Random Richards Reviews

2018 OSCAR PREDICTIONS: PART 1- SOUND AND MUSIC

18/02/27 at 7.49am / by Random Richards / 0 Comment

BEST SOUND EDITING:

BABY DRIVER
BLADE RUNNER 2049
DUNKIRK
THE SHAPE OF WATER
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

Who Will Win?

If sound editors and sound mixers do their job right, the audience shouldn’t notice. It’s admirable for them to not call attention to themselves, but it makes it hard as hell to analyze their work, let alone predict the winners. Going by their tasks, I take into consideration the challenges required for each category and the level of challenge each film asks of them. I also look at trends of winners.

For sound editing, the challenge is collecting all the sounds required in the film. The ones who share the most challenge is science fiction; which leads the award in favor Blade Runner 2049. Sound editors Mark Mangini and Theo Green had to immerse us into a futuristic universe with multiple settings, from a modern metropolis to a desert wasteland. They also had to create the sound of a hologram.

But that’s nothing compared to the confrontation between Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) and K (Ryan Gosling) in an abandoned casino. In the background, holograms of Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and Liberace flash in and out. Hearing the music go in and out with the holograms as the characters try to find each other in the darkness is deserving of the award alone.

But these categories also love war movies, which means great odds for Dunkirk. Adding to those odds is sound editor Richard King already winning for The Dark Knight and Inception, two other beloved Christopher Nolan films. This film relies on the sounds of bullets and air flight to create a sense of dread for the incoming enemy.

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THE BEST TV SHOWS OF 2017

18/01/27 at 6.49am / by Random Richards / 0 Comment

7) AMERICAN VANDAL

Someone has spray painted dicks on 27 of the teacher’s cars and Dylan Maxwell (Jimmy Tatro) is the prime suspect. After all, he loves drawing dicks. But did he really do it? High school student and wannabe filmmaker Peter Maldonado (Tyler Alverez) to discover the truth in this dead-on send-up to true crime documentary shows like Making a Murderer.

From the fake opening credits (“Executive Producer: Mr. Baxter”), the series has you laughing your ass off while keeping you hooked into the mystery. Through it’s melodramatic music and tricky editing, the series perfectly captures the narrative tricks crime documentaries use to sensationalize the real-life story. The fact that the show takes this small crime so serious leads to many hilarious moments. You’ve seen many of these shows use CGI models to reenact a crime scene, but how many do you see a CGI model give another a blow job.

That’s not even getting into the storyline, which incorporates every story element you see here. A sympathetic suspect you wish were innocent? Check. A suspected conspiracy led by authority figures out to make the suspect look guilty? Check. A sudden appearance of evidence changing the outcome? Check. You name it, they got it. Seeing these elements applied to a high school setting makes these plot elements look so ridiculous. The fact that Peter takes them so seriously makes these scenes all the more hilarious when a revelation involves pubic hairs.

And yet, you are still able to take the case seriously, wanting Dylan to be proven innocent. Each revelation keeps you more hooked into the story, anxious to see more. It helps that this series has so many great characters, from the “too-cool-for-school” teacher Mr. Kraz (Ryan O’Flanagan) to school dweeb Alex Trimboli (Calum Worthy). But it’s the leads who shine the most. Alvarez plays it so serious you can’t help but be pulled in. Griffin Gluck serves as the perfect straight man in his performance of Peter’s friend/partner Sam. Once you get over his baritone voice, Tatro brings a goofball charm to Dylan.

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THE BEST MOVIE MOMENTS/SCENES OF 2017:

17/12/29 at 11.57am / by Random Richards / 0 Comment

HONOURABLE MENTION:

Gru and Dru Impersonate Each Other from DESPICABLE ME 3

After a period of bonding, former Supervillain Gru (Steve Carell) and his bumbling estranged brother Dru (also Carell) decide to make a family dinner a little fun by dressing up as each other. Sure, this scene might be a little random, but it’s so enjoyable to watch these two try to imitate each other.

I included this scene thanks to Carell’s impressive voice acting. Rarely do you hear a voice actor portray one character impersonating another character they also voice. To pull this off, they can’t sound like the later character, they must sound like former character trying to impersonate the later character. One perfect example is the scene in the Looney Toons Cartoon Rabbit Fire, when Bugs Bunny (Mel Blanc) and Daffy Duck (also Blanc) pretend to be each other to trick Elmer Fudd (Arthur Q. Bryan). When Bugs impersonates Daffy, you don’t hear Daffy’s voice. You hear Bugs doing his best Daffy impersonation. The same goes the other way. Carell pulls off the same affect with the characters. When Dru imitates Gru, it’s more innocent compared to Gru’s snarkier imitation of Dru. Such is a challenging task for a voice actor, and Carell pulls it off with graces.

The Aging Montage from A QUIET PASSION

This brilliant montage starts with each member of the Dickenson clan sitting in front of the camera like they’re posing for a portrait. When the camera closes in on Emily Dickenson (Emma Bell as a teen, Cynthia Nixon as an adult) and her family, they age right in front of our eyes. Director Terrence Davies is not known for using special effects, but the way this film flawlessly ages up the characters from one actor to another is breathtaking.

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2017 OSCAR PREDICTIONS PART 9: BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

17/02/26 at 7.10pm / by Random Richards / 0 Comment

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:

– FIRE AT SEA

Along the coast of Sicily stands a little seaport town of Lampedusa. This town seems like nothing special, but for 20 years, it has served as the landing ground for 400,000 refugees fleeing from Africa. In hopes of reaching Europe. And yet, the town seems unaffected by it. Fire at Sea looks at the daily routines of this little town and the town’s process of sorting out refugees.

The film bears familiarities with 4.1 Miles. Both have refugees being forced into overcrowded boats, many of which sink before they get there. Both show the heroics of Coast Guards rescuing these desperate people. What separates Fire at Sea from the short film is that we get to see what happens to the refugees after they are rescued. We see Somali Refugees put through a process where they are checked for illnesses and weapons. The officers wear contamination uniforms for the sake of safety. We also see how the refugees kill time. Most of them pray to Allah, while others sing gospel. All of them play soccer.

But most of the film focuses on the everyday lives of the locals. The film switches between a radio dj, a middle-aged woman, a scuba diver and a boy named Samuele. The boy gets the most attention, creating slingshots with his friend Mattias and sneaking around ruins. At times, editor Jacopo Quadri performs some clever transitions. One scene, we’ll see Samuele and Mattias playing in a desert, then we see walking in the distance. Cut to the diver in the ocean.

Gianfranco Rosi shoots moments with a sense of distance. I assume this is used to focus more on the beauty of the surroundings than the characters. Unfortunately, this doesn’t leave the audience with much to connect with. And honestly, it’s very boring. This film seems to be trying to stretch a forty-minute film into a two-hour movie.

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2017 OSCAR PREDICTIONS PART 8: BEST ANIMATED FEATURES

17/02/26 at 6.40pm / by Random Richards / 0 Comment

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:

– KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS

“If you must blink, do it now.”

That’s how our hero begins each of his stories. It may as well describe this movie. With one blink, you could miss the stunning animation in Kubo and the Two Strings, another home run from the masters of stop-motion animation Laika.

Set in feudal Japan, this folk tale centres around a little one eyed boy named Kubo (Art Parkinson) with the ability to control origamis by strumming his two string Shamisen guitar. By day, he uses his gifts to tell stories to the villagers. By night, he cares for his comatose mother. That all changes when he’s stalked by two creepy, masked twin sisters (Rooney Mara). To protect her son, Kubo’s mom sacrifices herself to save him. From her sacrifice births Monkey (Charlize Theron), a former wooden charm who becomes the boy’s guardian. Joined by a samurai beetle (Matthew McConaughey), Monkey and Kubo are sent on a mystical journey to find the armour of Kubo’s father, find out who sent the sisters and stop him.

This is the directorial debut of Travis Knight, Laika president and CEO[1]. As with other Laika films, Kubo and the Two Strings dazzles with is stunning stop motion animation. We are treated to amazing battle scenes between our heros and the sisters as well as mystical creatures like the giant skeleton with katanas on its head. Plus, the animation emerces itself into Japanese culture, with the simple village and the beautiful image of floating lanterns. Matching the animation is the storytelling. It’s a pretty simple fantasy story, but it’s still engaging with mythological fantasy creatures.

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2017 OSCAR PREDICTIONS PART 5: BEST ANIMATED SHORTS

17/02/26 at 12.22am / by Random Richards / 0 Comment

If you are curious to watch these short, you can rent them in the following link.

BEST ANIMATED SHORTS:

– BLIND VAYSHA

And so, we start with the first Canadian import.

Vaysha was born with two sights. With her left eye, she sees the past. With her right eye, she sees the future. Everyone she meets is both a child and an elder, which proves a problem when suitors try to court her. This creates a sense of blindness for Vaysha, walking into trees because she can only see it as a seedling and a stump. Her double vision also makes it hard to sleep when her dreams consists of both the dawn of man and the apocalypse. It’s up to 3 medicine women to bring her eyes into the present.

This must be a horrifying way to live. Vaysha’s unable to live in the present, seeing only what was and what will be. It gets so unbearable that Vaysha considers gouging one of her eyes out. Too bad each eye presents its own problems. If she takes out her left eye, she sees only a bleak world. If she takes out her right eye, it’s going to be awkward to see her parents as infants. Either way, she’s still not living in the present.

The animation takes on the style of an old wood cut art style, fitting with the folk tale storytelling. You get lots of beautiful images, including the scene of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. The animation also exaggerates movements, especially with character’s stretching their necks. Adding to the folksy tale is the narration by Caroline Dhavernas.

In a way, this feels like a folk tale, the kind cultures would tell to teach children a lesson. This lesson: “Today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.” It sure gets the message across with its excellent animation.

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2016 ACADEMY AWARD PREDICTIONS PART 5: BEST ANIMATED FEATURES

16/02/09 at 6.02am / by Random Richards / 2 Comments

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:

ANOMALISA

In his first directing effort since Synecdoche, New York, Charlie Kaufmann makes his first animated feature alongside co-director Duke Johnson. Based on his play of the same name, the film centers around Michael Stone (voiced by David Thewlis), and a self-help author on a tour to promote his book. He has become so disconnected from everybody that they are starting to look the same. As further emphasis on this, every other character is voiced by Tom Noonan, even Michael’s wife and kids.

His worlds’ turned upside down when he meets and falls for Lisa (voiced by Jennifer Jason Leigh), an insecure woman. Though average looking, Michael finds something special about her and pursues an affair. What makes this love story stand out is the fact Lisa’s no bathing beauty. She’s more like the kind of woman you work with at an office. So it’s not just based on looks. And yet, Michael finds something special about her.

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RANDOM RICHARDS’ TOP 10 FAVOURITE MOVIES OF 2015

15/12/27 at 11.46pm / by Random Richards / 0 Comment

10: BRIDGE OF SPIES

You have to hand it to Steven Spielberg, when he does drama he never holds back. With films like Schindler’s List and Lincoln, he not only acknowledges the moral complexity of real life circumstances, he embraces them. When he deals with tragic moments of history, Spielberg doesn’t back away from the ugliness of this moment. In this movie, we see a family gunned down trying to cross the Berlin Wall. But this has to be the least Spielbergian of his movies. It doesn’t even have a John Williams score, opting out for Thomas Newman. What we have is an morally complex espionage thriller of an ordinary man caught in the middle of the cold war.

Tom Hanks plays James B. Donovan an insurance salesman forced to defend soviet Spy Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance). When an American soldier is caught in enemy lines, Donovan then must cross the Berlin Wall to exchange Abel for the soldier. Through Donovan’s defense of Abel, Bridge of Spies shows how difficult it is to hold on to your principals in the time of war. Even though the country wants Abel hanged, Donovan goes in with the determination that he gets a fair trial. As a result, he faces opposition on all sides, from the bystanders to the judge. Even CIA tries to get him to break client confidentiality. At one point, someone opens on Donovan’s house. He still holds on to his principal and upholds the law. The exchange proves him right on his convictions.

Then it becomes an espionage thriller when Donovan travels the Soviet-ruled East Germany to attempt the exchange. It’s clear Donovan’s a stranger in a strange land, where a walk down the street could cost him his jacket. When an American civilian is captured as well, Donovan goes out of his way to have the kid rescued too. This leads to one hell of a thrilling climax.

9: ROOM

I got to see this film when it was selected as the People’s Choice at the Toronto International Film Festival. It wasn’t even halfway into the film when the audience cheered. And for good reason. Not only was this one of the most compelling movies of the year, but it seems like two movies.

Adapted by Emma Donoghue from her own book; the film centers around Jack, a five year old boy (Jacob Tremblay) who’s imprisoned in a shack along with his mother (Brie Larson). Because he has never left the shack, Jack thinks the room is literally the whole world, developing a personal connection with the inanimate items. The first half focuses on their lives imprisoned in the shack, as the mother shields Jack from the man who imprisoned them. It’s heartbreaking to watch these scenes, made bearable by Jack’s wide eyed innocence. In one brutal scene, the mother’s forced to pull out her own rotted tooth. Sean Bridges is frightening as the creep who holds them hostage. Now is the moment when the mother makes a plan of escape.

I usually wouldn’t give away the second half, but the trailers already gave it away for me. The second half focuses on their escape to the outside world. The escape scene is one of the most suspenseful scenes in the film. The audience cheered when Jack reunites with his mother. But this comes with new challenges. Introduced to the outside world for the first time, Jack is both curious of the possibilities and so frightened he clings to his mother. Even when free, the mother still feels the phantom pains of imprisonment. Not helping is the media coverage. Larson brings out her character’s traumatic hollowness with brutal honest. As Larsons’ mother, Joan Allen conveys the suffering parents go through in this scenario and the helplessness they feel not sure how to help their child cope.

At age 5, Tremblay maintains a wide-eyed innocence that helps the child endure the unendurable.

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A Goofy Review: Goof Troop

15/06/16 at 10.50pm / by Random Richards / 0 Comment

Now that I’ve talked about A Goofy Movie, I may as well talk about the show it’s based on: Goof Troop. The show centers on Goofy’s life as a single father raising his 11 year old Max (the late Dana Hill) in suburbia. In the 90’s, Disney released a series of original syndicated cartoons shows that became known as the Disney Afternoon. Nearly every show in the Disney Afternoon became an immediate classic including Ducktales, Darkwing Duck and Gargoyles. While the other shows had elements of fantasy and adventure, Goof Troop was the group’s first comedy and the first to focus on suburban living. It was also clearly Disney’s attempt to cash in on the “Kids Rule” mindset that ruled kid’s movies and TV shows. As a result, it will often try a little too hard to make Max what they think 90s kids regard as cool. You know, having him ride a skateboard, try to start a rock band and come up with elaborate schemes ala Zack Morris. Of course, doing a 360 on a ramp isn’t that impressive, especially when you’ve seen another kid character surfing on freaking clouds. The most notable example of desperation is their infamous music video “Gotta Be Getting Goofy.” As a result, it comes off as a bit dated, especially when Gargoyles comes along and becomes legitimately cool without trying.

It’s when the show stops trying to be cool is when Goof Troop really takes off. Though he’s not as memorable as Gosalyn or Mabel Pine, he’s still more likeable than most child characters. With this being a cartoon, it’s easier to get away with the over the top schemes he comes up with. As with Zack Morris, his plans often go wrong, leading to more antics. My personal favorite is one where Max and his friend PJ (Rob Paulsen) create a science fiction film for a science project. Somehow, it links to other TV networks and gets mistaken for a real alien invasion[1]. And if that wasn’t enough, Goofy does a street performance involving pantomime and tin foil. He gets mistaken for an alien and taken to NASA. And then Max somehow breaks into NASA headquarters disguised as a doctor to get Goofy out. It’s so over the top that I have to love it.

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A Goofy Review

15/06/12 at 8.28pm / by Random Richards / 0 Comment

INTRODUCTION:

At first glance, A Goofy Movie is a movie that shouldn’t have worked. First of all, the show is based Goof Troop, on a Disney Afternoon cartoon that was never as popular as the other cartoons. Then they take the child character and turn him into a teenager. Plus, the last time a cartoon character known for 7 minute shorts was asked to carry a feature length movie we got the disaster known as The Tom and Jerry Movie. With this going for it, people would have expected the movie to have been a cheap cash grab doomed to flop and be forgotten.

But since its release in 1995, A Goofy Movie seems unable to leave the pop culture mindset. If anything, the film is arguably better and more popular than the show. Even to this day, there are a few posts of women cosplaying as characters from the film and its sequel. There are YouTube videos of people reenacting the musical number “After Today”. Even the Entertainment Weekly website posted an article commemorating the 20^th Anniversary of the film by rating each of the film’s songs. Article writer Marc Stetiker sums up the fans opinion of the film with the opening line; “Do not let anyone tell you that A Goofy Movie is not a Disney classic.”

SYNOPSIS:

Based on the animate show Goof Troop, Goofy (Voiced by Bill Farmer) is still a single father raising his son Max. Max (Jason Marsden) is now a high school freshman with a crush on classmate Roxanne (Kellie Martin). But his is too insecure to even talk to her, regarding being a Goof. On the last day before summer vacation, he hatches a plan to hijack a school assembly and performing a fake concert impersonating pop superstar Powerline (voiced by Tevin Campbell). Not only does this stunt make him a sensation among his classmates but it also lands him a date with Roxanne at an afterschool party.

Unfortunately, the stunt also lands him in hot water with Principal Mazur (Wallace Shawn). When Mazur calls Goofy, he greatly exaggerates the situation and claims Max will end up in the electric chair if Goofy doesn’t reevaluate his parenting. Falling for this hook, line and sinker, Goofy decides reconnect with his son with a road trip to Lake Destiny, a vacation of Goofy’s childhood. Max is upset because this trip prevents him from meeting his date with Roxanne. At first, Goofy’s attempts to reconnect with his son only alienates his son some more, especially considering that he was technically forced on the trip against his will. In time they redevelop their bond and learn to appreciate each other. Plus, they encounter Bigfoot and fall over a waterfall.

Max also has another problem. Fearing losing Roxanne to another guy, he claims that Goofy used to know Powerline and that he will be dancing with him on stage in LA. Now Max has to choose between fessing up to Roxanne or deceiving his father into going to the concert.

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