IT: Chapter Two (2019)

You can see the IT: Chapter One review HERE.

IT: Chapter Two (2019)

Director: Andy Muschietti

Cast: James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Andy Bean, Bill Skarsgard, Jaeden Martell, Wyatt Oleff, Jack Dylan Grazer, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor

Twenty-seven years after their first encounter with the terrifying Pennywise, the Losers Club have grown up and moved away, until a devastating phone call brings them back. – IMDB

While having some minor issues with IT: Chapter One, it was still a horror movie experience that definitely was pretty good quality. Going into Chapter Two, it had a huge run time of 2 hours 49 minutes which has it running for the longest horror film made (I believe). The question remains as always with long movies of whether it is necessary and whether the execution and pacing will be done well enough to keep it intriguing. There’s no doubt that IT: Chapter Two could be cut shorter and maybe some parts could have been given up to give it a tighter flow but the film in its current state is pretty good. It gives time to the characters and lets each one has their spotlight while also having a decent amount of scares, mostly of the jump scare variety. Is it the scariest film that you will see? Probably not in the same level of horror as the first movie, but it still has some startling moments.

Looking at the execution of the film in general, it does take its time with each of the characters, giving them each their time as their stories both individually and as a group of The Losers Club parallel with their younger selves from 27 years ago. This creates the link of Chapter Two to Chapter One while not repeating too many of the parts. It works as a whole. While the nagging feeling of whether this version would have such a huge potential to be executed in a TV series (like The Haunting of Hill House).

There’s a lot of characters here and as it crosses with its younger counterparts, it seems like there is a lot more issues from the first one that gets its part now. Fact is, the whole concept of Pennywise becomes less of a factor here as his different forms haunts them in different ways instead of seeing the clown himself. Saying that, the moments that Pennywise does show up, Bill Skarsgard still does a great take on this creepy clown and with slightly more dialogue this time around and even getting a moment where his actual face, no make-up is shown. If we look at some of the more prominent characters, there’s always Bill (James McAvoy) and Beverley (Jessica Chastain) and the boy who has a 27 year crush, Ben (Jay Ryan). Its a relief that while there is a part of their story together, it never hangs too much in the balance of the story. However, the focus on friendship here is a key part especially as the united group is the strength against Pennywise. Luckily, between the many very serious characters here, we do have some off-kilter humor which works a lot of the times with Bill Hader’s role as Richie and his constant riff with Eddie (James Ransone) which turns into quite a nice little bromance.

There are a lot more positives here than negatives. The movie itself might not be as scary as the first because some of the scares are quite similar, especially in terms of Pennywise and becomes expected. Its still creepy but then the hallucinations that The Losers Club gets in various segments are mostly good except for one or two which feels a little lesser. There are some real brain scratchers here and it goes down to some loose pieces that are put in for the sake of staying true to the book and possibly giving a link to Chapter One and didn’t quite do much for the movie as a whole. The length is a hurdle here but seeing as many people don’t mind watching Lord of the Rings trilogy in one sitting (which is 9 hours or something) or watching The Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2 as one film (4.5 hours-ish), if we think in those ways, IT Chapter One and Two together is just a little over 5 hours which isn’t too bad. With how the film is structured, it probably might benefit from watching it as one film as a whole.

In the heart to keep this spoiler-free as much as possible, these are my thoughts on IT: Chapter Two!

Double Feature: Southpaw (2015) & Miss Sloane (2016)

Welcome to the next double feature. I rented Southpaw and Miss Sloane on discount on Play Store last month. Two very different films and two very different feelings about it however both heavily reliant on their main character.

Southpaw (2015)

Director: Antoine Fuqua

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker, Rachel McAdams, Oona Lawrence, 50 Cent, Naomie Harris

Boxer Billy Hope turns to trainer Tick Wills to help him get his life back on track after losing his wife in a tragic accident and his daughter to child protection services. – IMDB

If there is one word to describe Southpaw, it would be disappointing. It isn’t particularly a bad film as the performances were great. Rachel McAdams did great for what it was. Jake Gyllenhaal was fantastic and I absolutely love Forest Whitaker who is an underrated actor. The girl who played the daughter was Oona Lawrence and that arc was decent.

However, the flaw lies in the fact that Southpaw is pretty much another Rocky story in many instances and we already had Creed recently that was much more engaging. It didn’t help that Southpaw was a little too dramatic at parts but never made it feel very exciting to watch. Seeing the stellar cast being in this uninspired script truly was a lackluster experience.

Miss Sloane (2016)

Director: John Madden

Cast: Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong, Alison Pill, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Stuhlbarg, John Lithgow, Jake Lacy

In the high-stakes world of political power-brokers, Elizabeth Sloane is the most sought after and formidable lobbyist in D.C. But when taking on the most powerful opponent of her career, she finds winning may come at too high a price. – IMDB

Miss Sloane was a movie that I went in with no idea of what the premise is. I have heard good things about it and I have enjoyed Jessica Chastain. Miss Sloane is such a vibrant character wrapped up in a tough and ruthless shell. She is strong and strategic in all her plans and for all the reasons, it makes us wonder on what she has under her sleeve even in the most desperate of situations but it is what makes her compelling to watch.

Miss Sloane, just as the title implies, is truly based on Jessica Chastain and how she takes on the role and she did an outstanding job. As we navigate through her way of life and the little things, while she isn’t exactly a character you would cheer for because of her lack of ethics and morals in some of her decisions, every part whether planned or not comes into play and that gives full credit for the screenwriters doing a fine job at giving it a good pacing that keeps everything moving and finding a balance to learn just enough about Miss Sloane and keeping enough to make everything make sense and surprise when it falls into place.

While Miss Sloane isn’t typically the movie that I would watch, I’m glad that I did because it was absolutely awesome. Gripping, compelling and full of twists and turns around every corner. This one is a must see.

Have you seen Southpaw and/or Miss Sloane?

The Martian (2015)

Moving right along, up for a few Academy Awards nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor in a Leading Role along with adapted screenplay and production design and more is The Martian.  I had meant to see this in theatres but I believe it landed in a time when I didn’t find much time to go anywhere or do anything other than the normal routine.  Regardless, I came home from a weekend getaway with a friend and decided to start this one up!

Let’s check it out! 🙂

The Martian (2015)

Director: Ridley  Scott

Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Kristin Wiig, Michael Pena, Sean Bean, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong

During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.-IMDB

The Martian is a smart and thrilling action adventure.  Its adapted from a novel by Andy Weir with the same novel. I’m going to be honest that I’m not a huge fan of Matt Damon.  In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen many of his movies and the ones I’ve seen are somewhat forgettable.  The premise of The Martian looked good and one that could amount to some fun and intense moments.  All these expectations were met and exceeded.  Its rare for me to stay engaged in lengthy movies and coming in at 2 hours, I’d say it borders along the length I’m not a huge fan of although most movies are averaging around that sort of runtime nowadays.  However, it never feels like its that long.  Even if he stays on that planet for something like 3 years or whatnot. This has to do mainly with pacing and the tone along with some good performances.

I can’t compare it to the source material but nothing in The Martian ever felt like it was lost in translation.  The story pieced together well.  For one, The Martian is kind of like Cast Away but in space except it shows the other side of the spectrum working hard to bring him home, almost as hard as he is working to stay alive.  Its because of that, our endearing characters go from Matt Damon’s witty attitude towards this as he slowly transforms over the time in Mars by himself to the scientists at NASA working to get him back as soon as possible and to his crew that reluctantly had to leave him behind in the first place.  While this can be dramatic, it also is strewn with comedic moments to mellow out the seriousness of the situation.  In many ways, its the heart of having a positive heart that keeps you going in the first place or just its better to try to work stuff out then to give up. On top of that, the production design was great along with the visual effects.

The cast here is pretty fantastic.  I’m loving that Jeff Daniels is in this one also.  Back to back movies with him is refreshing (the last one was Steve Jobs that I reviewed HERE).  Its also with a very different and much more serious performance from Kristin Wiig which I liked quite a bit.  At the same time, Chiwetel Ejiofor is a fantastic judge of picking decent movies to be involved with and his role in this one is dynamic to say the least.  Jessica Chastain might not feel like she’s in here for a long time and honestly, I didn’t even think her role was that groundbreaking, especially considering the crew also included Sebastian Stan who should get more bigger roles. A young actor Rich Purnell gets the small role of being the astrophysicist who kind of solves all the problems here and I’d truly love to see him in more movies because I loved his part.  But, Matt Damon blew me away.   It was a memorable performance full of energy.  Smart and funny; the latter adjective is something I never quite associated him with before.  Mark Watney is a great character and he did a great job bringing him to life on the big screen.

Overall, The Martian is a fun action-adventure movie.  It carries a good message, adds in some thrills, puts a little space twist, and is smart and comedic all wrapped up in a little bundle.  It works well and is an engaging story.  The cast and their performances were great from Matt Damon to Kristin Wiig to Jeff Daniels and much more.  Is it a Oscars material? Maybe not exactly fitting the normalcy and the format of it but it does have rewatchability and that’s even more important to me. It exceeded my expectations and I love that! 🙂

Did you see The Martian? What did you think of it? Are you a fan of Matt Damon? Any of his roles stand out to you?

Halloween Marathon: Crimson Peak (2015)

Its extremely rare that I head out to the theatres during Halloween season especially for horror movies.  Most of my friends aren’t huge on horror movies so it takes an immense amount of courage to head out to catch one.  But, I’ve missed a few of the must-sees on my movie list this year.  Crimson Peak is one of the later most anticipated movies.  It wasn’t on my original list earlier in the year but its super awesome with a director I admire and a cast that could sweep this thing away.  Its intriguing.  So, I picked up my courage, told myself to be brave and bought a ticket for myself and having a lovely date with myself to the theatres on a Friday night.

I haven’t seen a movie in a downtown theatre in so many years.  I think the last one was Thor 2. When was that released? Regardless, we had a rather chatty bunch.  The two girls sitting 5 seats down to me didn’t exactly master the art of whispering so I heard little psst psst psst sounds between words during the quiet parts of the movie. Then, some joker was in the back making stupid comments in a mocking voice.  The theatre visits, my friends, disappointing 80% of the time. Anyways, enough complaints…

Let’s check it out! 🙂

Crimson Peak (2015)

Director: Guillermo Del Toro

Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam, Jim Beaver, Burn Gorman, Leslie Hope

In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds – and remembers.-IMDB

Right off the bat, Crimson Peak makes us know that this is Guillermo del Toro’s work.  How? The amazing visuals and his ability to instill fear just from a strong opening scene. Crimson Peak is a mesh of genres.  While the trailer wants to believe that its a horror and romance, Rotten Tomatoes and CinemaMontreal categorizes as solely horror and then we have IMDB which lists it as horror, fantasy and drama. Fact is, it is a little of all those things.  There’s romance and it gets dramatic, there’s horror bits scattered but when the mystery eventually breaks out, that is when its not all that horrific anymore. While it does have hints of fairy tale and a good premise behind it, the visuals as top-notch and even the cast and the acting are great but the execution has me holding back from feeling anything more than lukewarm.  Don’t get me wrong.  I got scared and nervous at the scenes where it was meant to put us at the edge of our seats but maybe its the lack of connecting with the characters or feeling like the mystery was mysterious that it made me think, it felt a little anticlimactic to be honest.  The story had laid out the clues so well that when the actual reveal confirmed the story and the twist (because we know there is one always), it didn’t feel that shocking.

Well, that’s my review up there pretty much.  Honestly, there was some awesome directing here. The visuals of the ghosts and the costumes and the settings was great.  The atmosphere worked perfect and the music was absolutely stunning.  There were piano pieces that would pull on a ton of different feelings to accentuate the mood we had to be in. That is the magic of Guillermo del Toro that we know.  He showed those skills in Pan’s Labyrinth and honestly, in a story like this one, it started reminding me of that same brilliance but not really hitting the mark as well as before.   The moment you see the main setting at Allerdale Hall, its literally a rundown mansion.  Every shot makes you shake your head and as a normal person, to refuse to live in there.

As for the cast, there is nothing but good words.  I personally think that Mia Wasikowska is a talented actress especially in these weird mysterious storylines.  I mean, she did Stoker and man, I love that movie.  It was her being in this movie that pushed me to go see this even without seeing the trailer.  However, Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain are both fantastic actors as well.  They carried each of their roles as good as they could.  I know Tom Hiddleston from just being Loki and its sad that I haven’t made my way to watching more of his work.  However, seeing him as a inventor and romantic is a new feeling and one that I think he does quite well. There were some pretty steamy scenes.

The least known for me is Charlie Hunnam in the supporting role.  I know he’s from Sons of Anarchy which I know nothing about except for the gifs hanging around internet boasting how great he looks naked. Oh right, and there is Pacific Rim. So yeah, hard for me to imagine him here playing as a opthamologist that loves to play Sherlock Holmes? I told you. Weird stuff.  But it is always expected when you head into a Guillermo del Toro movie.

Overall, Crimson Peak is an average movie for the fact that it holds too many genres to decide where it wants to go.  While there is a strong cast, sweeping music, stunning visuals and outstanding visuals, it never quite decides where it wants to be and it makes us connect with the characters a little less and feel less involved.  There were parts that ended up feeling slow but when we reached the horror sequences, they were done perfectly.  Even the romance was rather believable.  Except, it didn’t really give us a chance to piece together the story ourselves making the final reveal not much of an impact. However, for its positives which is still rather abundant, Crimson Peak is worth a watch even if its in your living room on Blu-ray. I know that despite all my complaints, I’d watch it again.

Have you seen Crimson Peak? If not, do you intend on checking it out? If yes, did you like it? 

Halloween Marathon: Take Shelter (2011)

Can you believe half of October is already behind us? We just wrapped up more than 2 weeks of Halloween marathon. I’m a little behind schedule so maybe I’ll be popping in some double review days or head into the next weekend with reviews as well. However, we are right on track with Friday the 13th series. If you missed any of them, I’ve updated the Halloween Horror Marathon page up in the menu on top so you can trace back whatever you’ve missed up till now :). If I remember correctly, I’ve reviewed 10 movies so far.  With work picking up steam, its a little harder to find time to watch movies during the week without it heading into some crazy 1 or 2am area (which I try to avoid).  Still, I’ll make this thing work out and I’m ready to go through a bunch of movies this weekend to be prepared for next week!

Are you ready to continue? The next review is Take Shelter.  I’ve grown to praise Michael Shannon especially after seeing The Harvest at Fantasia Film Festival this past summer.  If you missed that review, check it out HERE!  It works well with horror marathon because it is a psychological horror movie that is extremely creepy to watch and has an amazing plot.  Going into another psychological thriller  with Michael Shannon and with the Rotten Tomatoes score of 92%, I’m pretty intrigued as to what this is all about.

Director: Jeff Nichols

Cast: Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Tova Stewart, Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon,

Curtis (Michael Shannon) wakes up one morning from a dream (or nightmare) of the world being attacked by a horrible storm.  Except it wasn’t the standard storm.  Following that, he is repeatedly plagued with these more and more apocalyptic, extremely real dreams that changes everything and everyone that he loves.  Unsure whether to believe if he is being affected with his mother’s psychological issues, he goes to seek for more help while having the nagging feeling that he needs to prepare for what could destroy his family.  Its then he gains an obsession of building a shelter against something that seems impossible to everyone else.

Take Shelter is a heart-pounding and terrifying psychological trip.  There isn’t one moment you can let down your guard because you are right with Michael Shannon as he wavers between whether he is actually mentally ill or that he should believe there is a storm coming and he is having visions.  That is the question that will keep circling your head as you watch Take Shelter.  The way the movie is set up with the dreams or visions (whatever you want to call them), have this creeping feeling to this especially because it specifically has ominous background noise to intensify the situation.  The tone and atmosphere of the whole setting is done really well also.

Michael Shannon is extremely convincing in his role as Curtis.  He is a husband who tries hard to make end meet and balance his life. His mother’s condition has impacted his family at a young age so he relies heavily on his brother who also makes an appearance.  At the same time, he loves his wife and keeps his promise to protect both his wife and young daughter.  As a father, he is learning to cope with his daughter’s hearing problem and communicating and connecting with her. As these “dreams” intensify, we watch as Curtis’s world crumbles as he tries to hide what is actually going on causing tension between him, his family, his work and the situation they are in.  Michael Shannon is simply amazing in this. I truly sympathized for this character quite a bit.

Although compared to the role of Curtis, everyone else is pretty minor. I still want to mention playing opposite him is Jessica Chastain as his wife.  I actually  haven’t seen her in anything yet. No, I have not seen Zero Dark Thirty.  She is completely new to me as an actress. His wife was an equally important role because she needed to question him on his actions and to be his strength when he was crumbling apart.  Her character grew on me by the end of the movie when she felt so essential to Curtis.

There is so much to love about Take Shelter.  It gives off an intense unsettling feeling throughout the movie.  The main character is ambiguous as to whether the problem is him or that he is experiencing visions of an impending apocalypse.  As he waver between his belief, his obsessions may ruin his life but his intentions are clear that he wants to protect his family despite just being an strong feeling that this unreal situation is going to happen. Michael Shannon delivers a strong and convincing performance and the sound, effects, atmosphere and tone are done masterfully. Its terrifying, uneasy, and dramatic all wrapped into one.

This one is definitely worth a watch even if the ending will put even more questions into the equation. Thats actually what I love the best about this 🙂

Have you seen Take Shelter? What did you think about it? Thoughts on Michael Shannon and/or Jessica Chastain?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the ending if you’ve seen this but to avoid spoilers, feel free to drop me an email 🙂