Tag: Kyle Chandler

Godzilla Vs Kong

Rated: MGodzilla Vs Kong

Directed by: Adam Wingard

Produced by: Thomas Tull, Jon Jasni, Brian Rogers, Mary Parent, Alex Garcia, Eric McLeod

Screenplay by: Eric Pearson, Max Borenstein

Story by: Terry Rossio, Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields

Based on: Godzilla by Toho King Kong by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper

Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Julian Dennison, Kyle Chandler, Demián Bichir and Kaylee Hottie.

Kong bows to no-one.

But it’s a fight until one submits when it comes to the Alpha Titans.

A sequel to, Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Kong: Skull Island, here the ancient enemies, Godzilla and Kong are kept apart – Kong detained back at Skull Island and Godzilla keeping his peace with humanity. Until he attacks Apex Cybernetics seemingly unprovoked.

But there’s more to Apex lurking beneath the surface, Godzilla instinctively sniffing out any challenge…

There’s always an expectation with the mega monster movies of some cheesy moments, Godzilla Vs Kong the fourth film in Legendary’s MonsterVerse – and there’s some borderline dialogue with cliché comments like Dr. Nathan Lind’s (Alexander Skarsgård), ‘I might have an idea, but it’s crazy.’

And, ‘No one keeps the reigns on Kong,’ from Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall).

But combined with Kong waking up, scratching his hairy butt before taking a morning wash under a waterfall, it all kinda blends into a light-hearted banter that keeps the film rolling in between explosive monster fighting action.

Godzilla Vs Kong is loud, colourful and at times I felt like I was on a roller coaster.

Going back into the history of the two ancient titans, with redacted documents flashing at the beginning of the film, I thought there’d be more to the story. But the backbone of the film is the fight to be the alpha titan: the fight not so much the why.

What was surprising was the effects as ships sped up to 600km through blue lights and exploding through a crack in the centre of the earth to break into the upside-down Hollow World that tilts back onto itself, filled with sparkling blue rocks and lush forests and bat-like vultures reaching out with strong legs to rip you apart.

I highly recommend viewing this film on the big screen.

Made for a younger audience with asides from returning character, Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown), along with, I’m-afraid-of-guns, Josh Valentine (Julian Dennison); there’s also the conspiracy theorist, Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry), and, ‘That podcast is filling your head with rubbish,’ from Madison’s dad – I was still able to have a giggle at the antics of the characters, while silently cheering for both Kong and Godzilla. Hard not to be a fan of both.

And while there’s nothing new here with the story (or didn’t feel like it,anyway), I enjoyed the spectacle.

For me, better than, Godzilla: King of Monsters but not as good as, Kong: Skull Island (John C. Reilly as Marlow: pure gold).

Godzilla: King Of The Monsters

Rated: MGodzilla: King Of The Monsters

Directed by: Michael Dougherty

Written by: Michael Dougherty and Zach Shields

Produced by: Mary Parent, Alex Garcia, Brian Rogers, Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni

Executive Producers: Zach Shields, Barry H. Waldman, Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Yoshimitsu Banno and Kenji Okuhira

Starring: Vera Farmiga, Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, Kyle Chandler, Millie Bobby Brown, Bradley Whitford, Thomas Middleditch, Charles Dance, O’Shea Jackson Jr, Aisha Hinds and Zhang Ziyi.

Moving on from 2014, when the world realised that gigantic monsters exist, that the titans who once ruled the world could rise again, the Russell family has been blown apart after the loss of their young son, Sam.

Emma (Vera Farmiga) has thrown herself into research, continuing the synchronising of bio-acoustics that her ex-husband Mark (Kyle Chandler) abandoned.  He’s left civilisation behind to study wild animals in the wilderness.  Mark emails his daughter, Emma (Millie Bobby Brown) to keep in touch, but really, he’s run away from the family, to hide his grief.

Family drama aside, this next instalment in the Monsterverse is all about the titans, the 500-foot-tall monsters that are awoken to wipe out the human race, to bring about Armageddon.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters reveals the secret crypto-zoological agency Monarch, that continues to study and protect the titans.  New titans are discovered and kept hidden from the world as the government fights Monarch in court, to force the agency to reveal everything about these monsters and once and for all destroy the threat.

I don’t want to reveal too much of the story (if you haven’t already seen the film) because there’s a few surprises here and new monsters added to the universe.  Those who know the creators, Toho (who released a series of films featuring these giant monsters creating the kaiju eiga genre) will recognise the awesome creatures: Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah; monsters never seen on screen outside of Japan, until now.

I’ve got to say I couldn’t help but grin with the reintroduction of Godzilla.  The build of suspense with the soundtrack giving the familiar gigantic monster something like magnificence.

Again, Godzilla rises when the future of humanity is at stake, as other titans are awoken, destroying the disease that has been killing the planet for thousands of years: humans.

It’s becoming a common theme in cinema these days: humans killing the planet. Seems the best excuse to kill off cities and people because humans are destroying the environment.   But it gives the story here a good foundation for destruction.

There’s more about Godzilla and his origins, his role in living alongside humanity giving the monster something like a personality so I really wanted to cheer him on.

It was the humans I found to be insincere with a lot of standing around looking up with shock plastered on their faces.

Not that all the characters were bad – Bradley Whitford as Dr. Rick Stanton was a cracker.

And thankfully the delivery of some pretty ordinary dialogue improved as the effects ramped up.  Probably because the human relationships weren’t as much of a focus when buildings started to get flattened and monsters started screeching at each other during epic battles for domination.

The tremendous sound of these monsters was deafening, making the floor in the cinema vibrate.

As director Michael Dougherty states, ‘These are popcorn movies,’ yet there’s a little more to Godzilla II with some unexpected twists in the storyline to keep it interesting and the monsters really come to life on the big screen.

First Man

Rated: MFirst Man

Directed by: Damien Chazelle

Screenplay by: Josh Singer

Produced by: Wyck Godfrey, p.g.a., Marty Bowen, p.g.a., Isaac Klausner, Damien Chazelle

Based on the Book by: James R. Hansen

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Corey Stoll, Patrick Fugit, Christopher Abbott, Ciaran Hinds, Olivia Hamilton, Pablo Schreiber, Shea Whigham, Lukas Haas, Ethan Embry, Brian D’Arcy James, Cory Michael Smith and Kris Swanberg.

Based on the biography written by James R. Hansen, ‘First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong’, First Man allows the spectacular phenomenon of man landing on the moon to speak for itself.

Oscillating – yes, it gets technical which is the main reason I enjoyed the film – between the drama of Armstrong’s family life and his courage to risk everything to go to the moon, this is a quiet film punctuated by nail-biting suspense.

It would have been easy to over-dramatise the achievement of America being the first to step foot on alien ground, instead, director Damien Chazelle (La La Land (2016), Whiplash (2013)) focuses more on the man: his sacrifice, strength and will to achieve what the American government so desperately wants to achieve before the Russians.

Ryan Gosling as Armstrong holds up the helmet well as the family man and as the brave, cautious and deliberate pilot navigating rockets, that are really bombs, set off while strapped inside what looks like a tin can.

The absurdity and risks are shown with lines like the technician buckling Dave Scott (Christopher Abbott) in for the test run of rocketing Gemini 8 through the atmosphere to see if it’s possible to dock one craft to another in space asking, ‘Anybody got a Swiss army knife handy?’

‘You’re kidding?!’ Dave says as the final adjustments are made.

First Man is about the years it took to accomplish the impossible, opening in 1961 with Neil beyond the atmosphere, testing the ability to cut through and be able to fall back to Earth – and the love of his wife Janet (Claire Foy), son (Gavin Warren / Luke Winters) and the devastating loss of his young daughter, Karen (Lucy Stafford).

This is a drama, the frailty of humanity given as much weight as the courage required to realise one of man’s greatest achievements.

When interviewed to join the Apollo team, Armstrong’s told by one interviewer that he’s sorry for the loss of his daughter.

To which he replies, ‘I’m sorry, is there a question?’

And he’s asked whether the loss has any effect on his wanting to join the Apollo mission.

‘It would be unreasonable to assume it wouldn’t have an effect.’

This statement sums up the movie for me – a quietly suspenseful and direct depiction of what it took and the motivation to drive someone to take such risks without unnecessary fanfare.

Game Night

Rated: MA15+Game Night

Directed by: John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein

Written by: Mark Perez

Produced by: John Davis, Jason Bateman, John Fox and James Garavente

Starring: Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Billy Magnussen, Sharon Horgan, Lamorne Morris, Kylie Bunbury, Jesse Plemons, Danny Huston, Chelsea Peretti, with Michael C. Hall and Kyle Chandler.

What makes Jason Bateman such a good comedian is not what he does but the ridiculous that happens to him and how he takes it on the chin because what else is he supposed to do?  He’s relatable and a crack-up with no exception here as Max teamed up with his wife Annie (Rachel McAdams): it’s all about winning the game for this couple.

Except when it comes to playing against their neighbour Gary (Jesse Plemons): they were friends with his recently divorced wife, not creepy Gary.

Obsessed, the team/couple host a weekly game night with friends each with their unique relationship issues (bar Gary: not that he doesn’t have issues but because he’s not invited), each unaware that when Max’s brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler) decides to host a Murder Mystery party, it’s not a game but a real kidnapping.

Brooks isn’t just the competitive and ‘most likely to succeed’ brother, he’s also a bad boy.

There’s always a feeling of a formula at play with these heart-felt, comedy, throw-a-bit-of-action-in-the-mix, movies.  Here, we have sibling rivalry, couple issues, the bond of friendship; conflicts overcome by the common goal of winning the game and saving the brother.

Directors John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein have teamed up before, Game Night being their second film as co-directors, following the comedy, Vacation (2015).   And like Vacation, there are some genuinely funny moments.

Gary-the-creepy-neighbour is a highlight and point of difference with his death stare and continued patting of his white fluffy dog reminiscent of the villain, Dr Claw petting his white fluffy cat in Inspector Gadget.

It’s the extra effort and detail that tickles.

And Max being the normal guy in such silly situations grounds the story while also making the film funnier.

Rachel McAdams can be hit and miss for me.  She plays such a wide variety of roles, from Spotlight to Dr Strange to True Detective 2 – an impressive performance of a dark and tortured cop  – to her role here, as the innocent, game-obsessed suburban wife; her character not the funniest but adding the cutesy aspect, provoking the required, Aww, response.

So, there’s attention to detail from a clever script with lines like, ‘You got the knife right in the bullet hole’ (ha, ha, cracks me up), a techno 80s-style synthesiser soundtrack to combine that action/comic flavour with a bit of added romance.

 

 

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