The Nice Guys

The Nice Guys, 2016

Directed by Shane Black, 116 minutes

Ryan Gosling, Russell Crowe, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, Margaret Qualley

Review by Katherine Scheetz

             

From the pen behind the Lethal Weapon franchise comes a detective comedy with all the glam and funk of 1978.

              Gosling is Holland March, a scotch-soaked PI who, despite his chain smoking, ambiguous moral code and the gun in his cookie jar, makes an endearing contestant for father-of-the-year to his 13-year-old daughter Holly (Rice). They are a pair still dealing from the death of Holly’s mother – in very different ways.

Enter Jackson Healy (Crowe), a voluminous enforcer who is “not in the yellow pages.” He’s after March for following the daughter of a prominent figure in the Department of Justice, Amelia Kuttner (Qualley). March has been hired by the aunt of a dead porn star – one Misty Mountains – who Amelia has a mysterious connection to.

              The mob is trying to spread their porn operation to L.A. and Misty, Amelia and Amelia’s experimental-film-making boyfriend are involved somehow. The scruffy Healy, the squeamish March and a very Nancy-Drew like Holly team up to find out just how much, especially when hit-man John Boy (Bomer) is called in for clean-up.

              The storytelling is complex – paying homage to the cinematic grandfather noir films – which risks isolating the audience that is there for pure entertainment value.

Never fear, though, Gosling is here. The physical comedy this guy pulls with his breathing, his arms, his gag reflex, his groaning, his shaking – it’s downright hilarious. As if we need more to laugh at, Shane Black and Anthony Bagarozzi have penned a script that barely leaves enough space for us to breathe in between dry, profanity-ridden jokes.

              Production designer Richard Bridgland (American Ultra) and set decorator Danielle Berman (The Hangover) romance us with groovy mirror walls, mermaid aquariums, Yoohoo chocolate milk, rotating car shows and psychedelic lights. It’s a supersaturated delight.

              There’s no denying that Black has made us work to follow the story. But with a script for the ages and a team that’s up for anything, it’s not all work and no play, I mean, it is the 70s after all.

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Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: Civil War, 2016

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, 147 minutes

Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Elizabeth Olsen, Chadwick Boseman

Review by Katherine Scheetz

             

              Marvel once again orchestrates a star-studded ensemble as only Marvel can. It’s the same rapport Joss Weedon brought to the Avengers franchise, this time, with both new and improved faces.

              Bucky (Stan) returns as the Darryl Dixon of Marvel, Black Widow (Johansson) sports her best look yet, Black Panther (Boseman) debuts with reverberations throughout the fandom and Spider-Man (Tom Holland) seamlessly keeps pace with seasoned avengers whose balls have actually dropped.

             

With civilian causalities stacking up circumstantial to the Avengers missions, they are called out to answer for the loss. A UN doctrine for bureaucratic regulation ruffles feathers and rifts friendships when Iron Man (Downey Jr.) surprises by signing in agreement and Captain America (Evans) abstains.

              Insert the pressure of the Cap’s longtime friend Bucky – the Winter Soldier – being caught up in an assassination plot, as well as a sneaky Slovakian psychiatrist (Daniel Brüel) holding onto video footage and an agenda of his own.  The result is a snappy superhero plot peppered with quips among super-friends.

              A now-displaced Wanda (Olsen) and synthetic Vision (Paul Bettany) share a few human moments that far surpass the forced-out kiss between Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) and Steve Rogers. Sorry Carter, no matter how good you think his biceps look holding a helicopter aground, you two have no chemistry.

             

Marvel’s secret weapon here is a chatty Peter Parker, ousted by the ever snarky Iron Man Stark via hitting on his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei). Holland’s promise makes our Spidey-senses twinge for more.

              The battle sequences are well shot with low camera angles that give it a grandeur equal to the scale of the film. It’s clear the choreographers had a blast putting the sequences together, testing the limits and creativity of each superpower present.

              There is no way to prepare for what writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have created from Mark Millar’s comic, but hang on through the exposition for some serious power-punching twists.

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Criminal

Criminal, 2016

Directed by Ariel Vromen, 113 minutes

Kevin Costner, Ryan Reynolds, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman, Gal Gadot,

Review by Katherine Scheetz

Operative Bill Pope (Reynolds) winds up dead after an excruciating torture scene marked by electric shock to the teeth, with valuable anti-terrorist information in his head about asylum-seeking tech genius, “The Dutchman.” Experimental neurosurgeon Dr. Franks (Jones) is called to transplant Bill Pope into the head of Jericho (Costner) – who has a frontal lobe condition, making his brain the perfect blank slate to imprint Pope’s data onto. He also happens to be on death row.

Central Intelligence’s goal is to allow Jericho to get the anonymous “Dutchman” to safety, but both volatile characters go rogue and make more than a few uncalculated decisions. Jericho’s recall inevitably pulls Pope’s wife (Gadot) and daughter (newcomer Lara Decaro) into the race against time – and   a nuclear deal with the Russians. 

The CIA London office is HQ for this pseudo-sci-fi thriller, giving cinematographer Dana Gonzales the chance to paint a gritty picture of London with aerials of urban bustle.

However, this is a movie carried by its cast, particularly Costner’s enigmatic performance. He straddles the dichotomy of Pope and Jericho with gravelly grace, unadulterated rage against polished CIA training. Gadot is a willowy breath of emotion opposite him, haunted by her husband’s expressions that shadow Jericho’s face. It’s a moving duet of a performance, bulking up Gadot’s 2016 resumé of releases (Triple 9 and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice).

              The script is as accommodating as Costner’s fluidity – springing us from fluent French to ‘I’m speaking Spanish mother-effer’ in under 10 seconds. While Vromen’s thiller isn’t breaking any box office records, it’s a solid reminder that Costner hasn’t lost his touch.

             

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The Huntsman: Winter's War

The Huntsman: Winter’s War, 2016

Directed by Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, 114 minutes

Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt, Charlize Theron

Review by Katherine Scheetz

              Universal’s prequel/sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman (2012) treads some fine lines with Disney and Walden Media’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005). Introduced with the warm voice of Liam Neeson as omniscient narrator, we already wonder whether we walked through the wrong door into Narnia when the opening credits roll.

Ravenna (Theron) and Freya (Blunt) are two sisters with power in their blood. After heartbreak unlocks Freya’s affinity to ice magic, she suddenly owns a spired palace situated between two hills with a courtyard full of creatures she’s frozen into statues. Maybe Freya and Jadis just have the same architectural consultant.

Grieving mother that she is, Freya outlaws love in her kingdom and claims the children of the land as her own, making them her army.

Naturally, her two best huntsmen Erik (Hemsworth with a Scottish accent) and Sara (Chastain with an Irish one), fall in love. Erik is known for his skill with an axe. Sara’s skill with a bow is such that she “never misses.” Can we say Queen Susan’s trusty bow?

More tragedy ensues when they are discovered by Freya via ice owl NannyCam and they are separated, seemingly forever.

Then come the seven years where Snow White’s story takes place along with Ravenna’s supposed death.

When Aslan – wait, Neeson – stops narrating and we pick back up with a grieving Erik, he reluctantly agrees to a quest that takes far too long to find Ravenna’s stolen mirror, sandwiched by dwarves and goblins. With just enough time left to fit in an epic battle, Theron materializes from molten gold in the visual pinnacle of the film, gives us a deliciously evil laugh and causes a little chaos.

              James Newton Howard’s resonant score dances with the elegantly choreographed fight sequences. And while all the actors have played their parts well, no one could save the film from innumerable plot holes, a sappy script and blatant plagiarism. Mostly we just praise the great lion for Chris Hemsworth’s smile.

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The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book, 2016

Directed by Jon Favreau, 105 minutes

Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, Christopher Walken, Giancarlo Esposito, Scarlett Johansson

Review by Katherine Scheetz

Director Jon Favreau takes us into the Seoni jungle of central India, with music and camera movements evocative of the classic 1967 animation. Favreau enchants us with the verdant visuals of “man-cub” Mowgli among the vines and moss, raised to be part of the wolf pack by alpha Akela (Esposito), mother Raksha (Nyong’o) and the tough-loving black panther Bagheera (Kingsley).

With smartly integrated monsoon season weather patterns, we observe how drought affects The Law of the Jungle and that when Peace Rock emerges from beneath the river, a truce between the jungle inhabitants must be obeyed. Elba makes his terrifying debut as the Bengal tiger Shere Khan here at Peace Rock, face scarred from man’s “red flower” and thirsting for revenge. With the return of the tiger and the monsoon (thus Peace Rock disappearing) Mowgli’s life becomes forfeit, forcing him and Bagheera to leave for the man-village in search of protection.

Along the way Mowgli learns his backstory from hypnotic rock python Kaa (Johansson), Bagheera teaches him about the reverence of the elephants and a tweaked King Louie (Walken) – with an accent from Queens, NY – brings about an Indiana-Jones-worthy temple chase scene filled with thick, filtered lighting. Sloth bear Baloo, voiced by the lazily charming Murray, embraces Mowgli’s inherent talent for invention or “tricks,” using them to his own ends ie: harvesting honey and singing “about the good life” alongside a goofy cast of supporting animals.

Composed by John Debney (who has a list of credits as long as my leg packed with rom-coms and Disney channel), the score intertwines the deep, time-honored melodies with the lift a modern audience needs. “The Bare Necessities,” “I Wanna Be Like You” and “Trust In Me” get a jazzy, New Orleans revamp, that call for bowling hats, smoky dance clubs and vintage microphones.

Mowgli’s coming of age story takes a different shape in all this – it’s about embracing yourself and your own “tricks.” Newcomer Neel Sethi’s compassionate performance evolves the character of Mowgli, and when you realize the kid did all of that acting with a green screen and his imagination – well, my hat is off.

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TBT Kingsman: The Secret Service

Kingsman: The Secret Service, 2015

Directed by Matthew Vaughn , 129 minutes

Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Taron Egerton, Michael Caine, Mark Strong

Review by Katherine Scheetz

Get in line Deadpool (2016), you aren’t the first R-rated comic book movie.

Based on the story by Icon Comics writer Mark Millar, Kingsman: The Secret Service opens with Harry Hart (a badass Firth) as a gentleman spy - code name: Galahad - in the Kingsman, the modern-day knights. He’s mid-operation overseas when he loses a promising young Kingsman-in-training with a wife and child back in England.

Fast forward 17 years and that child, Gary “Eggsy” Unwin (Egerton, in his first film) is a brilliant plebe who has made a lot of bad calls.  Hart bails him out of jail and recognizing his father’s inherent talent, recommends him for the Kingsman elite training program. Merlin (a sarcastic, Scottish Strong) serves as home base trainer to Eggsy and the other young Brits vying for the spot of “Lancelot” on the Kingsman.

Meanwhile, megalomaniac tech villain Valentine (Jackson, with a lisp) claims mankind is a virus creating the fever of global warming and plans to purge the overpopulated earth with a radical cure. The hero, the protégé, the villain, the henchman, the gadgets – it’s all there.

X-Men: First Class (2011) and Kick-Ass (2010) tongue-and-cheek director Matthew Vaughn smartly paces this packed-in story using three well-conceived waves – backstory, training and epic conclusion.

It reciprocates the bold and brassy Bond-esque action theme coined by composers Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson. The team doesn’t disappoint with superb musical selections ranging from “Free Bird” during a Westboro-Baptist-meets-Tarantino-slaughter and “Pomp and Circumstance” while politicians’ head’s explode in satirical fireworks. Vaughn also plays with some clever little scene changes, from champagne bubbles to assembly line printing of Valentine’s evil SIM cards.

It’s an undeniably strong cast with Firth, Strong and Egerton at the helm, who have the salaciously cheeky script – co-written by Vaughn and Jane Goldman – wrapped around their fingers. We leave wanting a pocket-sized Colin Firth for those times when we need quotes like “Manners maketh man,” and with last week’s provocative sequel poster released, can we dare to hope?

I’m only sorry I didn’t I see this one sooner.

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Elephants and Bees

              Pachyderm Reviews is moving forward with our next initiative to help the rapidly declining elephant population worldwide. Enter: Elephants and Bees Project.

The Elephants and Bees Project is an innovative study using an understanding of elephant behavior to reduce damage from crop-raiding elephants using their instinctive avoidance of African honey bees. The project explores the use of Beehive Fences as a natural elephant deterrent creating a social and economic boost to poverty-stricken rural communities through pollination services and the sustainable harvesting of “Elephant-Friendly Honey.” It is a project born out of the Save The Elephants charity.

Save the Elephants was founded in 1993 by Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton, CBE, Chief Executive Officer, who made a pioneering study of elephant behavior in the late 60s in Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania, and has worked on elephant status Africa-wide since.

Save the Elephants focus on research, education, grass-roots conservation, monitoring and protection and are involved in projects across Africa in Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, South Africa and Mali. Research projects range from investigations into the dynamics of elephant society at a molecular level to behavior of savannah, forest and desert elephants. They are involved in surveys to measure population trends, elephant mortality and ivory trade, providing information used by CITES (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species) to ascertain the conservation status of the African elephant.

Our Elephants and Bees Project is core to Save The Elephants mission of innovative methods to reduce conflict and explore the cultural relationships between people and elephants.

Watch the full length video and visit the Elephants and Bees website to read more about their work. Visit the Pachyderm Reviews GoFundMe page to support our fundraiser and receive a limited edition Pachyderm Reviews t-shirt. And if your pockets aren’t deep enough to donate, share this link to get the word out about how we, writers and readers of all things cinema, can save people, bees and elephants with one simple project and it’s sweet reward.