MOVIE REVIEW: Suburbicon

Posted on by Aaron White.

Suburbicon (2017)


Going In

Written by Joel and Ethan Coen. Directed by George Clooney. Starring Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, and Oscar Isaac. The truth is that I didn’t even need to know the plot to become interested in this film. Despite hearing the word “mediocre” thrown around, I find it difficult to believe that this group of supremely talented artists won’t provide an entertaining time at the movies. From the look of its trailers, Suburbicon appears to be mostly dark comedy, and though I greatly prefer the Coens’ strictly dramatic work over their more comedic efforts, every time I see a white-collar Matt Damon losing his mind and taking on organized crime it makes me grin. I’m holding out hope that there is something of substance that will elevate this beyond just satire.


COMING OUT

Suburbicon is wild. The Coens’ signature dark comedic touch is all over this, and its trailers, come to find out, have been a bit of a misdirection. At first glance you’d think the city of Suburbicon was a clone of Pleasantville. It doesn’t take long for that idea to be blown out of the water, though, as we learn that Suburbicon residents are quite fond of their community demographics and not very accepting of change. The surprises come pretty quickly and the setup for the main plot is intriguing. In fact, if this movie had been more of a straight-forward thriller it could have worked well.

Unfortunately, Suburbicon has no idea what kind of film it is. There are two stories taking place at once and they do not coexist well. Cuts between the two result in an odd tonal shift and the satirical nature of main plot doesn’t mesh with what’s going on in the secondary one. If the movie is trying to say something important, it fails at making that clear. Suburbicon does feature moments of genuine humor and that slick Coen Bros. writing that we know and love so well. In particular, the brief time that Oscar Isaac is on screen stands out. His charisma plays perfectly in the role this film calls for. I also rather enjoyed the twists and turns the story takes, and I probably would have responded positively to the ending if it hadn’t been ruined for me by the trailer. Why they chose to show us something in the trailer that would tip us off to the exact ending of the film 15 minutes before it happens is extremely frustrating. Maybe the studio just counts on us all having very bad memories? Regardless, it was a major mistake that negatively affected my viewing and response to the end.

Verdict

The trailer for Suburbicon, sans extra story-line that didn’t fit in, is a tighter film than the finished product. Despite an incredible amount of star power attached to this project, it simply tries to be too many things at once and the result is a frustrating, confused mess. It’s not all bad, and sections of it show flashes of what could have been, but the finished (I use that word loosely) product is just not something worthy of being recommended.

Rating:

Aaron White is a Seattle-based film critic and co-creator/co-host of the Feelin’ Film Podcast. He is also a member of the Seattle Film Critics Society. He writes reviews with a focus on how his expectations influenced his experience. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter to be notified when new content is posted.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Snowman

Posted on by Jeremy Calcara.

The Snowman (2017)


When one reads the reviews of film critics, chances are that you’ll notice they tend to talk about a film for a bit before getting into what they actually thought about the movie itself. I assume this is because they want people to scroll through the whole thing, maximizing your exposure to their advertisers, so they bury the lede. I’m not a film critic, I’m just a guy who sees a lot of movies, so I don’t really know about all that. What I do know is that The Snowman sucks. It sucks hard.

I should probably tell you about the plot, even though I don’t really want to. Basically someone is killing women and putting their heads on snowmen. Michael Fassbender plays Harry Hole (yes, Harry Hole), a drunk detective who teams up with his new co-worker (Rebecca Ferguson) to solve these murders. At the same time, Fassbender is trying to be a father figure to his ex-girlfriend’s son while Ferguson is secretly working hunches of her own on the case due to a connection with where she’s originally from. If I had to find something good to say, I’d commend Fassbender and Ferguson for being as good as you’d expect them to be. The film isn’t terrible because they mailed it in, that’s for sure. Oh, and Val Kilmer shows up for a few minutes, or at least someone who is wearing Val Kilmer’s face. It’s hard to tell, really. To say much more would be to spoil it I suppose, although I’d argue that if the choices are paying to see the film and my spoiling it for you, spoiling it would be the more humane way out. Everything about it was mind-bogglingly stupid. There are several characters that exist exclusively to be suspects, but then the way they’re made to look shady is so heavy handed that no 4 year old child who has ever seen an episode of Blue’s Clues would even entertain the notion that they actually did it. There’s no suspense or intrigue at all. The director, Tomas Alfredson, who has come out and said that 15% of the script wasn’t filmed due to rushed production, compared the finished product to a puzzle that has a few pieces missing. But it would be ridiculous to call this a puzzle. A puzzle builds on itself until all of the pieces working together start to tell a composed picture. This movie doesn’t even come close to demanding any problem solving ability on the part of its audience and it doesn’t build to anything resembling a composed picture. It’s a complete and total mess.

Listen, I don’t want to tell you what to do or how to live your life. You have to make your own decisions. But if you have a couple of hours carved out to go to the movies this weekend, I’d suggest going to something else. Anything else really. Go see something you’ve already seen. Go see something you’ve already seen that you didn’t even like. Get Jack Frost on demand instead! There really aren’t many types of movies that I enjoy more than thrillers about serial killers. I’m pretty easy to please with this genre. I even like the mediocre ones. The Snowman is just bad. Really, really bad.

Rating:

 

Jeremy Calcara is a contributing member of the Feelin’ Film team. In addition watching as many movies as he can and writing reviews for Feelin’ Film, Jeremy consumes an unhealthy amount of television and writes about it weekly in his Feelin’ TV column.   Follow him on Facebook and Twitter  to be notified when new content is posted.

MOVIE REVIEW: Loving Vincent

Posted on by Aaron White.

Loving Vincent (2017)


Occasionally, cinema will give us a film that pushes the boundaries of what has previously existed, either through technical advancement or unique narrative construction. Loving Vincent is such a film and is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. To simply refer to it as animation would be a disservice because what has been accomplished here is far more special than a single word could describe.

Loving Vincent‘s plot is a murder mystery exploring the curious circumstances around the death of Vincent van Gogh. One year after van Gogh’s death, a postman requests that his son Armand personally deliver van Gogh’s last letter to his brother, Theo. After finding Theo has also died, Armand seeks to complete the task by finding someone to deliver the letter to and in the process begins to question van Gogh’s actions, wondering if his suicide was perhaps a homicide instead. Armand discovers more information about Vincent through present conversations and dramatized memories recounted by those he meets. Ultimately, while the questions raised are intriguing, the manner in which this tale is told is quite lackluster. There are no answers here either, only general speculation from characters with varying perspectives. I’ll admit that I learned a bit about van Gogh’s past and personality, but a 94-minute film shouldn’t feel as long as this one does.

Let’s talk about that animation style, though. The story of Loving Vincent’s creation will likely be what is remembered most and rightfully celebrated. Filmmakers Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman first shot the film in live-action before enlisting a team of 115 painters (the training of some which was partially funded by a Kickstarter campaign) to paint over each of the 65,000 frames in oil paint using van Gogh’s signature style. The result is some of the most dazzling, visually stunning animation you will ever see. The film’s vibrant color palette and textured brushstrokes make you feel as if you’re quite literally living inside of a painting, and the transitions of color in the present to black and white during memories was a great visual touch-point for what time period the story was depicting. It all has such an incredible effect, though, that it sadly at times overshadowed the expository story to the point where I was focusing on the visuals and not paying attention to what was being said.

Verdict

Loving Vincent is a step forward for the filmmaking industry and will certainly spawn new attempts at using these methods. It is a magnificent artistic achievement and it’s disappointing that the narrative’s quality did not match the film’s uniquely spectacular animation. That doesn’t, however, mean it’s not worth seeing. If Loving Vincent is playing near you, make it a point to see this on a theater screen and marvel at the incredible beauty of something that has never been done before.

Rating:

Aaron White is a Seattle-based film critic and co-creator/co-host of the Feelin’ Film Podcast. He is also a member of the Seattle Film Critics Society. He writes reviews with a focus on how his expectations influenced his experience. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter to be notified when new content is posted.

Episode 073: 12 Angry Men

Posted on by thisispatch.

In this episode, we examine a film considered to be a classic but which also has a huge amount of relevance in today’s cultural landscape. Our conversation about the 1957 directorial debut of Sidney Lumet is one we’ve been excited about for quite a while. It is a film that truly does make us feel many different emotions, and connecting with this one was not a problem. We hope you enjoy and would love to hear your thoughts on why 12 Angry Men is special to you.

What We’ve Been Up To – 0:01:31

12 Angry Men Review – 0:16:45

The Connecting Point – 1:09:30

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Intro/Outro Music – “Air Hockey Saloon” by Chris Zabriskie

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Minisode 24: Detroit

Posted on by Aaron White.

(SPOILER-FREE FIRST 17 MINUTES) Don Shanahan (Every Movie Has a Lesson) and Emmanuel Noisette (E-man’s Movie Reviews) join Aaron to discuss Kathryn Bigelow’s intense new film about the 1967 Detroit riots and Algiers Motel incident.

Full Spoiler Review: 0:17:09

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Intro/Outro Music – “Air Hockey Saloon” by Chris Zabriskie

Support us on Patreon & get awesome rewards:

or you can support us through Paypal as well. Select the link below and make your one-time or recurring contribution.

Rate/Review us on iTunes and on your podcast app of choice! It helps bring us exposure so that we can get more people involved in the conversation. Thank you!