The Equalizer 2

★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

The majority of R-rated action films with notable leads have lately been great successes. John Wick with Keanu Reeves, Ryan Gosling with Drive, & Denzel Washington with The Equalizer are all perfect examples of that statement.

I loved The Equalizer, so I was a bit skittish about The Equalizer 2, since most sequels aren't as great as the first. And although it was a bit flawed, it was still a very good sequel. The film follows Robert McCall (played by Denzel Washington), who now works as a Lyft driver while still doing his vigilante work. Also, with help from his former FBI colleagues, Susan (played by Melissa Leo) & Brian (played by Bill Pullman) Plummer, he helps the less fortunate out. Also, McCall has taken somewhat of a mentorship to Miles Whittaker (played by Ashton Sanders), a young man with a passion for art but has a troubled life.

One day, Susan & McCall's former colleague, DIA operative Dave York (played by Pedro Pascal), go to Brussels to investigate a supposed murder suicide. After completing the investigation, Susan goes to her hotel room. She is followed in by two assailants who attack her. Although she fights back, she is killed by them.

When McCall hears word of this, he will stop at nothing to discover what happened to his old friend. But he may not like what he finds about what happened to her.

The cast is excellent. Denzel Washington shows again that he is a force to be reckoned with, & shows his commanding presence once again. Ashton Sanders also does a great job, showing more of the promise he showed in Moonlight.

Antoine Fuqua's direction is amazing. Fuqua shows a lot of great command over the spectacular action sequences, & is able to keep a strong hold on the tone of the film.

Richard Wenk's screenplay is good. Although the plot is formulaic, the strong characters & sharp dialogue help build up the screenplay.

And Oliver Wood's cinematography is superb. Wood perfectly captures the hectic atmosphere of the film with strong camerawork, including some great wide-angle shots.

This is a very good action sequel. Although it doesn't match the first, it still has enough to make it better than most action sequels in recent memory.

The Equalizer 2 was seen by me at the MJR Universal Grand Cinema 16 in Warren, MI on Saturday, July 21, 2018. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 121 minutes, & it is rated R for brutal violence throughout, language, & some drug content.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Let's just get this out of the way: I love ABBA & I loved Mamma Mia!

So it's fair to say that I was pretty excited for Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. And it did not disappoint. It's one of the few sequels that improves on the original. Set in both 1979 & in the present, the film follows Sophie Sheridan (played by Amanda Seyfried), who is preparing for the grand reopening of her mother Donna's (played by Meryl Streep) hotel on the fictional Greek island of Kalokairi. However, Donna passed away a year earlier. Also, two of her three surrogate fathers, Harry Bright (played by Colin Firth) & Bill Anderson (played by Stellan Skarsgård), are unable to make the reopening ceremony. And to add further insult to injury, her husband, Sky (played by Dominic Cooper), is stuck in New York, & they are growing further apart. However, one of her surrogate fathers (& stepfather), Sam Carmichael (played by Pierce Brosnan), who is still grief-stricken over Donna's death, is able to make it.

Donna's old friends, Rosie Mulligan (played by Julie Walters), who has split up with Bill & cries even at the mention of Donna, & Tanya Chesham-Leigh (played by Christine Baranski), who is still her usual man-hungry cougar self, arrive on Kalokairi for the grand reopening. When they arrive, they regale with her about how Donna had Sophie all on her own.

Back in 1979, a young Donna Sheridan (played by Lily James) has just graduated from Oxford along with young Rosie Mulligan (played by Alexa Davies) & young Tanya Chesham-Leigh (played by Jessica Keenan Wynn). Donna is eager to travel the world. She first stops off in Paris, where she meets young Harry Bright (played by Hugh Skinner). After that, she then travels to Kalokairi on the boat of young Bill Anderson (played by Josh Dylan). However, Harry has followed her to Kalokairi, but he arrives too late. On Kalokairi, after a rainstorm, she meets young Sam Carmichael (played by Jeremy Irvine), who helps Donna after a horse was spooked in the basement of a farmhouse.

Back in the present, a storm hits, causing all of Sophie's plans for the ceremony to go awry. But eventually, things are made right. But things get a little complicated when Sophie's estranged grandmother, Ruby (played by Cher), flies in on a helicopter for the ceremony & focuses her eye on the hotel manager, Fernando Cienfuegos (played by Andy Garcia).

The cast is fantastic. Amanda Seyfried & Lily James show that they can be great leads when given the opportunity. Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Colin Firth & Stellan Skarsgård give great supporting performances. Cher is iconic. And everyone (yes, including Pierce Brosnan, although he doesn't do it a lot) does at least a good job at singing.

Ol Parker's direction is excellent. Parker does an excellent job at keeping everything light, lively, vivacious & warm-hearted.

The screenplay by Ol Parker, Richard Curtis & Catherine Johnson is amazing. The plot is intriguing, the characters are well-conceived, & the dialogue is humorous & heart-warming.

Robert Yeoman's cinematography is superb. Yeoman's camerawork is flashy & lively, & the color palette is bright & lively.

And the soundtrack is spectacular. Filled with so many great songs from ABBA, the soundtrack helps build the story & adds to the light tone of the film.

This is one of the best films of the year so far. It's light-hearted, humorous, & one of the rare sequels that improves on the original.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again was seen by me at the MJR Chesterfield Crossing Digital Cinema 16 in Chesterfield Township, MI on Friday, July 20, 2018. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 114 minutes, & it is rated PG-13 for some suggestive material.

Eighth Grade

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

8th grade is hard for everyone. It's one of the worst years of your life. If you say that it wasn't at least somewhat bad, you're either lying or you peaked really, really early.

Eighth Grade, on the other hand, is not bad. It's fantastic. It's one of the best coming-of-age films of all time. The film follows Kayla Day (played by Elsie Fisher), a 13-year-old girl entering the last week of her 8th grade year. She posts vlogs on YouTube about how to make it through middle school & other related advice. However, the videos are barely viewed, if at all. Also, she is very shy, as she was voted "Most Quiet" by her classmates. Mark (played by Josh Hamilton), her single father, tries to connect with her as best & as much as he can, but he can't seem to fully succeed in his efforts.

Kennedy (played by Catherine Oliviere), a popular classmate of Kayla's, invites her to her pool party, or to be more correct, is forced to invite her by her mother. While there, Kayla has an anxiety attack, but eventually overcomes it, & meets Kennedy's very unpopular cousin, Gabe (played by Jake Ryan).

Kayla doesn't really have friends at school. But when she goes to the high school for a shadowing event & meets Olivia (played by Emily Robinson), Kayla finally finds someone who understands what she's going through & understands her.

The cast is fantastic. Elsie Fisher gives the best & most relatable performance of the year. She embodies every single 8th grader I knew in 8th grade, & she embodies how I was in 8th grade. The anxiety, the fear, the loneliness, everything about it, she just completely embodies those feelings. It is a tender & compassionate performance of the highest caliber. Josh Hamilton also gives an amazing performance. He is the dad we all know. He is the dad who tries to connect to his child but can't completely do it, although he tries his hardest out of love.

Bo Burnham's direction is phenomenal. Burnham, well-known for his standup comedy (& is one of the best standup comedians of his generation), performs one of the best directorial debuts of all time. He is able to get such great performances out of his (mostly unknown) cast, & is able to handle the material with the care of a seasoned veteran.

Bo Burnham's screenplay is brilliant. The plot feels so fresh & lively. The characters feel so real. And the dialogue is very human, &, in Burnham's trademark style, hilarious & cringey in a great way.

Andrew Wehde's cinematography is amazing. The camerawork & color palette are both luminous, & there's a one-take sequence that is the best one-take pool sequence since Boogie Nights.

Jennifer Lilly's editing is excellent. It's very well-paced, & very well-cut. It's cut in a dream-like way, like reminiscing on your 8th grade memories.

And Anna Meredith's score is superb. The score has a very electronic & synth feel to it, & it perfectly compliments the style of the film.

This is the best film of the year so far, & one of my 10 favorite films of all time. I don't think anything can top this for the rest of the year. It's a truly perfect coming-of-age film.

Eighth Grade was seen by me in an advance screening at the MJR Troy Grand Digital Cinema 16 in Troy, MI on Thursday, July 19, 2018. It will start showing at the Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, MI & the State Theatre in Ann Arbor, MI on the night of Thursday, July 26, 2018 & start showing fully on Friday, July 27, 2018; it will expand further on Friday, August 3, 2018. Its runtime is 93 minutes, & it is rated R for language & some sexual material (but should've been rated PG-13 for thematic elements including brief strong language & some sexual content).

Three Identical Strangers

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

There's an old adage that goes "truth is stranger than fiction."

And that adage has never been more true than it is in Three Identical Strangers, the best documentary of the year so far. The film follows Bobby Shafran, who is about to go to a community college in the fall of 1980. But something interesting occurs when he arrives on campus. People start asking him how his summer was, what's going on, & some girls even kiss him. But the weirdest thing is that people are calling him "Eddy."

Michael Domnitz, who was there the previous year & knew Eddy Galland, saw Bobby, & knowing that Eddy wasn't returning to the community college that year, stops Bobby, asks him some questions, & tells him that he may have a twin brother. Michael calls Eddy, & has Bobby talk to him. Bobby asks him when he was born. July 12, 1961. He asks him if he was adopted. Yes. He asks him what adoption agency he was adopted from. Louise Wise Services. It's official: they're twin brothers that were separated after 6 months.

Bobby & Michael drive as fast as possible down from the community college to Eddy's house in Long Island, & when they meet, it is right out of the movies: they moved the same way, they looked the same, & they were, both biologically & personality-wise, the same. The news makes it to all the newspapers & TV stations, & everyone is elated.

But this is when the story goes from amazing to out-of-this-world. David Kellman, who was also adopted, reads about the story in the New York Post. He notices that Bobby & Eddy look exactly like him. He then calls about the story & then says that he's the third brother. The twins have just become triplets.

From that point on, they were the talk of the town. They partied all the time at Studio 54. They were on so many talk shows. They were even cameos in Madonna's breakout film, Desperately Seeking Susan. And they were all alike besides their appearance. They smoked the same type of cigarettes, they were all wrestlers in high school, they liked the same types of women, etc. For a while, they were all on cloud nine.

But during their time on cloud nine, their adoptive parents had questions. Why were they separated? Eventually, the triplets began to ask this question. But the truth they find is dark, despicable, & is something that screws up their lives for a long time.

Tim Wardle's direction is phenomenal. Wardle plays the film as an inspiring, charming & heartwarming true story for the first half, but in the second half, completely turns the film on its head, making it into a dark, shocking tale of nature vs. nurture.

This is the best documentary of the year so far, & certainly one of the most jaw-dropping documentaries in a long time. It's a shocking tale of three triplets being reunited & the reason why they were separated in the first place.

Three Identical Strangers was seen by me at The Maple Theater in Bloomfield Township, MI on Monday, July 16, 2018. It is currently in 4 theaters in the Detroit area: the AMC Forum 30 in Sterling Heights, MI; The Maple Theater in Bloomfield Township, MI; the Phoenix Theatres - Laurel Park Place in Livonia, MI; & the State Theatre in Ann Arbor, MI. Its runtime is 96 minutes, & it is rated PG-13 for some mature thematic material.

Bowling for Columbine

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

215,000 students. 221 schools. Those are how many students & schools that have been impacted by a school shooting since Columbine. 428 of those students have either been killed or were injured. And to this day, not one single law has been passed to stop more of these events from occurring.

I've seen Bowling for Columbine several times since I first saw it at the age of 13, but I haven't had the opportunity to see it in theaters until a very good friend of mine posted on Instagram that the local chapter of her pro-gun control group, Students Demand Action, was teaming up with Moms Demand Action, former Genesee County Prosecutor Arthur Busch & 2 local Congressional candidates for the Democratic Party (Martin Brook & Suneel Gupta), was holding a screening of the film not far from me. And seeing it in theaters adds so much to the film. It's the best documentary of all time. The film follows writer, director, humorist, & political activist Michael Moore as he tries to figure out what makes our country so enthusiastic when it comes to guns.

Moore starts off in a Michigan bank, where after opening up an account, he is given a free hunting rifle. Afterwards, he meets with James Nichols, the brother of Terry Nichols, the co-conspirator of the Oklahoma City bombing, who believes that the government is tyrannical & says that he has a gun always under his pillow.

But why are we so trigger-happy? Moore looks into the culture of fear & looks at what causes gun violence. Moore notes the news media's infatuation with the "if it bleeds, it leads" mentality. Moore knows that many of the common causes happen in other countries as well, yet they have much lower rates of gun deaths. However, others believe it all started with one man: Marilyn Manson. In an interview, Moore asks why he was considered to be so influential to the young men who committed the mass shooting. Manson notes that President Clinton ordered more bombings on Kosovo on April 20, 1999 (the day of the Columbine shooting) than any other day during that war. Moore also looks into the poverty rate as a possible cause for gun violence, centering in on a story that hits too close to home for people in Southeast Michigan. But at the end of the day, it all traces back to Columbine.

Michael Moore's direction is phenomenal. Through his trademark mix of sharp, biting humor with shocking facts, Moore is able to strike a nerve with the audience.

This is not only the best documentary of all time, but sadly, over 16 years since its release in 2002, painfully relevant. It's a shame that it remains relevant, because too many people have died from gun violence in the almost 20 years since Columbine. We must heed the call. We must send people who will fight for common sense gun reform to office. We must protest. We must write & call our Congressional representatives. We must take action. The time is NOW.

This review is dedicated to the thousands of people who have been killed due to gun violence, the countless others who have been injured by gun violence, & their families & friends.

Bowling for Columbine was seen by me at The Maple Theater in Bloomfield Township, MI on Sunday, July 15, 2018. It is available on Blu-ray & DVD from The Criterion Collection. Its runtime is 120 minutes, & it is rated R for some violent images & language (although I would recommend this film for people above the age of 15).

Leave No Trace

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Our past is what drives us. It drives us to be better, to do what needs to be done, to keep moving forward. But it may end up being what holds us back. And if so, what does that mean for the people around us?

Leave No Trace explores that idea in the most intimate way I've ever seen, & is one of the most beautiful & touching films of the year. Based on the 2009 book My Abandonment by Peter Rock, the film follows Will (played by Ben Foster), a former veteran of an unknown war (presumably Iraq or Afghanistan) living in a park in Portland with his 13-year-old daughter, Tom (played by Thomasin McKenzie). Their existence is very isolated, & Will has taught Tom more advanced stuff when it comes to academics, along with many survival skills. Most nights, Will suffers from nightmares as a result of his PTSD from the war.

One day, Tom accidentally draws attention to a jogger, who alerts the authorities. They arrive soon after, placing Will & Tom into social services. After some tests are done, they are placed into a home in rural Oregon, & Will gets a job cutting Christmas trees. They attempt to adapt to this lifestyle, as Tom begins to start school & learn social skills. But the process of adapting to their new environment proves to be much harder than they imagined.

The cast is amazing. Ben Foster shows once again that he is a force to be reckoned with & has been for a long time. His performance is very nuanced & compassionate, & is easily his best performance. And Thomasin McKenzie gives the best breakout performance of the year so far. At 17, she is wise beyond her years, & has the talents of an actress with much more experience than her. Her performance is one of a more adult power, as her character had to grow up very fast, & had to take on more of an adult role in the family. I have no doubt that she will go very far in the years to come.

Debra Granik's direction is excellent. Granik, notable for her 2010 film Winter's Bone, takes a very low-key & nuanced approach here. She handles the film with such gentle care & affection, making the film into a quiet, immersive experience.

The screenplay by Debra Granik & Anne Rosselini is fantastic. The film stays very true to the book, & the characters & dialogue feel so incredibly realistic. But the greatest thing about the screenplay are its themes of living in isolation. You could compare this film to 2016's Captain Fantastic, which also dealt with people living in isolation. However, although I did like Captain Fantastic, it was flawed, mainly in its reasoning for the people living in isolation. In Captain Fantastic, the characters lived in isolation because they were anarchists who hated modern society, & they felt so shallow at times, & it felt pretty unrealistic at times. However, the reasoning for the characters living in isolation in here felt more realistic & the characters feel more compassionate. As Ben Foster's character couldn't adapt to society after the war, he decided to live in isolation, as it was the only thing that gave him comfort. And his daughter adapted to it as well. This reasoning felt more realistic than Captain Fantastic's reasoning.

Michael McDonough's cinematography is astonishing. The color palette is gorgeous, & the camerawork is very intimate.

Jane Rizzo's editing is terrific. It's very seamless in its style, as the film is very well-assembled, & the pacing is very well-done.

And Dickon Hinchcliffe's score is superb. The score is very quiet & intimate, buoyed by violins & acoustic guitars.

This is one of the best films of the year. It's a quiet, touching & altogether masterful film powered by its two lead performances.

Leave No Trace was seen by me at the MJR Troy Grand Digital Cinema 16 in Troy, MI on Friday, July 13, 2018. It is currently in 4 theaters in the Detroit area: the MJR Troy Grand Digital Cinema 16 in Troy, MI; the Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, MI; the Birmingham Theatre in Birmingham, MI; & the Emagine Novi in Novi, MI. Its runtime is 109 minutes, & it is rated PG for thematic material throughout.

Sorry to Bother You

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

"If they take my stapler, then I'll set the building on fire." - Stephen Root, Office Space, 1999

"Work sucks, I know." - Mark Hoppus, Blink-182, All the Small Things, 1999

Work. Everyone of us who has a job hates it, even if just a little bit. The atmosphere, the people, the customers, the workload, the boss, & the pay. All the slaving around you do without much fanfare, all for the sake of a capitalistic society that doesn't appreciate the workers enough.

Sorry to Bother You is a "screw you" to capitalism, a thumbs up to unions, & a bitingly funny & outrageously bizarre satire of the American devotion to big business. Set in an alternate present-day version of Oakland, where the biggest game show is called I Got the $#*@ Kicked out of Me, & a new form of slavery called WorryFree, led by Steve Lift (played by Armie Hammer), is an enticing option, the film follows Cassius Green (played by Lakeith Stanfield), a 20-something living with his girlfriend, Detroit (played by Tessa Thompson), in the garage of his uncle, Sergio (played by Terry Crews). He is very nihilistic & believes that nothing he will do will make a difference in society.

Cassius then gets a job as a telemarketer for Regalview, a sales company. His friend, Salvador (played by Jermaine Fowler), also works there. The mantra of sticking to the script is heavily preached to the telemarketers. At first, Cassius struggles to make many sales. But an older colleague, Langston (played by Danny Glover), suggests that Cassius use his white voice; not a Will Smith white voice (as Langston states), but a full-on white voice. Cassius takes this advice, & starts using his white voice (voiced by David Cross) to great success.

Squeeze (played by Steven Yeun), a colleague of Cassius, creates a union to lobby for a raise in pay, & recruits Cassius for it. But despite being in the union, Cassius is promoted to the position of "Power Caller", where Mr. ______ [pronounced blank] (played by Omari Hardwick & voiced by Patton Oswalt) tells him to use his white voice at all times. Finally, Cassius is making a difference in society. But this may cost him what's really important in the long run.

The cast is superb. Lakeith Stanfield is showing that he can do wonders in a lead role. Armie Hammer is dynamite. Tessa Thompson is fantastic. And Terry Crews, as always, is hilarious.

Boots Riley's direction is spectacular. In his directorial debut, Riley is able to handle so many plotlines & ideas & themes like a seasoned veteran, & that's something rare in this day & age.

And Boots Riley's screenplay is brilliant. The plot is so weird, yet so intriguing. The characters are so idiosyncratic. The dialogue is hilariously offbeat. And the ideas & themes explored in this film add a lot of sociopolitical weight to the film.

This is one of the 3 best films of the year so far. It's a hilarious satire of the crazy, mixed-up world we live in, & certainly one of the weirdest films ever made.

Sorry to Bother You was seen by me at the MJR Marketplace Digital Cinema 20 in Sterling Heights, MI on Thursday, July 12, 2018. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 105 minutes, & it is rated R for pervasive language, some strong sexual content, graphic nudity, & drug use.