King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

If there there was a film that was built around its soundtrack, King Arthur would be it. And what a soundtrack it is. Guy Richie's use of the music to advance the story is absolutely magical. While many feel that montages have become a lazy filmmakers best friend, in the hands of a truly masterful filmmaker they can be beautiful. The opening montage of King Arthur which advances the film from the young 6 year old life of Arthur to his more mature 21 year old self is truly amazing. It is the best musical montage that I have ever seen. Daniel Pemberton, the musical director earned his paycheck in spades. The film itself is also a wonderfully new take on the King Arthur legend. Gone is the Arthur of old who always knew the right thing to do and is almost holier than thou. Gone is the simple symbolism of Excalibur as the sign of the king. In comes actual usage of magic and Excalibur actually aiding Arthur in battle. At first glance in the film it appears that the story will be simply an origins story where we learn the backstory of Arthur only leading to his ultimate ascension at the end of the film. Richie turns this on its head when Arthur withdraws the sword and his journey truly begins. With witty banter and sometimes over use of the cutting room, Richie keeps us involved with likes of a truly villainous Jude Law as King Vortigern, who is willing to do anything, and the movie emphasizes anything, to gain and then retain power. Eric Bana gives us an as usual excellent performance, calling back to Troy, as Urther Pendragon, Arthur's father who constantly is coming back to haunt him. Unfortunately Djimon Hounsou's magnificent acting chops are delegated third string minor character Sir Bedivere. While his is excellent in the film, it is just disappointing he can not get better, more prominent roles. The faults of the film are evident and they are more quirks of the filmmaker than problems with the film. Guy Richie is a very interesting director who loves to have current naration as the character explains what his happening in the future. The audience is then subjected to many cuts between current and future time as what is being described is also transpiring. This occurs in every Richie film so you know its going to happen here when you buy the ticket. He is also a filmaker that loves to spend time in the cutting room especially during action scenes. Richie attempts to overcome the possible flaws in his actors to make look superhuman when all the cutting can lead to confusion as to what is actually happening. Other than the issues one must accept by going to a Guy Richie Film, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is a refreshing and welcome new take on the King Arthur legend that unfortunatly will be viewed as a failure and not be rewarded for its ingenuity. Easily 4 stars out of 5, well worth the watch for the Soundtrack alone.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

The reputation of Marvel is living up to it's name. While Guardians 2 by no means is a bad film, it is definitely not the masterpiece it is being heralded as. The fun is still there bit some of the novelty has definitely worn off. The continued relationship beneath the surface between Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and Gamora (Zoe Saldana) is a bright spot, as is Baby Groot (Vin Diesel). The main problem with the film and is Rocket Raccoon or more specifically Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon. In the first film he played only a supporting character at best, a bit of comic relief. Now he is thrust into the for front, being the catalyst for most of issues between the team. Gone is his funny quips, instead replaced with a greatest hits from the previous film. Yondu (Michael Rooker) is the surprising MVP of the film as Yondu, showing us the hard back story of Peter and himself, bringing some welcome dramatic chops. Nebula (Karen Gillan) comes in a close second, again bringing the drama solidifying herself as hard character and emphasizing the change that has occurred in Gamora. It does get difficult to stomach however when the they she tries to drag dramatic emotions out of Zoe Saldana who has gone most of her career either avoiding them or doing them terribly.  Kurt Russell plays the planet personified Ego, and the name is definitely indicative of his personality. While the film tries to again remain it's own entity within the MCU, it is evident there are overt pushes to connect it so that the Guardians can be brought into the fold for Infinity War. And there in lies the problem with new Marvel films, they can no longer just be food films, they have to constantly connect to each other. Guardians manages it well but at times annoys with it's attempts to be subtle in it's connections. All in all the film is well done, not as good as the first but what sequel is? 3 stars out of 5

The Circle

The future is coming and the future is transparency. Whether we like it or not, technology is connecting our lives more and more with few people caring as it improves convenience. The audience can look at The Circle in one of two ways, the first being that the lesson taught is the technology is good but is being used and twisted in the wrong hands. Given a noble Shepard, the technology will send us into a new age. The second view, which is the one I prescribe to, is that our society is moving too fast towards convenience and ignoring the big issues that are being trounced in our haste. The scariest thing about the circle is that we are on Pace to have everything that happens be possible in our lifetime. People are more interested in the technology than what they may be giving up to get it. The Circle follows Emma Watson as she gets her dream job at the big progressive social media company called The Circle.

The circle takes a lot of its cues from Google from college like campus, to the open idea of how and when to work. If you substitute the name Google in for The Circle you would barely even notice. Switch out Tom Hanks as the lovable boss who cares with Mark Zuckerberg and you wouldn't miss a beat. The one aspect that was delightfully unexpected was seeing Bill Paxton play Watson's disabled father. It reminds me of how much he was an amazing supporting character. The one downside to his character and the film in general is I do not know if Paxton and Glen Hadley, Watson's mother, are designed to be the old fuddy duddies who are against progress or if they are supposed to be the characters the audience can get behind with the over sharing. Watson walks a tight rope and often sways from side to side when it comes to which side of the debate she is on. At times she is all in at the circle and wants push its agenda even further and then there are times when she acts as though those who are fully enmeshed with the product are some sort of cult.

This all culminates in the dramatic event of the first that the audience is made to believe will finally push her over the edge against the circle and then suddenly she does a 180 and is back on board with simply the message that those at the top are to blame. Given that the film doesn't seem to know what kind of message is trying to send to its audience, whether we need to disconnect or connect completely, the film gets 1 out of 4 stars. It is still an interesting mirror held to society and where we are probably headed.