Best Picture Nominees and Ratings (2016)

So the Oscars are here and within the next couple hours we'll know what 2016 film the academy votes best picture. It's a bit last minute but here are my quick scores for each of the nominated films:

Arrival (4/5)

Fences (3/5)

Hacksaw Ridge (5/5)

Hell or High Water (3/5)

Hidden Figures (3/5)

La La Land (4/5)

Lion (3/5)

Manchester by the Sea (2/5)

Moonlight (5/5)

Enjoy the Show!

I love Cinemascore

Last week I did a piece on Rotten Tomatoes (RT) and why I prefer it over other review outlet such as Metacritic and IMBD, which is why its only appropriate to talk about its polar opposite online site, Cinemascore. Let's be clear from the start, while I think Cinemascore is important as a critical outlet and many times will use its scores to recomend movies to others, I prefer and agree more constantly with RT. However just because I prefer one does not mean the other is inferior, Cinemascore is drastically different from RT, collecting data in a way that contradicts critical tradition but corresponds largely to popular opinion.

Cinemascore surveys audiences on opening night across the country, using the card you see above. Movies are rated on a 4point scale, much like a student is, and demographics are carved out based on gender and age. By late Friday night (usually 11pm-2am), Cinemascore will post a letter score on its site for the movies that released that week, and distribute its demographic data to studios and theatre chains. Under this model, general audiences are provided with limited data but studios and distributors are provided with sufficient data in order to estimate the movies preformance and appeal in the weeks to come.

There are certainly strengths to Cinemascores data collection model, some of which I would consider more relevant to general movie goers I see everyday. Too often I hear how the critics are wrong, they're "out of touch" or predisposed to dislike movie before they see it. I tell people that this just isn't true, critics come in all types and ages just like the movie going audience. The big difference is that it's a critics job to see every movie, even the ones they don't want to see. Because of this, critics have a much broader opinion on what makes a good movie good, not a more accurate opinion. If somebody who goes to see ten movies a year, pays to see Fifty Shades Darker with their friends, statistics would suggest he or she will like the movie considering they are predetermined to enjoy dark romance films. Statistics would also suggest he or she saw Fifty Shades of Grey (the first one) considering Fifty Shades Darker is a sequel. Continuing on the stats form last week,  Fifty Shades Darker scored a 9% on RT but a B+ on Cinemascore. While critics, and myself, tore apart the film audiences who the movie was marketed to enjoyed the movie almost enough to award it an A. This examples proves that just because a movie is critically panned, doesn't mean it won't be enjoyed and even loved.

Cinemascore's strengths may make it more relevant to audiences and studios, but when considering the circumstances of its collection there are several flaws to it's accountability. For one, Cinemascore tends to skew relatively high in its scoring, with many if not a majority of movies being awarded an A or A- as its cumulative score. This is a result of audience bias; as discussed above somebody who is choosing one movie over a variety of others is predisposed to like said movie regardless of its critical reception. I love Marvel movies, and if you read my blog you will notice no marvel movie I have reviewed has been given anything less than a 3/5 (a positive score by my standards). Two even scored a 5/5 and I have only ever awarded ten 5/5s since 2014. Now I fully stick by my ratings and I argue to the death to defend them, but I'm not ignorant to my own biases. The second reason for this skew has to do bias in the critical skills of the individual. On this site I try to make my ratings as clear as possible (I even did a post a little while back), but different people judge on different scales. My brother for example like to rate movies on a scale of 1-10, where 7 is an average movie. This is completely valid, movies are subjective therefore so too must be the measurements we use to compare them, however as a result we tend to have very different scores even if we similar opinions on a movie we watched. I may say after the movie is a 3/5 but he may say its a 8/10 even though we like it the same, as an outsider looking in however you would determine without a doubt that my brother liked the movie more than I did. Cinemascore does not and cannot account for this bias even though I know it exist, again this isn't necessarily good or bad but is absolutely an explanation for the skew in Cinemascore ratings. The last account for this skew is the simplest to explain, Cinemascore survey's audiences on opening night. There is no audience more predisposed to enjoying a particular movie that the audience that pays for a ticket in advance for an opening night screening.

For these reasons I structured my own way to interpret a movies praise based on Cinemascore. Movies that score an A or the exceptionally rare A+ are donated with the emblem "Crowd Pleaser" in my reviews (although I sometimes award A-'s depending on the reception of my own screening). B+ is mainly positive with a mixed majority, and B and B- are even more mixed than that. When I see any sort of C it's immediately considered a fail, most of these are horror pictures or drawn out dramas that don't quite hit their mark. I have only seen a D once, I remember shivering a little. Fs hardly ever happen, in Cinemasores history only about ten movies have received an F.

Cinemascore accurately determines an audiences reception to the movie by surveying the audience responses on opening night. It's data can be highly relevant for the studio who puts out the movie, the theatre chains that show it, and the movie goers who go to it, but it does have its flaws. Cinemascore often varies for more critical sites like RT; movies that are critically panned may score well with audience and some movies that are critically praised can turn audiences off. I love Cinemascore because it shows a drastically different side of the movies lovers world, one that is equally significant and dually noted by all parties that make and distribute the films we see.

The Great Wall

Formulaic Epic Bores In-Between Action Scenes                    1/5



EPIC
     Armies and monsters clash in fantastic fashion

Behind the Scenes
     One of the first of hopefully more collaborations between Hollywood and Chinese studios

Defy's Genre Trends
     There is more to the "White Savor" plot here then it first appears

Rotten Tomatoes 35%                                  Cinemascore: B

The story behind The Great Wall happens to be more interesting then the movie itself. The product of a collaboration between Hollywood and Chinese director Yimou Zhang, The Great Wall is the most expensive undertaking for a Chinese studio with a whopping budget of 150million$. But this isn't the place to talk economics, how is the movie and was the money well spent? Unfortunately, while I completely endorse collaborations between Hollywood and foreign directors like this in the future, I have to admit I did not enjoy The Great Wall due to it's boring characters and it's tendency to rely on the most common genre cliches.

The Great Wall stars Matt Damon (kind of) as a western mercenary William, who stumbles into a army occupying the Great Wall while searching for black powder, the not so mystical substance that can open any lock. While there he gets caught up in a ancient war between the Nameless Order and a race of monsters referred to as the Tao Tei. As the war rages on Damon must find his place in the army all while Commander Lin (Jing Tian) must find a way to defeat their ancient enemy once and for all.

There are several key ingredients lacking in this movies recipe that keeps it from maintaining its relevance shortly after its exceptionally long crawl of credits. For starter the CGI is bad, like PS2 early 90s bad. For a movie that has a budget of 150million$ this just isn't acceptable, even if the studio has little practice with it. On a more major note it's central characters are bland, possessing barely more than the typical genre traits. Damon fumbles around contributing little to the overall plot (which is more of a statement on the films design then its plot structure but thats a post for another time), and the films second lead, Lin, is exactly what you expect her to be minus the fact she's a woman. The Tao Tei, while creatively designed, don't make for a threatening or compelling antagonistic force, and most of the human characters and plot points are equally one dimensional. I understand in monster movies the monster is rarely a compelling character but theres nor reason why the army of lizard dogs couldn't be scary at the least.

The Great Wall isn't going to be on my top ten worst of the year or anything (unless were in for a really good year), but this film surpasses no expectations. When soldiers aren't jumping off the Great Wall, or when the Tao Tei aren't tearing apart somebodies flesh, all we're left with are the cookie cutter characters. Characters are the foundation of any film, giving weight to a plot by investing our interest and sympathies, but here there is no investment and as a result there is no take.

The Great Wall vs The US Domestic Box Office

Within a month of release The Great Wall, the newest medieval epic courtesy of Legendary Pictures directed by Zhang Yimou and starring American favorite Matt Damon, has accumulated a whopping 245million$ overseas in foreign markets and only ~20million$ at the domestic box office. There is something to be said When a movie like this under perform domestically but thrives overseas. You see it looks like we have another Warcraft or Terminator Genysis on our hand, where the movie practically bombs at the US Canada box office but makes up for it in foreign markets like China, but there are a couple extra layers that factor into The Great Wall circumstance, factors that make it all the more paramount it preform domestically in the weeks to come.

The first major factor that has to be considered is The Great Wall production as a major Hollywood China collaboration, one of the first of its kind. While the Chinese film industry has had a significant presence in Hollywood affairs (and visa versa) there has never been a movie to the scale The Great Wall is in Chinese history. The 150million$ production is paid in part by Chinese money, developed by Chinese film studios and spearheaded by China's most prestigious director, Zhang Yimou, the same man who brought us the opening performance of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This project if successful, can open the doors for many Chinese film studios, exerting new and competitive pressure on the modern Hollywood blockbuster.

At 270million$ and growing, its safe to say this movie will be profitable when all is said and done, but it's likely to assume at this point only 10% of all its proceeds will come from the domestic box office, a significant skew in the typical foreign to domestic ratio. Why does this matter? If a movie makes money why should Legendary Pictures care if The Great Wall bombs domestically? The Great Wall is as much experimental as it is an imitation; Legendary Pictures hopes US audiences will consume The Great Wall as they would any other blockbuster. It's no secret that any years most profitable films are always the annual big budget action blockbusters, that's why there called blockbusters. If the same product is packaged but from a different origin point shouldn't it yield the same returns? Apparently not, as it turns out. Unlike overseas, spectacle does not sell as well as it used to in the states. When it does sell it can sell big, but there is a definite trend appearing over the last decade between a movie's domestic take and its overall critical praise. Not all critically praised movies are profitable but a majority of domestic blockbusters are critically praised. The Great Wall got a 35% on Rotten Tomatoes (Not terrible but definitely not great) and a B in Cinemascore (also not great). Movies that get slammed critically don't tend to break out of the cinematic noise, The Great Wall seems to honor this trend, at least at the North American box office. It's a shame too because no matter how much money The Great Wall makes Hollywood is going to want strong returns domestically if its going to green light more collaborations with foreign studios.

The Great Wall will make its money back, but wont make the ripples in Hollywood that director Zhang Yimou had hoped. Film, at least under the Hollywood model, are a business and the safest investments make their money back domestically. This trend is changing but too slowly for The Great Wall to be the first major icebreaker, instead with hope and a bit of luck maybe this film will pave the way for another foreign blockbuster too smash the ceiling holding them back.

The Lego Batman Movie

Everything is Still Awsome                                                3/5

Thematic
     Family and identity are deconstructed her brick by brick

Animated
     Lego Batman maintains the same animation style with the altered frame rate form The Lego Movie

Satire
     Lego Batman has a PHD in batman lore and isn't afraid to show it off

Certified Fresh
    91% on Rotten Tomatoes is a well earned score

Rotten Tomatoes 91%                                  Cinemascore: A-

When first announced I didn't think this was a good idea, but after that the first trailer I knew The Lego Batman Movie was going to be something special. This was Warners chance to spin a postmodern approach to their most treasured character and I was immediately on board. Batman is an egotistical, self centered asshole who fears attachment; Robin a wide eyed impressionable youth who follows batman around like a little brother, Joker desperately desires Batman's validation to their ying-yang relationship, the list goes on and on. What we have here is classic satire, one that knows where to point the finger and laugh, and also when to have a tender moment that speaks to the deeper nature of characters.

The story of The Lego Batman Movie adopts the tone of the Lego Movie before it, and its not afraid to show off its quirks along the way. After defeating Joker (Galifalakis) for the countless time, Batman (Arnett) must struggle to remain relevant in a city thats leaving him behind. Gordon has passed on the mantle of Commissioner to his daughter Barbara (Dawson) who dreams of uniting Gotham's police force with the Caped Crusader all while Alfred (Fiennes) urges Bruce to move on and try becoming part of a family again. However when Batman suspects the Joker's scheme may not be over, he must team up with his newly adopted ward Dick Greyson aka. Robin (Cera) to steal a device that would put the Clown Prince of Crime away for good.

So I bet that all sounds a little crazy, well it's suppose to. The Lego Batman movie moves at a breakneck pace, throwing almost everything Batman at the screen without waiting to see if it sticks. Everybody gets a cameo, sometimes the cameo adds to the frantic humor and other times it gets drowned in the sea of one liners and easter eggs. The weakness of Lego Batman is that sometime its too fast for its own good; where some films will spotlight one particular comic tie in The Lego Batman Movie has no such filter, leading to some jokes that hit and many more that earn a chuckle at best.

Thought Lego Batman may move a mile a minute throughout its 90minute run time, its wise enough to know when to slow down and focus on it's narrative. It's at these time where the films thematic threads start to show, emphasizing family and selflessness. The contrast is stark, but absolutely necessary, and just like The Lego Movie before it there are significant moments of sincerity that elevate the narrative above many, if not most, of the modern family movie offerings. The Lego Batman movie may have the pace of a five year old but it has more then enouth wisdom, wit and heart to make up for it in the end.

Patriots Day

Patriots Day Turns a Horror Story Into One About Love Triumph and Trust                                                            4/5

Dramatic
     Exceptionally Acted and Directed throughout

True Story
     Depicting the Marathon Bombing from all parties involved

Ensemble
     Mark Wahlberg, J.K. Simmons, Bacon and Goodman all work together to elevate their performances

Crowd Pleaser
    A+ on cinemascore, a rare and convented mark

Rotten Tomatoes 79%                                  Cinemascore: A+

Patriots Day is the rare film that depicts a recent national tragedy with deft filmmaking, skilled direction and well rounded performances; this is a movie that turns the narrative of a terrorist attack into a story of heroism in the every day citizen. While by no means a happy movie, I smiled frequently in Patriots Day, surprised and excited to see a movie thats both a nationalistic propaganda piece intent on cashing in on modern patriotism (because that's exactly what this is) and an inspirational narrative of grief and cooperation in spite of that grief.

Peter Berg's retelling of the Boston Marathon Bombing follows all the threads of tragic event you heard about on the news and some more you may have forgotten about. Wahlberg plays a cop with the misfortune of being at the finish line as the bomb goes off, Simmons plays the Watertown Police Cheif, others fill in the role as the student who was a hostage and the couple who lost their limbs. We see all angles of the investigation that proceeded in the days to follow including behind the scenes with the FBI and on the streets with the Boston press. Even the two bombers, the Tsnaraev borthers are handled with a medium of respect, depicting them as clearly radicalized grounded by desperation and fear. It's the type of evil you can root against but you can't classify as black or white. I was floored with the amount of respect this material was approached with and delighted by all the angles it juggled seamlessly.

Patriots Day surprised me in all the best ways. I walked in expecting a competent retelling of the events we know with an unhealthy dose of "Go America Go" storytelling, but I was moved emotionally instead. It was intense when it needed to be, dramatic in others, and even heartwarming in small doses. I would absolutely recomend Patriots Day to anybody who is interested, this is the best I've seen nationalist storytelling in a long time. Well done Berg, well done.

I Love Rotten Tomatoes

If you read any of my movie reviews you will notice that I always post the Rotten Tomato score just to the right of poster. Rotten Tomatoes (RT) is a online site that accumulates critic reviews on a particular movie, assigns each review as either fresh or rotten, and uses the ratio of fresh to rotten scores in order to construct the movies rotten tomato precentage. Contrary to the opinion of some, this is not a rating on how good the movie is as opposed to Metacritic, rather its a percentage of how well liked a film is. For example, Star Wars Rogue One received an 85% on RT. This does not mean the movie is a 8.5 out of ten, it does mean that 85% of critics gave Rogue One a positive review (or a score of at least 3/5). Scores over 60% are considered fresh, any score under is considered rotten and marked with a green splat.

Working at a movie theatre I see plenty of guests who are turned off from a movie they were looking forward too as a result of its low rotten tomato score. Many times I urge them to reconsider, even if I didn't like the movie myself. Even when a movie has a nine precent on RT like the recent Fifty Shades Darker, that still means that a tenth of professionally paid movie critics liked the movie enough to endorse it with a positive review. Statistically speaking there is a 1/10 chance of you liking that movie, and maybe you won't just like it you'll love it. On RT, extremely high scores are indistinguishable from the moderately high scores, both are represented as fresh. Under this system bias is minimized preventing a skew as a result of an extremely high or extremely low score (Im looking at you Metacritic). So you could skip out on that movie that has a 20% on RT, but you could also be robbing yourself of the chance of really liking the movie. Some will see a movie, love it, and bash rotten tomatoes for giving it a low score. To them I say there is no mistake, they enjoyed a movie that a heathy 50+ Critics also enjoyed.

When a movie comes out and is rated low on RT I do get a little discouraged, It's stupid to ignore the correlation between RT scores and the movies I like. However there is always part of me that optimistic, a sliver that desires to be surprised. Many times I'm disappointed,  it is popular opinion afterall, but sometimes I come out with a smile on my face. These are movies I remember, celebrate especially, almost like I have a personal bond with it because many others passed it by.  Some examples include Self/less (19%), X-Men Apocalypse (48%), Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (35%) and Transporter Refueled (15%), all of which I liked (in some cases loved) despite its negative Rotten Tomato score. Tonight I'm seeing The Great Wall which holds a 35% and Fist Fight at 20%, maybe one of these films will surprise me in a similar way.

Fifty Shades Darker

Fifty Shades can't Cover up the This Movies Lack of Plot      1/5

Financial Sucess
     40million Dollars opening weekend is good money

Pop Music
     The movie is one long music video, if you like the songs your ears won't suffer

Crowd Pleaser
     The audience of primary Woman over thirty clapped at my screening, good for them

Rotten Tomatoes 9%                                  Cinemascore: B+

No surprises here ladies and gentleman, Fifty Shades Darker is just as bland, poorly written and frustratingly superficial as you would assume walking in. Whatever this film thinks it earns by passing itself off as a dark romance is waved like a false flag, blending up to six "Vanilla" sex scenes with horrendous dialogue and some of the most shallow storytelling I have seen in a long time. Seriously, I have seen PG-13 movies with more bite that this impudent mess.

Ok so time for me to discuss the plot, because there has got to be a plot right? Take what I say with a grain of salt, the plot of Fifty Shades Darker follows the continuing romance between Anastasia Steele and Billionaire Christian Grey. Christian has turned over a new leaf and wants Anastasia back in his life, but Anastasia isn't certain that he has changed after their last relationship took a dark turn. Nevertheless she takes him back, and the rest of the film follows the two as they fall deeper in love.

Now there is some good in the premise of Fifty Shades Darker, the relationship between the two is clearly an abusive relationship (mentally people mentally); now thats generally interesting and relatively rare in the modern hollywood landscape. However drama in Fifty Shades Darker is ploy, its a showcase, a soap opera to keep your attention in between sex scenes and reward the viewer with a false since of satisfaction when the climax comes around. The movie is a continuous sequence of three events: Ana has her doubts whether her relationship with Christian is for the best, Christian does something to validate her concerns, then they have passionate sex resolving all doubts that were sewed. I'm not joking, this cycle repeats six time throughout the film, multiple conflicts are dropped without resolution and the movie continues like it tied everything up in a bow. This isn't linear story telling, this is a narrative told in a series of mounds, like that of a camels back, going up and down and all around but resulting back at square one.

Look, I could go on and on and on and on about Fifty Shades Darker. I can sin the dialogue for being bland in most scenes and cringe worthy in others, I can condemn the acting or the cinematography or the soundtrack which are all struggle to meet mediocrity, but whats the point. The more I hate it the more it shows I care. The plain simple truth as divulged above is that Fifty Shades Darker just is barely a movie. There is no plot here, no proper character development no conscious series of events that would suggest the archetype of such a story, things happen and then they are resolved for no reason. Some movies tempt its audience with the promise of scandal or malice, Fifty Shades Darker seduces audiences into peaking behind the curtain only to pull the rug out from under them when it turns out there is nothing there.

Box Office: February 10-12

Valentines day weekend has meant big box office bucks for several years now, and while 2017 was definitely more subdued compared to previous years, it certainly didn't prevent these three movies from making some serious cash.

The Lego Batman Movie came in #1 this weekend with just under 56million domestically. Surprisingly this is down nearly 20% from The Lego Movie's monstrous debut back in 2014 which opened with 69million dollars. Not to say that 56mil is small potatoes by any means but after the sucess of the first one and the fact that this is a literal Batman movie, I was expecting profits well above the 70million dollar threshold. However considering its critical promotion (that of which I can confidently endorse), and that is the only family film on the market for the next month, I think it's safe to say The Lego Batman Movie is going to see it's investment back and then some.

Second place goes to Fifty Shades Darker, the movie that was solely responsible for flooding the theatre I work at with horny 'wild' Woman over the weekend (though I use the term wild loosely). Fifty Shades of Grey, also from 2014, made 90million it's opening weekend, smashing all previous records for a February release until a little film called Deadpool came along. Fifty Shades Darker opened to about 40million dollars domestically, and like the first one dropped like a thick stone week one to week two, I fully expect history to repeat itself come next weekend. As for the quality of the movie, I'll save that rant for another post.

In third place is the sequel to a third 2014 hit, and what I would contest as the real winner at the box office this weekend, John Wick: Chapter 2. At 30million dollars, Wick may not be smashing records or standings but it nearly doubled the opening of the first film. Lionsgate has to be pleased with this result, cementing John Wick not only franchise but fostering its growth and identity as a spectacle showcase of some of the best stunt work in the business. While John Wick is making money like this and with the first two movies being so good, I think we got the makings of a great new trilogy on our hands.

Other news in the box office this weekend includes the continued sucess of both Hidden Figures and Split, equally deserving of so. La La Land is still making money and the Space Between Us literally fell off the face of the earth, or at least the minds of the movie going audience. Next week Batman, Fifty Shades, and Wick go up against The Great Wall, Fist Fight, and A Cure for Wellness and I while I think Fist Fight may pull up 15-20million its still going to be The Lego Batman Movie's week to lose. That's all for this week, next years Valentines Day Weekend is going to be real interesting as the Fifty Shades sequel is going up against the Marvel picture Black Panther, hopefully T'Challa steels back all the money the first Fifty Shades movie took from Kingsman.

Spilt

Shyamalan Makes a Scary Fun Film                                           3/5

Standout
     Is it too late to Nominate McAvoy for an Oscar...Yes?...oh well...

No Jump Scares
     Yay a horror movie (well kinda) without any unnecessary jump scares, just great performances.

Redemption
    This is Shyamalan's best movie in a decade. Good to have him back from whatever Lady in the Water was.

Twist
    Like all of Shyamalan's films this ones got a twist, though you might have to be a cinephile to connect the dots. 

Rotten Tomatoes 75%                                  Cinemascore: B+

No spoilers. I know that with this movie there are going to be many on the fence like I was, but I'm here to reassure you are looking to this review to tip the scales, you will not have the plot spoiled here. I will keep it as vague as possible. Three girls get kidnapped by a stranger, Kevin, who has multiple personalities living in his mind. Slowly they must work together with each other and some of Kevin's personalities to uncover the reason they were captured against their will and escape with their lives. That's all I'm going to say about the plot now.

Split is going to divide some people right off the back considering the depiction of its antagonist condition (which is largely exaggerated). While I understand where much of it's criticism comes from (on concept alone), I can tell you that it's made clear early in the film that this is not the practical world, only one that resembles ours. Split's strength is its performances, spearheaded by McAvoy whoes acting reached god level tiers as he switches from personality to personality. Several of the side characters are also fairly strong, with the two of the three kidnapped girls residing at the bottom of the list. They were easily the weakest though neither was so bad that they pulled me out of the movie. The cinematography here is also quite good, and like many a Shyamalan film before it is stuffed with tracking shots following characters room to room, as well as fixed shots during conversation. All this is tied together with a strong script that knows when to cut the tension and when to keep the audience in the dark.

I mentioned in an editorial that this film feels like a Shyamalan film fresh off The Sixth Sense and I stick to that statement. It's not as good as The Sixth Sense, and defiantly not as good as Unbreakable, but its good none the less. For horror and thriller fans their is certainly enough here to satisfy a weekly fix, but for non horror fans like myself you may be surprised how much you enjoy this movie. It's not too scary, and is self-aware enough when to take itself seriously and when to not. Split was a healthy surprise and I eagerly anticipate whether Shyamalan's next will propel forward on its momentum. Just stay humble M. Night.

What does Splits Box Office Sucess Mean for Shyamalan?

Wow three weeks in a row. Split, a movie directed by M. Night Shyamalan (the same director who's produced some of the decades worst films) and produced by Blumhouse has dominated the box office for three weeks in a row. This is big, not only for Shyamalan, but for small indie horror in general.Split has knocked out Star Wars, trampled over XXX The Return of Xander Cage and Resident Evil, and held out against Rings a sequel to one of the most beloved horror movies of all time. Though Split's box office sucess could be credited to the lack of quality movies in its January time slot, it would be ignorant to assume its sucess won't have any repercussions. Also rest assured I will stay away from all spoilers for the purpose of this editorial, my objective here is just to speculate the impact that this movie may have down the line.

So Split is a hit, it made back ten times its budget and received positive criticism all around (Rt:75%, CS:B+, MC:62); the logical next step for any studio is to consider a sequel. Shyamalan has already considered adapting a follow up to his latest thriller releasing a statement in a cryptic tweet saying "I have an 11 page outline for my next film in the bag..." hinting at a connection to Split. It's very possible this could be a direct sequel to his film, though if you have seen Split yourself, you may find tweet a little more revealing than it would first appear.

Another important thing to consider is Split as an pivotal launching point to Shyamalan's career. Not since the early 2000s had he made a movie as critically successful as Split. Since then movie fans such as myself have been treated to abominations such as Lady in the Water, The Happening and After Earth. These movies weren't just bad, they were laughably bad, piss pour dramatic missteps posing as thought provoking cinematic art, imitating inaccurately the formula of his early hits such as The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. In 2015, Shyamalan released The Visit, and while there were many people who praised it there were just as many who labeled it on par of his less beloved works much like his 2004 film The Village. Split however recaptures the critical reception of his early works, combining great preformance with dynamic storytelling and interesting camerawork. Split is a movie that feels like it was made from an M. Night Shyamalan fresh off The Sixth Sense, and while that doesn't quite make up for all of it's flaws it certainly helps put Shyamalan on the right track in earning back popular trust.

It's no secret that a horror movie can be made for next to nothing, earning back massive returns at the box office without even cracking the top three of that week. This is the model Blumhouse has been using for years, but with Shyamalan its done something bigger. 40million dollars opening weekend, for reference thats about as much as the new Ghostbusters (+150mil$) made on it's opening weekend, a movie that costed almost twenty times more than Split. For three weeks, Split has been the most talked about and viewed movie released in nationwide cinemas, thats almost a full month!

While it's certainly not going to be in the top ten movies of the year (by money or critically), Split proves Shyamalan and Blumhouse are a winning combination, and I'm willing to bet I'm not the only one eagerly waiting for his next movie. Split put a big smile on my face, with one more movie like this I will be confident to say I look forward to Shyamalan movies again. If you want me to say anymore, look for my review up tomorrow.

Movies as a Visual Medium

Films by nature are defined by the visual nature in which they construct their worlds. Unlike a novel, a film's picture is tangible, visually universal as it is displayed on screen, leading to a medium of storytelling that is in part completely objective. If you share a novel with somebody who speaks another language, even with translation some fraction of the story you first expierence is miscommunicated along the way. However show the same individual a movie with the sound off and by the time the credits role you will have both shared a visual expierence; subjectivity may influence your opinions on the material, but the material, the film, that is universal. The best movies are always the ones that communicate their story both narratively and visually. Below are four examples of this phenomena in this years oscar nominated films, and my hope is by reading this I can share my own experiences with modern visual media with others in the same way they imprinted on me.

The above image is from the first opening frames of Hell or High Water, a modern western drama that opened earlier this year. The film depicts the struggle of rural families and businesses to maintain a fair state of living, and the desperation some will go to maintain what they believe is theirs. This establishing shot pans over the once economically buzzing main street, now a cluster of closed shops, finally focusing on the morning routine of a secretary arriving for her day job at the bank. As she leaves her car, the barren wall behind her has a message etched in graffiti that jabs at the hypocrisy of banks ethics. Hell or High Water waste no time constructing its narrative, using arguably the most important shot in the movie (the establishing shot) to justify the actions of the two brothers who precede to rob her moments after, all without saying a word.

Arrival is great science fiction that explores bold new concepts under the guise of a familiar narrative. As the title suggests, we have made first contact with an unknown alien race, we have no idea where they're from or what they're here. Unlike many movies however, rather than develop into a typical invasion movie, Arrival focuses on a linguist played by Adams who serves as the only bridge between humanity and extra terrestrial life. During the fist act director Denis Villeneuve plays up the suspense, much like the marketing, and it all commutates in the moment of first contact between Adams and the aliens. The area the humans inhabit is dark, forbidding, almost empty whereas the aliens are shrouded in a heavy white fog that lights both sides of the barrier. It may seem like a stylistic touch, but under the eyes of an intelligent viewer such a contrast may suggest a parallel to human knowledge, between what we think we know and what we can still learn. Call it stretching it but there is a reason this Young's second nomination for cinematography for a major motion picture.

Hacksaw Ridge is a movie that is as epic as it is personal. Following the events of a brutal battle in the Western Pacific, the story centers around Private Desmond Doss who in one night saves dozens of lives without firing a shot. Gibson realizes the gravity of this story by contrasting wide panning shots over the battlefield carnage with various medium long shots of private Doss saving another life. It's essential the audince feels the fear that these men fear, all that so they may also feel the triumph of Doss's sacrifice. Each shot capitalizes on this dynamic, concocting a film that is equal parts horror and heroic epic.

Last on the list is an animated picture, my favorite animated movie of the year in fact. While many would dismiss the cinematography of this art form for its seemingly omnipotent camera, the creators at Laika took extensive care when planning their shots for Kubo and the Two Strings. For the many who missed this family friendly adventure in August, Kubo deals with themes of family and legacy. Beetle and Monkey directly parallel Kubo's mother and father and to show this the animators take every opertunity they can to preserve the trio in a single frame. Many of Kubo's best moments happen around a fire, or when the characters are just interacting organically like a family would. Despite being an animation Kubo and the Two Strings still uses the visual medium of film to tell its story both narratively and visually. 

The Space Between Us

Son of the Martian Fumbles in Space                                 1/5



Soundtrack
     Typical and generic but there is at least one good theme to hum to in here

Road Trip
     Surprise Surprise its a road trip movie.

Performances
     While certainly not career worthy most of the performances her are passable

Rotten Tomatoes 18%                                  Cinemascore: A-

On a first impression you may think that the premise of The Space Between Us Make would make it a fresh new take on a familiar genre, but after seeing the film I can warn you that this isn't the case. The Space Between Us is a dim, generic romance movie wearing the skin of a sci-fi suit, passing itself off as intelligent and profound when its really the the exact opposite.

In The Space Between Us, Gardner (Butterfield) is the first human to be born on Mars. He grows up alongside scientists, completely isolated from society, leading him to yearn for a human connection that he know he will never have. He chats with a high schooler named Tulsa ((Robertson) and dreams of meeting his father he knows through a photograph. However after a series of events Gardner finds himself on earth, motivating him to seek out his crush and find his father. But as fate would have it, he can't stay on earth too long because its gravity is killing him. So Gardner must win Tulsa's affection and find his father before his heart gives out, all while avoiding Shepard (Oldman) who wants to send him back to Mars and out of the public eye.

Whatever credit my summery does or does not do to your interest in the movie will have no bearing on your enjoyment of the film. As hinted above, much of this film is a road trip movie, abandoning whatever favors its absurd set up does it for. Butterfield and Robertson quickly fall victim to the cliches of the genre, as the clumsy script pushes them through the motions of a modern teen romance without any rhyme or reason. There is no soul or passion here, there is no depth or sense to the narrative despite what is scientifically accurate or inaccurate. My enjoyment of the film is completely derivative of the various times I burst out laughing due to laps of judgement or logic that the film jumps to dramatically and often (to which if I acknowledged as credible I would be giving this movie a much higher score). Gardner falls from the stars to find his love, but I'm afraid to enjoy The Space Between Us you need to have your head in the clouds.

Moonlight

A Masterwork Tribute to the Coming of Age Narrative      5/5

Thematic
     This movie unapologetic explores complex dynamics of Identity and sexuality 

Nominated
     Editing, writing and cinematography are only several of the accolades Moonlight is nominated for

Dramatic
     The preformances here are nothing short of career defining

Certified Fresh
    A Whooping 98% on rotten tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes 98%                                  Cinemascore: NA

Boyhood, this film is not. Moonlight may lack the gimmick of filming the same child actor over ten years, capturing the transition from youth to adulthood through the lens of a camera, but what it lacks in production time it makes up in a compelling screenplay and brilliant direction depicted under an intelligent cinematographer.

Like Mason in the similarly constructed 2014 film, Moonlight follows Chiron through three stages of his life. Act 1 depicts Chiron as a child with a drug addict mother and an absent father figure, Act two picks up with Chiron in high school and Act three finishes with Chiron as an adult. Each act stands alone, seemingly telling isolated narratives,  until the third act where the larger narrative becomes clear. This is not a comedy, nor a feel good picture, but rather an unforgiving drama that demands the viewer to ask how our experiences have shaped our own lives much like it does Chiron's.

Moonlight is a film fan's fetish film, trading out quick edits and jump cuts for longer takes focused on our protagonist. Director Barry Jenkins wisely keep the camera close to Chiron at all times, keeping him in a medium close up shot whenever possible. This keeps many of the experiences we see with Chiron feel more personal and therefore more interesting, compelling us to forgive and grow with Chiron as he catapults into adulthood. I dare not give away more than what I already have, but if you feel nothing for the protagonist in this film then there's nothing I can do to help you.

I would be remiss in not mentioning the performances given the chance in this review. It's already noted both Naomie Harris and Mahershala Ali have both received nominations for their roles, and while they absolutely deserve the attention they are getting, this is the rare occasion in a film where every performance seems to serve the whole rather than every actor to his or her character. There are no standout performances yet everybody is exceptional. All credit once again goes to Jenkins who managed to blend many different actors, some even portraying the same person across multiple periods, and having it all feel cohesive on one linear narrative. This is a movie where practically everybody could have been nominated (not to say everyone should) because each performance elevates the other rather than standing out against the grain.

Moonlight is a powerful film and I can't do it justice here. It will not be for everyone, and sad to say even though it was nominated for best picture, it may go under the radar for the vast majority of audiences out there. As I have said many times before this will not be for everybody, but for those who go and seek it out it may just become one of their most memorable movies in recent record like it has become for me.