A gut-wrenching and heartbreaking look into the complex divorce of a couple looking to maintain decency and respect in a world that lacks both; Marriage Story follows a couple that hoped to remain civil as they descend into war over money, a home, and the custody of their child. A conscious uncoupling – avoiding lawyers and arguing – begins in a therapists office where husband and wife Nicole (Scarlette Johansson) and Charlie (Adam Driver) are instructed to write their partner a love letter. We are introduced to the best parts of each character and can clearly see how much they love one another, until Nicole breaks down. She refuses to read her letter to Charlie and storms out of the therapist’s office knowing that their marriage is over and these letters will do nothing to save it.

Things quickly become complicated as the couple begins to unravel; a loving pair that would do anything to maintain their friendship find themselves doing things that they could never fathom. The audience is along for the ride as they try to navigate what is best for themselves and their shared 8 year old son; both parties maintaining that they want to be as fair as possible, until the stakes get higher and they are willing to stop at nothing to get what they think they deserve. As the couple descends into war, evidence of infidelity and alcoholism come to light, and lawyers are brought into the picture.

The narrative remains tense throughout, but never falters when reminding both Nicole and Charlie and the audience of the love that was once shared, and still remains between the couple. As they battle between what has changed and what hasn’t; these truths and memories discovered by the couple throughout the film remind the viewer how complicated and painful divorce so often is, as the line between mistakes and blatant disrespect becomes blurred. The couple is left to battle not only amongst themselves, but also against their lawyers who presume they know better and will do anything to win.

The film takes the audience on an emotional and realistic story of a divorce with every intention of being civil gone wrong. We feel the rollercoaster of emotions experienced by the couple with them, often drawing parallels to our own lives, making this film more truthful than many similar stories. It is as genuine as they come in terms of larger-than-life emotion and the accurate depiction of the frustration and anger that comes with separating two lives that spent so long as one. Baumbach is sure to show both the good and bad in Nicole and Charlie, never allowing the narrative to pick a side, reiterating the point that there is no way to win when it comes to the loss of love. This emotional and complex story is one that stems from Baumbach’s experience as he watched his parents go through a divorce as a child, making this story that much more personal and powerful.

Filled with unexpected comedic moments and musical numbers earning Adam Driver a round of applause at the TIFF premiere, Marriage Story rips open the concept of divorce and all of its intricacies. I found myself falling in love with the characters and feeling their pain as they struggled through this difficult time together. Scarlette Johnansson and Adam Driver’s unquestionable ability to bear their souls in their performances provided the opportunity for an incredibly believable story to be told on screen.

The final scene leaves the audience questioning what will become of the family and if they will ever be able to reach a middle ground in which both parties will be happy. Regardless of the seeming lack of closure, Baumbach provides a more than satisfying ending with a final shot that is sure to stick with audiences, leaving us to forgive them both for their explosive behavior and discover that there is still a way for us to love them both through their anger and confusion.

If you thought Todd Phillips’ dumpster fire of a press tour and comments about comedy dying in the face of political correctness wasn’t enough to maintain the discourse surrounding this film since its release (and surprising win) at the Venice Film Festival this August, just wait until the public gets their hands on this film. Phillips’ JOKER was the second worst thing Joaquin Phoenix has ever been a part of, coming second only to the murder of his brother River. (Conspiracy theorists unite!!)

Losing 52 pounds for this role, Joaquin Phoenix clearly put himself through as much stress and discomfort as JOKER imposes upon the audience. Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck, a man who suffered from severe head trauma as a child that resulted in a “condition” leading to uncontrollable bouts of laughter that may or may not reflect his real mood. Working in a dead-end job as a party clown, at night Arthur returns home to the apartment he shares with his ailing mother (Frances Conroy). He constantly checks the mail looking for a response to one of his mother’s desperate letters asking for help from Gotham Mayor hopeful, Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen), alluding early on in the film to the idea that Arthur is hell-bent on finding recognition in his own life.

The audience is forced to watch Arthur implode as his life continues to fall apart. He is constantly rejected by the society surrounding him, beaten down both physically and theoretically; he is fired from his job, and loses his access to mental health care and medication due to a cut in government funding. When Arthur falls into one of his bouts of laughter on his train ride home the night of his firing, a group of drunk Gotham elite break out into their own rendition of Steven Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns” before jumping him and forcing him to commit the crime that will drive the plot of the rest of the film – assuming a “plot” is what you can call it.

His catapult into anonymous fame only boosts Arthur’s lack of remorse for his crime and we watch him fall deeper into his own delusions as he feels he is being accepted and noticed for the first time in his life. Driven by his desire to become a successful stand-up comedian, Arthur gets a gig at a local comedy club and is recognized by his favorite late night television host Murray Franklin (Robert Di Nero). Unable to understand social cues and humor, Arthur is a follower until he realizes he is becoming the butt of the joke and decides to take a stand.

Arthur’s actions from this point forward in the film do nothing more than to service Phillips’ idea that this is not just another comic book film, not to mention the weight that the character of Bruce Wayne carries in a story that was supposed to distinguish the Joker as his own. Phillips paints the Joker not as the insane criminal mastermind antagonist of comic movies past, but as the protagonist that the audience should pity. Phillips seems to want the audience to sympathize with the Joker, alone in a brutal world that is clearly out to get him. 

The only irony or humor in this film stems from the inclusion of Robert Di Nero and the obvious homages to his work in Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy; or the endless amounts of “memeable” moments that I can’t wait to flood my Twitter timeline with. Both Di Nero and Phillips’ Joker attempt to flip the script and assume roles opposite from what the audience would expect, trading places with what we have seen in the past. 

What could have easily been a defining film in the history of comic book cinema, Phillips’ JOKER falls short. The attempt at a social commentary against fascism and society’s lack of empathy for people suffering from mental illness was a shot in the dark that missed its intended target by miles. Arthur Fleck, himself, states that he disagrees with the political movement that has arisen as a result of his crimes, leading the audience to question if it was even Phillips’ intention to make a political statement at all.

A role that could have marked a turning point in his already impressive career, Phoenix’s convincing performance as a deranged man was lost in the shallow story presented by Phillips. Phoenix successfully made the audience uncomfortable as we watched him implode both physically and mentally, but without the substance within the film to back it up, Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck was nothing more than a failed attempt at a new kind of character.

A loud narrative with nothing to say, JOKER was a bleak and depressing story of a man who lacks the ability to assimilate into the society around him. JOKER is not something that strikes me as a film that will lead to an uprising in incel culture to incite violence around the world as suggested by critics; but as an immature attempt at making the Joker something more than he is – the antagonist that drives Batman to be the superhero that we love.

As with Jared Leto’s short run as the Joker in Suicide Squad, I imagine Joaquin Phoenix’s road as a DC Comic’s supervillain will end here. We can only hope that he avoids the “Joker curse” of dying, getting fat, or having to be in Thirty Seconds to Mars.

JOKER is set for release in theaters everywhere October 4^th.

Rian Johnson has returned to his non-franchise directorial roots again with his newest “whodunnit,” Knives Out. Fresh off the tail of Star Wars Episode VIII, a film originally met with disappointment from Star Wars fans across the world, Johnson returns to his “Brick” roots as he explores the mystery genre yet again, but as always, with his own personal twist. Knives Out is the culmination of Rian Johnson’s entire career, providing us with the classic murder-mystery we’ve all been craving, all while not excluding the intensity of a thriller and the quick wit that has come to be a staple of Johnson’s writing.

Full of Hamilton quotes, one-liners, and a seemingly incessant monologue from Daniel Craig about whole donuts and donut holes and holes in donut holes that I could barely understand, not because of Craig’s rambling, but because of the audience’s laughter; Knives Out is the star-studded murder investigation of a generation.

Johnson’s attention to detail paired with an incredibly alluring soundtrack sets the mood for the entire film. This attention to detail paints the picture of wildly successful murder-mystery author Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) and his life that “looks like it came right off of a Clue board” according to the Massachusetts State Trooper (Noah Segan). Johnson moves the pieces of the game board endlessly throughout the film, creating a narrative that ends better than any finale that Thrombey could write himself.

The film opens on Thrombey’s mansion and two guard dogs frolicking across the grounds before landing on a close-up of Thrombey’s coffee mug that reads “My House. My Rules. My Coffee.,” a foreshadowing of the battle for the inheritance that is set to ensue while reminding the audience that although the mansion may look like we’ve travelled into the past, this story is happening as we watch it unfold. The camera takes us on a trip through the maze of staircases and trap doors that dot Thrombey’s home before his maid finds him in his office with his throat slit and a knife still in his hand. This discovery comes after a celebration of Thrombey’s 85th birthday that the family tells detectives was full of love and happiness. Soon, this narrative changes as the family member’s greed and entitlement pins them against one another in a fight for the Thrombey inheritance.

The film never loses intensity during the 2 hour and 10 minute runtime, and keeps the audience at the edge of their seats as it pulls them into the middle of the investigation. Detectives are initially prepared to close the case as a suicide, until Private Investigator Benoit Blanc is anonymously hired to lend a hand. The quest to understand who hired Blanc becomes just as important a role in driving the plot of the film as the quest to find the murderer. Blanc enlists the help of Thrombey’s nurse and closest personal friend, Marta, throughout the investigation as she knows Thrombey better than any member of his family and has one very important and interesting quality in honesty: she literally cannot lie without throwing up.

Ana de Armas plays the perfect protagonist in Marta, the immigrant registered nurse that the entire family “loves” so much as she’s become a part of the family herself, even though they can’t remember what Latin American country she hails from; and they never fail to remind her they are aware of her mother’s status as an illegal immigrant.

Every single member of the family becomes a suspect as Blanc, who suspects foul play, breaks down each of their most recent encounters with Thrombey. As Blanc continues to gather evidence, everyone in the family seems to have a motive to murder Thrombey, especially after it is realized at the reading of his will that every member of the family has been frozen out of his multi-million dollar estate. Thriving on their entitlement and utter lack of realization of such, the family falls to pieces as they try to pass the blame for their patriarch’s loss of trust in the family.

The second half of the film is a labyrinth of understanding how each family member’s motive falls into line as the audience finally discovers who was responsible for Thrombey’s death, but, as Johnson has displayed through so many of his prior films, the solution is not as simple as it may seem.

Chris Evans comes to play the role of the wild card, Thrombey’s grandson Ransom, entering the film late in the game and being sure to shuffle the deck. Evans’s character is the black-sheep of the family, the grandson who skipped his grandfather’s funeral, but made it a point to be at the reading of the will. Evans is sure to drive the hilarity of the film through his smug defiance against his family and lack of “political correctness.” Evans’s one-liners and questioning rebellion strikes a match under the entire family, somehow shocked by his arrogance and carelessness for the dramatic situation at hand.

This film is as much a political commentary as it is Johnson’s attempt to employ all of the classic characteristics of an Agatha Christie-style mystery. Johnson makes it a point to exclude no one from this political commentary, berating the Nazi nephew, the snowflake niece, the cheating husband, the “self-made” business woman, the Trump supporter, the Instagram influencer, and the entitled millennial equally throughout the film.

As the investigation progresses, Johnson keeps the audience on their toes as there seems to be a lack of twists and turns, constantly changing the direction of the investigation and pulling the rug from both the audience and the characters. He makes sure to not show his cards in order to keep the audience guessing up until the very last scene.

Yet again, Johnson has successfully morphed a number of genres into one to create a murder-mystery that is as fun for the audience as it was so obviously fun for the cast. Earning a standing ovation at the September 7th TIFF world premiere, Knives Out is a top contender for the Grolsch People’s Choice Award and is sure to be making the rounds during this year’s awards circuit.

Knives Out will be released by Lionsgate November 27th, 2019.

Ready or Not is the newest comedy disguised as a Mystery/Thriller to hit the theaters. Drawing from classic “Whodunnit” themes, this film is not your traditional search for a killer, but the hunt for a victim hilariously gone south. Ready or Not is the story of Grace (Samara Weaving) marrying her true love Alex (Mark O’Brien), who is an heir to a massive gaming dynasty. Per tradition, the newly wed couple is set to play a game with the entire family at midnight; a game decided upon by the ghost of the man with whom Daniel’s great-great-great-grandfather made a deal for the success of their company. Who doesn’t love a sprinkle of spooky cult rituals in their thrillers?

The suspense of the film begins to build as we watch Grace approach this strange family tradition with a childishly intrigued attitude; all the while ignoring Daniel’s obvious contempt for his family and their traditions. The family gathers in a special corridor of the home as the patriarch explains the rules of the game. Conversations throughout the room give the audience a hint into the possibilities of what is to come and plant the seeds of budding relationships between Grace and the members of her new family.

This film is full of hilarious moments, heart-warming conversations, suspense, and horror; all creating a labyrinth that keeps the viewer guessing what could possibly happen next. The story employs a revolving door of character personalities and loyalties throughout the movie, even drawing upon the harrowing childhood experiences of Alex and his brother Daniel from nearly 30 years ago… the last time the Hide and Seek card was drawn. These flashbacks at the beginning of the film help to build the intensity and set the scene for what is to come as the game commences.

The weapons and intensity of the hunt paired well with the moronic attitudes of the other family members to create a tongue-in-cheek humor surrounding the horror of this film. Weaving did an incredible job playing through a series of emotions in a performance that I can only assume will be the beginning of a long and fruitful career.

The themes within the film that seem to correlate with movies such as The Purge and Get Out seem to be original enough that this felt like a brand new story from beginning to end; a story that certainly peaked my interest. This rollercoaster is well worth the price of its ticket… just maybe don’t plan to buckle in with your in-laws.

It’s what we’ve all been waiting for these past few months.. that’s right, I’m back. Common Man’s Critic has REVIVED!! Okay, so now that the necessary drama is out of the way let’s get into it. The moment we’ve really all been waiting for: ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD. The much anticipated 9th film from Quentin Tarantino. Yes.. thats nine. Number 9, like The Beatles song. Please don’t try to come for my math skills, I know they’re horrible, but if you know anything then you know Kill Bill wasn’t two movies, but was, in fact, one film. VOLUMES, PEOPLE. Volumes.

So here we are, number nine, meaning the film before Tarantino’s very last gig as writer and director (we’ll have to talk about that another time, because I am emotional). I have been waiting for this film since the moment I walked out of my first showing of The Hateful Eight and we all know how I feel about Tarantino. After spending four months writing my honor’s thesis over western film’s influence on Tarantino’s style of writing in 2017, I think I’ve predicted the future. This film is Tarantino’s love letter to the Hollywood of his childhood, the celebration of western film, the layers of Hollywood in the 60’s, and the earth-shattering change that came from counterculture and the loss of a budding Hollywood starlette… and it is SO Tarantino.

This movie was everything that I hoped for in a new QT film. The voiceover and QT cameo, the title cards, the humor, the violence, the unpredictable plot twists and turns, and direct nods to the films I spent so much time comparing to The Hateful Eight in an attempt to prove how old Hollywood westerns influenced my favorite director. This film would be a joy for anyone who appreciates the nostalgia of Hollywood as well as someone who was simply hoping for an entertaining look into what it was like to survive in Los Angeles during the introduction of counterculture. My cinephile and murderino hearts were both completely filled by this film. To try to explain how this movie made me feel would be impossible, so all I’ll say is this: Quentin Tarantino got me good. HE. GOT. ME. GOOD.

The most important thing to remember when contemplating what it is that you just witnessed is Tarantino’s insistence that this film would be his fantasy love letter to the Hollywood of his childhood. Growing up in Hollywood in the 60’s is what shaped Tarantino into the man, and the writer, that he is today, and he maintains that he would be nothing of what he is today had he experienced childhood anywhere else. The film is full of Hollywood culture in the early 60’s and is a nod to the nostalgia that western film holds for Tarantino. Tarantino finds a way to mention names of famous western films and directors that he has said many times have a great influence in his own filmmaking, making Once Upon a Time the fairytale of his love for everything that Hollywood exemplifies.

Now… onto Sharon Tate. There’s no way Tarantino could write a love letter to the Hollywood of the 60’s and leave no mention of Sharon Tate or Manson’s counterculture, because the murders on Cielo Drive marked an irreparable shift in Hollywood culture that we still feel the effects of to this day. Another important role played by Tate in this film is to drive the narrative of the echelon in Los Angeles in the 60’s and how something as simple as a new neighbor could truly alter a person’s career.

The first two hours of the film are set on showing what a normal day is like in Los Angeles for a nobody, a has-been, and a star. In normal Tarantino fashion, there are seemingly random outbursts of comedy, anger, and storylines that seem to have nothing to do with each other, setting up the viewer for the expected explosion: the murder of Sharon Tate, unless… We see sprinkles of the Manson Family throughout the film, hitchhiking, on the ranch, and even Charlie himself knocking on the door of the Polanski residence; but it isn’t until the climax of the film that we really get a glimpse into the thinking of the Manson Family Members.

And this is where it gets interesting.. seriously… if you haven’t seen the movie yet, STOP READING RIGHT NOW COME BACK LATER.

We recognize four members of the Manson Family from earlier in the film on the ranch pulling up Cielo Drive in their obnoxiously loud car and these four members just happen to be the infamous Tex, Susan, Linda, and Patricia; members of the Manson family who murdered Sharon Tate and four other people on Cielo Drive the night of August 8th, 1969. Rick Dalton is next door in his own home making frozen margaritas, while his stunt double, Cliff Booth, is out walking his dog. Rick confronts the Manson Family Members demanding they move their loud car from the private drive. Before Cliff returns, the four back down Cielo Drive and away from both the Dalton and Polanski homes.

We leave Rick and enter the car with the four family members as they discuss their plans to murder everyone in the Polanski home. After a classic dramatic build-up and a family member runaway, we see the ringleader, Tex, busting down a door. We immediately find him face-to-face with Cliff Booth… in the wrong house. After a bit of “Pulp Fiction and Django comedic relief,” the showdown begins in Dalton’s home where Cliff and his dog Brandie annihilate two of the three remaining family members before Rick, using a keepsake prop from one of his westerns, finishes off number three. Cliff, suffering from a stab wound and an intense acid trip, (seriously you’ve got to see this movie) we see Tate’s friend Jay Sebring come down the drive to ask Rick what all of the commotion was about.

The film ends with a conversation between Rick and Tate over the gate’s intercom. She invites Rick up to the house to meet her other friends and the screen blacks out as Sharon Tate embraces Rick in a hug. Saved. The fairytale Hollywood of Tarantino’s dreams where a jobless stunt double saves the starlette of the century, and saving the graceful and carefree Hollywood as Tarantino knew it plays out before our eyes, just the dramatic twist that none of us saw coming.