Tag: Dohmnall Gleeson

‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ races at light speed to new heights

Mark Hamill in ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’

“That’s why ‘Star Wars’ is appealing. You watch someone fight the perilous monster” – Carrie Fisher

As Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens ends, “Rey” (Daisy Ridley – Murder on the Orient Express) has found “Luke Skywalker” (Mark Hamill – Kingsman: The Secret Service) and given him back his father’s lightsaber. “Kylo Ren” (Adam Driver – Silence) has been returned to “Supreme Leader Snoke” (Andy Serkis – War For the Planet of the Apes) to recover from the injuries suffered in the light-saber duel with Rey; and to complete his training. The Resistance celebrates and also mourns the loss of “Han Solo.”

The First Order is pursuing the remaining forces of the Resistance under the command of “Princess Leia” (the late Carrie Fisher to whom the film is lovingly dedicated). She is on the bridge of the lead Resistance ship when some TIE fighters hit the ship’s bridge. Leia survives but the rest of the main leadership of the Resistance is killed. This puts “Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo” (Laura Dern – The Founder) in command of the Resistance until Leia can recover. Prior to the destruction of that cruiser’s bridge, “Poe Dameron” (Oscar Isaac – 10 Years) led a successful but very costly mission to take out a First Republic dreadnought.

The Resistance fleet makes the jump to light speed and escapes…only to find the First Order ships coming out of light speed right behind them. Yes, somehow they are able to track ships at light speed, something previously thought impossible. “Rose” (Kelly Marie Tran) is a technician who stops “Finn” from doing the wrong thing for a good reason. Together they realize that there is a way to sneak aboard the First Order ship where “General Hux” (Dohmnall Gleeson – Dredd) is leading the pursuit of the Resistance. If they can do that, they can disable the tracking device that enables the First Order to track spacecraft in hyperspace. But they need a master codebreaker to carry out this mission, so Rose and “Finn” (John Boyega – The Circle) go off to a gambling resort world in search of the person recommended by “Maz” (Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave). While they don’t find the man she recommended, they do meet up with “DJ” (Benicio Del Toro – Savages). He’s a thief and has major code-breaking skills and they decide to trust him. At the same time, having failed to persuade Luke Skywalker to leave his self-imposed exile and join the Resistance, Rey leaves him behind and goes off to face Kylo Ren. Alone.

Daisy Ridley in ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’

Rian Johnson (Looper, Brick) has always had a deft touch in mixing story, action and visuals but he seriously ups his game here. Mark Hamill gives the performance of his career and his brief on-screen moments with Carrie Fisher are amazing.

Some say that this is the best Star Wars film ever, other saying it is the best since 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back. That is a judgment left to each individual fan of the franchise. Such subjective comparisons also ignore the fact that technology has leapt light-years ahead in the 40 years since I stood in line for hours to see the first film on opening day. In the end, the question should not be if The Last Jedi is better than its predecessors. The question is, just how good is it based solely on its own merits. Other than being a moment or two too long, it is wonderful.

December 17, 2017
‘Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens’ amazes, and enthralls

Adam Driver as “Kylo Ren” in ‘Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens’

On May 25, 1977 in only 42 theaters, what we now know as ‘Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope” opened. Its writer/director George Lucas was so convinced that it would not be a hit, he traded a small portion of his percentage of the movie’s profits to his friend Stephen Spielberg for an equal percentage of Spielberg’s profits from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In spite of the fact that Spielberg’s film was successful, he definitely got the best of that deal.

Now, the 7th entry in this franchise is in theaters (on more than 4,000 screens) and at some point in the next few weeks, it will make the Star Wars film franchise the biggest box office franchise in film history, where only one major story is involved. The Marvel “universe” has a larger total gross, but it involves film franchises that do not intersect in any way.

The events in Episode VII begin roughly three decades after the end of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. “General Leia Organa” (Fisher) is leading the Resistance, which is struggling against The First Order, which has replaced the Empire as the evil force attempting to rule the entire galaxy. It is led by “Supreme Leader Snoke” (Serkis) who has a ruthless general named “Hux” (Gleeson) and someone very similar and yet different than “Darth Vader.” This person is “Kylo Ren” (Driver) and his mastery of the power of the Dark Side of the Force is most impressive.

Both the Resistance and The First Order are searching for a map that will lead to the location of “Luke Skywalker” (Hamill), last of the Jedi. He disappeared after a catastrophe at the Jedi Academy that he’d set up following the defeat of the Galactic Empire. One of the best pilots in the Resistance, “Poe Dameron” (Isaac), has managed to obtain the map but before he is captured, he hides it in his droid, BB-8. The droid winds up in the possession of a scavenger named “Rey” (Ridley), who is marooned on Jakku. Poe is tortured by Ren but manages to escape with the help of a stormtrooper he dubs “Finn” (Boyega). Their stolen TIE fighter crashes on Jakku and this brings Finn into contact with Rey. Eventually they will encounter “Han Solo” (Ford) and “Chewbacca” and wind up delivering BB-8 to the Resistance.

No more of the tremendously engaging story needs to be outlined. There are surprises, shockers and stunning sequences throughout every one of the film’s 135 minutes. In this critic’s opinion, this is by far the best film in the Franchise since the original trilogy was first released. The deft touch of director J. J. Abrams in keeping the best aspects of the first three films, especially the moments of well-placed humor, while employing advances in technology to enhance the visuals and action validates choosing him to helm this movie.

I plan to see it again. Soon!

December 20, 2015
The best time to see ‘About Time’ is now!

Rachel McAdams and Dohmnall Gleeson in ‘About Time’

“Our lives are the sum total of the choices we have made” – Dr. Wayne Dyer

The ability of Richard Curtis to write brilliant romantic comedy films is well known. Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and the adaptation of the novel Bridget Jones’s Diary show off his chops in the genre. His directorial debut Love Actually was an amazing debut film. Now he once again intertwines love and tough choices in About Time. “Tim” (Gleeson) has just turned 21 and suffered through another disappointing New Year’s Eve party at the home where he lives with his father “Dad” (Nighy), “Mum” (Duncan) and his beloved sister “Kit Kat” (Wilson).

Then his father drops a bombshell on him. The men in their family have a limited ability to move backward through time. They can’t go into the future and they can only go back as far as the beginning of their own lives. Also, there are risks and consequences, although these aren’t laid out in their entirety. Tim thinks his father is joking until he tries to move through time himself and gets a do-over of an awkward moment at midnight during the party. Now he faces a life where he isn’t permanently tied to his choices. He can go back and make different choices.

Dohmnall Gleeson and Bill Nighy in ‘About Time’

Resolving not to use his gift for avarice, he decides to focus on finding a girlfriend. Having moved from the family home in Cornwall to London, where he is working as a lawyer, he chances to meet a woman named “Mary” (McAdams). Thanks to his ability to go back and improve his interactions with her things are going well until something else he must go back and fix to help a friend change things so that he and Mary had never met. This can be remedied and soon Tim and Mary are happily ensconced in love and deciding to get married.

Mary gets pregnant and a lovely daughter named Posy becomes the center of his universe. However, a family crisis forces him to travel back in time to save a loved one and when he returns he discovers that his daughter is now a son. This is when he learns that a choice that leads to even a miniscule change can have major consequence. He is able to put things right to bring Posy back into his life, but at the cost of being unable to prevent that loved one from suffering.

Tim eventually learns the last fact about his gift and that being once his own son is born, he will no longer be able to travel back to any point prior to that son’s birth. It means that his ability to continue to see his father in the past will be gone. Will he therefore refuse to have another child, to prevent a son?

Dohmnall Gleeson’s “Tim” finds himself having to meet Rachel McAdams’ “Mary” in ‘About Time’

The cast is terrific. McAdams plays this role as an American Anglophile living her dream in London with an understated sense of wonder and joy. She’s a strong character who knows what she wants and how to get it. But it is Domhnall Gleeson who shines like a shooting star throughout this excellent film. I will admit to liking the work of Bill Nighy in every film I’ve seen him in and this is no exception.

Curtis’ effective use of words and imagery to evoke feelings and then matching the sequence on screen to just the right background music is one of the reasons he makes really good films. A very talented writer/director told me once that music shouldn’t be used to create the emotions, or inject them into a shot where they wouldn’t otherwise exist. They should enhance how the writer, director, and actor combine to create those feelings among the audience. This is a very, very solid rom-com, well worth a full-price admission. I plan to see it again.

November 8, 2013
There is no reason to dread ‘Dredd,’ film far surpasses Stallone version

Karl Urban takes no prisoners in ‘Dredd’

“Is it better than the original” is a question that will be asked about every movie remake. In the case of the remake of Judge Dredd, starring Sylvester Stallone and Diane Lane, the answer is: “Hell yes!”

Under the capable direction of Pete Travis (Vantage Point and Endgame), Dredd 3d takes the comic book character to new heights. Portrayed by Karl Urban (“Dr. McCoy” in 2009’s Star Trek), this is the “Judge Dredd” that begged to be brought to the big screen.

Set in a post-apocalyptic North America, Dredd is the story of “Mega-City One”, a megalopolis that stretches from what was Boston to what was Washington, D.C. and is home to 800 million people. It is surrounded by high, sturdy walls that separate it from vast wastelands, and is a place that sees tens of thousands of crimes daily. It is home to many large buildings that rise into the sky housing both criminals and the people who fear them, side by side.

Lena Headey stars as Ma-Ma in ‘Dredd 3D’

Administering justice as law enforcement, prosecutor, judge, jury and – if need be – executioner, Mega-City One is patrolled by the judges who ride out daily from the Hall of Justice. One such judge is “Judge Dredd,” and on this day he has an additional task. He is to perform an assessment on a new graduate of the academy where judges are trained. “Anderson” (Olivia Thrilby) didn’t pass the course, but she’s being given a chance to be a judge because she is a mutant with strong psychic abilities. This one day will be make or break for her.

There is a new drug making the rounds in Mega-City One. It’s called “slo-mo,” and it makes the user feel as though time is passing at 1% of its normal speed. To better illustrate its effects, consider this.

“Madeline Madrigal”, better known as “Ma Ma” (Headey), is the leader of the gang that produces and sells slo-mo. She also rules the 200 story building where it is made with an iron fist. When three bodies are thrown from the top of the building to the sidewalk below, Judge Dredd and his rookie judge are dispatched to investigate. Soon they are inside and arresting “Kay” (Wood Harris), one of Ma Ma’s key people. She can’t afford to let them get out and take him in for questioning, so she orders the building sealed and then orders the residents to kill the two judges.

Olivia Thirlby stars as Anderson in ‘Dredd 3D’

So that leaves cops trapped inside a building filled with bad guys and the only way to survive is to take out their leadership. Sound familiar? It should. The excellent Indonesian film The Raid: Redemption released earlier this year features this same device (no doubt this is purely coincidental).

Dredd 3D features plenty of action, lots of thugs getting their just desserts, a stoic, hoarse, direct hero who says what he means, means what he says, and who won’t hesitate to dispense justice to anyone who he feels has violated the law. Clearly Urban was a fan of the comic before taking the role and it shows in his performance.

Thirlby is fine as the new judge who learns that handing out justice means is not as easy as it looks, especially when you encounter those whose lives you’ve altered just by doing your job. The 3D visuals may be worth the extra cost of admission to those who like that sort of thing, but the images are perfectly enjoyable when seen on a “normal” screen. I doubt anyone will ‘judge’ Dredd 3D to be anything but a vast improvement on the Stallone version.

September 24, 2012