started. But as Ayer admits, Gunn is keeping “characters and elements” so this isn’t a reboot, either. Gunn may be doing his own story, but it’s not completely separate from the DCEU. It can’t be, because Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn is back and a bigger part of the franchise than ever. Other characters returning include Jai Courtney as Boomerang, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg, and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller.

The Suicide Squad opens August 6th 2021.

Review: ‘Uncut Gems’, Adam Sandler Shines Like A Diamond In The Safdies’ Chaotic Street-Hustle Thriller

By
Travis Hopson
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Okay, we can officially retire Punch Drunk Love as the oft-cited example of Adam Sandler’s competence as an actor. Sandler is a kinetic force in the Safdie Brothers’ wild, breakneck thriller Uncut Gems, a film that races at such a pace, continually raising the stakes to absurd degrees it might be too much for the weak of heart. And Sandler’s the guy thriving in the middle of this raging hurricane, delivering the best performance of his career and making it look damned easy.

The Gambler for a new generation, that classic film doesn’t conjure up a fraction of the desperation and anxiety created by Uncut Gems.. Set in the New York City diamond district, Sandler plays Howard Ratner, a guy who…frankly, it’s really tough to feel sorry for. Howard is that guy you know who just can’t keep his mouth shut, he’s always in some kind of trouble, usually of his own making. Howard may own a jewelry shop, one frequented by NBA stars such as Kevin Garnett, but he’s really just another guy up to his eyeballs in debt. There’s scarcely a person in Howard’s chaotic existence that he isn’t in hock to, and something’s got to give.

Claustrophobic cinematography crams us into Howard’s shrinking world, and we walk practically in his footsteps through every moment, every risk, every inexcusable high-risk decision.  EVERY decision Howard makes is terrible, by the way, as if he’s trying to make his situation worse. It can be exhausting, even when Howard seems to have found a way out, because we quickly learn there is no such thing for a guy like him. His ticket out of this seemingly endless cycle of vigs, threats, hustles, and side-bets is a rare black opal diamond acquired from Ethiopia, literally dug out of the earth by poor miners in a sequence that looks like the beginning of an Indiana Jones movie. Supposedly worth millions, Howard intends to auction the jewel off and strike it rich. But of course, nothing is so simple. Garnett enters the shop, thanks to Howard’s associate Demany (Lakeith Stanfield), and becomes entranced by the diamond’s mystical qualities. He asks to borrow it, just for one game, believing it to be an inspiration. Howard…well, he’s just not a smart guy. He makes the absolute worst decision possible, especially with guy around every corner who want their money and are willing to do terrible things to get it.

As if the streets weren’t punishing enough, the Safdies go even deeper and darker when exploring Howard’s personal life. Even at home Howard is living one big con. His marriage to Dinah (Idina Menzel) has been on the rocks for ages, and although they’ve agreed to divorce they’ve yet to let the kids know. Even Howard’s brother-in-law Arno (played by a menacing Eric Bogosian) is after him, and with a pair of mobbed-up goons at his side, too.  And of course, Howard has a side-chick (Julia Fox) as if the pressure wasn’t mounting quite enough. All of this ratchets up in ways that are both hysterically pathetic. When a school function for Howard’s daughter ends with him naked and locked inside of a car trunk, you think that would be rock bottom…even though you know deep inside that it isn’t.

A trailblazing examination of greed at its most toxic, Uncut Gems is also about a guy who is willing to do anything to carve out his slice of the American Dream. Howard risks everything to make his mark, and at times you can almost respect him for always betting on himself to come out on top. Set to an electric soundtrack and the Safdies’ dizzying direction, this is a film that will test your mettle like few others do. Somehow more intense than Good Time and twice as haywire, Uncut Gems reveals the Safdies to be filmmakers who revel in the anarchy they cause, and invite others to revel in it right along with them.

4 out of 5

 

Vin Diesel’s ‘Bloodshot’ Delayed A Month, Faces Dave Bautista’s ‘My Spy’

By
John Nolan
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Sony is relying heavily on Vin Diesel to launch their Valiant Comics superhero universe with Bloodshot. The character isn’t exactly a household name, unlike what Marvel or DC have to offer, and so the timing really needs to be perfect. They’ve decided the original release date of February 21st 2020 isn’t that time, and so fans will have to wait a little bit longer.

Bloodshot has been pushed back a month to March 13th 2020, where it should face some relatively light competition. It’ll be a battle of Guardians of the Galaxy stars as that date is also when we’ll see Dave Bautista’s family-comedy My Spy. Also opening that day is the Christian drama I Still Believe, a potential sleeper about the life of singer-songwriter Jeremy Camp.

Honestly, I don’t see this as safe territory for Bloodshot, either. The film has an uphill climb, and Diesel hasn’t exactly proven to be a huge box office draw with original action franchises outside of Fast & Furious. Anybody remember The Last Witch Hunter? No? Then again, he did pretty well with XXX: Return of Xander Cage, but that was a sequel to a nearly two-decade-old franchise.

Here’s the Bloodshot synopsis:
After he and his wife are murdered, Marine Ray Garrison (Vin Diesel) is resurrected by a secret team of scientists. Enhanced with nanotechnology, he becomes a superhuman, biotech killing machine – Bloodshot. As Ray first trains with fellow super-soldiers, he cannot recall anything from his former life. But when his memories flood back and he remembers the man that killed both him and his wife, he breaks out of the facility hellbent on revenge, only to discover that there’s more to the conspiracy than he originally thought

New ‘Fast & Furious: Spy Racers’ Clips Promise High-Octane Action In Animated Form

By
John Nolan
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Considering how the Fast & Furious movies have evolved over the years, it was inevitable they’d become a cartoon. The logic and gravity-defying stunts they pull off are perfect for the animated world, and that brings us to the upcoming Netflix series, Fast & Furious: Spy Racers, which takes the high-octane action of the big screen and delivers it to a younger audience.

The series follows Tony Toretto (Tyler Posey), the young cousin of Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto. Looking to combine the street racing and international flair of the movies, the show follows Tony as “he and his friends are recruited by a government agency to infiltrate SH1FT3R, an elite racing league serving as a front for a nefarious crime organization bent on world domination.”

Most of the franchise’s primary creative team are back as exec-producers, including Diesel (who will also have cameos), Neal H. Moritz, and Chris Morgan. Tim Hedrick (​Voltron: Legendary Defender​) and Bret Haaland (​All Hail King Julien​) are acting as showrunners.

Four new clips have dropped, and they mostly focus on the SH1FT3R team which includes Layla Gray (Camille Ramsey), a notable underground racer who works for SH1FT3R; Frostee Benson (Luke Youngblood), a 13-year old tech genius; Echo (Charlet Chung), a master artist and natural spy; Cisco Renaldo (Jorge Diaz), the muscle and the sweetheart of the crew. Waves actress Renée Elise Goldsberry voices Ms. Nowhere, the team’s secret agent liaison; Vin Diesel’s daughter Similce Diesel is Frostee’s younger sister Sissy; Manish Dayal is Shashi Dhar, leader of SH1FT3R.

Fast & Furious: Spy Racers hits Netflix on December 26th.

Interview: ‘Spies In Disguise’ Directors Nick Bruno And Troy Quane On Their High-Flying Spy Comedy

By
John Nolan
-


In the new film Spies in Disguise, spy Lance Sterling (Will Smith) is the greatest spy in the world. Hunting down bad guys with panache, slight arrogance, and every high tech weapon imaginable, he is thrown off his pedestal when he is set up for a crime. Now forced to team up with passive tech guru Walter Beckett (Tom Holland),  more focused on safety and feelings than tech brilliance, Lance must learn to work with others and that the world is not as black and white as it seems. Also, he gets turned into a pigeon throughout the process.
I sat down with Directors Nick Bruno and Troy Quane to discuss the process of animating Washington D.C., working on their first animated feature and the complex lessons embedded in the film’s message. 

I was doing research on both of you and you guys are like very experienced and seasoned animators, but this is your first directing venture. How was it jumping in and adapting this short film into a full-length feature film?
Troy Quane: It was amazing. It was such a great experience. Like you said, we’ve worked on so many films and you can’t help every film you work on you go, “Oh, I would’ve done this, or Oh, I wish I could cause I would’ve done that.” And then all of a sudden someone says, “All right, do it.” It’s exciting and it’s amazing. And we got to make a spy movie, which is like our favorite type of movie. How cool is that? We get big action set pieces, adventure, car chases. But then the other side of it is we love comedy. We love to laugh and make each other laugh. So we also got to make a buddy comedy. This odd couple of Lance Sterling, the world’s greatest spy and Walter Beckett, this gadget guy, who do not see eye to eye at all, going on this adventure. So all the comedy comes from that, and then on top of all that, we decided to turn him into a pigeon, which is just insanity. So it was great. It lets you take all of that experience you’ve had, all those things you’ve seen, the ideas you’ve had and put them forward and to a film and into a story you love.
Nick Bruno: Yeah. Listen, I totally agree with all that stuff. The only thing I would add to that is, you know, when you first start, you’re excited and you’re also a little nervous, right? Cause you’re like, “I’m making a spy movie and I hope this is good.” And you know, we really want to be good at what we do and it’s been an amazing learning experience. You know, you work for four years on a film, it comes out and after a couple of weeks it’s, it’s gone. Well, hopefully not gone. It’s really about the experience and who you work with. And I feel incredibly lucky to have been working with Troy. It’s a great partnership.
T.Q.: I love you man.
N.B.: Thank you, dude. I love you too. And the people at Blue Sky Studios, it’s like whenever you’re nervous, you know, if you’re surrounded yourself with amazing people, it’s amazing what shows up on the screen and I feel very proud of what everyone’s accomplished on this film.
This actually leads perfectly into my next question. Thank you for making my job easier! I feel like it’s easier when you’re about to do something new if you’re doing it with someone else. Talk a little bit about your guys’ relationship and how it was to work on the film together.
N.B.: You know, what’s interesting is when we started, we had never met each other before this. We had both read the beginnings of the script respectively. And you know, we both liked the idea that it’s a spy movie and it had a lot of potential for humor in there, but there were also the seeds of a very important message. And I think it’s that message that brought us together as being the guys that were going to make this film. How in a world that doesn’t trust each other, like the world of espionage, it’s really about putting your opposing philosophies away and learning to work as a team and teamwork can really save the world. And knowing that this might be a kid’s first spy movie, it was like, “Man, there’s a big responsibility to say something important with that.” I feel very proud of that message.
T.Q.: Yeah. I mean it’s amazing to meet someone, cause it’s nerve-wracking. Directing a movie is about having a vision or having something personal to say. So to find someone who you share all those things with was as amazing. Cause we have a friend, a mutual friend who kind of knew me, knew him and knew that to that we would work well together. But I think we came together even better than anticipated. I mean we share the same sense of humor, the same story instincts. We’re both animators. So performance-wise we have very similar tastes and it’s a long journey and it’s nice to have someone you know, you really respect and have fun with to go on that journey with it. It really was life imitating art, in the sense of teamwork and coming together. A lot of times directors, especially in animation when they are paired together, it’s “Nick’s from animation. I’m from story, so you go handle all this half, and I’ll go handle this half and we’ll see you at the premiere.” But that’s not how we worked at all. We did everything hand in hand. I mean literally, although some days, but we really did do everything together all the way through. I think the movie feels more seamless because of that.
One thing that I loved was when Walter says, “People are people,” the idea that people are not all good or evil. You don’t see that in kids’ movies or kids’ media in general. Often characters are portrayed as all black, all white, good, evil, the lines are drawn. Why is this message really important for kids right now to get?
T.Q.: Cause it’s I think it’s really where the world is right now. Put kids’ media side. It’s in adult media. I mean it’s, “you’re bad, we’re good.” And unless you switch the perspective around and then you realize they have the same perspective on anything. And that’s why it just felt like the right idea for this movie. And it’s a complex idea for sure. But you realize there are no real villains. Everyone’s a hero of their own story. Everyone’s doing something because they feel it’s the right idea. And that’s why it was really important for Lance, our hero, that you get to have fun with him at the beginning and cheer for him. Cause he’s the good guy, and then “Ooh, boo there’s the bad guy.” But then at one point, you twist it around and you realize these two characters are really just opposite sides of the same coin. And the only thing that separates them is a point of view. Walter, when he says, “there’s no good people, there’s no bad people.” He’s not saying there’s not bad in the world that we have to deal with. There is, but when you break it down and realize that everyone is a person and that person’s connected to another person, so many more of our problems go away instantly and then we can just focus on the important things that are left. When you have kids, you see them when they’re young and they don’t come with misconceptions, they’re just kids and they see other kids and there are no dividing lines. Those develop as they get older. And I think there’s something really refreshing, some people say naive, but I think there’s something refreshing in Walter, who has maintained that and realizes that we have fewer differences than we’d like to admit. We tend to create our own differences. I think Walter being true to his convictions is a different type of courage and I hope kids will go see this movie wanting to be Lance Sterling and hopefully come out wanting to be more like Walter.
Oh, man. I taught English and History for sixth and eighth-graders and I always told them that the people who we conceive as bad from history, thought they were doing the right thing at that time. I think this is such a wonderful and refreshing message to have in a kid’s movie. We are sitting here talking in Washington D.C. and D.C. is heavily featured in the film. Talk me through the animation process of creating Washington DC.
N.B.: When we first started the film, we decided instead of just guessing what D.C. really is, we decided to come down here. We spent a couple of days just walking around, getting, not just a feel for the landmarks, like actually experiencing them and just also just the people and the entire geography of the entire place, going to the spy museum. It really is so important to do our research because with this movie we didn’t want it to be a spoof. We didn’t want it to be a cartoon. You know, we’re turning a man into a pigeon, which is ridiculous as it is. So we really wanted to have a grounding to our universe and you know, while we were down here we thought it be really cool to set this spy agency underneath the reflecting pool. My kids actually asked me after the movie, “Is there really something under there?”
T.Q.: The hidden in plain sight, which the idea of the pigeon, right? Like is that a pigeon? Is that a spy? Is that just the reflecting pool? It really was finding all those details, the fire hydrants and the light posts and making sure that it felt unique. And same with Venice, because we didn’t want to just say, “All right, we create a city and this is D.C. And now we’re going to change all the signs to Italian and now its Venice.” We want to make sure that they each had a personality and a character, cause that’s the fun of these spy movies. You feel like you’re going somewhere different. You feel the personality and the character of the environment as much as the characters within it.
The one thing you’ve got wrong was the traffic, the traffic’s awful here.
N.B.: I know! It’s hard to have a car chase with traffic so we cleared out the streets.

If it was realistic the spies would just be bumper to bumper for two hours, and no one wants to watch that.
T.Q.: It would just be a pigeon running on the street!
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