Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton
Week of September 10, 2018
Ocean’s 8
Rated PG-13 for language, drug use, and some suggestive content
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 68%
Available on Disc and Streaming
So apparently George Clooney’s character from the other Oceans’ films has died, and his sister, played by Sandra Bullock, is fresh out of jail and ready to take on a huge diamond heist. Along with her seven cohorts, including Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling and Rihanna, the all-female team attempts to steal a $150 million necklace off of the neck of a big Hollywood actress, played by Anne Hathaway. There’s a lot to like about the new film and it has much of the same personality of its male cohort with some interesting characters and a clever sense of humor. The biggest disappointment is how convenient and easy the whole thing ends up being. The almost complete lack of danger and tension also leads to a lack of fun. When nothing goes wrong, or at least next to nothing, its more difficult to appreciate the conquest. And at the end of the day, the project turns out to be an average attempt to entertain. C+
The Tree of Life: The Criterion Collection
Rated PG-13 for some thematic material
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%
Available on Disc and Streaming
One of my favorite films of the last 10 years is getting this huge Criterion facelift as director Terrence Malick delivers almost an extra hour of material in this new extended edition. While it was well-received by critics and even won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, it was met with very mixed results by an American audience, much of whom just didn’t understand it. And I’ll admit that its a tough film to comprehend and a lot of thought must go into it. It’s not an easy night at the movies. The story can only be described as a look at God’s complex relationship with humans, as told from a young family in a small Texas Town. Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain and Sean Penn head up the cast and Houston is very prominently featured. The film is the epitome of artsy as it is more poem and aesthetic beauty than compelling narrative, but the film’s nature is what makes it special and an almost ethereal experience for those who are willing to put the effort into it. The new material does give the movie a very different feel as you take a deeper dive into the lives of the young children and the experiences that have created their strongest memories. Aside from the new cut, the film has some great new features including interviews with Jessica Chastain and the visual-effects supervisor Dan Glass. But noticeably missing is a director’s commentary from Malick, which still saddens me with its absence. A+