SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO--the Mad Artist View

Sicario: Day of the Soldado Review by Gordon Stamper, Jr.

Viewers who experienced Denis Villenuve's Sicario saw a timely morality play about the bloody war on our southern border's doorstep that also worked as a gripping action thriller. The latest related film continues to follow the characters Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) and Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) on another amoral mission, which doesn't have as much pessimistic dread as the original, but generally makes up for it in suspenseful action sequences with high stakes.

Two terrorist acts have been committed on American soil, and it appears that the terrorists have been smuggled across the Mexican border. Graver is called in to interrogate suspects and organize a tactical team to disrupt the drug cartels' trafficking of illegal immigrants (and more importantly to the U.S. government, the influx of terrorists). Alejandro, government sicario/hitman for hire, is recruited by Graver in a plot to kidnap a drug lord's teen daughter Isabel Reyes (Isabela Moner) and trigger a chaotic war among cartels.

What follows involves several memorable action set pieces from director Stephano Sollima (Gomorrah) and cinematographer Dariusz Wolski (The Martian, Prometheus) in which the main characters are pummeled with constant threats from often unexpected sources. Some are set in real-life controversy sites such as McAllen, Texas. It builds to a climax that has one shock wave of violence after another.

The difference makers preventing this from being stock action sequel material are the acting and the generally intelligent scripting from returning screenwriter Taylor Sheridan. Del Toro, the omniscient in 2018 Brolin, and newcomer Moner wear the necessary fear and weariness well, and Jeffrey Donovan, Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine, and Elijah Rodriguez as a young, wannabe sicario, fill out an able supporting troupe.  Enough intertwining plot threads and effective twists demand audience attention.

Although not in the modern day classic league of Sicario, the follow up has its own merits.  Adult filmgoers who seek a provocative and timely thriller have a solid movie option with Day of the Soldado.

My rating: ***1/2 out of ****.

Columbia Pictures presents Sicario: Day of the Soldado. Rated "R" for extreme violence and language. Starring Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, Isabela Moner, Jeffrey Donovan, Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine, and Elijah Rodriguez. Written by Taylor Sheridan. Directed by Stephano Sollima. Playing in wide release as of June 29, 2018.

DEADPOOL 2: The Mad Artist View

Deadpool 2: A Review by Gordon Stamper, Jr.

Unless you've tuned out to pop culture the past three years, you're probably at least aware of the R-rated phenomena of Deadpool. He's a wise-cracking, murderous anti-hero whose antics should never be seen by young children, but many boys have seen anyway as a badge of honor. You know it's something different from the usual Marvel fare when Stan Lee's cameo appearance is a strip club announcer in film one.

In the latest installment, Deadpool aka Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) has hit rock bottom, feeling friendless and desolate after a tragedy the character foreshadows as one of Disney proportions. He finds a cause through the persecution of a orphaned boy (Julian Dennison), who is also a mutant with explosive super powers.

What Deadpool doesn't expect is Cable (Josh Brolin), a time-travelling hit man armed with dozens of future weapons that could crater city blocks and wants to kill the boy. Deadpool then enlists the help of a team with some great and not-so-great superpowers he proclaims as "X-Force." The ensuing conflict is both riotous in gore and humor, with many superhero tropes and pop cultural icons being satirized and skewered along the way, including other Marvel franchises, of course.

Like the first film, many scenes are elaborate excuses for some snappy throwaway lines and punch lines. But it also doesn't have the expository baggage of origin story to hold back the action or jokes. Most of the central troupe returns as well, including Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Leslie Uggams, and Karan Soni as Deadpool's taxi cab wheel man, who helped make the first movie a foul-mouthed and amusing adult action comedy.

Once again, the emphasis is on set piece gross-outs and taboo-stretching humor, and I won't be the spoiler reel that many ads already have been. If you love action comedy and the term "sensitive viewer" hasn't applied to you since your childhood, Deadpool 2 should be a great time at the movies, and please leave the kids at home!

My rating: ***1/2 out of ****.

20th Century Fox and Marvel Entertainment present Deadpool 2. Rated R for everything. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni, Eddie Marsan, and Stefan Kapicic. Written by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Ryan Reynolds. Directed by David Leitch. Still in theatrical wide release as of June 19, 2018.

 

HEREDITARY: the Mad Artist view

Hereditary: A Review by Gordon Stamper, Jr.

Hereditary may not be the 92% horror classic that Rotten Tomatoes proclaims it to be. But in a summer of mostly franchise films, even from Pixar/Disney, it's a relief to see a solidly constructed and original movie made for adults.

The film starts with a death in the family and funeral for a grandmother who doesn't seem to be missed too much by the immediate family. Her daughter Annie (Toni Collette) notes in her service eulogy that she's surprised by the big turnout for her eccentric and surly mother, which hints at a possible double life mother has led. One attendee seems to take particular interest in daughter Charlie (Millie Shapiro), in which the young girl's response is a puzzled stare and a healthy bite off a comforting candy bar.

After the funeral dinner, the family comes back to their scenic and secluded home, complete with adjacent tree house fortress. Teenage son Peter (Alex Wolff) goes off to his room to space out and eventually get high, and dad Steve (Gabriel Byrne) seems more relieved than anything, having gone through a period of care-taking for the difficult grandmother before her time in hospice.

Annie takes comfort in her art, making dioramas of her life before her mother's death (the original CSI demonstrated this isn't the healthiest pastime). Charlie goes to sleep in the tree house, red space heater glare illuminating the nighttime yard. In fact, all go off in their own forms of being alone and isolated, ill-prepared for the existential and occultic challenges that lie ahead for them.

Three things set Hereditary apart from the average genre picture. First is the Oscar-caliber acting of Toni Collette as a frightened mother who tries various desperate measures to keep her family together, but whose mental instability may be driving them apart, and Alex Wolff as the son who responds with alternating hysteria and numbness to the central tragedy of the film.

Second is Pawel Pogozelski's cinematography. Not only does he frame the perfect angles for non-CGI suspense, but uses the Utah Rocky Mountain landscape as a setting of beautiful but foreboding character.

Finally, except for a few logic leaps in the final dream-like act, debut writer/director Ari Aster has effectively taken elements of family drama realism and supernatural thrillers of the 1960's and 70's. The result is a frightening film on multiple levels, showing us the ravages of evil attacking an already vulnerable family.

Hereditary does require attention and some acceptance of plot developments in its last half hour, but for fans of demonic and spiritual terror or just good work from a young filmmaker, they will be rewarded with some unforgettable images and acting performances.

My rating: ***1/2 out of ****.  

Hereditary starring Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Gabriel Byrne, Millie Shapiro, and Anne Dowd. Cinematography by Pawel Pogorzelski. Music by Colin Stetson. Written and directed by Ari Aster. Distributed by A-24. 127 minutes. Rated "R" for violence, language, nudity, and psychological horror. As of June 13, 2018, playing in wide release.