The Legend of Tarzan

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: David Yates/Starring: Alexander Skarsgard, Margot Robbie, Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz, Djimon Hounsou, Jim Broadbent and Ben Chaplain

If you're like me, you might be wondering why the world needs another Tarzan flick but after seeing director David Yates' The Legend of Tarzan I wondered: why does the world need another Tarzan flick? I still have yet to see versions superior to the Johnny Weismuller films though I kind of liked Christopher Lambert's Tarzan in the early 80s'. I think a 50 year moratorium on Tarzan films is in order.
I thought a fine cast might make for a fun time but no, not even Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz or Jim Broadbent could make this CGI snooz-er-roo watchable. Yes, it is a bore though maybe those who find the sight of a ripped Alexander Skarsgard a sight to ogle will get a charge out of watching Yates' pointless dud. I wish I could say Margot Robbie's comely form compensated me but her erotic potential was sadly neutralized. It's understandable. After-all, this is family entertainment but I can't recall a Jane ever looking (and sounding) so plain and un-erotic.

In order for the story to be relevant in the 21st century, the film is heavily politicized, as it rails against the evils of 19th century colonialism in Africa and pushes a subtle message about nature.

We learn in the beginning of the film about how Africa was being carved up by the European powers in the 1880s'. Congo was claimed by Belgium for its mineral wealth and diamonds but King Leopold discovered exploiting the country's resources to be a drain on his own country's coffers.

John Clayton (Alexander Skarsgard); who we come to know as Tarzan in a series of formative-year flashbacks, has since returned to England and been re-assimilated as a gentleman. Clayton is asked by King Leopold to lead an expedition into the Congo. Though his identity as Tarzan is unbeknownst to the general public, his American friend George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson) is well aware of his alter-ego. Williams urges his reluctant friend to go. Joining him is wife Jane (Margot Robbie) and Williams himself. Throughout the film, we learn how Clayton's parents perished in an African jungle while their infant son was adopted by an ape. The film backtracks intermittently to show us Clayton/Tarzan at different periods in his life as he grows strong and ape-like in his former jungle home.

Meanwhile, King Leopold's unsavory envoy to the Congo; Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz) leads his own expedition into the country's heart to plunder its natural wealth. He and his troops are set upon by a tribe and its Chief; Mbonga (Djimon Hounsou), who are very aware of what Rom and his men are after. Rather than slaughtering the Europeans, the chief makes a deal: he will shower Rom with diamonds if he will capture Tarzan, who was responsible for Mbonga's son's death. Rom accepts Mbonga's offer and sets out to capture his prey.

As Tarzan reacquaints himself with his former arboreal life and home, he re-establishes his relationship with the animals and his environment while Williams keeps to his side and tries to keep up. Jane is ultimately captured to lure Tarzan into Rom's clutches when the envoy learns his target is conducting his own expedition.

As we might expect from any Tarzan film, the action scenes consist of swinging about the jungle, fighting Rom's soldiers and calling on his animal friends to help him in his battles. In a scene where our heroes are hopelessly outnumbered by Leopold's troops, a stampeding crush of wildebeest serve as Tarzan's army. We also expect a confrontation between Tarzan and his Mangani (great apes) brother, who proves to be the stronger during their brutal melee. True to Tarzan lore, Jane is a helpless captive who continually warns Rom about her husband's wrath. I expected a bad-ass, Jane-for-the-21st-century but no dice. The final confrontation between Rom and Tarzan is a ho-hum affair. We know the muscular jungle dude just can't lose.

I was actually looking forward to this movie because I thought Skarsgard might make a fascinating Tarzan. Skarsgard can be very interesting if given substantial material but in a role that demands him to look like a surfer-god, grunt occasionally and speak in flat diction, he registers as only slightly more real than the CGI animals. Waltz is a seasoned villain and always fun to have around while Jackson makes for an effective sidekick to Skarsgard, who so badly needs a comic personality to offset his forgivable woodenness. Like Robie's almost brainless depiction of Jane, Jim Broadbent is saddled with a ridiculous, bewildering voice that serves no dramatic purpose.

I found myself quite bored with the movie. It was a task staying awake; even in the most action-packed moments and I found I didn't give a damn what happened to Tarzan or Jane. Had they had their butts devoured by crocodiles or hippopotami, that would have been fine with me.

As with most mega-budget movies, the film comes off more as a product than an inspired action/thriller/romance. How a director can have almost unlimited access to visual effects and still induce drowsiness in a theater audience is mystifying. I guarantee you the early Weismuller iterations didn't have $180 million dollar budgets. They didn't need to.

I haven't seen any commercial tie-ins for The Legend of Tarzan, which is too bad. The movie itself would make an excellent commercial for a Tarzan-theme park in Orlando, if one should ever be conceived. But as a movie, it just seems endless.

The Hateful Eight

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Quentin Tarantino/Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, Tim Roth, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir and Zoe Bell

Happy New Year folks! And what a way to cross the threshold into another 365 with Quentin Tarantino's new film The Hateful Eight. The release of any Tarantino film is always a much-anticipated event. Tarantino's films guarantee a good time and his new western is anything but a snoozer.
It's axiomatic that westerns, particularly Sergio Leone's variety, occupy a prominent place in Tarantino's movie pantheon. Even his crime films contain allusions to Spaghetti westerns. Though his new film doesn't feel entirely like a Spaghetti, it nevertheless nods in that direction at times. The most conspicuous connection to the Italian westerns is in the soundtrack; an exceptional score by the man who helped make that western subgenre famous; Ennio Morricone.

Things we can expect from every Tarantino film are: colorful characters, colorful dialogue, violence; often times very graphic and his penchant for showing a sequence of events from different perspectives. And none of these indispensable Tarantino elements are crafted without his keen intelligence, which help mold these disparate features into something compellingly cohesive.

Subtitles tell us The Hateful Eight is Tarantino's eighth film, which is followed by a seque to a shot fit for the 70mm format proudly advertised in trailers: the white, wintry mountains of Wyoming (Colorado in actuality). In long shot, moving against the inert, silent surroundings is a stagecoach struggling through the deep snow.

Up close, we see the coach stop for a black man blocking the road who stands near several bodies, piled high. When the coachman stops the coach, the black man asks if he might ride along. The coachman tells him only the man who has hired the coach can decide. When the coachman turns to shout toward the interior of the coach, a heavily mustachioed man sticks his head out and inquires about the identity of the prospective rider. He makes the black man, who introduces himself as Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), walk slowly to the side of the coach but not before asking him to lay his his pistols down on a rock. Warren explains to the man, who introduces himself as John Ruth (Kurt Russell), that he has bodies he intends to collect a bounty on and is in need of a ride. Ruth tells Warren, in a forceful manner, that he intends to take the woman sitting in the carriage; Daisy Domergue (an excellent Jennifer Jason Leigh) to Red Rock to hang and isn't partial to having company along. The sight of Daisy's face; ragged and black-eyed, isn't mitigated by her gruff manner, which she extends to Warren in the form of racist comments. After further cajoling, Warren convinces Ruth to allow he and his bounty bodies a ride to Red Rock.

Along the way, Ruth and Warren get better acquainted; having met casually once before in the past. In their conversation, which is tinged with mutual suspicion and distrust, Warren tells Daisy about Ruth's reputation for bringing captives to hang, thus earning him the nickname John "The Hangman" Ruth. Warren's past is also revealed when we learn about his role as officer for the Union in the Civil War. Their conversation moves along and is only disturbed periodically by Daisy's comments, which elicit Ruth's violent responses; one being a hard elbow to the nose. Though she is slated to hang, we don't learn of Daisy's crime until the latter part of the film though we know murder is involved; which seems likely, given her rough appearance and rougher tongue.

In their ride through the Wyoming snow, they see a man waving to them from a distance who is also in need of a ride. Ruth is immediately suspicious; believing the man to be a secret associate of Warren's but changes his mind when they make his acquaintance. The man, with whom Ruth is more than familiar, is Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), who explains that he is en route to Red Rock where he is to become the sheriff. Ruth scoffs at the claim; explaining to Daisy and Warren that Mannix belonged to a Confederate guerrilla party whose airs of legitimacy were challenged by those who say the unit were no more than marauders. While Ruth eyes Mannix suspiciously, the would-be sheriff rankles Warren with his southern, racist comments.

After reluctantly taking on Mannix, the blizzard worsens until the group is forced to stop at a place called Minnie's Haberdashery; a lonely establishment serving as a kind of outpost.

Upon entering we see the name of the establishment is kind of a joke, as no haberdashery is anywhere to be seen; only what looks to be a crude version of a country inn. Seated in the establishment are a few men who are scattered about the place. The ferocious, cold winds makes it necessary for the occupants to nail small, wooden planks on the door to keep the door from bursting open. The fact that everyone entering the haberdashery must first bust open the door then nail planks to keep the door from opening becomes a running gag throughout the film.

As Warren, Ruth, Mannix and Daisy become situated, they (and we) meet the mysterious gathering who have also become thwarted by the storm:

• Bob (Demian Bichir); Minnie's Mexican employee, who informs the arrivals his boss has gone away on business; a statement Ruth finds more than a little suspect.
• Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth); an English executioner, who is to serve at Daisy's hanging.
• General Sandy Smithers (Bruce Dern); a former officer for the Confederacy, who looks upon Warren and his Union blue with disgust.
• Joe Gage (Michael Madsen); a cow puncher who is as dubious everyone else.

Held captive by the weather, animosities emerge, such as that between Warren and Smithers, which eventually escalates into violence. Smithers finds an ally in Mannix, whose esteem of the officer reaches obsequious proportions.

Unsure of the other lodgers, Ruth investigates the identities of those already in the Haberdashery. And not long after Ruth begins to suspect that one or more of the lodgers are in cahoots with Daisy, which only intensifies his distrust of all present.The film then becomes a mixed-genre of western and mystery as the riddle of who might be Daisy's collaborators becomes the narrative focus. A killer locked in a sealed room with other people is a well-worn plot device peculiar to mystery novels, but it works well here. Tarantino is a master at drawing tension and drama from such situations as he did in Reservoir Dogs, where a near-empty warehouse becomes a stage in which criminals try to identify the cop in their gang.

After Warren's showdown with Smithers, we learn the coffee has been poisoned, which claims the lives of two characters. Who the culprit might be becomes the mystery within the mystery and as we draw closer to learning the identities of those who might be Daisy's accomplices, the film becomes more violent and bloody. Later, another character emerges at which point all mysteries unravel and a savage climax is ushered into the narrative.

Very few directors can keep a 168 minute film enthralling. Tarantino seems to have few difficulties accomplishing this feat. How he manages this is yet another mystery, though the answer seems deceptively simple. Considering most of the film is dialogue and exposition, one might think the story would become monotonous but in Tarantino's hands I found my attention fully engaged.

The beautiful exterior shots of a pristine, white snowscape stand as a terrific contrast to the Haberdashery interior; particularly later, when blood seems to splash over all the characters and nearly every surface. Tarantino's long-time cinematographer; Robert Richardson, does his profession proud with the 70mm palette he is given to work with.

Ennio Morricone's scores are always memorable; his music here is no exception. At 87, his compositions show no sign of becoming stale.

Jennifer Jason Leigh doesn't have much dialogue but she manages to be a forceful presence, nevertheless. The sight of her bloodied, maniacal face is one of the more memorable images from the film. Samuel L. Jackson, the real scene stealer of Pulp Fiction (not Travolta), commands our attention early and holds it.

Tarantino says he will retire after his tenth film. After seeing The Hateful Eight, I felt his retirement target to be premature. I hope he reconsiders. His new film demonstrates his edginess is still intact and robust.
Tarantino would have been a great playwright. What is an essentially a chamber piece feels like a really exciting play.
His film is one of the last significant movie releases of 2015. It is a helluva way to end the year and an exceptional film to have as a first blog-post for 2016.

Chi-raq

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Spike Lee/Starring: Teyonah Parris, Nick Cannon, Samuel L. Jackson, John Cusack, Wesley Snipes, Angela Bassett, Jennifer Hudson, D.B. Sweeney and Dave Chappelle

One never knows what Spike Lee will come up with though it's a sure thing that the subject matter will focus on African-American issues, of which he has many trenchant things to say and express. In his latest film, he combines social commentary with drama, farce and song and dance and achieves a synthesis that is imaginative, informative and ultimately entertaining. Chi-raq may be his most inspired film in years and most daring, as he not only adapts Aristophanes' Lysistrata, he also turns it on its head by setting in present day Chicago.

Aristophanes' play; set during the Peloponnesian War, tells the story of a group of women, led by Lysistrata, who attempt to end the bloody conflict by refusing their men sex. Lee's story takes place on a different battlefield; one just as violent and bloody: the gang wars in Chicago's streets. As the wars rage in the streets, bodies of bystanders begin to accrue until Lysistrata (Teyonah Parris) decides she has seen enough. Though the story is Aristophanes', the conflict depicted in Lee's film is drawn from recent events in Chicago. What distinguishes Lee's film from the Greek dramatist's is how he chooses to tell his story. What they have in common is the theme of female empowerment.

One may immediately notice, from the film's opening lines, is the dialogue, which is declaimed in a rhyming, lyrical manner that is faithful to both Aristophanes and hip-hop.

Subtitles at the beginning of the film offer the audience sobering statistics about the casualties of gang violence on Chicago streets, whose numbers exceed the total number of casualties from both the Afghanistan and Iraqi wars.
Chicago, or Chi-raq; as its referred to by city inhabitants, is the battleground of two warring gangs: the Spartans and the Trojans. Lysistrata's boyfriend and local rap star; Chi-raq (Nick Cannon), is the Spartan leader whose forces battle the Trojans and their leader Cyclops (Wesley Snipes).

Serving as the story's narrator is the hip Dolmedes (Samuel Jackson); who appears periodically in immaculate duds to help the narrative along.

Fed up with the death toll from the Spartan/Trojan gun battles, Lysistrata conceives the aforementioned plan whereby the women from both sides of the conflict deny their men sex as a radical approach to ending the violence. Thinking they can merely transfer their amorous activities elsewhere, the men find all the women in the community; including strip clubs, have joined Lysistrata's strike as well. Denied their carnal pleasures, the men try to turn the tables on the women only to find Lysistrata has organized the women only too well. Before long, she and her women army seize control of an armory.

As Lysistrata's plan takes effect the men scramble to find a way to free themselves from the lockout. Joining the call for a cessation to the violence is Father Mike Corridan (John Cusack); a white clergyman who is sympathetic to Lysistrata's plan. Corridan's emotionally-charged sermon at a funeral honoring a gang-war casualty serves also as an invective about the problem of gun-related violence in black, urban America. Meanwhile, Lysistrata finds her movement has become a national and international phenomenon.

Though we see several dance numbers where Spartan and Trojan women shake their booty provocatively, Lee never lets us forget the very serious issue at the heart of the film.
And though Lysistrata's solution to the violence is fanciful at best, it makes for a terrific premise for a film, which Lee exploits not only for maximum entertainment but to express a cogent message.

Chi-raq shows how Lee can be a feverishly-imaginative director. Setting Aristophanes' play in modern day Chicago and substituting a gang-war for the Peloponnesian conflict is refreshingly original.

Teyonah Parris is a delightful Lysistrata; her scalding sexuality and powerful presence make the men seem boyish. We don't often have a chance to see Angela Bassett in films, but here she is quite terrific and lends her own stalwart presence to the proceedings.
I suppose Lee could have knocked twenty minutes or so off the running time but that's a minor quibble. Some critics I've read think John Cusack's sermon is a significant mistake but I understand Lee must have felt a funeral oration delivered by a white man might make a more powerful impact. I haven't made up my mind about it but I didn't find it to be a glaring error (if it is one).

I took Lee's message to heart but also had a great time watching a movie that employed multiple-genre conventions to to forge its own significant, interpretation of Aristophanes. I think it was a mistake to release it during big-screen spectacle season but maybe it will hold its own. We can only hope.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Joss Whedon/Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Chris Hemsworth, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Don Cheadle, Samuel L. Jackson, James Spader (Voice), Paul Bettany, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders and Peggy Carter

Crash! Bang! Smash! Crack! Pow!--have I overlooked any other sound effect? With Avengers: The Age of Ultron, you get that and more. What carnage! What destruction! And unbelievable mayhem! And oh, yeah; the world somehow emerges intact though the real Marvel is how the world's greatest crime fighters manage to leave the rest of the planet rubble-free.

Joss Whedon is back with a super-hero assemblage whose popularity may soon eclipse the X-Men's. Though I've come to expect over-the-top, CGI wreckage and ear-punishing noise in the Summer blockbuster season, I find Whedon's variety to be quite fun. Of course it helps to have the Ministry of Mayhem: Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Dr. Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Nastasha Romanoff/Black Widow (the sensuous Scarlett Johansson) dispensing it in highly entertaining ways. But the group's peacetime bonding proves to be as entertaining as their violent outings.

It also helps that the cast has presence; a very necessary and indispensable super-hero quality, which helps sell the story and keep our eyes glued to the screen.

The film also has its share of funny banter, which ensures the movie doesn't stray too close to the too-serious, too-earnest precipice.

The new movie doesn't waste a breath plunging the audience into action as the Avengers find themselves assaulting a fortress where the baddie Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann) hides out with two of his genetically-engineered creations; the super-powered twins Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Strucker is in possession of Loki's staff; a powerful and dangerous item Thor intends to return to Asgard; home of the Norse gods. Of course we get to see the Avengers wield their distinctive powers as they pummel and brush aside soldiers en route to the fortress. And as they enter the compound, we also see what the evil twins Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver can do. Scarlet Witch's ability to use people's greatest fears against them and Quicksilver's light-speed kineticism present considerable problems for the Avengers but though they present a formidable defense, the Avengers manage to retrieve the staff and escape to their Tony Stark-designed headquarters in New York City.

The Avengers previous battle with aliens (see the first film) inspires Tony Stark to employ the staff's dark power--very ill-advised--to impart artificial intelligence to a robotic unit he intends to use to defend Earth from another threat of an alien invasion. Stark shares his idea only with Dr. Banner; thus circumventing team oversight. Before he can complete a prototype for his new project, the unit assumes control of his own creation and in doing so, a malevolent entity is formed: Ultron. Before it can be stopped, it destroys Stark's hyper-advanced cyber-assistant Jarvis and escapes. When the Avengers team learn Stark is behind its creation, they are more than a little furious. Stark's brainchild, though altruistically conceived, unleashes yet another danger they must overcome.

Whedon's film keeps a feverish pace; we barely have enough time to process expository information before more comes our way. Though its hyper-active, the film's break-neck speed manages to be bracing.

The Avengers find themselves racing around the globe to thwart Ultron's quest to upgrade himself and achieve invincibility; a goal partly realized when he seizes a supply of Vibranium; the strongest metal known to man (and the key material in Captain America's shield); whose indestructible quality he manages to harness for his robotic frame. Ultron, with the help of Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver (the twins' beef with the Avengers has its origins in the destruction of their village; an unexploded missile bearing Stark Industries name killed their family), manage to fight off the Avengers and in the process, the Scarlett Witch is able to play on their respective fears. Another indignity is visited on the team when Ultron steals Loki's staff.

As the Avengers lick their wounds, they find themselves hiding out in Hawkeye's secluded, country home (after Ultron's violent renovation of the Avengers Mansion) to rest and plan their next attack.

Here the film takes a more tender turn (believe it or not) as we--and the Avengers--learn of Hawkeyes' family and his expectant wife. A taste of Hawkeye's domestic bliss makes some of the other members wonder if they'll ever enjoy the same arrangement. But inter-member romance is also in the air, as Black Widow and Dr. Banner/Hulk show signs of mutual attraction though he is quick to warn her that his condition makes a relationship impossible.

Before the team (and the audience) is allowed further inertia, the heroes are off again, this time to South Korea, where they learn Ultron is intent on creating a new version of himself. The would-be Ultron; a synthetic/organic hybrid, will only render him more dangerous and deadly. As Ultron loads his consciousness into his new self, the Scarlet Witch penetrates its mind and discovers what Ultron has planned for the human race: complete and utter destruction. Horrified, the twins turn against him while the Avengers arrive to steal the new entity before Ultron can complete the transfer.

After more car-crashes and building demolition, the Avengers manage to escape with Ultron's creation and in doing so, they find themselves with a new ally and superhero.

The film's final battle pits the Avengers, the Maximoff twins and the new super-hero against Ultron and his robotic minions, as he sets his apocalyptic plan into action.

There is much to like about Whedon's film. I liked the sequence where the Hulk runs amok; an issue Stark must address with his super version of Iron Man. I also liked the movie's human dimension; family, romance, etc, which the film sorely needs.

What meaning we can glean from the Summer's first blockbuster may lie in its cynical view of technology. The idea of its application causing as much harm as good is eloquently expressed as we see Ultron vent his wrath on the planet. It is also very interesting to see Tony Stark/Iron Man become a villain in his own right as he conceals his Ultron project from the Avengers before nearly becoming an agent in mankind's destruction. Very nice twist.

I do have one question for Whedon: how can so much destruction not affect city and town infrastructures and do the Avengers foot the bill for it all? Just wondering.

Whedon's film is just the beginning of movie Summer's CGI extravaganzas and though we may be sick to death of it all come August, at least here it serves a story and doesn't entirely overwhelm the human element. The final battle left me a little weary of the chaos; just when I thought all of Ultron's robots had been vanquished, more appeared to be torn apart. It was an unnecessary prolongation but the producers (All thirteen of them! Yes, they outnumber the Avengers) may have felt another pause in the action may have caused a riot in the theater.

My summation: The Avengers: Age of Ultron is great fun. And if you're wondering (anyone who has seen the series won't) whether the film sets up the next iteration, have no fear. Can this franchise stand five films? If they can entertain like Whedon's latest, why not?

Will Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk and Hawkeye return? We'll find out in two years time. See you there.

Note to viewers: you may not want to wait for the end credits to pass as has become the custom with Marvel adaptations; the next antagonist makes an appearance after the main action.