Review: Ad Astra IMAX, or Not As Spectacular As I Hoped It Would Be

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Now imagine this mug on an IMAX screen. 

Although not shot in IMAX, the trailers and previews kept promising how this movie should be seen in IMAX. Which I did. It actually made a difference, sure, because space movies are always more breathtaking in the IMAX format.

Okay, before anything else, let me just say this: I don't remember the film that much, because I may have slept through some parts of it. Well, I'd say my sleep lasted maybe five seconds tops, but there was a lot of it, so add that up and you get one hazy memory. Sorry, James Gray. It's not that your film was boring. I was just tired from work, maybe? I caught the last full show that day.

Anyway, let me try and give as objective a review as I can, discounting the fact that I slept through some parts of it.

Brad Pitt was good, as always. The thing with Pitt is that he always was a great actor, notwithstanding the fact that he was a Hollywood pretty boy. Since this film plays more on drama than science fiction, Pitt has had plenty of screen time to showcase his acting chops, and he did not disappoint. I think there's a subtlety required when acting in front of an IMAX camera, because even the littlest micro expressions will register on film, and overacting will be something very evident on the big screen. Brad Pitt, however, was superb.

I can hardly remember the other cast, though. I guess that's an effect of having Brad Pitt as the lead actor; he eclipses everybody else. I know Tommy Lee Jones was his dad, and that Donald Sutherland was a colonel or something. And also Ruth Negga was an astronaut on Mars or something. I don't know. I don't really remember, because like I said, I was really sleepy. Everything was like a haze.

Now let's just go to the cinematic depiction of space. Did it succeed in giving us the "most realistic depiction of space travel that's been put in a movie"? That would be debatable. In my opinion, Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity bags that title. Even Christopher Nolan's Interstellar and Ridley Scott's The Martian were better than Ad Astra. But this film does have something going for it, which is the excellent lunar chase sequence. That's something new I haven't seen before onscreen, so good job.

Anyway, I've run out of things to say. I'm just waiting for this film's video release, so I can rewatch it again. Who knows, it might actually be better the second time around.

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This looks very Lego.

Ad Astra. USA/China. 2019.



Rating: 6.5/10
Lunar chase sequence: +0.1
Final rating: 6.6/10

Hope Springs

Hope Springs, as the title would hint at it, is about having hope and hope following through with your expectations. Headlined by the Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones, the film morphs into a hopeful romantic movie about an elderly couple. But really, Hope Springs is actually the name of the small town where our two leads spend a few days or so to undergo an intense marriage counseling from this guy.

That's doctor-psychologist Steve Carrell. Would you really take this guy seriously?

Lincoln

DreamWorks/Twentieth Century Fox/Reliance

*PISS OFF IF YOU HATE SPOILERS*

Steven Spielberg does what he does best, and that is a new genre I have invented, called “time travel films”. The phrase may or may not catch on, but who the hell cares, right?

DreamWorks/Twentieth Century Fox/Reliance

Just stick a TARDIS in the background, and
there you have it ─ time travel film.

Men in Black III

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After a 10-year absence, the men in black finally make a comeback. This is the third installment in the MIB franchise, and I sure hope as hell it won't be the last.

Men in Black now ranks as my second favorite alien franchise, next only to Doctor Who. Some people might be asking, "Wait, I thought you liked Star Wars?" Yes, I do love Star Wars. But you have to understand first that when I say "alien", I don't mean "sci-fi". There's a difference.

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"There is?"

Star Wars is sci-fi. Dune is sci-fi. Star Trek is alien. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is alien. Get the difference?

When I say "alien", I mean something that still involves human Earthlings and the planet Earth. Do you have the planet Earth in the Star Wars universe? No, you don't. Is Han Solo a human Earthling? No, he isn't (he's a human Corellian).

Anyway, 10 years is a long time, and a lot of changes have taken place in MIB headquarters. First, Zed's dead (nice rhyme). Second, the new director (I assume that's what the highest MIB officer is called) is O (Emma Thompson), and she gives a hilarious eulogy to her predecessor.

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"Is it funnier because of my British accent?"

Captain America: The First Avenger

The things I did not like about Captain America:

1. The historical inaccuracies
There were no black people in World War II.

Well, technically, there were. But they had their own batallion. You see, there was this thing called segregation, people. Black people did not fight side-by-side with the whites. If you don't believe me, see Band of Brothers. Everything I learned about World War II, I learned from Steven Spielberg. Just kidding.

P.S. I don't think there were Asians in World War II, either. Even those from Fresno.

See? No black people. Nor Asians.

No Country for Old Men

This film won the Best Picture Oscar in 2007.

Yet despite the trophy, I can sum this up in three words: Pretty. Heavy. Shit.

I want to comment first on the performances of the actors, without which this film would be dry as the desert it was set in.

Josh Brolin: Totally effective. Wondered why he looked familiar. That moustache does wonders, by the way.

Woody Harrelson: But of course, it’s Woody. This guy can turn his funny switch on and off at will. And although he isn’t Mr. Funny Guy here, it is delightful to hear him with his Texan drawl.

Tommy Lee Jones: Some people don’t like TLJ as an actor (TLJ?). Well, I do. He’s not really a character actor, and he can only play limited roles, i.e. grumpy old men, but he plays those parts quite well. He nailed the part of K in Men in Black quite well, didn’t he?

And last, but definitely not the least, Señor Javier Bardem. He is so despicable that you just wish he were dead. But of course, he doesn’t die, as he is the one who does all the killing.

Of course, great performances are also due largely to the great minds behind the helm. I am of course talking about the auteurs known as Ethan and Joel Coen. What's great about the Coen brothers is their ability to create so much tension in the story alone, then even it out by using other cinematic elements. Take music, for example. Using music like the theme from Psycho, for example, would've created over-tension.  And we don't want that, lest old people watching might die of a stroke. (We don't want this to become No Movie For Old Men.) So when you already have a tension-filled plot, you balance it with music (by using none─or almost none─of it); with cinematography (by using long takes and wide, panoramic shots); with editing (by using less cuts, thus slowing the pace); and with dialogue (by using it sparingly).

Also, the most effective way to cancel out tension is humor. And since Javier Bardem's character is the one that carries the most tension, it is only fitting that his character uses humor to diffuse the tension. Check out his hair.

Isn't that the funniest hairstyle you've ever seen? Okay, maybe it's not that funny─in the thirteenth century. But really, at this day and age, who would want a hairstyle like that?


*some info from IMDb
pic from Blake Loosli and nndb.com


No Country For Old Men. USA. 2007.


Rating: Eight out of ten.
Javier Bardem's hair: Zero out of ten.

Men in Black

A great popcorn movie, and just right at ninety minutes or so.

Oscar winner Barry Sonnenfeld directs this comic book adaptation, and it's actually so effective because the film itself also runs like a comic book. The lighting and the effects are perfect for the mood the film is trying to go for, which is The X-Files meets Star Wars.

Tommy Lee Jones is perfect as the no-nonsense Agent K, a perfect match to the comic relief and occassional coolness of Mr. Will Smith. My only problem was Will Smith's wardrobe in the beginning. Orange half-jumpsuits are so...nineties.

Anyway, the sexy Linda Fiorentino is quite entertaining as the only female lead in this movie, but it makes me wonder what happened to her career. Where are you now, Linda Fiorentino?

But the best performances in the movie come from Tony Shalhoub and Vincent D'Onofrio. Tony Shalhoub's Jeebs is delightful, and I suppose a lot of Hollywood actors would die for roles like this, playing against type, and getting a huge kick out of it. And Tony Shalhoub is almost unrecognizable here, what with the buck teeth and the crossed eyes. And Vincent D'Onofrio's performance as Edgar the Bug─classic. This should be viewed by any aspiring method actor, as every move done by D'Onofrio, every twitch of his face, and every faltering step he takes, everything he does can only be done by an alien in someone else's skin. Vincent D'Onofrio is a genius. And it also helps that both Jeebs and Edgar have excellent makeup, since this film, by the way, took home the Oscar for Best Makeup. How cool is that?

Men in Black was done with the early versions of computer-generated special effects, and now, more than ten years after its theatrical release, still remains as one of the most genuinely entertaining science-fiction comedies ever produced. And for that, we thank Steven Spielberg for producing this. We love you, Mr. Spielberg.


*some info from IMDb
pic from aceshowbiz.com


Men in Black. USA. 1997.


Rating: Eight and a half out of ten.
Tony Shalhoub: Nine out of ten.
Vincent D'Onofrio: Nine out of ten.