Tag: Amy Adams

Dear Evan Hansen, you owe us an apology | TIFF movie review
Dear Evan Hansen follows a high school senior with a social anxiety disorder who suddenly finds himself as the hero of his town after a student commits suicide

Undoubtedly one of the worst movie-musicals ever made. Overwrought and emotionless at the same time, insensitive towards trauma and mental illness, and out of touch with reality. Jail to everyone.

Dear Evan Hansen,

Today was not a good day because I was subjected to watching you.

Sincerely,
Me

Usually I don’t like being mean about the films I don’t like. Also, I’m a firm believer that almost every film made with the best of intentions has some good you can derive from it. However, Dear Evan Hansen doesn’t sit right with me. At its root, it feels rotten. Like its intentions are misplaced or, given the benefit of the doubt, misunderstood. Director Stephen Chbosky, whose films The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Wonder I truly enjoy, was simply handed a bad project.

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The movie follows Evan Hansen (played by Ben Platt), your typical high school senior with a social anxiety disorder who is tasked by his therapist to write a letter to himself every day. After a misunderstanding causes him to become the hero of his town following the suicide of his classmate Connor (Colton Ryan), Evan must continually expand his web of lies and keep all he has gained from the fallout.

This includes lying to Connor’s family (Amy Adams and Danny Pino) about being friends with their son, dating Connor’s sister (Kaitlyn Dever), working with Alana (Amandla Stenberg) on an entire organization and fundraiser honoring him. The list goes on and on. No one is safe from his deceit. The fact that this is a musical is confounding because watching Evan spin lie after lie in songs like “For Forever” and, even more maliciously, fabricate evidence in “Sincerely, Me” almost makes light of the damage his actions are bound to cause.

At this point, if you’re already asking yourself why this seemingly terrible human is the protagonist of the story then we are on the same page. The film, which is an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name featuring music by Oscar winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, was meant to “immortalize” 27-year-old Platt’s Tony-winning performance. However, Dear Evan Hansen seems to be a story that only worked in the thin period of time when it came out. It already feels dated — as does Platt’s hair.

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Reportedly, changes were made in the adaptation to address some of the more polarizing issues with the story. If that’s the case, then I’d hate to see what was wrong with the musical. At its core, the musical is meant to preach that everyone is dealing with their own traumas whether it be depression, social anxiety, suicidal thoughts, insecurities, however it doesn’t take any time to actually explore the reality of those traumas. Instead, it’s a surface level assessment of them. Hollywood’s “glamourized” version where consequences don’t exist.

Because of its purely uninformed and disingenuous portrayal of mental illness — and apparent disregard of therapy — the movie feels overwrought and emotionless at the same time. It mines melodrama with no actual basis for it. It feels like the characters are just pawns in this power grab for sympathy. And while there is some good acting here — Julianne Moore, Amandla Stenberg, and Kaitlyn Dever, in particular — the rest of the cast feels like they’re in a competition of who can ugly cry the most.

Evan Hansen, whose actions throughout the film could only be described as monstrous, is meant to meet consequences at the end of the film and Connor is meant to be humanized. Instead, Evan’s behavior, which is harmful to the stigma around mental illness, is excused as a product of past trauma. Something the movie was supposedly supposed to fix. Or maybe, just maybe, this was a story we didn’t need to have told again.

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More movies, less problems
Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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September 10, 2021
'Vice' is an angry movie that isn’t sure what it’s angry about — movie review

Vice follows Dick Cheney’s precipitous rise to power and his everlasting effect on American politics

Quick review: Vice tries to grapple with the second Bush’s years in office through Dick Cheney but ends up with nothing to show for its efforts.

Vice ends with Dick Cheney (Christian Bale under a heavy amount of makeup) turning to the camera and saying, “You chose me. And I did what you asked.” Then the movie’s end credits are played over “America” from West Side Story. It’s an infuriating end to a movie that had its issues but wasn’t completely a miss until it let on that it had no idea what it was trying to say.

Sit through the end credits. Then witness the movie’s full-hearted reprehensible attempt at a BlacKkKlansman style “but this is happening today” coda that is meant to tie the movie together.

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Never in cinematic history has a movie so stunningly tear itself apart in less than 30 seconds — the final 30 seconds, no less.

Dick Cheney changed the world when he came to power in the second Bush administration as the Vice President. Our current terrifying political environment didn’t start in 2016. It’s been this way for nearly two decades.

After a surprisingly typical biopic opening act that follows Cheney from his short time at Yale that ended with him dropping out to his stint blue collar worker that gets too drunk after his shift to an intern for Don Rumsfeld (Steve Carell) to the White House Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense under Bush senior to the Vice President to George W. Bush (Sam Rockwell following up his Oscar win for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri).

What all these experiences have in common is that Cheney, driven by his Lady Macbeth-like wife Lynne (standout Amy Adams), is that he fails up. The section isn’t incredibly inspired.

Amy Adams (left) as Lynne Cheney and Christian Bale (right) as Dick Cheney in Adam McKay’s VICE, an Annapurna Pictures release. Credit : Matt Kennedy / Annapurna Pictures 2018 © Annapurna Pictures, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

The whole story is framed by a mysterious narrator (Jesse Plemons, who was a scene-stealer in Game Night earlier this year) who talks straight to the camera and has all the bells and whistles director Adam McKay used in his Oscar-winning The Big Short — hyperactive visual cut-ins, breaking the fourth wall, quick montages through history. It is a satire after all.

But about 40 minutes in, Vice makes a clear pivot to make Dick Cheney the clear villain of the story. But shouldn’t he always have been? Even after this pivot, though, the movie doesn’t always make clear its point-of-view. It tells us a lot about the Bush/Cheney years — the Florida recount, 9/11, the invasion of Iraq — but doesn’t give us any material or insights to grapple with what happened. Instead, it satirizes those actions.

The story of Dick Cheney is a hard one to make funny because the implications of his story are dead serious — something the movie tries to say in the final minutes. It doesn’t help either that Cheney becomes completely opaque in the second half. We never know why he’s doing anything. Neither does McKay.

“You chose me. And I did what you asked.” Adam McKay’s version of “you reap what you sow.” Even though Vice attempts to villainize Cheney, its final beats blame us — the citizens of this country. Not the system that puts men like Cheney in power. It blames us. But we didn’t choose you to tell this story, McKay. This isn’t what we asked for.

December 28, 2018
2019 Oscars Final Predictions
Despite the mess that is the 2019 Oscars, it is refreshing to have a season that feels unpredictable. Best Picture is still up in the air as is Best Supporting Actress while there is room for upsets in nearly every category. As a lifelong Oscar fan, it’s always more excited to not know who’s going to win come Sunday night.

Here are my predictions in ever category:

Best Picture
- BlacKkKlansman
- Black Panther — SAG
- Bohemian Rhapsody — Globe
- The Favourite
- Green Book — Globe, PGA
- Roma — BAFTA, DGA, Critics Choice
- A Star is Born
- Vice
Will Win: BlacKkKlansman
Could Win: Roma or Green Book
Should Win: Roma or Black Panther

I’m taking a big swing in this category. While BlacKkKlansman hasn’t won a major prize, it was nominated every where it needed to be. People love and respect Spike Lee. I think this is going to do really well on the preferential ballot. As long as Roma or Green Book don’t win on a first round then I think this is your Best Picture winner.

Best Actress

Olivia Coleman as Queen Anne in THE FAVOURITE

The nominees:
- Glenn Close, The Wife
- Olivia Coleman, The Favourite
- Lady Gaga, A Star is Born
- Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
- Yalitza Aparicio, Roma
Will Win: Glenn Close, The Wife
Could Win: Olivia Coleman, The Favourite
Should Win: Olivia Coleman, The Favourite

Glenn Close will finally end her 37-year losing streak when she wins her first Oscar for The Wife. There is the *tiniest* chance that BAFTA winner Olivia Coleman wins for her performance Queen Ann in The Favourite.

Best Actor

Rami Malek in BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

The nominees:
- Christian Bale, Vice
- Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
- Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born
- Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate
- Viggo Mortensen, Green Book
Will win: Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Could win: Christian Bale, Vice
Should win: Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born

Although Christian Bale won the Golden Globe and Critics Choice awards for his performance as Dick Cheney in Vice, I think the real challenger to clear frontrunner Rami Malek is Bradley Cooper. For better or worse, he’s been in the news a lot and if voters want to award A Star is Born outside of Best Original Song, this would be the place to do it.
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January 18, 2019
2019 Oscar Predictions: Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actress has a frontrunner in Regina King, but there’s a good chance she is upset by Rachel Weisz or even Marina de Tavira.

Best Supporting Actress is possibly the trickiest category to predict at the Oscars this year.

Here are my current rankings:
1. Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk) — Golden Globe, Critics Choice
2. Amy Adams (Vice)
3. Rachel Weisz (The Favourite)
4. Marina de Tavira (Roma)
5. Emma Stone (The Favourite)
Check out all our 2019 Oscar Predictions: Best Picture | Best Actor | Best Actress | Best Supporting Actor | Best Supporting Actress

Despite winning nearly every critics’ group prize — including the OFCS, the group I’m a part of — Regina King isn’t the surefire frontrunner she should be for her warm and emotional performance in If Beale Street Could Talk.

That’s because she missed a nomination at the BAFTAs and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. For context, that last winner of Best Supporting Actress that didn’t at least get a nomination at the SAG Awards was 2000 when Marcia Gay Harden won the Oscar for Pollack.

You have to go back to 2007 for the last time the winner of this category didn’t also win the Oscar — that year, Ruby Dee won the SAG for American Gangster and Tilda Swinton won the Oscar for Michael Clayton.

King has to worry about that first statistic more than the second since this year’s winner of the SAG Award was Emily Blunt for A Quiet Place, who wasn’t even nominated at the Oscars.

Regina King is the frontrunner for Best Supporting Actress for IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

The fact that one of her fellow Oscar nominees didn’t win will help her. Especially, Amy Adams for her performance as Lynne Cheney in Vice and Rachel Weiss for her performance in The Favourite — both of whom are her biggest competition.

Adams, with her six nominations, could become the living actor with the most Oscar nominations without a win if Glenn Close finally wins on her seventh nomination in Best Actress, as expected. Her overdue narrative can push her to a win. The problem, though, is that her performance isn’t nearly as well received as her other nominations and ultimately takes a backseat to Christian Bale’s transformative performance as Dick Cheney.

Who might really be the favorite is Rachel Weisz. This year has eerily followed the 2015 Best Supporting Actor race where Sylvester Stallone was the frontrunner — winning the Golden Globe and being snubbed by SAG (which is won by non-Oscar nominee Idris Elba) and BAFTA just like King — to lose the Oscar to the BAFTA winner, Mark Rylance.

Whoever wins the BAFTA could be the actual frontrunner for Best Supporting Actress. However, watchout for an outside chance that Marina de Tavira turns her surprise nomination into a surprise win if Roma ends up sweeping on Oscar Sunday.
December 7, 2018
Arrival Movie Review — One of the Best Sci-Fi Movies of the Decade

Smart, impeccably made, with a phenomenal performance by Amy Adams, Arrival proves to be a high point in the science fiction genre

Denis Villeneuve is a filmmaker that I thought could be one of the great auteurs of our generation (two of his films appeared on our list of the best thrillers of the decade). After blasting onto the American scene with the Oscar-nominated Incendies, he followed suit four films that all ended up in my top tens of their respective years. Prisoners was a dark ethical exploration of violence with deep emotional complexity. Then came a psychological thriller that begged for cinematic analysis with Enemy. Last year, he made a play for the mainstream with his critique of the drug war in Sicario. This year, he cemented his place as one of my favorite directors of all time with the masterpiece Arrival.

Based on the short story Story of Your Life, Arrival begins with twelve egg-shaped UFOs positioning themselves around the globe in countries like the U.S., China, Russia, Sudan, and Pakistan. The biggest question surrounding our planet is answered: are we alone in the universe? However, once that question is answered another one emerges: what is their purpose on Earth? That is why the government — represented here by Colonel Weber (Laurence Fishbourne) and Agent Halpern (Michael Stuhlberg)— contacts linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams).

Every 18 hours, the door to the UFO, which they call the shell, opens. Banks along with Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) must find a way to decode the visitor’s language and communicate with them before they attack or we do. As progress is made, foreign relations push Banks and Donnelly to the brink of their knowledge to speak with the beings before someone pulls that trigger.

It’s hard to talk about this movie without spoiling the experience. So, I will say this. Arrival may become the pinnacle of sci-fi movies this decade, if not this century. Its complex plot is communicated beautifully to the audience without being condescending with a twist that ties the experience into a wholly satisfying conclusion.

Check Out: 10 Best Thrillers of the Decade (so far)

The first act of the film is Louise’s story. Everything we see is either of Louise or her point-of-view. Our emotions and thoughts are filtered through her. She is an observer at the beginning of the film. How is the world reacting? Villeneuve doesn’t go the easy route with a montage of news clips. We know what Louise knows. We see how she reacts and thus how the world reacts. As she’s brought onto the team that is making contact with the shell, the story is taken away from her. It becomes the world’s story. However, soon we realize that it’s not. It’s Louise’s story through and through. She is ingrained into the plot. Even as it gets more philosophical she anchors it in a humanistic way.

Amy Adams is at the top of her game. It blows my mind that she still doesn’t have an Oscar after all these years. Her performance carries the emotional baggage of the entire film as well as the whole story. Renner is great here but really exists to support Adams. Outside of these performances, the steady and dark cinematography by Bradford Young finds such beautiful shots in the sets. Editor Joe Walker understands how to show audiences what they need to know rather than tell them. Lastly, Jóhann Jóhannsson — after last year’s Sicario — again scores a home run with his score that defies genre by pulling from both the horror and thriller genres.

Sci-fi is a hard genre to pull off. Sci-fi with extraterrestrial life is even harder to. The few that make it to become classics like Contact. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind have one thing in common: the human condition. Are we alone in the universe? It’s a question that everyone has at one point pondered. How would we react? What would we do? That’s what Arrival is interested in. Specifically, it is interested in how we communicate. Language and Louise are at the center of this movie. The plot surrounds them and Villeneuve understands that. He understands how people consume movies. They don’t want to be told. They want to see. Arrival will challenge us to think and to question. And while we come away with answers, we also experience the stunning power of great filmmaking, great writing, and a great story. 9/10

Arrival is available on DVD, blu-ray, and digital on Amazon!

November 28, 2016