Despicable Me 3

★★★½ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Illumination Entertainment's output of animated films have been mostly good, with some being great (Despicable Me & Despicable Me 2), & some being bad (The Secret Life of Pets). Despicable Me 3, while not being the best of Illumination Entertainment's film library, or even the Despicable Me trilogy, but it holds up enough on its own.

The film focuses on our famous villain-turned good guy, Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), who is now an agent of the Anti-Villain League alongside his wife, Lucy (voiced by Kristen Wiig). After failing to apprehend notorious former 1980's child star-turned villain, Balthazar Bratt (voiced by Trey Parker), Gru & Lucy are fired by new Anti-Villain League director Valerie Da Vinci (voiced by Jenny Slate).

After telling their daughters, Margo (voiced by Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (voiced by Dana Gaier), & Agnes (voiced by Nev Scharrel), about their terminations, the household begins to fall in despair: Gru's assistant, Dr. Nefario, has frozen himself; all but a few of the Minions (voiced by Chris Renaud & Pierre Coffin) leave to find better, more villainous jobs; & Agnes begins to sell some of her possessions to help.

But Gru's life is about to change when he is told that his twin brother, Dru (also voiced by Steve Carell), wants him & his family to come visit him in the very distant, extremely developing country of Freedonia. Gru, stunned by this revelation, asks his mother, Marlena (voiced by Julie Andrews) if it is true, to which she confirms. She & Gru & Dru's father divorced after their births, with Marlena taking Gru, & Gru's father taking Dru (to which she shows disgust about taking Gru).

When they arrive in Freedonia, they are stunned at the sight: Dru's house is extravagantly large, with an exorbitant amount of cars, helicopters, & boats, to which Dru attributes to the pig farming business. Dru tells Gru of their father's success as a villain, & tries to get Gru to be a villain again. Reluctant at first, Gru then sees this as an opportunity to get back the diamond that Balthazar Bratt stole, while deceiving Dru in the process.

The voice cast is pretty good, but the standout is Trey Parker. Having done voice work on the hilarious South Park for 20 years, this marks Parker's first foray into children's animation & voice work. With his over-the-top villainous performance, he makes what could've been a caricature into the best villain of the franchise.

The direction by Pierre Coffin & Kyle Balda is overall fair, but somewhat poor. Without Chris Renaud co-directing the film, it seems to falter as a result, as Coffin & Renaud had co-directed the first 2 Despicable Me films to great success. Balda is a lesser director in comparison, as the other 2 films he co-directed (The Lorax & Minions) have been mediocre (The Lorax) or generally good (Minions).

The screenplay by Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio is good, but could've used some tinkering. Although some jokes fall flat, most manage to hit.

While Despicable Me 3 isn't the best of the trilogy, Trey Parker's villainous performance is more than enough to save the film from mediocrity.

Despicable Me 3 was seen by me at the MJR Marketplace Digital Cinema 20 in Sterling Heights, MI on Monday, July 3, 2017. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 90 minutes, & it is rated PG for action & rude humor.

The Beguiled

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Betrayal is one of the most savage things in the world. And it hasn't been portrayed as beautifully as it has in The Beguiled, Sofia Coppola's masterpiece based on the 1966 novel The Beguiled (originally published as A Painted Devil) by Thomas P. Cullinan & the 1971 film The Beguiled.

Set in 1864, the film focuses on the people who live at the Miss Martha Farnsworth School in Virginia. The Civil War has been raging on for 3 years now, & the Confederate Army is less than a year from surrender. Everyone knows the war is ending soon, especially Miss Martha Farnsworth (played by Nicole Kidman), the headmistress of the school. Only the French teacher, Miss Edwina Morrow (played by Kirsten Dunst), & 5 students: the teenaged Alicia (played by Elle Fanning); & the preteenagers Amy (played by Oona Laurence); Jane (played by Angourie Rice); Emily (played by Emma Howard); & Marie (played by Addison Riecke), remain at the school, as the other teachers, students, & slaves have left.

One day, while searching for mushrooms, Amy finds a wounded Union soldier on the property. The soldier is Cpl. John McBurney (played by Colin Farrell), an Irish immigrant who had deserted the battlefield after his leg was wounded. Miss Farnsworth wonders whether or not to nurse him back to health, for he is a Union soldier in a Confederate state, but eventually decides to nurse him back to health, believing it is the Christian thing to do.

After McBurney is nursed back to health, the teachers & students debate whether or not to deliver him as a prisoner of war to the Confederate Army, but decide against it. McBurney develops a good companionship with the teachers & students, & all seems to be well.

But all is not well, as sexual tension has ravaged the school, especially Miss Morrow & Alicia, while the other students become attracted to him. And as things get intense, something occurs that can never be reversed.

The entire cast is superb, especially Nicole Kidman & Colin Farrell, who both deserve Oscar nominations for their performances.

Sofia Coppola's direction is absolutely spectacular, & it's no surprise that she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director for this film, becoming only the second woman to win the award. She takes a different approach from the book & the original 1971 film by showing the film from the female perspective. Also, she sets an extremely tense mood that doesn't let up, except for the excellent moments of dark humor littered throughout the film, which only lightens the tense mood briefly & slightly.

Her screenplay is also excellent. Not only does she humanize all the characters, she also makes us love to hate them all, as they all have some dark ulterior motives directed towards everyone.

The production design is one of the shining elements of the film. Beautifully designed by Anne Ross in a Louisiana mansion famously used as the mansion in Beyoncé's visual album Lemonade, the decor of the era is made to perfection here.

The editing by Sarah Flack is excellent. She doesn't let anything linger on for too long or make a moment too short for us to fully experience it.

The cinematography is another shining element. Astoundingly shot by Philippe Le Sourd on 35mm film & in a 1.66:1 aspect ratio, the camera makes every shot look absolutely beautiful, while the claustrophobic aspect ratio heightens the already tense mood.

The costume design by Stacey Battat is also another shining element. Looking at the style of dresses worn at the time & the uniforms of the Union Army, Battat has made them to perfection.

And the film score by French alternative rock band Phoenix is quiet & meditative, beautifully underscoring every moment of the film.

This is one of the best films of the year, & may just be Sofia Coppola's best film yet. This deserves every amount of praise it's receiving & even more. I hope to see this film mentioned frequently as we get closer to Oscar season, though I'm afraid it was released too early. We'll just have to wait & see.

The Beguiled was screened by me at the MJR Troy Grand Digital Cinema 16 in Troy, MI on Thursday, June 29, 2017. It is currently in 10 theaters in the Detroit area, including the MJR Troy Grand Digital Cinema 16 in Troy, MI, The Maple Theater in Bloomfield Hills, MI, the AMC Birchwood 10 in Fort Gratiot, MI & the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, MI. Its runtime is 94 minutes, & the film is rated R for some sexuality.

Baby Driver

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Baby Driver is everything Edgar Wright's career has been building up to & even more. It perfectly mixes action, comedy, drama, & romance into something that you don't see that much in cinema anymore: pure originality.

The film focuses on Baby (played by Ansel Elgort), a getaway driver for notorious criminal Doc (played by Kevin Spacey). When Baby was a kid, his parents (played by Sky Ferriera & Lance Palmer) died in a car crash that also gave Baby tinnitus, ringing in the ears. During the drives, he uses music to drown out the ringing. And he uses an absolutely vast variety of music: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion; The Damned; Martha & the Vandellas; Golden Earring; etc. He lives with his deaf caretaker, Joseph (played by C.J. Jones). After pulling off a heist with husband-&-wife team Buddy (played by Jon Hamm) & Darling (played by Eiza González), along with Griff (played by Jon Bernthal), he only has one last heist to perform before he has paid his debts to Doc.

After meeting with Doc, he goes to a diner, where he meets an absolutely beautiful waitress named Debora (played by Lily James), whom he meets when he hears her singing B-A-B-Y by Carla Thomas. As they talk over songs involving her name, including Debra by Beck & Debora by T. Rex, a mutual attraction forms between them.

He finishes his last heist with Eddie No-Nose (played by Flea), J.D. (played by Lanny Joon), & Bats (played by Jamie Foxx), but not before Bats, an absolute madman, starts some trouble. Baby, now free from his debt to Doc, gets a job as a pizza delivery man & is now free to start a relationship with Debora. But Doc comes calling again, reuniting Baby with Buddy, Darling & Bats on a heist that could potentially get everyone in trouble.

The performances are absolutely incredible. Ansel Elgort, Lily James, & Eiza González give excellent breakout performances, while Kevin Spacey gives another amazing & commanding performance, & Jon Hamm & Jamie Foxx absolutely kill it here. I wouldn't be surprised at all to hear any of their names mentioned as Oscar contenders.

Edgar Wright's direction is arguably his best. After directing masterpiece after masterpiece (2004's Shaun of the Dead, 2007's Hot Fuzz, 2010's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, & 2013's The World's End), his directorial vision has risen to new heights. He directs the many car chases in the film unlike many other directors have, & he does it amazingly. Also, he directed the beats of the music to the actions of the characters, & that is something that has to be seen to be believed because he also does that so excellently.

His screenplay is also brilliant. He has a knack for writing excellent characters, & that happens here, as he makes characters that could've easily been caricatures into full-blooded, 3-dimensional people.

Bill Pope's cinematography is a huge bright spot in the film, from the multiple long takes to the frequent elevator shots that perfectly frame everyone in it.

The editing from Paul Machliss & Jonathan Amos really shines. Many films lately have received some bad marks for their frenetic editing, but Machliss & Amos make it work here. The breakneck style of editing reminds many of the styles of editing perfected in films by Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, & Paul Thomas Anderson, among others.

But the film's biggest & greatest aspect is the sound design. The sound is perfectly edited & mixed, from the soundtrack, to the sounds of the car chases. The sound editors & sound mixers all deserve Oscars for their pitch-perfect work here.

And the soundtrack is also excellent, & deserves every single amount of praise it has received. Featuring music from a wide range of genres & years, it perfectly underscores the scenes.

I honestly smiled throughout the entire film because I loved it so much. I was hyped for this film from the moment I saw the trailer, & the film surpassed my extremely high expectations. This is definitely the best film of the year so far, & is one of the best of the decade so far. It's one of those films that both critics (96% on Rotten Tomatoes, 86% on Metacritic) & audiences ($76 million so far, 8.3 on IMDb) both love. And if you haven't seen this masterpiece yet, see it (& see it on the biggest screen possible) & you won't be disappointed. It's everything you could possibly ever want in a film.

Baby Driver was seen by me at the MJR Marketplace Digital Cinema 20 in Sterling Heights, MI on Tuesday, June 27, 2017. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 113 minutes, & it is rated R for violence & language throughout.

Cars 3

★★★½ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Cars was excellent. It's one of the most underrated Pixar films, along with A Bug's Life.

Cars 2 was bad. It's the only Pixar film I haven't liked. It focused too much on an absurd spy plot & not enough on what I loved about Cars: racing.

And now we reach Cars 3, which is not as great as Cars, but a great deal better than Cars 2.

Like Cars & unlike Cars 2, Cars 3 focuses on Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson), the famous race car. Now the winner of seven Piston Cup, he has become a legend in the sport. But his age has began to show as many of his veteran racing friends are replaced by younger, high-tech racers, especially Jackson Storm (voiced by Armie Hammer), the arrogant face of the young generation of racers, with speeds over 200 mph. As Storm wins more & more races, Lightning tries his hardest to show he still has some life left in him, but an absolutely awful crash, maybe even the most destructive in the Cars franchise, leaves him absolutely incapacitated.

Four months pass. As Lightning recovers back in Radiator Springs, he tells his best friend, Mater (voiced by Larry the Cable Guy) & his girlfriend, Sally (voiced by Bonnie Hunt) that he doesn't want to end up like his mentor, Doc Hudson (posthumously voiced by Paul Newman, using archived recordings), who was forced to retire after his horrific crash in 1954. He wants to go out on his own terms.

He tries to get back to training, but the owners of Lightning's racing team have sold the team to Sterling (voiced by Nathan Fillion), an avid fan of Lightning. After many failed attemps to train using new state-of-the-art technology, Sterling takes Lightning off of the team, & is asked to sell his brand through product endorsements. Lightning adamantly refuses, & makes a deal stating that if Lightning doesn't win the first race of the year, he'll retire, to which Sterling agrees.

Lightning is then sent to train with Cruz Ramirez (voiced by Cristela Alonzo), a trainer who aspires to be a racer, but felt insecure. Although they don't get along at first, they develop a good companionship. Even more help is given by Smokey (voiced by Chris Cooper), Doc's former mechanic & crew chief. Together, everyone tries to help Lightning make his way back onto the track & onto the road to victory.

The voice acting, as always in a Pixar film, is top-notch, especially from Chris Cooper, whose voice gives off such a powerful & commanding vibe.

The direction from Brian Fee, however, is underwhelming, & the fact that this is his first time directing a film definitely shows in some of the flaws here.

The screenplay by Kiel Murray, Bob Peterson, Mike Rich, Brian Fee, Ben Queen, Eyal Podell & Jonathan E. Stewart is good; although the plot & narrative aren't the best, considering Lightning becomes somewhat arrogant again, the script is pretty good.

The animation, as it always is in a Pixar film, is excellent, & it is what saves the film.

Randy Newman's score is amazing as well, & although it isn't his best (that honor goes to his score for the 1998 classic Pleasantville, which is one of the best film scores of all time), it's definitely great.

Although Cars 3 could've been done better in the hands of a better Pixar director, it's definitely an improvement over its predecessor, & shows that it still has some gas left in the tank.

Cars 3 was seen by me at the MJR Marketplace Digital Cinema 20 in Sterling Heights, MI on Monday, June 26, 2017. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 109 minutes, & it is rated G.

Beatriz at Dinner

★★★½ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Beatriz at Dinner is a film that is certain to have people who like it, people who hate it, & most importantly, a film that is certain to make people think long & hard about it.

The film focuses on Beatriz (played by Salma Hayek), a holistic practitioner in Los Angeles. Beatriz emigrated from Mexico a long time back. She has recently lost her pet goat, as her goat was murdered by a neighbor. She breaks down about this while giving a client, Kathy (played by Connie Britton), a massage before Kathy's dinner party involving a business venture. As Beatriz leaves, her car breaks down, so she must spend the night. Kathy's husband, Grant (played by David Warshofsky), initially objects, but reluctantly agrees.

The first group of guests arrive: Shannon (played by Chlöe Sevigny) & Alex (played by Jay Duplass).  Soon after, Doug Strutt (played by John Lithgow) & Jeana (played by Amy Landecker) arrive. It is revealed how Beatriz met Kathy & Grant: Beatriz helped Kathy & Grant's daughter, Tara, recover her strength after treatment for cancer.

Beatriz says that she knows Doug from somewhere, but she doesn't know where. The dinner is moderately peaceful, aside from a moment where Beatriz became agitated over his assumed involvement in a hotel construction in Mexico that ruined Beatriz's hometown.

But after dinner is where everything begins to unravel. As Doug mentions hunting in Africa, Beatriz becomes very angry. It is clear that their worlds will collide in a very huge way.

Salma Hayek & John Lithgow's powerful performances lead the way. They are the bedrock of this film, & ultimately, its saving grace.

Miguel Arteta's direction is solid, but underdeveloped. At some points, his intention feels unfocused.

Mike White's screenplay is solid as well. The script is great, but the narrative is a little short, & the pacing isn't good, as the film manages to make its 82-minute runtime feel almost 2 hours long.

This is certainly a film I've thought about a lot since I've seen it. It has a lot of great social commentary about casual racism, & even though the film falls short of its ultimate goal, it still provides enough ideas to make into an overall good satire.

Beatriz at Dinner was seen by me at the Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, MI on Friday, June 23, 2017. It is currently showing at 4 theaters in the Detroit area, including The Maple Theater in Bloomfield Township, MI & the United Artists Commerce Township Stadium 14 in Commerce Township, MI. Its runtime is 82 minutes, & it is rated R for language & a scene of violence.

The Book of Henry

½★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

I must ask people who are currently reading this review: Have any of you ever seen a film at one time or another that had, for any amount of time, made you lose your faith in cinema? A film that made you feel that no matter how good a film could be, your faith in cinema could never be regained?

This is the film that made me lose my faith in cinema.

The Book of Henry doesn't look like a film that could do that. I will admit, the trailer did look promising. It had an excellent cast, & a good director behind the camera. But when I actually went & saw the film (& read some reviews), I saw what could honestly be described as a cinematic trainwreck.

The film focuses on 11-year-old Henry Carpenter (played by Jaeden Lieberher), a child genius in the Hudson Valley area of New York. He is, only because he's a child genius, the main financial caretaker of his family, having kept track of the taxes & bills, & having invested successfully in the stock market. He lives with his younger brother, Peter (played by Jacob Tremblay), & his mother, Susan (played by Naomi Watts), who besides being a waitress at a diner, aggressively plays the video game Gears of War while Henry takes care of the taxes & bills.

Henry becomes smitten with Christina Sickleman (played by Maddie Ziegler), his classmate & neighbor, stepdaughter of Glenn Sickleman (played by Dean Norris), the town's police commissioner. After careful consideration, Henry has come to the realization that Christina is being molested by Glenn. (Also, look deeply into Glenn's last name, Sickleman. Sick-le-man. That sounds like sick little (lil) man, doesn't it? This was confirmed by the film's director, Colin Trevorrow. It's literally the stupidest thing I've heard in a film this year).

Using his superior intellect, Henry devises a plan for Susan to kill Glenn with a sniper rifle so she can adopt Christina, thereby ending the series of molestations by her father. (Questions: doesn't she have any immediate family members? And why would they immediately decide to look into her next-door neighbor for her to adopt Christina?) But before this disaster-in-waiting can begin to be thought out, something that I can only describe as the WORST PLOT TWIST IN FILM HISTORY occurs, sending this film into a deep, deep hole it can't even try to dig itself out of.

The performances are awful, but that can't be blamed on the actors. Instead, it must be blamed on the historically awful script by generally unknown crime novelist Gregg Hurwitz, who has wrote a script filled with such melodramatic clichés, & so many tonal shifts that the film itself does not know whether it wants to be an indie comedy, a heartfelt drama, or a gritty thriller. 

And this isn't helped at all by director Colin Trevorrow, who after having directed 2012's Safety Not Guaranteed & 2015's Jurassic World, has fallen back to Earth in a dramatic fashion, & his awful direction here makes me worried for 2019's Star Wars: Episode IX, which he will be directing.

And Kevin Stitt's editing doesn't help either, as the film is poorly edited, with a series of bad cuts throughout the film, & I wondered how the film ended up in certain places, which is never a good sign.

I never thought that I would see a worse film this year than Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul or The Circle. Turns out I was wrong. Deeply wrong.

The Book of Henry was seen by me at the MJR Troy Grand Digital Cinema 16 in Troy, MI on Friday, June 16, 2017. It is currently in 6 theaters in the Detroit area, including the AMC Forum 30 in Sterling Heights, MI, the AMC Star Great Lakes 25 in Auburn Hills, MI & the AMC Classic Fairlane 21 in Dearborn, MI. Its runtime is 105 minutes, & it is rated PG-13 for thematic elements & brief strong language.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul

½★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

I don't understand how films like this can be made anymore. Films like this have terrible plots, narratives, & screenplays, awful direction, bad acting, & no technical ambiance whatsoever. 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul certainly has all of the aforementioned qualities. Based on the ninth book of Jeff Kinney's long-running book series that has long overstayed its welcome, & is the fourth film of the series that has now rebooted with an all-new cast, this film once again focuses on Greg Heffley (now played by Jason Drucker), who is trying to have the perfect summer: hanging out indoors playing video games, mainly with his friend Rowley Jefferson (now played by Owen Asztalos). However, at a Chuck E. Cheese-esque place, Greg is reminded by his parents, Susan (now played by Alicia Silverstone) & Frank (now played by Tom Everett Scott) of a family road trip to his Meemaw's house for her 90th birthday, which is absolutely met with a negative response (just like this film!) by Greg & his older brother, Rodrick (now played by Charlie Wright). But before then, Greg becomes a meme named Diaper Hands after trying to get his younger brother, Manny (now played by Wyatt & Dylan Walters) out of a playscape & ending up in a ball pit with a diaper on his hands, with a number of people taking videos & pictures of him.

Honestly, this is when I realized the film would be absolutely awful. Not only would it resort to such juvenile humor like this, but also, it doesn't get how a meme is created. This would be too awful to be a popular meme.

On the way to Meemaw's house, Susan takes away everybody's phones & tablets, stating that she wants an electronic-free road trip, a wish that is repeated at least 20 times during the film's 90-minute runtime, 5 of which are devoted to the beginning & end credits (so 85 minutes for the actual film), for an unbearable average of one instance every 4 minutes & 15 seconds. Along the way, Greg becomes happy that he's going on the trip, mainly because his idol, Mac Digby (played by Joshua Hoover), a PewDiePie-esque person, whom Susan thinks is a bad influence, will be at a gaming expo in Indianapolis, not far from Meemaw's house. Greg decides to go there & get in a video with Mac Digby so he can be rid of Diaper Hands.

Along the way, the Heffleys become involved in absolutely stupid encounters, including a family that is absolutely gross & creepy, a pig won by Manny at a fair in a town that is filled with people that would have easily fit in the 1972 film Deliverance, & an absolutely predictable incident involving seagulls, an open sunroof, & a snack food.

This film is just absolutely awful. The film was criticized before the film came out for its casting of Charlie Wright as Rodrick Heffley, as he didn't look like he could be biologically related to the Heffleys at all. It even spawned the social media hashtag, #NotMyRodrick (which he isn't). And that's not the only thing he should be criticized for. His performance manages to be the worst performance in a film literally showered with awful performances throughout.

David Bowers, who directed the second & third films in the Wimpy Kid film series, shows that he has no business being behind the camera, as he basically has no cinematic vision beyond juvenile humor & absurd situations.

Bowers also has no business writing a script as well, as he co-wrote the script with Jeff Kinney, the aforementioned author of the Wimpy Kid novels. The script does not want to make us root for the protagonist & his family, & the script does not develop them into realistic, 3-dimensional characters. They are basically shells of a character who go through no arc whatsoever.

This isn't the worst film of all time, or even the worst film of the year, but it's definitely close to it. If you have to choose between this & another film, always choose the other film. Most likely, if you're a parent, even your kids will end up hating this film as much as you will end up hating it. Avoid this at all costs.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul was seen by me at the MJR Universal Grand Cinema 16 in Warren, MI on Wednesday, June 14, 2017. It is no longer in theaters in the Detroit area. Its runtime is 90 minutes, & it is rated PG for some rude humor.