My Current Top Movie Studios

I've been hitting a lot of milestones lately on this blog. I recently had my 300th Movie Reaction. I think I crossed the 700 mark from Delayed Reactions too, making for over 1000 Reactions total. I'll be hitting 100,000 views pretty soon. It was also about this time that I really started updating regularly about 5 years ago. While I like fitting in some time for TV discussion, I accept that this is mostly a movie blog. So, when I decided that I wanted to do a special project for all these things happening, I looked to movies.

Ever since Club 50 slowed down, I've been looking for some new major project. Working down another big list didn't sound very enjoyable. I've grown to like my relative freedom of movie selection without a list. Ever since a friend challenged me to come up with a top 10 favorite movie list, I've become obsessed with that. A top 100 is something I've been compiling and eventually I hope to release some pieces on that.

That got me thinking more broadly. What are my favorite studios? I have directors, actors, and writers who I trust. Why not the studios that distribute the movies? They all have identities. With the rise of online and digital distribution, the big six studios aren't dominating the discussion anymore. There's plenty of "mini-majors" and just plain small studios distributing films. So, I compiled my big list of movies and Boxofficemojo into studio lists and got to ranking.

Now, to keep things interesting, equal, and timely to this blog in particular, I'm only going back to 2011. That's five years and some change. It marks when I started seeing a lot of movies in theaters and started writing Reactions. Also, I just really liked 2011 for movies. By limiting the years, I can get a better snapshot of my current favorite studios, and the major studios don't have the decades head start they would on an all-time list. In making these selections, I focused on the good, not the bad. It seemed unfair to penalize a studio like Lionsgate for releasing Twilight movies that gave them the financial flexibility to release riskier films like Warrior. Of course, I'm also only rating movies I've seen. That's obvious and fair. After all, a studio can't be my favorite if I ignore its releases.

One final note worth mentioning: Notice that I'm going by distribution not production. Simply put, production is too hard to trace. Several studios are often involved and they don't always create that much. Distribution is much simpler, and I'll argue that distribution feels more curated.

1. Buena Vista (Disney)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Inside Out
Tomorrowland
Marvel's The Avengers
Zootopia
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Frozen
Guardians of the Galaxy
Wreck-It Ralph
War Horse

The story of Disney is simple. They are doing everything right at a high level. The Marvel Machine has had some monster hits. The top tier of those (The Avengers, The Winter Soldier, Guardians) are popcorn delights. The competition between Disney Animation and Pixar means that both are upping their game. So, Frozen and Wreck It Ralph are countered by Inside Out which, in turn is countered by Zootopia. I'm saddened by how quickly forgotten War Horse was. Was it formulaic? Yes. Did I weep at the end? Absolutely. I call that a win. Tomorrowland is a messy little box office bomb that I just keep loving more and more. Oh yeah, and they brought Star Wars back. Not a lot of these hit me on a gut level but that's fine. No studio has as much command over what they are doing as Disney right now.

2. Warner Brothers

Mad Max: Fury Road

Creed

Crazy, Stupid, Love.

The Dark Knight Rises

Argo

Gravity

The LEGO Movie

The Nice Guys

Pacific Rim

The Conjuring

I went into this knowing what most studios brought to the table. I knew what they had that would keep them in the discussion. That is not the case with the WB. This is an eclectic list that didn't lean on one good year the way that others had to (although 2015 was formidable). Fury Road I loved so much that WB would've found its way on this list regardless of what else they released. The Dark Knight Rises had its flaws but the recent DC efforts have made it look so much better by comparison. Crazy, Stupid Love has cemented itself as one of my favorite romantic comedies. Pacific Rim taps into some of the same energy that makes me love Fury Road. The Lego Movie is an oddball animation hit that was way better than it should've been. The Nice Guys is a groovy LA Noir. Creed fills my appetite for inspirational sports movies. And there's more than this top ten. I just had to cut off somewhere.

3. Universal

About Time
Bridesmaids
Neighbors
Pitch Perfect
Pitch Perfect 2
Trainwreck
This Is 40
Rush (2013)
Hail, Caesar!
Fast & Furious 6

It's pretty clear that Universal benefited a lot in my mind from their association with Judd Apatow. This Is 40 and Trainwreck were both directed by him and Bridesmaids and Neighbors have his fingerprints all over them. Bridesmaids in particular is a comedy that just never get tired of watching. The Pitch Perfect movies have no ties to Apatow but reinforce the point that a good comedy is what I'm really looking for. Really, though, About Time. That's it. That movie rewired my brain. There's no way I can gush about it enough.

4. Sony (Tristar/ScreenGems)

This is the End
21 Jump Street
22 Jump Street
Looper
Sausage Party
The Interview (2014)
The Night Before
Ghostbusters (2016)
Skyfall
Captain Phillips

Just like Universal benefits from Judd Apatow, Sony has Seth Rogen and that crew. Clearly, I love Rogen and Evan Goldberg as writers. This is the End, The Interview, and Sausage Party all make the list. Their movies all feel of a piece while managing to be wildly different. The Jump Street movies aren't directly tied to Rogen/Goldberg, but they are in the same family. Sony benefits from having a lot of good movies. Nothing in the list is a towering achievement. They are just thoroughly enjoyable.

5. Magnolia

V/H/S/2
V/H/S
Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil
Take This Waltz
God Bless America
Drinking Buddies
Life Partners
Compliance
Tangerine
The Wolfpack

Finally, a non-major studio. Apparently, Magnolia is dialed directly into my taste in movies. With the major studios, I've seen a few dozen movies since 2011 and I'm looking at the best 10 or so. For Magnolia, I've seen substantially fewer films and with a higher hit rate. I'm relatively obsessed with the first two V/H/S movies which are everything you could want from a horror anthology. Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil is a one joke movie that continues to find ways get keep getting laughs out of the idea. Take This Waltz and Drinking Buddies are tragic romances of sorts. God Bless America is just insane and I love it. Compliance is horrifying for how true it is. The Wolfpack is also a crazy true story. Tangerine is a great example of how to do great things on a limited budget. I hope Magnolia is around for a long time.

6. Fox

The Martian
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Gone Girl
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Deadpool
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Spy
X-Men: First Class

I wasn't sure what to do with Fox. You see, if I was making a list of top 10 movies since 2011, I don't think any of these movies would make the cut. Top 20 isn't even a lock. It's hard to be too critical about a studio that consistently releases B+ movies though. They are doing some great things with the Planet of the Apes movies and the X-Men movies offer a full alternative view of the MCU. It's the fringe "prestige" movies like The Martian and Gone Girl that make Fox sufficiently interesting.

7. A24

Ex Machina
Room
Spring Breakers
Under the Skin
The Witch
The Spectacular Now
Obvious Child
Locke
The End of the Tour

I'll admit, I broke with my "objective" calculations on this. A24 is very new. I haven't even seen 10 of their movies. They are the single most interesting studio right now though. The list of movies I've seen lingers with me. Spring Breakers, Under the Skin, and The Witch are all films that have basically haunted me since I saw them [in a good way]. Ex Machina and Room too, although they would still be some of my favorites on many levels without the subtle horror. The Spectacular Now and Obvious Child, and The End of the Tour are great character studies. Locke is a one man show, carried by Tom Hardy. There's a strong argument to put A24 even higher. And they've only been around since 2013.

8. Sony Pictures Classics

Whiplash
Before Midnight
The Raid: Redemption
The Raid 2
Tim's Vermeer
Damsels in Distress
Amour
Midnight in Paris
Blue Jasmine
Foxcatcher

I imagine SPC would rate much higher if I was better versed in foreign cinema. There's an international flavor to most of their movies. Woody Allen has been in love with Europe for a while. The Raid movies and Amour are some of the only non-English movies I've seen lately and I loved them. Before Midnight is one part "great conversations" and one part "gaze at how lovely Greece is". Whiplash doesn't totally fit with the rest of my SPC favorites, but that's hardly a bad thing. I'm still not sure that I understand Damsels in Distress, and I like that about it. I'm glad that Sony puts so much effort into their art house branch.

9. Lionsgate (Summit)

Warrior
The Cabin in the Woods
The Impossible
You're Next
John Wick
Dredd
The Hunger Games
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Casa De Mi Padre
Sicario

Look, Cabin in the Woods and You're Next are doing some fun things with the horror genre. John Wick and Dredd are exciting shoot-em-ups. Casa De Mi Padre is a lesson in committing to a joke above all else. Sicario amd The Perks of Being a Wallflower are good examples of familiar types of stories. But, Warrior is what keeps Lionsgate in my top ten studios. I love the hell out of that movie. It gets me pumped up no matter how many times I see it.

10. Paramount

Hugo
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Paranormal Activity 3
Young Adult
Selma
Pain and Gain
Interstellar
10 Cloverfield Lane
Star Trek Beyond
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

A lot of these films took me by surprise. I went into Hugo assuming it was a silly little children's movie that Scorsese made as a lark, and it ended up being my favorite of his movies. Young Adult has an ending that still stings to this day and I love that. I never cared about the Mission Impossible franchise before Ghost Protocol blew me away with some of the best staged action sequences I've seen. Selma is just solid all around. Paranormal Activity 3 is the highest point in that franchise since the first movie. Even Star Trek Beyond, Rogue Nation, and Pain & Gain are pretty fun.

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That's my top ten, however there's a lot of other studios out there putting out good movies. I know there's some smaller ones that would be in my top ten if I sought out more of their movies. Open Road Films is coming on strong with films like Spotlight, Nightcrawler, Dope, and End of Watch. IFC Films releases so many more movie than I can keep up with, although I've managed to catch the likes of Sleeping with Other People, The Babdook, Sleepwalk With Me, and Weekend. Fox Searchlight deserves all the esteem it has with recent films including Brooklyn, 12 Years a Slave, Me & Earl & The Dying Girl, and Birdman. Focus Features (Paranorman, The Theory of Everything, The World's End) and the Weinstein Company (The Imitation Game, Begin Again, Fruitvale Station, The Hateful Eight) are always around. Then there's the studios that didn't last. R.I.P. CBS Films (Inside Llewyn Davis, The To-Do List) and Paramount Vantage (Like Crazy, Jeff Who Lives at Home). All I have to say is anyone who thinks nothing good is getting released in or outside of the major studio system is crazy.

Delayed Reaction: Life Partners

The Pitch: Co-dependent best friends have to grow up.

This movie works because Gillian Jacobs and Leighton Meester make that friendship feel very natural. They are both great. I've seen Jacobs in enough things that I recognize the quirks in her performances, but she's able to apply them to very different characters. She's a much bigger screw-up in something like Love than she is in this, but she uses a lot of the same mannerisms in both. Paige (Jacobs) is a stable adult who has just learned to work around her crazy. So, she's able to fall for Adam Brody's character while also having a lot of issues with him. It's a very real character. The same goes to Meester as Sasha. That character is very believable. I like any time when a character is gay without that being the entire identity of her. Her story is one of a 29 year old who isn't sure what she's doing with her life (I relate to that more than a little). She isn't some token character. That's great.

There isn't a major narrative push to this. The stakes aren't all that high. It's a simple movie about friendship and growing up. I like that it doesn't have more on its mind than that. The central relationships are very natural. Most of the secondary characters are cartoonish, which is fine. That adds flavor.

The ending was smartly placed. This is the kind of movie that can easily leave too much open-ended or try to answer too much. The place it left Jacobs and Meester felt right though. Meester realizes that it's ok to let go of her dream of being a musician if that isn't her dream anymore. There's no need to say what she does next. That doesn't matter to the movie. Jacobs still has so major type-A control issues, but she lets go enough to show that her relationship with Adam Brody's character can work. And Jacobs and Meester's friendship is going to be fine, even if it's different now. That's all I need to know about this story and that's all the movie covers.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

Some Thoughts on the New Fall TV

Fall is here, the Emmys have passed, and that means a new TV season is upon us. That's a lot of TV for me to watch and my DVR has never been more vital. Unlike the last few years, there's a healthy number of new shows that I was excited to see. I'm still trying to master the delicate art of the TV review, so instead, I'm going to offer up a few thoughts about the new shows I've watched so far, now that I have a couple episodes to go off.

Let's start with The Good Place as it's the network show with the most episodes so far and, sight-unseen, what I was looking forward to the most. And what's not to look forward to? Kristen Bell as a lead in a comedy. Ted Danson returning to a sitcom. Michael Schur running the show. These are all very good things. The dangerous part is the set up of the show. It's about Eleanor (Bell) dying and being sent to the show's version of heaven, The Good Place, which is a community of all the best people who have died. The Good Place is run by Michael (Danson) who is kind of like an angel mayor. There's one problem though. Eleanor shouldn't be in the Good Place. This is the first community Michael has ever made and he confused her with someone else by mistake. Eleanor was not a good person on Earth. Realizing her alternative (The Bad Place), she works in secret with her assigned soulmate, Chidi (William Jackson Harper), to become worthy of her placement. There's a lot of setup and I don't believe this can work for long as a highly serialized comedy. At some point, everyone needs to settle down. The core cast is great. Bell has needed to lead another show for a while now. Danson is always welcome in a sitcom. The lesser known cast members (Harper, Jameela Jamil, D'Arcy Carden, Manny Jacinto) all have a lot of potential. The world Michael Schur has created leaves a lot of room to try new things. I remember when Parks and Rec began, I didn't trust the fairly unknown or unproven cast* and I wasn't sure how they could make a series out of this woman trying to get a park built. That improved a lot and pretty quickly. I'd be foolish to not expect the same from The Good Place. I'd like it if the episodes could move to being more funny than clever though.

*Nick Offerman and Aubrey Plaza had not major credits to their name. Aziz Ansari mostly just annoyed people on Scrubs. Chris Pratt had some fans already and Rashida Jones had a history of writers never being able to figure her out. And, notice how I didn't even mention Paul Schneider?

The other big NBC show I was looking forward to was This Is Us from Dan Fogelman, writer of such films as Crazy, Stupid Love and Tangled. By design, it was intended to fill a Parenthood-sized hole in my heart, and so far, it's looking good to deliver on that. The cast is great. Mandy Moore, Milo Ventimiglia, and Sterling K. Brown brought me in, but it also has Chrissy Metz, Justin Hartley, and others. It's tough to talk about this without spoilers, so consider this a warning. Brown, Hartley, and Metz play siblings in the present day. Moore and Ventimiglia play their parents in assorted flashbacks. The flashbacks are used to inform the present. Otherwise, it's standard family drama. Both episodes so far have ended on surprises and I hope they drop that soon. The initial one (Metz and Hartley are twins with Brown as an adopted brother) was appropriately attention-grabbing. The strength in this kind of show going forward isn't about the narrative trickery though. It's going to be about the characters and the relationships. The second episode was pretty mediocre in the way that all second episodes are mediocre. The show is finding its rhythm and hasn't had a chance to add much character depth yet. That said, I need to know something about Metz other than she's overweight and not happy about it. The handling of that character is going to be my quickest turn off if not corrected. The TV production commentary in Hartley's story is dull and broad at this point too. The flashbacks and Brown's situation with his biological father do more than make up for the problematic parts for now. The potential for this show is very high. I often need a good cry and this looks like the best show to earn one.

It's time to move to FX. The cable network has two new series that both owe something to Louie: Atlanta and Better Things. Better Things is Pamela Adlon's semi-biographical series. Her Louis C.K. connection is right there in the credits. He's a co-creator of it. It's Adlon's show though, no question. Better Things is a messy "slice of life" series about mother working in the fringes of Hollywood (voice-acting, small TV roles, indie movies) while trying to raise her three daughters. Adlon's sardonic voice is in all of this and your enjoyment really goes as far as "Do you like Pamela Adlon?". In a lot of ways, Better Things is Louie without the surreal elements. It's Adlon's often mundane, occasionally funny life. As much as I like Adlon, I'm still looking for the element of the series that distinguishes itself from the dozen other Hollywood satires (Episodes, The Comedians) or middle-aged Los Angeleno shows (Casual, Togetherness, Married) out there. Atlanta, on the other hand has me fully on board. This is Donald Glover's pet project about living in the city of Atlanta. It follows Earn (Glover) as he tries to manage his up-and-coming rapper cousin, Alfred aka Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Hanry). There's also Alfred's strange friend Darius (Keith Standield). So far, each episode has been collected adventure of the three men, sometime together, sometimes apart. Glover has made a show that is more about the atmosphere than the story. I say that it owes to Louie because it's definitely inspired by the surreal humor that both dip into often. I think Donald Glover has limitless talent, more than just about anyone in TV or film. With the first few episodes, Glover still seems to be figuring out what he can do with the series. I wouldn't say any episode has been great but they've all been interesting. That's better in a lot of ways. I'm absolutely keeping up with this, because it's easy to see how it could get great, fast.

ABC is the network of LOST, so if there's an "Event Series" that I'm going to give a chance, I trust that network the most. Designated Survivor has an easy pitch to get sucked in by. The heads of the US Government are all killed and Kiefer Sutherland, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, is the next in line to become president. That's a big premise and I had to see how ABC was going to pull it off. Through the two episodes I've seen, it's not encouraging. The simplest way I can explain my thoughts is "I don't buy it." In a world where the President, the congress, and nearly every other high ranking government official has been killed in an attack, I don't accept the response that most characters have on this show. There's the generals who are ready to eliminate Sutherland if needed, the press that seems to be more focused on criticizing Sutherland's speech than reflect on the great national tragedy the night before, and a governor who apparently thinks he's living in the days of the Articles of the Confederation. I don't buy into any of it. That could be enough for me to drop the show. The things it does right though have been impressive. While I think the build up to it needed some work, the immediate moments after the attack on the Capitol were riveting. Sutherland is selling the hell our of how overwhelmed he is as the accidental president. He can also turn on that presidential switch with aplomb when needed. Moments like Sutherland walking into the remains of the Capitol or Kal Penn's character being wrong about why the cop was staring him down at the end of the second episode have pulled at my heartstrings as good as anything in this young TV season. I doubt this could ever become the show I'd love for it to be, but there's a chance that the highs could outweigh the lows enough to keep me watching.

Netflix dropped Easy last week: Joe Swanberg's anthology tribute to love in Chicago. I haven't finished the season yet. So far, the most notable thing about it is just how good the cast he assembled is. I've liked the Swanberg "mublecore" films (Drinking Buddies, Happy Christmas) and this is of a piece with those. Maybe even too much so. The five episodes of Easy I've seen feel live five short films with little connection. I'm not sure how it all works as a whole collection yet. Given the shifting focus of the episodes, some are clearly better than others. "Vegan Cinderella" was effective but Kiersey Clemons is a little too annoying (That she is intended to be annoying doesn't make her less annoying, sadly). On the other hand, "Controlada" with Raul Castillo (Richie from Looking) worked pretty completely for me. It's a "box of chocolates" approach to TV that I rather enjoy. Also, by completely avoiding serialization, it dodges the "weak middle" problem that most Netflix series have.

The last fully new show I've picked up is ABC's Speechless. ABC has mastered the family sitcom in a way that no other network has. Modern Family has long been a well-oiled machine. The Middle is a tragically ignored classic. Blackish, Fresh Off the Boat, The Goldbegs -- They're all really good. With Speechless, they've just changed a few ingredients -- lower-middle class family, set in the present, son with cerebral palsy, put it through their development cycle, and out comes a damn near fully formed, thoroughly enjoyable family comedy. Minnie Driver is going to be the break out character as kind of a mix between the moms on The Goldbergs and Malcolm in the Middle. John Ross Bowie is something between the dads from The Middle and Malcolm in the Middle. Their new neighborhood appears to be next door to the town in Suburgatory. Really, everything about the series feels derivative in the best way. I've really loved how they've handled Micah Fowler's character. His cerebral palsy is just part of his character, not the whole thing. The way the other characters are isn't dependent on him. The family's mom would still be overbearing, the dad would still be lazy, the family would still be bad neighbors. That's just good writing.

One final show I'd like to single out is the soft reboot of Scream Queens. Sadly, I think I'm done with the show. Season one was fun. It knew exactly what it was and what tropes it was playing with. Season 2 brings back all the characters that anyone has ever quoted (the Chanels, the Dean, Hester, etc.). Ryan Murphy changed the setting to a hospital, added seasoned pros like Kirstie Alley and John Stamos, and even swapped out Nick Jonas for Taylor Lautner. I'm vastly less interested though. Skyler Samuels wasn't all that interesting in the first season, but she gave the show a straight woman at the center of all the craziness. Season 2 is attempting to shift Zayday into that role without much luck. The Chanel's are too prominent and the writers can't stop themselves from writing more for them. Here's a good comparison. Imagine Josh Radnor leaves How I Met Your Mother after season 3 and the show tries to position Jason Segel as the new main character. That wouldn't work because the biggest voids are naturally filled by the biggest characters, i.e. Barney Stinson. Barney isn't the true lead on a good show though. Chanel Oberlin isn't the true lead on a good show either.

There's a lot of shows I haven't seen either. Amazon has One Mississippi and Fleabag. I haven't gotten to Netflix's Luke Cage yet. Son of Zorn on Fox may have already passed me by. Elements of Timeless (NBC) and Conviction (ABC) appeal to me (Abigail Spencer and Hayley Atwell respectively). My indifference to baseball is stopping me from watching Pitch, which could prove very foolish of me down the line a la Friday Night Lights. Of course, none of this is even mentioning all the returning shows I'm keeping up with. Only time will tell how much I keep up with TV thoughts like this, but I wanted to at least get these thoughts posted for now.

Movie Reaction: Deepwater Horizon

Formula: (The Towering Inferno / There Will Be Blood) * Everest

I'd kind of like to know what Peter Berg's political leanings are, because I think it colors his choices in films. I'm not sure which way it colors them though. He's interested in a lot of more conservative things: the military (Lone Survivor) and high-school football as a way of life (Friday Night Lights). Even his big budget flop Battleship is a major pro-Navy film. And with Deepwater Horizon, he takes a look at the blue-collar worker. He treats all of these people with respect. However, these movies all take a more liberal stance on things. Lone Survivor commented on the pointlessness of the fight the men were in. The FNL movie looked at the sex, drugs, and racism underneath the surface of that world. Deepwater Horizon continues that trend by examining the folly of a profit-obsessed company cutting corners. This two-side approach to things results in very balanced perspectives on potentially polarizing topics. Or, maybe it's better to say that Peter Berg is more concerned with the people than the settings. He likes to look at the ground level of big topics. That is certainly true of Deepwater Horizon.

I wasn't looking forward to the film when I first heard about it. I didn't see the point of a BP oil spill movie. I was expecting something like The Big Short: a two hour essay proving what I already figured about a catastrophe I already heard about in the news. That's not the movie though. It's a disaster movie first and foremost and a damn good one. The fact that it's based on true events is just an added layer. It's about the machines both literal and figurative that failed and the men and women caught in the violent repercussions.

I assume we all remember the BP oil spill back in 2010. A pipe broke and there was somehow no way to stop it from flowing oil into the ocean at pressure-washer speeds. Deepwater Horizon follows the people stationed at that oil rig when it happened. Kurt Russell is the head of operations. Mark Wahlberg and Gina Rodriguez also work on the operations side. Kate Hudson is Walhberg's girlfriend back on land. People like John Malkovich and Brad Leland work on the rig for BP, trying to push production forward to get back on schedule. The film takes its time to both give the audience an understanding of how the drilling works and what shortcuts were taken that led to the accident. There's a simmering tension from the very beginning since you know where it is going. By the time things go up in flames, it is well earned.

What most impressed me is the way that Peter Berg indicts BP without overdoing it. Even though Malkovich is a mustache-twirling BP-crony, there's a scene that outlines how he gets to the bad conclusions he's at regarding the safety of the rig. For him, it isn't negligence as much as a differing opinion of what's still safe. There's a feeling of being too big to fail, and I get it. That floating rig is huge, with all sorts of moving parts and levels. It's hard to fathom machines that large ever failing at a high level. It's easy to forget how dangerous it all can potentially be. The disaster at the center of the movie is the result of a lot of small bad decisions that reach a break point. It's all clearly BP's fault but Berg trusts that we see that without being monologued at. It's telling the information cards leading into the credits are about the victims, not BP.

None of the characters are particularly interesting beyond the fact that they are the people trapped in this situation. The thrill is in seeing how they survive. I don't need personal details about the characters. I learn everything I need to in how they survive. It reminded me a lot of last year's Everest in that way. Both films have very large casts and it doesn't force more story on any of them than needed.

I really liked this movie. It's a disaster movie with just the right amount of heart. Wahlberg, Russell, Rodriguez, and a lot of other familiar faces play it all convincingly. The disaster scenes are shot great. The film is less hollow than a lot of the big action movies this past summer. It's very entertaining for fans of the genre, which isn't what I was expecting for a September release.

Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: The Bridge on the River Kwai

The Pitch: The story of the POWs forced to build a bridge for the Japanese and the soldiers tasked with destroying that bridge.

I'll admit, I missed some of the point of this. Alec Guiness is superb. The bridge explosion is impressive, especially knowing that it was all real (No computers enhancing this). It maintained my interest the whole time. I really enjoyed the ending, with how nearly Colonel Nicholson ruined the whole plan.

I think I'm just not adjusted enough to Hays Code cinema. After seeing something like Unbroken, the conditions in this POW camp seem quaint. The casting of William Holden as a random American soldier felt manufactured (I'd bet money on that character not being an American in the book). Most of Guiness' character is created in the performance and isn't there on the page. Perhaps I was just expecting too much.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Son of Rambow

The Pitch: Two boys in England decide to make a sequel to First Blood.

There's a certain kind of movie that I call "Sundance movies" that really connect with me. I call them Sundance movies because that's what they normally are: movies that premiere at Sundance. They're normally coming of age stories. They often meander and go down a lot of side tangents that don't add to the story but contribute to the world of the movie. Many indie movies I watch play more like short stories than novels. These "Sundance movies" are almost like a collection of short stories. Me & Earl & The Dying Girl and The Way Way Back are great examples of this. Dope too. And The Kings of Summer. Not all of these are perfect, but they all have the same DNA.

So, it's no surprise that I really enjoyed Son of Rambow. Plus, it falls under another category of movie that I respond to: If a movie ends with characters watching a film that they spent the whole movie making, I'm going to respond favorably. It sold me on Bowfinger. It played well into Me & Earl & the Dying Girl. And it worked here.

This is a damn charming movie. Director Garth Jennings loves playing in this silly world he creates. Bill Milner and the increasingly ubiquitous Will Poulter are completely charming throughout. It took a little while for me to settle into this, but once I did, it was a real delight.

Another small beat I wanted to point out. Perhaps I misunderstood the intent of this, but I loved the twist toward the end, in the school bus with the French students. The whole movie presents Didier as a larger than life cool kid in England. Once he's back with only his French classmates, he's actually a reject. There's a lot of shifting dynamics like that among the characters that surprised me.

Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Best of Enemies

The Pitch: A look into the televised debates between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley in 1968.

This is one of those "perfect storm" documentaries that I'll catch sometimes. I recently watched the CNN series The Sixties and have been digging deep into election strategies for 2016. Then, I stumble on this documentary about political discourse in the 1960s. I knew nothing about any of it. I recognize Vidal in name only and kinda sorta recognize Buckley. So, this was all new to me although about a topic that interested me a lot. That's pretty ideal for a documentary.

I was impressed by the number of topics that this moved between. There's the competition among the news networks of the time, with ABC lagging behind NBC and CBS. It does a wonderful job of painting Vidal and Buckley as opposite sides of the same coin. Then there's how their debates during the Presidential conventions in 1968 changed the course of political discussion on TV.

Mostly, I was impressed by how the documentary didn't take sides. I'm not a fan of watching a documentary when I feel like I'm only being told half the story. It's why Making a Murderer didn't connect with me and why I stopped Blackfish midway through. It would've been easy to make a version of this that villainous Buckley in favor of Vidal after the infamous "Don't call me a crypto-nazi" line. That's not what this does though. It tries to give context to it all, which made it much more interesting.

This doesn't transcend the documentary format in the way that something like The Imposter does, but for anyone at all interested in the subject matter, it's entertaining.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: White Rabbit

The Pitch: Donnie Darko but less interesting.

Say what you will about Donnie Darko (it hasn't aged well), but it's memorable. The visuals get your attention, the dialogue is distinctive, and the cast continues to look better. White Rabbit really wants to be Donnie Darko. The main character (Nick Krause as Harlon) is kind of screwed up. He hears voices that make him question reality. There's a girl (Britt Robertson) who sets him off. Hell, he's even haunted by a rabbit. White Rabbit just doesn't do any of it all that effectively. I never got the sense that these voices from the comics he was hearing were more than just a personality quirk. Robertson's "betrayal" of Krause didn't seem so bad even in his warped perspective. And I never bought their friendship in the frist place. She was just sort of a manic pixie nightmare girl. I think most of it comes down to how removed Krause is the entire time. I think  director Tim McCann was trying to present Krause's character to the audience by following him when he really needed to get the audience inside his head...maybe? I don't know. All I can say is that I felt completely removed from the movie while I was watching it. So, the big moments (realizing Ryan Lee was dead, Krause shooting up his school) had no effect on me. It did kind of make me want to watch We Need To Talk About Kevin again, except that I have no desire to willingly depress myself that much.

Verdict (?): Strongly Don't Recommend

Delayed Reaction: The Oranges

The Pitch: Two best friend families are broken up after the husband of one family begins an affair with the daughter from the other family.

In a way, this movie has been on my radar since 2006, when Leighton Meester guest starred in a couple episodes of House M.D.. Because of that, when I heard about The Oranges back in 2011, the casting of Hugh Laurie opposite Meester always tickled me. Also, Hugh Laurie is never the lead in a movie.

While he's billed as the lead in The Oranges, it's definitely more of an ensemble, and an ensemble that I really like. Laurie, Meester, Alia Shawkat, Allison Janney, Oliver Platt, Adam Brody. My TV All Stars senses are tingling. Catherine Keener is the only movies-first actor in the cast. And, a young Aya Cash. What's not to like about this cast?

This movie does a lot of smart things. It puts Meester and Laurie on equal footing in their affair/relationship. The movie wastes no time with shenanigans to try to hide the affair. The script is committed to mixing and matching scenes with the cast, so there's a lot of flavor to the different relationships. I think that there's even value to be added by seeing this again.

But, it's really hampered by never deciding what it is. It's the classic "Not funny enough to be a comedy, not serious enough to be a drama". That isn't to say that a movie can't do both. In this case, it would've benefited greatly from picking a side and injected what it could of the other when possible. I went in expecting a straight-up comedy (perhaps a slightly more dour Crazy, Stupid Love), which this was not. I am leaving a little room to suggest that maybe it was subtler than I expected. Maybe I missed a lot. I doubt that, but, as I said, I think there's value in seeing this again.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Movie Reaction: The Magnificent Seven

Formula: The Magnificent Seven + King Arthur

What is it about the call of the Wild West that attracts so many directors? Is it the mythology built around it or the fact that it's so specific to the United States? Maybe it's a simple as the memories filmmakers have of the heyday in the 50s and 60s. Whatever that reason, it seems like every couple years a director/studio takes a stab at a Wild West epic. There was Gore Verbinski's The Lone Ranger in 2013 or Jon Favreau's Cowboys and Aliens in 2011. Of course, who can forget Wild Wild West in 1999? Even modestly-budgeted Jonah Hex bombed in 2010. The Wild West isn't quite synonymous with failure, but there certainly doesn't appear to be great success with the large scale projects.

The most recent filmmaker to take on this challenge is Antoine Fuqua with his remake of The Magnificent Seven. In doing this, Fuqua sticks with what's familiar to him. He reunites Training Day costars Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. He's done stories similar to this one, most specifically King Arthur which was also about a motley collection of fighters trying to stand their ground against overwhelming forces. As a result, this is exactly the movie I expected from Fuqua, which isn't necessarily bad. It could've been much, much worse.

[Note: I haven't seen the original Magnificent Seven and it's unfair to place this again Seven Samurai, so don't be expecting a comparison]

The story is pretty basic. Peter Sarsgaard is a robber baron threatening to kill everyone in a small town if they don't leave. Haley Bennett is the widow of a man Sarsgaard kills. She hires Denzel Washington, a roaming lawman, who agrees to assemble a team of seven men to defend the small town.

The titular seven are well cast. Washington is the laconic hero: a role he has played more times than I can count, including his last film with Fuqua - The Equalizer. He gives the character depth just by taking the role. That's useful for a movie that needs to do a lot of character development in a finite time. Chris Pratt fits in pretty naturally. He reminded me a lot of what Brad Pitt is to George Clooney in Ocean's Eleven: clearly second in command and not taking it all that seriously. Ethan Hawke is a gunshy Cajun. Vincent D'Onofrio is a bear of a man. Byung-hun Lee is a Chinese man with an affinity for knives. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo is a fugitive Mexican. Martin Sensmeier is a Native American who knows "some English". They are archetypes and lean heavily on that. There's just not enough time to define them otherwise. Bennett also gets short-changed as a character. Thankfully, they don't force her into a love story, although if the movie was a half hour longer, it would certainly be there. Sarsgaard is a mustache-twirling non-character. He exists as plot device and little else.  Simply put, this is not a movie for rich characterization. If all you need is for the seven to crack some jokes with one another and kick ass when needed, this is perfect for you. If you expect more depth than that, sorry. That's not the movie that anyone was making. There's actually an attempt to build up Washington and Sarsgaard's relationship/history toward the very end that's so comically misplaced that it would've been better to drop it entirely.

I expected the character issues going in. That's almost in the DNA of the movie. What bothered me is that I was bored by the climactic showdown. It was impersonal and often hard to track. The geography of the fight and the town isn't laid out well enough to track what's happening. Beyond digging some bunkers and shooting from the tops of buildings, it was hard to pick up on anything strategic that was being done. They hint at setting up a series of road blocks for the enemy horses, but the riders on those horses are killed so quickly regardless that I don't see the point of it. All seven gunslingers have perfect vision and aim. None of the villains have a personality. Sarsgaard's "strategy" makes no sense either. The shootout is exciting but empty of emotion or personal stakes. I expected more, since that sequence is the whole reason the movie exists.

I don't do grade ratings of movies in these Reactions. I'm not against them. I think they can be informative. I just didn't do it when I started and it stuck. If I did ratings though, The Magnificent Seven would be a solid B-. Not all B-'s are built equally though. Sometimes, it's a reflection of doing some really good things with some really bad things that cancel each other out. Other times, it's the result of doing all things competently without making any huge missteps or taking any risks. This film is the latter case. Most of the character development is done in the casting. Thankfully, a good cast was assembled. Antoine Fuqua knows what he's doing as a director but isn't inspired to move out of his comfort zone anywhere. It's pretty generic. This could just as easily be called Young Guns: The Next Generation or American Outlaws 2. That's either going to bother you or it won't. I liked it well enough, although I can't imagine ever seeing it again.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend