The End of the Tour

Back in good ol’ 1996, the year that gave us such cinematic masterpieces as Fargo, Trainspotting, and the greatest disaster movie of all time Independence Day, a little diddy called 'Infinite Jest' was unleashed on the world. Its author David Foster Wallace had prior to its release achieved moderate success with his first novel 'The Broom of the System' and a number of essays, but the publication of 'Infinite Jest' hurled him into the annals of writer superstardom. In a 2004 retrospective review, writer Chad Harbach declared 'Infinite Jest' “the central American novel of the past thirty years, a dense star for lesser work to orbit” and Time included the novel in its list of the 100 Best English-language Novels since 1923.

Despite Wallace’s general disdain of being considered a ‘celebrity,’ he agreed to an interview with writer/journalist David Lipsky for a Rolling Stone article. Lipsky joined Wallace for a five-day stint near the end of the Infinite Jest book tour, tape recording their many conversations. Although the interviewer/subject barrier was never fully breached, largely due to Wallace’s full awareness that Lipsky’s ultimate job was to get some dirt on the author in order to craft a stellar article, the two of them ended up developing something of a mutual respect for one another and even something resembling a friendship. It was kind of an older brother/younger brother dynamic in a way with Wallace functioning as the older on one end of the success spectrum and Lipsky representing the younger brother striving for the approval of his ‘better.’ The article never got published as it was deemed not sensational enough for Rolling Stone’s readers, but Lipsky ended up transcribing their conversations and releasing them in book form under the title ‘Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself,’ released two years after Wallace's suicide in 2008.

The relationship between the two writers forms the basis of James Ponsoldt’s latest film The End of the Tour, a deeply affecting and ofttimes hilarious examination of two writers coping with their varying degrees of success. It’s essentially a bromance tale minus whatever negative connotations the term ‘bromance’ evokes. It is a beautiful film and works on nearly every level, partially because it doesn’t require you to be a Wallace-devotee in order to fully enjoy the experience. I haven’t even read 'Infinite Jest' (I’m sure I’ll get around to it someday), but this never held me back from being totally invested in the fascinating relationship between these two prolific writers. The film is essentially one long conversation after another. It’s actually very reminiscent of Richard Linklater’s talky Before Sunrise Trilogy, and it’s to the credit of playwright Donald Margulies who penned the screenplay and the performances of Jason Segel and Jesse Eisenberg that the conversations flow so naturally and never once come across as dull.

And speaking of performances, can we take a moment to call these sexy guys out? I’ve always been a big fan of Segel’s ever since his work on Freaks & Geeks and this may be the best thing he’s done since the show was cancelled. That’s not a knock against his body of work; Forgetting Sarah Marshall and The Muppets are exceptional films, but his performance as David Foster Wallace shows just how much he’s matured as an actor and I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if it ends up earning him his first Oscar nod.

Likewise, Eisenberg continues to prove himself as one of our finest young actors. I know the guy’s got his haters due to his eccentric awkwardness, but over the course of his career he has compiled a wide variety of work, consistently giving some really solid performances. Watching him and Segel bounce off each other (conversationally, not physically, though I’m sure if the entire movie was just the two of them literally bouncing off each other it would still be fantastic) is one of the more enjoyable experiences I’ve had in a movie theater this year. Their chemistry is impeccable and I love the way they play the relationship - often respectful and amicable, but occasionally their egos get in the way. Wallace and Lipsky clearly admired each other, but that admiration never once got in the way of them calling each other out on their respective B.S. Some of the film's most powerful moments come from the two butting heads and Segel and Eisenberg really excel in these scenes.

I was a fan of director Ponsoldt’s last film The Spectacular Now, but felt it relished a bit too much in its own depression, never quite striking the right balance between telling a story and being an anti-alcohol campaign. Here, he finds exactly the right balance and tone for the subject matter, allowing the naturalism of the dialogue and the performances to shine through all whilst crafting some truly beautiful imagery with the assistance of Jakob Ihre’s cinematography. I also appreciated that he and Marguilies never tried to unnaturally foreshadow the tragedy of Wallace’s ultimate fate or milk some superficial pathos from it. His focus is solely on the story being told and the relationship between Wallace and Lipsky and that focus makes the film all the more powerful.

The End of the Tour is Ponsoldt’s best work yet and one of the best films of the year. Regardless of whether or not you’re a fan of David Foster Wallace, you owe it to yourself to see this one. You just might learn something about everything.

FINAL RATING: 5/5

Fantastic Four Made Me Feel a Little Less Alive and Very Sleepy

In my experience, there are two kinds of Bad Movies. First is the kind so atrocious, so unbelievably awful, that it ascends simple ‘badness’ to become something more, something so bad it’s good (i.e. The Room, Miami Connection, Rocky IV, The Happening, etc.). Then there are movies that are just so painful it’s difficult to derive any enjoyment whatsoever out of watching them (i.e. The Star Wars Prequels, The Godfather Part III, X-Men 3, Die Another Day, Rocky V, The Last Airbender, etc.). Until this past week I hadn’t even considered the possibility of another, but the newest Fantastic Four has blown my mind wide open, introducing me to a whole new category of bad movie: the kind that makes you feel like you haven’t even watched a movie but witnessed some kind of amorphous black hole designed to drain any sense of joy or love from every fiber of your being. It’s not so bad it’s good; it’s so bad I’m surprised it was released at all. It’s something of an anti-movie. Even Roger Corman’s unreleased disaster-fest is a better storytelling venture and I never thought I would ever use that travesty as the prime example of any aspect of filmmaking.

Fantastic Four (or Fant4stic as the marketing campaign had dubbed it before the onslaught of furious fans forced them to get rid of the tacky ‘4 as an A’ idea) is the latest failed attempt to revitalize Marvel’s 1st family, this time in the vein of the ‘gritty reboot’ aesthetic that never actually works unless it’s made by Christopher Nolan. (See The Amazing Spider-Man and Man of Steel for further details) Why 20th Century Fox and director Josh Trank decided to go in this direction, aside from the money signs generated from Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, is beyond me, especially when you consider that the Fantastic Four are essentially the Brady Bunch with superpowers. I mean, come on, we’ve got a character called Mr. Fantastic whose main superpower is the ability to stretch and the Human Torch who shouts, “Flame On!” as he bursts into flames and you expect us to take this seriously? This comic book is so inherently absurd that all you can do is embrace that absurdity and use it to your advantage. Even Tim Story’s god-awful Fantastic Four films got that aspect of the characters right. (Again, I can’t believe I’m using such terrible films as an example of how to do something right in a movie.) Fant4stic seems embarrassed by every aspect of its source material, doing its utmost to distance itself from it as much as possible, often to its detriment.

Things start off promisingly enough with a flashback that introduces us to a young Reed Richards and Ben Grimm and shows how they became friends. We flash forward a few years (only the first of many lazy flash forward moments – at least they kept that element from Corman’s catastrophe) to find Reed and Ben all grown up and looking an awful lot like Miles Teller and Jamie Bell. With Ben’s help, although it’s never clearly stated how exactly he helps since he’s not a scientist by any stretch, Reed has finally ‘perfected’ the transportation device he’s been working on ever since he was a kid. He catches the eye of Dr. Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey) who apparently frequents high school science fairs on the regular in the hopes that he might recruit budding new talent. Dr. Storm is attempting to make a breakthrough in teleportation in order to transport a team of scientists to an alternate dimension in the hopes of finding new resources to sustain human life. Reed seems to have cracked the code, so Dr. Storm jumps at the opportunity to recruit them. Well, maybe ‘jumps’ isn’t the right word for it; Cathey’s performance is so monotone that his excitement is more akin to being slightly sleepy as opposed to totally sleepwalking.

The first act of the film, in which Reed is introduced to Sue and Victor Von Doom and Johnny, is the only functioning act of the entire endeavor. Note, I said ‘functioning,’ not ‘successful,’ because it feels like the act is just barely working. Still, it does a decent job getting all the pieces in the right place and setting up the following acts.

If only there were any following acts.

It takes roughly 40 minutes or so before any superpowers are gained and as soon as they are the film throws up a ‘1 Year Later’ title card, which for some reason they thought would adequately take the place of an entire 2nd Act, no joke. Some military doofus gives some kind of Powerpoint presentation to show how the team has developed their powers and learnt to control them.  What follows is a jumbled mess of an attempt to create some kind of story from this shapeless mass of plotting and an inexplicable lead-in to a third act climax that is so rushed and underwhelming it would be hilarious if it wasn’t so pathetic. (My friend and I actually turned to each other and said, “Is this…supposed to be the final fight?”) The story is so uninvolving and so jumbled that at a certain point it was more entertaining keeping track of Kate Mara's awful wig than it was paying attention to the actual movie.

Is it really this hard to make a decent Fantastic Four film? We’ve already gotten four (how ironic) and not a single one has been good. Brad Bird has already proven the formula works with his animated masterpiece The Incredibles, so what gives, people?? And, unlike 99% of the nerd community, I actually had high hopes for this one. I loved Josh Trank’s first film Chronicle, a fresh, entertaining take on the superhero origin story, and was excited to see what he could bring to the table with a larger budget. While we might not know the full extent of the drama that happened between 20th Century Fox and Trank behind the scenes, one thing is for certain: someone done effed up. Big time. Not even in the film’s most inspired moments (and I’d hate to use the word ‘inspired’ when it comes to anything to do with Fant4stic) does Trank’s direction seem anything but lifeless. The majority of the film takes place in two locations, an underground warehouse and the giant green screen the cast stood on in order to film the alternate dimension sequences. It’s claustrophobic in the worst way and the drab production design and overwhelmingly grey color scheme is mind-numbing.

Likewise, it’s painful to watch such a talented young cast have to make their way through this drudgery. Miles Teller in particular gives it his best go before giving up about halfway through. The rest of this doomed ensemble, which includes Kate Mara as a muted Sue Storm, a barely-present Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm/The Thing, a brooding Toby Kebbell as Victor Von Doom, and a robotic Reg E. Cathey as Dr. Franlkin Storm, doesn’t even bother trying, having even less to work with.

By the time Fant4stic’s eternal 100-minute runtime had concluded, I was desperate to get out into the bright summer sunshine and do anything to remind me that I was indeed a human being and capable of emotion and joy. Calling it a mess is giving it too much credit. I can’t remember the last time a movie made me feel so utterly bereft of anything. One can only hope that the sting of this immense failure will contribute to the rights returning to Marvel Studios. Perhaps then the Fantastic Four will finally get their due. And some actual color. Please, just, for the love of God, give me ANY color.

FINAL RATING: 1/5

My Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation Review, Should You Choose to Accept It

It’s hard to believe the first Mission: Impossible film came out a little over 20 years ago. I remember the first time I saw it - my dad and his buddies were big fans of the TV show growing up and had to drag my brother and me along to the theater with them. My brother and I did our best to convince our dad that the film would be way too violent for us impressionable young’uns and that we should be left at home. (I was 9 at the time; my brother was 7) Neither of us really believed we wouldn’t be able to handle the movie. We just wanted to stay at home and play video games. Thankfully, our dad ignored the juvenile protests and we both ended up loving the film. I had no clue what was happening story-wise, but it didn’t matter; the action was unlike anything I’d ever seen and Tom Cruise was a total BAMF, hanging from ceilings and bullet trains like it was no biggie. He was my new hero, joining the annals of Superman, Batman, and the Power Rangers. No easy feat.

The franchise may have stumbled early on with the blatantly atrocious M:I-2, but it managed to find its footing with J.J. Abrams’ entry (his big-screen directorial debut) and eventually hit a major stride with the sheer cinematic gold that was Brad Bird’s Ghost Protocol, the series’ highest grossing (without adjusting for inflation) and most critically acclaimed entry. The challenge for M:I-5: Rogue Nation was whether or not it could meet the high expectations set by its predecessor, maintaining the revitalized momentum of the franchise and securing the future of the Mission: Impossible film series.

I’ll get the bad news out of the way first: Rogue Nation doesn’t live up to the sheer exhilaration and blast of creativity that was Ghost Protocol. The good news is that it is a spectacular action film full of unparalleled stunts and sequences, and serves as further proof that this 20-year-old franchise is showing no signs of slowing. And, let’s be honest with ourselves for a minute, few things are as exciting as hearing that iconic Lalo Schifrin theme song while Tom Cruise hurls himself into one nutso action scene after another.

Tonally, Rogue Nation falls right in line with Ghost Protocol, following that film’s winning template of breathtaking action set-pieces and hilarious exchanges between our heroes. This time around, IMF agent Ethan Hunt comes head to head with the Syndicate, an agency which functions as an ‘anti-IMF,’ spreading chaos and terror wherever it sees fit.  Just as a breakthrough discovery regarding the identity of the Syndicate’s leader is made, disgruntled CIA Director Alan Hunley manages to shut down the IMF and have its resources absorbed into the CIA. Hunt’s friend and colleague William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) holds Hunley at bay while Hunt goes rogue, operating independently to uncover the Syndicate and take them down before it’s too late.

This is the first time really that Hunt has had a consistent team over the course of more than one film and it’s great to see them all back together again (with the unfortunate absence of Paula Patton, whose schedule prevented her from being in the film). Joining Cruise and Renner on this mission are returning vet Ving Rhames as series favorite Luther Stickell and the hilarious Simon Pegg as tech expert Benji Dunn. This cast has great chemistry and watching them work together to solve each ‘impossible’ provides endless laughs and thrills.

New to the crew is Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust, who gets caught up in Hunt’s crusade as she struggles with multiple allegiances. Ferguson is stunning and kicks major ass, holding her own as an action star. Baldwin is another welcome addition as CIA Director Alan Hunley, who is intent on shutting the IMF down due to their unorthodox methods, and Sean Harris gives a great turn as the big baddie, playing it straight for the most part but offering little moments of knowing goofiness. He has a lot of fun with this role, elevating the material from being more of a generic villain to a more memorable threat.

For the entirety of its running time, M:I-5 offers up one spectacular set-piece after another with Christopher McQuarrie’s guiding hand keeping things fresh and fun. Cruise’s mad devotion to performing his own stunts further proves just what a bonafide movie star the guy is. Precious few actors are this devoted to putting themselves in harm’s way to ensure their audience is fully entertained. The real pleasure of this series is in watching the odds increasingly stacked against his character and how he manages to overcome them regardless. Unlike the overtly CG-ridden summer cinema that saturates the majority of the season, the stunts here look and feel real, painfully so at times. Few things are more thrilling than watching one of the most insane car/motorcycle chase sequences ever filmed and seeing beyond any doubt that it is in fact Mr. Cruise going a zillion miles an hour on a motorcycle.

Where Rogue Nation stumbles, and what holds it back from being on the same level as its predecessor, is in the moments between the action. Where Bird managed to keep Ghost Protocol’s pace up and running at all times (even during the slower moments) McQuarrie’s direction isn’t quite as deft. Character motivations feel a bit muddled at times and stretches of the film are devoted to explaining dull, confusing plot details. But the sheer exhilaration of the action, the chemistry of the main cast, and the overall entertainment value are more than worth these minor shortcomings.

With Rogue Nation, Mission: Impossible firmly asserts itself as one of modern cinema’s best franchises. It’s fun, it’s exciting, it is, to put it bluntly, exactly what action cinema should be aspiring to in this day and age, even despite its flaws. Word on the street is that a sixth entry is due to begin production as soon as next year. Here’s hoping the creative team is able to maintain the quality of the series’ last few entries. I, for one, will be more than happy to accept whatever missions they throw my way.

This review will self-destruct in five seconds.

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Sorry, no. I don’t think that’s actually possible. I just thought that would be a cool way to end it. And then I had to go and ruin it with this additional rambling.

Actually, you know what? Maybe THIS is the review self-destructing!

I’m just gonna let myself out now.

FINAL RATING: 4/5