A Rabbit and a Fox Take on City Crime

Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman),
and Flash (Raymond S. Persi) in "Zootopia"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com   

For a long time, stories for children have entertained and taught them simple life lessons.  Others have gone the extra mile and touched upon current social and/or political issues that gave these stories considerable depth, providing their audiences with something to think about once these stories were told.

The latest example of this comes in Byron Howard and Rich Moore’s animated comedy “Zootopia.”  In a film loaded with gorgeous animation, a hilarious voice cast, and a narrative that couldn’t be more timely, this directing duo delivers a film that both younger and older viewers will enjoy in equal measure.

In the rural town of Bunnyburrow, Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) dreams of becoming the first rabbit police officer in the city of Zootopia, much to her parents’ dismay, who wish for her to live a safe and simple life as a carrot farmer, just like them.  Once she passes through the police academy and moves to Zootopia, she’s eager to begin her dream job.  While buffalo Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) doesn’t take her seriously as an officer at first, events soon unfold that get her involved in a case involving animals throughout the city who have gone missing.  With the help of a cunning fox named Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), these two citizens will form an unlikely pair and attempt to uncover the mystery behind the disappearances.

The voice cast comes brimming with comedic talent that makes the film outstandingly fun from start to finish.  Goodwin provides an abundance of high-spiritedness that her character thrives on in order to make her dreams a reality.  Bateman brings sly and smooth tones of his voice that make him a terrific fit for his crafty character.  As the film goes on, we see these two open up to each other and they realize they are alike in how societal misconceptions impacted their lives and shaped them into wanting to become more than others imagined they would, and this offers the film its emotional center.

The screenplay by Jared Bush and Phil Johnston succeeds in constructing a story that revolves around relevant social issues.  The film takes a deep look at the harm that stereotypes have when they’re engrained in our everyday lives, and how they can limit our views of people when we don’t see them as other than how society paints them.  It’s a heartwarming narrative of how someone can overcome being pigeonholed and be more than what people anticipate from them.

The story also has a handful of humorous cultural references, but thankfully refrains from using too many of them and trying to seem hip.  And, the jokes are consistently clever and never go for cheap laughs, all of which makes this a movie that respects the intelligence of its audience.

Howard and Moore do splendid work in providing the film with an abundance of wit and emotion, all of which is wrapped up in a fast-paced story that doesn’t just want to entertain, but also say something important.  It isn’t often we are given a children’s movie as topical as this, but we’re lucky when we do.  Just like the animals learning to embrace the potential of each other in the story, audiences will do the same with “Zootopia.”  

Grade: A

Facing Uncertainty and Danger Underground

John Gallagher, Jr. (left), Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and
John Goodman in "10 Cloverfield Lane"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com 

Eight years ago, producer J.J. Abrams and director Matt Reeves gave audiences the found-footage monster movie, “Cloverfield.”  While it seemed like the type of film that would get a sequel right away (depending on it’s success), that wasn’t quite the case.  Over the years, it started to look like we wouldn’t get a sequel that would answer the first film’s lingering questions.

Now, we have a sequel that acts, as Abrams puts it, a “blood relative” of the first film.  Director Dan Trachtenberg brings us the science-fiction thriller, “10 Cloverfield Lane,” a movie that elicits an unrelenting sense of dread throughout its duration and unleashes tension that will keep you rigid for its entirety. 

Following an argument with her fiancé, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) moves out of her New Orleans apartment.  While driving, she becomes involved in a serious car accident and is knocked unconscious.  Later, she wakes up in an underground bunker, owned by doomsday preparer Howard (John Goodman).  He tells her there has been a chemical attack, rendering the outside world hazardous.  However, Michelle isn’t sure how much of what Howard tells her is true.  She soon recruits the help of another bunker occupant, Emmett (John Gallagher, Jr.), to assist her in finding out what Howard is hiding from them.

Winstead shows a lot of emotion and grit when portraying the film’s resourceful heroine.  She exhibits the character’s toughness and survival instincts right from the beginning of her captivity, and it’s then that we know Winstead will have a firm command of the movie, just as her character does with her plans to escape.

Goodman gives what could be one of the best performances of his career as a frighteningly unhinged end-of-the-world anticipator.  He makes transitions from eery calmness to frightening anger that make his character wholly unpredictable.  We believe he’s crazy, but we’re never sure how crazy, and he lets that persona build and build until it feels like he can’t handle it anymore.  As the film goes on, we come to learn what he’s capable of doing in order to keep his bunker safe and orderly, making Goodman’s work in the film a truly disturbing performance that will make it feel as though a subzero chill blew through your theater.

John Gallagher, Jr. does a fine job in offering much of the film’s comic relief.  But thankfully, it doesn’t become too much like the comedic character Hud in “Cloverfield,” and Gallagher is able to retain the gravity of the situation, even when delivering a few laughs.

The film abandons the shaky-camera cinematography from the original and goes with more traditional photography to tell the story.  While the shaky-cam wasn’t particularly bothersome (in my opinion), it’s still a refreshing change to have a more steady camera this time around.  While “Cloverfield” mostly benefits from the shaky-cam because it captures the panic of that film’s situation, a steadier camera in this movie compliments the slow burn of the story and the quieter, contained atmosphere.

The screenplay by Josh Campbell, Matt Stuecken, and Damien Chazelle takes an interesting approach to the “Cloverfield” franchise.  Instead of giving us a direct sequel, we get a film that tells a completely fresh story with all new characters, each of whom has the opportunity to reveal information about themselves that speaks to the actions they take throughout the film.  

The writers also do tremendous work in penning scenes that make you a nervous wreck.  With Chazelle being the writer and director of the anxiety-inducing drama “Whiplash,” it isn’t a surprise “10 Cloverfield Lane” comes loaded with scenes that contain moments of near-unbearable suspense.  

Similar to the first film, one of the best qualities about this movie is it doesn’t offer any clear answers to some of it’s biggest questions, and that’s part of the fun because it allows us to contemplate our own theories about the events of the story.  It’s one of those films where, if you watch it again, you will surely pick up some more clues that may have you think differently about what’s going on beneath the surface (no pun intended).

Similar to Matt Reeves and “Cloverfield,” this is Trachtenberg’s first feature film as a director, and he succeeds in doing a lot with a limited cast and enclosed setting.  He captures the claustrophobia that permeates throughout the film, giving us the same sense of entrapment that cloaks the characters.  Trachtenberg retains the aura of mystery as the movie progresses, making us feel like there are still things being hidden from us, even if it seems like we’ve seen nearly every inch of the bunker.  Just like with Reeves going on to direct acclaimed mainstream films such as “Let Me In” and “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” it seems like “10 Cloverfield Lane” is the beginning of a great career for Trachtenberg.

The “Cloverfield” franchise is shaping up to be a very different kind of cinematic property with its method of storytelling.  If the series gets a new director, narrative, and characters for each movie, this will prevent these films from getting stale, and it will help each of them remain as mysterious as the last. 

Grade: A 

Cast Into Exile, a Family Encounters Evil

Anya Taylor-Joy in "The Witch"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

While many horror films these days take place in modern times, it’s always a fun switch when a movie in this genre decides to move its story to an entirely different time.  It allows the audience to be transported to an era where there were different kinds of fear people may not have today, but these fears are nonetheless horrifying when manifested on screen.

Up-and-coming director Robert Eggers makes his debut with the horror film, “The Witch.”  In a movie that sends you to a chapter of history from centuries ago, it offers you an unrelentingly unsettling view of an outcasted family trapped in the grips of an unexpected terror.

In the 17th century, husband and father William (Ralph Ineson), his wife Katherine (Kate Dickie), his oldest daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), and her four younger siblings, are banished from their New England village.  Following their leave, they settle on a plot of land at the edge of the woods and build a farm.  After the family’s infant son mysteriously vanishes, they soon start to think there could be malevolent forces residing deep in the woods.

The entire cast does a memorable job in displaying the family’s harrowing descent into terror and madness, especially Taylor-Joy, Ineson, and Dickie.  Each of their characters has their own distinct way of how they react to the horrible scenario at hand.  Taylor-Joy, in a breakthrough performance, provides a sense of innocence that has us care and worry for her.  Ineson strongly shows the father as a sympathetic character, in that even though his overly prideful religious views got the family where they are, he believes in doing what’s right for them, all while needing to be their rock as his wife grieves for their lost child.  As the mother, Dickie brings across immense grief of losing her youngest child, and then shows a slow descent into madness as the film goes on.

The cinematography by Jarin Blaschke offers a chilling aura throughout the film, especially during the scenes in which we’re brought into the woods.  His camerawork helps in making this setting one of the most unnerving aspects of the movie, and Blaschke’s photography does a successful job in making us feel utter dismay when he brings us into that hopeless place of dread.

The screenplay by Eggers is one that would make playwright Arthur Miller exceedingly proud, in that both “The Crucible” and “The Witch” capture the crippling paranoia expressed during the times of when many people were suspected of witchcraft. 

One of the best qualities of the story is how, besides focusing on the horrors of the witch, the film also has some scenes that focus on the dynamics of the family, having secrets come up about them that help further develop the relationships between the characters.  When providing an in-depth view of this family, we become emotionally invested in them because they aren’t just a group of one-dimensional characters being terrorized by an evil entity; they are a flawed family that’s experiencing hardships they never could have imagined, and the screenplay shows the complexities within these characters as their situation worsens.

Eggers proves himself to be a true master of atmospheric horror, using music and camerawork to create scenes of near-unbearable tension, some of which had me recoiling into my seat, wanting me to put as much distance as I could between me and the screen.  The film is an hour and half of pure creepiness, and it’s a moviegoing experience that leaves you quite shaken once it’s over.  In a time where most horror movies are satisfied in just giving audiences one cheap jump scare after the next, Eggers displays admirable restraint, yet still manages to have you quaking in your own nervousness.  As you watch “The Witch,” you are presented with a new vision of cinematic horror, and you will see Eggers is the type of director the horror genre needs and deserves.

Grade: A