REVIEWS - Cinema Crespodiso

Review: ‘Night Moves’

Not to be confused with the 1975 Gene Hackman-starring murder mystery of the same name, “Night Moves” is the story of three idealistic environmentalists who decide that they need to make a grand statement to the world by destroying a hydroelectric dam, hence really sticking it to The Man through an act of eco-terrorism. But of course the story is about much more than just that one act, or even the particular reasons for committing said act. Instead this is a story about the characters who perpetuate this act, and what it means to them in a more existential way, as well as what the act does to them in a physical, worldly consequences kind of manner.

Josh (Jesse Eisenberg) and Dena (Dakota Fanning) are young hippie-ish folks living in the Pacific Northwest, Oregon specifically, and they seem to really care about the environment and the world they live in. They even go to private screenings of what appear to be homemade documentaries about how the Mother Earth is being destroyed by humans, projected on a poorly hung white sheet and watched by a group of dirty stoners who react to the movie with cynicism and cries of “what are we expected to do?” But while Dena sits front row and seems to take in the message of the documentary, Josh hangs back and rolls his eyes at the lack of answers and obstinate nature of the crowd. He’s obviously over these get togethers and the rhetoric. He desires action.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘Maleficent’

In Disney’s “Maleficent,” the world finally gets a chance to hear and see the story that no one wanted to know, the back story of the evil fairy witch lady from the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale. You know that one, right? We all know it. The young princess gets cursed by some mean old bitch to fall into an eternal sleep by her 16th birthday through the pricking of her finger on a loom, and she can only be saved by a kiss of true love. And when we all heard this story when we were kids, that’s the thing that we wondered about, right? Why did she do this whole cursing thing? Who is this lady? What makes her tick? Well step right up for answers.

Review: ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’

“A Million Ways to Die in the West” is a long title for a movie that should just be called “Seth MacFarlane Slapstick Romantic Comedy Western.” I guess that’s pretty long too. How about “New Timey Jokes in Old Timey West?” Nope that one stinks too. “Old West Gross Out?” “A Million Jokes Die in the West?” “Sophomore Slump?” Eh. I guess the original title is okay enough.

So in “A Million Ways to Die in the West,” writer/director Seth MacFarlane plays Albert, a sheep farmer living just outside of a small town called Old Stump, and the movie starts with him weaseling his way out of a gunfight and then losing his girlfriend (Amanda Seyfried) to the local successful businessman stereotype (Neil Patrick Harris), so he’s down in the dumps when he meets Anna (Charlize Theron), a foxy stranger who befriends Albert and tries to help him turn things around. Little does Albert know that Anna is actually the wife of a feared gunfighter (Liam Neeson) and that is going to be a problem for Albert.

And the crux of the movie is Albert’s lack of self confidence and abundance of self doubt and how he gradually tips those scales in the opposite direction, again thanks to the help of super foxy Anna. So even though this is a comedy with some gross out gags and over the top humor, there is a surprising amount of tears shed in this thing by different characters, as they tried to get actual emotions and character development in there between the jokes about uncontrollable diarrhea and sloppy prostitutes.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘Chef’

“Chef” is Jon Favreau’s answer to the corporate-backed, big budgeted, special effects laden behemoth blockbusters which seem to choke the multiplexes every summer, a couple of which he had his own hand in creating. But like many artists he longed to get back to his more humble roots in order to express more creative and artistic freedom and he was able to do so with this movie about a renowned chef who gets his own second chance at being happy with his work.

In “Chef,” Favreau plays Carl Casper, a chef who made a splash in his younger days with some daring food but who has hit a rut in his later years, having worked in the same restaurant making the same food for the same pain in the ass owner (Dustin Hoffman) for too many years, and when he tries to change the menu and do something a little different and daring, he gets push back from the owner and finds himself out the door.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’

First off, if you are not into the X-Men series of movies or characters, then there is no reason for you to see this movie. Move along now. Go on off to whatever you DO like, whether they be boy wizards or hobbits or men of the Bat or Super persuasions or Meryl Streep movies or vampires or whatever. Because we are now seven movies into this film series (or what is now known as a franchise, you know, like McDonalds and Taco Bells), and “X-Men: Days of Future Past” is thoroughly a movie FOR the fans of the series, for the people that are interested in the furthering adventures of Professor X, Magneto, Wolverine and all of their mutant buddies. And most of those fans should be very happy with what they have been given.

For the uninitiated (for we ARE initiated), the X-Men comic book series (and subsequent movies, television shows, video games, etc.) has long been an allegory for the Fear of The Other, as many of their story lines revolve around the humans’ mistrust of the mutants, and the mutants having to live in hiding, or else having to decide whether to fight back or to show that they can be peaceful and co-habit the world with humans, and you can easily replace the word mutant with black or female or gay or Jewish or any other group of people who have felt the sting of prejudice and persecution in this world, all because of The Fear, and boom you have the crux of the X-Men series and what makes it special among all the other comic book related bloat and bluster.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘Only Lovers Left Alive’

For years now in popular culture the vampire has been depicted in what really can only be described as “campy,” or at the very least largely non-threatening. Whether we are talking about brooding, love starved vampires with diamond skin or vampires engaged in a centuries-old sewer-set gun fight with werewolves or vampires who simply lost their shirts (as well as the mere concept of shirts), the one thing we haven’t seen lately is the idea of vampires in the real world, going about their lives, doing “normal” things like using iPhones and watching YouTube and listening to and creating music. In Jim Jarmusch’s “Only Lovers Left Alive,” this is exactly what we get, otherworldly beings in a real world setting, and we get to see how the deal with the pesky things known as people and the annoying burden on them that is known as life.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘Godzilla’

After a worldwide decade-long hiatus, the most bad ass 60-year old on the planet has reemerged to assert his dominance as the King of All Monsters, here to wipe out bad memories of horrible 1990’s CG-lizards, Matthew Broderick, and decades of men in cheap rubber suits stumbling through cities made of cardboard. Building on the terror of the 1954 original, “Godzilla” is a movie devoid of camp and silliness, an A-movie treatment to a B-movie concept, and it all works great.

The movie starts with a fun opening credit sequence showing old-timey footage from the 1950’s of some A-bomb tests that were actually attempts to kill Godzilla back in the day. And after this sequence, we don’t see Godzilla again until about halfway through the movie, as we get a nice, slow build to the reveal of the giant monster in his full glory. But don’t worry, that doesn’t mean nothing happens for the first half of the movie; on the contrary, we get to see the awe-inspiring and fear-inducing destruction caused by a pair of giant monsters that the military dubs “MUTOs” (standing for Massive Unknown Terrestrial Organism), and this is pretty smart by the the filmmakers, because instead of just breaking out some old monsters, they came up with their own designs for new ones, and found a way to have their characters come up with a name for these monsters that simultaneously sounds like a name of a monster from the old Toho movies but also sounds like a very plausible acronym that could actually be used by the military in a situation like this.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘Neighbors’

“Neighbors” is a comedy about a young family being subjugated to the horror that is living next door to a college frat house, and how the young family struggles to stay young, while the frat bros struggle with being fratty and what they need to do next with their lives. Plenty of dick jokes abound throughout, but it is tempered quite well with character arcs and emotional story beats, and it all blends together for a fun, funny and still somewhat touching movie.

The movie starts with married couple Mac and Kelly (Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne) trying to have “spontaneous” sex in their new home. What makes this such a feat for the two of them is the fact that it is happening while they have a precious little baby girl, and not only is this happening shortly after the birth (since the kid can’t even stumble around yet on its own) but with the kid in the room, watching them. How can people have fun, spontaneous sex while also debating whether or not their infant child can understand that they are having sex or if she only sees shapes?

And while this scene is obviously meant to be a funny joke, it also importantly sets up a main theme of the movie, which is how this couple wants to stay young and vibrant like they were when they met in college, as opposed to the old, boring fogies they are threatening to become. Later on we see them climb into bed to go to sleep and they have to put in sleep apnea mouth guards and shit, and they try to kiss each other goodnight and it is just ridiculous. They don’t want to admit it, but they’re all grown up, their relationship has arrived at a very comfortable place, and they can’t hang with the kids anymore.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’

It is ridiculous that it has taken so long for me to put together this write up for “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” but the truth is that my feelings for this film are a little more complicated than they should be. We’re talking about a movie about a man with spider-like super powers fighting crime in New York City while wearing spandex, after all. Why should this be difficult? It’s a pass-fail kind of thing, is it not? Was I not entertained? Isn’t that enough?

And for some good chunks of time, “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” is indeed quite entertaining, with the occasional action scenes that actually reach the heights of thrilling. Throw in the mix some solid acting from likable, reliable actors, as well as some downright gorgeous cinematography and a handful of most excellent compositions (obviously going for the “still panel or comic book cover come to life” look and just NAILING it) and you have the ingredients for what should be a good, nay, GREAT movie. And yet, despite all these things, there is something off about this movie, some things were done in a way that just robs it of emotional weight, and without that, we end up with something great looking, yes, but also a little rotten on the inside. Like a supermodel.

(I apologize to any supermodels reading this [who am I kidding, what fucking supermodel is trolling the interwebs for reviews of Spider-Man movies?)Continue Reading …

Review: ‘Joe’

“Joe” is a very interesting character-based Southern drama from David Gordon Green; specifically the David Gordon Green that made movies like “All The Real Girls” and “Undertow” and “Snow Angels” and “Prince Avalanche” as opposed to the David Gordon Green known for the more mainstream “Pineapple Express” and “Your Highness.” We got a moody, atmospheric, heady film, concerned much more with character development and emotional arcs as opposed to mugging for guffaws and weed jokes and dick jokes and such. So actually I guess it depends on which mode of DGG you prefer, though there’s nothing wrong with liking both. I like both.

But “Joe” is certainly the former, a story about an ex-con (Nic Cage) who runs a possibly illegal crew of tree-killers, paid to pave the way for some developers, and the 15-year old drifter kid he takes under his wing and who might actually be able to help give Joe a second chance on life.

This kid, by the way, named Gary, is played by a dude named Tye Sheridan, and he’s putting together a helluva filmography so far, with this being his third movie after “The Tree of Life” and “Mud.” Now there’s a connection there between the three movies, with David Gordon Green being a friend and collaborator of “Mud” director Jeff Nichols on Nichols’ first movie “Shotgun Stories,” and both Nichols and Green being obvious admirers of the work of “The Tree of Life” director Terrence Malick and also with Green and Malick becoming friends and collaborators themselves with “Undertow.” So it all comes back around, these great American filmmakers of different generations.Continue Reading …

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