"American Animals (2018)"

To say that American Animals has a complicated relationship with reality would be a fair assessment. From the jump we are to that it both is and is not based on an entirely true story, something I kept in mind as the narrative unfolded before me.

"Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)"

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This piece was written for the excellent MOVIEJAWN.

I'm saving it here for posterity.

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The world needs more people like Fred Rogers in it.

I already held that sentiment before seeing Won't You Be My Neighbor?, Morgan Neville's biographical documentary of Rogers. What I didn't realize until after seeing it was how great that need truly is.

"SOLO: A Star Wars Story (2018)"

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This piece was originally written for the excellent MovieJawn.
Below is my original final draft before and revision / editing.
Plus pictures for added pizzazz.
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Solo: A Star Wars Story is the least satisfying of the new era of Star Wars films.

I wasn't sure what foot I wanted to start my review on, as there is good as well as bad to talk about here, but then I asked myself: "What would Han Solo do?" The answer, famously the subject of much nerd argument, is that Han would shoot first. Shooting first is one of the many things that define who the character of Han Solo is.

What I mean is, were you to make a list of "HAN SOLO AF" qualities and visual trademarks, the phrase "Han shoots first" would most definitely be on there. And that's what this movie is, at its core: a "Han Solo AF" checklist that we watch get crossed off, one box at a time. You knew that's what it would be, deep down. Search your heart. You know it to be true. We all did, right? Maybe not when it initially, but most definitely after the trailer premiered. There's no story here that needed telling to make anything about the Star Wars universe better or fuller or more impactful, it's just: Hey, you wanna see where Han got that blaster? Wanna see him meet Chewbacca? Etc. etc. And the thing with a list like that is, deciding which things are "more important" and should take precedent over others is highly subjective.

"The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)"

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This review was written in October 2017 for MOVIEJAWN and was also included in the November 2017 issue, which may be available for purchase HERE.

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Yorgos Lanthimos' THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER, will end up drawing a lot of comparisons (some of them from me) to his last film, The Lobster because of Lanthimos' fondness for unusual stories and stilted dialogue and his decision to team with Lobster star Colin Farrell again. But while these similarities are there, Deer is the more grounded and at the same time more intangible of the two.

EVERYTHING OLD is NEW AGAIN 2

Everything Old is New Again

Vol. 2 - March & April 2018

By: Hunter Bush

For: MovieJawn

Hello there! Welcome to Everything Old is New Again, Vol. 2: March and April, 2018. If you're new to the column, EOiNA is where I spotlight some upcoming films that are inspired in some way by a previously existing concept, work or franchise; remakes, adaptations or long-gap sequels.

How was your January and February? Did you see that Eagles Super Bowl win? I did (Go Birds!). Did you catch any of the Winter Olympics or snag any deep discount day-after-Valentine's Day candy? More pressingly: Did you see any good movies? And hey, were any of them ones I covered in EOiNA Vol.1: Jan. and Feb. 2018? If you did, I'd love to hear what you thought. Leave a comment below why dontcha?

I saw Them Horse Boyz (I mean 12 Strong) btw, and was pleasantly surprised. Not enough Michael Shannon though.



Alright, who's ready to look ahead a bit? There’s a lot, so let’s jump right in.

"mother! (2017)"

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This review was written in September of 2017 for MOVIEJAWN.

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Darren Aronofsky's latest movie, Mother! is a messy film that manages to succeed on one level while ultimately failing on another. Which level you perceive as being more important will greatly affect how you feel about it.

Mother! (and I will be using the exclamation point with the title, yes) is a difficult film to categorize in much the same way as his earlier Black Swan (2010) was upon its release. Hindsight and repeated viewings now allow Swan to be categorized as a psychological drama (with body horror elements) but I'm curious if Mother! will come to be classified as anything besides its current generic (and misleading) horror label. Going by the trailers for the movie, you could be forgiven for thinking it's a home invasion thriller. I mean it is, but that's just the start.

Javier Bardem is a poet and Jennifer Lawrence is his muse (all characters are credited archetypally; theirs are Him and mother respectively) and they live together in an isolated and peaceful home which Lawrence has rebuilt from the literal ashes of Bardem's previous home, entirely by herself so that he can continue to write; to create. We don't get long to appreciate this quiet idyll and their easy affection for one another before a knock comes at the door. Ed Harris (credited as man) says he is new in town and was misdirected there by someone thinking the home was a bed and breakfast. The couple invite him to stay the night, during which time he and Bardem drink and he smokes (vices that Lawrence does not partake in, herself) and the next morning they are joined by Michelle Pfeiffer (woman), Harris' wife.

Harris and Pfeiffer both turn out to be fans of Bardem's work, and have taken a sort of pilgrimage to meet him under the somewhat false pretenses Harris gave the night before. They delight in prying into Bardem & Lawrence's home life, even eventually going into His second floor study and accidentally breaking a delicate gem, explained by Bardem as the only thing to survive the destruction of his previous home. They apologize profusely, like scolded children, but when Lawrence leaves Bardem painfully clutching the broken shards in his hands, she finds the pair in a carnal embrace (sex being another vice that Lawrence seems not to be partaking in).

Shortly thereafter they are all joined by man and woman's two sons (played by the real life Gleeson brothers Brian and Domhnall, but they're barely onscreen long enough for me to tell them apart) who feud over family business and before Jennifer Lawrence can catch her breath, everyone is taking one brother to the hospital while the other brother, having fled the house, is still out there somewhere. Lawrence alone is left to clean up the blood but one spot won't come up, staining the floor and almost instantly softening the wood into a wound that bleeds down into the basement, revealing a bricked over door that leads to the furnace's oil supply tank. This is where any resemblance to the usual home invasion / horror / thriller goes right out the window and you realize this movie was never going to be that.

The group return from the hospital, revealing that the badly injured son has died and of course Bardem offered to host the wake which is starting right now. Strangers come pouring into the house with nightmarish single-mindedness, ignoring Lawrences questions and requests. Pfeiffer, who had earlier chided Lawrence for not "keeping things interesting" in the bedroom, now admonishes her for the indecency of the casual clothes she is wearing. Around when a walking example of street harassment accosts Lawrence in her own home, I gave up looking for a "key metaphor" for Mother! because there just isn't one. There are many.

This film, which Aronofsky wrote in just five days, may have begun as a story about relationships (especially ones with a creative person like him; someone who gives of their time and attention to strangers at the expense of all else) but it becomes a lot more. Lawrence isn't just a symbolic muse, or a surrogate for a lost lover, in Mother! she is all women: womanhood as concept. Their house isn't just a ruined relationship rebuilt by a new partner, it becomes a metaphor for existence itself, awash in biblical imagery of man and womankind coming to a paradise, bringing their vices and offspring, inadvertently spoiling everything. The brothers fighting is Cain & Abel, the blood spot that won't come clean is Original Sin. The wake even ends in flood imagery from a broken water pipe.

It's only after all the people are gone that Lawrence can evolve, egging Bardem on to take her to bed, which leads to a nine month return to their private Eden, during which time he feels inspired to create new work and she converts the scene of The First Murder into a nursery for their forthcoming child. But his new work of course brings new people. More people; worse people. People more disrespectful and entitled than the overwhelming mass at the wake. People more fanatical.

From here the film spirals into a complete nightmare as Lawrence is shuffled from room to room each serving as microcosms for mankind's worst acts. She is, among the myriad other archetypes, Mother Earth and if you've been paying attention to the way we humans have been treating the planet and each other and women in general, you'll have an idea of the direction the third act takes. Keep the biblical parables in mind as well. I'm not giving away any great secrets here by the way. Aronofsky wants you to know what he's talking about on an emotional level even if intellectually it's all a bit muddied, but that muddiness is where my main problem lies.

Javier Bardem is the most obvious author surrogate this side of a Stephen King novel and even though the finale of the film is an attempt at explaining this mistreatment (of those who love us / all women / the world / everything), he doesn't express any real remorse. "Nothing is ever enough" he says, "I couldn't create if it was." Which is a baffling sentiment from the man who makes sure we feel every brutal second of his symbolic muse's suffering. He is simultaneously pointing out how terrible mankind is and excusing it as essentially just the cost of doing business. The finale's failure to tie up the thematic threads satisfyingly is the biggest flaw, but overall I enjoyed Mother! because while it fails intellectually, it succeeds emotionally. I left the theater acutely conscious of people who indulge me so that I can pursue my dreams and I intend to show them that I appreciate them.

Ultimately the start of the film is almost fun as a home invasion black comedy but once the symbolism hits the fan it spirals into a fever dream of heavy handed, ugly metaphors. Aronofsky created this world in just five days while apocryphally it took God six to make ours. Maybe an extra day wouldn't have been the worst idea.

"12 Strong (2018)"

The following is my review of 12 Strong, written for Moviejawn.
This is the unedited version, so any spelling or grammatical errors or vagueness is my own.
Plus, I Googled up some pics for added pizzazz.

I was instructed by Moviejawn HQ to focus solely on Michael Shannon for the duration of my viewing of the film 12 Strong; his performance, how his character's actions help move the story along, etc., etc. But bad news: there isn't nearly enough Michael Shannon in this flick.

Don't get me wrong now, I know this is based on a true story (and the book Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton) but it's still a movie, not a documentary and I intend to talk about it from that perspective. As such, I will reiterate: I am sorely lacking in Michael Shannon in this movie. That isn't to say that the other performances aren't enjoyable. Chris Hemsworth does the stoic action movie thing as Captain Mitch Nelson just fine. Michael Peña is inexorably likable as the sarcastic Sgt First Class Sam Diller, joking about buying timeshares in the middle of a crossfire; Trevante Rhodes makes his performance as Sgt First Class Ben Milo shine through a familiar tough-guy-with-a-heart-of-gold shtick; and Navid Negahban takes you from distrusting his General Dostum to admiring his willingness to make peace amidst a war. All these performances are very engaging.

But none. Of them. Is Michael Shannon.

Shannon (as Chief warrant Officer Hal Spencer) enters in the second scene of the movie. We've opened with pre-9/11 terrorism news footage (for context) and seen Thor's family (his daughter turns off the 1987 Chipmunk Adventure movie to find 9/11 happening), but Michael Shannon and the rest of his team were on a training exercise, waist-deep in a river in full camouflage, complete with face paint, when the attacks happened. Shannon speaks for all of America at that moment in time:

MS: "What happened?"

Back at the military base, Shannon and his crew are trying to process everything and sort out what to do next when Thor shows up. They had been a unit until recently, when Hemsworth had requested a desk job to be near his family but now he's itching to defend America. Only problem is Colonel Bowers (Rob Riggle) doesn't think he can cut it. Luckily, Michael Shannnon is there to go to bat for him, telling Bowers:

MS: "You pull this team, you're cutting the head off of your most venomous snake."


Shannon's wife (Allison King) finds him packing thermal underwear in the garage and, cliche though it may be, Shannon definitely sells the idea that none of these men want to leave their families, but are duty-bound to it. His face when he tells his son he loves him is heartbreaking.

After that, Shannon does what he does best, apparently: standing behind Thor, lending him gravitas through sheer proximity as Thor takes a meeting with Colonel Mulholland (William Fichtner) to pitch himself as the right man to lead the task force into Afghanistan. Perhaps thanks to Shannon, Mulholland agrees. They'll be the first team into the region after 9/11, using (at the time) cutting edge technology to call in precision airstrikes. Hemsworth equates them (through sheer volume of unknowns) to the first men in space, to which Shannon unleashes a charmingly unhinged laugh:

MS: "You know what they sent into space first? A monkey!"


Thor picks his team (spoilers: there's 12 of them) and they find out that they'll be using a sandstorm as cover to fly in to meet their escort, travelling at 1,500 feet in a chopper designed for a third that height, exposed to the elements and without the benefit of oxygen tanks, at the risk of hypoxia. Michael Shannon is the defacto Chopper Cheerleader in this scene, reassuring everyone that they kind of have no choice so why not just get it over with. They land, make their rendezvous, and are lead to an outpost nicknamed The Alamo to await a meeting with Afghan warlord General Dostum (Negahban) who will be their guide in the region, helping them locate Taliban factions.

When Dostum arrives, he mostly ignores Thor, focusing instead on Michael Shannon, who he kisses on both cheeks. Dostum tells Thor that he doesn't have killer's eyes, like Michael Shannon and the others do. Clearly Michael Shannon is the teacher's pet (warlord's pet?).

Up until this point, I though I knew what the drinking game for this movie would be: Drink every time Michael Shannon stands around a little behind Hemsworth, looking like the Serious Man he is, which Shannon has done quite a bit. But General Dostum apparently has other plans: he only brought 6 ponies meaning Thor has to split Task Force Dagger in twain! So, I mean, of course you want Michael Shannon in charge of the Bravo team (who are staying behind at the Alamo) because he's your right hand man, but it sucks for me and any other Shannon-heads because he's effectively out of the movie for half of it!

Eventually the two halves do reconnect, but Shannon's Hal Spencer suffered a slipped disc from riding the horses and spends a lot of the back end of this movie laying down! (For Pete's sake! I came here for the Michael Shannon and now you're just teasing me!) On the positive side, Shannon does have the line: "That's the great thing about air strikes, you can call 'em in laying down!" and in the final action sequence, we get some nice Michael Shannon: Sniper action, but then to add injury to insult, Spencer gets injured.

This is where the movie and I really gelled because at that point Hemsworth's sole focus becomes taking out this big honkin' multiple missile launcher the Taliban has mounted on a pickup because as long as it's active, they won't be able to get a rescue chopper in to save Michael Shannon. And, as though the movie knew it had to make it up to me, it saved the best action sequence for the Shannonless gap right here: Hemsworth, on horseback, leading a group of General Dostum's men directly through a war zone to take out this Rocket Thing. It's a sequence that could have felt very much like a video game, but managed not to. The direction is all very close, showing how all the man on horseback were essentially rubbing shoulders with each other in this assault.

I do have to give this movie props (do the kids still say props?) in one regard though: their treatment of the horses. There were a lot of instances of CG gunfire and explosions, which would usually bug me, but I believe in this instance it was done in service of the animal actors; obviously a CG explosion is preferable to scaring holy hell out of some poor unassuming horse actor who only knows he's supposed to do his "falling down trick" now. There were also two shots of kind of hilariously fake horses presumably getting shot and throwing their riders. Director Nicolai Fuglsig and / or DP Rasmus Videbæk shot around them very well, but I was specifically looking for these type of effects.

In case you couldn't tell from my inability to call the Rocket Thing by whatever its proper term is, I'm not a big military guy and when I do watch a war movie, I tend to go for the older films or the ones about the older wars. Maybe that's because they're over? I'm not sure. Regardless, this movie does a good job of keeping things in perspective. Obviously this is a war that we, as a country, are still involved in so it would be impossible to give the movie some kind of grand scale view of the whole thing, as that would require distance we couldn't possibly have. So keeping everything focused on this team and what they accomplished is smart and effective.

It also avoids pandering to patriotism, which I find incredibly distasteful. "Because America" is never really used as a justification for anything, or a rallying cry, and things aren't as oversimplified as they could've been. Instead the situation with what's known as the Northern Alliance (basically all the disparate military groups that want the Taliban out of that region) is depicted as being a tenuous and complex lacework of smaller alliances; that old adage "My enemies enemies are my friends" is touched on with the caveat that they may not all be friends with each other.

All in all this isn't quite the military movie I was expecting, for better or worse. In my head, it was a wild, horse-ridin', gun shootin' adventure called Them Horse Boyz but the reality was a fairly measured film about soldiers being incredibly good at their jobs and accomplishing one groundbreaking feat after another. If this movie even kind of seems like your thing, I'd recommend it, just don't expect to get enough Michael Shannon.