GUEST COLUMN: Top Spy Films of the Last Decade

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Top Spy Films of the Last Decade

by Kevin Gardner

Suspense, intrigue, deception, … there is plenty in a good spy thriller to grip you until the heart-stopping conclusion. Some may think that the heyday of the spy film peaked in the 1960s with the James Bond franchise and its imitators. However, the genre is still alive and well, and the qualities that made spy films appealing to begin with are still woven into their DNA. If you've missed any of the top spy films from the last decade, here is your chance to catch up.

Snowden

Under the George W. Bush administration, the government starting surveilling the online activities of ordinary citizens without their knowledge or consent, ostensibly to combat terrorism. Because the government was responsible, even protection with multi-factor authentication was not enough. Edward Snowden is the whistleblower who informed the public of these illicit activities and then fled the country to live in exile. Snowden is a film by Oliver Stone that delves into the protagonist's internal struggle over whether he should reveal what he knows and face the consequences or remain silent. As students of recent history know, the real-life Snowden eventually took a third option. Regardless of your opinion of the whistleblower, however, the film is well worth seeing because of the charisma of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, one of the most talented actors of his generation, in the title role.

Argo

Like Snowden, Argo is also based on a true story. It takes place during the 1979 hostage crisis in Tehran, Iran, and tells the story of a CIA agent who undertakes the rescue of six diplomats by posing as a movie producer. Hollywood multi-hyphenate Ben Affleck directed, produced, and starred in the film, which eventually won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Not all of the best spy movies of the last decade are based on true stories. John le Carré is a legend in the world of spy novels, and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is based on one of his most iconic works. During the Cold War, a Soviet agent infiltrated the British intelligence agency MI6. Gary Oldman plays George Smiley, a semi-retired veteran of espionage who must take on one more mission to reveal the foreign agent.

Tenet

Christopher Nolan is one of the most original, thought-provoking, and mind-bending directors working in Hollywood today. In 2010, he gave the heist movie a science-fiction twist with Inception, and 10 years later, he's done the same with the spy genre in Tenet. At stake is the beginning of World War III, and an agent so secret that the audience isn't even allowed to know his name has to go on a time-bending mission to prevent it, armed with a single word: Tenet.

Skyfall

Skyfall is the 23rd entry in the James Bond franchise, and after 50 years, the series is still going strong. A failed assignment compromises MI6 from within and without. Judy Dench's M has only one agent whom she can trust to get to the bottom of it: Daniel Craig's James Bond, who must retreat to the shadows to unravel the truth. Skyfall is known at least as well for its theme song, performed by Adele in the tradition established in the '60s by such songstresses as the legendary Shirley Bassey.

Bridge of Spies

Directed by Steven Spielberg and starring the indefatigable Tom Hanks, Bridge of Spies is another film based on a true story. Hanks plays a lawyer who must negotiate the exchange of a convicted KGB spy for a U.S. Air Force pilot shot down over Soviet territory as part of the U-2 spy mission in 1960.

Kingsman: Secret Service

Kingsman: Secret Service is based on a comic series from Marvel and directed by a comedian, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that it mixes humor in with the usual thrills provided by spy films. All you need to know is that it features a star-studded cast and is an affectionate parody of James Bond and the other, more serious spy-film franchises.

The antagonists have changed, the technology has advanced, but the spy film genre is here to stay, and the newest entries are just as compelling as their predecessors.

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GUEST COLUMN: Top Vehicles In the Fast & Furious Franchise Ranked

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Top Vehicles In the Fast & Furious Franchise Ranked

by Lewis Robinson

There are many reasons fans love the Fast and Furious movie franchise. Some people love the action. Some tune in for their favorite stars. However, almost everyone loves the series' iconic cars. These are the top nine. 

1. Suki's Honda S2000 From 2 Fast 2 Furious

All of these high-tech cars feature lots of gadgets and gears, such as general purpose relays, but Suki's Honda S2000 is one of the most stunning looking. The pink interior and exterior even match Suki's costume in the movie. This car isn't just awesome because of its good looks. It also performed impressive feats, such as jumping a drawbridge and continuing to drive, even though the entire front end got ripped off. 

2. Mk4 Toyota Supra From The Fast and the Furious

This is one of the original classics. It's the 10-second car that forged the bond between Dom and Brian in the conclusion of the original film. Without this car, none of the rest of the things fans love about the series would have ever happened. This car got a new look and appeared as Slap Jack's ride in the sequel.

3. Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R From 2 Fast 2 Furious

This car may have lost out to Suki's S2000 in these rankings, but it beat it in the film. It is also one of the most recognizable cars in the film series. This car is gone, thanks to an EMP harpoon, but not forgotten as the star of the "Turbo-Charged Prelude" that links the first and second films in the franchise and helps flesh out Brian O'Connor's character.

4. Dodge "Ice Charger" From The Fate of the Furious 

Vin Diesel's iconic character, Dom Toretto, has driven several versions of the Dodge Charger throughout the series. The "Ice Charger" is one of the more memorable versions. It features a mid-engine V8, can be driven on ice and packs a giant EMP.

5. Veilside Mazda RX-7 Fortune From The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

Tokyo Drift is not the most popular film in the series, but it did produce one of the best cars with this slick-looking Mazda. While this car is far from a standard-issue FD Mazda RX-7, you can order one from the Japanese company, Veilside. It is sold as the "Fortune kit."

6. Koenigsegg CCXR From Fast Five

This is one of the more exotic entries in the franchise. Criminal kingpin Roman Pearce claims it is the only one of its kind in the Western hemisphere, only to be proved wrong when Tej Parker pulls a nearly-identical car out of the garage. 

7. Ford Escort RS1600 From Fast & Furious 6

The Ford Escort isn't exactly known as a high-end street racer, but this one made a brief, but memorable appearance. It wasn't featured in any race scenes, but it did get one of the most iconic jumping scenes when Brian O'Connor used it to take out a tank on a Spanish roadway.  

8. Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport From Fast Five

This roadster steals the show in the opening sequence of Fast Five as one of several classic cars stolen by the family in a train robbery. While its debut in the series was memorable, it was also brief, as the film version ended up soaring off a cliff and into a lake after a police chase. While the replica used in that scene met its fate on screen, the real car was later sold at auction for a rumored $100,000.

9. Ford F150 SVT Lightning From The Fast and the Furious

This entry from the original film is the only truck to make this list. Unlike most of the other vehicles in this list, this V8-powered truck had few modifications from its real-world equivalent. 

Conclusion 

There is no doubt that the iconic cars from the Fast & Furious series are just as important as the series' stars. These souped-up speedsters are responsible for some of the most exciting sequences in this iconic action franchise. 

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GUEST COLUMN: Movies That Inspire You to Overcome Challenges

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Movies That Inspire You to Overcome Challenges

by Adrian Johansen

Inspirational movies are always fun to watch. No matter what you might be going through, certain films can motivate you to do better, push through your challenges, and come out stronger on the other side. 

Even if you have absolutely no connection to what’s going on in the film, that struggling athlete crossing the finish line or that person rising from living in the streets to working on Wall Street can give you all “the feels.” 

There is no shortage of inspirational movies that can inspire self-growth and success. If we went through even a small section of them, you’d be reading all day. For now, let’s cover three movies that tell very different stories but are all inspiring in their own ways. Whether you need a “pick-me-up” or something to watch that will motivate you to do more, any one of these films could be the ticket. 

The Pursuit of Happyness

The Pursuit of Happyness is a 2006 film starring Will Smith and his son Jaden. It’s based on the true story of Chris Gardner. Gardner was a struggling salesman who was trying to care for himself and his son but couldn’t seem to catch a break. The two were evicted from their apartment and, at one point, were forced to find shelter wherever they could to sleep. 

The movie doesn’t show much in the way of traditional budgeting methods, but it does show how hard it is to overcome poverty and escape debt – especially with children. 

The change in the film (and in real life) comes when Gardner accepts an internship at a high-end brokerage firm. The problem? It doesn’t pay anything. But, it comes with the hope that he’ll eventually get hired for a job. This kind of entrepreneurial endeavor or even a “side hustle” is one of the best ways to stay on track financially and work your way up when you’re living on a low income.

Throughout the film, viewers see Gardner working diligently and passionately within the firm, making call after call and knowing exactly how to talk with investors – big and small. Eventually, Gardner lands a job with the company. Today, not only is he known for being a successful stockbroker but an author and motivational speaker. 

The lessons in The Pursuit of Happyness range from never giving up to finding your passions. Gardner worked incredibly hard to land a job at that brokerage firm, but as the film showed, he also had a natural talent for working with people that he may not have realized before. 

The Impossible

No one wants to think about their family experiencing a disaster. But, that’s exactly what happens in 2012’s The Impossible. The movie is based on a 2004 family trip taken to Thailand when the Boxing Day tsunami hit. It goes through Maria Belton’s account of what happened to her and her family. 

In some spots, the movie is hard to watch. The family gets separated, injured, and at some points, you’re fairly certain they’re not going to make it. Maria herself seems to take the brunt of the tsunami. She is shown nearly drowning and getting knocked around by debris underwater. Naomi Watts puts on a stunning performance that is so realistic, it can make you feel almost uncomfortable – in the best way possible. 

Because the Belton family was on vacation with no way of knowing what was about to hit, they didn’t have time to prepare for an emergency. But, one thing this movie shows is how important it is to take measures that will keep your family safe. At home, you can create an emergency kit that includes things like: 

• A gallon of water

• Blankets

• Flashlights

• A whistle

• Batteries

• Garbage bags for personal waste

You should also talk to your kids about natural disasters and develop an emergency preparedness plan. While keeping your family safe is definitely something this film will inspire, it’ll also undoubtedly make you want to hold them closer. Without spoiling too much, this story had a happier ending than anyone would’ve thought possible. But, it shows the importance of perseverance, especially when it comes to fighting for the people you love. 

Brooklyn

While Brooklyn doesn’t necessarily follow a true story, there is no doubt it speaks to the experience of many immigrants who came to the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries. The 2015 film follows an Irish immigrant named Eilis as she moves to New York City from a small town in Ireland to find work, and perhaps a new life. 

The movie is a love story – and a beautiful one. Eilis falls for the son of Italian immigrants and the very real and raw depiction of their relationship throughout the film is inspiring and heartwarming. 

But, it’s also a wonderful depiction of how strange and difficult it can be to adjust, especially when you move to a big city for the first time. Obviously, there are some differences between Eilis’ time period and today, but there are still many of the same advantages to moving to a city, including: 

• More work opportunities

• Access to so many things

• Advanced medical care facilities

• Entertainment

• Education opportunities

Some struggles can come with moving somewhere new, but this movie can inspire you to overcome those feelings of homesickness. Eilis puts it perfectly at the end of the movie when she’s speaking to another immigrant on a ship back to the States: 

“You'll feel so homesick that you'll want to die, and there's nothing you can do about it apart from endure it. But you will, and it won't kill you. And one day the sun will come out — you might not even notice straight away, it'll be that faint. And then you'll catch yourself thinking about something or someone who has no connection with the past.”

Though all of these films teach different lessons, they’re all fantastic inspirational stories. Whether you’re feeling down and need something to motivate you, or you happen to watch one for its entertainment value and leave feeling inspired, take their lessons to heart and allow them to stick with you as you face your own personal challenges. 

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GUEST COLUMN: Must-Watch Documentaries About the Future of Learning

Must-Watch Documentaries About the Future of Learning

by Emma Wilson

I trust we are on the dawn of a brand new generation of hugely amplified mastering, creativity, and inventiveness. We now have the era to make schooling handy to anybody inside the international community and the adaptable digital mastering equipment to customize the way everybody learns and works.

However, this new generation requires a new emphasis on lifelong learning and creativity. These days’ students must emerge as self-directed lifelong rookies because inside the fast-paced virtual financial system, it's far a necessity to be constantly adapting with the aid of mastering new knowledge and capabilities.

Each of those training documentaries offers a glimpse into the destiny of gaining knowledge in the 21st century.

1. Networked Society: The Destiny of Getting to Know

Generation enables us to interact, innovate, and percentage in first-rate new methods. The end result is a dynamic shift in attitude that is creating profound change all through our society.

The Destiny of Studying explores how we can be a part of this transformation. We need to customize the technique of ways we research, consciousness much less on rote memorization and greater on holistic techniques to gaining knowledge of and creativity.

2. Collaboration: On the Edge of a Brand New Paradigm

This outstanding documentary grew out of a test in collaboration undertaken by Danish pupil Alfred Birkegaard for his Ph.D. in Philosophy. He traveled to the coronary heart of Silicon Valley to interview the pioneers who are engineering the destiny of virtual communique and collaboration.

Collaboration: On the Threshold of a brand new Paradigm is the story of ways the internet is pushing the boundaries of studies, collaboration, and understanding advent. The result is an innovative paradigm shift wherein getting to know and working is becoming a greater collaborative process.

3. PressPausePlay

The digital revolution has unleashed creativity and skills in an extraordinary way, developing almost unlimited opportunities for folks that can master the digital media arts and persuade others of the cost of their abilities.

PressPausePlay appears at his new democratized tradition of creativity and how it is reshaping the arts and culture. The movie features interviews with some of the most influential creators of the digital age.

4. Us Now: Social Media and Mass Collaboration

New social technology inclusive of crowdsourcing and open supply collaboration is giving us the electricity to take a bigger element within the choice-making tactics of governments. This may notably exchange the shape of our governments and our societies.

Us Now is approximately the strength of mass collaboration, the government, and the internet. It’s fascinating to observe how corrupt and inefficient bureaucracies will be dramatically downsized and their electricity will return to the people.

5. Human Beings Want Now Not to Apply

The maximum tough monetary trend of our time is the alternative of habitual work with robots and software. The truth is that technological progress is now replacing the extra jobs that it creates. This means we will want a social and political revolution or be faced with mass unemployment and societal breakdown.

Human wants not to follow explores how machines are replacing humans proper now and why the competencies that machines can’t reflect which include human connection, creativity, and social intelligence are more vital than ever.

6. Future Learning: What’s Incorrect With College?

Our school system perfectly prepares college students for the 20th-century industrial economy. But, times have changed, and nowadays it's a failure to prepare us with the essential self-assurance in our innate curiosity and innovative abilities. That is what we need to transform the arena and thrive within the 21st-century economy.

Destiny Learning is a series of notion-frightening interviews with training innovators about a way to higher interact and empower self-directed rookies in order to unencumbered the new possibilities created with the aid of technological innovation.

7. Getting Ready for A Networked Society

The net of things and the manner we speak thru internet-based networks is remodeling our society. attempting to understand how those modifications are shaping enterprise, schooling and a new social order will come up with a glimpse into the future.

On the Brink of a Community Society is the first part of a four-element collection on the destiny of our networked society. The documentary collection functions interviews with innovative idea leaders who talk about standards without boundaries, possibilities, developing creativity, and new open commercial enterprise fashions.

8. IBM’s Watson: Smartest System on This Planet

IBM’s modern artificial intelligence device Watson entered the limelight in 2011 when it went up in opposition to the sector’s high-quality human contestants at Jeopardy. With the scale of two, four hundred home computer systems and a database of about 10 million documents, can Watson compute its manner to victory?

The smartest machine on earth tells the story of the advent of Watson, and the way artificial intelligence and devices gaining knowledge will transform all styles of industries and occupations.

9. Everything Is A Remix

The net and statistics technology has been an exceptional catalyst for human creativity. today, almost everybody in the developed U.S. can personalize their way of creative production and use inexpensive virtual tools to emerge as an energetic author of art, music, and tradition.

The Whole Lot Is A Remix examines how the technique of creativity, mastering, and innovation is similar to the way we remix songs and art with the aid of copying, transforming, and mixing old ideas to form new ones.

10. Education For A Sustainable Future

The values that underlie our cutting-edge schooling device have gotten us into this mess of crushing debt, ecological collapse, and failing political institutions. We want a brand new device that focuses much less on competition and ideas divorced from fact, and extra on developing scholar’s character innovative skills to be able to collaborate collectively and solve the big challenges of the twenty-first century.

Education for a Sustainable future examines the definition of a new twenty-first-century education gadget and how we can train humans to evolve and thrive in a continuously changing world.

If you watch those documentary movies on learning and creativity then you’ll have an amazing idea of what destiny with any luck holds for the democratization of training.

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6 Useful Tips On How To Shoot A Perfect Company Commercial

Shooting a company commercial or internal communication video can be tricky. The way it is different from a regular television commercial is what confuses most people. If you are working on your corporate video and have questions, here are six tips that would help you shoot the perfect video.

1. Hire a Professional

The high-end cameras, smartphones, and advanced technology allow anyone to shoot a commercial seamlessly. But what differentiates the professionals from the amateurs is the quality of the output, finishing the shoot on time, and savings on resources. If you are shooting a video for your company, you should hire an agency specializing in that space. If you are in Singapore, searching for corporate video production in Singapore will help you land the best suggestions on the video production companies in your region. As online listings come with ratings and reviews, you will be able to see honest feedback about the company's work from fellow clients and peers before you hire one.

2. Identify Your Audience

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Knowing your audience is paramount not just for commercials but for all forms of communication. The messaging will be different for your board members, staff, PR team, and customers. So, identify your audience as the first step to building your corporate video. This would also help you determine how and where to share the videos once they are made.

3. Find Your Messaging

A corporate video could be made for numerous reasons. You could be announcing a merger or an acquisition, promoting a healthy workplace, building brand credibility, promoting your CSR activities, and so on. It is important to find your messaging and focus on building a storyboard around that. This would help you build a video that communicates with the target audience seamlessly without creating confusion.

4. Choose Between Actors and Employees

Most companies face the biggest challenge while deciding on a corporate shoot is whether to use their employees or actors. While using employee images and videos is a great way to showcase diversity and company culture, it has its cons. At any point, the employee could leave the organization, might not have a photogenic face, or cannot mouth the dialogues like a professional actor. The employee who has it all could not fit the equal-opportunity employer image you are trying to build. So, evaluate the pros and cons and go with the option that best suits your brand.

5. Drop the Jargon

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If you are communicating with an audience beyond the boardroom, drop the corporate jargon. Talk like a human and converse in a natural flow. Build a script around the message you are trying to communicate and keep it simple. Unless the video is for your stakeholders and board members, nobody wants to hear too many stats. So, keep the message as simple as it can be. 

6. Keep It Short

The attention span of the audience is very small. This means your video has to be concise and to the point too. If your corporate video goes for anything over a minute, you might lose your audience's attention. Build a story, highlight the important points, and conclude with a few specific yet straightforward closing statements.

Happy Shooting! We hope these tips were helpful. Do share your thoughts, comments, and feedback in the comments section.

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MOVIE REVIEW: The Green Knight

Image courtesy of A24

THE GREEN KNIGHT— 2 STARS

After tediously mining the tenets of longing and loss with A Ghost Story, having virtuoso filmmaker David Lowery slather his cinematic varnish to Arthurian legend with The Green Knight counts as a very intriguing escalation of his talent. If anyone can wring existential essence out of alliterative Medieval verse that is normally sanitized for frivolous fantasy, it’s Lowery and the boutique freedom granted to him by A24 Films. Regrettably, for a tale soaked with prospective heft, what could or should be a constrictive squeeze on our hearts and minds is more poked, prodded, and painted than anything else.

For those inexperienced with the Middle Age bardic tale, it is a New Year’s Eve feast and the aging King Arthur (Sean Harris), flanked by his Queen Guinevere (Kate Dickie), wants to hear a story of adventure. His youngest knight and own nephew, Sir Gawain, played by Dev Patel, has yet to compose one worth telling. He would rather spend his present days at a brothel pining over his enchanting lady of choice (Oscar winner Alicia Vikander) while still living under the roof and influence of his esoteric and rumored hex of a mother (Sarita Choudhury). Gawain gets his chance when ominous destiny walks into the great hall in the form of the gigantic Green Knight of the Green Chapel. 

Made of gnarled wood, speaking with riddlesome platitudes of booming bass, and armed with an enormous botanically-powered axe, the imposing rider presents a challenge to one “boldest of blood” and “wildest of heart.” Try to land a blow against him. Then, come to the Green Chapel a year and a day later to receive an equal blow in return, and live to tell about it. Gawain, sensing a place to impress the gathering and script his own legend, steps up, receives the king’s own sword (you know, the one that’s supposed to have a famous name they don’t use, more on that later), and takes his mighty swing. 

LESSON #1: UNDERSTAND THE RULES OF A GAME-- The result is an encircling countdown of dread for Gawain where the prospect of “taking as good as he gave” likely means his own demise. He, always insisting he’s not a knight, failed to remember that this is only a game and oversteps the cunning wisdom to participate in such a ploy cleanly and safely. Next time, go for the wrist slap, not the jugular.

LESSON #2: A QUEST AS A COVENANT-- No amount of heroic community celebration softens the quest Gawain must take when his year is up. He can leave and get what’s coming to him or he can stay and spoil all that accumulated favor as a coward. Failing forward, Gawain could arrive at the Green Chapel and still turn out to be a coward there as well when the monster and his axe come calling. Either way, he is bound to this promise and the young knight has a perilous six-day journey of chaptered interludes and challenging intersections ahead. This quest requires him to prepare himself and what will be the solid or crumbled foundation of his future honor that will change him as a man.

Mulling over the complex totality of The Green Knight and how it portrays the 14th-century Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the befuddling result comes down, equally so for the main character’s quest, to choices. Much like A Ghost Story and other A24 critical darlings, extrapolating the method within the madness or untangling the greater reasoning requires its own study hall in a large library and therapy session stretched out on a leather couch. Lo and behold, leave it to a comedic Instagram post from cartoonist Luke McGarry with a flowchart to streamline the perceived thought process better than I ever could with double the number of words of this review.

Image: Luke McGarry on Instagram

LESSON #3: A24 IS GONNA A24-- Every hardcore cinephile’s favorite studio has become their own monotonous metaphor built on obtuse films and effusive worship. McGarry nails it and too many of those same arrow-aligned pitfalls besiege The Green Knight. The film gobsmacks its viewers with stunning artistry flowing out of every organic and inorganic surface, and then it all empties into surreal and languishing obscurity.

The production designs of Jade Healy (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood) mesh sublimely with the castles and outlands of the rustic Irish filming locations. Each actor is draped in striking attire designed by Malgosia Turzanska (Hell or High Water) that is never boring and draws ornate attention. Cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo (A Ghost Story) lassos those ambient natural and manufactured elements with dynamic lighting and a bevy of challenging angles and tracking shots. Finally, Daniel Hart’s haunting, minimalistic score gives symphony to Lowery’s chosen route of epic trepidation.

True to the studio’s track record, the ambrosial atmosphere conceived by David Lowery and his team of fellow up-and-coming collaborators is sterling beyond any granted measure. That was never going to be an issue. Instead it is a rightful pillar to praise for what it is. 

What isn’t worthy is the vacuous and empty soul underneath the visual finery. To match McGarry’s notes, the scenario of The Green Knight portends and dangles the inherent calamity and greater themes. But then, even after 130 minutes, it all stops a denouement short of full realization and attainment of its promising heights. The best you get is a Peyton Farquhar montage of imagined fantasy.

The Green Knight states all good myths are brave and bold. At some point, that profundity has to go beyond aesthetics. The screen titles also announce that what is presented is not that kind of legend. Yeah, and that’s the problem when considering the source material built with magical bedrock. Never has chivalric romance and so-called adventure been treated so pensively. They over-wrung the wellspring. A little spryness to go with the supernatural sure wouldn’t kill it and go a long way with generating wonder against the artistic eloquence.

LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#982)

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MOVIE REVIEW: Jungle Cruise

Image courtesy of Walt Disney

JUNGLE CRUISE-- 3 STARS

Seeing the throwback characteristics of Jaume Collet-Serra’s Jungle Cruise, folks are quickly applying the “swashbuckler” label, calling upon the good juju of Michael Curtiz, George Lucas, Stephen Sommers, and Gore Verbinski that came before him. That understandable descriptor fits a bit like a slightly oversized hat. The chapeau in question is certainly stylish and attention-getting, but the head underneath doesn’t quite have the full bluster to fit the look the definition calls for. Might I say, that’s a bit surprising considering the presence of headliner Dwayne Johnson.

LESSON #1: THE DEFINITION OF “DERRING-DO”-- Instead, I’ll offer “derring-do” as a better old school term for Jungle Cruise. That pulpy concept speaks more on the actions having the “quality of being bold, often in a showy or foolish way” than traits of the people themselves. Without full swashbuckling characters, derring-do is the wheelhouse of Jungle Cruise, because the movie has it going on in spades.

Jungle Cruise opens its frayed storybook and dusty atlas to tell the tale of a failed 16th century quest of Spanish conquistadors, led by Edgar Ramirez’s Aguirre, to seek the fabled healing properties of the “Tree of Life” deep in the Amazon basin. Fast-forward three-and-a-half centuries to 1916 during the increasing pressure of World War I and that haunting “legend born in truth” still fascinates scientists and power-seekers, including the brother-sister team of McGregor and Dr. Lily Houghton (Jack Whitehall and co-headliner Emily Blunt) and the maniacal German nobleman Prince Joachim (Jesse Plemons). Both parties seek an arrowhead artifact that holds the key to locating and unlocking the hidden phenomenon.

With the arrowhead snatched from Joachim and a London museum by Lily, the chase crosses the Atlantic to the famed raging river. Scouting for any help they can, the Houghtons enlist the burly Captain Frank Wolff (Johnson), a broke skipper known for swindling rich tourists with manufactured perils, to pilot them towards their targeted wonders. Prince Joachim is hot on their heels with a submarine of superior speed and firepower. All the while, Aguirre and his fellow warriors have been resurrected to continue their eternal search for their magical prize and plunder.

LESSON #2: IF YOU BELIEVE IN LEGENDS, YOU SHOULD BELIEVE IN CURSES TOO-- Jungle Cruise is not shy about fashioning itself as a spooky Saturday afternoon or evening bedtime story filled with mythological gobbledygook that can run a little head-scratching and long-winded, especially for a movie swelled beyond two hours. The big archaeological MacGuffin is satisfyingly grand when it arrives, but the dangers along the way have their frightful spin. In a cautionary note to potential parents screening this movie for younger children, the violence and the special effects-enhanced elemental curses of reptilian, insectile, and earthly natures riddling the undead conquistadors earns the film’s PG-13 rating.

Through every splash and crash, Jungle Cruise dials up and dresses up a heap of that celebrated derring-do. Stunt coordinator and fight coordinator Allan Poppleton, making his sixth movie starring Dwayne Johnson, stages exciting brawls captured on what feels like graceful trapeze camerawork from The Shallows cinematographer Flavio Martinez Labiano. Even if most is likely imagined more than constructed, the production design work from Jean-Vincent Puzos (quite familiar with this tropical realm after The Lost City of Z) creates a tremendous atmosphere. The best adventure component of all is a big, brassy score from composer James Newton Howard that channels the echoes of Jerry Goldsmith and hits all the trumpeting highs.

The conceptual bones of Jungle Cruise have been fleshed out nicely for a grand Disney blockbuster. The screenplay comes from the Focus and Crazy, Stupid, Love. directing team of Glenn Ficarro and John Requa with a polishing assist from Logan Oscar nominee Michael Green. That collection of proven creative talent injects enough charisma around the algorithms that call for a cardio-challenging timeline of required thrills and spills. 

Even short of full swashbuckler-level flamboyance, the inspired casting squeezes the cleverness from the script. Jesse Plemons pushes the right eccentric buttons to give his haughty heel menace that is still squarely cartoonish. His fiendishness is far greater than the physical threat attempted by Edgar Ramirez growling under effects and makeup and the extended cameo from Paul Giamatti as Frank’s overseer. In what should shock no one after Game Night, Plemons steals yet another movie.

That’s not all the thievery. This is also where Emily Blunt (and her stunt double Lauren Shaw) shows the big man (and his stunt double Tanoai Reed) up. In this gender-role-shattering riff, Lily’s “Pants” is the impulsive go-getter courageously leaping into all the trouble while Johnson’s “Skippy” cools down some of his usual swagger to play more noble than macho. Normally, he’s the tornado, so it’s delightful to see Blunt get more of that wind. Their combined competitive and romantic dynamic becomes endlessly appealing. 

LESSON #3: YOUR IDEA OF A JOKE-- Look, Jungle Cruise knows exactly what it is, much like the brand of comedy coming from Dwayne’s skipper that’s called out by Blunt’s pragmatic presence. The jokes are corny, the hijinks aim for hilarity, and the spectacle is large. Like its theme park inspiration and Pirates of the Caribbean walking so this movie could run, Jungle Cruise is meant to be a ride that puts a smile on your face, and it sure is a zippy one. That’s right where it’s supposed to be. 

LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#981)

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MOVIE REVIEW: Old

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OLD-- 2 STARS

There was a phrase I used in my review of Glass two-and-a-half years ago about the vibe of M. Night Shyamlan’s movies that is necessary for me to painfully regurgitate for his hotly-anticipated new film Old. I said there was a “portending promise for something greater.” Even while adapting someone else’s work instead of shoveling his own dreck, Shyamalan has not improved. He takes another electric cocktail napkin concept and hammers it into the ground, well, sand this time instead of rain-filled potholes with forced overcomplication. Once again, his overused crutch of manufacturing twists cannot cover for him anymore.

The premise of Old is a hell of a Twilight Zone-level hook, based on the 2010 Sandcastle graphic novel by Pierre-Oscar Levy and Frederick Peeters. “Welcome to our version of paradise” is the subversive welcoming line of hotel manager played by Gustaf Hammarsten of Bruno. The keywords for later are “our version.” Hold onto those.

Twelve people on a Caribbean island vacation have taken an excursion to what was promised to be a secret beach beyond the nature preserve cliffs off the beaten tourist path. Filmed at the lush Playa El Valle in Samana of the Dominican Republic through the dextrous 35mm lenses of Us cinematographer Mike Gioulakis, the more time visitors spend in this beautiful place, or are held there as we hypothesize, the older they age in a terrifyingly rapid fashion. 

Among the dozen are the Kappa family from Philadelphia composed of Presca’s museum curator (Vicky Krieps) and Guy’s insurance data specialist (Gael Garcia Bernal) and their two children Trent and Maddox. Also on the bus driven by Shyamalan himself are a married nurse and therapist (Ken Leung and Nikki Amuka-Bird), a prissy middle-aged doctor (Rufus Sewell), his senior mother (Kathleen Chalfant), his daughter Kara, his trophy wife (supermodel Abbey Lee Kershaw). They meet two people already on the beach, a rapper named Mid-Sized Sedan (Aaron Pierre) and his skinny-dipping girlfriend. 

Brief injuries rapidly heal over. Long-term ailments quicken their effect. Natural causes of aging strike faster and more severely. They see it in the kids first as they go from elementary school age to their teens over the course of an hour, all while some force won’t let them leave. At the rate time is pushing minutes into years, everyone will be dead in a day. Chilling? Sure. Scary? Not really, but it should be. Intriguing? That’s up for debate by the time it’s all said and done.

LESSON #1: WHAT WOULD THEY DO, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?-- Geological theories of unknown minerals are bandied about as every disorganized attempt at escape is tested in silly fashion while everyone hangs around gobsmacked with a picnic basket of provisions as the powerful waves crash to soothe nothing and no one. Blunt signs like ready buzzards above only make it worse. That’s them attempting to have family stick together, but what about you? What would you do in this bottle movie? A movie like Old happily begs that question with equal chin-rubbing and eye-rolling.

LESSON #2: ALWAYS THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE VERSUS THINKING ABOUT THE PAST-- Need something deeper than “what would you do” in Old? OK. Try this lesson. Mindsets can change how this haunting pickle plays out. Who leads by actions? Who compartmentalizes, as one character suggests? That’s all well and good if the characters stir that empathy within the viewer. In Old, they don’t. As soon as the therapist among them exasperates the attempted pause button of “maybe we should all talk about what happened,” the scoffs for the dumbfounded results are confirmed.    

Old assembles an eclectic cast of very talented performers who, thanks to Shyamalan’s continued inelegance with writing dialogue (an age-old problem), are given little of consequence to build with. The best they are called to muster, no, scratch that, queued to capture, are agape stares and partial screams of frozen fright. The utter helplessness matching this deadly scenario that should elicit absolute carnal madness could not look more boring and squelched.

That is a shameful waste of talent when you consider the top-lining presence of Vicky Krieps from Phantom Thread and the always-passionate Gael Garcia Bernal. Patriot Day’s Alex Wolff, Jojo Rabbit’s Thomasin McKenzie, and Babyteeth discovery Eliza Scanlen come the closest to reaching a tangible level of frazzle playing the teen/twentysomething ages of the growing children. They legitimately wig out, so to speak, and we buy their underlying childlike fear. They rest, sadly, mope more than unravel. Even the special makeup from Freaky effects designer Tony Gardner and the weak score from Trevor Gureckis of The Goldfinch are unconvincing for a boost of tone and true dread.

Beyond them, the ensemble is arranged as the stock stereotypes they represent. Rufus Sewell is a professional movie villain where his heel turn is immediately predictable from the moment he furrows his brow and opens his mouth. The actresses playing vapid hot girls (Abbey Lee Kershaw and Francesca Eastwood) end up exactly that. Ken Leung has played the quick-witted thinker side character before and does so again. Gosh, if anything, give a pragmatic character like Leung’s the lead. Why not? Because their logic would destroy the inanity of the plot and we can’t have that prevent the coveted body count and celebratory rug-pull.

No one in Old, even within this quickened sense of a narrative, has an arc of any substance fleshed out to explore. Their randomness only serves the movie’s denouement, a filmmaker-created amendment tacked on that will make original Sandcastle graphic novel readers revolt enough to throw eggs and tomatoes at the screen. Of course there’s a twist on the nefariousness of it all, because, as proven for decades now, that’s all Shyamalan’s got. We’ve reached a point where his nonsensical twists are contrivances, not payoffs. The big “why” goes from being about what’s in the movie to why we’re even here in the first place.

This is Shyamalan’s second ever adaptation, following the disastrous The Last Airbender, and he has smeared another one. The predicament of the setting and the possibility of unseen puppeteer strings are given more mysterious investment than the people at the core. That has very limited appeal. At some point, someone, more than something, has to matter.

LESSON #3: LET’S DO WHAT NATURE WANTS US TO DO-- That line is the cleansing holy water being solicited by Old. The accelerated mortality of Sandcastles is a tantalizing mindfuck place to muse on life, death, aging, and grief. Old veers from that power thanks to Shymalan’s indulgences. You know what nature wants me to do? Ignore the urges and spend my two-hour segments of life doing better things than chasing this man’s ruses. If you want a better take on the arresting nature of life and death, I’ve got an 8-minute short film from 2016 named Endless Waltz from Hollywood grip Zachary Richadson that runs thematic circles around Old’s hopscotching while dancing its own way in a straight, artful line. 

LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#980)

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MOVIE REVIEW: Joe Bell

Image courtesy of Roadside Attractions

JOE BELL-- 2 STARS

There’s a soul-baring and detrimental dialogue exchange in Joe Bell between a husband and wife played by Mark Wahlberg and Connie Britton that epitomizes the chief flaw of the movie itself. Wahlberg’s title character is asked whether he’s doing his cross-country walk for awareness or forgiveness. His answer reveals his, the movie’s, and the actor’s misshapen perspective.

Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green (Monsters and Men, the upcoming King Richard) and based on actual events written by Brokeback Mountain Oscar winners Diana Ossana and the late Larry McMurty, there’s a fair story to share here. The real Joe Bell dropped everything after the suicide of his gay teenage son Jadin to walk from Idaho to his son’s dream destination of New York City with the goal of talking with any audience along the way about the damages caused by bullying. There is, undoubtedly, benevolent intent present, both in the man and the movie seeking to chronicle his 2013 journey.

Wahlberg plays Joe, a bearded blue collar father of two. Built with a surly temper fueled by impatience and warped righteousness, Joe has uncomfortably come to terms with his oldest son (excellent newcomer Reid Miller) coming out as gay. At school, Jadin is part of the cheerleading squad and has gained a small group of supporters. Unfortunately, his existence and standing has drawn greater malicious ire from the jock country boy stereotypes you would expect to target and berate those different from them.

LESSON #1: PRESENTING THE OBVIOUS-- When Jadin’s parents bring the incidents to the school principal, the administrator suggests Jadin get counseling. It takes the smarter-than-the-room teen to quickly retort that it's the attackers who need it, not him. That’s ringing the bell alright. In a later conversation along the same lines, Connie Britton’s Lola answers Joe’s question of “Everybody’s against bullying, ain’t they?” with the almost instant answer of “No, or this wouldn’t have happened.” Joe Bell rightfully calls out this systemic issue of bullying that has many facets. Admirable and true, no one movie or single man’s march can hope to encompass all that.

LESSON #2: BEING A MAN IS MORE THAN PHYSICAL TOUGHNESS-- Echoing another presentation of the obvious and true to the misplaced norms of competition and domination, Joe’s first reaction to his son telling him about the abuse he’s receiving to question why he doesn’t fight back “like I taught you.” This feels like another measure of simple plainness. Principles, even the ones that beget calmer traits within men, are stronger than fists because they are truer and more formative. It takes Jadin for Joe to see that kind of mold of a man.

LESSON #3: TALKING TOLERANCE TO THE IGNORANT-- Joe’s answer to all of this and the loss it created is to voice his conflict with others. Needless to say, this gruff sermonizer is not the most engaging keynote speaker. Greater than the mouthpiece, who is actively listening to his message and needs to hear it? Who isn’t and who doesn’t? Joe Bell becomes the uphill battle of rattling tangible change in the “pay them no mind” hypocrite crowd that won’t listen in the first place. Tolerance is not something that cross-section is open to, meaning the movie too isn’t going to be fully heard, even if the mountainous terrain captured by cinematographer Jacques Jouffret (Bloodshot, Mile 22) give this mobile pulpit an inviting and heavenly canvas.

LESSON #4: PERSONAL PENANCE-- Joe knows this deafness because he was one of them. His wrongful actions expose a complicity with every vision, rehashed memory, and spiritual step with his departed son. How does one erase or correct that? That’s the dramatic rub of Joe Bell that circles all the way back to the questioned goals of awareness versus forgiveness. The last-mentioned weight is the stronger of the two, which shows this movie’s veered compass. Again, internally and externally, the question is asked of who this is for?

On the positive side, this is a direct reminder, at least to this writer, that underneath the many historical and heroic gloryhound roles he scores, Mark Wahlberg can slow down and act. Initially, playing a hardass having his nose rubbed in his wrongs in an attempt to soften hardness is zero stretch for the Bostonian. In Joe Bell, the fatherly guilt on blast, especially when piped through Mark’s masculine speakers and that drama plays out heartily. Quite frankly, it would be awfully nice to see the now-50-year-old Hollywood star continue to play his age and shrink the bulletproof aura. 

That said, it's still a stolen spotlight. Joe Bell deserved to be a catapulting performance for Reid Miller. His scenes immersed in pain and persecution are difficult, yet affecting in their empathy. It’s all too much about his father, even when those around Joe in the movie let him know that very fact. That late-breaking revelation evokes the rightful change and compounded tragedy observed in Joe Bell, but it is all insular and Green’s film cannot shake that slant. True attention was deserved for Jadin Bell more than the allegorical asides he and Reid fill.

Much of Joe Bell has the pungent trace of an unglamourous “glamour project” for Mark Wahlberg and likely a few of the film’s manly executive producer backers including Jake Gyllenhaal, NFL Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks, and former NBA All-Star Michael Finley to name a few. Projecting for sure, this movie feels like a place where the A-lister is trying to put forth marketed atonement for his own past bigotry. When all of this movie adds up to be about him, the genuineness aligns to the wrong place.

LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#979)

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GUEST COLUMN: Actors Who Transformed Their Bodies For Their Roles

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Actors Who Transformed Their Bodies For Their Roles

by Kevin Gardner

Most actors sink deep into their characters to appear more convincing on screen, but some go to extreme lengths to transform their bodies for a role. Rapidly losing or gaining weight isn’t a recommended activity for anyone, but actors have a high-paid team of personal trainers, dieticians and medical experts to monitor their progress and offer assistance. Even with a group of experts, you’re risking your health when you participate in unusual diets. However, most professional actors accept the risks and are happy with the results. You can examine a few actors who transformed their bodies for a role in the following paragraphs.

Robert De Niro in Raging Bull

Martin Scorsese’s 1980 film Raging Bull had one of the most impressive transformations from any actor. Rober De Niro plays the boxer, Jake LaMotta, with a level of realism that impressed the actual Jake LaMotta. De Niro sculpted his frame into a professional fighter by training frequently with Jake LaMotta for over a year. He fought in three exhibition matches and won two. To portray LaMotta when he’s older and out of shape, De Niro went on a four-month eating tour of western Europe to put on 70 pounds. The hefty De Niro is almost unrecognizable in the last twenty minutes of the film. If you would like to transform your body, you can check out thrive reviews for a critique on a popular health and wellness product.

Robert De Niro in Cape Fear

In 1991, De Niro hit the gym again for his role as the ex-convict psychopath, Max Cady in Cape Fear. He spent five hours a night working out when the filming began and convinced the director to wait until the last days of shooting to film him shirtless. He wanted his muscles to look impressive, and he didn’t disappoint audiences who gasped when they saw De Niro’s muscular body covered with menacing tattoos. De Niro wasn’t satisfied with working out and slicking back his hair to play a convicted rapist. He went a lot further when he paid several thousand dollars to a dentist to file down his teeth. After filming, he had to pay the dentist four times as much to repair the damage. The film was a spectacular success, and De Niro was nominated for an Oscar for his efforts.

Christan Bale in The Machinist

After getting in shape for his American Psycho role, Christian Bale switched directions and went on a risky diet to star in 2005’s The Machinist. He lost over 55 pounds to portray a troubled insomniac who had not slept in a year. His skeletal figure is a disturbing sight to see on the screen. His face is pale and hollowed out, and his ribcage pokes through his skin grotesquely. To achieve this frightening look, Bale went on a strict diet of an apple, a can of tuna and a cup of coffee each day. He admitted several years later that the diet was dangerous, and as an older actor, he wasn't interested in risking his health for a role.

Charlize Theron In Monster

To play the serial killer/prostitute Aileen Wuornos in 2003’s Monster, Charlize Theron put on 30 pounds and wore loads of prosthetic skin to change her complexion. As a model and actor, Theron had always kept in shape and maintained an athletic lifestyle. When she prepared for her role as Wuornos, she stopped exercising and happily ate sweets to bulk up. Her performance paid off, and she took home an Oscar and a Golden Globe.

Joaquin Phoenix in Joker

For his role as the demented failed comedian, Joaquin Phoenix lost 52 pounds. His weight loss was supervised by the same doctor who helped him lose weight for The Master, but Phoenix admitted that the process was arduous on his body and mind. He had problems walking upstairs in his condition and struggled to hold onto his sanity during the process. He was rewarded for his performance with an Oscar.

As you’ve seen, actors can transform their bodies quickly to perform a coveted role, but the risky diets and tooth filing should be left to the professionals.

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GUEST EDITORIAL: Do Actors Eat Real Food in Movies?

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Do Actors Eat Real Food in Movies?

by Kevin Gardner

When food is displayed in movies, it often makes your mouth water and signals your brain to browse the kitchen for snacks. Set designers and culinary artists spend countless hours creating food scenes. For large productions, filmmakers may spend several thousand dollars on culinary props and professional chefs. Although much of the food you see on screen is real, some of it is unsuitable for human consumption. Real food does not always appear appetizing on film, and artists use various techniques to improve the food’s look when filming under bright lights. You can examine how Hollywood filmmakers present food in film and how actors handle eating scenes in their movies.

Chewing and Not Eating

Dining scenes in films can accelerate your hunger like the Italian meals in Big Night or leave you disgusted like the mashed potato scene in Animal House. Shooting a scene of an actor eating can take several hours or even all day if several people are eating. Production companies rely heavily on restaurant supply companies to give their kitchen and dining rooms a realistic look. Actors eat real food in the scenes, but they’re not swallowing every bite. Since multiple takes are required to get the scene just right, actors spit the food into a bucket between takes. If they consumed every bite, the actors’ waistlines would suffer, and Hollywood would look much different.

For short scenes that don’t require several takes, the actor eats and swallows the meal and sometimes shares the leftovers with the crew. It may seem strange that film crews spend so much time filming something that shouldn’t be complicated, but filmmakers are obsessed with perfection. If an actor’s eating habits aren’t convincing, another take is ordered and the scene is repeated.

Lighting and Temperature

In accordance with federal and state laws, the food consumed by actors and staff members must be real. However, the food in the background that isn’t eaten is often fake. Food props are inedible but look delicious and inviting on film. Props hold up better and look more appealing than real food because they’re not affected by the temperature and bright lights in the studio. Perishable food takes on a less appetizing look when it’s sitting under intense floodlights in a steamy Hollywood set.

When real food is used in the background, the crew must replace it frequently to maintain its appearance. For instance, a scene with ice cream in the background requires several replacements to prevent the food from melting during a long shoot.

Fake Food Artists

Although filmmakers use chefs and culinary experts to develop and film an eating scene, they also employ food artists to highlight the food and improve its film appearance. Artists use photographs or videos of authentic dishes to recreate the food on film. Most imitation food is constructed with foam or rubber, and later, it’s painted to bring out the details. Foam is similar to bread and cake dough because it rises, and artists frequently make cakes and bread from the inedible substance.

Brad Pitt’s Eating Skills

You may have come across online articles that focus on Brad Pitt’s eating scenes in his films. Although many actors have eaten on film since the dawn of Hollywood, the media and Pitt’s fans seem obsessed with his eating skills. Some fans have compiled all his eating scenes into super clips to highlight their obsessions. Why is there so much attention focused on Pitt’s eating? Pitt claims he likes having something to do in a scene, but some suggest fans enjoy watching a handsome actor who’s very convincing at looking like he’s eating.

Movie Food For Consumers

The food shown in films can produce strong reactions by the audience, and sometimes, the fake food becomes so popular that it becomes real. If you liked the unusual Pepsi bottles in Back to the Future Part II, you could buy a bottle of Pepsi Perfect in 2015 to celebrate a scene when Marty travels to the same year.

Watching a scene of your favorite actor eating can activate your taste buds, but you may not want to sample the food in the background.

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GUEST EDITORIAL: Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice: The Real Way Movie Theatres Make a Profit

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Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice: The Real Way Movie Theatres Make a Profit

by Lewis Robinson

Everyone loves going to the movies! Even in the midst of a booming digital age when you can watch pretty much anything you want on your phone, people still throng to the movie theatre. Why? There are a lot of complicated psychological explanations for this behavior, but basically, people want a group event. Human beings are communal creatures after all. Your local movie theatre is in no danger of going out of business. People will always want to share the opening of the next big blockbuster with a crowd. But if you think all those ticket sales are what translates to big money for a theatre, you'd be wrong. Here are some surprising insights into how a movie theatre makes a profit.

Ticket Sales

Do the theatres make money on ticket sales? Sure they do. But not as much as you might think. Movie theatres have to pay a distributor a percentage of their ticket sales. What's the percentage? Well, that depends. The longer a movie plays at a theatre, the larger percentage of the ticket sales the theatre makes. That percentage starts off surprisingly low, usually around 20%. That's right, the distributor takes as much as 80% of the ticket sales! If a movie is really good and sticks around at the theatre for an extended period of time, the theatre can eventually work itself up to around a 50% cut of the ticket sales. 

On the other hand, ticket sales are probably the easiest money that the movie theatre can make. The studios and distributors make movie promotions that run on TV and online. From the theatre's point of view, the movies sell themselves. No need for a complicated sales management strategy here. So the profit may not be huge, but it is pretty effortless.

Trailers and Advertising

Another stream of income for a movie theatre is the trailers they show prior to the main event. Studios bear the expense of making the trailers, and they pay the theatres to show them. It's passive income for the theatres, which explains why you now have to sit through 20 minutes of trailers before you get to watch the movie you came to see. It's also the reason why movie theatres routinely advertise that their movies are going to start at least 15 to 20 minutes earlier than they actually do. Theatres are paid for the trailers based on the number of people they can prove were in the room to watch them, so the earlier they can get you in your seat the more money they make.

Concessions

This is it, the golden ticket! Some theatres report that they make nearly 80% of their profit off of the sale of candy, snacks and drinks. These items cost only pennies when purchased in bulk, and the theatres price them well above value. That spells out a major stream of income for the movie theatre. 

This is where a theatre will employ a sales strategy. It is no accident that you must walk directly through the lobby to get to your movie, or why you usually have to go back through the lobby to use the restroom. There's a reason why the lobby is literally filled with the delicious smell of hot buttered popcorn; there are fans pumping that aroma right at you.

The fact that all the food at the theatre is mega-sized has a strategy behind it as well. You can almost justify spending seven bucks on a soda when it's the size of a bucket. The larger sizes don't cost the theatre that much more and they entice customers to buy. To make the cost of candy more palatable, theatres package them in super-sized boxes as well; but, on average, the movie theatre packages hold about the same amount as the smaller packages at the store.

People are not going to stop going to the movies no matter how much the concessions cost or how long the previews run. It's just too much fun! But maybe you can be a little more comfortable with being a few minutes late. And it wouldn't hurt to have a snack before you go.

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MOVIE REVIEW: Long Story Short

Image courtesy of Saban Films

LONG STORY SHORT— 4 STARS

Rafe Spall’s Teddy shares a lovely line to his best girl Leanne, played by Zahra Newman, towards the beginning of Long Story Short. He says “I love you more than I did yesterday and not as much as I will tomorrow.” I adore that line. It speaks with such intentional optimism. If only we all lived our lives as honestly and as purposefully as that little mantra. If you see sweetness in that gracious sentiment, there’s much more where that came from in the romance at the center of this little Aussie VOD gem written and directed by actor Josh Lawson. 

Shot in the vibrant beachfront fringes of Sydney, Teddy and Leanne met by accident in a “meet cute” composed of a juggled mistaken identity situation, an EpiPen, and a New Year’s Eve countdown kiss. Old school animated credits by Substance and Babekuhl whisk us towards this couple’s wedding, a day that didn’t feel likely with the chronic feet-dragging of Teddy. After a blissful day, here comes the swerve. 

Stemming from an oddly prophetic conversation with an older stranger (the award-winning Noni Hazlehurst) at a cemetery, Teddy awakes from his wedding night an entire year later on his first anniversary. Everything around him has suddenly and subtly changed. Unlike everyone else, he has no memories of anything that has transpired in the past year. Wildly confused, the beginning grief of Teddy’s wigging out begins with one of the simplest marital duties. 

LESSON #1: ALWAYS REMEMBER YOUR ANNIVERSARY-- To Teddy, it’s been one night, mere hours. To Leanne, it’s been 365 days and here’s her husband forgetting their anniversary. Folks, always remember your anniversary. While you’re at it, plan ahead and coordinate the traditional gift matching each anniversary theme. Here’s a handy reference. This begins one of Long Story Short’s teachable moments of personal responsibility where no one is to blame for your life but you.

Before you know it, after a few minutes, the scene blurs and it’s another year and another anniversary. This time, Leanne is pregnant with their first child. The frazzled and forgetful hot water Teddy finds him in only rises higher. In a slurry of Dickens, Wilde, and Capra-esque themes, the man is hopelessly seeing his life sped up with no control of the in-between moments. Years continue to pass as his friendly, romantic, and familial relationships rapidly evolve and devolve.

Long Story Short is a phenomenal showcase for Rafe Spall. Most have likely only seen the actor in the minor roles he’s been saddled with in underperforming high-profile films (Prometheus, Life of Pi, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Men in Black International, The Big Short, and The BFG). Too often, he’s asked to play the sniffling Brit and caddish villain. It’s a sheer delight to see him play a loose and affable lead. He nails the constricting exasperation and redemption-worthy defeat that consumes Teddy. 

Next to him, TV actress Zahra Newman comports herself very well as a paragon of the follow-through on the optimism the main character is missing. She plays off Spall’s frantic behavior with confidence, becoming the strongest roots of the movie’s grip. The emerging Ronny Chieng (Crazy Rich Asians and the upcoming Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) is also a very buoyant presence. What begins as the requisite best friend pigeon hole becomes an essential branch for our protagonist’s character changes, and Chieng brings welcome joviality.

LESSON #2: PLAYING AGAINST THE EXPRESSION “LONG STORY SHORT”-- Long Story Short is a nifty and self-aware title for Mortal Kombat star Josh Lawson’s second writing and directing feature effort. We’ve all used the expression, which stresses leaving out “skipping extraneous or unnecessary details and getting to the point.” Each of us are jerked through many moments of life to either not waste time or to make time. This increasingly poignant movie, and the good parts of life we all know and love, beg for the latter. Such is a worthy takeaway.

LESSON #3: THERE NEVER SEEMS TO BE ENOUGH TIME-- What can be spoken as an excuse can also be said as a personal platitude of advance warning. When characters ask him “what is it with you and later,” he genuinely doesn’t have a good answer, and that’s the habit he, and likely us, must change. Life is tumultuous enough at regular speed, let alone what Teddy is experiencing. You cannot help but put yourself in his position, through both laughs and tears, and measure your own life and its trappings. Long Story Short, with more realistic disharmony than easily-attained successes, is an exercise for all of us to watch and act on that same reminder of life’s shortness and finality.

LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#978)

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