Showing posts with label Liev Schreiber. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liev Schreiber. Show all posts

Friday, April 20, 2018

Isle of Dogs Review: A One of Kind Animated Feature


There are many filmmakers out there but if there is one that could be consider truly one of a kind it would have to be Wes Anderson.  The director has a distinct style in his movies and tend to deal with outlandish stories with distinct imagery; and for this reason Anderson is among my favorite filmmakers working today. So when seeing a new Wes Anderson movie hitting theaters, I cannot help but be excited; and in this case it is the film known as Isle of Dogs. The new movies sees Anderson return to a style he used in The Fantastic Mr.Fox as Isle of Dogs is a stop motion animated feature. I finally had a chance to watch the new animated movie and I must say that Anderson was in rare form with Isle of Dogs.

Isle of Dogs centers on the canine Chief (Bryan Cranston) where he and his fellow pack must help the boy Atari Kobayashi (Koyu Rankin) find his lost dog Spots (Liev Schreiber) who has been missing since dogs were sentenced to trash island by Mayor Kobayashi (Kunichi Nomura). When it came to storytelling Isle of Dogs was as simple as it was captivating. The story was no doubt an adventure and a straightforward one at that. However it was all about how this movie presented its zany story and in this case the execution was sound. The story was always engaging and used its concepts to their fullest abilities. This was notable the movie’s subplots which were  presented well by adding more to the overall story. The movie also featured individual chapters and while this element did not have major implications on the movie itself, it did however give the plot a sense of style. With a few surprises the plot of Isle of Dogs relied on its presentation and I think that direction aided the movie by making this tale a noteworthy one.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

The 5th Wave Review: Sci-Fi Adaptation Survives with Solid Lead and Effects

Movies based on popular novels have certainly lost a bit of steam in recent years. Though this sub genre plays a role in the world of entertainment with hit franchises like Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, this trend has definitely died down. However even with this diminishing presence in the trend, studios continue to release movies based on young adult novels. The latest film to capture this subgenre takes moviegoers in the midst of an alien invasion. This movie is The 5th Wave which is based on the popular novel series by Rick Yancy. Directed by J.Blackson, this adaptation looked to have some potential as the previews featured a subtle (yet devastating) alien invasion. So does The 5th Wave bring the fight or is this sci-fi thriller just another film based on a young adult novel?

The 5th Wave tells the tale of Cassie Sullivan (Chloe Grace Moretz): a typical high schoolers who biggest worries was dealing with boys. However her life is turned upside down when the world is invaded by an extra terrestrial force. After waves of calculated attacks, the human race finds itself on the brink of destruction. After a military group led by Colonel Vosch (Liev Schreiber) takes Cassie's younger brother Sam (Zachery Arthur) to be trained with the other young recruits, Cassie goes on a quest to get Sammy back. On the way Cassie meets the mysterious Evan Walker (Alex Roe) who is content on helping the young girl. As Sammy and his squad leader Ben Parish (Nick Robinson) train to become soldiers, they and Cassie discover that there is more to this invasion then what there appears to be.