Review: 'Midway', Roland Emmerich's WWII Film Gets Torpedoed By Bad Acting, Worse Writing

Midway is exactly the war film you would expect from disaster movie peddler Roland Emmerich. For some, that it's big, dumb, and has more explosions than characters you give a damn about will be seen as a plus, just as many feel the same way about Michael Bay movies. You don't show up to an Emmerich film expecting authenticity, which makes the "Based on True Events" header a joke in itself, but nobody expects it to be quite so dull and badly acted, either.

Badly acted largely due to a cast who are given a cringe-worthy script from Wes Tooke devoid of anything that resembles human emotion. Not even actors the caliber of Patrick Wilson, Dennis Quaid, Aaron Eckhart, and Woody Harrelson can make heads or tails out of the rah-rah speechifying and expository statements they are forced to rattle off. Emmerich's take on the battle of Midway is about as retro as they come, using a scaled-down color palette and a heightened, almost superheroic tone similar to the bombastic war movies of a bygone era. It's an interesting choice to make and might have worked with a better screenplay that truly honored the sacrifices made by these real-life heroes.

In true Emmerich fashion, we're thrown into the action early as the Japanese launch the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor.  The devastation is massive; ships torn asunder, fires raging, as Japanese warplanes launch strafing run after strafing run like something out of Star Wars. In the midst of all this emerges hotshot Navy pilot Dick Best, and no that name isn't a joke. He's a real war hero, worthy of a much better performance than Ed Skrein can give him. Best wants to punch back immediately, but of course, he can't. Instead, he acts like a jerk while the higher-ups come up with a strategy for response.

After the carnage of the opening attack, the film slows down as intelligence is gathered leading up to the battle of Midway. Patrick Wilson plays Intelligence Officer Edwin T. Layton, who figures out early on where the Japanese will attack next, but has to convince his superiors, including Woody Harrelson as Admiral Chester Nimitz, that the divisive code-breaking tech he's using is sound. None of this stuff is compelling in the least. There's a hint of an underdog story as Layton tries to get Washington to support his theories, but it doesn't really go anywhere. Meanwhile, other characters are introduced who serve little purpose. Dennis Quaid's Vice Admiral William "Bull" Halsey is around long enough to bark a few orders before being shuffled off with a case of shingles (!?!?), Nick Jonas plays an easygoing soldier who doesn't really care about anything, and whole lot of other actors with mustaches who fail to make much of an impression. Tooke's screenplay identifies them all by whatever their singular trait might be. "He's the man who tried to warn us!", greets Layton. "He's the best pilot we've got!" is about the only thing good anybody has to say about the appropriately-named Best. Don't go looking for too much from the female characters, either, one of which is played by Mandy Moore. As Best's long-suffering wife, she exists to make sandwiches late at night and worry about his safety.  Moore is given little from Skrein to connect with emotionally and he is especially terrible during their scenes together.

Midway deserves credit for offering an even-handed look at the Japanese, as well. A tremendous amount of time is dedicated to capturing their side of the conflict, and how their code of honor clashes with the overconfidence they bring into every fight. It's not quite Letters from Iwo Jima level, but I found the look at Japanese war culture to be fascinating and deserving of even more time.

But at least the action is good, right? Well, sure, as long as you aren't expecting realistic aerial dogfights or naval combat. This is video game-level stuff, with some slick CGI visuals that you can tell Emmerich squeezed every bit of that $100M budget to get. If this is all you came for, you might be disappointed there isn't more, as two major setpieces are about all you get. Unfortunately, it's all the stuff in-between that torpedoes Midway from being all it could be.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

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'Midway' Trailer: Roland Emmerich Enlists Nick Jonas And Ed Skrein As WWII Fighter Pilots

In Roland Emmerich's old school WWII movie Midway, Ed Skrein stars as Navy pilot Dick Best.  It's the kind of name that only works if you're a Pornhub superstar or good ol' American fighter pilot in a movie about one of the great war's most decisive battles.

The battle of Midway has been depicted on the big screen many times, most notably in the 1976 movie aptly-titled Midway. Probably if you added up the budgets of them all they wouldn't come close to Emmerich's $100M behemoth, which looks as if it shares DNA with the aerial battles in Star Wars. I'm not complaining, but also don't expect strict adherence to the historical record.

Joining Skrein in the cast are Woody Harrelson, Mandy Moore, Luke Evans, Patrick Wilson, Aaron Eckhart, and Nick Jonas who looks to be the primary hero as aviator Bruno Gaido. He's also one of the few characters who doesn't appear to be based on a real person. Yep, Dick Best is an actual dude.

Midway opens on November 8th.

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'I'm Not Here' Trailer: J.K. Simmons Is A Man Haunted By A Tragic Past

J.K. Simmons has spent so much time as one of Hollywood's top character actors that to see him in the spotlight still feels a little strange. But it's a welcome sight nonetheless, and he looks to be in top form in I'm Not Here, and he damn well better be because the film is written and directed by his wife, Michelle Schumacher.

It doesn't take much to figure out what Schumacher's drama is going to be about, or the emotional turmoil of Simmons' character is going through. He plays a broken man haunted by a past tragedy, the loss of the love of his life, and flashbacks take us back to events that led to his current state. Sebastian Stan plays the younger version of Simmons' character, joined by an excellent supporting cast that includes  Max Greenfield, Maika Monroe, Mandy Moore, and Iain Armitage.

Here's the synopsis: Steve is haunted by his past as every object in his home, every sound he hears reminds him of a specific event in his life. Steve connects the events of his life to discover how he ended up alone and broken. As he relives each significant memory, he understands the generational issues that have held him captive like his father before him. Can he move past the pain and forgive his trespassers, and more importantly, forgive himself?

I'm Not Here opens on March 8th 2019.

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Review: 'The Darkest Minds', Amandla Stenberg Leads A Familiar But Promising YA Spectacle

The YA genre may have reached its zenith a few years ago, but a few stragglers still trickle out in hopes of capturing old glories. The Darkest Minds, which is based on the novels of Alexandra Bracken, is one of those, and its combination of teenage angst and rebellion will feel very familiar throughout. While those qualities certainly won't set the film apart, it's similarities to Marvel's mutant band of heroes the X-Men that are strong enough to possibly launch a brand new superhero franchise for the folks at 20th Century Fox, and clearly that's what they are counting on.

Directed by Kung Fu Panda's Jennifer Yuh Nelson in her live-action debut, the film boasts a stellar cast of rising stars. The always-fierce Amandla Stenberg, who broke out with her role as Rue in The Hunger Games, emerges unscathed despite a script that can't help but be riddled with genre clichés. The world designed by Nelson and screenwriter Chad Hodge  could've been ripped out of a Chris Claremont comic: After an unexplained disease wipes out 90% of the world's kids, those who remain possess strange and powerful abilities (mutants!!!!). The fearful government brutally rounds them up into camps and divides them into colors based on threat level. Blues and greens are largely enhanced intellectually and are harmless, but those colored orange or red are deadly and must be killed on sight. You can't have a dystopian YA thriller without a heavily militarized authoritarian government on standby.

Stenberg plays Ruby, a young girl gifted, or cursed, with the powerful telepathic abilities that code her an Orange. When the emergence of her powers destroy any hope of staying with her parents, Ruby is forced into a camp where she hide her true abilities for years until a friendly therapist (Mandy Moore) working for a rebel faction known as The League helps her escape.  From there it isn't long before Ruby stumbles upon a trio of like-minded youths with their own powers and a healthy mistrust of adults. Zu (Miya Cech) is the youngest and can harness electricity from her hands; Chubs (Skylan Brooks) is super-smart and super-nerdy, he's also super suspicious of Ruby; and Liam (Beach Rats breakout Harris Dickinson) is the Cyclops-esque leader who has powerful telekinetic gifts and no game for wooing the ladies. Naturally, his awkward attempts to impress Ruby will win her over, anyway. Together they hope to find a hidden utopia where others like them are said to be living in harmony, but if you guessed there were dangers there, too, then maybe your mutant power is recognizing genre tropes.

There's no attempt to break the genre mold here; The Darkest Minds all but embraces its obvious influences, even referencing Harry Potter in one key encounter between Ruby and Liam. Will their tragic love story survive being chased by bounty hunters (Gwendoline Christie is sadly wasted as one) and tortured by a tyrannical government? Can they overcome fear over their own powers and learn to love? It's well-worn territory, but Nelson and her cast show a determined commitment to the material that is worth investing in. Tantalizing questions about the world-at-large are teased, with only a few answered and the rest dangled for future chapters. What does the rest of the world look like? Are all of the parents of these kids down with what's going on? Why have the country's banking and social institutions collapsed on itself when all of the adults are still alive to run things? The most demanding questions aren't really fit for the target demo, but the film still has its share of disturbing moments, most of which involve kids being gunned down in cold blood. For all of the violence that does break out, the most twisted act is by Ruby herself, committed out of anger against a bounty hunter who had been on their trail.

Nelson is still finding her footing behind the camera, especially when it comes to the generic action sequences, but she knows enough to lean heavy on her stars to deliver emotionally. Stenberg continues to impress, whether she's leading her fellow charges into battle or falling head over heels. The romantic chemistry between her and the impressive Dickinson is debatable, though. Maybe they should just be friends? As a couple they share a couple of sweet but fleeting moments, which is about what you'd expect for the first part of a potential trilogy. While the open-ended conclusion promises Ruby's eventual evolution into the Mockingjay or something, it remains to be seen whether The Darkest Minds will ever reach that point.

Rating: 3 out of 5

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Woody Harrelson Reunites With Roland Emmerich For WWII Film 'Midway'

Roland Emmerich may have fumbled the ball with his Independence Day sequel, but he's not sitting around crying about it. He's finally moving forward on another passion project, Midway, one of those big historical epics he likes to dabble in every now and then. And this one's shaping up to be quite a show, with the ever-busy Woody Harrelson reuniting with Emmerich, his director on the disaster flick 2012.

Harrelson, along with This Is Us star Mandy Moore, are in talks to lead the WWII film about the Battle of Midway, a key turning point in the war. Emmerich will direct from a script by Wes Tooke (Colony) that centers on the soldiers and aviators that helped the Allied forces secure their first naval victory over the Japanese. 

The $100M project could use Harrelson's star power for sure. He scored his third Oscar nomination earlier this year for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, but also managed to lead a number of successful franchises. He'll be seen next in Solo: A Star Wars Story. This will be a return to the battlefield for him after a role in Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line. Moore has a role in this summer's sci-fi flick The Darkest Minds, the live-action debut of Kung Fu Panda director Jennifer Yuh Nelson.  [Deadline]

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'The Darkest Minds' Trailer: We May Not Need Any X-Men Movies This Year, After All

In the upcoming YA film The Darkest Minds, a group of teens mysteriously gain super powers and are then imprisoned the U.S. government who fear them as a threat. So what do these powerful kids decide to do? Fight back, of course. No, this isn't a spinoff of the X-Men, but it sure as heck sounds and looks like it based on this new trailer. Oh, and it's from 20th Century Fox, too. Shrewd move, Fox.

The film stars Amandla Stenberg, best known for playing Rue in The Hunger Games and other YA offerings like Everything Everything and As You Are, but the most intriguing aspects may be behind the camera. Jennifer Yuh Nelson is making her live-action directing debut after building her career as a director of animation, including Kung Fu Panda 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3, making her the only other female director of color (with Ava DuVernay) on a film budgeted at more than $100M. Producer Shawn Levy is one of the brains behind Netflix's Stranger Things.

Stenberg is surrounded by a solid supporting cast, too. Skylan Brooks from Netflix's The Get Down, Harris Dickinson who broke out with last year's indie hit drama Beach Rats, Mandy Moore, and Gwendoline Christie as a bounty hunter tracking the runaway super-teens.

The Darkest Minds opens August 3rd and color me very interested.

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Review: ’47 Meters Down’ Starring Mandy Moore And Claire Holt

Making a shark movie nowadays is rather difficult.  For one, Spielberg set the bar way too high 42 years ago when Jaws first showed us how terrifying the apex predator could be.  We collectively did not want to swim after seeing that.  Also, thanks to our endless obsession with sharks, and the Discovery Channel turning Shark Week into a national phenomenon, we now know that sharks aren’t the terrifying serial killers they were portrayed in movies since Jaws.  As a result, our shark escapism has taken the science-fiction route with films like Deep Blue Sea and Sharknado (another annual summer event) where the sharks have become enhanced to be scarier than they normally could or are borderline ridiculous in their premise (looking at you Shark Night).

47 Meters Down is the best of both worlds as we have a ridiculous premise along with weak dialogue.  However, the film does give a genuinely scary environment with plenty of suspenseful moments as you can’t help but jump even if you are the most jaded horror fan.  The film even gives you a great lesson in scuba diving, equipment, breathing, the bends, and another surprise in it not worth spoiling: all scientifically accurate.

The film follows two sisters Lisa (Mandy Moore) and Kate (Claire Holt) who are vacationing in Mexico together.  Lisa is in a rut as she was just broken up with by her boyfriend for being too boring and is pretty much crying herself to sleep and waking up to be depressed over this guy.  Determined to get her sister out of their funk (and the fact that they are in Mexico), Kate takes Lisa out partying the night away.  The two meet two local guys and everyone is hitting it off.  For a moment, it looks like the film would be called “How Lisa Got Her Groove Back,” but then the guys tell the sisters about a brilliant idea.  Instead of using the recommended tours of the hotel, they know a guy, who knows a guy that offers the chance to dive in a cage with great whites.  Lisa is a little skittish, but hey, they guys are hot, what could go wrong?

The next morning the girls end up going with their newfound friends to a raggedy boat captained by Captain Taylor (Matthew Modine).  The boat looks like he put it together with parts he found as a junkyard.  No person in their right mind would set foot in this boat, let alone even go the promised 5 meters deep in the ratcheted cage to look at one of the largest predators on earth.

Rest assured, all hell breaks loose, the extremely loose line of rope holding the cage up snaps, and the two sisters cage falls 47 meters deep (hence the title) where they spend a majority of the movie trying to reestablish communication with the boat above, conserve their air, oh and avoid a whole bunch of killer great whites that for some reason are hungry for “American tourist.”  The sisters make a series of bone-headed decisions you would expect from a horror film, and the sharks are relentless.  There will be more than a few jump scare moments that will get you, especially when the camera gives you a perspective from inside the scuba mask looking into the endless blackness of the ocean, you know a shark will pop out any moment, yet you still will jump when they do.

Some of the dialogue is less than desired, and Lisa’s endless griping about her ex-boyfriend was annoying when they were on land.  After being stalked by great whites, she should not be thinking about this loser.  The girls continue to have to leave the confines of their cage to explore one thing after another, and you can almost hear the sharks ringing their dinner bells when that happens.  The sharks themselves while clearly CGI, do have a strong practical feel to them.  For a PG 13 movie, it does have some very realistic practical gore as well.

47 Meters Down manages to give you a great crash course in scuba diving as the experienced sister Kate is well versed in managing through trouble underwater.  Everything from purging your mask to using the air pressure in the scuba vest for flotation purposes is carefully contrived for the audience to give them a sense of realism in this movie.  The ending of the film was pleasantly surprising (or pretty predictable depending on if you were able to see it coming) as it also relied on science.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

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Mandy Moore Needs Saving From Hungry Sharks In The '47 Meters Down' Trailer

Shark movies will never grow old, which is good because they aren't going anywhere. In fact, there has been a resurgence of them thanks to SyFy and movie like last year's surprisingly fun summer thriller, The Shallows. Well it's starting to heat up outside again, and just in time for you to hit the beaches here comes 47 Meters Down to remind you what happens to those who invade a shark's home turf.

Formerly titled In the Deep and originally meant to arrive last summer, the film's premise is closer to Open Water than The Shallows or Jaws. Mandy Moore of This Is Us and Claire Holt (The Vampire Diaries) play two women on a vacation in Mexico who decide to try out shark cage diving. Sounds like fun if you're into that sort of thing, but not even the most thrill-seeking enthusiast would want to be in a cage that has had its rope break. As the cage sinks deeper the women are forced to flee its safety and into the shark infested waters.

Matthew Modine is in this, too, and there's something sketchy about his character here. Maybe their getting stuck wasn't an accident? That's totally something a Modine would do. I think I'd like this movie a lot better if Moore was reprising her role as the hyper-religious Hilary Faye from Saved!

Directed by The Other Side of the Door's Johannes Roberts, 47 Meters Down opens June 16th 2017.

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TJ Miller And Jessica Henwick Go 'Underwater', Mandy Moore Joins 'Darkest Minds' Adaptation

A pair of Marvel vets are set to go Underwater with Kristen Stewart. Deadpool's TJ Miller and Iron Fist's Jessica Henwick are joining the film about a team of underwater researchers who must navigate to safety from the ocean floor after their station is destroyed by an earthquake. Neither Miller or Henwick's roles have been revealed, but Stewart is the lead.  Will Eubank (The Signal) is directing with a plan to shoot later this month. [Variety]

Mandy Moore, who has experienced a career renaissance with her Golden Globe-nominated performance on This is Us, has joined Amandla Stenberg in YA adaptation, Darkest Minds. The film is based on Alexandra Bracken's sci-fi trilogy of novels, adapted for the screen by Kung Fu Panda 3's Jennifer Yuh Nelson. The story centers on 16-year-old Ruby, who develops frightening telekinetic powers and breaks out of a government camp where others like her are being held in the wake of a pandemic that has killed most of America's children. Moore plays a sympathetic doctor and crusader who wants to put a stop to the persecution of children like Ruby. This will be Moore's first feature role in five years. She will be seen next opposite Sebastian Stan and JK Simmons in I'm Not Here.

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New clip from Disney short film, 'Tangled Ever After'

This weekend sees the Disney re-release of Beauty and the Beast in 3D, and while we didn't review it, I did check it out last week. I'm happy to report that it's just as much a classic now as ever before, with my favorite Disney soundtrack bar none. The 3D isn't intrusive or distracting, although I hesitate to say it adds anything of value. Still, if you never had a chance to see this great film on the silver screen it's worth your time.

Before it starts, you'll be treated to a short film, Tangled Ever After. A sequel of sorts to 2010's hit fairy tale, Tangled, and showing the wacky misadventures that takes place during the wedding of Rapunzel(Mandy Moore) and Flynn Rider(Zachary Levi). Check out a clip from Tangled Ever After below...[ComingSoon]

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Punch Drunk DVDs

Tangled
Disney celebrates their 50th animated feature with a story that harkens back to their many classic screen fairy tales over the years, yet also takes an innovative visual approach. Mandy Moore voices Rapunzel, a feisty girl with long, ever growing hair. Trapped in a tower by her "mother", she wants nothing more than to see the world for her 18th birthday, and gets that opportunity when the dashing thief, Flynn Ryder(Zachary Levi) crashes into her room.

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Sure Shots: Melissa Leo; Mandy Moore; Tim Burton/Josh Brolin

* Now that she's won her Best Supporting Actress award for her role in The Fighter and become the first nominee in Oscars history to drop an F-Bomb during her acceptance speech, Melissa Leo can get back to what she does best. She's just signed on to star opposite Jesse Eisenberg(The Social Network) in Predisposed, an indie comedy from writers Philip Dorling and Ron Nyswaner. Nyswaner will be directing the film, which takes a look at the unhealthy relationship between a drug addicted mom and her son just before his interview at Julliard and her admittance into rehab. Is there a rehab facility for potty mouths?  Thanks to Vulture for that story.

* Chris Sparling, writer of Buried, the Ryan Reynolds solo act from last year, will be making his directorial debut with Falling Slowly.  Described as a "supernatural drama about a couple whose apartment is haunted by a dark presence", the film will star Mandy Moore(Saved!) and Rodrigo Santoro(Rango).

* Tim Burton and Josh Brolin are teaming up to develop an updated version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, based on the classic 1831 novel by Victor Hugo.  Josh Brolin wll produce and star, a welcome break from the tiresome Burton/Depp pairing. As of now it's unclear what role Burton will take, but he appears to only producing at this stage, with the possibility of more down the road. Kieran and Michele Mulroney(Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) are hammering out the script. Thanks to THR for the info on this story.

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Tangled

Forget the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Disney's version of Rapunzel is all sweetness and light, just as you'd expect from the house that Mickey built. The 50th feature in the studio's storied animated career, all of the stops were pulled out to make sure that this was more than just another hand drawn cartoon, but it had to be even more special than the computer animated greatness we get from Pixar every year. And so what Disney has done is create something totally unique, a hybrid style that's part performance capture and part hand drawn. The combination gives Tangled a glossy, hand painted style that is simply breathtaking and totally unique. Unfortunately what isn't new is Disney's stale old formula we've seen a thousand times before. Take any fairy tale, add princess, dashing hero, rinse, repeat.

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