B-E-A-UTIFUL Acting!

 

We all know Charles Dickens’ classic tale the Christmas Carol and all the lessons it teaches this time of season.  It’s a story that has been told through many mediums that continue to entertain the masses.  This weekend, we get a similar tale to grace the theater entitled Collateral Beauty starring Will Smith and a slew of other characters. The question is though, does this twist work?  Hi Robbie K here, privileged to share some thoughts on another movie.  Shall we get started?

 

LIKES:

• Fantastic Acting
• Equal Screen Time
• Good use of Music
• Fantastic morals

 

With a star, studded cast that includes Will Smith, Kate Winslet, Hellen Mirren, and Edward Norton you expected good acting.  Well good news, the acting met the expectations placed on the cast.  Smith of course takes the lead, delivering another grand performance of someone suffering in life (7 pounds and pursuit of happiness). He sells the anger and hurt, while maintaining his emotional balance to prevent falling into overacting territory. Edward Norton, again delivers a sound performance and probably has the most diverse energy of the cast.  Newcomer Jacob Lattimore surprised me with his performance, which although a little skewed, had the teenage angst and aggression representative of time.  But the champion actor is Helen Mirren, who continues to prove that age brings experience.  Mirren was the funniest of the group, but managed to sell the morals of the movie the most without going too far.  She engages so well with the entire cast, and does a good job as the keystone of the movie…you know past Will Smith.  The entire group again does a fantastic job altogether, and even better are all balanced through the movie, each member getting close to equal time (which is sometimes unheard of).

While the acting certainly helps make the story come to life, the editing of the movie helped amplify the emotions of the film. The cinematography is beautifully executed, combining the enchanting scenery with the raw pain of our suffering characters.  You’ll get plenty of close ups on tear stricken faces and troubled stares as our characters face the ordeals at hand.  But it’s the background symphony music, that helps add that edge to get the tears flowing. Beautiful piano work helps sell the scene, subtle at times before unleashing its full power as the lessons are learned.  The culmination of audio and visual are fantastic tools to seal the deal for the morals this film has to offer.  And speaking of morals, the writers did a nice job twisting the tale to focus on dealing with life’s problems.  Aside from Will Smith’s trial of accepting his daughter’s death, the other characters each have their own trials to face that involve self-assessment, acceptance, and a willingness to try and make things better.  Preachy as it can be, these important lessons are taught with the fantastic lines and strong acting premise.

 

DISLIKES:

• Not as deep as I thought
• Felt Incomplete
• Lackluster
• More spirit interventions would have been nice

 

Despite all the good I reported, Collateral Beauty still has some rough edges that need some smoothing out.  For one thing, I felt there could have been more emotional punch to this film.  I felt the lessons in my heart, but I wasn’t borderline crying in this film.  It felt like they held back on the emotional punch. Whether this is due to some production quirks, some shallower plots, or the fact that the trailer delivered much of the film could have diluted it.  The movie also felt incomplete at parts, as if other scenes were needed or perhaps scenes deleted to take out the incomplete feeling.

In addition, the movie is a bit lackluster from the various tellings of the Christmas Carol.  This film doesn’t have the terror or suspense that Dickens’ three spirits contain, although they are much more entertaining.  This movie, despite teaching values, was just not as unique as I think it wanted to be. There were no grandiose twists, no outstanding spirit designs, and no key features to help make this movie stand out from similar morale tales.  I think I also wanted more spiritual interventions as well, another round to drive the point home to Howard.

 

The VERDICT

 

Collateral Beauty is certainly an example of great acting, as our stars have incredible chemistry, integrate through most of the movie, and have the emotional balance we would want in such a cast.  In addition, the morals are taught well thanks to the strong dialogue and wonderful audio/visual techniques to amplify the emotions.  However, there was something missing that just didn’t make this movie as emotionally deep as I expected.  Still, this is a movie that will move many and a good, fun movie for the holiday season.  Is it needed to be seen in the big screen?  When looking at the technical qualities and the unique aspect of the film…no this movie is worth a Redbox rent. However, in regards to the moral lessons and heartfelt story, this one is worth a visit. 

 

My scores are:

 

Drama:  7.5

Movie Overall: 6.5

Hero or Hack? You Decide in This Riveting Drama!

            Robbie K back for another review. This time we jump into the biographical/drama realm in the film of Snowden.  The theme of this tale is on Edward Snowden, the former intelligence officer who quickly became a hot topic of debate in the span of five days by revealing the secrets of the government. So does this movie stand up to the hype, or will it be lost to the high flying tale of Sully that came out last week?  Let’s get to it!

LIKES:

• Great acting
• Decent pace on the story
• Technical insight into spying

 

For a movie focused on one man, you need a good actor to portray the title character. So casting Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the key character was a brilliant move to say the least.  Once more the man impresses me with his ability to capture a character’s nuances and bring them to life.  For someone in Snowden’s environment you expect intelligence, moral dilemmas, and most likely some paranoia when dealing with classified secrets.  Gordon-Levitt is able to portray it all, selling that he is a revolutionary programmer capable of changing the world one code at a time. He played geeky well, but he portrayed paranoid even better with all the symptoms common of the disorder. Shailene Woodley again gets the super dramatic role, trading revolutionary leader to concerned liberal girlfriend…who happens to be an exotic dancer/artist. I give the girl props for her ability to maximize a limited part, selling the morals well in her short screen time. Everyone else is pretty much a government extra and adding intensity to the movie and making for big bad enemies.

When it comes to biographies, you often get very slow paced tales that tend to be overdramatized and slow for the most part. I didn’t feel that way in Snowden, or at least I didn’t feel that way most of the time. Snowden keeps the tale going, laying out the foundation of how Snowden fell into his predicament in all the glorious details. One will get immersed in all the technical details and moral dilemmas Edward went through, accompanied with the stress and suspense it brings with it. However, I do fear that such a movie may spur the flames of cyberterrorism with how people are inspired these days, but we won’t hold that against the movie…much.

 

DISLIKES:

• Overdramatic at times
• Slow at parts
• One side portrayal of Snowden

The threat of having Hollywood portray your story is running the risk of movie magic overwriting fact. As there was a warning at the beginning of the film, safe to say there was a lot of dramatic intervention in this film. This does bring an entertaining factor, but it is a little disappointing to wonder what is fact and what is overdramatized fact.  Some of the drama also gets a bit eye rolling at times and robs the film of the emotional punch they were trying for.

The excessive drama in the movie also makes for some slower moments that you may or may not appreciate.  While much of the movie was pertinent to explaining Ed’s rise, there were times when this got a little excessive. This was particularly true for meetings with certain supervisors, moments of jealousy and a delayed explanation of his “flight” that did little for me than extending the run time.  Yes, these are minor dislikes, but editing could have cut a little more and save things for the director’s cut of the film.

  Finally, the movie took a one-sided approach to this story, focusing on making him a hero. I’m not calling him anything negative, but we all know that there are two sides to most tales and it would have been nice to get the antagonizing side of things.  I’m giving the guys props for standing up for his morals, but I feel the drama portrayed things on a grandiose level than what actually happened. The result was making the government eviler, which will certainly split the favor of the audience depending on your like of the audience. A balanced approach may have expanded the audience liking, but hey to each his own.

 

The VERDICT

           Snowden certainly has the dramatic flair that will rope you into this story about the morals behind secrecy.  His tale is certainly intriguing and most will appreciate the added spice the drama brings.  This is certainly one of the better (and more entertaining) biographies I have seen, but most may not find it as gripping (or exciting) as the others. In addition, the one sided portrayal of this political topic may also curb your enjoyment of the movie so I again say take it with a grain of salt. Is it worth a trip to the theater?  I can say only if you are looking for a biography or have strong interest in Snowden’s story. I’d say save this one for a rental.  

 

My scores:

Biography/Drama/Thriller:  7.5

Movie Overall: 6.5