Isle Of Dogs (2018)

There are films that I had wished I was able to see when they were released in theaters, but circumstances in life sometimes get in the way of doing so. The film that I chose for today is one of those films that I wished I had for how amazing of a job that writer and director Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums) does with his films and so I chose his last film Isle Of Dogs as my film of choice. In the country of Japan, a royal family was sick of how much the dog population had grown in the country so they attempted to eradicate the country of them only to fail. Centuries later, the mayor Kobayashi (Kunichi Nomura) from the same clan that failed is successful as the dog flu runs rampant in Japan so he banishes them to Trash Island where they'll have to fend for themselves. That is until his 12 year old nephew Atari (Koyu Rankin) decides to go looking for his once loyal sidekick Spot. The film also stars Edward Norton (The Illusionist) as Rex, Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) as Chief, Bob Balaban (Gosford Park) as King, Jeff Goldblum (Mortdecai) as Duke, Bill Murray (Ghostbusters) as Boss, Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) as Tracey Walker, Frances McDormand (Primal Fear) as Interpreter Nelson,  Scarlett Johansson (Jojo Rabbit) as Nutmeg, F. Murray Abraham (Last Action Hero) as Jupiter, Fisher Stevens (Short Circuit) as Scraps, Liev Schreiber (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) as Spots, and Tilda Swinton (Okja) as Oracle.

There are just way too many names to list in this film that helped out like Yoko Ono, Harvey Keitel (The Irishman), Angelica Huston, Ken Watanabe (Inception), and Courtney B. Vance (Dangerous Minds) to name a few that helped make this a great film. It's old school stop motion animation, but they did such a great job with it that you barely notice. This was also a film that featured an all star cast of the whose who of Wes Anderson films of the past and they did an excellent job in the film especially Edward Norton and Bryan Cranston whose interactions were comedy gold as they couldn't agree with each other as to who was leader of the pack. Besides the touching subject matter of never forgetting who man's best friend is, the film had a rather political spin to it or at least you can make it seem that way if you choose to. They alienate a species because of the fat that they develop a virus that is affecting everyone and in a major political move they segregate them to an island to fend for themselves. Nonetheless, it was an excellent film in my opinion as it explored the lost art of stop motion animation that Wes Anderson pulled off for this film and it had all of the suspense that you needed to keep you on your toes. So, I definitely recommend the film to any one that enjoys these types of films and Wes Anderson films. I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.

The Illusionist (2006)

One of my favorite actors to emerge in the 1990's was the one and only Edward Norton (The Score) who impressed me tremendously with American History X. It is very rare to find an Edward Norton picture that doesn't live up to the hype, but there are also a lot of films that have slipped through the cracks and today's film is one of them. Tubi, a free app presented the opportunity for me to see the 2006 film The Illusionist which was adapted for the screen and directed by Neil Burger (Limitless). The film stars Norton as Eisenheim the Illusionist, a man who abilities to do things that are dazzling people in turn of the century Vienna, Austria. It dazzles them so much so that he is able to secure the long lost love of his life (who is above his social class), but it comes with as very deep cost. The film also stars Jessica Biel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) as Sophie, Paul Giamatti (Private Parts) as Inspector Uhl, Rufus Sewell (A Knight's Tale) as Crown Prince Leopold, Eddie Marsan (The Gentlemen) as Josef Fischer, Jake Wood (EastEnders) as Jurka, Tom Fisher (The Mummy Returns) as Willigut, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Avengers: Age Of Ultron) as Young Eisenheim, Eleanor Tomlinson (Jack The Giant Slayer) as Young Sophie, and Karl Johnson (Hot Fuzz) as The Doctor.

I don't think this was my favorite Edward Norton film and it 's not even because of his performance because that was absolutely amazing. I just thought that while the story was cool it wasn't super exciting or on the edge of your seat kind of stuff. I think the first half of the film is great and the pacing is wonderful as you see him do all of these amazing tricks and the story to get the girl is great, but the last half of the film was just a little slow. The whole time, you were wondering what was going to be his way to get revenge on this evil crown prince guy and you do not find out the juice until the very end of the film. Your left with the notion of how clever it was, but in the back of your mind you sort of had an idea that was what was going to happen. As I said before, Edward was absolutely fantastic in this film as he took total charge of the film and camera time with confidence. He is only rivaled by one man in the film and that was definitely Rufus Sewell who played a very good asshole in the film making him the perfect villain for this film. I loved the sets and I loved the overall tones of the film which were kind of medieval or primal if that makes any sense. You sense the fact that everything was lit by candlelight in those days so it has that tone to it. The film as I said before is available on Tubi, but it is also available to watch on IMDB right now as we speak. So, I definitely think you should check this one out and I am going to give it an an B+ for a final grade.

The Score (2001)

I have always been a fan of the one and only Robert De Niro and as you can tell I have already seen him Godsend, Silver Linings Playbook, Limitless, and Ronin. There was always one film that was lost in the bunch that I had always wanted to see for the reason of who starred alongside De Niro and the film is called The Score which was directed by Frank Oz (The Muppets Take Manhattan) and released in 2001. The film stars De Niro and veteran safe cracker Nick who believes in his heart of hearts that he has done his last job because he wants a little bit of normalcy. That is until his long time partner Max (the late Marlon Brando) convinces him to take one last job with a hot shot newbie that is guaranteed to make them some big money. The film also stars Edward Norton (Keeping The Faith) as Jack/Brian, Angela Bassett (Olympus Has Fallen) as Diane, Gary Farmer (Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai) as Burt, Paul Soles (The Incredible Hulk) as Danny, Jamie Harrold (Natural Born Killers) as Steven, Serge Houde (The Kennedys) as Laurent, Jean-René Ouellet (The Barbarian Invasions) as Andre, Martin Drainville (King Of The Airways) as Jean-Claude, and Claude Despins (Ceci n'est pas un polar) as Albert.

This was an excellent film that really was all about Robert De Niro and Edward Norton as everyone else were just supporting cast. I think they could have done the whole film with literal nobodies and it would have been great with just those two. I loved that Marlon Brando was in the film because he was a legend, but his character could have been played by just about anyone. I am not saying he did a terrible job, but his character was kind of unmemorable. One thing I will say is that I loved most of the film that showed the setup of the operation and what not, but the last 35 minutes of the film is where all the excitement is because there's the anxiety of whether they accomplish it or not plus there is some backstabbing through in along with some master trickery. That last 35 minutes is definitely worth the price of admission and it ended the film on a high note. The number one lesson is that you may be the young gun, but you do not mess with a guy with experience whose been around the block because he will school you. The writing for the film was on point as it never really felt like there were holes that were left unfilled and there was always some sort of risk reward that was definitely worth it. The cinematography was great with all of the amazing shots of Montreal along with all of the action shots during the actual heist. So, I am going to come and say that I definitely suggest this film for anyone who loves De Niro and Norton because they put on quite the masterful performance. Therefore, I am going to go and give the film an A- for a final grade.

Keeping The Faith (2000)

Stop me if you've heard this one before, a priest, a rabbi, and a girl head into a bar... you guys can seriously stop me anytime. That is because the film I chose for today sort of has that premise as we tackle another Sheldon's choice in 2000's Keeping The Faith. The film was directed by and stars Edward Norton (Primal Fear) as Father Brian Finn who recounts a story of love and betrayal to a bartender (Brian George). Brian along with Rabbi Jake Schram (Ben Stiller) have been friends ever since they were kids, but they'll never forget the girl they were in love with when they were kids because she has returned into their lives and she complicates things as both of them once again fall in love. The film also stars Jenna Elfman (Ed TV) as Anna Riley, Anne Bancroft (The Graduate) as Ruth Schram, Eli Wallach (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly) as Rabbi Ben Lewis, Ron Rifkin (A Star Is Born) as Larry Friedman, Milos Forman (One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest) as Father Havel, Holland Taylor (Two And A Half Men) as Bonnie Rose, Rena Sofer (The Bold and The Beautiful) as Rachel Rose, Ken Leung (Star Wars: Episode VII- The Force Awakens) as Don, and Lisa Edelstein (Girlfriends Guide To Divorce) as Ali Decker.

I am not so sure how I feel about Jenna Elfman because she was an OK actress who gained popularity through a television show, but she was not a leading lady because her performance in this film was OK. I thought that the strongest performances in the film came from Ben and Edward who play the stars of the show, but I just felt that Jenna couldn't really keep up with their star power. There were times where some of her mannerisms felt too forced in some scenes, but as far as the movie was concerned this was a decent first attempt at directing by Edward Norton. There were definitely moments in the film placed their for his fellow actors to shine that could have been left out because they either dragged the scene too long or just were unnecessary. I'm not sure if he intentionally was trying to point out the dilemma between interfaith relationships and what I mean by that is they represented the new ideals where anyone should marry anyone regardless of faith versus the people Stiller was trying to impress that represented the old way of thinking. Nonetheless, the film loses it's steam in that regard as it gets lost in the romantic comedy Hollywood tropes that it tries to follow faithfully. It is not a terrible movie by any means, but two hours was just too much for this film. There is definitely some fantastic moments like the cinematography or Ken Leung as Don the karaoke salesmen. That is why I checked it out for free on VUDU and also why I am going to give the film an C+/B- (Somewhere in there) for a final grade.

Primal Fear (1996)

Last month I started a segment on this blog called Sheldon's Choice which was a list comprised by a fellow film Connoisseur and our first film was Internal Affairs and now we are back with our second film. The film that I chose for today is one that kept seeing in parts whether it be having the ending spoiled for me or only seeing the beginning. The film I am talking about is 1996's Primal Fear which stars Richard Gere (Internal Affairs) as hot shot defense attorney Martin Vail who may have bitten off more than he could chew when he chooses a high profile case. You see a former altar boy is accused of murdering a Priest, but the truth is going to take a lot of digging to get to. The film also stars Edward Norton (American History X) as Aaron, Laura Linney (Mystic River) as Janet Venable, John Mahoney (Say Anything...) as Shaughnessy, Alfre Woodard (Star Trek: First Contact) as Shoat,  Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) as Molly, Terry O'Quinn (Young Guns) as Yancy, Andre Braugher (Frequency) as Goodman, Steven Bauer (Scarface) as Pinero, Tony Plana (One Eight Seven) as Martinez, Stanley Anderson (Armageddon) as Rushman, Maura Tierney (ER) as Naomi, Jon Seda (Chicago P.D.) as Alex, and the film was directed by Gregory Hoblit (Hill Street Blues).

If you never have seen this film before then you need to mark this one and put it on your list because it was excellent. The film not only features a masterful performance once again by Richard Gere, but it features a masterful performance from Edward Norton who at this time was proving to be a top notch talent in Hollywood. Richard Gere was masterful in playing the cocky big time lawyer who takes no for an answer, but is a master manipulator when it comes to the courtroom. Edward Norton is the true master in this film because he has all of us believing that he's this innocent, dumb witted, stuttering altar boy who couldn't possibly commit these murders, but his other personality certainly can and that is how he fools absolutely everyone. I loved the cinematography of the film even though they were showing the rougher parts of Chicago, there were still some great shots. The story is solid and the courtroom battles are worth watching. The only thing I wish they could have elaborated on more of was the character of Alex who was the second person on the tape as well as maybe addressing the girl, but I also get why they left it out. Time restraints can be a filmmakers worst nightmare, but then again I never read the book so I don't know if it's addressed there. As I said before, this is one film that you want to put on your list because Linney delivers a great performance in the film as the prosecuting attorney who just wants to light her damn cigarette. So with that being said, I am going to give the film an A for a final grade.