wind river

Last summer, Taylor Sheridan struck gold with his script surprising sleeper Hell or High Water which went all the way to Best Picture and Screenplay Oscar nominations. This year he returns, this time behind the camera, with the quietly potent crime drama Wind River. Like Hell or High Water, the film has also steadily been amassing money as a stealth alternative to junky blockbusters (August was the worst box office for the month in a decade) in a market dry of films with adult appeal.

Plot-wise, the movie is a fairly straightforward crime drama set on a snowy reservation in Wyoming. Cory, an animal hunter (Jeremy Renner) mourning the recent loss of his daughter and the separation from his wife, becomes embroiled in a murder mystery after discovering a body in a snow-swept field. FBI agent Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) is dispatched to the scene, out of her element with the landscape both physically and culturally. Throughout the story of Banner's shaky investigation with assistance from the skilled, knowledgeable Cory and the Tribal Police Chief Ben (Graham Greene), the film reveals social issues within and significant injustices against the Native community. Like Hell or High Water and other American revisionist Westerns, the story is fronted with whites who, in different degrees, impede upon Native soil, both ignorantly and recklessly.

Sheridan's direction is sturdy and masculine in the vein of Clint Eastwood, and sometimes he makes inspired choices, as in his riff on one of the tricks played in Demme's The Silence of the Lambs. The tense action scenes pop as do the sweeping shots of the picaresque landscape (photographed by Ben Richardson, who also lensed Beasts of the Southern Wild). Renner continues to be effective at playing a fierce, stalwart hero that's also emotionally vulnerable. A still underrated actress who does everything she can to imbue her character with detail, I sometimes sensed that Olsen was miscast, perhaps a touch too young, but that seemed a deliberate choice in making her a fish-out-of-water figure. Because the film is so intimately made, the ultimate villain of the piece, who emerges as cartoonishly squealy, took me out of the picture a bit. But the film rounds back with a stirring and affecting closer. Gil Birmingham in particular gives a piercing and haunting turn in his brief screen-time. ***

-Jeffery Berg

karen g. vs godzilla

A few weeks ago Justin Lockwood shared his thoughts on Godzilla.

This week Karen G. chimes in!

The opening credits quickly drew me into a “this could totally have happened” moment, and I certainly give kudos to movies that can make jaded ol’ me suspend disbelief, even for a short while. The flashes of newsreels, confidential documents being edited and peeks of a strange ocean “creature” were entertaining even before the film began.

In 1946, Godzilla is awakened by a Russian military accident. In the mid-50’s the US and Russian militaries use nuclear weapons in attempts to kill Godzilla and use the cover of atomic tests to keep his existence unknown. Godzilla, however, survives every attempt.

Many years later, in 1999, Dr. Ichiro Serizawa, played by Inception’s Ken Watanabe and his assistant Dr. Vivienne Graham, played by Blue Jasmine’s Sally Hawkins, are called to a mining site in the Philippines to inspect a fossil in an underground cage. A large “egg” is found near the fossil, already hatched and a trail is shown, leading to the surface and into the ocean, clearly marking that something has made its escape into the ocean. The other, still un-hatched egg is taking to Nevada and placed in a nuclear waste repository.

Days later, seismic activity is felt in Janjira, Japan where nuclear physicist, Joseph Brody, played by "Breaking Bad"’s Bryan Cranston and his wife, Sandra, played by Juliette Binoche head to the plant to investigate the activity. Joseph tells Sandra to assemble a team to perform a damage check at the power plant. The plant is soon breached by a massive explosion and radiation leak and Sandra dies in a heartbreaking sequence in the first few moments of the film. Joseph is left alone to fend for their son Ford in an area that is left in ruins and eventually abandoned and quarantined.

15 years later, Ford, played by a seriously buff and almost unrecognizable Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass) is now an officer in the Navy, and is returning to San Francisco to his wife Elle (Elizabeth Olsen) and his son, Sam after a tour of duty. He barely spends a night with his family before getting a call that his father, Joe, has been arrested for trespassing in the quarantine zone in Janjira. Ford travels back to Japan to bail out his father. Their relationship is obviously strained by years of his father’s “conspiracy theories” about what actually happened in Janjira the day his mother died. Reluctantly, Ford follows his father into the quarantine zone, in an effort to prove his theories wrong, and starts to realize that Joe might be right about a government cover up. In a quick flash sequence, while in the quarantine zone in the Brody house we see a “fish tank” that would have been home to a child’s pets, most likely moths, because labeled at the bottom left of the tank is the word ‘MOTHRA’ - a gentle tip of the hat to the classic Toho Monster, that I certainly enjoyed. In the distance, Ford and Joe notice the power plant with its lights on and before they have much time, they are caught and arrested by security and taken to the plant.

A strange chrysalis, similar to the one discovered in the Philippines years before, is being studied at the plant. A heart-stopping and terrifying pulsing sequence being emitted from the chrysalis makes you realize that something’s is about to go very wrong. The pounding explodes into the creature awakening and wreaking havoc on the plant. During the chaos, Joe is critically wounded and before he can share his data with Dr. Serizawa and Dr. Graham, he dies. The monster flies off into the distance leaving Ford to accompany the doctors to try and piece together what his father knew, to try and save the world from further destruction.

Serizawa and Graham reveal to Ford that they are part of a secret organization called “Monarch” and Serizawa quickly confesses they’ve known of the creatures for years, and explains to Ford that the monster that attacked the plant, a M.U.T.O. (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism), feeds on radiation. Serizawa also speaks of Godzilla's and their numerous failed attempts to kill the creature. Ford tells Serizawa that his father believed the M.U.T.O. was communicating with something else, and fears that something even worse than they imagined might be at happening.



Ford heads to Honolulu to try and get back to his family in San Francisco. In Hawaii, a U.S. Navy Special Forces team finds the wrecked remains of a Russian nuclear submarine in a dense forest. The winged M.U.T.O. is soon seen ripping apart the submarine to feed on its reactor. The military tries to take down the M.U.T.O but it emits an electromagnetic pulse which shuts down all electronics within miles. And this is what awakens Godzilla! Enter stomping beast stage left (finally) by way of massive tsunami! There is a brief showdown with the M.U.T.O before it flies away, with Godzilla in hot pursuit. Serizawa understands that the signal has not only awakened Godzilla but actually hatched another M.U.T.O. in Nevada, a much larger species, and female. With the M.U.T.Os planning to mate (in San Francisco), Serizawa soon realizes that Godzilla is the only thing that can stop the M.U.T.O.s from destroying the planet.

Godzilla is a treat and delivers fun sequences, explosions, destruction and edge-of-your-seat entertainment. I didn’t really feel much connection to the characters except for Joe and Sandra in the beginning of the movie, but that didn’t take away from what I thought was a pretty fun film with quite a few nods to the original Godzilla films. I definitely felt that the movie could have been 20 minutes shorter, but I often feel that movies are way too long nowadays. And of course, when Godzilla breathed the atomic flame, I almost cheered. Being a fan of monster movies all my life, this certainly delivers the type of mindless entertainment we often long for in the day to day. Pure disconnect from reality and an absolute blast! If you don’t overanalyze - I think this movie is more fun than audiences have given it credit for.

Godzilla (2014) is the 31st movie in the franchise. For those of you who have not seen the original and subsequent movies, here is a list for you to peruse when you have nothing better to do on a rainy Saturday:

1. Gojira - 1954
2. Godzilla Raids Again - 1955
3. Godzilla, King of the Monsters! - 1956 (original Gojira released in America and spliced with footage of Raymon Burr)
4. King Kong vs Godzilla - 1963
5. Godzilla vs Mothra - 1964
6. Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster - 1964
7. Invasion of the Astro-Monster - 1965
8. Godzilla vs The Sea Monster - 1966
9. Son of Godzilla - 1967

10. Destroy All Monsters - 1968
11. All Mosters Attack (Godzilla's Revenge) - 1969
12. Godzilla vs Hedorah (The Smog Monster) - 1971
13. Godzilla vs Gigan - 1972
14. Godzilla vs Megalon - 1973
15. Godzilla vs Mecha-Godzilla - 1974
16. Terror of Mecha-Godzilla - 1975
17. Return of Godzilla (Godzilla 1985) - 1985
18. Godzilla vs Biollante - 1989
19. Godzilla vs King Ghidorah - 1991
20. Godzilla vs Mothra: Battle for Earth - 1992
21. Godzilla vs Mecha-Godzilla II - 1993
22. Godzilla vs Space Godzilla - 1994
23. Godzilla vs Destroyah - 1995
24. Godzilla (American version) - 1998
25. Godzilla 2000 - 1999
26. Godzilla vs Megaguirus - 2000
27. Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack - 2001
28. Godzilla Against Mecha-Godzilla - 2002
29. Godzilla: Tokyo SOS - 2003
30. Godzilla: Final Wars 2004
31. Godzilla - 2014

-Karen G.

yawnzilla: a review by justin lockwood

Anticipation’s been high for Godzilla, a prestigious-looking reboot directed by Monsters auteur Gareth Edwards and starring critical darling Bryan Cranston.  Having seen the movie, I can confidently say… it’s a let-down.

Many great elements are in place.  The special effects, headed up by the Lord of the Rings team, are terrific. Cranston is joined by other fine actors like David Strathairn and Ken Watanabe.  The movie takes its time setting up characters before getting to the monster: big G doesn’t even show up for at least thirty minutes. The action sequences, when they come, are realistic and well realized.

But in the end, Godzilla is both shallowly scripted and not nearly enough fun.  Things kick off strikingly with a prologue in which Cranston’s Joe loses his wife (a haggard-looking Juliette Binoche) in a tragic meltdown at a nuclear power plant.  Fifteen years later, Joe’s become obsessed with uncovering the truth behind the tragedy, while son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has entered the Navy and started a family of his own.  The two are estranged until the Japanese consulate calls to inform Ford that his dad’s been arrested.

The two team up and return to the accident site, which soon leads to globe hopping intrigue involving giant irradiated monsters and massive destruction, while Ford’s wife (Elizabeth Olsen) and young son wait anxiously at home in San Francisco.  The problem is that Cranston makes a big impression—he imbues Joe with at least as much intensity as his "Breaking Bad" character—and then disappears from the film.  His death not only deprives Godzilla of its best character, but stops an interesting story arc between father and son in its tracks.  The focus then shifts mostly to Taylor-Johnson, whose paper thin character does him no favors.  The hunky actor, so appealing in Kick Ass, is pretty much wasted.  He and Olsen have good chemistry, but the film then keeps them apart; the desire to see them predictably reunited is the only emotional investment the story elicits.  Watanabe’s Dr. Ishiro Serizawa exists primarily to explain the creatures and make obvious pronouncements like “The arrogance of man is thinking nature is in our control, and not the other way around.”  Yawn.

None of this would matter much if Godzilla delivered slam bang action set pieces.  But it only half accomplishes that.  There are some cool set-ups, like a rainy showdown on the Golden Gate Bridge and a suspense routine on a train track that Spielberg would have had fun with.  Frequent POV shots manage to convey just how horrifying it would be to actually find yourself in these larger than life situations.  There are even occasional flashes of humor, like Elvis crooning “The Devil In Disguise” while beasties storm through Las Vegas.

I chalk some of this up to something I’ll call the Dark Knight effect.  Ever since Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy won critical acclaim and worldwide box office, every franchise film wants to ape its darkness and realism.  The Amazing Spider-Man tried to turn wisecracking, affable Spidey into a grim, tormented type and sapped out much of the fun.  Man of Steel was a drab, heavy-handed Dark Knight wannabe that failed to approach the lighter Supes on his own merits.  Add Godzilla (2014) to the list of misguided “serious” reboots.  Say what you will about Roland Emmerich’s 1998 redux, but at least it went out of its way to be entertaining and fun.  If this film spawns a sequel—and based on last weekend’s opening take, it will—the filmmakers would do wise to remember why we go to see these movies in the first place: to see big monsters wreck stuff and fight.  As for the rest of the “human interest” shtick: a little bit goes a long way.

-Justin Lockwood

martha marcy may marlene

I remember reading Helter Skelter as a teenager and sleeping with the light on.  The murders committed were horrific but so was Charles Manson's ability to manipulate the minds of his followers. Set "somewhere in the Catskills," the cult in Martha Marcy May Marlene is a group of marginalized teens under the quietly sinister rule of Patrick (John Hawkes).  Sean Durkin's mesmerizing film (with an unfortunate title, almost humorously clunky), astonishingly self-assured for a debut feature, is like a good Joyce Carol Oates tale: rich, ambiguous and unsettling.

After escaping the cult, young Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) is taken by her estranged sister (though it isn't exactly certain if they are sisters or not, as it is vaguely implied in the film) Lucy (Sarah Paulson) to her and her husband Ted 's (Hugh Dancy) summer home in Connecticut.  Lucy and Ted are a Manhattan-based bourgeoisie couple trying to conceive, wholly unprepared for Martha's entrance into their quiet existence. The movie is a slowly paced but unrelenting dance between two different lives: the harrowing experiences of Marcy May in rural New York and rattled Martha in a massive glass house on a placid Connecticut lake, piecing together her traumas.

Instead of dwelling in plot mechanics, Durkin offers a Bergman-esque (I recently viewed Hour of the Wolf and was sort of reminded of it stylistically) attention to character and contrast. Moving within the different, but similar, natural environments of Martha's world, the outstanding and evocative cinematography by Jody Lee Lipes reflects the picaresque but ominous landscapes and vacation houses (some of which Patrick's cult invade for obscure reasons).  Durkin has noted that Martha is "trying to figure out the trauma she's been through.  I wanted to be true to that and never wanted to think beyond.... this film was driven by this character and these experiences."  Sometimes this close study of Martha's fractured psyche may be trying for the viewer.  We don't find out much about Patrick except the glimpses Martha has of him in flashback (often she's told, as Patrick cozies up to other female members, that it's not polite to stare).  An acoustic guitar song called "Marcy's Song," reminiscent of Keith Carradine's "I'm Easy" song and scene from Nashville, is objectifying ("she's just a picture") and creepily seductive.  The moment is a highlight of another fine performance from Hawkes.  Elizabeth Olsen (the younger sister of the famed twins, who have their own, tabloid cult-like following) is mesmerizing in the lead and gives the film its emotional complexity.  Olsen displays Martha's traces of happiness in the cult and a damaged, callow state at her sister's.  Photographed often with shadows around her face, she's a magnetic, but not overpowering, presence.

In a sense the film is about two women from a fragmented family, who have taken different paths in eschewing loneliness and establishing a new family.  Seemingly content in a somewhat cold, not very affectionate, marriage and an almost painfully-quiet existence, Paulson's Lucy grapples with both the studied perfection of her life and taking care of her wounded, sometimes hurtful, sister.  Smartly Durkin doesn't make Lucy icily unbearable, instead there's a deep sympathy for her.  In a way, she emerges as the film's unlikely heroine, even as Durkin chooses, in a tense final moment of the film, to suggest that Martha can never be saved. ***1/2

-Jeffery Berg