Dig if you will, the pictures in this week’s Screening Room:
Doctor Strange
by George Wolf, MaddWolf.com
What if I told you…the Chosen One didn’t take the blue pill or the red pill, he took the brown acid, and things got mighty trippy?
Alternate realities, a school for sorcery, supernatural powers hiding seductive dark sides. We’ve seen these themes before, but Doctor Strange presents them with such eye-popping, mind-bending style, the Marvel Comics Universe has a brand new A-lister.
This is one that absolutely rewards the investment in a 3D/IMAX viewing, but beyond all the technical wizardry, the film’s superpower is refreshingly human – a cast with the talent to make elevating some cheesy dialog seem effortless.
Equal parts Jobs and Hawking, Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a brilliant neurosurgeon stuck in a broken body from a nasty car crash. When medical science can’t restore the dexterity of his hands to operating room standards, he abandons a potential love (Rachel McAdams) to seek out mystical healing in Nepal, finding himself under the tutelage of The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) and Master Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor).
Cumberbatch? Chiwetel? McAdams? Tilda? Talk about your superfriends.
The doctor studies hard and acquires sweet new astral skills – including levitation, Holmes – when a dormant cloak grants him the power of flight and Strange’s place as a new Master is assured. Just in time, too, as the evil Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelson, earning more gold stars for the casting director) and his followers are closing in on a plan to unleash the Dark Dimension and achieve immortality.
Director/co-writer Scott Derrickson (Sinister, Deliver Us from Evil) makes spellbinding use of the spectacular visual effects and, despite early moments in Strange’s transformation that seem a tad rushed, settles into a steady pace that renders this origin story one of the MCU’s most satisfying. Similarly, the script is able to balance a flirtation with excess and unsure transitions with some commendably meatier issues, such as grappling with the question of “when moral bills come due.”
But seriously, those visuals.
Go with the glasses and the biggest screen you can conjure up.
Trolls
by George Wolf, MaddWolf.com
So, there’s a reason for that gravity-defying shock of hair on the top of a troll’s head. It comes in mighty handy for camouflage, swinging from place to place, or even as a weapon against the attack of a hungry spider.
But these Dreamworks Trolls hate to resort to that last item. Fighting is unhappy business, and Trolls are the happiest creatures alive, filling their days with singing, dancing and hourly hug time.
Except for Branch.
Branch (Justin Timberlake, with a speaking voice that suddenly sounds more polished) lives in his doomsday bunker and warns Princess Poppy (the always likable Anna Kendrick) that loud frivolity will one day attract the attention of the dreaded Bergens, the giant miserable ogres that get their only happiness in life from…eating happy little Trolls.
Of course Branch is right, and when the evil Bergen Chef (Christine Baranski, hamming it up to fine effect) makes off with a fanny pack full of Trolls, Poppy must convince Branch to help her rescue their friends, teach the Bergens the meaning of true happiness, and get with the singing and hugging program already!
Crafted by a a team of co-directors and co-writers sporting multiple animation credits including the Shrek films, Trolls ends up feeling closer to a Smurfs episode after a big-budget 3D upgrade. It’s full of constant song snippets and color splashes, with a repetitive message of plucky positivity aimed squarely at the 8 and under crowd.
For the parents in tow, a few attempts at tongue-in-cheek humor do find their mark, like the friendly cloud who just wants a high five and the hippie-trippy rendition of “The Sounds of Silence.” Recognizable hits and familiar story lines keep coming, each reinforcing the vibe that Trolls is only interested in serving reheated leftovers.
There’s no crime is being a perfectly passable way to spend an afternoon with some young ones. Trolls certainly fits that bill, but its formulaic tale delivers little more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyjm5VQ11TQ;
Hacksaw Ridge
by Hope Madden, MaddWolf.com
Bathing an audience in violence – but violence in service of a noble cause – has become filmmaker Mel Gibson’s stock and trade.
Braveheart was a great movie – thrilling, self-righteous and violent as hell. But Gibson really hit paydirt as a director when he underpinned his gorefests with images of the victimhood of the Christian. (Or, of Christ himself.)
Gibson returns to what works with his latest, Hacksaw Ridge.
There is no question that the story of WWII veteran Desmond Doss not only deserves but requires our attention. A conscientious objector and devout Seventh Day Adventist, Doss refused to bear arms and yet he single-handedly carried 75 injured soldiers to safety during a particularly bloody battle in Okinawa.
Screenwriters Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan burden the film with every cliché in the WWII movie arsenal, from the wholesome hometown love to the flatly stereotyped platoon mates to nearly every line in the film.
Yet, between Gibson’s skill behind the camera and Andrew Garfield’s commitment to his character, Hacksaw Ridge always manages to be better than the material. And there is really no denying Gibson’s knack for action, carnage and viscera – all in the service of non-violence, of course.
It was Doss’s faith that kept him strong in his non-violent beliefs, just as it was his faith that kept him courageous in battle. Whether you believe in God or you do not, you will admire Desmond Doss, and Garfield does him justice.
He’s goofy and layered and at no point does Doss’s own explanation of his faith feel like a sermon. Thank God.
Garfield also boasts lovely chemistry with just about every actor onscreen – this is particularly touching in some early scenes with Teresa Palmer, playing Doss’s hometown sweetheart Dorothy.
So, come for the wholesome message, stay for the flaming soldiers who’ll flail in unimaginable agony before your very eyes.
It isn’t tough to shock with violence when you’re re-telling the greatest story ever told, but to one-up the carnage in a war movie? Have you seen Platoon? Saving Private Ryan?
Well, Gibson has, and he won’t be intimidated. But give the man credit, these sequences are breathtakingly choreographed, as full of energy and clarity as they are human entrails. If you’re looking for an opportunity to satisfy your bloodlust while also celebrating pacifism, well, Gibson’s got you covered.
