The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them (5/10): Fantastic performances, but an incomplete film.

“All I want is a chance to just talk it out. After that you can disappear to wherever it is you disappear to.”

To be honest I had no idea what this film was about before going into it. All I knew is that it starred Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy, two of the most talented actors I’ve seen in the past few years. The title had me fooled because I was expecting this sort of suspenseful thriller similar to Gone Girl. During the first scenes I was lamenting that Chastain would probably only be in a few scenes since she would eventually disappear, but what a fool I was. This was actually a romantic drama (or should I say anti-romantic drama?) with two strong lead performances centering on a couple who have experimented a tragedy in their lives and aren’t capable of coping with it together. They’ve become distant and love seems to be only a far away memory. In a sense it has a similar style as Blue Valentine where you get flashbacks of the couple when they were in love contrasting with their present situation. While watching this film I had no idea that director Ned Benson had actually made two movies about The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby from the view point of each of the characters (His and Hers). The version I was watching was a compilation of both those films, summarized in two hours going back and forth from both their view points. It was no wonder I felt like something was missing in this story. If you were to watch both original versions of Benson’s film the running time would be over three hours long, but in Them the film is cut into a two hour film. I never felt like I got a sense of who these characters were in this version and I wonder how much it had to do with the fact that so much was cut out of the film. After experiencing Benson’s two hour joint film I have no intentions of watching the separate films because I was incredibly disappointed with how vague and void this character study felt. By the end of the film I couldn’t relate to either character and felt like they did around their parents  when they had no clue what they were talking about (they both use this same line towards their parents in at least a couple of occasions).

Despite the slow pace of the film (the two hours actually felt like three) I was still hooked with the story expecting it to head somewhere. Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy are such great actors that they held my interest in the film and they were a pleasure to watch. The story unfolds in such a way that you don’t get much of a sense as to what is happening. As we get some flashbacks we begin to understand what triggered the couple to grow apart from one another, but some things are missing. There are also very strange relationships that Chastain’s character has with her parents (Isabelle Huppert and William Hurt). She also shares a few scenes with a Professor she begins to take classes with played by Viola Davis, but those scenes also felt disconnected from the entire film. The same thing happened with McCoy’s character and the odd relationship he has with his father (Ciaran Hinds). He owns a restaurant/bar and works with his close friend played by Bill Hader with whom he also shares some strange and misplaced scenes together. Perhaps it was the way that both films were joined together, but I felt like something important was left out and I wasn’t able to engage with the characters despite enjoying the performances. Chastain is fantastic and continues to get better over time. She has had stellar roles this year in Interstellar, A Most Violent Year, and now this. Perhaps her breakout role came in 2011 with Take Shelter and The Tree of Life, but she had already collaborated with Ned Benson a year before for one of his short films, The Westerners. If you are a fan of Chastain’s work I’d recommend this film, but otherwise I’d suggest you to watch the two separate films because Them felt incoherent and incomplete at times.

My Review: X-Men: Days of Future Past (9/10)

"Are we destined to destroy each other, or can we change each other and unite? Is the future truly set?"

I don't know if I have the right words to explain how much fun this seventh film in the X-Men franchise truly is. Matthew Vaughn revived this franchise in First Class by taking us to the past and giving the film a much more emotionally dramatic tone, focusing on the relationship between Charles and Erik. The greatest thing about that film was the cast he was able to assemble with James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicholas Hoult leading the pack. At first I didn't know quite what to expect when I heard Vaughn was stepping down and leaving Days of Future Past in Bryan Singer's hands. On the one hand he was responsible for the success of the first two X-Men films, but on the other hand I was let down with Superman Returns. I guess I kind of forgot this man was responsible for the superhero genre revival (contrary to popular belief, it was him with the first X-Men film not Sam Raimi with SpiderMan which came out two years later) that has dominated movie screens for the past decade and a half. Singer hasn't lost his touch and he delivers an exhilarating and entertaining film worthy of being a blockbuster summer hit. It has everything you want from a blockbuster movie: fantastic visuals, great action sequences, a perfect ensemble cast, and a story that is both fun and emotionally engaging. I don't just want cool visuals and nice actions sequences, I want to be engaged with the characters and care for them, and that is what Singer pulls off beautifully with Days of Future Past. Add the wonderful performances from Fassbender, McAvoy, Lawrence, Stewart, Jackman, and a wonderful scene with Evan Peters as Quicksilver and you have a perfect movie. This might just be my favorite superhero film after The Dark Knight due to the fact that the cast is amazing and that Singer managed to perfectly blend the best aspects of the earlier films in the franchise with the new elements Vaughn brought to the reboot. It is hard to imagine how after 7 films, Days of Future Past manages to remain so fresh and keep the audience so emotionally invested in these characters. As we reach the halfway point of the year, I must say this is the best film of 2014 so far.

Based on the Days of Future Past comic book story arc written by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, the screenplay was adapted by Simon Kinberg. Set in an apocalyptic future, the few surviving mutants are struggling to fight together against sentinels created by humans to hunt them down. The few surviving mutants we see fighting in the first scene are Colossus, Sunspot, Bishop, Iceman, Warpath, Blink, and Kitty Pryde. There isn't much they can do against these sentinels that adapt and absorb their powers. Several mutants are killed during the attack, but then all of a sudden they disappear as we discover Kitty Pryde's (Ellen Page) mutation has evolved in such a way that she can send someone's consciousness back through time. By doing so they were able to send Bishop a few minutes back in time and warn them about the sentinel attack, thus altering the recent timeline and staying alive. Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) know that the mutants are facing extinction and that in order to be saved they must return to the past and undo something Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) did in 1973. Along with Charles and Magneto, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Storm (Halle Berry) arrive to the place where the rest of the mutants are hiding out. Since Wolverine is the only one who doesn't age and who can fully recover, they decide he is the only one fit to return to the past and stop Mystique from assassinating Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), the creator of the sentinel program. His murder would only fuel human's hate towards mutants and lead them to perfecting his work through experimentation with Mystique's unique DNA. Once back in the past, Logan must reach out to Charles (James McAvoy) and Erick (Michael Fassbender) and unite them in order to stop Mystique from achieving her goal and thus saving their future. 

Time traveling can be a difficult and tricky feat to pull off, but by using a similar approach to other films such as The Terminator, Singer manages to turn it into a quite simple premise. He merges both timelines perfectly in a satisfactory way. The film feels genuine thanks to some wonderful performances, strong character development, excellent pacing, and the emotional risks that are involved. In a way, I felt like Days of Future Past followed the steps of its predecessor and fixed a lot of the problems audiences had with The Last Stand, thus reinvigorating the franchise without having to reboot it. The film is inventive, original, and there are plenty of surprises. I loved every moment Fassbender was on screen as he absolutely dominates every dramatic moment. Jackman's Wolverine was always my favorite character in the X-Men franchise, and he is fantastic, but this time he has a lot of help from the rest of the cast. McAvoy also adds a lot to the emotional dramatic effect of the film on the viewer. The scene he is confronted by his future self (Stewart) is impressive. His character and Fassbender's are complete opposites despite the fact that they truly respect and care for each other. Lawrence's Mystique seems to be at the center of their struggle. All these elements combined with Singer's breathtaking visuals turn what could've been just another conventional superhero film into an epic one. Singer also knows how to balance action with dramatic moments along with some comedic ones. Despite all the memorable scenes in this highly entertaining blockbuster movie, Evan Peters stills it in the scene where they are helping Magneto escape. That is just a pure example of how Singer managed to balance all those elements together by mixing thrills with laughs. 

My Review: Trance (5/10)

"The choice is yours. Do you want to remember or do you want to forget?"

I choose to forget all about Trance because I was really disappointed by this Danny Boyle film. It isn't a terrible movie, but it is Boyle's worst film since 1997's A Life Less Ordinary. After making some great films like 28 Days Later, Sunshine, and Slumdog Millionaire this film felt way out of his league. He was probably too busy planning the Olympic ceremonies and didn't give much dedication to this project which had a lot of style but no story. One of the reasons I didn't like this film is because I felt all the twists were kind of bland and they got tedious after a while. I felt kind of like the same way I felt with Now You See Me where they use hypnosis as an excuse to justify the twists and mix dreams with reality. The film didn't make much sense and some twists really didn't work for me. It is a shame because I did like the cast and thought they gave some strong performances despite the weak and lazy script written by Joe Ahearne and John Hodge. Trance had its moments, but it was all generic material that we've seen before, and the over stylized scenes weren't enough for me to recommend this film. I felt like there was no substance to this movie and I was completely detached to everything that was going on.

The film is narrated by Simon (James McAvoy), an art auctioner of very expensive and classical art pierces. During one of the auctions a heist takes place and he takes a blow to the head from Franck (Vincent Cassel), one of the four thieves involved in the heist. When he wakes up from the head injury he can't remember what happened, but apparently he hid the painting that the thieves were looking for. Franck and his crew torture Simon, who apparently was in on the heist as well, in order for him to tell them what he did with the painting, but it's useless because he really can't remember. That is where Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson) comes is. She's a hypnotherapist who begins treating Simon in order for him to remember where he hid the lost painting. The film is full of twists and double crossings but it is best to go into the movie knowing as little as possible.

Trance may stand out from other movies of the genre thanks to its style and cinematography, but what it has in style it lacks in substance. The twists didn't work for me either and in a thriller like this it is a must. The film began with promise but ultimately I didn't like the direction it began to take halfway through the movie. The cast in this film was pretty solid. McAvoy was great as usual and his breakdown was really believable on screen. Dawson was beautiful and sort of plays the femme fatale here to perfection. Cassel was also pretty good although his character didn't have much substance to him. Ultimately the film suffers from a weak script and an overdose of twists and turns that become tedious and a little unbelievable after a while. Skip this movie!

My Review: X-Men: First Class (8/10)

¨We have it in us to be the better man.¨

I will be honest with you guys: I didn`t think this movie would work without Wolverine, after all he was the heart and soul of the previous X-Men films. Hugh Jackman was the reason why I had enjoyed the other movies so much and I thought this film would suffer without this main character (it would be like a Pirates of the Caribbean movie without Jack Sparrow). I was wrong! X-Men: First Class works really well as a prequel/reboot to the franchise for one main reason: The casting of Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy as the two lead characters: friends turned archenemies Magneto and Professor X. The relationship between these two characters and the two outstanding performances these talented actors give are what make X-Men: First Class the best superhero film since The Dark Knight. I know we have been bombarded with superhero films lately, and they are actually all pretty decent thanks to the strong background and depth these characters have been given in the comics, but this one is really worth your time. I loved the direction that Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass, Stardust, and Snatch) took with this film by letting the center of the plot revolve around the relationship between Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto) and Charles Xavier (Professor X). We really come to care for these two friends who we know will become enemies in the future, but can´t help but root for them to get along in some way. Fassbender and McAvoy really deliver outstanding leading performances and the scenes between them are the heart of the movie. X-Men fans won’t be disappointed.

The movie begins during World War II as the Nazis are trying to separate young Erik from his parents. While they are taken away Erik begins to bend the metal fences with his mind until a soldier knocks him out. One of the Nazi officials named Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) questions Erik before killing his mother in front of him since he is unable to move a metal coin. Later Sebastian discovers that Erik`s powers only work when he is angry and therefore begins to train his prisoner. The movie then jumps to the present: it is 1962 and the world is at verge of another World War. Tension between the United States and Russia is high; the Cold War is at its boiling point. Sebastian is trying to take advantage of the situation and wants a nuclear war to begin. By his side he has some mutant friends: Emma Frost (January Jones) and Azazel (Jason Flemyng). On the meantime Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) is after Sebastian and wants revenge. Erik isn’t the only one after Shaw, an FBI agent, named Moira (Rose Byrne) discovers that he is trying to start a nuclear war and sees the mutants therefore she decides to investigate and discovers that a young student has done some extensive research on human mutation, his name is Charles Xavier (James McAvoy). Charles knows that there are many mutants with special powers like his in the world. He even adopted one and began to teach her how to deal with her power: Raven (Jennifer Lawrence), alias Mystique. Charles begins working with Moira in order to stop Shaw. He also befriends Erik and together they begin to round up other young mutants with special powers: Angel (Zoe Kravitz), Havok (Lucas Till), Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult), Banshee (Caleb Jones), and Darwin (Edi Gathegi).

It was very interesting to see how the X-Men story began. The scenes where Erik and Charles teach the young mutants how to deal with their powers and master them remind us that these two guys are in a way very similar to each other. They both have great respect for one another; they are both excellent teachers and want to help their fellow mutants, but Erik never was able to deal with the pain of losing his parents and has grown resentful towards humans. This is what separates the two: one is motivated by hate, the other by grace. The same happens with the young mutants and there is no denying the fact that some will go along Erik`s path, while others will follow Charles`s. We all know that Magneto`s brotherhood will be in constant battle with Professor Xavier`s X-Men, but what we didn`t know (at least film wise) was how the two groups went their separate ways. It is this friendship between the two main characters that we know will end, what builds the tension for a very satisfying finale. On a side note I really didn’t care for the rest of the mutants. They were just that: secondary characters. What made the movie work entirely were these great scenes between McAvoy and Fassbender. The rest was just unremarkable in my opinion. Jennifer Lawrence and Kevin Bacon gave good performances, but the truth is that the movie really revolved around Erick and Charles, and these two actors did a great job to make up for a somewhat mediocre script. I really enjoyed this reboot/prequel and it has taken the franchise to a whole new level.

http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/