MRwOS reviews "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga". Plus, original music with Cheyenne Dane!

 Going to a movie this weekend? Have a listen to my review of "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga". Plus, I play an original song with guest Cheyenne Dane!

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (If You Can See Me)

Mysterious Adventures: Original Film Scores 2

A brand new compilation of some old film score work I did for some friends' projects, most of which never got used, or never got released. Take a listen and let me know what you think!

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Over New Year's weekend, I finally got to see Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. For my money, this is the best installment since Return of the Jedi. The film has a stronger ensemble cast than any other Star Wars film-- Felicity Jones, Ben Mendelsohn, Mads Mikkelson, Forest Whitaker, Diego Luna and Donnie Yen are all either Oscar-level thespians or global super stars; Alan Tudyk is the lowest profile actor in the main cast, yet is still beloved of sci-fi aficionados everywhere. The series as a whole is plagued with clunky dialogue, and this installment is no exception, but Rogue One probably has the most fluid scripting since The Empire Strikes Back. And aside from some questionable attempts to revive dead actors with CGI, the special effects are top notch.

Despite all this, the movie still manages to disappoint, mostly because it doesn't feel quite like a Star Wars film. The original trilogy was objectively B-movie material, but what it had going for it was brutally efficient storytelling-- they were simple stories extremely well told. They trimmed the fat, while Rogue One has an entire middle-section that feels unnecessary. Furthermore, in their attempts to add moral complexity to the more recent films, I feel that they've diluted the charm of the original stories. There were times when Rogue One reminded me more of Dune (with Saw Gerrera's extremists) or of the relatively recent Battlestar Galactica reboot (with the social stratification and political squabbling within the Rebel ranks). Mind you, I like Dune and love Battlestar Galactica, but they occupy a different corner of the Sci-Fi multi-verse. I'm okay with Star Wars sticking to archetypal characters and themes, relying more on adventure and a sense of wonder.

One aside: I loved the characters of Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus. The idea of a wannabe Jedi with a buddy who keeps saving his ass is great! I'd love to see a film just about them. The other thing I liked about this duo is how, instead of being a call back to earlier Star Wars movies, it's a shout out to the Akira Kurosawa films that inspired the whole series in the first place.

One of the problems with the current trend toward extended universes is that blockbuster films have a harder time standing on their own. If it weren't a Star Wars film, I'd have fewer issues with it. Rogue One is solid, sci-fi entertainment, and would be even if it wasn't a prequel.

Short Reviews: Mutants, Avengers and Nice Guys Singing with Gangsta Cats...

X-men: Apocalypse - Overall, a big disappointment after Days of Future Past and First Class. The first two films in the reboot focused on the competing ideologies of Professor X and Magneto with Mystique stuck in the middle, and that made for a compelling conflict. In this installment, they pay some lip service to the triangle, but mostly focus on introducing new characters and a generically realized villain. Aside from the design work done for some of the new characters (Storm, Psylocke and Nightcrawler look pretty awesome), the film is muddled and shallow. And if you're a comic book purist, you'll be thoroughly upset with the liberties taken with some of the characters.

Sing Street - Director John Carney has made headlines lately after trashing Kiera Knightley's work in his previous film, Begin Again. While I also had trouble with Knightley's casting in that film, Sing Street shows that Carney bears plenty of responsibility for his missteps. Like Once, this film is set in Ireland, but it's about a teenage boy in the 80s who starts a band to impress a girl. There's a certain sweetness and local flavor that lifts it up, but the songs are as mediocre as the ones in Begin Again and fail to fully support the rebellious stance taken by the story. The film is a pleasant, but fails to rise above the level of unreflective adult nostalgia.

The Nice Guys - Shane Black was once the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood, having penned the highly influential Lethal Weapon series. More recently, he's been directing his own scripts, most notably the massive blockbuster Iron Man 3, but also the cult favorite Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. The Nice Guys follows in the vein of that small, neo-noir buddy film, but doesn't quite match its lofty virtues. The film makes some confusing choices at the beginning and then the last third of the film just sort of happens. However, the chemistry between Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling and Angourie Rice (stealing the show as Gosling's character's daughter) is glorious and alone probably worth the price of admission. I'm not sure if there's going to be a sequel, but I'd love to see this crew again in a better film.

Captain America: Civil War - For my money, the Captain America series has been the highest quality Marvel Studios franchise to date, and Civil War keeps the streak alive. I'm in awe of the Russo brother's ability to keep a movie this big this balanced. Every one of the huge cast of characters gets their moment in the sun, but unlike other superhero films, Civil War knows which ones are the stars and which ones are merely the supporting cast. The themes of the film are interwoven masterfully with personal motivations, and you also get the best mass superhero battle of all time! Highly recommended. See it again and again...

Keanu - I really enjoy Key and Peele's sketch comedy show and was looking forward to a feature length treatment of their sensibilities. But greatness on the small screen doesn't always translate to the big one, and in many ways Keanu feels like a comedy sketch stretched from 5 to 100 minutes. There are some very funny scenes, and Key and Peele put on some tremendous performances, but there's just not enough to carry you all the way through.

Movie Reviews: Creed, Trumbo and more...

My dad was in town over Thanksgiving weekend, and we took the opportunity to do a movie marathon!

Sylvester Stallone hasn't been a symbol of quality in a long, long time, so it's easy to forget that the original Rocky (1976) won Best Picture, and was a pretty great film. Creed (2015) is a spin-off of the original Rocky series, and it captures much of the heart of the original. Stallone plays a supporting role as the aging champ helping out his deceased friend's son, and the film is better for it. It was a pleasant surprise. Recommended.

My favorite film of the weekend was Trumbo (2015), starring Brian Cranston (Breaking Bad, Malcolm in the Middle) as the eponymous character. Dalton Trumbo is probably the most famous of the blacklisted screenwriters during the Red Scare of the 1950s, having won multiple Oscars while writing under pseudonyms. It's a very political film, focusing on free speech issues (a subject very dear to my heart), but manages to be incredible entertaining at the same time-- this film oozes with old Hollywood charm. Highly, highly recommended.

Brooklyn (2015) stars Saoirse Ronan as a young Irish immigrant in 1950s New York. It's hard to go into the film too much without oversimplifying it, but I will say that this film has some really wonderful dinner table conversations. The movie is a romance, both about people and places, and it doesn't wrap up in a tidy way. It will leave you thinking, so bring someone along to talk about it afterwards.

Newspapers have been dying, so it's no surprise that we don't see movies about newspapers so much, anymore. But that's a shame, because there's something thrilling about a group of intrepid reporters fighting the system and uncovering corruption. Spotlight (2015) revives that tradition as it details how the Boston Globe uncovered the full extent of the Catholic child abuse scandal. It's not perfect-- I think it sometimes goes overboard trying to make active visuals while relaying key information-- but it's a worthy entry in the genre.

It's odd that the movie is called Victor Frankenstein (2015), because it's really about his assistant-- though I can understand why naming it Igor Stravinsky might be a bad marketing move. Daniel Radcliffe plays this revisionist version of Igor, which brings a lot of humanity to the character. I really appreciated the first part of the film, which explored his origins in the circus and his love for one of its acrobats. James McAvoy is well cast as the mad scientist who enlists Igor's help in conducting some horrific experiments. The last act is a bit overdone and deviates from the focus on Igor, but it will satisfy those who need a spectacular climax. Overall, it's a pretty neat take on the Frankenstein story.

I prefer to see films in the theater, but we did rent the local film Ink (2009), which depicts a dreamworld where the benevolent Storytellers try to protect us from the Incubi, who bring only nightmares. One little girl slips into a coma as the mysterious creature, Ink, kidnaps her unconscious mind. Will the storytellers retrieve her soul? Will her absentee father return to help out? This was locally done in Denver, and won Best Colorado Film from the Denver Film Critics Society. It's an uneven film, but visually it's stunning and creepy.

Spectre: Cheryl & Dave's Review

Cheryl and I mostly agreed on the film, but I liked it overall and she didn't. Check out the video to get a detailed account...

The Last Witch Hunter: Cheryl & Dave's Review

Still hankering for some Halloween action? We'll tell you if this movie gives it to you...